Moses
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God’s Prophet
God’s Prophet
Intro
The story of Moses is a miraculous one.
That is one of the reasons that he is so revered in Jewish tradition.
Moses had a special relationship with God.
Moses had communion with God.
Moses was chosen by God to do great deeds.
And it all began with his birth.
In the first chapter of Exodus, we read about the fact that Abraham’s descendents had been in Egypt for 400 years.
Remember they moved there during the great famine of Joseph’s life, and they stayed there for a long time.
But over time things started to turn from good to bad and from bad to worse for the Israelites.
Kings had changed and those that knew Joseph and knew about Joseph died off.
At the same time the Israelites were increasing in number.
Ex 1:7 “7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.”
They were being very fruitful. They were multiplying greatly.
They were fulfilling the mandate that God had given them and God was fulfilling the promise he had made to Abraham.
But the new leadership in Egypt didn’t like the fact that there were so many of them.
Ex 1:10-11 “10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.”
So they were enslaved.
They were forced to work.
They were oppressed.
This oppression and enslavement only increased God’s blessing on the Israelites.
Ex 1:12 “12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.”
So the king came up with a new solution.
He was going to kill the first born male of the Israelites.
The King tried to conspire with the Israelite midwives to commit this evil act.
Ex 1:16 “16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.””
But the midwives loved God and did not listen to the Egyptian King.
And God continued to bless his people and these midwives.
The king was upset that no matter what he did, the Hebrew people continued to grow in number so then he spread his command not just to the midwives, but also to all his people.
Ex 1:22 “22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.””
This leads us to the story of Moses. (Ex. 2)
Moses was born under this tyrannical king.
But Moses’ Momma was smart.
For three months after Moses’ birth she hid him until she couldn’t hide him anymore.
Then she placed him in a basket in the Nile river.
But she did this when the daughter of Pharoah was taking a bath.
The Daughter of Pharoah found Moses and saved him from death.
Even better than that, she called on Moses’ mother to nurse him until he was weened.
Moses then grew up in the House of the Pharoah as a prince in Egypt.
He had all the access to the treasures of the King.
He was in a special relationship with all the royalty.
He was a boy that would rule one day, if he continued to quietly obey.
But there was a restlessness in his bones.
There was a broken connection between his adoptive family and his true family.
So one day he left the palace and his whole life changed.
11 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.
12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
13 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?”
14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.
18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?”
19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.
22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Exiled Prince
Exiled Prince
Moses was broken hearted over the treatment of his people.
And Moses murderers an Egyptian for beating and Israelite.
Then he hid him in the sand.
But this deed was not unnoticed.
There were those who had witnessed what Moses had done.
In fact, he went out again to go be with his people and witnessed two Israelites fighting.
He confronts them and they end up confronting him.
They ask if he is going to kill one of them like he did the Egyptian.
Now Moses is afraid.
His deeds have been made known.
So he runs away.
Moses is chased out of the palace and out from his people b/c of his brashness.
Moses killed a man for harming his kin folk.
Moses’s people were afraid of him b/c he was a murderer.
The king was angry b/c of Moses’ action and rather than face his judgement, Moses fled to the land of Midian.
There Moses met his wife, Zipporah.
She was not from Israel.
She was a Gentile.
Yet together they had a son, Gershom.
And for 40 years he lived in that desert.
He lived as a shepherd.
Meanwhile, the Israelites in Egypt are struggling under the weight of the oppression.
But God doesn’t forget about them.
Ex 2:23-25 “23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
So Moses spends Day after day, night after night attending to his father-in-law’s sheep.
And on a night like any other, something amazing happened.
Moses was tending the sheep near a mountain.
Then he sees a bush on fire.
Ex 3:2-3 “2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.””
God then tells Moses that he has heard and seen the cries of the people and the torment that they have endured.
And he is going to respond by calling Moses to deliver his people from the crushing hand of Pharoah.
But Moses isn’t Sure that he’s the right man for the Job.
He is reluctant to do what God wants him to do.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Reluctant Prophet
Reluctant Prophet
God reveals to Moses his name and his nature.
