By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. (Hebrews 11:24-28)
The kid in the basket grew up, surrounded by the best and brightest of Egypt. He wasn’t godless, as the Egyptians had many gods, but he would have had little exposure to the idea of God, beyond scoffing references to that part of the descendants of Israel who refused to sacrifice to the gods. What percentage of the Hebrew children worshipped God after four hundred years is anyone’s guess, but at least some did. No doubt, among those, at least some whispered the news that the four hundred years were almost up. Perhaps Pharaoh heard the rumor, and that was the reason for his edict to kill – to put down the hoped-for uprising. Sure, Moses was a Hebrew baby, but if he was raised in the Pharaoh’s household, as one of his own.
It’s not clear to me from the account in Exodus whether Moses killed the Egyptian because the Egyptian was abusing a Hebrew or because the Egyptian was abusing a person. Not murder, but the defense of another. Not murder, but treason. He ran away for forty years. When he returned, it was not as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. When he returned, it was as a reluctant but committed Hebrew.
I’m not sure when Moses was informed of a reward for his labor or exactly when he learned that there would be a prophet greater than he who would free the Jews forever. Ultimately, his reward was God. That is the great reward God offers all of us, but I wonder if another reward was the freedom of a people that Moses may have despised at times, but came to love. That Moses might have loved the Israelites amazes me as I think about their relationship with him.
As for the prophet, Moses referred to him in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. That was near the end of his life. We’re still forty years before that. He returned to Egypt as a Hebrew and faced down the Pharaoh because he’d met God. And I find myself wondering if the reward
When we meet God, things happen. We might not notice them, and they may not happen all at once, but you can’t meet God and remain the same. When Moses met God, he received a task he didn’t want and for which he declared himself ill-equipped. He went back to Egypt, not with an assurance that he would be sufficient, but that God would be. And when God told him to do something, he obeyed.
It’s not clear to me from the account in Exodus whether Moses killed the Egyptian because the Egyptian was abusing a Hebrew or because the Egyptian was abusing a person. Not murder, but the defense of another. Not murder, but treason. He ran away for forty years. When he returned, it was not as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. When he returned, it was as a reluctant but committed Hebrew.
I’m not sure when Moses was informed of a reward for his labor or exactly when he learned that there would be a prophet greater than he who would free the Jews forever. Ultimately, his reward was God. That is the great reward God offers all of us, but I wonder if another reward was the freedom of a people that Moses may have despised at times, but came to love. That Moses might have loved the Israelites amazes me as I think about their relationship with him.
As for the prophet, Moses referred to him in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. That was near the end of his life. We’re still forty years before that. He returned to Egypt as a Hebrew and faced down the Pharaoh because he’d met God. And I find myself wondering if the reward
When we meet God, things happen. We might not notice them, and they may not happen all at once, but you can’t meet God and remain the same. When Moses met God, he received a task he didn’t want and for which he declared himself ill-equipped. He went back to Egypt, not with an assurance that he would be sufficient, but that God would be. And when God told him to do something, he obeyed.
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