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Exodus – Part 2
The Birth of Moses
January 31, 2016
Bo Weaver at The Bridge in Wider, KY
This morning in our study of the book of Exodus, we are going to
look at the birth of Moses.
Moses is one of the great towering figures, not just of the Bible,
but of all human history.
In a book titled The 100, in which author, Dr. Michael Hart
ranks the 100 most influential people who have ever lived,
Moses comes in at #15.
As far as the Bible is concerned I would put Moses at #2, just
after Jesus.
As far as mere mortals go, Moses stands alone.
 Of Moses, the Bible says, “… the LORD spoke… face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).
 To Moses God revealed His glory.
 Moses not only faced down the greatest super-power of
the day when he delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage,
but he was the greatest miracle worker in the Bible
until Jesus.
 Moses received the Old Testament Law directly from
God.
 Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and is
referred to in the New Testament nearly 80 times.
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 Despite all this, Moses is described in Numbers 12:3 as
“the meekest, most humble man on the face of the
earth.”
Never mind that Numbers is one of the books of which Moses is
the author.
I’m sure if it wasn’t true the Holy Spirit would not have allowed
Moses to have written it!
Can you just imagine that conversation if these words were not
truly inspired by the Spirit of God?
Moses writes that he is the meekest, most humble man on the
face of the earth, but before he goes on to the next verse the
Holy Spirit says to him, “Seriously?”
“You’re going to leave that in there?”
 And even though Moses was not permitted to take the
children of Israel into the Promised Land, he did eventually
make it into Canaan.
Can anybody tell me when that was?
It was on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was
transfigured and Moses and Elijah appeared to Him and spoke
with Him.
How many can put that on their resume?
“I appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.”
Only two people can make that claim, Moses and Elijah.
So, you see why I call Moses a towering figure of human history?
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With Moses being such a great figure in the Bible, we are going to
take the time to examine the events surrounding the birth of this
extraordinary man, Moses.
If you were with us last week you will recall that the children of
Israel or the descendants of Abraham were in Egypt.
The Egyptians were getting nervous about how numerous the
children of Israel were becoming.
They were concerned that if Egypt was ever invaded and the
Israelites decided to side with the invaders that they would be
wiped out.
The first thing they did was to place the children of Israel under
forced labor.
Up until this time the children of Israel enjoyed relative freedom
in Egypt, or as much freedom as anyone living in Egypt enjoyed.
The fact is every citizen of Egypt was seen as belonging to
Pharaoh, in perhaps the same way everyone in N. Korea belongs
to Kim Jong-un.
It wasn’t as if everyone was kept in concentration camps.
People had their own homes and could grow their own food, but
Pharaoh if wanted something built, and Pharaoh always wanted
something built; he could put the people to forced labor.
This is what happened to the children of Israel.
But this did nothing to slow the birthrate.
The more the children of Israel were afflicted, the more they grew
and multiplied.
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Because of this the king of Egypt, or Pharaoh, as he was called,
issued an edict ordering all male babies born to the Hebrews to
be thrown into the Nile River.
It was under this threat of death that Moses entered the world.
We read of the birth of Moses in Exodus chapter two.
Exodus 2
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And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a
daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son.
And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him
three months.
Now, the first thing that comes to my mind is; what mother
doesn’t think her baby is beautiful?
I know there are some babies that are so unattractive that even
their own mother has to admit that they are ugly, but they are
still beautiful to them.
It had to be that either Moses was exceptionally beautiful, or that
his mother (whose name we know is Jochebed) discerned that
there was indeed something special about this child.
At any rate, at the risk of her own life, and perhaps at the risk of
her other children Miriam, who was about twelve years of age,
and a son named Aaron who was two, instead of casting Moses
into the Nile as commanded by Pharaoh, she kept and hid him.
But you can only hide a baby for so long.
Verse 3
But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of
bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the
child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 And
his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
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The Bible doesn’t say how Jochebed, Moses’ mother came up with
this idea, but we can be sure that people of God had in their oral
tradition the history of the flood.
Moses is only eight generations removed from Noah and the
flood.
Perhaps as Jochebed pondered what she should do she
remembered how God saved Noah and his family in an ark made
of wood.
They wouldn’t have to build an ark big enough to house pairs of
all the animals in the world; they only needed one big enough for
one baby boy.
