Exodus 2:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

NIV: During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

NASB: Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God.

CSB: After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor; and they cried out; and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

NLT: Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God.

KJV: And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

NKJV: 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.

The end of chapter 2 looks back at the situation of the fellow Jews Moses has left in Egypt (Exodus 2:24–25). The "many days" described here is a period of some forty years (Acts 7:30; Exodus 7:7). During this time, the king of Egypt who sought to put Moses to death (Exodus 2:15) had died. The slavery the Hebrews experienced (Exodus 1:11–14) continued and seems to have gotten even worse. The Jews responded in two ways. First, they are said to have "groaned," implying an expression of pain in their slavery. They complained or made a plea and God heard them (Exodus 2:24). Later, God would tell Moses He has "heard the groaning of the people" (Exodus 6:5) and planned to honor His covenant to help.

Second, the Hebrews prayed, and God heard that prayer. This "crying out" is an ongoing call, and it also took place on specific occasions (Exodus 14:10). This pattern would be repeated in the book of Judges, where the people would "cry out" when in trouble and receive the help of the Lord (Judges 2:16–19; 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6–7).

The plight of the nation of Israel, and God's response, are important when interpreting the Bible's stance on slavery. Modern audiences typically think of the pre-Civil War United States when encountering the word "slavery." This evokes racial, inhuman, permanent, inherited, lifelong, brutal drudgery: a concept known as "chattel slavery." This is exactly what the people of Israel are experiencing under Egypt, and it's a practice God will fiercely judge in the coming chapters. Not all servitude mentioned in the Bible is the same, nor is it all morally equal.

Exodus 2:23–25 briefly looks away from Moses and back to the people of Israel. Prior to Moses' birth, the king of Egypt began brutally enslaving the Jewish people. Most of chapter 2 was used to describe Moses' adoption by the Egyptian princess, his murder of an Egyptian bully, and his escape to Midian, where he settles and builds a family. In the meantime, Israel's oppression becomes continually worse. The Hebrews cry out to God for rescue; He has not forgotten His promises to them. The following words of Scripture reveal God's appointment of Moses to return and free Israel, through the miraculous appearance of a burning bush.

Amid an order from Pharaoh to murder newborn Hebrew boys, Moses' mother places him in a basket along the side of the river, staging her daughter there to observe. The Egyptian king's daughter sees the baby and has pity. Thanks to the presence of Moses' sister, the princess pays Moses' own mother to wean him. After this, he is raised in the home of Egypt's royal family. As an adult, Moses unsuccessfully attempts to hide his murder of an abusive Egyptian and flees to Midian as an exile. As Moses builds a family abroad, Israel cries out to God for rescue from the brutality of Egyptian slavery.

Exodus chapter 2 introduces the character of Moses, after describing the plight of Israel under Egyptian slavery. This passage provides a few interesting ironies. Primarily, the Egyptian king attempts to oppress Israel through infanticide; this very command leads to his own daughter adopting a Hebrew boy—Moses. Because of the intervention of the boy's sister, his own mother is paid to nurse and wean him. Then the Egyptian woman provides the Hebrew boy with support and education, essentially raising the future liberator of the very people her father seeks to control. After chapter 2 establishes Moses' exile from Egypt, chapter 3 will begin narrating his call to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity under the Pharaoh.

The book of Exodus establishes God's covenant relationship with the full-fledged nation of Israel. The descendants of Abraham prosper after settling in Egypt, only to be enslaved by a fearful, hateful Egyptian Pharaoh. God appoints Moses to lead the people out of this bondage. Moses serves as God's spokesman, as the Lord brings plagues and judgments on Egypt, leading to the release of Israel.