Intermediate Level, Block 4—Egypt to Good Land
Week 31
The Children of Israel—Sovereignly Cared For By God (Revised on 5/11/2021)
Point to Emphasize: God was sovereignly caring for the Israelites to make them a great nation.
Reference Reading: Exodus 1—2
Memory Verse: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession… (1 Peter 2:9a)
Story Sample
You all know for a fact that someone cares for you when you actually see them doing something for you. What if I tell you that sometimes even when it doesn’t seem like it, God is caring for you? Today we are beginning some stories from the book of Exodus in which we will see how God cared for the children of Israel in a sovereign way. Due to the famine, Jacob and his family, 70 in all at first, ended up in Egypt. From 70, they increased and multiplied and their number reached two million! For over 400 years, these descendants lived in Egypt. Wow, that is a LONG time!
Because there were many more Israelites than there were Egyptians, the new Pharaoh was afraid that the Israelites would rise up as a mighty army against the Egyptians. So, he made two plans to destroy them. But God was sovereign. God was the Ruler over the whole situation. It did not matter what was happening around the Israelites, God was still sovereign to care for them and to preserve them!
Pharaoh’s first plan was to make the children of Israel his slaves. He set task masters over them and forced them to labor for him, in order to prevent them from being able to work and take care of their families. This turned the Israelites’ life from one of abundance and ease into one of harshness and rigor. They built two treasure cities for two Pharaohs that ruled Egypt. The Israelites needed to build these cities with bricks and mortar so that the Egyptians could store their treasure. They had no liberty, no rights and no rest. Their lives were bitter with hard labor. BUT the more they were afflicted, the more the children of Israel multiplied and the more they spread out until the Egyptians came to dread them.
Since Pharaoh’s first plan to weaken the children of Israel by enslaving them did not work, he came up with a second and even more evil plot. He made a plan to terminate the children of Israel. So, he called two Hebrew midwives to him. Midwives are like our today’s nurses who help with the delivery of babies. There were no hospitals to go to when you had a baby so these skilled nurses would come to your house and help the mother deliver the baby. Pharaoh told these midwives that as they helped the Hebrew women deliver their babies they were to put any baby boy to death. Only the baby girls were to live. Can you imagine that? Well, after Pharaoh’s command, something different was happening in the Hebrew houses. Every time a Hebrew woman was delivering their baby, the baby was born BEFORE the midwives arrived! God made the Hebrew women vigorous (STRONG) and able to give birth in a quick, strong way.
The way the sovereign God cared for the Israelites against Pharaoh’s evil plots was just incredible! First, the more they were afflicted by being enslaved, the more God multiplied them. And then, God made the Israelites woman stronger so they would deliver their babies before the midwives arrive to their home. Isn’t this incredible? God is always caring for the ones He chose in a sovereign way. The way God sovereignly cared for the Israelites, the same way He has also cared for me too many times. One day… [Storyteller, insert your personal story.]
Since Pharaoh did not get what he wanted with the midwives and the baby boys continue to be born, he forced all the Hebrew people to carry out his evil plot of terminating all the baby boys. He commanded them to put all the baby boys that were being born in the river. Next week we will see what happens!