Bible Study Snippet Moses – Old Testament Lesson 4
Our story begins with a baby in a small craft, and the year is 1525 B.C. There’s a young couple from the tribe of Levi living in Egypt. They already have two children, a girl and a boy. Then, the third child is born.
At the birth of the third child, the decree goes out from the “White House” of the day that all baby Hebrew boys are to be killed. This couple doesn’t know what to do about it, so they hide the baby boy for three months. Then, with hearts mixed with fear and faith, probably more faith than fear, they construct a little ark, put this little baby in the ark, and set the baby and the ark afloat on the Nile River.
This little baby is found, rescued, and raised by the daughter of the Pharaoh who had originally pronounced the death sentence. Does God have a sense of humor?
This young princess who found, raised, and also named the baby said, ‘I’ll call him Moses which will serve as a reminder to him where he came from.’ The name Moses means, to draw out of the waters.
Now, with this pagan girl not having the least idea of what she was doing, in a very real sense, she was giving all Christians a nickname today. We are little Moseses. We have been drawn out of the waters of sin.
Psalm 18:16 says, “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” This principle is later seen in Romans 8:28, which is also vividly illustrated. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” It’s not that all things are good, but all things work together for good.
Moses grows up in Pharaoh’s court, and he’s versed and steeped in all the laws, knowledge, and wisdom of Egypt. But, when he is 40 years old, he is involved in a manslaughter charge. So he hurriedly leaves the land of Egypt.
In Hebrews 11 we see another reason, and more important reason why Moses left, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”
One of the reasons he left is because he had determined that he was going to suffer with the people of God. You can summarize Moses’ life into three segments, each consisting of 40 years:
- Moses, the Prince of Egypt — the first 40 years
- Moses, the Shepherd of Midian — because he leaves Egypt and goes down to the Sinai where he’ll be for 40 years
- Moses, the great Lawgiver of Israel — the final 40 years
I think the great evangelist D. L. Moody had a message on that many years ago. He said:
“Moses spent the first 40 years of his life trying to be somebody, the second 40 years of his life in the desert realizing he was a nobody, and the third 40 years of his life acknowledging that God can use anybody.”
The Prince of Egypt now becomes a Shepherd of Midian. He goes down there, and he meets and marries a shepherd girl by the name of Zipporah. For the next 40 years, he’s going to be there, and as far as we know, he would have lived out his life and died where nobody would have heard about him again had it not been for an event that happened when he was 80.
When he was 80 years of age, God appeared to him in a burning bush. God told him, ‘I want you to go back, Moses, and tell the Pharaoh, to let my people go.’ Moses didn’t want to do it, and he gave God all kinds of excuses why he could not go. God finally convinced him to go.
Moses did put his shoes back on. Then, he and Aaron, his older brother, make their way to the land of Egypt, and soon Moses will become the Lawgiver of Israel.
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