And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
God heard the groaning of Israel during its long enslavement in Egypt under cruel servitude, abuse and deprivation by masters who claimed control over soul, body and spirit. He was not indifferent to their anguish but heard their lamentation, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob, looked upon them and had respect unto them. The time for their deliverance had come, and in His own time He answered their prayers and mercifully freed them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. He did this by sending Moses and Aaron attended by angels to execute His will, bringing plagues upon the Egyptians and desolating Egypt to rescue His chosen people. He still hears the cries of people suffering under oppression, their suffering reaches heaven, and He answers with judgment against those who inflict it and punishment upon the guilty nation.
Bondage and Covenant Remembrance
The verse concerns Israel during its long enslavement in Egypt, where they endured hard servitude with cruel abuse and deprivation. Their masters treated them as if they had the right to control soul, body, and spirit. God was not indifferent to their condition and had not forgotten His oppressed people. He heard their groaning and lamentation over their anguish, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, looked upon them, and had respect unto them.
They had become bondmen to idolatrous Egypt because of transgression of God's law, apostasy, and departure from God's ways, as revealed beforehand to Abraham in vision. Oppression there hindered Sabbath keeping, and long contact with idolaters confused and corrupted their faith. The faithful cried to God for deliverance because they sought freedom from the idolatry and corrupting influences around them. Their elders encouraged them by recalling God's promise to Abraham and Joseph's prophecy that they would be delivered.
The people humbled themselves, acknowledged God's dealings, cried earnestly for deliverance from the oppressive yoke, and promised to serve Him and obey His law if He would free them and break off the yoke of bondage. Their cries reached heaven. God did not forsake Israel because of His covenant with Abraham, but allowed them to suffer oppression so that in distress they would turn to Him, choose His righteous and merciful rule, and obey His requirements.
Deliverance and Justice for Oppressed
The verse marks that the time for Israel's deliverance had come, and that in His own time God answered their prayers and mercifully delivered them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. He heard their groaning in bondage, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, looked upon them, and had respect unto them. Their long bondage and anguished prayers were followed by an answer that displayed His power both to vindicate His authority against wickedness and to protect the righteous by bringing Israel out of Egypt.
God answered by sending Moses and Aaron to deliver them, with angels attending those representative men to enable them to execute His will, to preserve them, and to bring plagues upon the Egyptians. He desolated the fertile land of Egypt to rescue His chosen people as His own, and in awful grandeur delivered them from the pursuing host so that not one who entered the Red Sea in pursuit was saved. Oppression in Egypt had hindered Sabbath keeping while long contact with idolaters confused and corrupted their faith, yet God heard Israel's cries in distress and acted to deliver them through Moses.
His purpose was to accomplish deliverance in a manner to pour contempt on human pride, so the deliverer went forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand, but God made that rod the symbol of His power. This led to Moses at Horeb, the mountain of God, where He who had revealed Himself to the fathers as the Angel of the covenant called Moses by name from the burning bush and declared Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God brought Israel out of Egypt in a most wonderful manner, took them to Himself as His peculiar treasure and into covenant, promised to be their God and make them His people, and to lead them to a good land.
That answer displayed His power both to vindicate His authority against wickedness and to protect the righteous, and Israel's later claim that it was well with them in Egypt was a falsehood contradicting their anguished cry for deliverance in lament and wailing over cruel abuse and deprivation. The verse shows God hears the cries of people suffering under oppression, that their suffering reaches heaven, and that He responds with judgment against those who inflict it and punishment upon the guilty nation. God in heaven hears the groaning and agony of people held in bondage and treated as no more than brutes, as He heard Israel in Egypt.
Their agony reaches unto heaven, and angels stand amazed at the hard-hearted, untold suffering inflicted by man made in his Maker's image upon his fellow man. He brings perplexity, fear, and His scourge upon those who allow fellow men to be held in hopeless slavery, tyrannized over, tortured, and murdered at will, and who crush out noble sympathy for the oppressed in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. Holding fellow men in slavery, severing the ties of nature, and cruelly oppressing them day by day with relentless inhuman tortures compares with the cruelty of papists and heathen toward Christ's followers. Those who weep over the martyrs while doing the same bear greater guilt, it will be more tolerable for heathen and papists in the day of the execution of God's judgment than for such men, and God's anger burns against the nation and especially against religious bodies sanctioning slavery and will not cease until He has caused the land of light to drink the dregs of the cup of His fury.
