Exodus 2:23-25 meaning

Exodus 2:23-25 not only serves as the introduction to a large section of the book of Exodus that describes the actual deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 2:23 - 12:28). This passage (2:23-25) also introduces the account of the preparation of Moses. God responds to the cries for help from His covenant people who are in bondage.

In Exodus 2:23-25, Israel groans under bondage, God hears their cry, remembers His covenant, and prepares to act for His people.

Of Moses's life among the Midianites, little is known. Exodus 2:23-25 returns to the main narrative of the history. It begins with a fact about the Pharoah who enslaved the Israelites (Exodus 1:8-11), sought to eradicate them (Exodus 1:15-16, 1:22), and who tried to kill Moses (Exodus 2:15).

Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died… (v 23a).

The king of Egypt died. Exodus does not say here how long the gap is between verses 22 and 23. It simply says that it came about in the course of those many days. But in Acts 7:30, Stephen states that it is 40 years. The expression those many days is a euphemism for 40 years. This would make Moses around 80 years old at this point, because when “he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel” (Acts 7:23).

It was now around the year 1486 B.C.

Israel was still in bondage. Given the fact that Moses was born after the enslavement of Israel began, Israel had been in bondage for over 80 years.

Exodus 1:1 - 2:23a has largely served as a prologue or backstory to the main events of Exodus. Exodus 2:23b-25 is the preface to those main events.

…And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out (v 23b).

During this period, the sons of Israel sighed (this could also be translated "groaned") because of the bondage (this could also be translated "labor"), and they cried out. Their cry for help because of their bondage did not go to a pagan god, nor was it simply crying with no idea who to cry to. It is strongly inferred that the sons of Israel cried out to God.

But the fact that it is inferred and not stated is part of an important absence in the text. Up to this point in the text of Exodus, the main figure has been conspicuously absent or only in the background. Who is the main figure of Exodus? Is it Moses? — No. It is God. (God and/or the LORD are mentioned a combined 443 times in Exodus.

But thus far in the text of Exodus, God has only been explicitly mentioned three times between Exodus 1:1 - 2:22. And the LORD has not yet been mentioned. And all three mentionings of God were exclusively in relationship to the midwives (Exodus 1:17, 20-21). God (nor the LORD) has not been explicitly mentioned in the textual recording of Pharoah’s enslavement of Israel, his attempts to massacre the male Hebrew babies, or the story of Moses.

This omission begs the question that Moses and every suffering Hebrew has been crying out for almost a hundred years: “God where are you? Do you see us? Do you hear our sighing? Do you hear our groaning? Do you care about our suffering? Are you even there?”

The sparse mentioning of God throughout these events shows how God’s perceived indifference lingers heavy upon the Hebrews. And it makes the Hebrews’ sighs, groans, and questions more palpable as we see their suffering. And like Moses, we do not see God as we look this way and that for His intervention (Exodus 2:12). God is not in this part of the text.

But God, though unmentioned, unseen, and unheard, has been with Israel in Egypt. Like a deep resonating chord, the missing tonic key is heard for the first time at the end of Exodus 2:23:

…and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God (v 23c).

The word for God is the name for the Creator—God (Elohim, Genesis 1:1). It is not the covenant name for God, which (as we shall see in Chapter 3) is Yahweh (or simply YHWH). This name is indicated in the NASB translation as LORD (note the capital letters).

Verses 24-25 describe God's response to the cries of His people.

So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them (vv 24-25).

In these two verses, the word God (Elohim) is used four times in describing His response to the sons of Israel’s crying out.

God heard their groaning. The word for groaning is used only four times in the Old Testament (here, Exodus 6:5, Judges 2:18, Ezekiel 30:24). It seems to signify physical distress, which the hard labor at the hands of the Egyptians would produce.

God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This does not mean that God forgot about His covenant. For God to remember is God acting on the promise(s) He has made.

God had promised Abraham:

“God said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.”
(Genesis 15:13-14)

The promise God had made to Abraham, extended also to Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 26:3, Genesis 35:12).

God saw the sons of Israel. Along with hearing and remembering, God saw His people. God is not blind or looking another direction. He sees the situation and is fully aware of their sufferings.

God took notice of them. The Hebrew for this expression is simply "God knew."

This repetition of what God heard, remembered, saw, and noticed is designed to emphasize that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not ignorant of the plight of His people nor unwilling to do anything about it. He is a God who sees our sufferings better than we do, and He is going to do something about it.

These actions of God ("hear," "remember," "see," "know") are indications of His faithfulness to His covenant people. The rest of the book of Exodus is a record of His faithful action on behalf of His people.