Exodus Chapter 1
The Fear Of Man Or The Fear Of God?!?
After the king of Egypt and Jacob died, and all of Jacob’s sons also died, a new king of Egypt took over. He didn’t comprehend the good relationship that existed between Egypt and the Israelites. All he saw was the Israelites were growing in great numbers, and felt they were a military threat to him and all of Egypt. It says he “dreaded” the Israelites. The Hebrew word is “koot,” meaning to abhor or dread with an intense disgust or hatredness. This could explain why the new king was so easily motivated to:
1. Force the Israelites into hard labor… slavery.
2. Put a plan together to ensure newborn sons were being killed. He commanded the midwives to kill any newborn sons but because they feared God more than they feared king Pharaoh, they disobeyed Pharaoh and not God. God protected the midwives.
What peer pressure, whether it be intense or not, do we feel compelled to give into? And why? Do we fear being rejected by our peers? Do we fear they will think we are not “cool” like “they are”? Or do we just love certain sin practices?
Fear is often a terrible thing but what do we fear most, rejection from our peers and government, or rejection from God? Let us not be so quick to disobey God and His desires for us so we can be accepted by this world while giving into sin.
