Blog
Date: 1571 BC – Year: 2433 – Ref: Ex 1:16-2:2a;
About halfway through the Egyptian captivity, God provides a glimpse into the Israelites’ attitude toward the Dominion Mandate.
“1:16 and [Pharaoh] said, “When you help the Hebrew women to give birth and see [them] in the filth of birth, if it be a son, thou shalt kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live. … 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very powerful: 21 Because the midwives feared God, he established households for them,… 2:1 And a man of the tribe of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi: 2 And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when he saw that she was beautiful, he hid her for three months.” (Exo 1:16, 17, 20, 21; 2:1, 2 NAS95)
In the midst of Pharaoh’s threats to kill all the boys born in Hebrew households, God’s people continued to be fruitful and God kept the growing Israelites. The Hebrew midwives refused to obey Pharaoh’s evil command. As a direct result of their fear of the Lord, God established households for them.
Later Pharaoh repented and freed the Israelites 215 years after Jacob’s family settled in Egypt to survive the years of famine. Israel’s faithfulness to God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” led directly to their deliverance.
