God Protects Moses

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Introduction

We have made a transition out of the book of Genesis and into the book of Exodus. We have been tracing the promise of a Seed that God had given to Eve, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

• • Write on the board, “What might have happened to Moses while floating down the Nile?”
  We spent some time talking about Joseph, but which of Israel’s sons received the promise of the Seed? The promise had gone to Judah. The Savior would come from the tribe of Judah.

  When we left the Israelites, they had flourished in the land of Egypt. Their numbers had grown as God blessed them. But this had created a problem. A new pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Rather than enjoying the favor the Israelites had known under the time of Joseph, they were now threatened. The new pharaoh was afraid they would rise up and overthrow his leadership if war broke out. Rather than seeking to win their favor, he chose to enslave them.

• How did this fulfill a promise made by God? God had told Abram that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land before they would return to the Promised Land. Consider reading Genesis 15:12–16.

Moses Is Spared

Today, we are going to look at how God worked through the period of enslavement to raise up a savior for his people—but not the Savior—not yet.

As a refresher from our lesson two weeks ago, listen as I read Exodus 1:8–14. Read Exodus 1:8–14.

As an additional form of oppression, the king ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill every boy that was born. When this didn’t work, he ordered all the baby boys to be thrown into the Nile. The pharaoh was determined to keep the Israelites weak so that they would not rebel, but God had other plans. We will come back to the account of the midwives in our activity. If you would like, you can do the activity before the two main texts are examined.

Let’s read Exodus 2:1–10 together and look at how God started preparing for the deliverance of the Hebrews. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• Who were the parents of the child? We learn they were both from the tribe of Levi, but their names are not given.
• Do we know what their names were? Ask the students if they have any cross-reference notes. They should point to Exodus 6:20 which tells us that his father was Amram and his mother Jochebed. This is also revealed in Numbers 26:59.
• When the woman had her son, what did she do? She hid him from the Egyptians for three months.
• Why did she hide him? He was a fine child.

• Slide #12
  How do Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23 add to this passage? These affirm that Moses was a beautiful child and add that his parents were not afraid of the king’s edict.
• According to Exodus 2:3, when she could no longer hide the boy, what did she do with him? She made a basket and set the boy to float in the river.
• What did she do to keep the baby safe? She made the basket of bulrushes that would float and coated the basket with bitumen (tar) and pitch (plant sap) to keep it from sinking.
• Where did she place the baby? The basket was placed in the reeds by the river bank.
• How far did the basket travel down the river? There is no hint in the text that it went anywhere. Though it is often dramatically portrayed in film or dramatic presentations, it seems she left it in a shallow place along the bank among the reeds where it would not float away anywhere. Reeds don’t typically grow in fast-moving water.
• What types of dangers did the baby face on the Nile? None are listed in the text, but the basket could have overturned or could have sunk or crocodiles or large fish could have eaten the child. These would have been potential dangers even in the reeds by the bank.
• Who watched over the basket? His sister. Her name is not given, but we learn in Exodus 15:20 and other places that her name was Miriam.
• How did she observe the basket? She stood at a distance. She was not moving or running along the bank, following the basket.
• Who discovered the basket? The daughter of Pharaoh.
• Who retrieved the basket? She had one of her servant girls fetch the basket.
• What was the baby doing when she opened the basket? The baby was crying.
• What did she notice about the baby? He was one of the Hebrew babies that should have been killed.
• How did she respond to finding the baby? She took pity on him, presumably knowing that he should have been killed.
• Who approached Pharaoh’s daughter? Miriam approached her once she found the baby.
• What did Miriam suggest? She said she could find a Hebrew nurse to raise the baby for her.
• Was the offer accepted? Yes. The princess said, “Go.”
• Whom did Miriam recruit for this job? Her mother.
• What did Pharaoh’s daughter offer Moses’ mother? She offered to pay her for nursing the child.
• When was Moses taken to the princess? After he “grew older.” We are not given a specific age. It could have been around age two after he was weaned, or even later. Jewish tradition holds that he was named Joachim at his circumcision.
• How was Moses treated? He was received as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, adopted into the royal court.
• Why did she name him Moses? She had drawn him out of the water. The name Moses means “to draw.”

Discover the Truth

Think about how Jochebed might have responded when Miriam burst through the door. Maybe she was praying through her sobs, asking God to protect the baby boy she had just left in the Nile. Now she is told that her son will be returned to her and that she is going to get paid to raise him! Surely she was elated.

But even though she raised him for a time, she still had to give him up to the Egyptians. But at least she knew he would be cared for. Turn with me to Acts 7, and let’s read a bit more about Moses’ time in Pharaoh’s household. Have someone read Acts 7:17–22.

So, Moses grew up with all of the benefits of a son of Pharaoh. He received the instruction of the wise men of Egypt and explored many different subjects. It also says that he was mighty with words and in his deeds. And all of this happened right at the time when the fulfillment of God’s promise was near.

