A Study of the Life of Moses
Sermon # 2
“Getting Ahead of God!”
Exodus 2:11-15
Acts 7: 20-29
Dr. John R. Hamby
Last week in our first in the series on the life of Moses we examined how Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, passed on to their son a heritage of faith. The time came that they had to hand their son over to the daughter of Pharaoh.
According to Exodus 2:10, “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.”
When Moses was weaned he was taken into the household of the Pharaoh, were he was raised as the son of the princess. She named the boy, Moses, a name that was rooted in the event of her finding the baby, meaning “to draw out” as she had drew him out of the Nile.
God had given the parents of Moses more than they could ask or even imagine. Not only was his life spared, and protected by none other than the pharaoh’s daughter, but they are allowed to keep him and train him in the ways of God and they were even paid to do it. What a gracious God we serve.
Between verse 10 and verse 11 nearly 40 years are passed over in silence. The account in Exodus throws no light on the nearly 40 years Moses spent in the courts of Egypt. We left off with Moses as a baby and now we see him as an adult. In the intervening years there are several facts that we need to understand about the life of Moses. But Stephen in his account before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:22 tells us, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” Moses was raised as an Egyptian prince and was given a remarkable education in the courts of Pharaoh. He was likely educated at the “Temple of the Sun” which was known as “the Oxford of Ancient Egypt. He would have studied the various sciences, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine and religion, philosophy and the law. It appears that he was a great student for the verse says that he was “mighty in words and deeds.”
The fact that he was “mighty in …deeds” seems to indicate that he also had some military experience. The Jewish historian Josephus in his “Antiquities of the Jews” gives an account of how by the time he was thirty Moses led the Egyptian army to victory in a battle against the invading Ethiopians.
Preceding the events of verse 11 and those that follow is a decision that Moses made in his heart described in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews (vv. 24-26). “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.”
This seems to tell us that during that time Moses had made a critical decision to identify with the Hebrew people.
At some point Moses had come to believe that he was to be Israel’s deliverer. Once he understood this divine calling upon his life he made his decision to give himself sacrificially to his people, he was ready for action. As we have already seen Hebrews 11: 24-25 records, “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,”
The decision that Moses made was truly remarkable. God did indeed intend for Moses to be the deliverer of His people from bondage in Egypt. Even though Moses was schooled in all the knowledge of the Egyptians there was much hat Moses had to learn yet. There would be a time when he would know the ways of the Lord, but for now he was too full of his own ways. In a later time he would be empowered by God, but now he was acting in his own self-energy. Moses was rash, impatient, headstrong and headed for trouble.
We take up the biblical account of the life of Moses in verse 11, “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.”
Verse 11 in our text sets the stage for the coming events by saying that it happened when Moses “was grown.” According to Acts 7:23 Moses was, “…forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.”
According the later part of this verse, “ he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.”
When Moses saw the abuse and oppression that his fellow Hebrew’s were under his heart went out to them. He clearly saw the need for a deliverer and he wanted desperately to help them. Finally one day as he witnessed a one of the Egyptian taskmasters beating one of the Hebrew slaves he could not sit still any longer. Acts 7:24 says, “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.”
It is tempting to think that as Moses witnessed the abuse to his fellow Hebrew that something just snapped. But scripture portrays that this was all a part of a preconceived plan on the part of Moses. He decided that is was time to take action so according to verse 12 of our text, “…he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” He looked this way and that but unfortunately he never looked up. He knew God’s will. But the problem was that he did not bother to seek God’s way and God’s timing. He was trying to do God’s will in his own way and in according to his own timetable.
That is the problem when we understand what God’s will for our lives is but things are not happening fast enough to suit us, we become anxious. We try to give God a hand.
Did the cruel taskmaster deserve to be punished? Yes! Was it wrong to beat the Hebrew as he did? Of course. But when Moses stepped in began his own “Operation Deliverance,” he was energized by the flesh not by the Spirit of God. Invariably when you act in the flesh you will have something to cover up. But it is just a matter of time until the truth catches up with you. The sand always yields its secrets, and corpse was not as hidden as Moses’ has supposed.
