EXODUS 2: The Faith of Moses

Hebrews 11:23                                             New King James Version

23   By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

• The book of Exodus is a book of faith; God is expanding and increasing their faith. Wait a minute, how can God increase something we didn’t know they had? 

Romans 12:3                                                  New King James Version

3   For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

• This scripture was written some 3000 years after Moses, and it applies to them as well as it does to us. The difference between us and them is that we have the cross in our rear-view mirror, and we have the Bible to instruct and instructors to teach us. This is exactly why Jesus said what He said in Luke 12:48 

Luke 12:48                                                       New King James Version

48   But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. 

Luke 12:48                                                         New Living Translation

48   But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly.                                                        When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Isaiah 5:20                                                    New King James Version

20   Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;                                             Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;                                                        Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

• Pastor, this is no way to start off my Sunday morning; you’re supposed to make me feel good about myself. Sorry, the book of Exodus is going to be challenging and I hope it challenges you. 
• Not just to make you think you’re doing ok: but to realize much more is requiredof us because of all that has been given. Just think on that for a while. 
• So, let’s talk about faith for a little bit. We all have faith, yet some of you will say, “Nope, I don’t have faith in anything”. But you still got into your car and turned a key that’s hooked to a battery that’s connected to a fuel pump of highly explosive fuel, enough to blow you and your neighbors’ car up if something goes wrong, yet you turned the key. 

Ok what’s the big deal? Moses’ mom hides him for a few months; he’s a baby, put a pink bonnet on him, who’s going to know? I’m telling you, this was more serious than we know. We don’t know how long this decree would last or how many babies were actually lost to this decree. 

The Aish Rabbi Replies

• You are right that the Torah is not at all clear on the duration of Pharaoh’s decree. We know it occurred around the time of Moses’s birth – eighty years before the Exodus – but the Torah makes no further mention of it neither earlier nor later. It sounds as if it was a relatively short-term episode, beginning shortly before Moses’s birth because his brother Aaron, three years his elder and it did not seem to have been affected him and ending shortly after. Nevertheless, in that short period, the Egyptian authorities did considerable damage. 
• The Midrash records a debate if altogether 10,000 to 600,000 babies were murdered (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:15). There is a further opinion in the Midrash that God miraculously rescued many babies from the Nile, even supporting them, unknown to their families.

What is Midrash? Method of Interpretation: It is an ancient rabbinic method used to explore the hidden meanings, deeper layers, and moral lessons within the Hebrew language and the Hebrew Bible.

• What we do know is this; this was a tragic and fearful time. This was a test of faith that I doubt any of us will ever have to face at least to this severity. 
• If we’ve all been given a measure of faith, then how do we increase our faith?

Romans 10:17                                            New King James Version

17   So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• If you’re ever struggling to understand what you’re reading in your Bible, try reading it out loud, hear it. It’s God’s Word, God is speaking and He said: “let them have ears to hear.” You want more faith? Listen to His Words!! Work it out…
• We need to work out our faith. When you want to develop your mussels you have to work them out, you’re faith is no different, you have to work it out. Reading your Bible, praying, worshiping, asking God to help you and believing He will. Remember the man in the New Testament: “Yes Lord I believe, help me with my unbelief”. This is who we are.

Moses Is Born

Exodus 2:1-2                                                New King James Version

1  And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 

2  So, the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 

• What? This is telling us Moses comes from the family of Levi. Do you remember Israel’s blessing on Simeon and Levi?

Genesis 49:5-7                                               New King James Version

5  “Simeon and Levi are brothers;                                                              Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.

6  Let not my soul enter their council;                                                                         Let not my honor be united to their assembly;                                                                    For in their anger they slew a man,                                                                           And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.

7  Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;                                                                  And their wrath, for it is cruel!                                                                                   I will divide them in Jacob                                                                                      And scatter them in Israel.

• Simeon and Levi were not to receive the land inheritance. Simeon get absorbed into Judah’s clan and Levi the Levite’s become the priestly family who did not receive a portion of land. They were forgiven.
• We don’t know the names of Moses’ parents until, Exodus 6:20 tells us the names of Moses’ parents: Amram and Jochebed. 

EXODUS 2:3-5

3  But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 

• In a literal sense, Moses’ mother did exactly what Pharaoh said to do: put her son into the river (Exodus 1:22). However, she took care to put him in a waterproofed basket and strategically floated him in the river. I don’t believe there was a lot of guesswork here, but it was a leap of faith.
• But more so, this was a great example of trusting the child’s welfare and future to God alone. 
• When Moses’ mother let go of the boat made of bulrushes, she gave up something precious, trusting that God would take care of it, and perhaps find a way to give it back to her.
• People who trust in the Lord will be afraid from time to time, but their fear of the Lord overcomes their fear of men. Trusting the Lord, they do what is right, even when it means disobeying powerful rulers who command them to do what God forbids.

4  And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

• The text formally names her as Miriam in Exodus 15:20, calling her a prophetess and Aaron’s sister after the Israelites cross the Red Sea.

5  Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 

• Floating along the reeds helped keep the ark from reaching the faster currents at least for the moment.