If we connect this to the time of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt, Moses may have been in the household of Amenemhet III. Interestingly, this pharaoh (or king) had no sons and only a daughter. This provides a possible explanation for how a Hebrew could have been received into Egyptian royalty. This is contrary to another suggestion that Thutmose I was Pharaoh at the time, but we can be fairly certain it did not happen at the much later dating suggested by many secular scholars. We will look at more of the details of timing as we work through the next lesson.

A Righteous Lie Activity

We are going to step back to the end of chapter 1 and look at an interesting question of Christian ethics. Have the students work in groups to complete the activity. In your Student Guides is the activity, A Righteous Lie. I’d like you to take some time to read the passage and answer the questions. Have students work individually or in small groups.

Thinking through this issue is a bit tricky, and we might not all come to exactly the same conclusions as we seek to apply these ideas to various situations. But let’s talk about what conclusions you came to in this case.

• How did the midwives violate the decree of Pharaoh? They did not kill the baby boys when they were delivered.
• Why did they violate the command? They feared God.
• Did they lie to Pharaoh when he asked them about violating the command? It seems so from the text since it says they “let the male children live” in verse 17. But in verse 19, they say they were born before they arrived. Some have suggested other explanations that conclude that the midwives did not lie, but instead delayed their arrival or that some other circumstance occurred, but the text does not indicate these ideas.
• What does Leviticus 19:11 teach us about lying? We are to not lie to one another. This idea is found many places in Scripture.
• What does Acts 5:29 teach us about obedience to God and man? It is right to disobey man when God has given a clear command to the contrary.
• Does God commend the midwives for lying? They are not directly commended for their lie, but God dealt well with them. It may be that in spite of their one-time lie to Pharaoh, God blessed them for refusing to murder the babies born to the Hebrews.
• Why did God give families to the midwives? Because they feared God.
• What would you have done as a midwife under those circumstances? Discuss various answers.

  As we consider this situation, it is a bit sticky. It seems clear from the text that God blessed the midwives even though it also seems they lied to Pharaoh. There are a couple of different ways people have reconciled this passage. We will also see a similar situation with Rahab when we get to the conquest of Jericho. We have the clear teaching from Acts that points us to obeying God rather than man, but there is no clear passage that says it is acceptable to lie (or violate God’s law in any way) based on the circumstances.

Connect to the Truth

The common practice of situational ethics often places people into various dilemmas and asks them to justify immoral or unlawful acts. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be looking to God’s Word as the standard, not the outcome we would prefer. Peter and the other apostles were prepared to pay the civil penalty for their obedience to God rather than seek their own comfort. In our culture, it is increasingly likely that we will have to do the same as we stand on God’s Word as the authority for moral decisions.

Moses Flees for His Life

As we move on in the text, we don’t learn a lot about how Moses was raised. It jumps to his actions as an adult.

Let’s pick up the account in Exodus 2:11–25. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• Did Moses know he was not born an Egyptian? Since the phrase “his people” is used twice in verse 11, he must have known of his Hebrew heritage.

• Slide #26
  How old was Moses at this point? The text does not say, but remind students to look at their cross-references. Acts 7:23 tells us he was 40 when he fled to Midian.
• What did Moses see as he went out on this day? He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves.
• How did he respond to what he saw? He killed the Egyptian.
• How did he try to cover up his crime? He buried the Egyptian in the sand.
• Did he think the murder went unnoticed? Before he had killed the Egyptian, he had looked both ways and hadn’t seen anyone, so he must have thought he had not been seen.
• How long did it take for his crime to become known? He was confronted the next day, so it was known immediately.
• How did the Hebrews know about the murder? The text doesn’t say explicitly, but either one of the two struggling Hebrews had been a witness or news of the murder had already spread among the Hebrew community.
• How did the two Hebrews respond to Moses’ attempt to break up their fight? One of them objected to Moses imposing himself as judge over the two, and asked if Moses was going to kill him as he had the Egyptian.
• What did the Hebrew man ask? He asked if Moses intended to kill him as he had killed the Egyptian.
• Why was Moses afraid after he heard this question? He had thought his crime was a secret, but now he knew it had been exposed.
• How did Pharaoh respond to hearing of Moses’ crime? He sought to kill Moses.
• What did Moses do? He fled to Midian.
• Where was Midian? If the students have a map of the Exodus, it will likely have Midian labeled. Midian is the region to the east of the Sinai Peninsula across the Gulf of Aqaba. This was a journey of over 200 miles.
• Who was Midian named for? Midian was a son of Abraham by his second wife, Keturah, after Sarah died (Genesis 25:1–2).
• Whom did Moses encounter at the well? He met the daughters of Reuel who were trying to water their father’s flock.
• How did Moses serve the women? He saved them from other shepherds who were apparently trying to harass them and prevent them from using the well.
• What ethnicity did the women think Moses belonged to? They believed he was an Egyptian. This may have been because of his clothing or his accent.
• How did Reuel reward Moses? He invited Moses to stay with his family.
• How is Reuel described? He is the priest of Midian. Whether this is a reference to a priest of God is unclear, though he may have known of the true worship of God as he was from Abraham’s line. In Exodus 18:7–12, he praised God and offered a burnt offering. As in the case of Melchizedek, there were worshippers of God in various places.
• What did the -el ending of his name mean? El is Hebrew for “god,” so his name meant “friend of God.”
• If you glance over to Exodus 3:1, what do you learn was Reuel’s other name? Jethro.
• Did Moses move on? No, he stayed with Reuel and married his daughter Zipporah.
• What was happening in Egypt during this time? The Pharaoh whom Moses fled from had died, and the Israelites were crying to God for rescue from the slavery they were subjected to.
• Did God hear them? He heard their groaning as their cry rose up to Him.
• How did God respond to their cries? He remembered the covenant he had made with Abraham.
• Did God have a plan? God knew the situation and the promises he had made, so he had a plan.

