Let us turn to Holy Scripture
in that chapter that we read, Exodus chapter 2 and drawing
your attention to the words that we find at the end in the paragraph
that makes up verses 23, 24 and 25. The counterparts 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. And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Through things that
stand before us in these verses, we have Israel's cry and God's
covenant. Israel's cry and God's covenant,
or in other words, the pleading of the covenant. That's what
their cry, their sighs really amount to. The pleading of that
covenant that God had made, the promise He had given to Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. As in God said, before they call,
I will answer, whilst they are yet speaking, I will hear. Or God has determined the end
from the beginning, but how will God accomplish that blessed end?
I will yet for this be inquired of his heirs by the house of
Israel to do it for them. The covenant stands. but the
promise that God has given in that covenant is to be constantly
pleaded. And that's the truth that is
really said before us in these verses. Remarkable chapter in
which we have the record of the birth of Moses and in a sense
the birth of Moses is a remarkable act of faith. We go over to the
11th chapter of Hebrews, we find Moses and his parents spoken
of there amongst that great catalogue of the faithful from the Old
Testament. And what do we read concerning
the birth of this man there in Hebrews 11? 23. By faith Moses when he was born
was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper
child and they were not afraid of the King's commandment. When
he was born he was hid three months by his parents because
says the Apostle they saw he was a proper child, a proper
child. And here in this chapter, the
beginning there, the second verse we read of him being a goodly
child, a goodly child, a proper child. If we turn to Acts chapter
7, where we have the account of Stephen's noble defense at
his martyrdom how he recounts, you remember, so much of the
history of the children of Israel there he speaks of Moses in his
birth as one exceeding fair or fair to God to follow the reading
in the margin, a proper child, a goodly child Fair to God. Surely we see something rather
striking and significant with regards to the birth of this
particular child. His parents were of the house
of Levi and it would appear that they were gracious people as
we see there in that 23rd chapter of the 23rd verse of Hebrews
chapter 11. By faith Moses when he was born
was in three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper
child. But we not only have faith in
relation to the birth but we also see faith with regards to
the choice, the choice that Abraham makes when he comes to maturity,
when he comes to years. And again, it is that that is
spoken of more particularly in the New Testament in that 11th
chapter of Hebrews. Verse 24 by Faith. Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ, greater riches and the treasures in Egypt,
for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." How he makes
his choice. And so we have it recorded here
in this second chapter. and how he makes that choice
in faith again it's Stephen who brings out that fact in his account
there in Acts chapter 7 where it says he supposed his brethren
would have understood that God by his hand would deliver them
he has some sense of God's hand upon him that there is a purpose
in his life this man Moses and so he makes that choice he identifies
not with the court of Pharaoh but he identifies with those
who were slaves to Pharaoh with the Hebrew children. Oh, there
is so much of faith then in what we're reading in this particular
chapter of Holy Scripture. And that is the case when we
come to consider what is recorded here at the end of the chapter. We turn as it were from Moses,
his birth, his choice and we're told he 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 and God heard their
groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac
and with Jacob And God looked upon the children of Israel and
had respect unto them. Two things I want us to consider
this evening, as I mentioned at the outset. First of all,
to say something with regards to Israel's cry and their prayer
to God, their pleadings with God. And then secondly, to consider
God and His covenant and the promise that He had made in that
covenant. First of all then the children
of Israel. And now we read here in this
23rd verse that they sighed. The children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage and they cried. Now We might ask
the question here initially, was it that they were simply
bemoaning their condition? Was it that they were simply
complaining one to another at the terrible lot that had befallen
them there in the land of Egypt? Were they simply full of self-pity? We're all prone to that, to feel
sorry for ourselves, to pity our situation, our circumstances. And we know from the subsequent
history of the children of Israel how that they were so often ready
to blame Moses when they were brought into trying circumstances. I'm sure we're well familiar
with the subsequent history and the things that are recorded
concerning the perverse behavior of these people when Moses had
brought them out of that bondage in chapter 16. In the second
verse the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children
of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots
and when we did eat bread to the full for ye have brought
us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger." Oh they are so ready there to point the finger to
blame others. Again we read in the next chapter,
chapter 17, how all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed
from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the
commandment of the Lord and pitched in refugee. and there was no
water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? wherefore do ye
tempt the Lord? Now we see this sort of behavior
time after time after time, even later. And it's recorded there
in the book of Numbers In Numbers chapter 11, we read, When the people complained,
it displeased the LORD, and the LORD heard it, and His anger
was kindled. Or they were complaining, and
complaining far, far too much. Look at what they say there in
that chapter, verse 5, we remember the fish which we did eat in
Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and
the onions and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. They were eating angels' food.
