Exodus 2:11-22
One day, when Moses had grown up, he
went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian
beating a Hebrew, one of his people. (Exodus 2:11 ESV)
Moses had grown up. The beautiful baby of Exodus 2:1 became a
man. Acts 7 says:
Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and
brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” (Acts
7:21-22 ESV)
Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses as her son. She named him Moses
because he was a descendant of the river. The Nile was sacred. His name
signified that she considered Moses as a gift from the gods. He had the best
education money could buy. He was a prince, groomed to be a ruler and a judge.
Exodus 2:11-22 gives us two examples of his physical competence. First, he
killed the Egyptian. If Moses was carrying a sword, he knew how to use it. If he
was not carrying a sword, the murder would have been difficult for the
untrained. Next, when he saw the shepherds preventing the ladies from watering
their sheep, he was able to take control of the situation and rescue the
ladies.
At the age of 40, Moses went to see the burdens of his people.
Pharaoh’s daughter had raised him as her son. His Hebrew birth
was hidden, covered up and forgotten. However, Moses was nursed by his Hebrew
mother. Seeds were planted in the toddler’s heart. Most likely seeds of truth
and of the One True God.
God has promised that his word will not return to him void.
Isaiah 55:11 says:
...so shall my word be that goes out
from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that
which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah
55:11 ESV)
The word planted by Moses’ mother in the heart of her tiny son
sprouted, grew and bore fruit in the 40-year-old Moses. Perhaps she told Moses
about creation and God’s judgment at the flood. It is quite possible that she
was the first source from which Moses learned the accounts that later became
part of the Pentateuch. Just as in the parable that Jesus told of the seed
planted in good soil, the seed planted in the heart of Moses produced fruit.
Hebrews 11:24-26 tells us:
By faith Moses, when he was grown up,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be
mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of
Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews
11:24-26 ESV)
Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was mighty in
word and deed among the Egyptians. However, the Holy Spirit moved in His heart,
using the truth that he had been taught possibly up to the age of four. John 16
tells us that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the world of sin, righteousness
and judgment. Moses’ Hebrew mother only had a short time with him as a baby,
and then the Egyptians had over thirty years with him. The power that
transformed Moses’ life was the power of God working through His word. God told
His people “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of
hosts.” (Zechariah
4:6 ESV) The word of God implanted was strong enough to overcome the
indoctrination of the Egyptians. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by
grace through faith and that not of ourselves. Faith is a gift of God. We know
that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).
Hebrews 11:24 explains to us that it was faith that moved Moses to go and look
on the suffering of his people.
Even though faith grew and bore fruit in Moses’ heart, he still
had his Egyptian training to deal with. He had values, judgment and wisdom
learned at the feet of Egypt’s best scholars. I am not speaking against
education. Education is important, and without his training, Moses would not
have left us the Pentateuch. The New Testament Apostle Paul would not have been
who he was without his education, and he was very educated. And he said, “And
we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,
interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (1
Corinthians 2:13 ESV) Moses’
training and education are not the explanation for why he was able to do what
he did, and he would, in a sense, need 40 years to “get over” his education.
Moses’ training and education did not serve to instill the morals he would
later teach. We see this in his actions. Exodus 2:12 tells us:
He looked this way and that, and seeing
no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exodus 2:12 ESV)
By looking this way and that, Moses signals that he is thinking
about murder. By hiding the Egyptian in the sand, he tries to cover up what he
did. Acts 7:25 tells us:
He supposed that his brothers would
understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not
understand. (Acts 7:25 ESV)
Moses had arrived at the conclusion that God prepared him to be
the deliverer of his people. He was trained as a ruler and a judge. He was
mighty in word and deed. He was a natural fit for the position of deliverer.
And so, he set out to accomplish the task, approaching it with his physical and
mental training.
But, he was rejected.
