by The Bible is full of important people who did significant things in service to God. Many of the people mentioned in the Bible are well known both by those who believe in God and those who don’t. Moses is one such character. He is likely one of the most prominent figures out of everyone in the Bible, potentially second only to Jesus himself. Like Jesus, Moses’ story is told through multiple books. However, the most well known portion of his story is probably the part that takes place in the book of Exodus. Due to multiple movies and other cultural references, the story of Moses leading the Israelites away from bondage in Egypt has transcended the pages of the Bible and become part of the greater culture of the world at large.
In some ways, it is good that a Biblical story has become so famous. Through the telling of the story, people who may not otherwise be exposed to the Faith can come to learn something about God. However, a drawback is that sometimes God’s place in the story can become watered down and seen as something not to be taken seriously. As Believers we have to remember that these stories are more than tales meant for entertainment. They teach us important lessons about God and what we need to know to live godly lives.
After the events in Joseph’s story, many of the Israelites had found a home in Egypt. When a new Pharaoh rose to power, the goodwill that Joseph had built for the Israelites in Egypt was lost. The Pharaoh saw the Israelites, who had grown substantially in number, as potential enemies and felt that he needed to do something to curb the threat that he felt they represented. He took drastic measures by giving an order to have all male Israelite children killed immediately after birth. Those were the conditions under which Moses was born. Right away, we see that God was with him from the start.
In a desperate attempt to save her son, Moses’ mother tried to hide him, and when she realized she could not continue to do that, she sent him down a river. There are many ways that action could have gone wrong. Instead, it worked out in the best possible way. Moses was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. She saved him, allowed his real mother to nurse him, and raised him as her own son. Moses went from being a child in danger of being killed before he even got a real shot at life to being put in one of the most privileged positions imaginable at the time. This change in fortunes is pretty similar to what happened in Joseph’s story, but Moses was a very different person than Joseph.
Both were principled people, but where Joseph was more thoughtful and reliant on God, Moses was impulsive and acted on his own accord. He could have clung to his acceptance in Egyptian society and looked down on his fellow Israelites who had been enslaved. He didn’t though, and that is a testament to his character. Still, his decision making was not always the best. When seeing an Egyptian abuse one of his fellow Israelites, Moses decided to kill the Egyptian and hide the evidence. His attempt at getting away with his crime failed. The Pharaoh found out about what Moses had done and sought to have Moses killed. Moses fled to a place called Midian to escape the Pharaoh. There, he met two young women. The way they described him after that encounter is interesting.
When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” – Exodus 2:18-19
Moses was an Israelite, and he was loyal enough to that heritage to kill over it. However, outsiders did not see him as such. They saw him as an Egyptian. Even his fellow Israelites did not necessarily see him as kin. That was demonstrated through some of his earlier interactions with them. Neither of those things stopped God from using Moses to save his people. The Pharaoh that ordered Moses be killed eventually died, and Moses was living in peace in Midian married to one of the young women that he had first encountered upon arrival there. Moses was not necessarily living as a Hebrew when God contacted him. It is unclear to what extent Moses even followed God at that point. However, when God called, Moses immediately recognized Him. God informed Moses that Moses would be the instrument that God would use to save the Israelites. As many of us would, Moses questioned God’s decision. He wanted to know how he could be expected to address the mighty Pharaoh. He wanted to know how he could convince the Israelites to listen to him. God answered the questions and told him that he would take the Israelites out of Egypt and they would be gifted with much by the Egyptians.
Given the reality of the circumstances at the time, what God promised might have seemed crazy. We have probably all been in situations where God’s promises seem unrealistic, but as Believers we have to trust that God will fulfill those promises no matter how unlikely it may seem. This story is a good demonstration of God’s faithfulness. After all, God’s tasking of Moses was itself a fulfillment of the promise he made to Abraham.
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. – Exodus 2:23-25
We should also understand that God’s promises aren’t necessarily fulfilled with ease for us. If the promise seems like it would be difficult to achieve, then it very well may require much from us for it to be fulfilled. When God first told Moses that he would have to deal with Pharaoh and would free the Israelites, God didn’t mention anything about Moses (with Aaron) having to upstage Pharaoh’s sorcerers or Moses having to be the harbinger for the 10 plagues or Moses having split a sea down the middle so that the Israelites would have a path to safety. Yet, we all know from the story that all those things took place before the Israelites were free.
Moses’ story teaches us that we don’t have to be perfect for God to use us. It also teaches us that we can never be sure just how He will use us. However, if we have faith in Him, we can accomplish the biggest feats in the most amazing ways. If Moses’ story had ended there, it would have already been suitable to give Believers perspective on what it means to believe in and follow God, but his story was not finished. In some ways it was just beginning. There is plenty more from Moses to be put under the spotlight.
