God Brings His People into Egypt

Series	Location	Subjects	Takeaways	Sermon Link
Allison on the Psalms	Emmaus Orthodox Presbyterian Church	providence	-	-

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Takeaways and Next Steps

📖Bible Passage

Psalm 105:23-25

Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. [[Ps-105#v24|]][[Ps-105#v25|]]Scripture

Points

• God presents to our view His providence in the history of His people
• The Lord declares His mighty power which He exerts
  • He calls for famine, sends Joseph and brings Israel into Egypt
  • He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies
    • Exodus 1.7 The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
  • He turned the hearts of the Egyptians to hate His people Israel.
    • Only God can turn the heart of a people
    • Psalm 105.25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.
    • Exodus 1:8-12 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel. [[Exod-01#v9|]][[Exod-01#v10|]][[Exod-01#v11|]][[Exod-01#v12|]]
    • We are baffled and confused that God would be able to turn the heart of a human being.
      • Yet there are many examples of this in scripture including:
        • Proverbs 21.1 The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.
          • This is a great declaration of God’s sovereignty.
        • Ezra 6:22 : and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the God of Israel’s house.
      • And this does not mean that God is the author of sin
        • Man is already wicked and sinful, and God in His grace and mercy is holding back the sinful actions of wicked man.
        • By turning their hearts God is simply removing the restraining from the sinners and allowing them to express the sinfulness that is already in their hearts.
      • Nor does it mean that God tempts us to sin:
      • There are times when God’s word baffles us, and it is precisely these times when we must practice faith in Him.
• The two different people groups involved
  • Egypt benefited so much from Israel and yet turned to hate them
    • God sent Joseph to prepare the people and the land for a famine. Because of Joseph’s works and God’s revelation through him, God saved lives and spared them from the pain of the famine
    • And yet generations later, the Egyptians became distrustful and envious of Israel, and this bred into hatred.
    • The people of Egypt had many laborers in the people of Israel which brought much productivity.
    • Acts 7:18-19 until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph. The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. [[Acts-07#v19|]]
  • This brought tremendous pain on Israel; God hears and pities
    • Satan is not allowed to pain anyone unless God allows him:
      • Luke 22.31 The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,
      • Satan had to ask for permission to torment Job
    • But God hears our pain and suffering and He cares
      • Exodus 2:23-25 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them. [[Exod-02#v24|]][[Exod-02#v25|]]
      • Exodus 3:7-8 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. [[Exod-03#v8|]]
• God’s purpose in allowing this pain and suffering. theodicy:
  • To fulfill His covenant promise, prepare His people for glory
    • When the people of Israel left Egypt, they were glad to leave Egypt and joyful to be free from its tyranny.
      • They had an arduous journey ahead of them between Egypt and the promised land. It would be more than tempting to simply stay put in Egypt, but God closed the door for them in Egypt, in order to encourage them to travel to the opened door in the promised land.
  • To cause His people to praise and thank the LORD
    • Psalm 105.25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.
      • It may seem strange to praise God for turning our enemies against us, and yet Psalm 105 concludes by calling us to praise Him.

Application

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Further Study

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