Charles Swindoll puts it this way, “Neglecting to ask God’s counsel, neglecting to seek God’s timing, you step in to handle things. And by and by, you’ve got a mess on your hands. Your stuck with a corpse, with a shovel in your hands and a shallow grave at your feet.” [Charles Swindoll. Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication. (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999) p. 43]
Moses’ motivation was right but his timing and his methods were all wrong. The significant thing here is that Moses’ plans are not the same plans made by God for the deliverance of the Hebrews. Moses did not see himself as a murderer but as one striking the first blow for the freedom of God’s people.
Moses desiring to carry out God’s plan for the deliverance of the Hebrews, eager to do great things for God, forced a situation that led to a personal disaster. There is a principle that we need to recognize, God will not bless what he has not designed.
Exodus 2, verse thirteen says, “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?” (14) Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
What a terrible put down. Moses knew he was to be the deliverer and he supposed that everyone else would recognize it to. Acts 7:25 gives commentary, “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.” But instead when he tries to stop a fight between two Hebrews he cannot believe the response. They say. “Hey, Mr. High and Mighty, Who died and left you in charge? You’re not our leader. What are you going to do kill us if don’t do what you say?”
Moses was both astonished because his secret was out and afraid because if they knew then Pharaoh either knew or would know shortly. The remainder of verse 14 says, “….So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
It appears that Moses was right for the very next verse (15) says, “Then 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.”
One would assume that Pharaoh already knew of Moses’ decision in rejecting his Egyptian upbringing. To Pharaoh this must have seemed the grossest kind of ungratefulness. And now he hears the Moses has actually killed an Egyptian official. This is only one remedy for a disloyal and out of control prince, have him killed.
Now the only recourse open to Moses was to flee to someplace that the power of Pharaoh could not reach him. He fled to the desert in the land of Midian. He must have thought as he made this journey that his life was over, that God could not and would not ever use him again. He was wrong of course. But it would take him many weary years to realize it. We will leave the lessons learned in the school of desert till next time but for now suffice it to say, it is when we have come to the end of self-lead life that God can begin to work in our lives. It is when we have come to the end of ourselves, having push hard enough and manipulated long enough, that God finally gets your attention. It is then that you discover that God is saying, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).
F.B. Meyers gives a wonderful assessment when he wrote, “Such experiences come to us all. We rush forward, thinking to carry all before us; we strike a few blows in vain; we are staggered with disappointment and reel back; we are afraid at the first breath of human disapproval; we flee from the scenes of our discomfiture to hide ourselves in chagrin. Then we are hidden in the secret of God’s presence from the pride of man. And there our vision clears; the silt drops from the current of our life; our self-life dies down; our spirit drinks of the river of God, which is full of water; our faith begins to grasp His arm and to be the channel for the manifestation of His power; and thus at last we emerge to be His hand to lead an exodus.”
[F.B.Meyer. Lance Wubbels. ed. The Life of Moses. (Lynnwood, Washington: Emerald Books, 1996) p. 30}
After Moses returned from the enforced exile in the desert of Midian years later he was a different man, one fit for years of selfless and obedient service.
Application
Perhaps the only good thing about failure is that God uses our failures to teach us important things.
[Some of these principles are drawn from James Montgomery Boice. Ordinary Men Called by God: Abraham, Moses & David. (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1982) pp. 57-59.]
First, we learn through failure is that no matter how talented we are, how educated we may be, without Him we can do nothing. Jesus tells us in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” The prophetic words taken from Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:9 speak to us when she said, “for by strength no man shall prevail.”
The second thing God teaches us through our failures is that we are capable of terrible things if we persist in our way instead of pursuing His way.
Third, Hiding our wrongs doesn’t erase wrong: it only postpones its discovery.
According to Exodus 2:12, Moses hid the body of the slain Egyptian in the sand but by next day the deed is known. When we have done wrong some very human instincts kick in; deny it, excuse it, rationalize it, reinterpret our shortcomings. But the best and only real way to hand it is to “fess up.” To call failure, failure. To call sin, sin. To admit we were wrong so that we can be cleansed and restored and go on with our lives.
The final lesson that God can teach us through the failure of our own plans is that he is capable of working for us and in us, in spite of us.
Moses the man who botched things so bad on his own was used mightily of God. His name is mentioned 700 times in the Bible. He was used by God in a greater way than any other Old Testament character, when he through failure learned to follow God’s plans rather than his own. If Moses can raise from his failures to be used by God so can we.