Angels' food. Oh, but it was... so uninteresting
to them. They remembered all that wonderful
diet that they imagined they must have once enjoyed when they
were bond slaves there in Egypt. One more example in Numbers chapter
14. Numbers chapter 14 verse 26, the Lord spoke unto
Moses and unto Aaron saying, How long shall I bear with this
evil congregation which murmur against me? I have heard the
murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against
me." Oh, it's not just against Moses and Aaron, they're attempting
God. They were so ready to blame others. for their sad plight their awful
condition and there is that sense there is that sense in which
we too are prone to complain to one another we sometimes sing
that verse in the hymn by William Cooper have you no words I think
again words flow apace when you complain how true it is We're ready to
complain one to another. We fill our fellow creatures
here with the subtile of all our care." Says the poet there. Are they here then simply murmuring
and complaining, bemoaning their condition one to another, the
children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they
cried? Is it simply self-pity that is
being spoken of. I would say that was not the
case here. It goes on of course to say how
their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. Now that
doesn't necessarily mean it was prayer but I'm persuaded that
it was prayer at this time. God heard their groaning it says.
And as God hears their groaning He remembers His covenant. In
fact, later when these things are spoken of in
chapter 3 and verse 9 it says, Behold the cry of the children
of Israel is come unto me. That's the language of God. God
owns their murmuring here, if we might call it murmuring, their
groanings, their moanings. God owns it and acknowledges
it as real prayer. Again, much later, there in the
book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 20 and verse 16, when these things
are being recounted, the way in which they were delivered
out of Egypt, well there in Numbers 20, 16, Moses says, we cried unto the
Lord. Oh here we have them crying, not in the way of complaining
to one another, but they are really addressing their cry unto
the Lord they are praying. Like we find the Psalmist time
and again, seeking to pour out his complaint before the Lord.
David is brought to cry out, Lord all my desire is before
Thee. and my groaning is not heard
from thee and God here is hearing their groanings as they are so
burdened as they are so crushed by the treatment that's being
meted out to them by the Egyptians. Or there are times when God's
people in their prayers find that words are so inadequate
we cannot find words to really give expression to what we desire
of the Lord and we come then with our sighs and our cries
why we just sang of it in the hymn for thee my soul would cry
and send a laboring groan for thee my heart would sigh and
make a pensive moan and it is interesting in that opening hymn
by John Berrigi is speaking there of what constitutes the real
worship of God. It's not coming with fine words. It's not that we have a wonderful
liturgy. We don't. I would say this that
if you turn to the Church of England Book of Common Prayer
and that's a liturgical form, we know it used to be the practice
in the established church that that order was followed regularly
in the worship of the people, the prayers were read the collects
were read and so on and so forth and if ever you read some of
those prayers and particularly the collects most of them are
the composition of course of Archbishop Cramer and it's wonderful
All the language is so beautiful, so expressive. I'm not saying
that we should use that sort of liturgy. But some you see
are satisfied with a wonderful form, with fine words. But what Berridge, and he was
a minister in the established church, what Berridge is saying
there in the hymn 884 is that true worship is that that we
come to in the last verse. for thee my soul would cry and send a laboring groan for
thee my heart would sigh and make a pensive moan. And this
is the way in which these people are brought to call upon God. They silence, they cry, they
groan. Why? Because this was a spiritual
people. This was a spiritual people.