God establishes that He is the God that can save.
The God that will deliver.
The God that hears and sees the pain of his people.
But Moses doesn’t feel qualified.
He doesn’t believe that the people will listen to him.
But God reassures him that it isn’t about Moses’ qualifications or past, but its about the work of God.
In fact, God gives Moses three signs that will help to convince the people that he is coming in the name of God. Ex 4:1-9
The first sign is Moses’ staff.
When he throws on the ground it will become a snake, and when he picks it up it will turn back into a staff.
The second one is when Moses puts his hand in his cloak and brings it out it will be leprous, then when he puts it back in and takes it out it will be cleansed.
And Finally, he can take some water out of the Nile river and when he pours it out it will turn to blood.
But even with these signs, Moses is still unwilling and unconvinced that he is the right man for the job.
So he begs God to send someone else
But the Lord refuses.
Instead, he is going to send both Moses and his Brother Aaron to Pharaoh.
Moses and Aaron go to Pharoah and ask that he let the people go and if they don’t things are going to get bad for Pharoah and his people.
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.
Chosen Deliverer
Chosen Deliverer
So Moses is chosen by God to be the deliverer of God’s People.
But Pharoah doesn’t want to give up his workforce.
He doesn’t want to set the people free b/c if he did so that would show weakness and stop productivity in his territory.
In fact, after Moses’ first visit with Pharoah things get worse for the Israelites.
Pharoah oppresses them further by doubling their work load.
But God has made a promise that he is going to deliver his people and he will do so by showing Pharoah who he is.
One thing we need to know going into this section is that Pharaoh though that he was a god.
He was seen by his fellow Egyptians as the incarnation of the deity Horus.
Horus was viewed as the god of the sun, war, and protection.
Pharaoh believed he was a god b/c had power and authority over one of the largest and most powerful nations in the ancient world.
In fact, in Ex 5:2 Pharaoh shows that he has no reverence for the God of Israel
Ex 5.1-2 “1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.””
Pharaoh doesn’t respect or acknowledge YHWH as the Lord, so he will not listen to what YHWH says.
His arrogance, ego, and pride keeps him from recognizing the God represented by Moses and Aaron.
Pharaoh’s refusal to listen to God will bring about 10 plagues that will affect his country and people.
You can read about these plagues in Ex 7-12, but I will simply tell you what they are, we aren’t going to go into depth this week.
It would be really cool to do a study on these plagues, b/c they seem to correspond with the God’s that the Egyptians worship.
The Ten Plagues are:
Nile River turns to Blood: 7:20-21
An over abundance of Frogs: 8:3-6
Swarms of Gnats: 8:16-17
Infestation of Flies: 8:24
Pestilence: 9:3-6
Boils on Humans and Animals: 9:8-10
Heavy Hail and Fire destroying plants, animals, and people: 9:18-33
Massive Swarm of Locusts: 10:4-15
3 Days of Darkness: 10:21-23
Death of the First Born: 11:4-5
These plagues were meant to demonstrate the fact that God, YHWY, had power over all the earth.
And even after each plague, when Pharaoh was offered the chance to acknowledge God for who he was, he neglected to do so.
Which ultimately led to God wiping out the first born of everything in Egypt.
Much like the Pharaoh had tried to do to the Israelite people.
Finally, God’s people were able to escape the tyranny of Egypt.
They fled from Egypt but were chased by Pharoah and his army.
God intervened and destroyed Pharaoh’s army and guided his people out of slavery and into deliverance.
We will talk more about the passover and escape next week.
But when the Israelites were set free they were called to the desert, specifically a mountain where God revealed himself to all of them.
And he told Moses to say to them:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
On this mountain God reveals himself to the Israelites.
Ex 19:17-19 “17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.”
God then reveals to them the instructions through Moses.
Moses brings the law to the people of God.
The Commandments.
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Lawgiver
Lawgiver
Moses meets with God and God reveals to him the Law that he wants them to live by.
This is a historical marker in the life of the Israelites.
This law is what is going to set them apart from all the people.
