Embark on a historical odyssey as we journey through the ancient sands of Egypt, uncovering the legacy of Moses from his roots with Abraham to his destiny as a liberator. Prepare to be captivated by tales of triumph and tragedy, as we reveal the heroism of Hebrew midwives who risked it all to challenge a Pharaoh's edict. Their silent rebellion set in motion a story of growth and survival against all odds, a narrative that threads through the lineage of a chosen people and culminates in the dramatic rescue of an infant destined for greatness.
As the waters of the Nile whisper secrets of a civilization long past, we explore its life-giving ebb and flow that sustained not just the mystic land of pyramids but also the biblical accounts that echo through time. Engage in a profound reflection on the identities of key women who defied a ruler's cruelty, from the watchful eyes of Miriam to the compassionate heart of a princess whose name, be it Hatshepsut or Sinamun, remains shrouded in mystery. Together, we'll navigate the intricate tapestry of political and religious power plays, drawing connections to the tales that have shaped our understanding of faith and history.
Embark on a historical odyssey as we journey through the ancient sands of Egypt, uncovering the legacy of Moses from his roots with Abraham to his destiny as a liberator. Prepare to be captivated by tales of triumph and tragedy, as we reveal the heroism of Hebrew midwives who risked it all to challenge a Pharaoh's edict. Their silent rebellion set in motion a story of growth and survival against all odds, a narrative that threads through the lineage of a chosen people and culminates in the dramatic rescue of an infant destined for greatness.
As the waters of the Nile whisper secrets of a civilization long past, we explore its life-giving ebb and flow that sustained not just the mystic land of pyramids but also the biblical accounts that echo through time. Engage in a profound reflection on the identities of key women who defied a ruler's cruelty, from the watchful eyes of Miriam to the compassionate heart of a princess whose name, be it Hatshepsut or Sinamun, remains shrouded in mystery. Together, we'll navigate the intricate tapestry of political and religious power plays, drawing connections to the tales that have shaped our understanding of faith and history.
Welcome to our ancient future story, navigating Scripture through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around a dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God's family and His family story has a lot of history. Each week we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts. We will be looking at these stories through the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens of ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is our ancient future story. Welcome back to our ancient future story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to share another story with you today. Today we are kicking off season 3 with one of the most told stories in the Bible, the story of Moses. Over the next few months, we will be diving into his life in Egypt, in the wilderness, and God's powerful act that delivered the people of Israel from slavery. So as we get started, let's go through the genealogy of where we are in the story of God. Our story starts with Abraham and Sarah, who had a son named Isaac, who married Rebecca. They had two sons, jacob and Esau. Jacob stole the birthright and the blessing from Esau and fled to Rebecca's brother's home where he was burned by the birthright by marrying Leah, the older sister, before he could marry Rachel, the younger sister, and together they had 12 sons. Their sons were Reuben, simeon, levi, judah, dan, netany, gad, asher, issachar, zebulun, joseph and Benjamin. These became the tribes of Israel. Judah we know as the line of King David in Jesus. Joseph we know as the one who was sold into slavery in Egypt. But today I want to talk about the line of Levi. This will eventually be the lineage of the priest of Israel. But here we will see the beginning, as it is also the ancestry of Moses. So grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the story of Moses.
Speaker 1:
Story opens with a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Remember, Joseph had been the advisor to Pharaoh, second in command over the known world, and he had moved his family to Goshen from Canaan. But a new king had taken over who did not know Joseph or his family, the Israelites. So when the new king saw that the Israelites were a mighty group, they panicked and said Israel is too great for us. Let us deal sure with them. At least they multiply more and align with our enemies to fight against us and leave.
Speaker 1:
The king set up taskmasters over the Israelites and put heavy burdens of work on them. The Israelites were then forced to build major storehouses for Egypt, now known as Pitham and Ramesses. But God was faithful to Israel and, despite being oppressed, they continued to multiply. So Egypt made the oppression even worse. They made Israel slaves and they had to work with brick and mortar and do hard labor in the fields. It was a ruthless existence. Historical fun fact some scholars have argued that the Israelites actually helped build the pyramids, while others have said no. The pyramids had already existed at this time. So Israel was forced to build buildings or storehouses for food and grain instead, while still others say no. They helped build temples to the Egyptian gods, like Aten, the sun god. But in any case, they were forced to work day in and day out in that hot Egyptian sun.
Speaker 1:
When the king realized that Egypt was still multiplying despite the extra labor, they decided to gather the Hebrew midwives and tell them when you are called to help deliver the Israelite babies, if it is a boy, kill him, but if it is a girl, let her live. But the midwives feared God, so they did not do what the king had ordered and Israel continued to grow. When Pharaoh saw Israel continuing to grow, he called the midwives back and asked why are the Israelites having so many male children? And the midwives lied and said these Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, they do not wait for us to arrive to deliver. So when we arrive, the child is already born. And God dealt well with these midwives, for they had protected the people of Israel. But Pharaoh was still not satisfied, so he ordered every son that is born to the Hebrews be thrown into the Nile, but the daughters may live Down.
