A Study of the Life of Moses
Sermon # 1
“Passing On A Heritage of Faith”
Exodus 1 – 2:9
Dr. John R. Hamby
This morning we are going to begin a study of the life of Moses. For many of the older generation the mere mention of Moses brings to mind a picture of Charlton Heston, as he played the leading role in Cecil B. Demille’s production of “The Ten Commandments.” In this picture he is strong, handsome, and wise. For today’s generation if you mention Moses their thoughts are more likely tied to his depiction in Walt Disney’s “The Prince of Egypt,” an entertaining animated production of the life of Moses. Here he is pictured as athletic, quick witted and fun loving.
As we look at the biblical record we will discover that neither of these depictions are accurate, that Moses was a real man with real struggles, some which he did not handle very well. It is a story of man who in spite of his shortcomings was used by God.
You will remember in our recent study of Joseph that because of a severe famine Jacob and his sons and their families came to Egypt where Joseph provided for their needs. When they arrived in Egypt we are told in beginning in chapter one and verse five, “all those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). (6) And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. (7) But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.”
From a small band of people numbering seventy people, this little band had become a mighty nation, swelling in number to perhaps in excess of two million people. The new Pharaoh began to perceive of the Israelites as a threat. Verse eight says, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; (10) come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” (11) Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.”
It likely that the king referred here was new in a very significant sense, perhaps he represented not only a new person but: very likely a new ruling family.
He feared the numerical strength of the Israelites and began to look for way to diminish their number. He feared that they would become allies with their enemies and would overcome them and leave Egypt. Interestingly everything that Pharaoh feared came to pass in spite of his best efforts.
Pharaoh’s first plan was to enslave the Israelites and tighten their control over them. A large part of the plan involved intimidation and oppression, designed to so demoralized the Israelites that they would not have the strength to resist. Pharaoh utilitized the large slave labor force to strengthen the country.
But it seems the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. In verse 12 we read, “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.”
The Egyptian response to the continued numerical growth of the Israelites was to increase the workload and to intensify the harassment and cruelty imposed on them by their taskmasters. “So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.”
Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the previous attempts to curtail the rapid growth of the Israelites, concern now turned to near panic. Pharaoh now turns to the Hebrew midwives and tells them in verse 15, “Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah (shif’-rah) and the name of the other Puah; (poo-ah) (16) and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
Pharaoh says, “When a baby is born among the Hebrews if it is a girl let it live but if it is a boy you see that it dies.” According to the instructions they were watch closely as each Hebrew child was born and if were a boy they were to snuff out its life before it could utter its first cry. Then the mid-wife could say to the mother, “I am sorry but the child did not live.” It is a hideous idea, but frankly it pales in comparison to the modern day practice of partial birth abortions.
But Pharaohs plans came to nothing for we read in verse 17, “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (18) So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” (19) And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.” (20) Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. (21) And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.”
These daring women lived out their faith where God had put them. What they did was daring but not dramatic, it revealed a faith that would not disobey God.
I am not sure what the phrase “He provided households for them,” means. It may mean that these women found husbands, married and had homes and families of their own. Whatever the specifics, it suggests that these women were protected and rewarded by God. It is interesting to consider we do not today know the name of the Pharaoh but we do know the name of these two Hebrew midwives.
Finally in complete desperation, Pharaoh commands that the all the boy children be destroyed as is revealed in verse 22. “So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” What Pharaoh had previously tried to do in an underhanded manner he now demanded openly.The application of these verses to the present American abomination of abortion on demand should be obvious. There is a parallel between what happened then and what is happening in America now. It began with a scorn for those who were a threat to their perceived self-interest. The Egyptians despised the Israelites who seemed to endanger their position of comfort and prestige, just as Americans look at unwanted children as an economic liability and unwanted burden.
Having established the circumstances of Moses’ birth I want to examine how his parents passed on a heritage of faith to their son! I want to share with you two principle about faith that we see in this passage and one application about passing on a heritage of faith.
Two Principles About Faith
1. Faith Does Not Demand That We Act Foolishly.
(Exodus 2:1-2)
“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.”