It's Job who says, hypocrites in heart, cry not when he binds
us. But here are the people, they're
bound. All are in terrible bondage. What do they do? They cry. And
their cry, I would say, is real. It's real prayer that we have
here in what is written concerning the children of Israel. And what
was the cause of it? What was it that made them to
cry out in this fashion? Well, they had been there in
the land of Egypt some 400 years. 400 years, that's how long they were
to be there. That's what the Lord God had declared when He
entered into covenant with Abraham. And here, of course, at the end
we read how God remembered His covenant with Abraham. Back in
Genesis chapter 15, we have that covenant as God enters into it
with His servant. What He said there? Verse 13, He said unto Abraham,
Now I have assured you that thy seed shall be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall
afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, And afterward shall they come out
with great substance." 400 years. Here is Moses. He's 80 years old. Or he's certainly
coming up to that age as we see from what is recorded later. Chapter 7. Verse 7, Moses was
fourscore years old and Aaron fourscore and three years old
when they spake unto Pharaoh. He was 80 years old and we know
from what we read in Acts chapter 7 how his age is basically divided
into some three sections. It seems he was 40 years old
when he fled from Egypt and then became the keeper of the sheep
of his father-in-law Jethro or Ruel he was 40 years old when
he fled he was 40 years there serving Jethro and now
God has called him as we see and God is about to call him
here in the next chapter in chapter 3 at the burning bush And he
goes back, he's 80 years old. And he will live another 40 years.
He's 120 years old when he dies. How the years, you see, how the
years are passing. And here are the children of
Israel and they're still languishing there in Egypt. But then we're told here at the
beginning of verse 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. In process of time. It's by degrees. Things are happening but it's
God simply bringing everything into place. It's God in his own
way, after his own fashion, in the mystery of his providences
bringing events to pass for the deliverance of the children of
Israel. And by these terrible afflictions
that are now coming upon them as this king, this pharaoh has
died and another one more cruel must have come to the throne
and the bondage is getting greater and greater and so they cry out
They call upon God. What does it say there at the
end of that 23rd verse? They cried and their cry came
upon to God by reason of the bondage. God will move his people now.
He will deal with them in such a fashion as to make them cry
out. Calvin remarks, much is required
to stimulate our sluggish hearts. Or doesn't God sometimes have
to deal with us in a severe fashion? Our heart's so sluggish, we're
so slow to pray, and God has to bring us into situations and
circumstances, He almost has to force us to pray. And this
is what God is doing with the children of Israel. The psalmist
knew it. All he says, it is good for me
that I have been afflicted. or David's confession, goods
that I have been afflicted that I might learn my statutes. We
don't just learn God's statutes by reading the Word and memorizing
the Word and seeking in our own strengths to keep the commandments
of God. No, God has to deal with us.
He has to bring us into trying circumstances. And this is what
God is doing with the children of Israel. Their cry came up unto God, it
says, by reason of the bondage. It's God's dealings that are
the cause of their praying and their pleading. Although they
cannot articulate what they really want, they want deliverance.
But it's not only God's dealings. Also God's purpose was about
to be fulfilled. Our God is a sovereign God and
He has purposes He has decreed all things and
all that God has purposed and predestinated must come to pass
and it will come to pass in His time again back in Genesis remember
what we read just now concerning what God had said when He entered
into covenant with Abraham there in chapter 15 in chapter 16 It
says, but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again
for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. God was going
to bring Abram's seed after those 400 years into the land of promise. Who were those who were in the
land of promise? The Amorites, the Canaanites,
and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and they were a wicked people
But the iniquity of those wicked nations at that time was not
yet full. But now it must all come to pass,
because God's appointed time has come. And so He brings His people into
this affliction, in order that they, in a sense, plead with
Him, plead His covenant. Look at verse 7 in chapter 3. The Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters. For I know
their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land
unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites. and the Hittites
and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold the cry
of the children of Israel is come unto me and I have also
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore and I will
send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people
the children of Israel out of Egypt. This is the call that
is being given to the man Moses. That proper child. Something
so significant about the man. This is the great purpose that
God is going to fulfill in his life. 80 years old. And he's
going to deliver the children of Israel onto the gracious hand
of God from all that cruel bondage. And so it is that God In order
to fulfill his purpose moves his people to prayer. I will
yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it
for them. Also it is that they're really
praying here, they're pleading with God in their sighs and their
cries and their groanings. This is prayer to God. Just as
at a later date, Daniel is moved to pray to God. We have that record in the ninth
chapter of the book of Daniel of that remarkable prayer that
the man utters before the Lord. Why was it that he prayed in
that fashion? Because he understood that God
was about to deliver his people. In the first year of his reign,
that is, the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, in the
first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number
of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah
the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations
of Jerusalem, and I set my face unto the Lord, to seek by prayer
and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and
I prayed unto the Lord my God." He understood by reading the
Word of God. Friends, when we come to God's
Word, and I trust that we are those who want to read the Word
of God. Sometimes it's not easy to read the Word of God, we'll
probably pick up any other book other than the Word of God, but
when God gives us a hunger and a thirst, a desire to be reading
His Word, does it move us? Does He cause us to pray? God
comes and God speaks. He speaks to us here in His Word,
and surely if God is speaking to us, we by turn should desire
to speak to Him. That was the case with the man
Daniel. He understood by books, reading
God's Word, reading the book of the prophet Jeremiah, understanding
it, pleading it, pleading those promises. And in a sense, and
I say it again, this is what we have here. I know it's not
the same as we have with Daniel. That's a wonderful prayer. But
these are also wonderful prayers. Your sighs and your cries, your
groanings and moans, they're wonderful prayers. 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
and God heard their groans and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the
children of Israel and God had respect unto them. Well turning
from the cry and the prayer of the children
of Israel in the second place to say something with regards
to God. God's covenants, God's promise. Now, we have that that promise
of deliverance of course as we saw back in Genesis 15, 13 and
14. That is the covenant that God had made with
Abraham. God, it says, remembered his
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And do you notice
how here, in verses 24 and 25, the emphasis very much falls
upon what God does. God heard. God remembered. God looked. God had respect. It's all the activity of God. That's the wonderful thing. That's
significant is that word God remembered it says His covenants.
