4.2 Moses: The Path of Growth4-2-1 Events In The Life Of Moses
A read through the records will indicate that Moses was somewhat temperamental in his faith. For the first forty years of his life, he scarcely let his light show. Yet all the time his conscience was active, enabling him to build up towards heights of spiritual achievement few of us can achieve. At the age of 40, he had a flash of spiritual devotion; he rejected the opportunity for greatness in Egypt, possibly the opportunity to become king of Egypt (as Christ had the opportunity to become king of the world in his wilderness temptations). Yet after that, he went into 40 years of decline. In the eyes of men, he was a finished man. He had gone away from God's people, he was living in a family of idolaters, and had married one of them. His marriage went wrong, he divorced his wife, and picked up some other woman. He didn't circumcise his children, and thus he despised his covenant relationship with God. Eighty years is a long time. They were eighty years of at best mediocre commitment to the God of Israel, with only the occasional flash of spiritual brilliance. Yet this man Moses went on to become one of the greatest spiritual men there has ever been, a man who came closer to God than all others except the Lord Jesus. " There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" (Dt. 34:10). The Lord Jesus was " like unto" Moses (Dt. 18:18)- a high enough commendation for Moses. The following notes show that Moses achieved this through an appreciation of God manifestation in himself and in Israel.
Because of his weakness, we are able to relate to Moses, and see him as our example. It is possible that Moses was not circumcised (Ex. 6:12,30); which would make him even closer to us. The Lord Jesus encouraged us to see ourselves as Moses: " If thou wouldest believe (in Christ), thou shouldest see the glory of God" (Jn. 11:40) is without doubt an allusion to Moses' experience of seeing God's glory- an experience which in Jewish eyes marked Moses out as the greatest man who had ever lived. The veneration in which Moses was and is held in the Jewish world is hard for Gentiles to enter into. A glance through rabbinical commentaries on the Pentateuch will illustrate this well. And here was the Lord Jesus saying that through faith in him, we can share the experience of Moses, we can rise to the spiritual heights of the man who spoke to God face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
Main events in the life of Moses EVENT | REFERENCE | SPIRITUALITY | | (Score out of 10) | | 1. 40 years in Egypt, hiding the fact he was an Israelite, not preaching the Gospel to anyone, appearing as an Egyptian. He learnt all the philosophy of Egypt, and was a prominent public speaker, with the possibility of becoming the next Pharaoh. According to non-Biblical tradition, he was the leader of the Egyptian army. | Ex. 2:19; Acts 7:22 | 2 (over say 25 years, from the age of 15 - 40) | | 2. Crisis at age 40. He refused the riches of Egypt , and consciously chose to suffer affliction with the Israelites.He really wanted to save Israel and free them from their enemies, and make them live at peace among themselves. | Heb. 11:24Heb. 11:26Acts 7:23-28 | 8 | | 3. However, he didn't want Egypt to know that he was doing this; he thought he could do it secretly. Once he realised that people knew what he was trying to do, he was afraid. His fearfulness has similarities with that of spiritually weak Jacob, who fled from the face of Laban into the unknown, as Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh. Thus God encouraged him after forty years that he need no longer fear: " Return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life" . | Ex. 2:14Ex. 2:15 cp. Gen.31:22; 35:7Ex. 4:19 | 2 | | 4. But then he rallied his faith and left Egypt, without (at the point of leaving) fearing the anger of Pharaoh. He so strongly believed, it was as if he physically saw God- as he asked. | Heb. 11:27 | 8 | | 5. Moses flees to Midian, where he helps some unknown shepherd women from being abused by some rough men; he did this without at first receiving any reward, and without the women wanting him to go with them; although they thought he was an Egyptian, showing that he still concealed his relationship with God. | Ex. 2:17Ex.2:19 | 6 | | 5a. Moses " supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them" ; but God told Moses at the bush: " I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt...." . Moses had yet to learn the meaning of God manifestation through men. | Acts 7:25 cp. Ex. 3:20 | | 6. Moses " was content to dwell" with the father of the women. The Hebrew for " content" comes from a root which means weakness of mind; the implication is that he easily yielded to this man. | Ex.2: 21 | 2 | | 7. " And he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter" . She was not one of the covenant people; she was the daughter of a pagan priest (Ex. 18:11 implies Jethro thought Yahweh was only one of many gods); she did not circumcise their children. Should Moses have married her? The fact Moses did not bother circumcising his son shows he was not really serious about his relationship with God; God tried to kill him because of this. God tried to kill Moses because of this; this shows how serious this was in God's eyes. Zipporah was a Midianite, a descendant of Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:1-6). Circumcision