December 14, 2024

Passage Read: Genesis 49 - Exodus 2
Meditation Verse: Exodus 1:22

Thought

Pharaoh wanted the male babies of the Israelites killed, but the Hebrew midwives wouldn't do it. So he ordered all the Egyptians, that if they discovered a male child, they were to throw him in the Nile to die. So as many of the Egyptians who participated, all became liable to God's judgment. It is frightening how willing people can be to destroy life, especially when convinced that it is necessary for their own good. Surely there were Egyptians who felt sorry for the Hebrews, even as Pharaoh's own daughter did, and they turned a blind eye to the Hebrew babies. But sadly there would be many who gladly informed on the boy babies, and even took them with their own hands and threw them in the Nile.

Application

People require very little incentive to turn in others who are considered enemies or problematic or less than human. The cruelty of man to man is well documented. How many Egyptians participated in killing Hebrew babies? Enough that God paid them back with blood to drink in the Nile, and enough to justify killing all the firstborn sons of Egypt. God is just and repays people in kind for their sin. Just as it will be in the last days, not just a river here and there, but the whole ocean and all rivers and lakes will be turned to blood, that's how much unbelievers will participate in killing Christians and Jews. How will there be any believers left when Jesus returns? It doesn't seem to be just a question of faith, and it will surely be a trial of faith, but as much a question of attrition. If Christians are killed all across the globe, how will there be any left to rapture? Yet there will be. The Egyptians didn't kill all the Hebrews, just the baby boys. That was enough to bring them judgment. The last generation of men will kill enough Christians to deserve their judgment.