Year 4, Day 50: Exodus 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority, Power

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

In Exodus 1:8 we find a king who did not know Joseph.  He did not know Joseph’s heritage.  He did not know Joseph’s God.  We have here a Pharaoh that is concerned only about his world, his nation, his reign, his success, and his reputation.  Here is a Pharaoh whose identity does not come from the Father.  Comparatively, neither does his authority come from the King.

If we examine the following verses, we see that this misplaced authority leads to abused power.  The Pharaoh attempts to afflict them with hard labor in order to drive them into submission and shorten their lifespan.  When that didn’t work, Pharaoh attempts to kill their male children so that they cannot reproduce and would then have to assimilate into the Egyptian culture.  However, that doesn’t work, either.

Pharaoh’s plans make sense from a worldly perspective.  Many ruthless leaders have attempted these techniques throughout all of history.  They don’t work, however, because God has a different plan.  Pharaoh comes up against God and rather than aligning himself with God he chooses to work against Him.  Because his authority is not coming from the King he abuses his power and his plans ultimately fail.

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