Bible Talks: The Story of Moses, the Man of God

Narrator: Chris Genthree
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“And (Pharaoh) said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.”
The “new king” would be God’s instrument through whom He would work in the hearts of His people, yet He was to be over it all and never permit trials and persecutions to go beyond His purposes. For their eventual blessing the long period of carefree living had come to an end. God stepped into their ways as He did with Jacob their father: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him.” Deuteronomy 32:11,1211As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy 32:11‑12). In this change of events in Egypt God was about to stir up Israel’s nest.
A harsh and unrelenting program of slavery was thereupon imposed and taskmasters assigned to enforce on the people all that Pharaoh dreed. The children of Israel were enmeshed in what appeared to be a hopeless situation. The brick kiln and the slime pit soon replaced the fair fields and cultivated gardens of Goshen. What a sad picture this is of many today, enslaved by Satan, the “god of this world,” caught in his snares and power, “without God and without hope.” Such is the state of all who are without Christ. Scripture is very plain on this for it says: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:1616Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16). The demands of Satan, the prince of this world, are unrelenting. As the children of Israel found no means of escape through their own efforts, so the sinner, enslaved by Satan, is powerless in himself to be free from the yoke and bondage of sin.
What, then, is the means of escape from so dreadful a position? For one might well cry: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” The welcome answer is given: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:24,2524O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:24‑25). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
Pharaoh gave no heed to their cries, but rather added to their continuing affliction. “And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.”
ML 03/31/1968