Israel Oppressed in Egypt

By Barnabas Piper

Every book of the Bible is important because it is God’s Word. But Exodus holds a unique place in Scripture because of its stage-setting for the entire story of God’s redemptive plan. It’s a historical account, a riveting story, and so much more. Throughout Exodus, we see God’s hand at work to fulfill His promises, reveal His nature and character, and ultimately foreshadow Jesus Christ.

In Exodus we pick up where Genesis left off, with the family of Israel in Egypt. The opening verses describe how the Hebrew people multiplied and how Pharaoh fearfully forced them into slavery. This is as compelling an opening to a story as any great novel. It promises conflict, heroism, and the potential for great rescue or great sorrow. 

It is also the fulfillment of God’s words in Genesis 15 and 35. He commanded the people to be fruitful and multiply, told Abraham his offspring would be enslaved in a foreign land, and promised rescue and then establishment in the promised land. 

God is the primary mover. Each event in Exodus is part of a grand plan. When the world is dark, He provided a rescuer, often in an unlikely or even miraculous way. We see this when Moses is rescued from the Nile by the very daughter of Pharaoh then raised by his mother, in a plot twist Agatha Christie or M. Night Shyamalan would envy. Moses’s story is compelling and fascinating, the making of a leader uniquely fit to lead Israel to freedom. And everything that makes him unique is a foreshadowing of the one true Rescuer for the whole world whom God would send later: Jesus Christ. 

The banner over these chapters and all of Exodus is that God is for His people. He is an attentive God who acts on behalf of His people. Exodus 2:23–24 says, “they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant.” The words God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis come to fruition in Exodus, and Exodus sets the stage for God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness throughout all of Scripture.