Why did God only hear the Hebrews' cries during the service of the king's death?

[gib65]

Hello everyone,

Like I said in my intro, I'm reading through Exodus and posting questions here as I come upon them. I came upon my first question at Exodus 2:23-25:

23 And it comes to pass during these many days, that the king of Egypt dies, and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service; 24 and God hears their groaning, and God remembers His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; 25 and God sees the sons of Israel, and God knows.

I've known for a while that the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt for about 400 year and I remember the saying of God "I have heard their cry"--meaning that he knew they were enslaved. So I wondered, why did God wait for 400 years before emancipating them? This passage may answer my question but it's a little odd. It suggests that only upon crying at the service did God hear them, and only because it was a service (a religious ceremony). So is this saying that God can only hear the cries of his children (their prayers, their thoughts, their communications) if it's done within the context of a specific set of rituals or ceremonies? That God didn't hear their cries until now because this is the first time their cries occurred during a religious service?

[rosends]

God had told Abraham of a total time of slavery. God remembers that the time he foretold was up. He knew beforehand of what was happening and that the plan he had set in motion was ready to move to the next phase.

[Blue Bird]

Hello everyone,

Like I said in my intro, I'm reading through Exodus and posting questions here as I come upon them. I came upon my first question at Exodus 2:23-25:

23 And it comes to pass during these many days, that the king of Egypt dies, and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service; 24 and God hears their groaning, and God remembers His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; 25 and God sees the sons of Israel, and God knows.

I've known for a while that the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt for about 400 year and I remember the saying of God "I have heard their cry"--meaning that he knew they were enslaved. So I wondered, why did God wait for 400 years before emancipating them? This passage may answer my question but it's a little odd. It suggests that only upon crying at the service did God hear them, and only because it was a service (a religious ceremony). So is this saying that God can only hear the cries of his children (their prayers, their thoughts, their communications) if it's done within the context of a specific set of rituals or ceremonies? That God didn't hear their cries until now because this is the first time their cries occurred during a religious service?

Hello gib65 and welcome. I'm not Jewish and I don't know the Jewish tradition. Maybe someone with insight can answer your question as to why God waited 400 years until he rescued his people. They have suffered a lot in their history and the answer is probably not an easy one.

I'm not sure what bible translation you have and how you came to the conclusion that God heard the cry of his children during a religious service. The text itself doesn't imply a spiritual service but hard labour that they had to do for the Egyptians. 

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9863

[Glenn2020]

God had told Abraham of a total time of slavery. God remembers that the time he foretold was up. He knew beforehand of what was happening and that the plan he had set in motion was ready to move to the next phase.

NICE!  (had no idea God said it would be 400 years).  It's Gen 15:13

[gib65]

I'm not sure what bible translation you have and how you came to the conclusion that God heard the cry of his children during a religious service. The text itself doesn't imply a spiritual service but hard labour that they had to do for the Egyptians.

The text says it explicitly: "and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service".

God had told Abraham of a total time of slavery. God remembers that the time he foretold was up. He knew beforehand of what was happening and that the plan he had set in motion was ready to move to the next phase.

Ah, so the crying of the sons of Isreal was a reminder? A signal that it was time?

[COmentator]

Good questions....

[Robert]

Contributor "gib65" wrote: 

[...] why did God wait for 400 years before emancipating them? [...]

The years of slavery were prophesied in the "vision (of Abraham) between the parts" to be 400 years: Genesis 15:13. 
The "habitation" in Egypt is stated to have been 430 years: Exodus 12:40. 

If by the contributor's word "emancipating" this is intended to refer to the Egyptian slavery, the number of "400" years is incorrect; the number of years under the Egyptian slavery was far less than that.

The reader can see an analysis of the number of years of the slavery, here: 
https://aish.com/duration-of-slavery-in-egypt/

The total time the Children of Israel stayed in Egypt can be calculated to have been 210 years (see Rashi commentary below), 
and of those 210 years the slavery was between a minimum of 86 years and a maximum of 116 years. 

Exodus 12:40:
[...] the habitation of the children of Israel, that they dwelled in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.


