Exodus 3:9, commentary and pictures

God has surely heard the cry of Israel by reason of their taskmasters, has seen the hard servitude and cruel oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them, and knows their affliction and sorrows with pity, and the time for their deliverance has come. He has come down to deliver them by His own mighty power from bondage into a good and large land flowing with milk and honey, to free them to serve Him and know that He is the Lord, and to make known His holiness, grace and love as superior to every false deity. On that ground He commissioned Moses at the burning bush at Horeb, where Christ as the Light of the world was revealed, to go to Pharaoh and bring forth His people, a work hopeless by human standards to be done only by trusting God's power and obeying His commands. Moses was made ready for that sending by forty years keeping sheep in Midian, where faithful, tender shepherd care taught him to become a patient, humble and loving spiritual shepherd until his staff became the rod of God. That same seeing and pity bends toward downtrodden sufferers now, hearing every groan and observing every oppressor, holding nations accountable for the agony of the enslaved, and laying even greater obligation on His people to take up the long-neglected work for the colored people of the South with whole-souled missionary effort after Christ's example.

Call at Horeb

The words were spoken to Moses at the mountain of God, even Horeb, out of the burning bush where the angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire in a bush that burned and was not consumed while he was leading the flock of Jethro in the desert. In that flame Christ as the Light of the world was revealed to Moses, appointed to show that Jehovah is superior to every false deity. Moses himself later recalled that encounter as the beginning of his work for God.

At first Moses was not ready to do the work by force and might. He slew an Egyptian and hid him in the sand, expecting Israel to recognize him as deliverer and trying to begin in a hurry. He could not do it directly from the king's court even as prospective ruler of Egypt.

God therefore sent him away for forty years to keep sheep in Midian in the rocks and mountains and desert, patiently hunting stray sheep. There retirement taught him self-control, humility, obedience, faithful care-taking, thoughtfulness and tender solicitude as a shepherd. That discipline made him a tender, patient, loving and faithful spiritual shepherd of Israel, after his earlier training as a general. Only after forty years as a faithful shepherd amid humble duties was he trained and ready to be sent, until he exchanged the shepherd's staff for the rod of God made powerful in signs and wonders for delivering His people from oppression and preserving them from their enemies.

On that ground God commissioned him, Come now therefore, I will send thee unto Pharaoh to bring forth His people Israel out of Egypt. The work appeared hopeless by human standards, but Moses could carry it out by trusting God's power and obeying His commands rather than by warfare or human wisdom and strength. Deliverance would come not by warfare as Moses had thought, but by God alone by His own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to Him. Angels of God were with Moses and Aaron, enabling them to execute the will of God, preserving them, and bringing plagues upon the Egyptians. In this way God had chosen Moses to lead them out when their deliverance was near.

God Hears Oppression

God has surely heard the cry of the children of Israel by reason of their taskmasters, has seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them, and knows their affliction and sorrows with pity. Life in Egypt was hard servitude with cruel abuse and deprivation that caused them to cry unto God and to lament and wail over their anguish. The time for their deliverance had come, and their suffering known to Him prompts His care and moves Him to deliver them.

That cry coming unto Him and His seeing the oppression proves He is in communication with the fallen inhabitants of the world. He is not regardless of the world and its concerns but bends toward earth and its inhabitants, listening to every word uttered, hearing every groan, listening to every prayer, observing the movements of everyone and approving or condemning every action. He is not regardless of His people but will punish and reprove everyone who oppresses them, raising up the fallen as the friend of all who love and fear Him and punishing everyone who dares to lead them astray from safe paths into distress as they conscientiously endeavor to keep the way of the Lord to reach the abodes of the righteous.

He has come down to deliver them by His own mighty power from Egypt and from four hundred years of bondage into a good and large land flowing with milk and honey, the place of the Canaanites and others. He will rid them from under the burdens of the Egyptians, redeem them with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments, take them to Himself for a people and be to them a God and make them His church, so they would be free to serve Him and know He is the Lord their God who brings them out. That response made known His holiness, grace and love to the idolatrous Egyptians, for Christ as the Light of the world revealed to Moses at the bush appointed him to show that Jehovah is superior to every false deity, and deliverance would come not by warfare but by God alone that glory may be ascribed to Him. Israel's bondage had followed disobedience, and long association with idolaters had left them blinded, degraded, corrupted, their minds beclouded in faith and almost destitute of knowledge of God through practicing idolatry, yet many among the downtrodden people were righteous and steadfast.

That same seeing and pity belongs to downtrodden sufferers now, for He undertakes their cause while they are still degraded, downtrodden and suffering. It belongs no less to the colored people in the Southern States, who in one sense have been freed from slavery yet remain in the slavery of ignorance, living in sin and degradation in the shadow of Christian doors through cruel neglect, and to souls of the African race that may be won to serve Him. Much is due to them from white people because white people held them in servitude, kept them in ignorance, debased and brutalized them and broke up marriage and family, so after so great a wrong God's people are under obligation, even greater obligation, to take up the long-neglected work of lifting them up and saving them and carrying the truth to them of all classes, for they have souls to save as well as others. That work is to be earnest whole-souled medical missionary effort after Christ's example of constantly going about doing good, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. Those who preach the truth must first gain the faithful shepherd's experience in care-taking, thoughtfulness and tender solicitude for the flock and drink at the life-giving fountain themselves in order to lead souls to it.

The verse applies to enslaved people whose cries and agony rise to heaven. Their bondage and torture are sins for which God holds the nation accountable.