During those many days the king of Mizraim (Egypt) died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to G-d. And G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. G-d saw the people of Israel–and G-d knew.
Exodus 23:23-25 ESV
Let’s tease this one out a bit at a time:
During those MANY days…
That is to say, those days were not merely a few; the time between Moses’ fleeing Egypt and his return was 40 YEARS (Acts 7:30). That is more than my lifetime, and more than half of some of your lifetimes. This process is over in a few chapters for us, but for the sons of Jacob, this process was like the pulling of saltwater taffy, or the long drawn-out process of forging a strong sword. Think Glamdring, or Narsil. Over and over the machine turns, and the taffy is stretched farther and farther. Over and over the hot steel is reinserted into the flames and the bellows inserts more air into the process, stoking the coals that much hotter, to the place where more and more impurities are removed, yielding a weapon that will not yield when the battle gets hot and long.
the king of Egypt died
This says that the breaking point was the one who already had a motive for killing Moses died. At that point, and at no other point.
and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.
Finally, the Scriptures record, Jacob’s seed groaned. Even in the bowels of a slave, something within intuitively, instictively knows when enough damage has been done. This is a moment of stillness in the bondage, a moment to ponder because of the death of the Egyptian monarch. Maybe they will let us go finally. No Pharaoh to drive a building program, and no need to drive the engine of this Ruler empire. And, in this moment, the groan and the sighs are released.
Their cry for RESCUE from slavery
They did not just want relief. Isaac’s born wanted someone to rescue. They wanted deliverance. They may have not fully understood the implications, because they were being beaten in the brickyard, and building Pithom and Rameses, but they cried for RESCUE. Something deep within the spirit of even the most broken slave knows that slavery is not right, and that LIBERTY is right.
Came up to G-d
It arose as incense to the ears of the One who could rescue them. G-d’s heart as Father is for rescue. He is a compassionate Father. He is an affectionate Father. He is a tender-hearted, not-distant, Father.
And G-d heard their groaning
It was in the moment of temporary transition, when the King of Egypt died, that the King of Kings, the Man of War, heard the groanings of his יחיד.
Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.”
And G-d remembered his covenant with his friend, his חיד, and his son, and at that moment of stillness, the plan of rescue went into motion. And of all the people, G-d selected the man who lied about a speech impediment (more on that later), and who really did not want the job. But G-d would not pick someone that was not able to communicate deeply the nature of G-d. G-d wanted this unconfident Exhorter who was blocked and found himself on the backside of the desert in the Arabian Peninsula (Galatians 4:25), who could communicate the nature of G-d to this generation of slaves. That is what it takes to break the back of slavery. An Exhorter.
And G-d didn’t remember his covenant the way a man who forgot his appointment with his doctor suddenly remembers. I say that when the text says, “G-d remembered his covenant”, what it really seems to be saying is that “G-d mentally, emotionally, and with the fullness of His Spirit dwelt on and obssessed over it.”
He brooded over it, just as the Sun of Righteousness arises and flutters over a sick, infirmed situation with healing in His wings, and just as the Ruach Ha-Kodesh fluttered over the chaotic, turgid maelstrom of defilement in the gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 (see what I did there?). He brooded over the desolation of tohu ve bohu.
He brooded and knew. It occupied his thoughts deeply. And who thinks more deeply and comprehensively about the release than Father. He thought of the days when a generation of sons would RISE from a generation of slaves, and of the days when He would be the one to RAISE them up.
And here is one of the reasons Deuteronomy is my favorite book of all and is the heart of the whole testament. Here is one of the reasons Deuteronomy governs the whole canon, and why you should get INTIMATE with this book:
and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
Deuteronomy 1:31
Father heart of G-d, gang. Period. Eat that, breathe that, live that. There is a compassion in the FATHER heart of Father G-d.
He is the G-d who remembers his covenant.