Commentary by Rashi:

that they dwelled in Egypt:
after the other dwellings in which they dwelled as foreigners in a land that was not theirs. — [from Mechilta]

was four hundred and thirty years:
Altogether, from the time that Isaac was born, until now, were 400 years. From the time that Abraham had seed [i.e., had a child, the prophecy] “that your seed will be strangers” (Gen. 15:13) was fulfilled; and there were another 30 years from the decree “between the parts” (Gen 15:10) until Isaac was born. It is impossible, however, to say that [they spent 400 years] in Egypt alone, because Kehath [the grandfather of Moses] was [one] of those who came with Jacob. Go and figure all his years, all the years of his son Amram, and Moses’ 80 years; you will not find them [to be] that many, and perforce, Kehath lived many of his years before he descended to Egypt, and many of Amram’s years are included in the years of Kehath, and many of Moses’ years are included in Amram’s years. Hence, you will not find 400 years counting from their arrival in Egypt. You are compelled, perforce, to say that the other dwellings [which the Patriarchs settled] were also called being “sojournings” and even in Hebron, as it is said: “where Abraham and Isaac sojourned (גָּרוּ) ” (Gen. 35:27), and [Scripture] states also “the land of their sojournings in which they sojourned” (Exod. 6:4). Therefore, you must say that [the prophecy] “your seed will be strangers” [commences] when he [Abraham] had offspring. And only when you count 400 years from the time that Isaac was born, you will find 210 years from their entry into Egypt. This is one of the things that [the Sages] changed for King Ptolemy. — [from Mechilta, Meg. 9a]

Link (click the "Show Rashi" button - Sometimes the Rashi is not shown even when this button appears to be active, so please click it anyway to make certain it works !):
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo...ter-12.htm

Contributor "gib65" also wrote: 

[...] It suggests that only upon crying at the service did God hear them, and only because it was a service (a religious ceremony). [...]

It was nothing to do with any ceremony of the king's death. It was that the king dying caused the children of Israel to concentrate upon their predicament, and they cried out to G-d.

The following was the result of their crying out to G-d; causing G-d to curtail what could have otherwise been a longer enslavement:

Exodus 2:24:
God heard their cry, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

[gib65]

[...] It suggests that only upon crying at the service did God hear them, and only because it was a service (a religious ceremony). [...]

It was nothing to do with any ceremony of the king's death. It was that the king dying caused the children of Israel to concentrate upon their predicament, and they cried out to G-d.

I see. So I must have misread the passage. The passage says "and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service" <-- I read that as "their cry goes up to God because of the service", but you're reading it as "the sons of Israel sigh ... and cry ... because of the service"

That makes more sense. I figured my reading was reasonable because many religions suppose that the way to communicate with the divine is through some service or ritual--like you literally have to pray with your palms together for God to hear you--otherwise, he won't. I figured that 3 and a half thousand years ago, they might have believed something similar.

To everyone... these are all great responses. Thanks! Keep them coming!

[Robert]

[...] It suggests that only upon crying at the service did God hear them, and only because it was a service (a religious ceremony). [...]

It was nothing to do with any ceremony of the king's death. It was that the king dying caused the children of Israel to concentrate upon their predicament, and they cried out to G-d.

I see. So I must have misread the passage. The passage says "and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service" <-- I read that as "their cry goes up to God because of the service", but you're reading it as "the sons of Israel sigh ... and cry ... because of the service"

That makes more sense. I figured my reading was reasonable because many religions suppose that the way to communicate with the divine is through some service or ritual--like you literally have to pray with your palms together for God to hear you--otherwise, he won't. I figured that 3 and a half thousand years ago, they might have believed something similar.

To everyone... these are all great responses. Thanks! Keep them coming!

Contributor "gib65" wrote: 

The passage says "and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goes up to God, because of the service"

Please bear in mind that the language in which the Scripture is written is Hebrew, and when translated into English the English words used may differ slightly between English translation editions.
In this case the relevant Hebrew word is "avodah" which means "labor". That then was the meaning the translator had in mind for "gib65's translation; not "service" in the meaning of any religious service.

Exodus 2:23:

23. Now it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to God from the labor.

Extract translation source:
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo...pter-2.htm