7: Oh Lord, Why Have You Done Evil (Exodus 5:22)
Welcome to hearing God in scripture, where we sit down and just learn to, go through the Bible and hear from God. And, I sit down here with Joel, and we just talk. It's a it's a great time. Please remember to like and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and, let's get into it.
Joel:Alright. And today's title is, oh lord, why have you done evil? That's found in Genesis chapter excuse me, Exodus chapter five verse 22.
Austin:Alright. Let me open my Bible.
Joel:Right. Right. And that's what we're gonna look at. So we'll read that verse and then put some context to it. Again, how do we read this, and why do I stop here?
Joel:Because the next verses in beginning of chapter that's the last verse in chapter five, by the way. Well, there's 23, but I'll I'll connect them. And, but chapter six starts God's answer to this, but it's important to address what happens before God answers because we, as we'll see, get into that situation all the time, and we need to wrestle with it. That's what's important so that we we we hear it and say, yeah. I say that.
Joel:I do that. That's what we're looking for.
Austin:Alright?
Joel:Okay. Let me read these verses. Exodus chapter five twenty two and twenty three says, then Moses turned to the Lord. Isn't that an interesting line? And said, oh, Lord, why have you done evil to these people?
Joel:Why did you ever send me? For since I came to pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to these people, and you have not delivered your people at all.
Austin:Is yours different? No. It's just interesting. It yeah. It's the last verse, but it also splits it up kinda weird.
Austin:It's Right. Split up in my bible in verse two. Right. Right.
Joel:Right. And I can understand that because but I'm still leaving out God's answer to Moses because because I wanna address this issue. I think that's what's important. And and let's put it in context. And remember, when you start looking at a passage, one of the first things you wanna do is say, now remember the situation.
Joel:What's the context? Because you could put this one in several different contexts. And here, this is remember, Abraham is called from the Ur of the Chaldeans, goes to Israel, the promised land, Canaan, and and then god, blesses him eventually. He has a son, and he God promises to give him the land. And he has a son.
Joel:All that stuff happens. Long story. Jake Isaac comes along, his son. And then and Jacob comes along. And the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is that I'm gonna give you this land.
Joel:In fact, I'm gonna restore this land to you. Even back in Genesis chapter 15, the promise of God, he says his promise says, I'm going to give you this land, but first, I'm gonna I mean, you're gonna be enslaved in Egypt for a hundred for four hundred years, and then you'll come back. And that's where we're at. Right at this moment, as we know, if we've read back in the scripture, we have the promise. And now the children of Israel went down with Joseph.
Joel:You know? They went down to Egypt, and they're enslaved in the in Egypt because they became numerous and became a threat to the Egyptians.
Austin:Oh, okay. So Yeah. I never really I haven't thought about that if I ever have, why they became enslaved.
Joel:Right. Well, yeah, it says in the beginning of, Exodus that some pharaoh came along, some king of Egypt. That's what pharaoh means. And he didn't know Joseph. Didn't know what Joseph did for the nation.
Joel:And but the Israelites got very numerous. They got started to become a a large group of people, and the Egyptians got afraid of them. That's usually and that's an important issue because it's usually why these slaveries and abuses and demeaning of people happens. You get afraid.
Austin:Yeah. It's like fear is a big thing. It's damaged people for sure.
Joel:And and we'll see what happens here because so these people are afraid, and then God you know, Moses does his thing and goes out into the wilderness for another forty years. So he's 80 years old when he's god calls him and recruits him at the burning bush, and he comes back. We talked a couple episodes about that. Yeah. And he comes back at God's as God has recruited him to deliver God's people.
Joel:And so in the beginning of this chapter, chapter five, that's that's where we're at. Moses go and Aaron go to Pharaoh and say, thus says lord of god, let my people go, and we have all that. In fact, he says, let my people go so they can go into the wilderness and and and give a feast to the lord and worship him. Three days. That's what or a three day journey or something like that.
Joel:I think it's three days out into the wilderness. And Pharaoh doesn't wanna do it. He's like, you're lazy. You guys are lazy. You know, you're just coming in here, and you're taking away from their work.
Joel:And think about what's hap because we're gonna deal with this issue. Let's let's go through to get to the place where we're talking about what Moses says first. So we'll then we'll go back and reflect on some of those things. K. First, Moses so Pharaoh hears this, calls him lazy, and then he puts this heavy workload on them.