And so they fashioned an ark made of bulrushes, or reeds that
grew in abundance along the Nile and the daubed it with pitch to
make it waterproof.
Perhaps it looked something like this.
The second part of their plan was, I believe, a stroke of genius.
They knew that the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the Nile to
take her ritual bath each day.
The Nile was worshipped in Egypt as the giver of life.
The family of Pharaoh was also considered divine, and so every
day the daughter of Pharaoh would come down and interact with
her fellow deity by bathing in the river.
Verse 5
Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the
river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when
she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get
it. 6 And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold,
the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said,
“This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
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Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and
call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may
nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to
her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother.
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Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away
and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So
the woman took the child and nursed him.
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And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s
daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name
Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
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This is an example of the providence of God.
In the midst of terrible oppression; when the men are laboring for
Pharaoh under the lash and the women are being forced to throw
their babies into the Nile River, God shows that He is still in
control.
He can bring His promised deliverer not matter what Pharaoh or
the Devil does to try to stop it.
I should point out that Egypt in the Scriptures is a type of the
world.
By this I mean that Egypt serves as an example of the world
system that set against God and is under the sway of God’s
enemy, the Devil.
Just as Jesus entered this world to deliver people for the power of
Satan and his kingdom, so it was God’s plan to send a deliverer
to bring his people out of bondage in Egypt.
Just as Satan perceived the threat when Jesus was born and
moved wicked King Herod to attempt to kill Jesus by ordering the
murder of all boys two years of age or younger around
Bethlehem, so Satan moved upon Pharaoh to try to snuff out the
deliver God wanted to send to Egypt.
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But just as Herod’s attempts to kill Jesus were thwarted, so also
was Moses protected from Pharaoh.
Not only that, but God orchestrated that Moses be delivered back
to his mother and arranged for her to be paid wages for nursing
him!
No doubt Jochebed made it known to everyone that the young
child was a ward of the daughter of Pharaoh, insuring that the
same Egyptian soldiers that might have discovered and killed the
baby Moses now become his protector!
But Moses wouldn’t remain a baby forever.
The day would come when Moses would be returned to Pharaoh’s
daughter where he would be raised in the palace.
We know from Stephen, the church’s first martyr, that;
“Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, and was mighty in word and deeds.”
- Acts 7:22
Tradition says that Moses studied at the Temple of the Sun in
Heliopolis.
“All the wisdom of the Egyptians,” would have included a very
advanced knowledge of science, writing, arithmetic and
geometry.
The Great Pyramid of Egypt had been standing a few hundred
years by the time Moses came along.
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The Egyptians were expert in chemistry, in embalming, in
astronomy and medicine.
The Edwin Smith Papyrus documents ancient Egyptian medicine,
including the diagnosis and treatment of injuries.
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This wood and leather prosthetic toe was used by an amputee to
facilitate walking
They mined and worked with such metals as copper and iron.
They had developed a number of musical instruments.
Egypt was the most advanced civilization of its day.
Moses was a highly educated man; some even speculate that as
the daughter of Pharaoh he may have been in line to become the
next Pharaoh of Egypt.
The Jewish historian, Josephus, records that Moses was
eventually appointed general of the Egyptian army and that he
won several important battles against the Ethiopians.
Of this we can’t be absolutely sure because it is not corroborated
by any other source, but of one thing we can be sure.
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We know Moses didn’t forget from whence he came.
He knew he was a Hebrew, one of the descendants of Abraham
and part of the covenant people of God.
It would appear that Moses had some inkling that God had a
special purpose for his life and that it involved bringing freedom
to his people.
Again, we quote from Stephen in Acts 7.
“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his
heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.”
- Acts 7:23
Something, or better, someone had put it in Moses heart to leave
the palace where he lived in luxury and visit the Hebrews who
were toiling as slaves.
The writer of Hebrews gives us a little more information about
these events.
Hebrews 11
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to
the reward.
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By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
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No doubt influenced by the prayers of his mother and father and
no doubt having been dealt with by the Spirit of God, Moses
made the decision to turn his back on Egypt and all the pleasures
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that royalty afforded and to cast his lot with a bunch of Hebrew
slaves.
He didn’t know how or when, but something deep inside told him
that God was going to use him to make a difference in the lives of
his people, and so one day he just walked out of the palace and
over to where the Israelites were toiling as slaves.
We pick-up the story back in Exodus chapter two.
