God created man and placed him in Eden. Man sinned and God started again with Noah, but he failed. His third attempt was Abram who became Abraham, and from him was to come forth a nation who would give lineage to the Messiah. This nation would be provided for amidst a famine, which by God’s providence Joseph accomplished. This sojourn in the land of Egypt would last for just over 400 years and then they would be led out of the land from great oppression by a new and God‑appointed leader, who would take them to a land of His choosing to fulfil the promise given to Abraham [Genesis 13:14‑17 especially 15:13 ‑ 16].
That man who was to lead the children of Israel to their new destiny was Moses, the beautiful child of the Nile. He was born to humble parents under the oppression of Pharaoh, and escaped by the divine hand ordering the sequence of events that led him to a perfect training for the task of delivering about two million people.
Training, Training, Triumph
Moses’ life was split into three periods. He was trained for forty years in all the arts, crafts, sciences and military might of Egypt, and then trained for forty years unlearning human reason and might, depending only upon God. After these eighty years he was ready to be used by God for the next forty years in shepherding the wilful children of Israel. A description of the man is found in [Deuteronomy 33:1, 5; 34:7; Ezra 3:2], but probably the scripture that speaks about him the most powerfully is found in [Deut. 34:10‑12] ‑ “But since then there has NOT arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of Israel”
The honour of the Egyptian courts and the highest knowledge of that day were his. He had been adopted by an Egyptian princess who was next to the throne and he was destined for the ultimate rulership of that kingdom. History records that he twice refused to ascend the throne and chose rather to suffer affliction with his brethren [Heb. 11:24]. His lifestyle became an example of FAITH, that which was the characteristic of the great men of Genesis. Five times it says in Hebrews 11 that it was “By faith” and if it was “By faith” it could not be by sight, and this being so, God had to rid him of the dependence of the rational education of Egypt and thrust him into a domain where all he had learned had to be restructured by a visible trust in an invisible God.
God’s Timing and Training
God’s men may seem to lie idle for many years in obscurity, but at the RIGHT time they will emerge. God may take a lifetime to prepare us for a task at the end of our life, so we should not be too anxious to press God before HIS time to send us out. Moses wanted to deliver Israel from their bondage, but his method was not right, so God had to get him away from that influence that would tempt him to use human resources, and whilst he was away from that environment, to rid him of that lusting after natural achievement. We read in Genesis that Joseph fled temptation, but it is “NOT ONLY, BUT,” not only run from the allurement, but also die to it so that whilst running one is not hankering after it! It took God forty years with Moses.
If Moses had ascended the throne Israel would not have left Egypt, their conditions would have been made tolerable by an act of sovereign judgment by their friend Moses. They would have stayed and been influenced by Egyptian theology, adopting the philosophy of that alien land and culture. God wanted a pure worshipping nation separated unto himself so that He could bring forth the Saviour of the World ‑ the environment in Egypt was hardly conducive for this.
Fourfold Foundational Principle All this was achieved because Moses “by faith” moved out into a wilderness; he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…” [Hebrews 11:24]. See next week for continuation . . .
