THIRD QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
JULY 18, 2025
"ROUGH START"

 

“For what if some did not believe?  Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3, NKJV throughout).  

At the heart of our lesson this week is the faithfulness of God and the choice to believe or disbelieve His word.  Faith is foundational to creation and the gospel.  “By faith the worlds were framed by the word of God.”  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Heb. 11:3, Eph. 2:8).  

It was by faith that Jesus overcame and was victorious.  His faith is our faith and His victory our victory if we do not refuse the gift.  “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).  

God is merciful and desires all to be to be saved, to be delivered from the bondage of sin.  His gift of salvation is granted to all, but everyone is free to accept or refuse His grace and mercy. Regardless of the choice to submit or not submit to God, all are destined to be instruments for His glory.  Let us keep this in mind as we focus on the primary players featured in this week’s lesson.  How did Moses, the enslaved children of Israel, and Pharaoh, each in turn, respond to the Sovereign God, their Creator and Redeemer?  What can we learn from their choices?

Moses

We have covered in our previous lessons the story of Moses’s birth and how through divine intervention he was adopted into the Egyptian royal family.  At Pharoah’s court Moses, as heir to the throne, received the very best education and military training to be had.  “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22).  However, the instruction he received from his godly mother during his formative years prevailed.  Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:25).  

Yet though he chose to cast his lot with the people of God rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 40-year-old Moses was not prepared to lead his people out of slavery. 

“He had to learn that the cause of God is never advanced by human methods…It was true that the Lord designed that the people of Israel should be delivered by the hand of Moses.  Moses himself knew this, and he supposed that his brethren would also understand the matter.  But they did not.  His attempt to deliver them was a sad failure, and the reason for the failure lay in him as much as in them.  They did not understand that God would deliver them by his hand; he understood that fact, but he had not yet learned the method.   He supposed that the deliverance was to be affected by force; that under his generalship the children of Israel were to rise and conquer their oppressors.  But that was not the Lord’s way.  The deliverance which God had planned for His people was such a deliverance as could not be gained by human efforts.” —E. J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, pp. 167, 168.

During the next 40 years as a shepherd, Moses learned meekness, patience, and compassion.  “In the solemn grandeur of the everlasting hills he beheld the majesty of the Most High, and in contrast realized how powerless and insignificant were the gods of Egypt.  Everywhere the Creator’s name was written.  Moses seemed to stand in His presence and to be overshadowed by His power.  Here his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away.”—E. G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 251.  

The lessons learned during those wilderness years fitted Moses for the role of leading Israel to freedom.  However, remembering his previous failure, distrustful of self, and seeing the human impossibility of fulfilling the divine calling, Moses was most reluctant to accept the commission.  One by one the Lord dealt with Moses’s excuses and concerns, so not daring to disobey, Moses went forward in faith.  

After he and Aaron met with the people, the two leaders went before the king of Egypt, but life became even more bitter for the Hebrews.  The reason for this involved the Sabbath. 

“Then the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work?  Get back to your labor.’  And Pharaoh said, ‘Look the people of the land are many now and you make them rest from their labor!’” (Exod. 5:4, 5).  

“In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of God’s law, and they had departed from its precepts.  The Sabbath had been generally disregarded, and the exactions of their taskmasters made its observance apparently impossible.  But Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance; and the efforts made to restore the observance of the Sabbath had come to the notice of their oppressors.”—E. G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 258.  

Their workload was greatly increased.  They must now gather their own straw.  When they could not fulfill the daily quota of bricks the Hebrew officers were cruelly beaten.  The Israelites then accused Moses and Aaron of trying to kill them.  “You have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Exod. 5:21).

Greatly distressed, Moses poured out his heart to God.  “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people?  Why is it You have sent me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all” (Exod. 5:22, 23).

God pointed his servant back to the covenant He had confirmed with the fathers.  The God who had commissioned him was the same covenant keeping God that he was to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What He had promised he would do!  God reminded Moses of six historical facts followed by four promises of what He would do for His people, both prefaced with “I am the Lord” (Exodus 6:1-8).  God thus reminds Moses that His throne is higher than any earthly potentate’s throne.  

Moses spoke God’s words to the children of Israel, “but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage” (Exod. 6:9).