EXODUS 2:6-10

6   And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So, she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

• In God’s guidance, Pharaoh’s daughter found baby Moses. She was conditioned by her culture and upbringing to reject the Hebrews, but the cry of baby Moses melted her heart.

7  Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

• Miriam, using both the clever initiative of Moses’ family and the need of Pharaoh’s daughter, God arranged for Moses’ mother to train him in his early years and be paid for it. The Bible does not state an exact number of years, but scholars and traditions estimate Moses’ mother, Jochebed, trained and nursed him for about 3 to 4 years before he was taken to Pharaoh’s palace
• God rewarded the faith of Moses’ mother, both as she trusted Him in hiding Moses for three months, and also as she trusted God by setting Moses out on the river.
• “No doubt it was in these early years that Moses learned of the ‘God of his fathers’ (Exodus 3:15) and realized that the Hebrews were his fellow countrymen (Exodus 2:11).” (Cole)

8  And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 

9  Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 

10  And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So, she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

• Being the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses was in the royal family. With an Egyptian name. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus wrote that Moses was heir to the throne of Egypt and that while a young man he led the armies of Egypt in a victorious battle against the Ethiopians.
• But things are about to change. Please remember the process of time. In one verse it’s going to jump 40 years…

EXODUS 2:11-15

11  Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 

• Moses was grown: Acts 7:23 says this happened when Moses was forty years old. Up until then, he was trained and groomed to become the next Pharaoh of Egypt (according to Josephus), all the while aware of his true origins because of his mother.
• Because Moses had a heart filled with sympathy and brotherhood (his brethren) toward his people, he could not stand by while one of his fellow Israelites endured a beating.
• I personally believe there were a few other things going on in Moses’ heart. Remember, he’s a Levite cursed with anger. He’s also an adult and he believed he needed to take a stand plus he expected these Hebrews to see him as their leader. They did not; they saw him as an Egyptian.

12  So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 

• In today’s world, this would be called premeditation. These are the actions of a man who knew what he was about to do was wrong. Moses had several reasons for doing what he did, but his concern to hide what he did shows a troubled conscience.

13  And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

14  Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So, Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” 

• The Bible itself explains some of Moses’ thinking behind this action. Acts 7:23-25 explains that Moses did this to defend and avenge the beaten Israelite, but also with the expectation that his fellow Israelites would recognize him as their deliverer. But they did not.

15   When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

• These guys ratted Moses out. He knew they would; he could see the disgust they had for him.

Moses Flees to Midian, Midian, why there?

• Moses could not flee southward. The “south” was along the Nile River settlements of the Egyptians. These reached all the way to Sudan (Cush), for hundreds of miles. Moses could have been apprehended anywhere along the way, before he reached the safety of Africa’s wilderness, way to the south.
• Moses could not flee “north” up the Palestinian coast because the route from the Delta of the Nile up to Palestine was dotted with Egyptian forts and military regiments! These forts protected Egypt’s northern border. Moses would hesitate to venture north.
• To the “west” was desert land. The major city of Cyrene was best reached by ship, because the desert route would be cumbersome and difficult, unless Moses traveled with a caravan. But that would not facilitate fleeing fast.
• Heading “east” down and across the Sinai desert routes were best for fleeing, and especially ending up across the Gulf of Aqaba in a different country separated by the gulf. 
• A land of isolated shepherds, instead of metropolises where news of Moses’ murder would be communicated, would be ideal for hiding out.

Exodus 2:16-20

16  Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 

17  Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 

• Finally coming to Midian, Moses met the daughters of a priest of Midian — likely a descendant of one of Abraham’s other children through Keturah named Midian (Genesis 25:1-2).
• Remember women are the lower class and the men shepherds who show up after the ladies just pushed them around. Moses still dressed in his well-tethered Egyptian clothes, with years training in physical defense these guys didn’t stand a chance with Moses; they backed down, and he became the servant of these ladies.  

18  When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

19  And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

20  So, he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

EXODUS 2:21-25

21  Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 

22  And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

23  Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 

24  So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 

25  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

• How did God acknowledge them? 

God acknowledged the Israelites through four distinct, powerful actions described in Exodus 2:24-25. The text uses a progression of verbs to show how God moved from hearing their pain to preparing their rescue:

• He heard their groaning: God did not ignore their cries. Their suffering caught His immediate attention. We must continue to pray; does that show our lack of faith? Nope, remember the story about the widow who kept coming to the king and said Avenge me Luke 18:1-8.            

he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”

Jesus goes on to say: 7  And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

• He remembered His covenant: This doesn’t mean God forgot. In the Bible, when God “remembers,” it means He is moving to act on a past promise—specifically, His pledge to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to protect their descendants.
• He saw the people: God looked directly at their condition and recognized the injustice of their slavery.
• He knew (or took notice of) them: This is the ultimate form of acknowledgment. God didn’t just know about their trouble from a distance; He intimately felt their pain and chose to personally intervene.

This intense personal acknowledgment serves as the exact spark for the rest of the Exodus story. Immediately after this, God steps into history by speaking to Moses at the burning bush to send him to Pharaoh.