The Story of Moses (1): Exodus 1

Do you still remember the story of Joseph? Remember how his brothers hated him so much that they sold him to some men, but how God was with him and made him the king’s helper? And then we heard how God told him to make barns for food during the seven “bad” years, and how he was able to help his brothers and father.

Now his brothers were all living in the land of Egypt with him! How happy they were to see him again! How much they loved their brother now!

Many years went by. Joseph had children, and his children had children. Soon those children had children! Joseph died, but he left behind many, many fathers, mothers, and children in the country of Egypt. They did not return to Canaan, their former home. They liked the land and its people. The Bible calls these people the “children of Israel.” Do you know why? Remember how God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” when they wrestled together before he went to meet Esau? So we can say that these people are the “children of Israel,” or the “children of Jacob.”

Joseph died, but — someone else died too. The king who had been his good friend died. And another king came. But this king had never heard the story of Joseph. No one had told him how Joseph had saved all the people from dying by storing food in barns.

“ho are all those strange people living in our country?” the king asked one of his servants. “There are so many of them! There are more of those people than there are of us!”

I don’t know if the servants told him what Joseph had done, but even if they did, the king didn’t care. “Let’s get those people out of our country,” he said. “What if there was a war and they helped the enemy fight against us?”

The king told his servants his plan. “I want you to tell those strange people to help you build two cities,” he said. “Make them work hard. Hard, I say, and I mean hard!”

So the people, the children of Israel, had to help make two cities for the king. Their bosses made them work and work. They could hardly stop to rest or even to take a drink. They would keep yelling, “Faster, faster! Come on, you can do more than that!”

The king thought he had a good plan. He thought the strange people would get so tired and sick that they would die. Then soon there would be hardly any of them in his country!

But is that what happened? No! The children of Israel cried to God for help. And wasn’t their God more powerful than all other kings?

These people, whom the Bible calls the “children of Israel,” just increased more and more and they became stronger and stronger! The king’s plan wasn’t working!

“I know just what we have to do,” the king told his servants. “Don’t give them the bricks and mortar with which to build the city. Tell them to make all from scratch themselves! And make them carry their own water to where they need it. Make them work hard!”

But — did this plan work? No, it didn’t! The children of Israel prayed and cried even harder to God to save them from the mean king, and again He listened. He made them stronger and stronger, and gave them more and more children. Does this not tell us that God is the only place to go for help? He can, and will help us, if we seek Him in a right way.

The king was angry. None of his plans were working! But he still had another mean plan. He would kill all the baby boys that were born to these people. Then they couldn’t grow up to be kings and help their people!

The king asked two nurses to help him kill all the baby boys. But the king didn’t know that these nurses feared God! And they did not kill any of the babies!

Of course, it wasn’t long before the king found out, and he was angry.

“Why aren’t you killing the baby boys like I asked you to?” he asked.

“We can’t,” the nurses said.

“These mothers have their babies so fast that they have them before we get there. So there isn’t a chance to take them away to kill them.”

Maybe the nurses were telling the truth. We don’t know for sure. But the nurses trusted in God, and He blessed them because of it. The people of Israel continued to get stronger!

Finally, the king tried one more time to kill the baby boys. We will read about that in our next story. And we will find out how God saved one baby who would grow up to lead the children of Israel back to their own country! For that was where they were supposed to be. That was the place God had promised to give them. God used the mean king for a reason: He made them want to go back home. But it would take them a long, long time to get there.

—SW

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