God’s Loves for the Life of Babies Part 3: God’s love for the lives of Babies is seen in Pharaoh’s Overt Genocide

Part 2

God’s love for the lives of Babies is seen in Pharaoh’s Overt Genocide (Exodus 1:22-2:10)

1. Point: We continue to see that even as a country is against babies lives, God still loves the lives of babies both in and out of the womb.
2. Passage: “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born [u]you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.” Now a man from the house of Levi went and [v]married a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw [w]that he was [x]beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a [y]wicker [z]basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to [aa]find out what would [ab]happen to him. 5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the [ac]basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. 6 When she opened it, she [ad]saw the child, and behold, the [ae]boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call [af]a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then 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. 10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him [ag]Moses, and said, “Because I [ah]drew him out of the water.””
3. Proof:
   1. Pharaoh’s Policy: Overt Genocide (Exodus 1:22)
      1. Because the king was unable to get the midwives to secretly do His will, now He decides to carry out Himself very likely with his military.
      2. It was done with cruelty: “cast into the Nile,”
   2. Result (Exodus 1:22-2:10)
      1. We now see one family hiding their baby son (Exodus 2:2)
         1. I believe the Hebrew verb construct suggests the possibility that this couple was pregnant prior to the decree of killing Hebrew male babies (Garrett, 164).
         2. If so, it’s astounding that they didn’t consider killing the baby in the womb and not take the chance, nor did they killed their own child because it was inconvenient.
      2. Think of the difficult situation for the parents in choosing life:
         1. Actively supporting a child while on a slave income and food ration was economically difficult.
         2. The parents already have two other kids to feed
            4. Older sister mentioned in 2:4.
            5. Moses has a brother name Aaron who is three years older than him in Exodus 7:7.
         3. Furthermore this went against the government.
         4. They risked punishments from the government upon their own family.
         5. Think of the peer pressure from the community who have lossed their own sons and the possible gossips of keeping the child!
      3. After three months she no longer could hide the child and took a risky path to have their child “adopted” (Exodus 2:3-10)
         1. There was risk: Will an Egyptian have compassion upon a Hebrew son found in the Nile?
         2. While Chapter 2 does not mention God, but the incredible chance of the child being brought up the Pharaoh’s own daughter can only be the work of God!
      4. Notice protecting the child’s life was more than just the mother in the story:
         1. Mother (2:2-3, 2:9-10)
         2. Sister (2:4, 2:7-8)
         3. Princess (2:5-6, 2:9-10)
4. Picture: Would you consider abortion in the following four situations’
   1. (1) There’s a preacher and wife who are very, very, poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with number 15. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion’
   2. (2) The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. They have four children. The first is blind, the second is dead, the third is deaf, and the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given the extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion’
   3. (3) A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl, and she got pregnant. If you were her parents, would you considering recommending abortion’
   4. (4) A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s very upset. Would you consider recommending abortion’
   5. In the first case, you have just killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you have killed Beethoven.  In the third case, you have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer.  If you said yes to the fourth case, you have just declared the murder of Jesus Christ!!
5. Practice:
   1. We must never seek abortion for mere convenience!
   2. We must obey God rather than men—husbands, families and friends who suggests abortion.
   3. While protecting the unborn is the primary responsibility of the child’s immediate parents, notice that others are involved with protecting Moses’ life!
   4. Will you even consider the possibility of adoption?

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