“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 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 pleasures of sin for a short time. 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 sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.” Hebrews 11:23-29
The book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ unparalleled epitaph: “Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt – to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” [34:10-12].
To all Jews, Moses was the greatest of all men. He was Israel’s greatest prophet. God communicated directly to him and testified regarding their relationship: “When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord” [Numbers 12:6-8].
This is why his face was luminous when he descended Mt. Sinai with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. He was Israel’s greatest lawgiver. He was Israel’s greatest historian, authoring everything from Genesis to Deuteronomy. He was considered Israel’s greatest saint, for Scripture says he was “more humble than any one else on the face of the earth” [Numbers 12:3]. This is perhaps his most amazing attribute given his many accomplishments. He was also Israel’s greatest deliverer.
Significantly, regarding Moses’ deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the writer of Hebrews notes that it was a colossal act of faith from beginning to end. Here we have the anatomy of a faith that delivers others and sets them free. This insightful teaching had special relevance to the ancient church suffering in its own inhospitable ‘exile’ in the Roman Empire with a second wave of persecution welling up against it. Certainly, this section also has direct relevance for every believing soul who senses any dissonance with the unbelieving world around him.
The initial faith we are shown in this passage is not Moses’ faith, but rather, the heroic faith of his parents. Both parents were from the tribe of Levi. Exodus 2:1 and Exodus 6:20 tell us that their names were Amram and Jochebed and that they had another son – Aaron, who would become the high priest. They also had a daughter – Miriam, who was a prophetess.
The couple’s marriage came at a dark time for Israel – when the oppression of the Egyptians had become utterly diabolical. First, Pharaoh had commanded the Hebrew midwives to murder all male newborns immediately upon birth. When that plan failed, his command became even more crude and effective – all newborn baby boys were to be tossed into the Nile as food for the crocodiles [Exodus 1:15-22]. Nevertheless, Jochebed conceived and when baby Moses was delivered, his parents’ faith was in full force: “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child” – literally, they saw that he was a “beautiful child” [RSV, NASB, NKJV]. This seems an odd reason, especially in light of our universal parental experience. All my children were “beautiful” and extraordinary – as I am sure yours were. Obviously, there was something about him that was more than beautiful. Possibly there was something unique about his presence that confirmed God’s word. John Calvin remarked “it seems contrary to the nature of faith that they were induced to do this by the beauty of his form. We know that Jesse was rebuked when he brought his sons to Samuel in order of their physical excellence, and certainly God does not hold to external appearances. … There was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him.”
And then, when it became impossible to conceal his presence, they came up with a creative plan that floated him right into Pharaoh’s palace! Baby Moses, of course, melted the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter. And as she cooed over him, up sprung his big sister with the brilliant suggestion of a surrogate nurse. Result: Jochebed got paid to nurse her own baby and to raise him during his early years! So Moses was preserved by his parents’ heroic faith. But there is more, for he was also nurtured by their faith. There in his parents’ slave hut, Moses was surrounded by the pure atmosphere of faith. There he became aware of his own origins. There he was taught to fear God. And there he was made conscious of his call to deliver his people. Stephen informs us in his great sermon [Acts 7:25] that when Moses made his first attempt to defend his people, “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them.”
This should serve as an encouragement to those of us who are trying to raise a Godly family in today’s secular desert. Moses was preserved by his parents’ faith. Their faith, their prayers, their bravery and their creativity saved him. And more, he became a great man of faith through their faith. He could have literally told the nation of Israel, “My mother practices what I preach!” Israel’s deliverance, indeed, did literally begin with an obscure couple believing God in the midst of a great darkness. Think what a faith like that could accomplish today!
No comments:
Post a Comment