The Exodus of Moses

 

Part 1

 

Genesis means – “Beginning”

In Genesis God is revealing something to man

He reveals origins: Man, sin, the earth

This book is centered on a family

 

 

Exodus means – “Exit” “Departure” The way out

The title of the book of Exodus comes from  the Hebrew translation (Septuagint)

It is taken from the first five words of the book “These are the names of”

Exodus is the book of redemption

 

God is redeeming something in Exodus

He is redeeming Israel

This book is centered in a nation

 

Exodus can be broken down into 3 basic sections

 

1) Ch 1:-12:36

Israel reviled

Israel is under the bondage of the land

 

2) Ch:12:37-18:27

Israel redeemed

Israel is redeemed by the blood of the lamb

 

3) Ch19:-40:38

Israel regulated

Israel is regulated by the law

 

A short history lesson

Exodus 1:1-12:36

Why was Joseph so honored by pharaoh?

Egyptians normally hated shepherds

Psalms 105:1-38

Pharaoh – Comes from the Egyptian word pr-o, which means “The great house”

Originally this word was not a designation for a King of Egypt but was a

reference to his palace. The ancient Egyptians believed that pharaoh was the living representation of their god Horus,  which was identified with the cult of the sun god and symbolized by the falcon. The plagues against the Egyptians, prior to the exodus, were spiritual warfare between the Living God and the false gods of Egypt

Some scholars believe that the Hyksos reign of pharaohs began before Joseph came to Egypt. Some believe it came after Joseph and his brothers died

Others believe that the new king of Ex 1:8 was one of the Hyksos kings who descended

from foreign invaders (ethnically they were a minority in Egypt) This king would have

seen the Hebrew people as a challenge to the control over Egypt. The new King probably did not reign immediately after the death of the pharaoh

in Joseph’s day

 

1876 B.C. – The Xlll Dynasty

Jacob and his family settle in Egypt

1730-1570 B.C. – The Hyksos Period

The new king who did not know Joseph, enslaved the Israelites

1539-1447 B.C. – XVlll Dynasty

1526 or 1527 B.C.

 

Moses is born

There is a turnover in dynasties

1539-1514 or 1512 B.C. – Thutmose 1

1514-1501 B.C. – Thutmose ll

1501-1486 B.C. – Thutmose lll

Although some believe he didn’t actually start reigning until 1482

He was the pharaoh while Moses was being educated in the courts

Here is where some scholars differ:

 

1504-1482 B.C. – Queen Hatshepsut

She is believed to be the foster mother of Moses

She was the daughter of Thutmose l

Thutmose ll did not reign very long and Thutmose lll was very young

when he came to power

So some scholars believe that Queen Hatshepsut designed a way for her to co reign

with Thutmose lll because of his age

She made sure Moses had the best education and the best of everything

Over time Thutmose lll grew to hate Hatshepsut and in the process,

he also began to hate Moses

 

God’s gracious care

Exodus 1-2

Thutmose l decided that to control all the Hebrew people they would have

to kill all the male children that were born during that time

Hatshepsut set aside her fathers edict

We must remember that regardless of what our situation looks like or how we feel

God is in control – He loves us – we can be assured of it

Even then, during this time, if you were to ask a Hebrew person the question.

“Does God love you?”

They would know that He did even if it would have not felt like it

 

Times are hard in Ch 1-2

The Hebrew people didn’t have anything at all, plus the edict of the time

was that all their male children were to be killed at birth. Imagine what they were feeling.

Placed into slavery, living in a foreign place, and now their children are being murdered. How would I feel? Would I be able to have faith?

 

We must have faith. We must trust in God when these times come, even though I am sure that it felt otherwise, God was watching over them.

I wonder if they had heard from God. Did He speak to them?

 

Why does God allow things to happen to us?

We often become confused when things happen to us.When problems come into our lives

God is soverign. He has decreed that we have freedom of will

He is also working in ways we don’t know or see while all this is happening.

It must have seemed like He was so far away from His people. It must have felt like He had left them there. How could He be watching over them.

Yet, all the while He is working to prepare the scene for the redemption of His people

 

God’s gracious care and man’s diversity

He has ordained that all The nations will do His will

Daniel 4:17

He puts together the little things, the things we don’t notice. He puts them together and does wonders with them

 

There are times when our worlds are neatly regulated and we sometimes become comfortable in our walk.