Again, Moses was told to appear before Pharaoh with God’s message to let the children of Israel go.  “And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, ‘The children of Israel have not heeded me.  How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?’” (Exod. 6:12).

The LORD responded by saying that He would empower Moses and Aaron to stand before Pharaoh, “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.  You shall speak all that I command you” (Exod. 7:1, 2). God explained that Pharaoh would stubbornly resist despite many signs and wonders, but God’s deliverance would happen as promised.  “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them” (Exod. 7:5).

“Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the LORD commanded them, so they did” (Exod. 7:6).  This seems to be a turning point for Moses.  And though during the next 40 years, God’s representative will continue to encounter trials and apparent setbacks, his knowledge of God’s character of love and desire for His glory increases.  His faith in the great I AM grows!  Moses, a type of Christ, self-sacrificially loves, leads, and serves his flock.

The Enslaved Children of Israel and Their Oppressors

God’s purpose was to lead an enslaved people to freedom but from the get-go their tendency was toward unbelief.  The years of oppression had caused many to lose all hope. Through Moses, the Lord desired to more fully unfold the message of salvation to them.  

“During all the years of servitude in Egypt there had been among the Israelites some who adhered to the worship of Jehovah.  These were sorely troubled as they saw their children daily witnessing the abominations of the heathen, and even bowing down to their false gods.  In their distress they cried unto the Lord for deliverance from the Egyptian yoke, that they might be freed from the corrupting influence of idolatry.  They did not conceal their faith, but declared to the Egyptians that the object of their worship was the Maker of heaven and earth, the only true and living God.  They rehearsed the evidences of His existence and power from creation down to the days of Jacob.  The Egyptians thus had an opportunity to become acquainted with the religion of the Hebrews; but disdaining to be instructed by their slaves, they tried to seduce the worshipers of God by promises of reward, and, this failing, by threats and cruelty.  

“The elders of Israel endeavored to sustain the sinking faith of their brethren by repeating the promises made to their fathers, and the prophetic words of Joseph before his death, foretelling their deliverance from Egypt.  Some would listen and believe.  Others, looking at the circumstances that surrounded them, refused to hope.  The Egyptians, being informed of what was reported among their bondmen, derided their expectations and scornfully denied the power of their God.  They pointed to their situation as a nation of slaves, and tauntingly said, ‘If your God is just and merciful, and possesses power above that of the Egyptian gods, why does He not make you a free people?’  They called attention to their own condition.  They worshiped deities termed by the Israelites false gods, yet they were a rich and powerful nation.  They declared that their gods had blessed them with prosperity, and had given them the Israelites as servants, and they gloried in their power to oppress them and destroy the worshipers of Jehovah.  Pharaoh himself boasted that the God of the Hebrews could not deliver them from his hand.

“Words like these destroyed the hopes of many of the Israelites.  The case appeared to them very much as the Egyptians had represented.  It was true that they were slaves, and must endure whatever their cruel taskmasters might choose to inflict.  Their children had been hunted and slain, and their own lives were a burden.  Yet they were worshiping the God of heaven.  If Jehovah were indeed above all gods, surely He would not thus leave them in bondage to idolaters.  But those who were true to God understood that it was because of Israel’s departure from Him—because of their disposition to marry with the heathen nations, thus being led into idolatry—that the Lord had permitted them to become bondmen; and they confidently assured their brethren that He would soon break the yoke of the oppressor.” —E. G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp 199, 200.

Upon reaching Egypt Moses and Aaron met with the leaders.  “And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses.  Then he did the signs in the sight of the people.  So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.” (Exod. 4:30-31).

“But they were not yet ready to leave Egypt.  They were as yet but stony ground hearers of the Word.  They received it with joy at the first, but as soon as persecution arose they became offended.  If they could have left Egypt without any hindrance, and could have had an easy passage to the promised land, they doubtless would not have murmured; but ‘we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22). And those who do enter in must learn to rejoice even in tribulation.  This lesson the Israelites had yet to learn.” —E. J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, pp. 159, 160.

Waggoner goes on to point out that the Israelites needed to fully desire to leave Egypt and not return.  Additionally, they needed to see and experience the power of God.  The trials and hardships they were called to endure were intended for their benefit that they might lose all self-confidence and in simple faith trust themselves to God’s care and guidance.  

