Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year.
Yesterday we heard about the death of Abraham and how before he died he blessed the children
of Joseph except he blessed the younger with the right hand and the older with the left
hand and when Joseph tried to correct this he told him no, that this is the way it has
to be.
Today we're going to hear about what happens after the death of Joseph and how a new Pharaoh
when he comes in, a Pharaoh that does not like the Israelites very much, what he ends
up doing with them and we'll also hear about the birth of Moses.
Let's begin.
Today's reading is from Exodus chapters 1 and 2.
Chapter 1.
Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt.
Each man and his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar,
Zebulun and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons, for Joseph was in Egypt already,
and Joseph died, all his brothers and all that generation.
But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and grew
exceedingly mighty, and 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,
Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply and it happen in the event of
war that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens, and they
built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ramses.
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were in
dread of the children of Israel.
So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor, and they made their lives
bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.
All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shipra,
and the name of the other Pua, and he said, When you do the duties of a midwife for the
Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him, but
if it is a daughter, then she shall live.
But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved
the male children alive.
So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing,
and saved the male children alive?
And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,
for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty,
and so it was because the midwives feared God that he provided households for them.
So Pharaoh commanded all his people saying, Every son who is born you shall cast into
the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.
Chapter 2 And a man of the house of Levi went and took
as wife a daughter of Levi.
So the woman conceived him for a son, and when she saw that he was a beautiful child,
she hid him three months.
But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of burrushes for him, dabbed it
with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.
And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him.
Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked
along the riverside.
And when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.
And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept.
So she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children.
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the
Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?
Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go, so the maiden went and called the child's mother.
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, and the child grew, and she brought him to
Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.
So she called his name Moses, saying, Because I drew him out of the water.
Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren
and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and
hid him in the sand.
And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said
to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion?
Then he said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us?
Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?
So Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known.
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down
by a well.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water, and they filled
the troughs to water their father's flock.
Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered
their flock.
When they came to Reoel, their father, he said, How is it that you have come so soon
today? and they said, An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he
also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.
So he said to his daughters, And where is he?
Why is it that you have left the man?
Call him that he may eat bread.
Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses,
and she bore him a son.
He called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land.
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.
So God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob.
And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.