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God Keeps Covenants

With God – A Promise Is A Promise To Keep

The Israelites must have worried about the need to suffer before obtaining their release. This is especially so in a situation where God acknowledged His awareness of their suffering. Yet, the covenant of deliverance that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had pre-conditions attached. For instance, God needed to prepare Canaan for the new occupants. God expedited the removal of the Amorites from Canaan when the groaning of the Hebrews became unbearable.

Preparing Moses And Canaan For Their Roles In Jewish Deliverance

Essentially, God's time is the best. We should always pray for His will to be done, because this is a sure strategy for obtaining the optimal gift from God (I John 5:14).

While they groaned, God was preparing Moses for the business of deliverance. Moses needed to be groomed in royal mannerisms. That took years from infancy to maturity. He had to get out of the royal Egyptian routines somehow. His zeal for his people turned him into a fugitive, a wanted criminal unlikely to be welcome in the courts of Pharaoh. The Israelites had no idea that young Moses was destined to lead them out from Egypt. He was a turncoat wearing Egyptian royal tunic. That turnaround is beyond human comprehension. The level of suffering had not reached the level of activating the relevant steps for covenant execution in God’s plan as the deliverer was being prepared.

Discern God’s Strategy

So, how do we mean when we claim that God never abandons His people and promise. Does leaving Israel to suffer just to satisfy the principles of the covenant fall in that line? No parent with a sound mind will plan to destroy his/her child. This is equally true of God. The actions of man force the hands of God in many instances. In this case, He created both the Egyptians and the Hebrews. He can never set either up for destruction. Not only were the Egyptians unrepentant idolaters, but they also devised plans to exterminate the chosen people of God. They forced God’s hands to secure their demise.

Remember that the Jews were in Egypt because they needed help, not oppression. It was unbearable drought that brought them to Egypt, and then to slavery. The waned effect of the influence of Joseph converted their residence status to that of slaves.

Yet, God gave The Pharaoh many warnings. Egypt had many opportunities such as the plagues to get them to change their attitudes and beliefs. The magicians knew about the birth of Moses and provoked the slaughter of the male first-born Hebrew children. They recognized the appearance of a savior or person of future significant help to the Hebrews being born to a Hebrew family at the time. They told the king about it, and probably encouraged him to find some means to eliminate the threat. Ironically, God set Moses up for training in royal etiquette and people management even through the storm confusing Egyptian psychics.

The events leading to the deliverance of the Hebrews confirm the direct involvement of God because no man can put them together. The carnage began at midnight. That same night the king dragged Moses and Aaron to his court and signed the decree for the nation of Israel to leave Egypt before dawn. The king who did not understand this faceless God was tired of the Hebrews. His nation had suffered too much devastation from God. That brief encounter that led to the historic crossing of the Red Sea clarified certain truths about God.

The carnage resulted in the killing of the firstborn children of both animals and man (Exodus 12:29). We are not even sure if the word 'children' is used literally, that is, to include anyone who is a child irrespective of age, or it only refers to kids, or just newborn first children. One can just begin to imagine the number of people who died in those short hours. It is significantly wonderful how the angel of destruction discriminated the Hebrews from the Egyptians. This tells us that God recognizes our confession of Jesus Christ from those who reject Him.

The Challenge of Arrogance

We must remember that the Pharaoh was emperor over a large territory. Presidents of nations reported to him. The intoxication with so much power made him compare himself to God. He was power-drunk enough to mock God. A powerful God will not make his people slaves. ‘It does not make sense’ thought The Pharaoh and his aides. However, when the God of Israel decided to move, His might overwhelmed the Pharaoh. He shamelessly begged for God's mercy (Exodus 12:32). Men usually fail this test. The challenge to submit to God's warnings while denouncing the possibility of potential repercussions can be intimidating. As we review the different plagues, we see God proving Himself as the Creator of all the elements, placing them at His discretion at all times (Psalm 148:8).

Israel also proved that faith in God never fails through this story. The Hebrews never gave up on God, irrespective of their trials and tribulations; and their faith paid off eventually. Their prayers may have taken long to answer, but they got the desired deliverance and remain enigmatic until today.