Exodus 2:23
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
After the king who had sought Moses' life died, Israel remained under long, cruel bondage with hard servitude and anguish, and they sighed and cried out by reason of that bondage until their cry came up unto God. God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and looked upon them with respect, for the time for their deliverance had come. He answered with a strong hand and outstretched arm to bring them out to Himself as His peculiar treasure, working through Moses and Aaron with angels enabling them and with plagues upon the Egyptians. They had been permitted to fall into slavery to an idolatrous nation because they dishonored Him by transgression and apostasy and imitation of nations without God, and He let distress turn them back to choose His rule and obey Him, so their oppression did not mean He had forsaken them. Their prayers that long seemed unanswered were heard and answered in His own time, and as their cry for deliverance came before Him so the cries of the saints and of all held in cruel bondage rise to heaven, and He punishes the nation and the professed Christians guilty of the sin of slavery until the land drinks the dregs of His fury.
Israel's Bondage and Cry
In process of time the king of Egypt who had sought Moses' death died, and it was another Pharaoh who was ruling when Moses was sent to seek Israel's release. After years and a long period of bondage Israel endured hard servitude and oppression with cruel abuse and deprivation, lamenting and wailing in anguish over their suffering. Their children had been put to death, and their grief and crying to God arose from that oppression. That hard bondage proves false the saying later heard in the wilderness that it had been well with them in Egypt.
Israel had been permitted to go into bondage and was punished with slavery to an idolatrous nation because they did not walk in God's ways but dishonored Him by continual transgressions. They had departed from the worship of the true God and transgressed His law by apostasy, imitating the customs of nations without knowledge of God, as had been shown to Abraham in vision that his posterity would become bondmen through apostasy. Under oppression and hard servitude they could not keep God's Sabbath, and by long mingling with an idolatrous nation their faith became confused and corrupted. Many had lost the knowledge of the true God, while some still worshiped Him. The faithful sought freedom not only from oppression but also from the idolatry and corrupting influence around them, yet they expected release without suffering and lacked the faith and patience to endure affliction while waiting for God to act.
Their sighing, grieving, and earnest crying by reason of the bondage was a humbling in which they acknowledged God's dealings and pleaded for deliverance from the oppressive yoke. In that cry they promised to serve God and be obedient to His law if He would break the yoke off them. God allowed the suffering so that distress would turn them back to Him to choose His righteous and merciful rule and obey His requirements, so their oppression did not mean He had forsaken them. Their long grief over bondage prepared them to hear Moses' message that God had seen their affliction and would bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Their prayers may have seemed unanswered for a long time, but God heard them and answered in His own time.
God Heard and Delivered
Their sighing and crying and groaning under bondage rose up to God and reached heaven before Him, joining oppression to a cry for help that God hears. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and looked upon the children of Israel and had respect unto them, remaining mindful of His covenant and not forsaking them. The appointed time for Israel's deliverance had come, and He mercifully answered their anguished prayers, even after their children had been put to death and their prayers had long seemed unanswered, in a most wonderful manner with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm in His own time.
He answered by bringing Israel forth from Egypt to take them to Himself as His peculiar treasure and treasured people in covenant, a blessing first conferred because Abraham was faithful in keeping God's commandments, promising to take them as His people and lead them to a good land. He wrought through Moses for their deliverance, sending Moses and Aaron to deliver them, with angels of God attending those representative men to enable them to execute His will, to preserve them, and to bring plagues upon the Egyptians.
His purpose was to accomplish the deliverance in a manner to pour contempt on human pride, with the deliverer going forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand, and God making that rod the symbol of His power. That deliverance displayed His power against oppression and His protection of the righteous, and helped preserve the people from abandoning God and His law.
Later Cries and Warnings
As Israel's cries for deliverance from bondage came up before God, so the saints' day-and-night cries for deliverance likewise come before Him. In the final time of trouble God's people flee from cities and villages while the wicked pursue them and enter houses with swords to kill them. God breaks the raised swords powerless as straw. God's people cry day and night for deliverance until their cry comes up before God.
The cries, groans, agony, and sufferings of people held in cruel bondage rise to heaven to God. Angels stand amazed at the hard-hearted, untold, agonizing suffering that man made in the image of his Maker inflicts on his fellow man. The guilt of oppressors is recorded in blood, crossed with stripes, and flooded with burning tears of suffering. God punishes the nation guilty of the sin of slavery, and His anger burns against a nation that practices slavery. His anger burns especially against professed Christians who hold slaves and cruelly oppress them day by day, and will not cease until He has caused the land to drink the dregs of the cup of His fury, and in the day of the execution of His judgment it will be more tolerable for heathen and papists than for such cruel professed Christians. Slavery long continued is a curse to the nation that allows it, and His scourge falls even on those who have long submitted to letting slavery exist and letting their fellow men be held in hopeless slavery, tyrannized over and tortured and treated as no more than brutes.
The verse shows the same work for the colored people in America, for as the cry of suffering of the children of Israel in bondage in Egypt came up to God and He delivered them with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, so God delivered them from slavery. He then placed upon the people of this nation the responsibility of uplifting them and placing them in a position where they could help themselves. The many years during which that work ought to have been done and was left undone leave the field in barrenness as an open rebuke to those who could have helped. Association with the ungodly and unbelieving will have the same corrupting influence upon those who believe present truth as mingling with idolaters had upon Israel, unless they keep the Lord ever before them so that His Spirit shall be their shield.