Speaker 1:
This time a Levi couple had a son and they hid him successfully for three months. But when it became more difficult to hide him, the mother of the child made a basket for him, laid him inside and hid him in the reeds of the Nile bank, and a sister stood watch. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down from the palace to bathe in the river and she walked down the river. She saw the basket among the reeds. She sent her servant down to retrieve the basket and when she opened it she saw a baby inside. He was crying and Pharaoh's daughter took pity on him. She recognized that he was a Hebrew child. Just then his sister approached Pharaoh's daughter and said Do you want me to get a Hebrew woman to nurse him for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said yes. So his sister went and got their mother to nurse the child for Pharaoh's daughter. When the child's mother came before Pharaoh's daughter, pharaoh's daughter said Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you. So the mother of the boy did as she was asked and took him and nursed him until he was old enough, and then she brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses because he was drawn out of water. And that is where our story ends for today. Moses, born into the lineage of Levi, yet was adopted into the house of Pharaoh. This is the beginning of the legendary story of how God will use both cultures to bring His people home.
Speaker 1:
If you grew up in church, you have probably heard this story many, many times. It's basically the staple VBS story, but I think there are a few things that are important for us to know that will help shape the context of the story for us and show this story to us in a new light. First location Our story takes place in Egypt. There is a tremendous debate about when Israel was actually in Egypt and it all depends on how you date the Exodus. If you say that the Exodus was in 1446 BC, this is known as the early date, based on a lot of math, of when Solomon built the temple and working backwards. But if you say the Exodus was around 1250 BC, this is known as the late date and it coincides with Ramses II as Pharaoh of the Exodus Throughout the series. We will consider both options, but I will let you decide for yourself which one you think is accurate.
Speaker 1:
So if we go with the early date of the Exodus being 1446 BC, then this story would have happened around 1550 BC, also known as the start of the New Kingdom in Egypt. This makes sense because a new king took over who did not know Joseph. This pharaoh was almost the first. He is credited to start the New Kingdom because he unified all of Egypt. Before him there were Egyptian kings leading in the north, in Thebes, and Hikkos, aka nomadic kings, came down and were acting as Egyptians living in the south, in Memphis and the delta area, but almost the first overpowered the Hikkos and ran them out of Egypt, successfully unifying the country again. But if we go with the late date of 1250 BC, then this story happened around 1354 BC. This king would have been Amenhotep III, but his son, akhenaten, became king a year later and he came in and created this huge movement to make all Egyptian monotheistic. He believed that there was only one true god and that one god was the sun, god Aten, and during his entire reign he made a point to destroy all other gods. Some scholars have argued that it was because of the influence of Akhenaten that Moses adopted the monotheistic theology. But regardless of when you date the Exodus, there was a definite change in power and the new king was paranoid about the Israelites who were living in the land.
Speaker 1:
The second thing I think is important is the Nile River. The Nile River is a 4,132-mile-long river that runs from the equator northward toward the Mediterranean Sea. This river was the essence of the gods and the mystery of the ancient Egyptians. They could never understand why the river flowed in the opposite direction. Yet the Nile was vital for food. Every year, the Nile would overflow and flood the surrounding fields, creating the perfect conditions for farming. Because of the Nile River and the fruitful farming it supports, egypt was known as the breadwinner of society. Whenever there was a famine in the land, everyone would travel to Egypt to trade what they had for food, because Egypt always had food, which is how Joseph rose to power in the first place.
Speaker 1:
In Genesis 41, when Pharaoh had a dream about the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine, joseph tells Pharaoh to store up grain from the seven years of plenty so that they will have food in the seven years of famine. And when the famine comes, who had food? Egypt, because Joseph stored up the food. But the Nile was not just a river to produce good soil, it was also infested with wildlife Hippos, crocodiles, tiger, fish, turtles and snakes. All called the Nile River home. So when Moses' mother puts him in a basket, she sends him down a river in a crocodile, snake and hippo-infested waters. This was not just a gentle float downstream, this was unbelievably dangerous. I'm amazed at her immense faith that God would protect Moses.
Speaker 1:
But Moses didn't travel down the river alone. Which brings me to the next thing that I think is interesting the two women who protect Moses Miriam, moses' sister, and Pharaoh's daughter who drew him out of the Nile. The nerve that Miriam had to have, as a Hebrew woman to hide along the riverbank all the way to the palace, not only to ensure the safety of Moses, but also to approach the princess. We don't know how old Miriam was, but some scholars have said that she was seven years older than Moses, which means she would have been about seven when she approached the princess and offered to get a woman to nurse Moses for her. And then goes and gets her own mother to nurse for the princess. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate the fearless bravery of a child who would just jump out of the reeds of the riverbank and approach Pharaoh's daughter, one of the world's most famous royals in the day. But then also the princess not only draws Moses out of the water but also listens to a Hebrew child and sends her to find a woman to nurse Moses. And instead of following the king's order aka her father's orders and killing the Hebrew baby, she invites his own mother to nurse the child, then raising the boy as her own in the palace.
