What caused the children of Israel to cry out in Exodus 2:23?
According to Exodus 2:23, the children of Israel cried out because of the bondage they endured in Egypt. After the king of Egypt died, they sighed by reason of that bondage, and their cry ascended to God. Their suffering under Egyptian slavery was the cause of their outcry.
Les explains that Exodus 2:23 occurs "in the process of time," which he identifies as forty years. He connects this to Moses' life in three 40-year segments from Acts 7: the first 40 years in Pharaoh's palace as Pharaoh's daughter's son, the second 40 years on the backside of the desert herding sheep, and the third 40 years when he returns to deliver Israel. In that setting, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage and cried. Their cry came up to God by reason of this bondage.
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.