Unexpected Extras from Exertions
| So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labour in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labour the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. (Exodus1:11-14) |
The Israelites were brought together and made strong by that which they experienced.
Next week we'll read the piece about Pharoah commanding the midwives to kill the baby boys as they are born. They don't do it and offer the following excuse: "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive." I don't think this is a total exaggeration - I believe that they were physically strong as a result of the "exercise" imposed by the Egyptians and this was good preparation for an Exodus and a journey through the desert.
Did God cause the Egyptians to oppress the Israelites to make them strong?
No, but He used their evil to accomplish an important task.
This does not nullify the negative effects of the excesses of Egyptian cruelty on the Israelites. While they were strong in body, they were weak in mindset. A commentator said "It took God only a short while to take the Israelites out of slavery, but it took forty years to take slavery out of the Israelites..." Just because God, in His mercy, brings good out of evil, we should never be ok with evil.
But while the Egyptians exacted a cruel price from the Israelites, God was at work: Seventy souls from Israel + Joseph and his family had became a nation. If they'd been in the "Wild East" back in Canaan they'd have been a rag-tag clan fending off their enemies. Instead they were safe in the protection of mighty Egypt, and as my friend Johan has suggested, maybe even a bit comfortable...
The cruelty of the Egyptians woke them up to the fact that it was time to exit...