In this terrible time a child is born to a godly couple of the tribe of Levi. When the parents looked at this newborn child they saw that “he was a beautiful child.” Rather than believe that his parents were impressed merely with his physical beauty I believe it better to understand that his parents were convinced that God had a very special purpose for this child. The biblical perspective is that children are from God, (Psalm 127:3-4) tell us “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. (4) Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.” And the psalmist later in 139:13-14 declares that every child is a product of divine creation, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. (14) I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”
We have perhaps often see depictions of the fear of the parents of Moses’ upon the birth of Moses. Such may have been true of other Hebrew parents but it was not true of Amram and Jochebed. In fact, Hebrews 11:23 lets us in on the secret of how the parents of Moses faced this crisis we are told, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”
This verse in Hebrews 11 indicates that Moses’ parents, Amram and Jochebed, had a deep and abiding faith in God. This verse says that they hid their child because “they were not afraid of the king’s command.” You would expect it to say that they hid the child because they were afraid. To understand it must be remembered that there are two threats in the king’s command; one against the babies and one against the parents. If you kill your baby you will live. If you don’t kill the baby you risk your life. In other words they look at the fear for their own lives and say we will not give in. The point is that it is faith that produced the courage to defy the king. My I suggest to you that Moses grew to be a great man of faith because his father and mother were people of faith.
How would you like to try hiding a baby for three months. I remember well when we brought our baby home from the hospital. For the first six weeks she had the cholic and see cried and she cried and she cried. We could not have concealed her for three minutes! If there had been a Nile then … Oh well we don’t want to go there!! (Just kidding Nikki).
While they did risk their lives in saving the baby, they did hide the baby. Some of an immature faith, feel that if the parents of Moses’ had real faith that they would not have hid him but would have carried him around openly.
How can we apply this to today? Working with AIDS patients is a noble task of risk taking faith, wearing rubber gloves is faithful wisdom. Following God’s call to a foreign field in a third world country takes faith, have your children receive vaccinations is faithful wisdom. If I can state it rather succinctly God expects you to use your brain.
Charles Swindoll says, “To walk by faith does not mean that we stop thinking. To trust God does not imply becoming slovenly or lazy or apathetic. What a distortion of biblical faith! You and I need to trust God for our finances, but that is no license to spend foolishly. You and I ought to trust God for safety in the car, but we’re not wise to pass in a blind curve. We trust God for our health, but that doesn’t mean we can chain smoke, stay up half the night, and subsist on potato chips and Twinkies without consequences. …Faith and careful planning go hand-in-hand. They always have.”
[Charles Swindoll. Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication. (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999) p. 27]
2. Faith does not mean that we do not have to plan.
(Exodus 2:3-4)
“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.”
You may be like myself as I envisioned Jochebed making her way down to the river and thrusting the basket out into the current, and the basket bobbing down the river until coming to rest in some reeds where he found. But that is not what happened. Verse three says that she, “laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.” In other words she carefully positioned the basket precisely where she wanted it. She put the basket in the place that she knew the princess came to bathe. She then sent Moses’ older sister Miriam to watch. She no doubt instructed Miriam carefully on what she was to say.
In verse five we are told, “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.” (7) 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.”
The plan went flawlessly. The princess “found” the baby just as planned. Now I want us to consider the application of passing on a heritage of Faith.
Passing On A Heritage Faith Does Not Happen by
Accident
Verse nine continues the story with, “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.”
The princess without realizing it, hired the baby’s own mother to nurse and raise him. Jochebed not only got her child back, she got the protection of Pharaoh’s daughter and got paid to raise him. This cannot be anything but the hand of God.
Jochebed had Moses under her care while until he was weaned and beyond while he was growing. However long this might have been it was long enough for the mother of Moses to firmly lay a foundation of belief in God.
Close to six million Americans will take a life changing experience this next year; they will have children. And HOW they raise these children will have a greater impact on our society than anything else they do in life.
I want to say a word today to the mothers of pre-school children. I am not talking to single moms who have to work or to mothers with older children in school. I want to commend you for your decision to remain at home with your pre-school children. Any sacrifice short of food to eat and a place to live is not to great to have this time of opportunity with your children.
What would you do if you knew that everything that your child might know about God they would learn from you? What if this was compounded by the knowledge that in all likelihood you would not have very much time to accomplish this? What would you do? What would you tell your child about? The words of Deut. 6:7 would take on special meaning,
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” You would look for opportunities to tell them about your faith. Isn’t that what we should be doing anyway?
How do you pass on your faith to your children? The words of Proverbs 22:6 offer instruction, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” But what do these words mean? The first word in the verse is “train” and it comes from a Hebrew word used to describe the actions of a mid-wife. After she helped deliver a child she would dip her finger in crushed dates and reach into the mouth of the infant and massage his gums. The flavor sensation of the dates would create in the infant a desire to nurse. So the term “train” literally means “to create a thirst in.”
In the brief time that Jochebed had with Moses she created in him a desire for the things of God that he never got over. Nobody takes the place of pre-schooler’s mother, no one.
Parents the best things that you can give your children in life is not possessions, or even education but faith, a faith that leads them to thirst to use their God given gifts and abilities to accomplish God’s purpose for their lives.
