Exodus 1:8  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.

We looked at the blessing of God when He rules. Now we see what happens when God is rejected.
The new king that rose up in Egypt did not know Joseph. The Pharaoh that was alive during the time of Joseph was not a God-fearing king. He trusted Joseph and the nation of Egypt and the surrounding nations were blessed because of Joseph’s faithfulness to God.
It is interesting how the next king did not know about Joseph.

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

God gave us His Word so that we could learn the important lessons that He has recorded for us. True history is important. When a nation chooses to ignore true history, it will suffer. Mankind was not unable to write at the time of Joseph. Man was created with all the necessary tools to communicate very effectively from the beginning. The problem was and still is that many choose either to ignore important facts from the past or they rewrite the history of the past.
If the new king of Egypt would have bothered to check the very recent history of his nation, he would have known who Joseph was and he would have known who the people of Israel were. He would have understood that they were not a warrior type people.
History shows us that pagan nations cannot get along with one another. We have the record of the Second World War which was fought because a pagan ruler named Hitler, believed in evolution to the extent that he believed that the “white” people were superior to all others. He also believed that the Jews were evil people who needed to be exterminated.
Hitler chose to ignore history. Had he listened to those who were saved at his time, he would have known that there is a true God Who created all things and that there is no such thing as a superior nation. He would have known that God loves all people and that His desire is for all people to be saved.
It is interesting how God changes the way a person thinks when they are saved. God has an order to all things. He has designed Creation so that the man is the head of the home. The man is also to be the head of society. He has also stated that man is to be subject to God’s authority. When a man trusts in God for salvation, he will begin to understand his place in society. There are those who are born with leadership characteristics. There are those, like Moses, who do not recognize their leadership capabilities and need to be encouraged to be what God created them to be.
In our text, the king of Egypt obviously assumed he had the capacity to be a leader. He had the support of the people. The people seemed to be just as ignorant as he was.
One of the things we learn both from the Biblical account as well as from the secular history, is that in the past rulers assumed to have divine powers and the people also accepted that lie. The Bible shows us that all ungodly leaders were fools. They made some very foolish choices, but their people seemed ready to follow those foolish choices.
We see that even king Saul, who was God’s choice as the first human king of the nation of Israel, was a foolish king. He was willing to waste the time and energy of the nation of Israel to chase after one man, David. David had proved to be a wise and important asset for the nation of Israel. David had killed a pagan powerful man named Goliath. The Philistines were pagan and they had a desire to take over more land and more people than they currently controlled.
God gave the nation of Israel Saul as their first king in response to their foolish request for a king like the nations around them. Had they chosen to follow Him, He would have given them wise leadership. David, the man God gave the nation of Israel as their second king was a wise king who was a great blessing to the nation of Israel. David was also in the lineage of the promised King and Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Back in our text, we see that the new king of Egypt assumed that the desire of the people of Israel was the same as his desire. He assumed that they would look for an opportunity to take advantage of them and take over Egypt. He did not want to be subservient to any other people. As a pagan man and as a pagan nation, he did not have any concept of the true God.
The true God has divided the land of the world into parts and He has separated the nations into their areas. He promised Abraham a parcel of land that had been occupied by others in the past. Abraham’s descendants had no interest in taking over the world. The nation of Israel today has no interest in taking over the world. The Jews were scattered over the world due to their rebellion against God. It was part of His punishment of them.
At this present time, He is bringing the Jews back to their homeland. He is doing this slowly and methodically.
As we see in our text, the ungodly do not understand God’s way at all. They have chosen to ignore the facts and they have chosen to believe the lies of the devil.
It is important for us today to look at God’s Word and learn from what He has written for us. As we see in the history of the nation of Egypt, they suffered greatly at the hands of this next king because he was too careless to pay attention to God’s Word. The nation of Egypt lost much because of their foolishness. God gave us His Word so that we could avoid the lies of the devil.
It is important for God’s people to take our direction from God through His Word. We need to be careful to examine all our thinking in the light of God’s Word. If we do not do that, we will be a part of the problem, rather than the solution. If we will listen to God’s Word, we can help others to see the blessings of knowing Him and following Him. The Bible gives us the past for our learning. God gives us a glimpse into the future to warn us of the trouble that is ahead. God also gives us the promises of a glorious future for those who know Him and trust in Him.
Pastor Bartel