Moses - Servant of God - The Meekest Man in All the Earth
2 - God's Purpose Revealed
As we continue to discover the lessons to be learned from the life of Moses, we remind ourselves that in the story so far. After being rescued from certain death by the actions of his sister Miriam and his mother Jochabed, he has been taken into the household of Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt, as the adopted son of the king's daughter. This would be his situation for the first forty years of his life.
We are going to look this time at Moses' education and training that was to last in all for some eighty years. It has been well said that in God's school, when He educates, He does so in a manner worthy of Himself. God will not have a novice to do His essential work. The true servant of God has to learn many a lesson, undergo many an experience, pass through many a trial and conflict as the Lord prepares him for His service.
We are told in Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin, recorded in Acts chapter 7, that Moses was "educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and became powerful in speech and action." This was stage one of his development. Being educated by the finest of tutors in a royal court, where authority, order, protocol and dignity ruled, Moses would be fitted to eventually become a ruler and leader in Israel. Also, by having his education in such a learned court, Moses would be fitted to write as an historian. He was later credited with having written the first five books of the Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy, called The Pentateuch. In addition, being educated as an Egyptian, Moses would be fitted to become in God's time an ambassador to the court of Pharaoh.
In all his time in the Egyptian court, Moses never forgot that he was a Hebrew by birth and as such belonged to the people to whom God had given His promise of blessing through their ancestor Abraham. His experience as a prince of Egypt ended when he was forty years old, after which he entered the second phase of God's dealings with him. Knowing through his own family, the plight of his fellow Hebrews, he went out one day to where they were working and watched them at their hard labour. On seeing an Egyptian slave-master beating one of them, Moses immediately reacted. Glancing around and seeing no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Moses was soon to discover, that this was a very wrong course of action. Pharaoh on hearing about it tried to have him killed for his crime, but Moses fled and went to live in obscurity in the land of Midian.
This shows us very clearly that Moses still had lessons to learn by bitter experience. God's timing is always perfect; man's timing can be disastrous. We must act in God's time and never before. Moses would have judged Egypt there and then, and sought to deliver his brothers immediately. He was to discover, however, that God's time and his would come in due course. In our service for God, we need to learn that it is the servant of God, working within God's will and at His time, who is in a position to act with heavenly wisdom, and that divine intelligence will be his guide.
In God's purposes Moses was destined to live a very varied and productive life. Under God's direction he would fulfil a number of important roles. They would be as:
First, an Historian: He wrote a detailed and accurate record of all God's dealings with the nation of Israel during his leadership. In the book of Numbers chapter 33 verse 2 we read that at the Lord's command Moses recorded each stage in Israel's journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
Second, as a Prophet. A prophet is one who speaks as the accredited messenger of Almighty God. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse l0 "Since then no prophet had vision in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face-to-face. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel." In the New Testament, Jesus said "Moses wrote of me". Someone commenting on that said: "Moses prophetically saw all the greatness and worth of the promised Saviour of the World - Jesus Christ".
Third, as a Legislator given the Ten Commandments directly from the mouth of God, he was ordered to administer ceremonial and civil law for the nation of Israel.
Fourth, as a Diplomat, Leader and Statesman. Following the Exodus, Moses led over one million people through the wilderness to the threshold of the Promised Land.
His was really a remarkable life and there is much more that we are going to learn from it. In particular we will see that, just like his parents before him, Moses was a man of faith. We read in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 24 to 27 the following testimony concerning him: "By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of far greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."
This reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 to 21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." In a world where so much attention is given to material possessions, this is sound teaching for us all.
Moses left Egypt under the threat of death, but it is evident from the following comment in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27 that fear was not the overriding reason: "By faith he left Egypt not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible." Already Moses was beginning to understand that God had plans for him to bring about the liberation of the Children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. But, as we have seen, it was not yet God's time. Moses had another forty years to spend in preparation in God's school of learning. He had learned to be a "someone", a prince in Egypt, now he would have to learn to be a "no-one", a shepherd in the land of Midian.