So far, we focused on his early life which included him being charged by God to lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt. Because of Moses’ obedience and God working through him, Moses was able to accomplish the task even though it wasn’t something he believed he could do. If that was all that Moses did, it would still put him pretty high among the figures in the Bible up to that point. God wasn’t close to being done with him though. Moses didn’t know it, but God had plans to build a lasting legacy for Moses.
Moses’ story isn’t just about him though. It’s also about the people he led. The Hebrews or Israelites are referred to as God’s chosen people. One might think that to have been chosen by God, they must have been a pure and good people, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. What we see as favor for the Hebrews was really just God keeping his promise to Abraham. That is a testament to God’s faithfulness because he kept that promise even though the Hebrews demonstrated on more than one occasion that they really weren’t worthy of his favor. Even after seeing the miraculous things God did to get them out of Egypt, it didn’t take them long before they began to doubt and question God.
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” – Exodus 16:1-3
Moses wasn’t allowed to just lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and then pass the reins off to someone else. He had to continue to lead them to the destiny that God promised, and that meant dealing with their lack of faith and disobedience. God was constantly present and it was Him that took care of the needs of the people, but Moses was his emissary and that was certainly not an easy job. The Hebrews had a very hard time being obedient. For example, in the case pertaining to the verses above, God provided for the people with manna and quail beyond their needs. Through Moses, God instructed the people not to try and save any food overnight, yet some people did exactly that.
Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. – Exodus 16:19-20
God gave the people that instruction because he expected them to demonstrate their faith. He told them that he would provide for them everyday. If they truly trusted Him, they would not have felt the need to save food, but unfortunately that is what they did. Moses had faith enough in God to understand just how wrong their actions were, and as the leader, those actions angered him. In some ways, his story mirrored Jesus’. Jesus did many great things that should have easily convinced the people of God’s power and greatness, yet he constantly remarked on the weakness of the faith of those that followed him.
It would be easy to bash the Hebrews for their actions, but are we any different? Sure, God doesn’t rain manna down from the heavens these days, but he does work in our lives in ways that should make his presence and power obvious if we truly believe. Yet for many of us, maintaining our faith is difficult.
God understands. That is why he provides leaders like Moses. Moses did the best he could and probably did better than most could. He kept the people in line. He demonstrated faith when they didn’t. He obediently followed God and acted as God’s hand on Earth. Moses was a great leader, but Moses’ story teaches us a tough lesson. No one from the generation that escaped Egypt made it to the Promised Land. That goes to show that no matter how good an earthly leader might be, it won’t be good enough to save the people the consequences of their sins. There are a number of reasons for that.
For one, human leaders are limited. They can’t be everywhere all the time. Even now God sends us leaders, but what happens when they are away for personal reasons or doing God’s business? We saw what happened when Moses left.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” – Exodus 32:1
Moses had just brought the people a whole host of laws and instructions from God. Among the first of those instructions was to stay away from idols, yet as soon as Moses went away for a while, the first thing the people did was turn to idols. Sometimes, when we put too much faith in the leaders God sends us, we conflate their presence with His presence, and when they fail or leave us, we sometimes believe he has done the same. That is wrong, and we can’t allow attachment to earthly leaders to cause us to stray from God.
Another problem is that none of our earthly leaders are perfect. Moses went through a lot with the Hebrews and served God well, but he wasn’t immune to falling short.
“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” – Numbers 20:8-12
Having to deal with the Israelites’ lack of faith yet again, Moses grew frustrated and did something other than what God instructed. That was enough for him to be denied entry into the Promised Land. Moses’ transgression might have seemed minor, especially in comparison to the many committed by the rest of the Israelites, but that’s the burden held by those that lead on behalf of the Lord. We all have to remember Moses story because now that we Believers have been given access to the Holy Spirit, to some extent we all have to be leaders or examples when it comes to representing God’s will.
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. – Titus 2:7
Let us follow Moses’ example and go where God leads us keeping a mind to always be vigilant and obedient. We may not ever be the leaders Moses was, but we can do what he did in the sense of doing our best to perform God’s will. We may fall short just as Moses did, but even so, we can still build a legacy of following God, and that’s a good legacy to have.
Chris Lawyer
Original Blog Post Part 1 – https://wedforlife.blogspot.com/2019/12/bible-character-spotlight-moses-part-1.html
Original Blog Post Part 2 – https://wedforlife.blogspot.com/2020/01/bible-character-spotlight-moses-part-2.html