It's God's covenants. His covenant with Abraham with
Isaac and with Jacob. How many times we read of that
covenant? We have it there at the end of
Micah in Micah chapter 7 and verse 20. Thou wilt perform the
truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn
unto our fathers from the days of old. Well this is the covenant
you see and God will perform that truth or God will perform
all the promises. He is a merciful God, He is a
gracious God. And that covenant is a unilateral
covenant, it's a one-sided covenant. How it was that God established
that covenant with Abraham, and we have it as I've already said
there in in that 15th chapter of the book of Genesis. A remarkable
chapter in which the Lord God appears unto Abraham. Look at some of the detail there.
What does it say? God appears in a vision, saying
to Abraham, Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward. And then, in what follows, we
have the detail of God's covenant. He gives Abraham instruction. Verse 9, Take me an heifer of
three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram
of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. and
He took unto Him all these, and divided them in the midst, and
laid each piece one against another, but the birds He divided not."
He makes the sacrifice. And He lays out the sacrifice
just as God has instructed and God has directed Him. Now, this was the common way
of making a covenant. And when a covenant was entered
into between men they would then pass through the midst of those
animal parts and they would cut the covenant
by walking through the midst of it. And that's what we read up here.
In verse 17 of Genesis 15, it came to pass that when the sun
went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a burning
lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord
made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this
land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphrates. Now it might say in the margin
there The Lord made, might say literally the Lord cut a covenant
with Abram. Normally, the two people entering
into the contract, into the covenant, they would pass together through
the midst of the sacrifice. But that's not the case here. What does Abram see? Behold a
smoking furnace. and a burning lamp, a lamp of
fire. All this is God. Our God is a
consuming fire. God alone is the one who cuts
the covenant. It's God's covenant. It's God's
covenant. When God made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. It's a one-sided covenant. Oh,
that is the blessed covenant of grace. As we read this morning
there in Genesis, that there in Galatians chapter 3, it was
given 430 years before the covenant at Mount Sinai. That's the covenant
of grace. It's a one-sided covenant. It's
all that God will do. It's not what man does in any
sense. Salvation is of the Lord and
it is of the Lord in its entirety. It is God in His blessed person,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit who has purposed it. The great electing
love of the Father. It is God who has procured it.
The blessed coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.
He has paid the price. He has redeemed His people by
the shedding of His precious blood. And it is the Holy Spirit
who makes application. Oh, the sinner is born again,
born from above, born by the Spirit of God. As the Spirit
brings these blessed truths home. And God remembers this. God remembered
his covenant. But how is it that God remembers?
Well, God heard. Verse 24, God heard their groaning
and God remembered his covenant. All the Lord will hear, says
the Psalmist, the Lord will hear when I call unto Him. Time and again the psalmist reminds
us that it is not in vain that any call upon the name of God.