Discover the Truth

Moses tried to rescue the Hebrews on his own, taking things into his own hands. He had a desire to connect with his people and, as we learn in Stephen’s discourse in Acts 7, a desire to see them freed. But as we have seen previously, taking plans into his own hands wound up backfiring.

God was working to bring his plan to pass, even though it seems that Moses would have had a better opportunity to rescue the Israelites from within the court of Pharaoh. Moses may not have known God in any intimate or significant way, but he surely ran ahead of what God was planning. The time for deliverance was not at that time.

• What attributes of God do we see displayed in this account? God knows what is happening with his people, demonstrating his omniscience. We still see him allowing the Israelites to be enslaved, being faithful to his earlier promise.

  In modern parlance, we might think of Moses in a mid-life crisis. He has gone from being a prince in Pharaoh’s court to living as a shepherd in the desert of Midian, all because of a horrible choice.

Application

As we think about Moses’ life so far, we can see God’s hand on him. He was protected for three months from the Egyptians. He was protected in the river while he awaited discovery by Pharaoh’s daughter. He was protected by her order to have his mother raise him. He was protected within the court of Pharaoh for 40 years.

But all that changed with a drastic action and a sin that sent Moses running for his life. Pharaoh was ready to kill him, and only fleeing for Midian brought him relief. But God was not through with Moses. God had a plan to free his people and give them the land of promise—to show his faithfulness and grace to a people who did not deserve it. And there we see the hope of the gospel. An undeserving people in bondage would be freed and given hope and fellowship with their God.

Let us make sure that we think of how we can apply these ideas as we leave and go out into the world we live in. We want to make sure that we are not merely hearing the Word, but seeking to be doers of what we read in it.

• Many popular movies have portrayed the events we read about today. What differences between the biblical account and these movies’ portrayal of it do you notice? Discuss various differences, trying to understand if they really change the meaning of the account. Examples include: a dramatic scene of the basket floating down the river, various extra characters being added, like a brother or love interest, etc.
• How could you use what we learned from the text today to help train others to be discerning when they watch media depicting biblical accounts? (Consider, specifically, the animated film The Prince of Egypt and The Ten Commandments movie and their distortions of biblical history.) These films often put things out of historical context with the Israelite slaves building the pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. Moses is often shown floating down a treacherous river before being found. These offer opportunities to teach people how to make sure they are looking to Scripture to understand the events properly and develop biblical discernment.
• The word “ark” comes from the Hebrew tebah, and it is used only to talk about the ark that Noah built and the ark Moses was placed in. What parallels between these two can you think of? Without overextending the text, both were made to float, covered in pitch, and made to preserve life. The word used for the Ark of the Covenant is ‘arown. There is some indication that tebah is an Egyptian word loaned to Hebrew and meaning “lifeboat.”
• How does our ability to identify exactly which Pharaoh was in power during Moses’ life impact how we understand the text we read today? The exact meaning of the text is not impacted by the exact identity of the Pharaoh. We can understand the meaning of the text without this information. God could have revealed the name to us rather than giving a generic name like Pharaoh, but he chose not to.
• In what ways does God’s knowledge of the Israelites’ suffering and his decision to wait to give them relief relate to the way you look at the trials in your life? Discuss various answers, pointing to God’s faithfulness and his knowledge of what is best for us, including waiting on his timing.
• As we consider the account of the midwives, what types of situations might we face in our culture that would bring us into conflict with the government? Discuss various answers, reminding the students that our first allegiance is to God and his commands. There may be certain situations that require the wisdom of Solomon to discern, but we can trust that the Holy Spirit will guide us as we study and apply the Bible.

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class before you dismiss them.

• Praise God for being the One who knows and sees everything.
• Ask God for wisdom in times when you are asked to violate his commands.
• Thank God for his faithfulness even when we take matters into our own hands.