Joel:And he says, you have to go get your own straw anymore, and you can't reduce the number of bricks you're producing. That's what's gonna happen. So he he does that, and then the the foreman get called in because they're not producing as many bricks. He's like, you guys did this to us. The the foreman say to pharaoh, you did this to us.
Joel:And he says, no. You're responsible. You're just lazy. And he has them beaten, and then they come out. And and I'm gonna show you another thing, and then we'll deal with it again.
Joel:It says, the foreman of the people verse 19. The foreman of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, you shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day. And verse 20 says, they met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh.
Austin:Oh, yeah.
Joel:And they said to them the foreman said to Moses and Aaron, the Lord looked on you and judge because you have made us stink in the sight of pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. Now we get to the part where the next verse is the one we read. Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, god, why have you done evil to these people? And remember, again, if we're gonna re read this and and deal with it appropriately, this is before any of the plagues come along, before Moses has demonstrated to Pharaoh. He did it with the people, but to Pharaoh that that god is with him and, you know, with the with the snake from his staff and with the blood Nile turned to blood, anything along those lines.
Joel:And, but Moses turns to god and says this, why have you done evil to these people?
Austin:He, yeah, he turns the blame on to god. Where else would it be?
Joel:Where else would it go? He's right.
Austin:Yeah. He's supposed to you know, God sent him
Joel:Right.
Austin:Right, to deliver the Israelites. And then if God is in ultimate control, that would be why he would turn and say that. Right?
Joel:Right. And and he uses the word evil, which can also be trouble.
Austin:That's what mine says. Right. Right. Cause trouble for these people.
Joel:Right. Right. Because evil's a little more uncomfortable.
Austin:I I think it's it's definitely got a little bit better. It's got better confusion for the reader
Joel:Right.
Austin:If you say evil.
Joel:Right.
Austin:It makes you question it a little bit more. Yeah. Like, god and evil in the same sentence,
Joel:really. That's an excellent point, and it should. I mean, the trouble should do the same with us. Right? Yeah.
Joel:Because we're uncomfortable with it. That's and and it's an important thing to say, wait. Wait. Wait. God, what are you doing?
Joel:And if you're the Egyptians or Moses I mean, excuse me. Not the Egyptians. If you're the Israelites or Moses, you would say, god, this is evil. You wouldn't just say it's trouble.
Austin:Yeah.
Joel:You're like, god, what is what's the matter with you? Mhmm. Now let's take a before we go back, because we're gonna look at what happens here. Before we go back, maybe we should go back first. Okay?
Joel:Because look at what pharaoh does. And you'd mentioned it. When we get afraid, we lash out.
Austin:Yeah. And you you don't you don't always think clearly too. Right? That's that's something that is a a learned skill. Right?
Austin:Is Right. Fear, thinking clearly.
Joel:Well, it it's I resist getting political.
Austin:Yeah. Let's not get political.
Joel:But it's it's helpful to see the way the different sides react to each other. Some reason why I can't watch any of the news, either side of the news anymore because I'm like, oh, guys. Cut it out. Because they don't react necessarily rationally. Mhmm.
Joel:And that's what Pharaoh's doing. Right? Yeah. Pharaoh's saying, oh, they're lazy. Well, they're not lazy.
Joel:They've been doing this, and he he's he's doing something. And I don't know that it's all fear. The first part was fear. Now he's in control, and he's power hungry, and he doesn't wanna give up his stuff. Yeah.
Austin:Well and and he calls them lazy because they can't produce more even though he put more on them. Right? Right. And
Joel:Right. And he calls them lazy before that because Moses says, hey. I want the people visual to come out. And, you know, god god says let them go so they can have this festival, which is not let them go so they can go to the promised land. Yeah.
Austin:I don't think I ever realized that easy either, you know, when I think back to what I know about this passage. I don't I don't remember him only asking for a couple days. Right. I don't I don't
Joel:I don't
Austin:know if that's talked about much.
Joel:Right. Right. You don't think about it. You say, because you think let my people go, and and that's really where God's going. And yet, maybe that's part of the answer.
Joel:We haven't gotten there. We're not going to God's answer. But part of it is saying, god's not just trying to deliver them for three days. He has a bigger plan. And and that's really where we're heading.
Joel:But first of all, you see that when God calls to deliver because I'm going back and forth. It's so hard to wait. So I'm not gonna wait because this is what we do. We are people who wanna be delivered. We go through terrible times, difficult things.
Joel:My son-in-law and my daughter both had a terrible time last night with sleep because their their new sun is teething. Oh, man. I believe that's what it is.