Exodus 2:13-14 says:
When he went out the next day, behold,
two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong,
"Why do you strike your companion?" He answered, "Who made you a
prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the
Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:13-14 ESV)
Moses was a prince and a judge over them, but by his action, he
made himself an enemy of Pharaoh. Moses’ authority and position were because he
was part of Pharaoh’s house. The oppression of the Hebrews was the will of
Pharaoh and was being carried out by the command of Pharaoh. By his action,
Moses set himself against Pharaoh. The human thing to do and the thing that
Pharaoh feared was a rebellion. Moses probably thought he could lead an
insurrection as soon as his people realized what he was doing, but he was
wrong. The Hebrews were not unified and they did not even begin to rally around
him. He was rejected before he even started.
The next thing we read is:
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to
kill Moses. (Exodus 2:15 ESV)
When Moses thought his Hebrew brothers would understand that God
had chosen him to be their deliverer, they rejected him. When Pharaoh heard
what Moses had done, he rejected him. Moses was rejected by his own people and
by his adopted people. He became a man without a home.
To avoid Pharaoh,
he fled to the land of Midian. He happened to sit by a well and by chance saved
the daughters of a priest named Reuel, and he ends up living with that priest
and marrying one of his daughters. When Moses’ first son is born, he gives him
the name “Gershom.” Gershom is made up of two Hebrew words, “Ger” which means
“stranger,” and “shom” which means “there.” Moses, himself, writes about this
name and says:
She gave birth to a son, and he called
his name Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign
land." (Exodus 2:22 ESV)
God’s law, given through Moses, says, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13 ESV) Moses
started out by murdering an Egyptian. Moses demonstrated a determination to
deliver his people that came from his strength, training and qualifications.
God did not bless his effort. Moses spent the next 40 years in the wilderness
watching sheep.
In the wilderness watching sheep, Moses did not learn to be
mightier in word and deed. He learned to care for wooly creatures just a little
smarter than rocks but more prone than rocks to get themselves into trouble. He
learned humility, the value of silence and time alone with God. He learned the
Sinai wilderness and the voice of God. All these lessons were vital preparation
for what He was called to do. The sheep needed food, water and safety, the same
things people would need. For all the days of his life, Moses never ceased to
meet with God. Exodus 33:7 and following tells how Moses had a tent called the
tent of meeting where people would go to inquire of the Lord. Exodus 33: says:
When Moses entered the tent, the
pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the
Lord would speak with Moses. ... Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend. Exodus
33:9, 11 ESV
Moses was rejected, a stranger living in a strange land, and it
was this that taught him his most valuable lesson.
As a man rejected by his people and by his country, Moses is a
type of Christ. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus:
He was despised and rejected by men, a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their
faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3
ESV)
In addition, Moses teaches us an essential lesson about
salvation. Ephesians 2 says it like this:
For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians
2:8-9 ESV
And Titus 3 says it like this:
But when the goodness and loving
kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by
us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, (Titus
3:4-5 ESV)
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done...”
Moses was raised up by God to be the deliverer of God’s people,
but let me ask you a question. Did Moses part the Red Sea? No, of course not!
Moses had nothing within himself whereby he could accomplish such a feat.
Did Moses cause the plagues? No, of course not! Moses had nothing
within himself whereby he could accomplish such things.
The plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the leading of the
people were done by God. Moses did not tell God what to do. God told Moses what
to do. The deliverance of God’s people from slavery was a work of God from
start to finish. Moses’ part was to believe God.
As a stranger in a strange land, Moses learned not to put any
confidence in the flesh. We also must learn the same lesson. If we put our
confidence in the flesh, we are guaranteed to fail. We will all die and then
what will become of what we have accomplished?
However, I am not talking about not having confidence. If we
learn to believe God, obey God and listen to God, God cannot fail. We can be
the most confident people on earth.
It took Moses 40 years on the backside of nowhere to learn that
it is not by works of righteousness that we have done. Some people catch on
early and learn fast, but some of us take a lifetime to learn.
If you have not received Christ as your Savior, you are
guaranteed to fail, because you are depending on yourself. You may be brilliant
like Moses, but trying in your own strength will find you rejected in the end.
If you are a believer, at times, we all need to be reminded of
Paul’s words to the Galatians:
Are you so foolish? Having begun by
the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many
things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you
and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with
faith— just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness"? (Galatians 3:3-6 ESV)
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