God reveals the importance of the Blood Covenant in Exodus 4:20-26.

....................Moses had ignored the circumcision of his first-born. He had been unfaithful to the Covenant.

..........While on his way from the wilderness to Egypt with the message God gave him about the Egyptians, Moses came face to face with death, "The Lord met him and sought to kill him."

Moses was called by God in the third and fourth chapters of Exodus.

........It includes the burning bush; God revealing Himself to Moses and His plans for delivering Israel.

............It tells of how Moses hesitated and God permitting Aaron to help him.

.................We see the power of Moses' rod where he performed miracles.

So God not only manifested Himself to Moses as the Covenant-keeping God; but also as the miracle-working God.

Hebrews 11:
"23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."

....................Both acts were based upon faith in God [the Covenant-keeping God].

Happy Birthday Jesus 2011

The second chapter of Exodus gives us the birth of Moses and his life until God calls him.

There are two facts:
.........the hiding of Moses as a baby at the river bank by his mother, and
.........later Moses' rejection of Egypt Neither were rash acts.

The persecution that Israel received is so great that they cried to the God of the Covenant for deliverance.

..........................He hears their cry and remembers His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

.................He comes down to deliver His people from their bondage.

Read Exodus 2:12-25 and Exodus 3:5-8

The treatment that the Israelites , as slaves, received from the Egyptians was sometimes horrible.

........................................The tortures inflicted on them and the commands to kill every boy or to throw the babies into the river was Satan's way to try and destroy them.

Israel's ability to increase in population was a part of God's plan for them and all the world couldn't do anything to stop it.

...........................................................The more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew.

Read Exodus 1:15-22

Then there followed oppression, enslavement and tyranny and cruelty:

...........................Exodus 1:11-14
"11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour."

Satan put fear into the heart of the leader of Egypt, a fear that the Israelites, who were so mighty in number, would join themselves to the enemies in time of war.

..........................Exodus 1:8-10
"8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land."

Satan tried to destroy 'the seed of the woman' [Eve] through whom Jesus was to come.

.................Now that the Savior/Redeemer has been picked as 'the seed of Abraham', Satan tries to destroy God's Covenant People, the Israelites.

So the calculating of this period seems to date from the promise to Abraham to the deliverance of the children, which makes 430 years that included 'and of their fathers'.

...................To the birth of Isaac was 25 years. From the birth of Isaac until the birth of Jacob was 60 years.

...............................Jacob was 130 years old when he entered Egypt. This amounts to about 220 years, add 210 to it and it make 430 years of sojourning from Abraham to the deliverance from Egypt.

In the 210 years the children of Israel; were on Egypt, they increased from seventy to over three million.

.........................The record shows that 210 years were spent in Egypt. This , on the surface, seems to be a difficulty with other passages such as Exodus 12:40
"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."

............The Old Testament translation of this reads:"The sojourning of the children and of their fathers which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt."

There are many statements in the Bible telling us of the miraculous growth of God's Covenant people, Israel.

............................Exodus 1:7
"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them."

The children of Israel thrived in the land of Egypt.

They were favored. The favor of God was on them.

The best of the land had been given to them.

......................God was keeping His Covenant with Abraham and the words that He spoke saying that his seed should be a multitude as the stars of heaven and as the sand upon the sea shore.

Genesis 45:8
"So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."

"For these two years hath the famine been in the land; and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing or harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance." Genesis 45:6,7

........God used Joseph to preserve His people.

................He overrules Satan and He brings good out of the evil throughout the ages.

God, the Covenant-keeper, remembered His promise to Abraham that He would make of him a great nation.

...............................To save His people, Israel, from destruction during the famine in Canaan, He brought them into Egypt so they could thrive and multiply.

After telling us about Abraham, the Book of Genesis gives us history of his immediate descendents.
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

All Genesis is centered around five names:
.....Adam, Chapters 1-5
.....Noah, Chapters 6-11
.....Abraham, Chapters 12-26
.....Jacob, Chapters 27-37
.....Joseph, Chapters 38_45

This Covenant people were also to be His testimony on the earth.

.................................The other civilization people had to pass through them to do their trading with each other.

..................God's people were to be a witness to them of the true and living God.

Through this Covenant people, God was going to send the Savior.

..................Genesis 22:17-18
"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

Genesis 17:7 "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

God entered into Covenant relationship with Abraham in order to preserve the Revelation of Himself on the earth which He had given to man.

.............Abraham and his descendants were to be God's Covenant people.

Israel was backed by this solemn covenant
.........that God had sealed on His side
.....by putting Himself in absolute bondage
to that Covenant.

Many times God said, "I am Jehovah, who keepeth covenants."

.............He is the Covenant-keeping God.

There was nothing that God could swear by except Himself.

.......................................They were bound together; all that God is and has belongs to Abraham, and all that Abraham is or ever will have belongs to God!

In Genesis 22:
15 "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:"

....Here was the foundation of that covenant.

Genesis 22:3-10 showed that Abraham was capable of the blood-covenant friendship with God.

................When God saw his spirit of devotion, the angel stopped his hand.

..........................Hebrews 11:
17 "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;......"

Abraham sacrifices Isaac