Exodus 2
Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was
grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their
burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of
his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and
when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in
the sand.
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A couple of things the Bible reveals about Moses.
1. Moses had a heart for the oppressed
It was in his heart to help the underdog, to defend the weak and
the mistreated.
Moses was by nature a mediator.
Time and we will see Moses coming between parties to defend the
downtrodden.
2. Moses had a short fuse
Of all the wonderful things we can say about Moses, one
weakness that emerges is that he had a temper problem.
It was his temper that kept Moses out of the Promised Land, as
we will see in a future message.
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Moses was a great man.
Moses was an amazing man.
But Moses, as we shall see, was still just a man; and one of
frailties of his flesh was his temper.
That should encourage us.
God uses imperfect people to do incredible things.
God has to use imperfect people because that’s the only kind
there are.
There are no perfect people, so God uses us in our imperfection,
in our weakness and in our human frailty.
But despite Moses having killed an Egyptian taskmaster, he
returns to his people the following day.
Verse 13
And when he went out the second day, behold, two
Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did
the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”
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Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over
us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
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When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill
Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in
the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
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So, Moses’ career as a protector and as a deliverer of his people,
in his own strength, lasted all of two days.
This has got to be one of the briefest ministry careers in history.
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Two days and Moses is out of a job and out of the country!
Once again, Stephen provides some additional insight into what
Moses was thinking at this point in his life.
For he supposed that his brethren would have understood
that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not
understand.
- Acts 7:25
There’s nothing worse than not being understood, unless it is not
being appreciated.
Moses was neither understood nor appreciated and now he is a
fugitive on the run, a man with blood on his hands and nothing to
show for it.
Number of people killed; one.
Number of peopled delivered from Egypt: zero.
So here Moses sits next to a well in the middle of the Midian
desert.
Exodus 2
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they
came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water
their father’s flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove
them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and
watered their flock.
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Once again we see Moses defending the weak.
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When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it
that you have come so soon today?” 19 And they said, “An
Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and
he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
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So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it
that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat
bread.”
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Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave
Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son.
He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a
stranger in a foreign land.”
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Moses has gone from the palace to a very short-term deliverer, to
protector of seven sisters who were shepherdesses.
For his efforts as a protector of the seven sisters he gets a wife.
I don’t know what kind of wife you can get that cheap, but that’s
what Moses got and now he settles down to live out his days in
the Midian wilderness.
But as you know, God is not finished with Moses.
Moses might have been learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, but now God has enrolled him in a post-graduate
course called waiting.
Some of you know that program.
If you don’t, you will.
I think it’s God’s favorite course, the school of waiting.
But sometimes when it looks like God is doing the least, He’s
doing the most.
Sometimes He’s preparing the circumstances and always, He’s
preparing us.
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But I want to go back to Moses’ mother, Jochebed to make some
application to today’s message.
Jochebed exercised an incredible amount of faith in placing her
baby in the Nile River.
I believe we learn from her.
Some of us have a “baby” that God wants us to entrust to Him.
I would suggest that we do what Jochebed did.
First, she did all she could do.
She cared for the baby.
She did all she could do to protect and preserve the baby.
In her case she fashioned an ark and then formulated a plan that
she hoped would result in Pharaoh’s daughter taking pity on baby
Moses.
But after doing all she knew to do – she put her baby in the ark
and then entrusted him to God.
Some of you have already run ahead and have identified the
“baby” in your life that you need to entrust to God.
For some of you it is a child, perhaps an adult child who is away
from the Lord.
You’ve done all you know to do – and now, you need to entrust
them to God.
By that I don’t mean you give up.
I mean you let go and let God.
For some of you it’s a job that hasn’t panned out, or it’s a job
that you need but can’t seem to land.
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For us as a church and for me personally it is closing on our loan
and being able to get in our new building.
It could be anything.
Today, I want to invite you to put your baby in the ark.
God knows how to deliver – and when.
God is working in the circumstances even when it seems like He
is not.
The closing verses of Exodus chapter two, I believe, speak of this.
Exodus 2
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of
Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of
the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to
God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning,
and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with
Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children
of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
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It would seem from this passage that it was necessary for the
children of Israel to be under the burden of bondage a little
longer before they were ready to receive their God-appointed
deliverer.
And in the mean-time, God was fashioning just such a deliverer.
His name is Moses and we’ll learn more about him next week.
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