Moses, the deliverer

Moses is one of the greatest figures in all history. He was deliverer, lawgiver, prophet, leader and mediator between God and his people. Through him God brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, parted the Red Sea, gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and led his people forty years through the wilderness. His life divides into three periods of forty years: in the palace of Egypt, in the desert of Midian and at the head of the people of Israel. His story runs from the book of Exodus to Deuteronomy.

A child drawn from the water

After Joseph’s death, Jacob’s descendants multiplied in Egypt. A new Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, feared their growth, enslaved them and ordered every Hebrew boy to be killed at birth by throwing him into the Nile. Two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, feared God and disobeyed the order.

At that time a boy was born of the tribe of Levi. His mother, Jochebed, hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she made an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with slime and pitch and laid it among the flags by the river’s brink. His sister Miriam watched from afar. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe, saw the ark, had compassion on the child and adopted him. Miriam offered to find a Hebrew nurse, and so the boy’s own mother raised him. The princess named him Moses, saying: “Because I drew him out of the water” (Exodus 2:10).

Forty years in the palace

Moses grew up at the Egyptian court and, according to Stephen, “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22). But he did not forget his people. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, killed him and hid him in the sand. When it became known, he had to flee from Pharaoh. Hebrews says he chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25).

Forty years in Midian

Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he defended the daughters of the priest Jethro at a well. He married Zipporah, one of them, had children and for forty years kept sheep in the desert. The prince of Egypt had become an unknown shepherd. But God was preparing the deliverer.

The burning bush

One day, as he kept the flock near Mount Horeb, Moses saw a bush that burned without being consumed. As he drew near, God called him: “Moses, Moses… Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” God told him he had seen his people’s affliction, heard their cry and come down to deliver them. And he was sending Moses to Pharaoh.

Moses made excuses: “Who am I?”, “What shall I say?”, “They will not believe me”, “I am slow of speech.” When he asked God’s name, he received a mysterious and profound answer:

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

Exodus 3:14

The divine name, related to the verb “to be”, expresses that God exists of himself, is eternal, faithful and ever present. God gave him signs and granted him his brother Aaron as spokesman.

The ten plagues

Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and said: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go.” Pharaoh refused and hardened his heart. Then God sent ten plagues: water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, murrain on the cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and, finally, the death of the firstborn. Each plague showed the power of Israel’s God over the gods of Egypt, which were associated with the Nile, the sun, livestock and fertility.

The Passover

Before the last plague, God commanded each Israelite family to sacrifice a lamb without blemish, put its blood on the doorposts and lintel, and eat its roasted meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, dressed and ready to leave. That night the destroyer passed through Egypt, but when he saw the blood he “passed over” the Israelites’ houses. Hence the name Passover, Pesach. Pharaoh finally let the people go.

Crossing the Red Sea

But Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued Israel with his chariots. The people were trapped between the army and the sea. Moses said: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” He stretched out his rod, God sent a strong east wind all night, the waters divided and Israel crossed on dry ground. When the Egyptians followed, the waters returned and covered them. Moses and the people sang a song of victory, and Miriam, his sister, danced with a timbrel.

In the wilderness: manna and water from the rock

The journey through the wilderness was hard, and the people murmured many times. God provided manna from heaven every morning, quails, and water from the rock. A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night guided them.

Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments

Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel camped before Mount Sinai. There, amid thunder, lightning and a thick cloud, God made a covenant with his people and gave them the Ten Commandments, written on tablets of stone.

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Exodus 20:2-3

While Moses was on the mountain, the people made a golden calf and worshipped it. Moses interceded for them, willing even to be blotted out of God’s book in their place (Exodus 32:32). God renewed the covenant. Moses spent so much time in God’s presence that his face shone. He also directed the building of the tabernacle, the portable sanctuary where God would dwell among his people.

Forty years of wandering

When they reached the border of Canaan, twelve spies explored the land. Ten brought back a negative report, and the people, full of fear, refused to enter. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God. As a result, that generation wandered forty years in the wilderness. Moses himself, in a moment of anger, struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God had commanded, and was not allowed to enter the promised land (Numbers 20:12).

The death of Moses

At the end of his life Moses delivered the speeches of Deuteronomy, recalling the law and urging the people to love God with all their heart. Then he went up Mount Nebo, from where God showed him the whole promised land. There he died, at a hundred and twenty, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deuteronomy 34:7). God himself buried him, and no one knows where his grave is. The Bible concludes: “there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10).

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

God protects and prepares: from the Nile to Midian, God shaped Moses. God uses those who feel inadequate. God hears the cry of the oppressed. Obedience matters, even for great leaders. Intercession changes history. Time with God transforms the face and the life.

On the road to Jesus

Moses announced: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15). The apostles saw that prophet in Jesus (Acts 3:22). Like Moses, Jesus was saved from a king who killed children; he fasted forty days; he gave the law on a mountain; he fed the people with bread in the wilderness and interceded for his people. But Jesus is greater: Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house; Christ is the Son over his house (Hebrews 3:5-6). And the Passover lamb pointed to the true Lamb: “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

In the next episode we will meet Aaron and Miriam, Moses’ brother and sister.

Prayer

Lord, I AM THAT I AM, thank you that you hear the cry of the oppressed and come down to deliver. When I feel inadequate, remind me that you are with me. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, who set me free from the slavery of sin. Lead me through the wilderness to your promise. Amen.