The timeline of the Bible can be confusing because you can’t judge timespans by the amount of text. For example, 6 chapters in the gospel of John (13-18) cover little more than 12 hours, but the first 2 chapters of Exodus encompass about 300 years.
So the references to
pharaoh or the
king of Egypt are not references to a particular guy but to series
of national leaders who each represented and administered a governmental system. Exodus chapters 1 and 2, is the story of 3 centuries of different administrations that each came to power and implemented its own policies; but every administration fell in line with the interests of the system: concentrating power and expanding territory by subjugating and exploiting the masses.
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. (Exodus 2:23)
The pharaoh who ordered the genocide of the Hebrew males, the one whose daughter had adopted Moses, died; but the death of pharaoh didn’t mean freedom for the Hebrews because the system continued. Moses’ adopted grandfather had been a ruthless racist who scapegoated the Hebrew minority and murdered innocent children. The children of Israel suffered mightily under Moses’ pharaoh. But, they didn’t really, really groan and cry out until his successor took office.
As bad as the old pharaoh had been, the new pharaoh was worse.
Oh, he lifted the official policy of targeting minority males, but he did other stuff that collectively made life even harder than it had been when mothers were floating their infant sons down the Nile River.
The wisdom of God’s Word teaches that before you get excited about the current pharaoh’s defeat, death, or impeachment, you might wanna think about who’s next in line for the job.
As the children of Israel learned: no matter how bad the politics gets, it can always get worse.
PRESCRIPTION:
1 part prayer + 1 part leadership development
The closing verses of Exodus 2 marks a shift in the way the Hebrew community communicated with God. They groaned and cried out and called out to God. i.e., They prayed real hard. Not eloquently or elaborately, but they COLLECTIVELY prayed HARD and CONTINUOUSLY.
At whatever level of corporate prayer our churches are operating, we need to raise up several notches because apparently this level isn’t yet the level at which God moves in nation changing ways.
The effectual, fervent prayer of God’s people ignites a spiritual fire and fans the flames so that it spreads. The spiritual flames in Goshen ignited a bush in Midian.
Out of the spiritual fire, God raised up a leader who had been ignored by and ignoring the system for a long time. And, don’t confuse our cultural obsession with the mythological lone hero, with God’s actual process. While God was calling Moses, the Lord was simultaneously also calling Aaron.
Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. (Exodus 4:14)
While Moses and Aaron were hearing God’s call, the Lord was also working on the established leaders among the Hebrews.
Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me . . . Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt . . . (Exodus 3: 16-18)
Because godly leaders don’t ride in on white horses and fix it for their people. They plod in on a donkey or an exhausted camel and work alongside their people, organizing the community to stand up to pharaoh themselves.
Quick Review:
1. There’s always another (and a worse) pharaoh.
2. Fervent, continuous, corporate prayer.
3. Develop old, new, near, and distant leaders.
It’s old school/ Old Testament. But, it works.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of
Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization
(SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (
NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his
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Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
