1. MOSES' CONVERSION AND TRAINING 23-27
a. How Moses was Spared through Faith. [Josephus, /Antiquities/, II.9:4-7]
By God's overruling, Moses was delivered from death as a baby. His father
Amram and his mother Jochebed (Num 26:59) acted in faith and not out of
instinct when they hid Moses among the flags at the water's edge. God showed
them when and where to leave the cradle, so that Princess Hatshepsut
(Thermuthis) the daughter of Tothmes I would find it. Sister Miriam acted in
faith when offering her mother as a wet-nurse for the baby..
b. How Moses was Prepared through Faith. [Josephus, /Antiquities/, II.10-11]
Jochebed taught her own son in the palace. When he came of age, after scribal
school and military service, he boldly decided for the God of his fathers and
not for the gods of his Pharaoh. As director of the mines at Serabit, he built
a shrine to YHWH there. He chose persecution rather than pleasure. When he
fled Egypt, it was not because he feared Tothmes III's revenge, but because he
obeyed God's command. In Midian he met and married Zipporah, raised his
family, tended his father-in-law Jethro's sheep, and learned survival skills
in the Sinai desert: vital training for his future rôle after the death of
Tothmes III. Then he met YHWH Himself at the Burning Bush, who sent him to
parley with new Pharaoh Amenhetep II and demand "let My people go"..
2. MOSES' REDEMPTION AND SERVICE 28-29
a. In the Passover Redemption..
Nine plagues were against the gods of Egypt and those who worshipped them,
including Amenhetep II who thought he was son of Amun Re; the tenth was a
judgment on sin. One died in every household. For believing households, the
death was of a lamb whose blood was smeared on the doorposts and lintel to
prove it. Shepherds and sheep (post-Hyksos) were an abomination to the
Egyptians; none would offer a lamb. When God saw the Blood, He passed over the
believers' households. They were redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb - and so
are we..
b. In the Red Sea Rescue..
Hemmed in between the army and the Reed Sea (Yam Suph), by faith Moses
stretched out his rod over the sea. The waters retreated; the Israelites
walked over dry shod; but the Egyptians following them were drowned. As the
Passover represents the Death of Christ for us, so the Red Sea Rescue
represents His resurrection after passing through the cold waters of death for
us. Later Amenhetep II also drowned in the Red Sea, and was succeeded by his
second son Tothmes IV. Grandson Amenhetep III became a monotheist (Akhnaten)
but that's another story..
May we have a faith like Moses in Christ our Redeemer..
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
