When Godly Men Are Not Replaced
Submitted by Ted Mock
January 8, 2025
Ex 1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Jg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
After the death of Joseph, there was no one with godly influence in the palace, and when a new king came on the scene, the persecution on God’s people began. The downward progression of the hardships the Jewish people would face in Egypt would be repeated in the book of Judges many times.
These three distinct things happened when the godly influence was not replaced:
The people were burdened. Ex 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. People who are burdened never experience true rest.
The people became bitter. Ex 1:14 And they made their lives bitter…. Any life without hope becomes a bitter life.
The people were in bondage. Ex.1:14 … with hard bondage... Bondage is slavery and without Christ there can be no freedom.
The final step in the downward spiral for the Jewish people in captivity would be the one that caused the people to cry out to God for deliverance.
Finally the king made a decree. Ex 1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. Baby killing was the end result.
Now, under a burden they could not bear, they cried out to God. Ex 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.
When they cried out to God three things happened in Exodus 2:24-25:
God heard their cry
God remembered His promises
God looked and saw their plight
The sad thing is that they waited for the bitterness of their burdens and their bondage to cause them to cry out to God.
That was the beginning of the deliverance of God’s people. Many years after Joseph, Moses was another godly man to emerge on the scene. He was born in the worst of times, placed in a basket, but God used him to bring deliverance.
Consider – One Who was placed in a manger will soon deliver us from all our enemies.