Austin:Yeah. It it has to be because he's he's great.
Joel:Right. He's great. Yeah, man. But sleep is not his, you know, forte.
Austin:Some comfort in that sleep. My goodness. Poor guy. Every time he woke up, he's crying.
Joel:Right. And you call out in some ways. I mean, that's a little thing, of course. What I mean, compared to other things. And, yeah, it's right in your face.
Joel:So you call out, god, deliver me. And we think of the deliverance from Israel as this is, you know, kind of salvation level deliverance that is Jesus saves us from our sins, and that is absolutely true and the most important thing we do. And yet we call out for god for deliverance for a lot of things in terrible situations. And think about, you know, men or women who go both ways who are in terrible relationships with their spouse, who, you know, they're like, oh, what's happening? I was talking to my friend yesterday about that.
Joel:And, you know, the deliverance needed there. Kids in terrible situations, people in war zones, financial just messes or anything. There's so much deliverance that that people call out, and and it happens all the time every day in every city in America
Austin:Yeah.
Joel:In the world for that matter.
Austin:Well, and every and everybody's going through something unique to themselves.
Joel:Yes.
Austin:Now everybody, a lot of it is the same problems everybody goes through, but it's unique to each individual and how they're feeling about it, how they react to it. Right? Right. Right. It's and it's severity depending on where you're at in life.
Austin:Right. Right.
Joel:And, you know, like the guy says, well, it's it's minor surgery when it's on you, and it's major surgery when it's on me. Yeah.
Austin:Yeah. Exactly. You know?
Joel:And so our trouble really messes with us. And and we turn to the Lord, and we want us and if you're too righteous, you don't wanna say, god, why are you doing this evil? Because you're like, oh, that's so hard to say, and yet you feel it. The Psalms talk about this all the time. They Very much.
Joel:Go and deliver you know? Yeah. Go go to God and tell him these things, and and don't be afraid to tell God. Just don't be closed to him when you tell him. Don't say, god, what's the matter with you?
Joel:People say, you know, why did you do this? Like, I'll I'll say that. You know? Yeah. I asked god, why did you do this?
Joel:And people say, you can't say that to god. Of course, I can say that to god. I'm not being closed when I say it. I'm really asking. And if I'm really asking if I don't really ask, then, yeah, it's it's a problem.
Joel:I'm just kind of accusing and without giving God a chance to talk, so to speak. But Moses goes and turns to God, and God's gonna answer. And he does in the next verse, which you're not even looking at. I know I know we should, but but the issue is that Moses does what we need to do. God, God God is and and he's right.
Joel:God brought this about. We think, no. Pharaoh did, and the foreman did, and God did it. God has a plan. It's not like he's not sovereign in this place.
Joel:Right?
Austin:That's true.
Joel:And and that's a big deal. And so what does it tell us? Because not only now let's backtrack because we're gonna say these things. So pharaoh doesn't react like we wish he would react. We sort of wish that the pixie dust would come down upon him like I said before, you know, and and everything would change.
Joel:Pharaoh would be utterly destroyed or he'd be repentant and say, yes. Yes. I'm so sorry. You know? And here here's the keys to the chariots.
Joel:You just take everything and go. But it doesn't happen that way. And it almost never happens that way. It doesn't happen the way we would expect. Deliverance god's deliverance is is different than we wish it were.
Joel:If we knew what god knows, we would want the kind of deliverance he's bringing and the way he does it.
Austin:Yeah. When suffering isn't always a bad thing.
Joel:Right. But it's really painful. It's painful. Because it's suffering.
Austin:Right. Right.
Joel:That's why we use the word. But, you
Austin:know, it's like parents I feel like people look at God and say, you know, why did you do that? Right? Why did you allow this to happen? Right. But we do the same thing as parents.
Austin:I'm not there yet because my kid's only five months old. But Right. We do the same thing as parents. Right? Is you want your kid to learn.
Austin:Well, how are they gonna learn if they never suffer a little bit? Right? You know, it comes with the territory. Right? You wanna learn lessons.
Austin:You have to go through things. Right. And you come out better on the other side. And, you know, thankfully, these Israelites came out better. Right.
Austin:Right. Kind of. Right. Constant struggle to get that done. Right.
Austin:Right.
Joel:And Moses does. And Moses is the one who turns to God and says, why have you done this evil to these people or this trouble to these people? And listen to what he says. He says, why did you ever send me? Yeah.
