Sabbath: Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 28th of June 2025
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study
Exodus 1:1-22; Genesis 37:26-28; Genesis 39:2,21; Acts 7:6; Galatians 3:16-17; Exodus 2:1-25.
Memory Text:
“The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (Exodus 2:23-25, NKJV).
The book of Exodus resonates with accounts of the oppressed, the marginalized, the persecuted, the exploited, and the degraded. Thus, people today who feel abandoned, forgotten, and enslaved can find hope, because the same God who saved the Hebrews can save them as well.
The book of Exodus speaks to the existential battles of life and to the injustices and trials that are part of this life. Everyone can be encouraged by the stories of God’s interventions in favor of His suffering people. God hears the cry of the oppressed, sees their struggles, notes their tears, and, in their agony, comes to help.
God takes the initiative to deliver those who trust in Him. We need simply to accept, by faith, what He offers us. This is why the book of Exodus should be studied, for it points to what Jesus has done for us all. It is a book about redemption, deliverance, and final salvation—all of which are ours, by faith, in Christ Jesus and what He has secured for us.
In the midst of the turmoil and darkness, if our eyes are fixed on God, we can recognize His presence, care, and help as He guides us to the eternal Promised Land.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 5.
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The story of Moses is a lesson from real life and one of the most valuable lessons of survival. Moses as a hero of was born in difficult time when pleasing pharaoh was an important ritual as nobody opposes his ill adventure of killing male children. We discover that it is God who creates heroes of the faith with those who say “I Will” despite what the oppressors plan.
I look at these men of faith and I find out with satisfaction that they were people who made a difference with their lives despite the circumstances. The reason they made a difference during oppressive times is because they had a personal relationship with the LORD. Moses after surviving attempted murder lived his life in service to the Lord serving God alone. Moses becomes an example of an individual committed to the service of God .
He discovered later in his life what God was doing and then became involved in it, the result of this decision propelled Moses into becoming a hero of the faith. The man Moses is whom God chose to deliver the people of Egypt out of cruel bondage. He would become the man of the hour when it mattered most.
The story of Moses how he was rescued during genocidal decree, is one which inspires hope in a God who has power to save. Ironically, Moses was raised in the very same palace of the king who wanted him killed. Who can ever explain this irony where the hands that were meant to kill are the same hands that nursed and nurtured Moses! Truly God’s ways are not our ways and are far from human understanding (Isaiah 55:8-9). Moses’s rescue was not a random act but divine preservation for a divine mission. This story strongly reminds us of the redemptive power and love of God. This is a great story that inspires faith and hope in a God who can redeem any hopeless situation.
Amen. Very powerful indeed
Evidence, experience, and love that God provided for us by the life and times of the Israelites I am going to keep in mind as we study how the Lord has led, in the past, and will do for us as we face the future in these last days, as we can see being fulfilled right before our eyes. As the Israelites were admonished to stay with the Lord so are we. He has provided the evidence of His love, for his people, which is a great encouragement for us. We pick up the story of the descendants of Abraham, with Moses in a basket in the bullrushes on the Nile and his miraculous rescue from the wrath of Pharaoh.
No wonder some bible scholars calls EXODUS, The gospel according to Moses. A story of God's redemptive power in face of great persecution, typical of Christ's mission to save humanity
One thing I believe we should consider as we consider those who would oppress us is that we have far more to fear from within than from without. Jesus said to fear not those who can kill the body. This does not mean to say oppression is easy to bear. But no oppressor can separate us from the love of God. But we can separate ourselves and so be lost.
Thank God we know where we come from and where we are going. Without this reference, we surely get lost.
This mother has an amazing walk with God. The Nile crocodile is a fearsome predator. To put a screaming baby in a basket in the water was sure to draw predators. Yet the faith of his mother was sure that even though it appeared God didn't care for Abraham's offspring, she entrusted her child into the unseen hands of God. This faith went deeper. As she left her child in a basket in the reeds of the Nile River, she put the child in the care of his seven-year-old sister. Seven-year-old girls have an attention span of 15 minutes or less.