Hebrews 11:23-29
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 (Numbers 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 daughter
of Thothmes I (aka Tuthmosis) 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. Next he attended the Scribal School
and the Military Academy, and saw service in Upper Egypt. After that he boldly
decided for the God of his fathers and not for the gods of his Pharaoh.
Josephus describes his military service in detail. Later, as director of the
turquoise mines at Serabit, Moses built a shrine to YHWH there. He chose
persecution rather than pleasure. When young Thothmes III murdered his aunt
Hatshepsut, Moses' protectress, Moses fled Egypt. This was not because he
feared Thothmes III's revenge, but because he obeyed God's command. In Midian
Moses 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 role after the death of Thothmes III. Then he met YHWH
Himself at the Burning Bush, who sent him to parley with the new Pharaoh
Amenhetep II (aka Amenophis) 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 Substitute Lamb whose blood was smeared on the doorposts and
lintel to prove it. Shepherds and sheep (post-Hyksos) were an abomination to
the Egyptians (Genesis 46:34; Exodus 8:26); none would offer a lamb. When God
saw the Blood, He passed over the believers' households (Exodus 12:13). They
were redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb: and so are we (John 1:29).
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 Thothmes IV (the firstborn son died in the Passover). Grandson
Amenhetep III later became a monotheist (Akhnaten) but that's another story.
May we have a faith like Moses in Christ our Redeemer.
____________________________________________________________________________
In Christ,
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
