Forty years is a long time to think.
It’s hard to know what Moses thought during his time as a shepherd in Midian. He “threw away” his comfy life in the palace on what he might have thought of as a “foolish decision” to defend the Israelites. Maybe he kicked himself for failing in his role as a deliverer. Maybe he regretted ever going to visit his Israelite brethren.
The above thoughts are (I’m convinced) part of the seeds for Moses’ stubborn refusal to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go (Exodus 3-4). He begs to God to send someone – anyone – else, possibly because he thought he wasn’t good enough for the job.
But when God tells the people He’s going to deliver them, He usually chooses the most unlikely of candidates. In this situation, it’s the murderer-turned-shepherd octogenarian from Midian. Moses is going back to Egypt…he just doesn’t know it yet.
The last few verses of Exodus 2 are striking due to their repetitive nature. When Scripture repeats something, it’s usually for emphasis. Applying that same logic to Exodus 2:23-25, it’s clear that the Bible wants us to notice certain things.
First, that the Israelites were miserable. Twice in Exodus 2:23 it says they cried out to God, and twice more It mentions their bondage. Despite their later claims of wanting to return to Egypt (after the Exodus), the fact is that their life in Egypt was horrendous.
Second, God heard them. Four times in these verses, it says that God noticed their groanings. He saw them, He took notice of them, He heard them, and their pleas for help rose up to God.
But that’s not all that God did: He also remembered. Specifically, God remembered the covenant that He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
According to our Bible, the death of Jacob happened all of three chapters ago. Chronologically though, it was 400 years in the past. For Americans, that’s almost as long ago as when the first white settlers arrived in North America.
In other words, that’s a looooong time.
When it says that God “remembered” the covenant, though, it doesn’t mean He ever forgot it, it simply means that He’s enacting it. The time is right for God to act, so He acts. It’s as simple as that.
As the Text indicates, the covenant that God “remembers” is the one He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, to Isaac in Genesis 26:1-4, and Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15. It’s three-fold: To make of them a great nation, to give the land to their descendants, and that, in them, all nations would be blessed.
The time for at least some of those promises to be fulfilled is close at hand. God has decided it’s time to free His people from bondage.