Then everything falls apart

The problems come

The questions arise

We are affected by the same things that the Israelites were

Moses lived

But there were many male babies who didn’t

What can we say to the ones who lost their babies

We must have faith that whatever happens, regardless of the circumstances

God is always in control and He always has our best in mind

 

God’s gracious care and the believer’s security

God is silently working for the redemption of Israel

He gives us promises in His word

He is over our adversity and our adversary

He is in total control and He knows what is best for us

Moses’ mother (Jachobed) hid him for 3 months but she soon found it impossible

So she places him in a small basket and puts him in the Nile in the hopes that

someone would find him and save him

She sent his sister Miriam to see what would happened to him

Now in comes the daughter of pharaoh (Hatshepsut)

She is one of the only people in Egypt who could save the baby. She sees the small baby and she has compassion for him. She was not prepared to care for the Hebrew child

so who better to care for it than a Hebrew woman

Miriam volunteers to find her someone to care for the baby so she promptly goes back

to her mother. Not only did God protect the child from death in the river He also provided wages for Moses mother to take care of her own son through the pharaoh’s treasury

The redemption of the people of Israel was set forth

We must remember to respond in faith, regardless of the circumstances

He will take the bad and make it good

Here was a basket that saved a baby

Here was a bath that saved a leader

Here was a baby that saved a nation

 

Moses was born in the midst of a troubled time. Now he was going back to his mother to be nursed until his time came to be presented to the courts of his foster mother

Hatshepsut named him Moses

 

Moses – Probably related to the Egyptian word meaning “born”

“Because I drew him out of the water”

In Hebrew “He Who draws out”

 

Doing a right thing in a wrong way

Exodus 2:11-15

1486 B.C.

 

Moses is 40 years old

Thutmose lll is on the throne

Acts 7:20-22

The years of Moses experience in the pharaoh’s court are not detailed. Yet Stephen reports a long held and surely accurate tradition that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deed. The training he received would have been the best at that time. He would have learned 3 languages:

Egyptian, Akkadian, and Hebrew

Moses has now come to a place where he must make a decision in his life

What brought him to this particular point?

The point that produced a crisis experience in his life

 

The training of his parents

Miriam had followed the baby and she volunteered to take him to someone who would nurse the baby for Hatshepsut. So she took him back to their mother. He must have been trained in the ways of the Hebrew people in those first few years

His mother would have taught him about God, about their heritage, and his people

 

Now Jachobed has come to a place where she must release her son again. She had already released him to God when he was 3 months and now she has come to the point where she is releasing him to the Lord again

 

The tension of his profession

Acts 7:20-22

 

Moses foster mother had arranged for him to have the best education you could dream of having at the time because she co reigned with the young Thutmose lll

As Thutmose lll grew, his hatred grew for Hutshepsut

He probably had as much or more hatred for Moses. Moses was caught in the middle

Everything he knew was in Egypt

Everything also came from his Egyptian mother

He knew that one day she would be out of the picture and that Thutmose would try to erase her from existence. He knew Thutmose would come after him

 

The treatment of his people

He saw how his people were being treated

He would probably only remember his training in the royal court of Egypt. But in his heart at the same time he came to realize that he was truly a Hebrew

This tension finally came to a climax when he killed the Egyptian

 

His spiritual decision

Hebrew 11:24-28

 

God is at work in the life of Moses

He had lived a life of wealth and privilege but he chose to identify with his people. The decisions we make are not ones that begin in one minute. These things happen over time by the gentle nudging of God. Now the time had come where Moses realizes he is a Hebrew. He also realized that something had to be done for things to get better

 

There are 2 focal points in the spiritual decision he is called upon to make:

 

He wanted to honor his God

He lived in the midst of a pagan culture. He was searching, struggling with the same things we experience. He had made a decision that God was going to be first in his life

God would no longer be in competition with his mother or his education

Have we reached this point?

 

He wanted to help his people

Hebrew 11:24-27

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king. He had already decided to leave before (Exodus 2:11) where he fled from pharaoh. It had been a growing conviction in the heart of Moses that he was going to put God first. The only reason he was alive was because of the protection of God and he knew it

He had already left Egypt in his heart. Now he had come to a place where he had left all that he knew and he was now going against all he had been taught

People would judge. No one would understand. He did not fear what was going to happen to him because he wanted to honor his God

Many times we think we can do no wrong when we speak these words.

Moses thought the same way. He thought that God would direct every step all the time

That God would be in every moment and he would not have to choose

 

What went wrong with Moses?

Acts 7:25

Moses thought that God would deliver the Israelites by his hand. We all want to have the right motives. So often we try to do the right things but in the end we go about it the wrong way

 

There are 4 problem areas Moses had in making the wrong decisions

 

Was he arrogant?

Acts 7:25

Moses could have had a Messiah complex when he went down to Goshen

He knew that God would deliver his people by his hand but actually God would deliver them by His hand

Do we have arrogance in our lives?

It has to be my way or no way at all with no care for the feelings of others

Do we think this way?

 

Was he anxious?

Hasty, compulsive

Our problems come, most of the time when we make rash impulsive decisions and we don’t think about the consequences

 

Was he afraid?

Exodus 2:12

He looked around

Why?

Was his cause not just?

If we have to do something in the dark, in secret and we can’t do it in the light, then something is wrong

 

Was he angry?

He killed the man and hid him in the sand

He was overcome with anger

Numbers 20:1-12

Exodus 2:12

Moses had somewhat of a temper