Good Morning.
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. (Exodus 2:23)
At this point in the Scripture, the focus turns back to Israel’s plight in Egypt. Most scholars agree that, by this time, they had been in Egypt about 210 years. Eighty-six of those years had been under severe oppression and bondage. When the oppressive Pharaoh finally died, it’s not hard to imagine that the Hebrew people hoped for a reprieve. Instead their situation was, at the very least, the status quo. Realizing that there was to be no reprieve, they began to cry out.
It is important to realize that their cry was not for a new Pharaoh and a more tolerant administration but they cried out for deliverance from Egypt itself. They began to realize that Egypt was no longer what they had been accustomed to in times past or hoped it would be in the future. Certainly it was not the place it had been when Joseph and that generation first came to dwell there. Also, it became apparent that a future in Egypt only meant a slow grueling death for them and for their children. Their heart-felt cry was “Deliver us! Save us!”
This scenario is prophetic. In time, all of God’s people will come to realize that the nations — wherever they may be — do not want us. In time, the cries of God’s people will not be “Four more years” but “Deliver us!” These cries will be unto our Father in Heaven and it is those cries for deliverance that He will respond to. Just as a child who cries for their mother, our heart-felt cries for redemption and deliverance will move the heart of our Father. We may not be there quite yet but I am convinced that those days are not far away. That should not cause any of us to shudder but should provoke us to “Look up. Lift up your head because your redemption is at hand.”
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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