The Life of Moses (1)

It was a very difficult time for the people of Israel when this Pharaoh came to the throne in Egypt. We read in Exodus 1:8 that he was a king “which knew not Joseph.” This Pharaoh was not so favorable to the children of Israel. He was afraid that the children of Israel would become more in number and mightier than his own people. Therefore, he said, “Come on, let us deal wisely with them” (Exodus 1:10a). Perhaps he feared that when enemies would attack Egypt, the Israelites would help the invaders.

The plan of Pharaoh

Pharaoh would make the lives of the Israelites bitter with hard bondage. He began to oppress Israel. The Israelites were forced to work hard on Pharaoh’s treasure cities on the east side of his country. He hoped that the Israelites would be weakened and decrease in number and power because of this. However, the opposite happened. “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” The Egyptians were grieved on account of this. The word “grieved” here means they loathed and despised the Israelites. The workloads were increased but without success. Then Pharaoh had another plan. The midwives attending the birth of little Hebrew babies had to kill the boys. The midwives feared God and refused to do what Pharaoh had commanded them. When this cruel plan failed, Pharaoh “charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river…”

Oh, how heavily did the hand of the Lord rest upon the descendants of Abraham! To him (Abraham) the Lord had once promised in Genesis 35:11, “a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee.” Out of his posterity according to the flesh the great Deliverer, Jesus Christ, shall be born. In Him all the families of the earth would be blessed. Therefore, throughout the Old Testament dispensation, the enemy assaulted Israel so often.

However, what the adversary meant for evil, the Lord used for the good of His people. Life in Egypt had become so easy, so pleasant for the flesh. The people lived in a fertile part of the land; there was plenty of grass for their cattle and plenty of food. The Lord used the oppression in Egypt to loose them from their ease in Egypt where they, as also appears later, were drawn into serving some of the gods of the Egyptians. There was a danger of a loss of identity, their own identity and existence as a nation.

How much similarity there is between the time of great need for Israel and our days? Even though here is no open persecution, there is certainly increasing pressure, we might even say oppression of those who want to live and speak according to God’s Word. How much danger there is also for us to lose our own identity as churches of the Reformation. The separation with the world is often hardly noticeable among those who have made a good confession of the truth. Will the Lord also use the pressure, the discrimination of the church, to purify and to draw them back unto a biblical and separate walk before Him? In Egypt it happened after the death of Joseph—the new king of Egypt had not known him. How many pillars in the church have been removed, and is there not a generation growing up that knows little or nothing of the tender walk of those dear children of God in the fear of His name? It was God’s hand in the trials of the Israelites in Egypt. Will we be humbled under the heavy hand of the Lord also upon us in these days? We do not have to ask for persecution, but those have not been the worst times for the church.

A child of great beauty

What a stressful or fearful time it must have been for expecting mothers. Would it be a boy that would be brought into the world? In chapter 2 we read of a man of the house of Levi who was married to a daughter of Levi. These were Amram and Jochebed. The marriage union was blessed; Jochebed conceived and bare a son. She already had two children, Miriam, a daughter of about fifteen, and Aaron, a son of three years old. What were they to do with this son that was just born? Would it be thrown into the Nile? No, God had a purpose with him.

We read in Exodus 2:2, “When she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.” We read in Hebrews 11:23 of the parents “because they saw that he was a proper child.” Also, Stephen spoke of him in Acts 7:20 that the child “was exceeding fair.” Does this just mean that he was a good-looking child? It is remarkable that Stephen says, as we read in the Greek original text, that he was beautiful before God. No one can be beautiful before the Lord, you would say, also not Moses. However, this child is precious before God in Christ and will be an instrument in His hands; he will be called to great things. He will be a mediator on Sinai. In the New Testament we read of his appearance with Elijah on the mount of transfiguration. In heaven they sing his song (Revelation 15:3a), “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”

In a time of great oppression, this child was a sign of hope. God remembered His covenant with Abraham of old, and Moses will be used in His hand. We find great contrasts in Moses’ life. A few examples:

1) He was a child of slaves but also the son of a queen.

2) He was born in a hut and lived in a palace.

3) He inherited poverty and enjoyed unlimited wealth.

4) He became a keeper of flocks but also a leader of armies.

5) He was educated in a court and dwelt in a desert.

6) He had the wisdom of Egypt but the faith of a child.

7) He became a fugitive of Pharaoh but also an ambassador of heaven.

8) He would have the rod of a shepherd but receive the power of the infinite, almighty God.

9) He was tempted with the pleasures of sin but endured the hardships in going the way of the Lord.

This child was hidden for three months, but when the parents could no longer hide him, he was brought to the Nile in a little basket and was laid in the flags by the river’s brink. What a terrible moment when the loving mother and father left their child in a river where many crocodiles were found and so many dangers threatened him.

God’s wonderful providence

No, this child would be kept safe by the Lord’s hand. In Exodus 1 we read of human calculations of Pharaoh which failed, but in Exodus 2 of divine omnipotence which will be shown. The parents believed that God would not put them to shame. They made an ark (that is the original word) from papyrus, made it waterproof, and so the little box with its precious treasure rested on the river wherein so many Israelitish boys were drowned. However, this child was in a little ark, a picture of the hiding place for Noah and his family but also a shadow of the Ark, the place of Refuge in the storm, that is found in Christ. All who are hidden in Him will be kept by His almighty gracious power. God’s ways are wonderful and mysterious but will always manifest His faithfulness and care. No, Amram and Jochebed would not lose their child but receive him back. God led the daughter of Pharaoh to take her bath in the river with her servant girls by the riverside. She heard the cry of the little baby. She saw that it was a child from the Israelites. However, she did not react in anger because the command of her father was disobeyed. Being childless herself, she agreed that Miriam would find a nurse for the baby, and in this miraculous way Moses was reunited with his own mother. Man proposes but God disposes.

The three years that Moses could stay with his own mother were a blessing and joy not only for the mother but also for Moses himself. Jochebed was not only a loving mother but also a praying mother. At a very young age, the seed was sown of which the fruit would be manifest in Moses’ life. Yes indeed, a proper child was he, a child destined to be God’s servant and deliverer of His people. More than Moses is Christ who would be sent in the fullness of time to come and to seek those who are lost. May we know the need for this Deliverer. Then we will see that the service of the devil is a hard bondage, that we cannot deliver ourselves, that we cannot find any rest or way of salvation outside of Him who came to do His Father’s will. He will lead sinners by His Spirit out of the house of bondage, lead them safely through the wilderness, and bring them to the heavenly Canaan. There, redeemed sinners will praise Him for all His mysterious and wonderful ways.

(To be continued)

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