God heard the groaning of Israel during its long enslavement in Egypt under cruel servitude, abuse and deprivation by masters who claimed control over soul, body and spirit. He was not indifferent to their anguish but heard their lamentation, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob, looked upon them and had respect unto them. The time for their deliverance had come, and in His own time He answered their prayers and mercifully freed them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. He did this by sending Moses and Aaron attended by angels to execute His will, bringing plagues upon the Egyptians and desolating Egypt to rescue His chosen people. He still hears the cries of people suffering under oppression, their suffering reaches heaven, and He answers with judgment against those who inflict it and punishment upon the guilty nation.
Bondage and Covenant Remembrance
The verse concerns Israel during its long enslavement in Egypt, where they endured hard servitude with cruel abuse and deprivation. Their masters treated them as if they had the right to control soul, body, and spirit. God was not indifferent to their condition and had not forgotten His oppressed people. He heard their groaning and lamentation over their anguish, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, looked upon them, and had respect unto them.
They had become bondmen to idolatrous Egypt because of transgression of God's law, apostasy, and departure from God's ways, as revealed beforehand to Abraham in vision. Oppression there hindered Sabbath keeping, and long contact with idolaters confused and corrupted their faith. The faithful cried to God for deliverance because they sought freedom from the idolatry and corrupting influences around them. Their elders encouraged them by recalling God's promise to Abraham and Joseph's prophecy that they would be delivered.
The people humbled themselves, acknowledged God's dealings, cried earnestly for deliverance from the oppressive yoke, and promised to serve Him and obey His law if He would free them and break off the yoke of bondage. Their cries reached heaven. God did not forsake Israel because of His covenant with Abraham, but allowed them to suffer oppression so that in distress they would turn to Him, choose His righteous and merciful rule, and obey His requirements.
Deliverance and Justice for Oppressed
The verse marks that the time for Israel's deliverance had come, and that in His own time God answered their prayers and mercifully delivered them with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. He heard their groaning in bondage, remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, looked upon them, and had respect unto them. Their long bondage and anguished prayers were followed by an answer that displayed His power both to vindicate His authority against wickedness and to protect the righteous by bringing Israel out of Egypt.
God answered by sending Moses and Aaron to deliver them, with angels attending those representative men to enable them to execute His will, to preserve them, and to bring plagues upon the Egyptians. He desolated the fertile land of Egypt to rescue His chosen people as His own, and in awful grandeur delivered them from the pursuing host so that not one who entered the Red Sea in pursuit was saved. Oppression in Egypt had hindered Sabbath keeping while long contact with idolaters confused and corrupted their faith, yet God heard Israel's cries in distress and acted to deliver them through Moses.
His purpose was to accomplish deliverance in a manner to pour contempt on human pride, so the deliverer went forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand, but God made that rod the symbol of His power. This led to Moses at Horeb, the mountain of God, where He who had revealed Himself to the fathers as the Angel of the covenant called Moses by name from the burning bush and declared Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God brought Israel out of Egypt in a most wonderful manner, took them to Himself as His peculiar treasure and into covenant, promised to be their God and make them His people, and to lead them to a good land.
That answer displayed His power both to vindicate His authority against wickedness and to protect the righteous, and Israel's later claim that it was well with them in Egypt was a falsehood contradicting their anguished cry for deliverance in lament and wailing over cruel abuse and deprivation. The verse shows God hears the cries of people suffering under oppression, that their suffering reaches heaven, and that He responds with judgment against those who inflict it and punishment upon the guilty nation. God in heaven hears the groaning and agony of people held in bondage and treated as no more than brutes, as He heard Israel in Egypt.
Their agony reaches unto heaven, and angels stand amazed at the hard-hearted, untold suffering inflicted by man made in his Maker's image upon his fellow man. He brings perplexity, fear, and His scourge upon those who allow fellow men to be held in hopeless slavery, tyrannized over, tortured, and murdered at will, and who crush out noble sympathy for the oppressed in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. Holding fellow men in slavery, severing the ties of nature, and cruelly oppressing them day by day with relentless inhuman tortures compares with the cruelty of papists and heathen toward Christ's followers. Those who weep over the martyrs while doing the same bear greater guilt, it will be more tolerable for heathen and papists in the day of the execution of God's judgment than for such men, and God's anger burns against the nation and especially against religious bodies sanctioning slavery and will not cease until He has caused the land of light to drink the dregs of the cup of His fury.