Exodus 2:23
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
After a long time, the king of Egypt died.
This phrase indicates a significant passage of time since the events of Exodus 1, where the Israelites were first subjected to harsh slavery. The death of the Pharaoh marks a potential turning point in the narrative, as it often did in ancient Near Eastern cultures, where a change in leadership could lead to shifts in policy or treatment of subjugated peoples. Historically, the identity of this Pharaoh is debated, but it is generally placed within the New Kingdom period of Egypt, possibly during the reigns of Thutmose III or Ramses II. The death of a king could also symbolize the end of an era of oppression, setting the stage for divine intervention.

The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery,
The groaning and crying out of the Israelites reflect the intense suffering and oppression they experienced. This language emphasizes the severity of their bondage and the desperation of their situation. In the cultural context, groaning and crying out were common expressions of distress and were often directed towards deities in hopes of relief. This phrase also highlights the fulfillment of God's earlier prophecy to Abraham in Genesis 15:13, where God foretold that Abraham's descendants would be enslaved and mistreated in a foreign land.

and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
This part of the verse underscores the theological theme of God hearing the cries of His people. The idea of prayers or cries ascending to God is a common biblical motif, suggesting that God is attentive and responsive to human suffering. This sets the stage for God's intervention and the subsequent deliverance of the Israelites, which is a central theme in the book of Exodus. Theologically, this anticipates the role of Jesus Christ as the ultimate deliverer, who hears the cries of humanity and provides salvation. The cry for deliverance also connects to other scriptural instances where God responds to the oppressed, such as in Psalm 34:17 and James 5:4.

Persons / Places / Events
1. King of Egypt
The Pharaoh who had enslaved the Israelites. His death marks a significant turning point in the account.

2. Israelites
The descendants of Jacob, living in Egypt under harsh slavery, longing for deliverance.

3. Egypt
The land where the Israelites were enslaved, representing a place of oppression and suffering.

4. Bondage
The state of slavery and oppression experienced by the Israelites, prompting their cries to God.

5. God
The Almighty who hears the cries of His people and is about to act on their behalf.
Teaching Points
God Hears Our Cries
Just as God heard the Israelites, He hears our cries today. We can be assured that our prayers and pleas do not go unnoticed by Him.

The Timing of God
The Israelites waited a long time for deliverance. God's timing is perfect, even when it seems delayed to us. Trust in His timing and plan.

The Role of Suffering
Suffering can lead us to a deeper dependence on God. The Israelites' bondage led them to cry out to God, which initiated their deliverance.

Hope in Oppression
Even in the darkest times, there is hope. The Israelites' situation seemed hopeless, yet God was preparing their deliverance.

God's Faithfulness to His Promises
God had promised deliverance to Abraham, and He was faithful to fulfill it. We can trust in God's promises to us today.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the death of the Pharaoh signify a change in the account for the Israelites, and what does this teach us about God's timing?

2. In what ways can we relate the Israelites' cries for help to our own experiences of calling out to God in times of distress?

3. How does understanding God's response to the Israelites' cries in Exodus 3:7-10 encourage us in our prayer life?

4. What can we learn from the Israelites' experience about maintaining hope and faith during prolonged periods of suffering?

5. How do the themes of bondage and deliverance in Exodus 2:23 connect to the New Testament understanding of spiritual freedom in Christ?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 15:13-14
God's prophecy to Abraham about his descendants being enslaved and mistreated in a foreign land, which sets the stage for the events in Exodus.

Exodus 3:7-10
God's response to the cries of the Israelites, where He reveals His plan to deliver them through Moses.

Psalm 34:17
The assurance that God hears the cries of the righteous and delivers them from their troubles.

James 5:4
The cries of the oppressed reaching the ears of the Lord, emphasizing God's awareness and justice.

Revelation 6:10
The cries of the martyrs for justice, paralleling the Israelites' cries for deliverance.
Moses and ChristJ. Orr Exodus 2:1-25
The Long ExileJ. Orr Exodus 2:15-23
A Groaning Israel and an Observant GodD. Young Exodus 2:23-25
Death IndiscriminatingT. De Witt Talmage.Exodus 2:23-25
God Hears the Cry of His Suffering ChildrenD. L. Moody.Exodus 2:23-25
God Remembered, RemembersProf. Gaussen.Exodus 2:23-25
LessonsJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 2:23-25
The Bitter Cry of Israel HeardG. F. Pentecost, D. D.Exodus 2:23-25
The Bondage of the IsraelitesW. Landels, D. D.Exodus 2:23-25
The Hour of HelpJ. Orr Exodus 2:23-25
The King Dying, the People Suffering, God ReigningJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 2:23-25
The King's DeathG.A. Goodhart Exodus 2:23-25
People
Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, Zipporah
Places
Egypt, Midian, Nile River
Topics
Ascended, Bondage, Course, Cried, Cry, Crying, Died, Dieth, During, Ears, Egypt, Grief, Groaned, Israelites, Pass, Period, Process, Reason, Rose, Service, Sigh, Sighed, Slavery, Sons, Weight
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 2:23

     5230   beggars
     5246   captivity
     5418   monotony
     5562   suffering, innocent
     5569   suffering, hardship
     6701   peace, search for
     8224   dependence
     8610   prayer, asking God

Exodus 2:23-24

     5522   servants, work conditions
     6688   mercy, demonstration of God's

Exodus 2:23-25

     5078   Abraham, significance
     5196   voice
     6160   fathers, sin of
     8614   prayer, answers
     8670   remembering

Library
The Ark among the Flags
'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Home as a Stewardship.
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."--EXODUS II., 9. "For look, how many souls in thy house be, With just as many souls God trusteth thee!" The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A steward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a certain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his authority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act according to the will of his
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8.
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father,
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending;
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Adoption
'As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:12. Having spoken of the great points of faith and justification, we come next to adoption. The qualification of the persons is, As many as received him.' Receiving is put for believing, as is clear by the last words, to them that believe in his name.' The specification of the privilege is, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' The Greek word for power, exousia, signifies
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant).
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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