was a sign of the covenant through Isaac, hence the resentment and bitterness of Zipporah over the circumcision issue; and it seems Moses capitulated to her on this. Their marriage is sure proof that fundamental spiritual differences at the start can only lead to anger and break up later on. | Ex. 2:21; 3:1; 4:25 | 3 | | 8. However, Moses' children had names which showed some faith, and a recognition he was a stranger in the land where he was living; he lived as a stranger in Midian. Few people live in a country for 40 years without feeling they belong to it. But his mind was in the past, in how God had been good to his father, and how God had saved him from Pharaoh's death threat. | Ex. 18:3,4; Acts 7:29 | 4 | | 9. Moses' marriage was weak. 40 years later, Zipporah's frustration boiled over: " Surely a bloody husband art thou to me...then she said (again), A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision" . As a descendant of Ishmael she was angry at Isaac's choice and circumcision. This is probably the closest the Bible gets to recording the real life use of taboo language. " Because of the circumcision" suggests she despised Moses' religion. Moses divorced her. It also seems from Ex. 4:23,25 that God tried to kill Moses’ son because Moses was not fully believing that God would kill Pharaoh’s firstborn. | Ex. 4:25,26 (see N.I.V.); 18:2 | 2 | 10. He " took" (not married) another woman, an Ethiopian- probably a slave woman, or possibly a cheap woman. Moses' brother and sister were ashamed that their brother was involved with a woman like this. Whoever she was, Moses was under the one man: one woman standard of the garden of Eden. And further, he "put away" this woman- Ex. 18:2 LXX is the same "put away" as in 1 Cor. 7:11-13. Moses allowed divorce for the hardness of Israel's hearts (Mt. 19:8) and yet he himself appears to have divorced her- for the hardness of his heart?
| Num. 12:1 AVmg. | 2 | | 11. God appeared to Moses in the flame of fire in the bush, but Moses had to be told to take off his shoes as a sign of respect- even though taking off shoes was understood as a token of respect and recognition of sin (see 2 Sam. 15:30). " Draw not nigh hither...for the place whereon thou standest is holy" sounds as if Moses did not appreciate the holiness of God. It even seems that Moses had forgotten the significance of God's Name, even though it had been revealed to Abraham (Ex. 3:13). Moses' fear to look upon God suggests a bad conscience. The double repetition " Moses, Moses" may be some kind of rebuke. " I have" seen the affliction of Israel could suggest that Moses felt God was not sensitive to the pain of His children; he had been living for 40 years feeling forgotten by God.Moses " wondered" at what he saw and heard at the burning bush- a Greek word which is often used in a negative sense concerning people lacking faith and insight when they should have had it. | Ex. 3:5Ex. 3:6 cp. Gen. 3:8; Is. 6:5Ex. 3:7Acts 7:31 cp. Mt. 15:31; Mk. 6:51; Lk. 8:25; 24:41; Acts 13:41 | 2 | | 12. " I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people...And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go?....And God said...they shall hearken to thy voice...And Moses answered...They will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice (he didn't seem to believe God's promise to inspire him)...I am not eloquent, neither heretofore (i.e. in the past)...I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (although this was untrue- earlier Moses had been an eloquent speaker in Egypt; actually he was just the right man to do what God wanted)...and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses" . Remember that God is very slow to this kind of anger (Ex. 34:6). Forty years earlier, Moses had understood, presumably from a direct revelation from God, that God would deliver Israel through him. But he had lost faith in that promise, and was arguing back against God. This was the outcome of many years of spiritual slipping. " Send...by the hand of him whom thou wilt send" (alluding to God's Name, I will be) can be seen as indifference; perhaps Moses was saying 'As you do what you will, your name is I will be, then if you send by me, send by men, I can't resist'. | Ex. 3:10,11,18; 4:1,10,13,14; Acts 7:22, 25 | 1 | | 12. Moses does actually leave Midian and begins to ask Pharaoh to let Israel go12a. He seems to make the excuse to Jethro that he is homesick for his family who are still in Egypt. And yet straight after this, the Lord confirms him in his desire to return. | Ex. 4:29 - 5:5Ex. 4:18,19 | 6 | | 13. Moses is easily discouraged by the fact that Israel reject him: " Moses returned unto Yahweh, and said, Lord...why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh...thou hast not delivered thy people at all" . The Yahweh / Lord difference may suggest that he got over familiar with the Angel, forgetting the degree to which that Angel carried God's Name. | Ex. 5:22,23 | 2 | | 14. God replied by telling him to declare the covenant Name to Israel, and remind them that therefore God would surely save them. But they again failed to respond. " And Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?" . Yet God had promised Moses earlier that Israel would hear him (3:18). God solemnly told him to go and speak to Pharaoh, because God had told him to do so. But Moses has the cheek to say exactly the same words to God a second time. In a chapter which speaks much of Moses' reluctance, the record encourages us: " These are that Aaron and Moses...these are they which spake to Pharaoh...these are that Moses and Aaron" (Ex. 6:26,27). | Ex. 6:12,30 | 2 | | 15. Moses and Aaron agreed to continue speaking to Pharaoh and Israel; they " did as the Lord commanded them, so did they" . This is saying the same thing twice- stressing their obedience. | Ex. 7:6 | 6 | | 16. The record of the miracles is framed to show God commanding Moses to do certain things to bring and end the plagues, and him obedient to this. But Ex. 8:9 RV contains a strange sentence: “Have thou this glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee...to destroy the frogs?”