God Prepares a Leader

GOLDEN TEXT: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” —Hebrews 11:24,26

EXODUS 3:1-7, 10-15

JUST as the midwives of Israel did not co-operate with the king in his command to destroy the male children, so the mothers in Israel saved their male children from drowning in the Nile whenever they could. It was but natural that their mother love should lead them to do this. It was thus that the baby Moses was not only saved, but came to the attention of the king’s daughter, and was taken into the household of the king to be reared and educated. Thus again the providences of the Lord overruled for the accomplishment of his purpose.

Moses was forty years old when, observing the oppressions of his people, he slew one of their Egyptian taskmasters. Doubtless Moses knew through his mother, who was engaged to nurse him, that he was a Hebrew, not an Egyptian, and his heart must have gone out in sympathy for his people as he realized the sufferings which were being inflicted upon them. When confronted with an actual case in point, he slew the Egyptian oppressor, thinking it, no doubt, to be his duty on behalf of his people.

By this act Moses espoused the cause of his people, and in order to be loyal to the God of Israel and to his own people, there could be no turning back. As our Golden Text reveals, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, a protection which, if he had claimed it, would doubtless have saved him from the attempt of the king to destroy him. Instead, he esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.”

The expression, “the reproach of Christ,” is the language of Paul. The word “Christ” is the New Testament equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. God’s promise to Abraham concerning a “Seed” through which all the families of the earth would be blessed was a promise of the Messiah. Through his mother, Moses must have known about this promise, and while he could not understand all the details of the divine plan ‘associated with the Abrahamic promise, he knew that the inheritance of it required loyalty to Jehovah and to his people, so he had “respect unto the recompense of the reward.” He was glad to suffer any reproaches that might be associated with the messianic cause.

Since God’s time had not come to deliver his people, it was essential for Moses to flee from Egypt in order to save his life. He fled to Midian, and there for forty years the Lord cared for him, But so far as active service for God was concerned these were years of quietly waiting. From the human standpoint this was a long time, as long as the average working life of today. And, so far as the record states, during all those years Moses received no indication that the God of Israel remembered him.

Then suddenly, in connection with the burning bush, Jehovah did speak to Moses and commissioned him to be the deliverer of his people from. bondage. Moses, who is designated the “meekest man of all the earth,” hesitated to accept an assignment which involved so much. (Num. 12:3) One of the questions he asked was what he should say to the Israelites when they asked him the name of the God who had sent him to deliver them.

Jehovah had identified himself to Moses as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This was a very revealing identification, for it would assure Moses that Jehovah still intended to fulfill the promises he had made to the fathers. But Moses anticipated that the Israelites would want to know more than this, that they would inquire concerning the actual name of the God who had sent him to deliver them,

The Lord told Moses that his name was “I AM THAT I AM,” that he was to say to the Israelites, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” (vs. 14) The Hebrew word here translated “I AM” simply means to exist, and as a name would mean the Existing One. It is from this Hebrew word that the name Jehovah is derived, which means “self-Existent” One, “or Eternal.”—Dr. Strong

God said to Moses, “Certainly I will be with thee,” and the subsequent miraculous circumstances on behalf of the Israelites proved that he was with him. Moses’ experiences up to this time had prepared him to lean upon the Lord, and to realize how inadequate he was in his own strength. Happy are all the Lord’s people who learn well this lesson.

QUESTIONS

In what sense did Moses suffer the reproach of Christ?

Under what circumstances did God appear to Moses in Midian, and how did he identify himself?

What is the meaning of the name, “I AM THAT I AM,” and Jehovah?

As a servant of God, what needed characteristic did Moses’ forty years in Midian help to develop in him?

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