Sermon Resources - Dr. Toby Holt
A new king rose over Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph — and four centuries of blessing became four centuries of bondage. Exodus opens not with a burning bush or a parting sea, but with a decree of genocide and a people in agony. In this opening sermon of Exodus Explained, Dr. Toby Holt sets the stage for the greatest redemption story in the Old Testament: who Moses was, why he was born under a death sentence, and how the oppression of Israel in Egypt pictures the spiritual bondage from which every believer has been delivered by a greater Moses.
0:00 — Introduction to the Exodus Explained series and its place in the Bible
3:20 — Israel in Egypt the long journey from national blessing to brutal bondage
7:45 — The new king who arose knowing nothing of Joseph or his history
12:10 — The faithful Hebrew midwives and the murderous royal death edict on newborn sons
17:30 — Moses born under a sentence of death yet raised in the royal house of Pharaoh
22:15 — How Exodus pictures Christ's delivering us from the bondage of sin and death
26:40 — Conclusion and preview of the burning bush and divine call in episode 2
Questions This Sermon Answers:
1. Who was Moses and why was he born under a death edict?
Moses was born during a period of intense Egyptian persecution of the Israelites. Pharaoh, fearing the growth of the Hebrew population, had commanded that all newborn Hebrew boys be thrown into the Nile. Moses was born into this crisis, hidden for three months by his mother, then placed in a basket in the river where he was discovered and adopted by Pharaoh's own daughter — a remarkable providence that placed the deliverer of Israel inside the house of his people's oppressor.
2. What do we know about the Pharaoh of the Exodus?
The identity of the specific Pharaoh is debated among scholars, with candidates including Thutmose III and Rameses II. What is certain is that Exodus 1:8 describes a king "who did not know Joseph" — meaning the political memory of Joseph's service had faded, and with it any goodwill toward the Israelites. This Pharaoh viewed Israel as a political and military threat and responded with systematic oppression.
3. How does Exodus picture the gospel?
Exodus is the Old Testament's defining redemption narrative and is explicitly invoked throughout the New Testament as a type of salvation in Christ. Just as Israel was enslaved in Egypt with no power to free themselves, so all humanity is enslaved to sin. Just as God raised up Moses to deliver Israel through blood (the Passover) and through water (the Red Sea), so God sent Christ to deliver His people through His blood and baptism. Paul calls Christ "our Passover lamb" in 1 Corinthians 5:7.
4. Why did God allow Israel to suffer so long before sending Moses?
The Reformed tradition sees Israel's suffering in Egypt as serving God's sovereign purposes. Genesis 15:13 had foretold four hundred years of affliction. God's timing is not indifference — it is precision. The suffering purified Israel's identity as a distinct people, the population explosion demonstrated God's blessing, and the extremity of their need magnified the glory of their deliverance. Westminster Confession 5.4 affirms that God orders all things according to His holy will, including the suffering of His people.
5. Who were the Hebrew midwives and why do they matter?
Shiphrah and Puah are two of the Bible's most courageous figures. Ordered by Pharaoh to kill Hebrew baby boys at birth, they disobeyed — at enormous personal risk — "because they feared God" (Exodus 1:17). They are among the first recorded acts of civil disobedience in Scripture, grounded not in political ideology but in the fear of God. God rewarded their faithfulness by giving them families of their own.
6. What does it mean that a king arose "who did not know Joseph"?
This phrase signals more than a change of dynasty — it signals a failure of institutional memory and gratitude. Joseph had saved Egypt from famine and brought tremendous prosperity. The new Pharaoh's ignorance of this history enabled him to treat Israel with contempt rather than honor. Spiritually, it illustrates how quickly the world forgets God's mercies and reverts to hostility toward His people.
7. How did God preserve Moses from Pharaoh's death decree?
The narrative of Moses's birth is a study in God's ironic providence. The very river commanded to swallow Hebrew sons becomes the means of Moses's preservation. Pharaoh's own daughter draws Moses from the water, unknowingly rescuing the man who will dismantle Pharaoh's empire. Moses's mother is even paid to nurse her own son. The oppressor funds the deliverer's upbringing — a pattern that recurs at the cross, where the powers that crucified Christ become instruments of the world's salvation.
8. What is the theological significance of Exodus for the entire Bible?
Exodus establishes the fundamental categories of biblical theology: bondage, redemption, covenant, law, and worship. Every major theme of Scripture — substitutionary atonement, priestly mediation, the holiness of God, the mercy of God, the people of God — is dramatized in Exodus. The New Testament cannot be understood without it. Jesus is the true Moses, the true Passover Lamb, the true Tabernacle in whom God dwells with His people.
Key Theological Points:
1. God's Sovereignty in History
Exodus 1 opens with a political crisis that could have destroyed the covenant people — and God allowed it. This is not divine absence but divine strategy. Westminster Confession of Faith 5.1 affirms that God "doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least." The rise of a hostile Pharaoh, the suffering of Israel, and the birth of Moses all fall within God's sovereign ordering of history toward His redemptive purposes.
2. The Pattern of Redemption
Exodus establishes the redemptive pattern the entire Bible follows: bondage, cry, divine intervention, deliverance, covenant. The Israelites cannot free themselves. They cry out. God hears. God acts. This pattern is completed and transcended in the gospel. As Calvin writes in his Institutes, the Exodus "was a visible and magnificent example of God's justice, power, and mercy toward His people." Everything in Exodus points forward to Christ.
3. Providence and Suffering
The suffering of Israel in Egypt is not evidence of God's absence — it is the context for His greatest display of power. R.C. Sproul notes that "God is most glorified in the depths of human need." The midwives' courage, Moses's miraculous preservation, and the growing desperation of Israel all serve a purpose that only the reader, looking back, can fully see. Christians reading Exodus learn to trust God in seasons of apparent silence.
4. The Text: Exodus 1:8–10 (NKJV)
"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.'"
Continue studying: explore the full Book of Exodus sermon series, or browse the complete Reformed Sermon Archive.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
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