. It could be that, in the words of Bro. Mark Vincent, “Moses with an excessive and sarcastic politeness, is asking, ‘And (pray tell me!) when exactly would you like the frogs to be gone?’, as though Pharaoh might miss them and fondly wish them to stay around for a couple more days”. This to me doesn’t score very highly in spiritual terms. | Ex. 7,8,9 | 73 | | 17. " By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them (Israel). By faith they (Israel) passed through the Red Sea" . Yet at this time Israel were weak in faith, they passed through the Red Sea cuddling the idols of Egypt, from the day God knew them they were rebellious against Him; so runs the refrain of the prophets. It seems that due to Moses' faith Israel were saved by the Passover lamb, through his faith they passed through the Red Sea; his faith was so great, his desire for their salvation so strong, that God counted it to the rest of Israel. Thus " he (Moses, in the context) brought them (Israel) out" of Egypt (Acts 7:36,38). This points forward to Christ's redemption of us, and also indicates how quickly Moses' faith rallied. And yet just prior to crossing the Sea, God rebuked Moses: " Wherefore criest thou unto me?" - even though Moses calmly exhorted the people to have faith (Ex. 14:15 cp. 13). Yet by faith he brought them through the Red Sea. Therefore as with his first exit from Egypt (he feared the wrath of the King, and then he didn't), his faith wavered, but came down on the right side. | Heb. 11:28,29 | 8 | | 18. Moses' song of triumph after the Red Sea deliverance shows a fine spirituality. However, note his possible misunderstanding in Ex. 15:13,17- that Siani was to be “the place” where God would dwell with Israel. | Ex. 15 | 8 | | 19. Israel's murmurings about the lack of food did not discourage Moses; " the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: for what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord" . Here we see the beginnings of some real humility in Moses, due to his appreciation of God manifestation in him. | Ex. 16:8 | 8 | | 20. Moses' victory against Amalek due to his faith, in which he typified our Lord's crucifixion. | Ex. 17:8-16 | 8 | | 21. Moses becomes reconciled to his ex-wife Zipporah whom he had divorced, and has the humility to accept the advice of his ex-father in law Jethro. This all indicates an increasing humility. 21a. Moses accepts Jethro's advice on the basis that he will " surely wear away" (Ex. 18:18); even though his natural strength never abated (Dt. 34:7), and God surely would not have asked him to do the impossible. Jethro at this time seems to have seen Yahweh as only one of many gods; he was a pagan priest. He prophesied that if Moses followed his advice, " all this people shall go to their place in peace" - which they didn't. Num. 10:31 suggests Moses saw Jethro's knowledge of the desert as better than the Angelic " eyes" of Yahweh (2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 15:3) who were going ahead of the camp to find a resting place (Num. 10:33 cp. Ex. 33:14 cp. Is. 63:9). It seems Moses recognized his error in this on the last day of his life, when he admits Yahweh, not Jethro's wisdom, had led them (Dt. 1:33). Likewise Paul in his final communication comments on the way that Mark with whom he had once quarelled was profitable to him (2 Tim. 4:11). | Ex. 18:2-27Ex. 18:1,18,23 | 8 | | 22. Moses is called up into Sinai and speaks with God. While there, Israel turn away from God, and God wants to make Moses' family His people and reject Israel. But Moses argues with God against this, again showing his humility and his appreciation of God manifestation in Israel, and his earnest desire that God would save Israel. " He said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath" . This was only months after his weak faith and reluctance to lead Israel out of Egypt. He says that he will " go up (and) make an atonement" (Ex. 32:30). And yet he knew the principle that atonement was impossible without shedding blood. Yet he goes further than that: " Blot me, I pray thee (he really wanted to do this) out of thy book" (Ex. 32:32)- i.e. the book of salvation (Ez. 13:9; Dan. 12:2; Lk. 10:20; Rev. 20:12). Moses is willing to give his physical life and also his eternal salvation so that Israel can enter the land. Surely he reached matchless heights of selflessness.Note how God’s anger “waxed hot” and so did that of Moses. But Moses asks God not to wax hot in anger (Ex. 32:10,11,19). What are we to make of this? Surely, positively, Moses was totally in tune with the feelings of God. And yet he does himself what he asks God not to do. What score would we give Moses for this? | Ex.32:10-14, 30-32; Ps. 105:23 | 10 | | 23. God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. God knew Moses by name (Ex. 33:12,17) and so He shews Moses His Name (Ex. 33:17,19)- there developed a mutuality between the two. Yet God told Moses that because Israel were stiffnecked, therefore He could not go up with them (Ex. 33:5). Moses agrees the people are stiffnecked, but he knows God well enough to ask Him to still go up in the midst of them (Ex. 34:9). And God did! He acted according to how broad was Moses’ conception of God’s grace. If Abraham’s conception of grace had been even broader, perhaps Sodom would’ve been saved… Moses’ achievement is all the more remarkable because he himself struggled with grace. God assures Moses that he has found grace in His eyes [i.e. before the Angel with whom Moses met?]