Speaker 1:
Now, because of the debate of the exodus, there is also a debate about who this princess was. So if we go with the early date of the exodus being 1446, then this story would have happened around 1550 BC. Remember we said that almost the first was the king who did not know Joseph. But Moses was born around 1526 BC, which would make the Pharaoh Tupmos the first and his daughter Hatshepsut. At this time, all royal women in the palace of Pharaoh were referred to as Pharaoh's daughters. Hatshepsut was the only surviving daughter of Pharaoh Tupmos the first and Queen Amos. They did have other daughters, but she was the only one who lived past infancy.
Speaker 1:
So it would make sense for Hatshepsut to be the daughter of Pharaoh in our story, for she was the royal woman in the palace. Now, based on this, scholars have discovered that Hatshepsut would have been about six or seven when she found Moses in the river, but that doesn't discount her because she had servants and people to do her bidding. Even at a young age, she would have had an incredible power as the only legitimate heir to the throne. In fact, her half-brother, tupmos the second, would marry her in order to become the successor to his father's throne. So If she is the true daughter of Pharaoh in our story, it also makes sense why a seven-year-old Miriam jumps out of the reeds on the riverbank and asks her if she wants someone to nurse the child and she agrees quickly. But if we see the Exodus as the late date of 1250 BC, moses would have been born in about 1355 BC, which would put Amenhotep the third on the throne, and his daughter was Sinamun. Now, what is interesting about her is she was the eldest daughter of Amenhotep the third and will later become one of his royal wives, but she, as the eldest daughter, held the titles of eldest daughter of the king, great daughter of the king, whom he loves, king's daughter and king's daughter, whom he loves. All these titles belonged to her as the eldest daughter of Pharaoh.
Speaker 1:
Sinamun's half-brother was Akhenaten, the successor of their father, amenhotep the third During his reign, who, during his reign, started the monotheistic rampage throughout Egypt. He believed that all Egyptians should worship only one god, aten. Sinamun was about 15 years old when she became the royal wife and received a massive palace in Thebes. Now, it is interesting that around this time, there were hieroglyphics in Thebes representing foreigners, likely Hebrews, as slaves, creating bricks for the temple of Aten. Two years later, when Sinamun was 17, it's likely, she found Moses in the river. But because she was married to her father, amenhotep the third, it's possible they never consummated the marriage and instead, their marriage was solely to symbolize the marriage of the gods, of Aten, the sun god, and Hathor, his daughter or wife, so Sinamun and Amenhotep. The third's marriage was solely to compare their royalty with the gods. So this would mean that Sinamun would not have had a children of her own and therefore could not nurse the boy she had found in the basket. Thus she needed a woman to nurse the child until he was old enough to return to the palace. Like I said, we really don't know which of these princesses is the one who found Moses, but I think both are pretty good options.
Speaker 1:
So what does our story tell us about God? Every time we gather together, we will hear a story from scripture and we will take time to talk about what this story tells us about Yahweh. In today's story, we learn that Yahweh protects his people, not always from the pain immediately, but that he keeps his promises to get us through the hard times. Moses was an innocent child, born into a crazy, messed up world with leaders who were vicious and ruthless, but God protected him and raised him up to be a great leader of Israel, and over the next few weeks we will see how it was Yahweh, and not Moses, who did all the work to deliver Israel from their oppressors in Egypt. So before we go, I want to end our time together by reading the scripture from which our story comes from today, in Exodus, chapter 1 and 2. I hope that as we read the story together, it will bring to light everything we have just learned and the story will be illuminated for you in a new way.
Speaker 1:
Let's read these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household Reuben, simeon, levi and Judah, issachar, zebulun and Benjamin, dan and Napdeli, gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt Then Joseph died, and all his brothers in all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly. They multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us still shrewdly with them least. They multiply and if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Therefore they set task maskers over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh's door cities, pitham and Ramses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service and mortar and brick and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Speaker 1:
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Sifara and the other Pua, when you are serving as a midwife and the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool. If it is a son you shall kill it, but if it's a daughter she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king had commanded. But they let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them why have you done this and let the male children live? The midwives said to Pharaoh Because of the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. So God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and grew very strong Because of the midwives, feared God. He gave them families and Pharaoh commanded all his people every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.
Speaker 1:
Now a man from the house of Levi went and took his wife, a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bullrushes and and dabbed it with pitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds of the riverbank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while her young women walked beside her. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman and took it. When she opened it she saw the child and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said this is one of the Hebrews children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter shall I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her go. So the girl went and called the child's mother and Pharaoh's daughter said to her take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses because she said I drew him out of water.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to today's episode of our HM Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me. Vic Hartman Music is embarking on an adventure by Evan MacDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and if you want more info or want to dive deeper, check out our website at our ancientfuturestorycom. See you next time. Bye.