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When did Moses forsake Egypt? |
When I consider all the references,
it seemed that there was a time
before his killing the Egyptian when
he had dealings with God. With all
the world of ancient Egypt, with its
wealth and pleasures which could
have been his, he weighted it
against the privileged place Israel
had with God, and deemed the
reproach of Christ and things of
eternity were more valuable than all
Egypt could supply.
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A scripture which can be a puzzle is
Hebrews
11:27 where it is recorded, “By
faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king: for
he endured, as seeing him who is
invisible”. Yet it is very evident
by killing the Egyptian his life was
in danger, this was treason. “Now
when Pharaoh heard this thing, he
sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled
from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt
in the land of Midian: and he sat
down by a well” (Ex. 2:15). Those
statements apparently are
contradictory. When did Moses
forsake Egypt? Perhaps using the
parable of the prodigal son might
help. When did the prodigal son
leave the father’s house? Was it
when he left the home for the far
off fields (Lk. 15:13)? Had he
already left it in heart when he
packed his belongings, or had he
left when he asked for his portion
of the inheritance (Lk. 15:12)? It
is my thought that he began to leave
the father’s house when he first
entertained the thoughts of the
distant land. As the thought of
being free from the restraints of
home and doing what he desired the
imagining grew stronger. He was
leaving the home in heart, so Moses
had forsaken Egypt in heart some
time before He slew the
Egyptian. |
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a) |
The killing of the Egyptian was a
very foolish activity for there was
no way he could have released the
children of Israel from Egypt one by
one. It would have soon got to
Pharaoh’s ears that Egyptians were
being slain by some Israelite and
all the power and military might to
Egypt would have come down on Moses
and the Israelites. |
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b) |
Moses was acting with zeal wanting
to release his people (one of his
brethren Ex. 2:11) but without
knowledge. He was wrong in the
method and timing. |
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c) |
It would have been before he slew
the Egyptian he refuses to be called
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and
chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than the
pleasures of sin (Heb. 11:24-27). |
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Moses made a rash decision not
moving by faith or in fellowship
with God. The Lord graciously used
this activity to remove Moses from
Egypt for further lessons in the
school of God. When Hebrews
11:24-26 is carefully read, it will
be observed three times things Moses
did by faith: |
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a) |
By faith he refused, he chose and he
esteemed (Heb. 11:24). |
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b) |
By faith he forsook Egypt (Heb.
11:27). |
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c) |
By faith he kept the passover (Heb.
11:28). |
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i) |
To do any of these decisions
necessitated him hearing the word of
God for faith cometh by hearing
(Rom. 10:17), therefore Moses must
have heard from God. He was not to
accept the dignity of being called
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Since faith comes from hearing and
hearing comes by listening to God,
this is the reason the writer to the
Hebrews could write it was by faith. |
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ii) |
Furthermore, Moses was not a little
child when his decisions were made
for Exodus 2:11 and Hebrews 11:24
informs us that he was grown up.
The word in Exodus 2:11 indicates an
increase in stature and years. The
wording in Hebrews indicates to have
become great. |
Waiting God’s time |
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A major part of Moses’ education in
the school of God was a lesson which
can be difficult for us to learn.
It is waiting for God’s time to do
something and there is a temptation
to rush into a work because we think
time is wasted if we do not move.
Moses had to learn to wait on
God’s timing. The result was: |
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a) |
He acted without God’s commendation |
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b) |
He did not seek to release Israel by
God’s way |
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c) |
He did not wait for God’s timing |
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When Moses killed the Egyptian, he
was attempting to fulfil the will
and purposes of God by his own
abilities and thoughts for he knew
the time was very close (Gen.
15:13-14). What a hero he would
have been in Jewish history, Moses
delivered the Children of Israel and
Pharaoh could not stop him, but God
will not share His glory with
another (Isa. 42:8, 11). The Lord
let Moses make a major error to help
him learn that.
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One can be sure it was not the will
of God for Moses to kill the
Egyptian. Because of that action a
man went into eternity, and living
in that paganism, died without
knowing about God’s way of
justification which Abraham knew
about (Rom. 4:2-4). |
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. . . .Rowan Jennings |
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