And Moses is important b/c he is the one that brings the law.
But no sooner do they receive the law do they abandon and turn their back on God.
They witness the power of God over Egypt.
They see the glory of God on the mountain.
They hear the voice of God through the Law given.
And yet they still move away from the goodness of God.
As Moses is receiving instruction from God, the Israelites start building a Golden Calf to Worship.
They are breaking the first two commandments after they had seen God and his goodness.
After they had witnessed his power.
After they had heard his voice.
And this angers God.
But Moses acts as an intercessor between God and Man.
He intervenes on behalf of God’s people.
Exodus 32:30-32
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold.
32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Intercessor
Intercessor
In Fact, Moses offers to give up his own life so that he can take the same punishment as the people that sinned.
He would rather sympathize with them than to watch them perish.
Moses identified himself with the People that God had saved.
If God was going to blot out his people, Moses wanted to go with them.
Moses didn’t just intercede for the people on this occasion, but when they wanted food.
Moses asked God and God rained down Manna from heaven.
When the Israelites needed water, Moses asked God and the water was provided for them.
When they were unhappy with the Manna, Moses told God and God provided quail for them to eat.
Moses went between God and man so that man would be provided for.
In Deliverance.
In Sustenance.
In Forgiveness.
As we can see through this brief overview of Moses’ life he was used mightily by God.
He was rightly revered by God’s People.
In Fact, he is still looked upon favorably by the Jewish People and Christians alike.
As he should be.
But we also know that he had flaws.
Though he was used to do the miraculous.
He also had problems.
He wasn’t good enough to provide for the people all that they needed to enter into the promised land.
Though he is a good example of what it looks like to listen and obey God He isn’t the perfect example.
In fact, the Israelites where looking forward to a prophet greater than Moses.
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
One Greater
That one greater is Jesus.
1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
One Greater
One Greater
Like Moses, Jesus had to flee from a king that wanted to kill innocent infants
Matt 2:16 “16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.”
Moses was the prince of Egypt that had access to all the beauty and glory of kingship, but left if all to save God’s People
Jesus also left his kingly throne to come and save God’s People.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Moses Performed miracles to prove that he was called by God to overcome Pharaoh and free his people.
Jesus performed miracles to prove that he was the Son of God and that all authority and power had been given over to him.
Moses came to deliver people from slavery in Egypt.
Jesus came to save people from their sin.
Matt 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””
In the desert, the Israelites were provided for through the manna of heaven. This bread offered them sustenance.
Jesus tells us that he is the bread that offers life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Moses brought the commandments of God.
Jesus Gave us a new commandment.
Jn 15:17 “17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Not only that, but Jesus fulfilled the law knowing that we were unable to accomplish it perfectly.
Matthew 5:17 “17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus also intercedes for us.
Meaning that like Moses, Jesus speaks to God on our behalf.
Every time we mess up.
Every time we stumble.
Every time we need forgiveness, Christ stands there and talks to the father.
Romans 8:34 “34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
But Jesus did what Moses never could have done.
He provides the perfect covering for our sins.
Moses may have plead with God for the forgiveness of the people, but they were still going to be judged for their disobedience.
But Jesus took on our sin and shame.
He took on our faults and failures.
He took on our rebellion and disobedience.
And because he took that on, he puts on us his righteousness.
He advocates for us.
1 Jn 2.1-2 “1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
As good as Moses was, Jesus is infinitely better.
That’s the good news of the gospel.
That good isn’t good enough.
That perfection was needed to take on the wrath of a holy God.
And that perfection was found in Jesus.
Jesus was the sinless spotless lamb of God that stood in our place took or shame and invites us to participate in his everlasting life.
Moses was good, Jesus is better.
Jesus wants to have a relationship with you.
He wants you to know the life that can be found in him.
He wants you to know the freedom that can be found in him.
He wants you to love and trust him.
So the question is, are you going to do that?
Are you going to trust Jesus?
Are you going to let him set you free?
Or are you going to trust in yourself and end up falling short?
Trust in him.
Respond to him.
He’s calling out to you!