He never says to the seed of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain. Again look at the psalmist in
Psalm 17 6, I have called upon thee for thou wilt hear me O
God, incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech. Oh how he
can come you see with such assurance, how he can plead in such detail
there that God will hear him. God hears us. He hears our faintest
sighs. He hears all our groanings. That doesn't mean we're not to
try to come and to give utterance, we're bidden to take with us
words and turn to the Lord and to say take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. It is good to try to articulate
what our needs are but sometimes as I've said it seems to us so
utterly impossible. What can we say? How can we pray? Oh all my desire is before Thee
Lord and my groanings are not hid from Thee. But God heard
him. God heard their groaning. God
remembered his covenant. And God looked. God looked upon
the children of Israel how wonderful when God looks
and when God looks you see how God is so moved remember I was told something
of Moses experience previously when he was grown when he was
about 40 years of age. In verse 11, it came to pass
in those days when Moses was grown that he went out unto his
brethren and looked on their burdens. He looked on their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian smiting
an Hebrew, one of his brethren, and he looked this way and that
way. And when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian
and hid him in the sand. Why did he do this? when he looked
on the burdens of the children of Israel and he felt compelled
to do something he's moved that this injustice is being done
and he must act it was the look it's what he saw he saw something
and he felt he must take some action and God looks or remember how after Peter had
denied the Lord Jesus three times we told how the Lord turned and
looked upon Peter there in in Luke 22 the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord which he
spake saying before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and Peter went out and he wept
bitter tears it was that look when the Lord turned to him that
so affected him or when the Lord looks upon us are with those
who desire that the Lord would do that very thing. Swami says,
there'll be many that say, who will show us any good Lord? Lift
up the light of Thy countenance. We want the Lord to look upon
us, to see us, to behold us where we are. And the Lord doesn't
look on the outward appearance, the Lord looks upon the heart.
He knows what our hearts are, He knows how sincere or insincere
we are. He knows whether our religion
is just a form or whether there's something real there's that hungering
and that thirsting after him. Oh well the Psalmist cries out
there in the 80th Psalm and we have it at the beginning of the
Psalm in verse 3, we have it again at the end of the Psalm
in verse 19, turn us again O God cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved. Oh, when God looks upon us, when
His face shines towards us, then there's salvation. The Lord looks. He looks upon His people and
He looked upon the children of Israel and He had respect unto
them, it says. Or as the margin says, and God
knew them. He knew them. He knew all about
them. We sang, I love that hymn 82
by Benjamin Wallin, the stability of the covenant, how the Lord
is ever mindful of his covenant, whatever be our circumstances. Rejoice ye saints in every state,
divine decrees remain unmoved, no turns of providence abate,
God's care for those he once has loved. Firmer than heaven
his covenant stands, though earth should shake and skies depart,
you are safe in your Redeemer's hands, who bears your names upon
his heart. all the covenants you see and
God is ever mindful of his covenants ever mindful of his covenants
he knows his people whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son moreover whom he did
predestinate them he also caught and whom he caught them he also
justified and whom he justified them he also glorified You know
that lovely golden chain in Romans 8? Where does it begin? Whom
he did foreknow. And that's not just a foresight,
it's not just seeing a thing before it has occurred like the
Arminian might interpret the word, and say, look, God foresees
fate in somebody and predestinates that person. I've heard them
say that. Know that foreknowledge is the intimacy of knowledge.
It's the Lord setting His love upon the people, knowing them
in that intimate fashion, because He has chosen them for Himself.
Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestine. Oh, the Lord,
the God of Israel, He has respect. He knows His people. He knows all about us. He knoweth
our frying, says the Psalmist. He remembereth that we are dashed. That's the God with whom we have
to do. Why he is the God who has made us. He knows our frame.
He knows how he created man out of the dust of the earth. The
frailty of our bodies. Fearfully, wonderfully made God
formed and fashioned our very bodies. There in the garden we breathe
into man's nostril the breath of life and he becomes a living
soul. Well, we knoweth how frail he
remembers that we are thus. Like as a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities them that fear him. And remember the testimony
of Job. He knoweth the way that I take.
When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as God. God knows. God knows, God has respect unto
his people and will see to it that all that he has purposed
in their lives will have its glorious accomplishment because
he knows the end from the beginning for this is that God you see,
the God of the covenant and this is the God that we come together
to worship, it's the same God the same God who is revealed
to us throughout the scriptures right through from Genesis to
Revelation our God has condescended to make himself
known to the sinful sons of men and all these people the children
of Israel were such a typical people and these things all written
for our learning that we through patience or endurance and comfort
of the Scriptures might have hope or that our hope then might
center in this blessed God that we read of here in these verses
God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the
children of Israel and God had respect unto thee. Amen.