Bible Questions #192 - 208

192. Jacob's family keeps animals, mostly sheep. How do the Egyptians feel about people who keep sheep? Gen. 46: 34

193. Jacob dies----how old is he? Gen. 47: 28

Joseph takes his two sons to Jacob--- just before Jacob dies. Jacob says that he will make Joseph's two sons as his own sons. Joseph's sons will be equal with Joseph's brothers and with Joseph. This means that they will get an equal part in Jacob's riches.

Joseph should have gotten one part of the riches---as one of the 12 sons.

But instead of giving Joseph his part----Jacob takes Joseph's part and gives two parts to Joseph's sons. So in a way, Joseph gets two parts (because of his sons)----Joseph gets a double part. Gen. 48:22

In the future, when the tribes are called by name, there is no tribe of Joseph.

Instead, there are two more tribes---Manasseh and Ephraim. That makes 13 names for tribes.

In the future, God will choose the tribe of Levi to be the priests. This tribe will not get any land for their own. They will live on the gifts of offerings the people bring to the temple. The tribe of Levi are given land to live on, but not the large areas of land the other tribes are given. The Levites will have enough land to put their tent or house on. They will have enough land for a small garden or to keep a couple of animals. They are not to be spending their time working large area of land or keeping large groups of animals.

Their job is to take care of the temple and the people, and all the offerings and sacrifices that come to the temple.

So with the Levites out of the list, that makes for 12 tribes again for later when it comes time to divide up the land for the tribes.

194. How old was Joseph when he died? Gen. 50: 26

195. Now in the story---Joseph has died. All the brothers have died, too. The pharaoh who knew Joseph and Jacob has died, too.

A new pharaoh is now the king. He does not know Joseph or Jacob. He does not seem to remember what Joseph did to save everyone during the famine. Exo. 1: 8

He sees the group of Hebrew people as being strong men. He sees their group getting larger and larger. He is afraid that this group of people ---who are not Egyptian---will rise up and take over Egypt.

So the pharaoh puts leaders over the Hebrew people, and he makes a law that the Hebrew people must work for him.

195. What are the two cites they are to build? Exo. 1: 10, 11

196. The pharaoh talked to the two women who helped when babies were born. What did he tell them to do? Exo. 1: 16

197. Did the women do what the pharaoh said? Exo. 1: 17

198. When the king asked why they were not obeying----what did the women say? Exo. 1: 19 Do you think this was the real reason, or do you think this was a made-up answer?

199. They did not obey the pharaoh. They honored God's people. How did God feel about these women? Exo. 1: 20, 21

200. What do you think the pharaoh could have done to these women? Do you think the women showed courage---knowing what could happen to them?

201. A man and woman---both from the tribe of Levi----had a baby boy. They saw that he was such a nice baby, they tried to keep him. So they tried to not let the Egyptians know.

We are told the parents names in Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26: 59

Father's name ___________________Mother's name__________________

The man married his father's sister, so this was his aunt. His father's family was probably a big family, and this woman was probably one of the youngest ones. The man and woman were probably about the same age.

In the beginning years of time, people married their own family members. Cain probably married a sister. Later, men married cousins.

People stayed close to their families. They traveled and moved their tents and animals---they stayed together for protection from other groups.

As groups moved around over the desert, they would fight over land and water. So families needed to stay together.

If a man would marry a woman from another group, then that "tied" him to that group. That group would expect help in time of battle. They would expect to trade things.

A man may not want to make a connection with another group. It was better for him to stay within his own group. So he married a cousin or a half-sister. Men had more than one wife, so there were many families that had the same father but they had different mothers.

In the beginning years, people's bodies were stronger. There were not as many sicknesses and diseases. People live hundreds of years. One man lived almost 1,000. That was Noah's grandfather.

So when people married their sisters or first cousins, they did not have problems that we would have today. Today we would be afraid that if brother and sister married, or first cousins, that the baby might be mentally retarded or have some other weakness or problem.

