Racial discrimination is a problem that features strongly in our world today. There is the violence between Jew and Palestinian; we have even been made aware of the way that ghetto areas exist in some American cities following the way the spotlight was put on New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

We know from the letters page in the Echo that there are those in our society who are fearful and resentful of people from other countries who seek to come and live in Britain. The passage that we are looking at today reminds us that such problems are nothing new, because we are looking at the story of the people of Israel living in Egypt.

Lets remind our selves who they were. We are told in verse 1 that they were the sons of Israel. They were the descendants of Abraham. God had called Abraham and chosen to make a covenant with him, to make his descendants into a great nation who would be a blessing to all the other nations. The covenant continued through the generations to Isaac and then to Jacob.

God had given Jacob a new name; he had become Israel. Jacob had 12 sons, we know the story of how his jealous brothers sold Joseph as a slave and he went to Egypt. In Egypt he was destined to become ruler next to Pharaoh, through Joseph God warned and enabled people to prepare for 7 years of famine.

In due course, Israel and all his family moved to Egypt to survive the famine. They lived as immigrants in a foreign land, welcomed and accepted by Pharaoh, but living apart in a particular area, in Goshen. They were also known by another name; you find in the book of Exodus they are also referred to as Hebrews. Scholars tell us that name probably goes back to Abraham’s great, great, great, great grandfather whose name was Eber.

Abraham is referred to in Genesis as a Hebrew, the language of the people of Israel is also known as Hebrew. So the Hebrews or Children of Israel had come to live in Egypt. They had prospered there, Goshen was fertile, and it seems to have been in the area of the eastern part of the Nile delta. They increased in number. We thought last week of how the story of Joseph was an example of mankind working with God; an example of a wise, God fearing Pharaoh who provided for his people as well as for the children of Israel. It was an example of things being how they should be.

But as time went on, things began to go wrong. A new Pharaoh came to the throne. What Joseph had done for the nation was no longer remembered. The Israelites were no longer seen as welcome friends. Fear and suspicion began to creep in. Pharaoh began to see Israel as a threat to national security. He was afraid that they might take sides against Egypt if war came.

Notice though, that he did not want to get rid of them, he wanted to keep them under his control, no doubt because they made a vital contribution to the prosperity of Egypt. So their status changes. They are enslaved and put to work on building projects. The Egyptians began to exploit the Israelites. That pattern continues in instances of racial discrimination today.

The attitude of the Egyptians also altered. We are told they came to dread the Israelites. Mistrust, suspicion, fear; the same factors are familiar to us today.
But Pharaoh didn’t solve the problem; he just made matters worse. The Hebrews continued to multiply; their birth rate seems to have been far higher than that of the Egyptians.

Pharaoh stoops to greater depths. He orders the midwives to kill all baby Hebrew boys at birth. But this is where light and hope comes into the story. We are told that the midwives fear God. They know that there is a greater authority than the king of Egypt.

Once again, Pharaoh’s plans are frustrated. But he sinks even lower. He makes it the obligation of all his people to ensure that all Israelite baby boys are drowned in the Nile. It makes a depressing picture.

But yet these are patterns of behaviour that occur time and again in history, where nations or rulers turn away from the principles of love and justice. There are a number of actions that we see Pharaoh take that we need to be careful we do not take as a society.

I believe we need to beware of nationalism. Pharaoh clearly thought that Egyptians were superior to Hebrews. By nature, all people have the tendency to favour those of their own kind. But God is just to all. He particularly warns his people, after he delivers them from Egypt that they must not oppress strangers, because they know what it was like to be oppressed in the land of Egypt.

We also need to beware of exploitation. Thank God that slavery has been officially abolished; yet we know that in many parts of the world women and children are exploited as sex slaves. It seems likely that it is even happening in Britain. We need to beware of the way that we take advantage of the labours of other unfairly. It matters that people receive a fair reward for their labours. The market, which helps to balance supply and demand, is a help, but not a perfect way of transacting business, and the rules and regulations for trade need to be fair. For the world to become fairer in reality that will men those of us who have a lot having less so others with less can have a bit more. But no person or nation finds that sort of thing easy.

We all need to remember the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. If we are all his children, then the earth’s resources should be shared by us all. Although we also need to remember that God expects us to care for and use wisely the resources that are in our care. The man who buried his talent in the ground had it taken away from him.

We also need to beware of the dangers of letting mistrust and fear pervade society and become divisive. It’s important to talk to and listen to people from other races and backgrounds. It is when we do not do that that suspicion and fear set in. The danger is that fear and suspicion can lead to violence and terrorism.

Racism can still erupt into something just as terrible as babies thrown into the Nile; we’ve witnessed it in Bosnia, Rwanda and not so long ago Europe under the shadow of the Nazis. Sometimes we perhaps wonder why a God of love will allow the world he created to sink to the depth that it does.

Why does God allow the cruelty? Why does he not step in sooner? I do not want to give a glib answer to that question. But I believe we have to recognise that it is man’s pride and greed and inhumanity that is the cause of the suffering. We know from the New Testament that in order to defeat human sin and evil, in Jesus God himself became the victim of human cruelty.

There is a saying that goes ‘evil triumphs when good people do nothing.’ There is an encouraging aspect to our story. There are those two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. They defied the King’s orders. Sometimes God calls on us to take a stand. We may not be able to stem the tide of a society going in the wrong direction, but sometimes as individuals we can make a gesture that can give light and hope.

When we do that, God in his grace honours our actions. To stand or speak for the truth counts with the almighty, it also gives encouragement to those who are suffering injustice. God blessed those midwives. God always blesses those who courageously do the right, although for some it can mean terrible suffering.

The final thing to remember however is that ultimately; God will not let cruelty and injustice prevail. God will ultimately step in. The story of Exodus is about how God does step in. God is faithful to his promise; he is faithful to his people. God hears their prayers and he answers; he answers not according to their faith or according to what they deserve but according to his goodness and love.

God will answer our prayer too, you know. Although we may be up against things; God in his wisdom and love sees and knows. Jesus calls us to have faith in God.
 

Amen.

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