Joel:You know? For since I came to Pharaoh one time, he expected it to happen one time. Right?
Austin:Yeah.
Joel:And that's the important part. He just expected this to happen one time. He has done evilness to these people, and you have not delivered your people at all. That's what happens with our own calls. We expect God to deliver different than we do.
Joel:And when we call to him, even when he sends us to say, yeah, I'm gonna deliver you, gives us the promise, and we go in, and you're like, what is happening here? And maybe sometimes we give up too soon, and we don't really we don't even ask the question. You know, maybe we're too righteous, so we don't think we can't ask that question. And yet Moses asks it. David asks it repeatedly in the Psalms.
Joel:You know, it happens all the time.
Austin:Well and it's also funny because we know that God knows what we're thinking. So Right. Why not why not actually have the conversation with him?
Joel:And don't yeah. And have it for real.
Austin:And have it for real and not just be thinking about it in the background and stir up your anger or you you know, it's like, god already knows. Right. He knows the plan. He knows what you're thinking. So talk to him.
Joel:Right.
Austin:He knows how you feel, and he wants to hear from you. He wants to talk to you.
Joel:Right. And we're getting this in look at what happens. God sends Moses to deliver the people. God then the it then Pharaoh gets upset, which we what we're gonna expect? And to just say, oh, yeah.
Joel:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? And and the people don't like it because they're getting abused.
Joel:The four men are getting beaten. Well, I'm sure they're not gonna come out singing Moses' praises after this. You know? And then Moses complains, but we get sent to do this. We get called or we call on god to do his deliverance.
Joel:And in in either case, we often kinda get disappointed because it isn't happening the way we expected it. And yet, god is sovereign, and yet god is working.
Austin:And God knows best. He's God.
Joel:Right. I think it's it's still I that's why I think Moses' question is very important. I haven't even got to the answer of God because I wanna sit with Moses' question because we skip it, that we get to come and present our feelings to God and say, god, what are you doing? Yeah. Why are you doing this?
Joel:And and do it honestly and and and right before God, Moses turned to god, it says. Turned to the lord and said these things. And and he doesn't get it, and god is saying now let me teach you. I think that's what's gonna happen. No.
Joel:I haven't even read it because I I don't want to because I wanna sit there and say, let let us let us be people who do this. Let us be people who come before god and say, it's not happening the way I think it should, god. You're not doing what I want. Yeah. And I'm turning to you and saying, why are you letting this evil happen?
Joel:See that relationship with god? And it's gonna develop. It's gonna cause Moses to become this person who's much, much closer with God. Think about this story. He's only been recruited.
Joel:He hasn't I think we should put it in the terms of knowing God, known God very long since the burning bush.
Austin:Yeah.
Joel:And then he comes back, and now he's standing before pharaoh because God told him to. And this happens, and he goes back and turns to God. So he has his relationship. He knows he can come before God, and now he's learning all about God and how God works. This is such an important step in his journey.
Joel:It's not the step he expected. But more than just the Israelites need it, more than just pharaoh needs it, Moses needs it.
Austin:And God is using that situation to make Moses a better man?
Joel:A better leader. Yeah. Closer to God. All of that. And if we ask in the same way, in those real ways, we'll get the same results.
Joel:It's a powerful passage. Just then then when you're when it's going and it's not going well, turn to the Lord. That's the issue. Turn you know, if you're calling out, you're going through something terrible, some mess in your life, and and, and you don't get it, and you've called on God or you need to call on God, start there. Yeah.
Joel:You know? For deliverance and and then or even if you're used by God to bring deliverance to other people, because that's scary too. Right? And it doesn't happen the way you wish it would. Call on God.
Joel:Call on turn to the Lord. In the midst of it, you're like, God, what are you doing? Why are you letting this evil happen or this trouble happen to these people? You're not delivering them at all. That's when Moses becomes much closer to God, and and that's when we can too.
Joel:And when the real deliverance and the and the the unique things that happen in that journey where mo Pharaoh's heart gets hardened. It has to get hardened. So the people of Israelites see the power of God. See the plague. See all of them.
Joel:That's important for the people of Israel so that they know God in ways that they don't. They said, wow. Look at what God did. Look at what God did. So turn to God.
Austin:Turn to God.
Joel:And tell him the truth.
Austin:Well, I think that's a great place to end.
Joel:Yeah. I do too.
Austin:Hope you enjoyed it, and, we'll see you on the next one. Thanks.