That is why our laws do not allow marriage to close relatives. I think the rule is ---you can marry a fourth cousin, but not any closer. I am not real sure about the laws, but you are not suppose to marry a close relative.

If you marry someone who is not your relative, then you bring "fresh blood" into the mix and the baby will be stronger. Family weakness will not be passed on.

In Bible times, they did not need to worry about those things.

202. The law said ----what was to happen to the Hebrew baby boys?  Exo. 1:22

203. How long did Moses' mother hide her baby? Exo. 1: 22

204. What plan did she have to try to keep him alive? Exo. 2: 3 , 4

205. What was Moses' sister's name? Numbers 26:59

206. How did the sister help? Exo. 2: 4,7, 8

207. Who did the sister get to take care of the baby? Exo. 2: 8

208. Did the mother get paid to take care of her own baby? Exo. 2:9

In those days,--and even up until the 1800's in America---rich women often did not feed their own babies milk from their own breasts. They did not want to bother with such things. So they would find a mother who had a baby and who had plenty of milk to share, and they would pay her to "nurse" their baby. This woman that shared her milk was called a "wet nurse".

In countries that are poor----even today----like Africa----women would feed their babies breast milk until they were two, three even sometimes four years old. This made sure the baby got good food that was clean.

Those countries did not have "baby food" like we have in America. When the child began to get teeth, the mothers would chew up food then put it in the baby's mouth.

When a baby was stopped from drinking breast milk----this was called being "weaned". When Moses was weaned and no longer needed his mother's milk, then it was time to take him to the pharaoh's house.

During the time that Moses' mother had him at home, she must have talked to him about God in Heaven---the true God. And she must have told Moses that he was a Hebrew, not an Egyptian.

We do not know how old Moses was when he went to the pharaoh's house. So we do not know if Moses would be old enough to remember much of what his mother told him.

We do not know what pharaoh's daughter told Moses about who he was. Moses would be expected to worship the idols of Egypt because he was being raised as a boy prince of Egypt.

But a some point, Moses knew he was a Hebrew and not an Egyptian.

In Acts 7: 22, we are told that Moses learned all the things that would be taught to the Egyptians. He learned to read and write, he probably learned languages, he learned math, how to build, maybe about medicine, he learned how to lead an army in battle, he learned how to be a leader.

In the book of Hebrews 11: 24,25, we learn that when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to choose to be part of the Hebrew people rather than to be part of Egypt. He made a decision to help a Hebrew man, but things ended up in a bad way.

Moses' mother thought that she would lose her baby boy. But God gave her an idea and the faith to try to save him. I think God put that idea in her spirit and gave her the faith to try.

But she did not know how it would turn out. Then the pharaoh's daughter found him. That was a nervous time! Then she was able to keep her baby for a few years. Then she gave him up and she did not know how it would turn out.

We know that Moses led the Hebrew people out of Egypt. God knew all the time that He needed a man to lead these people.

So God saved a Hebrew boy baby who was to die. He put him in the palace to learn all kinds of things. A Hebrew slave man would never have that kind of schooling or training.

Then Moses did something that took him away from Egypt for 40 years.

That still was working out God's plan. Moses was going to learn some other kinds of things that he needed. He needed to learn about how to live in the desert. He needed to learn about taking care of sheep because that is what the Hebrew people did. He needed to learn about God in heaven and how to pray and talk to God.

When Moses goes back to Egypt, he will be ready to be the leader God needs for him to be.

Moses will know how the people in Egypt believe. He will know how the pharaoh does things. He will know how to do things at the palace. He will know how to talk to the pharaoh. He will understand how they think.

He will understand the Hebrew people, too. He will understand what it is like taking care of sheep and living in a desert.

Because he can read and write, he will write down many things that will be saved and later become part of our Bible.

All of these things were part of God's plan. One Hebrew mother felt in her heart to try to save her baby. She did not know all that God had planned about that baby.

Things happen in our life. We cannot understand. We feel hurt. We feel that God has forgotten us. But God's plan is still working. In the future, we will see His wisdom.