Amazing Encounters in Moses’ Life
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. … Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” And Moses said unto God, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:1-2, 10-11)
Moses was born into a world with a few advantages for his people. The Hebrew people, who had originated in Mesopotamia, and who had lived in the land of Canaan for three generations before migrating to Egypt had been forced into slavery several centuries before Moses was born.
The Hebrew people were compelled to go into slavery by the Egyptians and within these bonds produced Egypt’s food and their fine building projects. The subjugated population was deprived of many necessities and forced to labor under cruel taskmasters. The people cried out to God over their situation and the atrocities visited on them.
The Alien Population
Advisors to the Pharaoh who worried about a rapid increase in the Hebrew population ordered that all male children born to the Hebrew slaves be destroyed by throwing them into the Nile River. This fate would have been visited upon the child Moses, save for his mother’s quick thinking. She protected him with a basket boat and put him into a field of bullrushes near the place Pharaoh’s daughter went daily to bathe. She then stationed Moses’ sister Miriam to look after her new brother.
Soon after this occurred as expected, the daughter of Pharaoh approached her bathing pool, and stepped into the waters. Servants of the Princess entered the water also in order to bathe her. On this morning, as on many mornings, the young princess splashed her attendants, who splashed her back. The rippling waters and splashing startled young Moses, who began to cry.
The Young Princess was startled when she heard a baby cry, and went over to examine the infant. The child was beautiful! And Pharaoh’s daughter felt immediate mercy on the abandoned baby and desired to take care of the child. Several of the attendants warned her that care for the child would require a great amount of energy and time.
The Great Discovery
Pharaoh’s daughter paused, and then Miriam, who was worried about her brother’s fate, and also her mother’s wrath (if harm came to her baby brother), approached the princess. She stuttered and said, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
“Yes, go,” she answered. So Miriam ran home and told her mother the events occurring at the Nile River. Jochebed, who was the mother of Miriam, Moses, and also Aaron, quickly put down what she was doing and ran to the place pool of reeds where she had placed the baby. She approached Pharaoh’s daughter and asked if she felt the Hebrew child should be killed or placed with a nurse until more mature.
Pharaoh’s daughter, who felt compassion for the baby said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
Adopting the Foreign Child
In time, Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and taken into her father’s palace. This adoption afforded Moses the best education possible in the world at that time. He learned to read and write, and also came to know the children and grandchildren of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt and the Nile River. For many years he enjoyed the benefit of his placement – until two eventful days.
On the first of these days, as Moses was taking a morning walk to inspect the gardens and building projects, he saw a Hebrew slave being beaten by an Egyptian overseer. Through his life Moses had observed the Hebrew people at work, and knew that he was related because his mother had told him stories of his family. Normally, as he observed the slave labor around Pharaoh’s palace the workers were diligent and well behaved. The men and women were well trained and did not require disciplinary methods.
A Murder with disastrous results
But on this day, as the young man Moses was taking his morning walk, one of the Hebrews, probably an older man, was crying out and unable to perform the task being required of him. The taskmaster, in obedience to his supervisor’s daily duty list, was enforcing compliance and completion of a rigorous task. He took out a whip and enforced the project’s undertaking by executing a standard punitive procedure. As Moses observed the situation, anger welled up inside of him, strengthened internally by the knowledge of his relationship to the human, and the alien Prince killed the perpetrator of this punishment.
Moses returned to the palace worried about what he had done. But over the course of the day he either overcame his discomfort through his tasks, or one of his tutors explained why the life of slaves and lower level taskmasters was of no value.
On the next day, Moses again took a walk through the garden, and through the building projects He made sure to take an alternate route, because he still felt a tinge of guilt over the result of his angry outburst. As he walked, he observed a fight between two of the Hebrew slaves. He stepped in to stop the altercation. He did not want a repeat of the discipline he knew would come if one of the Egyptian taskmasters discovered the contention.
In the midst of Moses’ orders and pleas to the two men, one of them became angry and spouted off to the Egyptian Prince, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses feared, because he knew he had been caught. He could not take this walk again, or even return to the palace because he feared there would be consequences or further embarrassment. Moses borrowed a horse and rode off into the eastern wilderness.
The exhausted escapee
Moses escaped to the wilderness, and by the power of adrenaline he hurriedly proceeded down the road for several days without stopping. When he finally tired, he stopped at a beduoin encampment beside a well. He had no dipper or other implement with which to draw water, and his outward anger focused inward to thirst and hunger. Perhaps he had traveled far enough. It was time to rest.
While sitting on the well and thinking of his need, Moses thought he saw a mirage. He saw a beautiful young maiden, about his age that was leading a herd of sheep to the well. Moses stepped down and introduced himself, and offered to help remove the well covering so the sheep could drink.
But then a commotion arose as a group of shepherds approached from the other direction. They demanded that because this was their settlement, the flock they were herding should drink of the precious oasis water first. Moses arose in his princely robes, and ordered upon Pharaoh’s authority that the disorderly men should stand down or suffer the punishment of his father’s troops.
The men backed off, and the young shepherdess was able to water her flock and depart. Moses mounted his horse (he wanted no further trouble), and proceeded down the road and out of sight. He then veered off the normal highway to find the young woman that he had seen at the well.
Moses meets his future wife
The woman was grateful, she had suffered at the hands of those men before. She introduced herself as Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of a Midianite Priest named Jethro. She offered, in the best hospitality of the time, a full meal with a place to rest for the night. Moses, overtaken by her beauty, told his story to Jethro, and offered to assist in the work of shepherding for the hand of his daughter in marriage.
Jethro the priest concurred, and wisely offered Moses the opportunity to pasture the flock on the back side of the desert. Moses remembered the stories of Jacob, his ancestor who met Rachel at a well in Haran and asked for her hand in marriage.
Moses meets the God of his fathers
One warm day, forty years later, as Moses was watching the sheep in the desert region of Horeb, he observed a bush burning without being consumed by the flames. He went to investigate, and there he met the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Moses, Moses,” he heard a voice cry out which seemed to come from the bush and the sky at the same time. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Moses responded and heard the voice of the God of his fathers. The Lord most High had chosen him for a monumental task – to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Moses attempted to escape the call, but God’s instruction was inescapable.
God prepares each of us, giving us a spiritual gift so we can accomplish a task. Do you know your gift and calling? God will show us in His own time and way where we are to be involved, and in what kind of ministry. Can you describe how God called you? Is the calling something you attempted to escape? To avoid God’s call is to miss a blessing.
When you answer a call, you will in a sense guide people from enslavement to God’s blessing and desire for their life. Pray today to find your calling.
A resource for you to understand this call can be found in the book Spring: Connecting With God. If you want to celebrate the Passover and remember the story of Moses, take a look at the book A Psalmatic Seder, or if you need more help, A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition. Further help can be found by e-mailing me at the address on my contact page.