If they had only taken the lesson to heart, and partaken of the faith God wished to supply them with, their history would have been so different.

Pharoah

In the companion book to our Sabbath School Bible Study Guide the author points out God’s merciful dealings toward Pharoah.

“The Lord appealed to Pharaoh to let Israel go out of Egypt and graciously worked on Pharaoh’s heart to allow it… In God’s foreknowledge, He knew Pharaoh’s inflexibility and yet would do the maximum to draw him to Himself... At all times, the Lord does everything within His power to save people because He does not want the wicked to die as uninformed sinners.  His ultimate wish is that they repent and live (Ezekiel 18:30-32). — J. Moskala, Exodus, God’s Saving Presence, p. 33, 34.

“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.  So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.  For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raise you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (Rom. 9:15-17).  Commenting on this passage Waggoner writes:  

“One thing is certain: it does not teach us as is commonly supposed, that God brought Pharaoh to the throne for the purpose of wreaking His vengeance upon him.  It is astonishing that any professed Christian could ever have dishonored God by such a charge against Him.

“The purpose of God in raising Pharaoh up, or causing him to stand, was that He might show to him, and in him His power, and that His name might be declared throughout all the earth.  This purpose was accomplished in the destruction of Pharaoh because of his stubborn resistance.  But it would have been accomplished just as well, and much better for Pharaoh if he had listened to the word of God.  Pharaoh saw God’s power, but would not believe.  If he had believed, he would have been saved, because the power of God is salvation to everyone that believeth.” —E. G. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, 9.155.

“It should not be forgotten that God did not begin at once to send the plagues upon Pharaoh and his people.  He did not propose to deliver the Israelites by killing their oppressors, but rather by converting them.  God is ‘not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ 2 Peter 3:9.  He ‘will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.’  1 Tim. 2:4. ‘As I live saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’ Eze. 33:11. All men are God’s creatures, and His children, and His great heart of love embraces them all, without respect to race or nationality… It is well to note that it was the manifestation of the mercy of God that hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”—E. G. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, pp. 186, 187.

Knowing God is love, and that each is free to embrace or reject His Lordship, influences how we interpret the statement “God hardened Pharoah’s heart.”  If we say, “The mercy of God hardened Pharoah’s heart,” it is evident that God is not at fault.  Pharoah, himself, hardened his heart against the Lord’s mercy.

The Ultimate Deliverance

The story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt is a type of the deliverance of God’s people at the end of the age.  “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.  And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book (Dan. 12:1).  

Sunday’s portion of the lesson refers us to the following quote from The Great Controversy’s chapter on the French Revolution.  “Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands.  No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt.  When the message was brought to him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: ‘Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go?  I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go,’ (Exodus 5:2, A. R. V).  This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 269.  

It is helpful to keep in mind that the French Revolution, which gave birth to modern atheism, marked the end of the 1260 year prophecy and the beginning of the time of the end (1798).  “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him (the king of the North)” (Dan. 11:40).

The king of the South attacks the king of the North but he loses just as Egypt lost to the Lord of host.  And herein lies the great deception.  The king of the North appears to be the Savior!  Just as God stretched forth his hand against Egypt (Exodus 3:20), the king of the North stretches forth his hand to conquer all who do not embrace the counterfeit Christianity he enforces.  

We are soon to enter a severe crisis.  Great will be the final deception.  We will see the complete fulfilment of Daniel 11:40-12:1. The king of the North impersonates Michael.  But the real Michael, the real deliverer, will protect His people during a time of trouble such as has never occurred in Earth’s history.  The great Prince, who watches over His own, will preserve and deliver His faithful, loyal children.  (For other parallels between Daniel 11:40-45 and the Exodus the following link is helpful. Daniel 11:40-45 | Biblical Research Institute ).

The biblical book of Exodus is saturated with the beautiful theme of redemption.  As we read and study this quarter seeing the gospel as one seamless piece woven throughout the book will open our eyes to new vistas and give us an appreciation for gospel truths that are of utmost importance for those “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

*Note:  Waggoner’s book The Everlasting Covenant, along with Patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen White, are great resources for our Sabbath School lessons this quarter.

 

~Martha Ruggles