. And yet Moses says: “If I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way that I may know thee, to the end that I may find grace in thy sight” (Ex. 33:12,13 RV). Despite having been told that he had found grace, Moses still wanted confirmation… as if the voice of God wasn’t enough! And maybe there is even the implication that he mistakenly thought that he needed more knowledge of God before he could find that grace… as if it depended upon his own mental faculties. And yet God patiently assures Moses yet again: Thou hast found grace in my sight”, and goes on to proclaim His Name to Moses. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Ex. 33:19) was surely said specifically to Moses, given the context of Moses’ doubts about his receipt of God’s grace. The coming down of Yahweh to pronounce His Name was, in the context, to show how far God would go to assure Moses that yes, His grace towards Moses was real. We too struggle with grace, and are given, also by grace, this undeserved assurance upon assurance. | Ex. 33:11 | 9 | | 24. Moses has the spiritual ambition to ask to see the face of God Himself. He is given the greatest God manifestation any man has seen except the Lord Jesus. It's a delightful essay in the possibilities of spiritual growth that the man who once forgot God's Name later came to so finely appreciate it that he was given the finest revelation of it. Despite this, Moses still has the humility to question whether in fact he has found grace (overlooking of his sins) in God's eyes. However, there is maybe a connection between Moses hiding in the " cleft of the rock" (Ex. 33:22) and Elijah hiding in a similar place to witness a theophany whose aim was to humble him. Is. 2:10-12 makes a similar connection. | Ex. 33:13-23; 34:9 | 9 | | 25. Ex. 39 and 40 each contain a marked repetition of the fact that the whole Tabernacle was built and arranged by Moses exactly as God commanded him. It was in this sense that Moses was faithful in all his house- as the writer to the Hebrews twice stresses | Ex. 39:1,5,7,21,26,29,31,32,42; 40:16,19,21,23,25,27,29,32; Heb.3:2,5 | 8 | |
26. Num. 10 and 11 seem to portray Moses in weakness. He pleads with his brother in law not to leave them, because without him they would not know where to camp in the wilderness; " thou mayest be to us instead of eyes" . Yet the Angels are God's eyes, they were seeking out resting places for Israel in the wilderness; the record reminds us of this straight afterwards (Num. 10:33). Jethro elsewhere suggested that Moses needed more help in leading the people because otherwise fading thou wilt fade away’ (Ex. 18:18 A.V.mg.); at the end of his days, the record seems to highlight the untruth of this by commenting that his natural strength was not faded (Dt. 34:7). So Jethro’s advice wasn’t always spiritual. Moses is depressed by Israel complaining at how boring the manna was. He doubts God's earlier promises to him: " Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight (God said he had, in Ex.33:17)...have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto them, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers (not " our" - notice the uncharacteristic separation between Moses and Israel). Whence should I give flesh unto all this people...if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in the sight (as God had earlier promised him that he had)" . God was the father and conceiver of Israel, the one who would carry them to the land (Ex. 19:4; 33:15; Dt. 32:11,12; Hos. 11:1); it is as if Moses is saying: They're your children, you look after them, don't dump them on me. Although compare this with his earlier love for them, willing to sacrifice himself for them. God then says that He will provide more food for Israel. But Moses almost mocks God: " Shall the flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them?" . And the Angel angrily replied: " Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not" . If he had faith, Moses surely would have realised that if God could provide manna, he could provide any food. Moses seems to have suffered from fits of depression and also high spirituality.
Joshua urged Moses to “forbid” or [Heb.] ‘imprison’ Eldad and Medad for prophesying (Num. 11:28). He fell into the mistake so many have done; shut up or silence a genuine man of God, for fear that the institution, the existing administration, would be undermined. Perhaps they were prophesying of Moses’ death? Whatever, Moses’ refusal to shut them up seems to indicate an openness to God’s Spirit and way of working, even if it threatened to undermine his authority. He shows such a genuine spirit when he replies that he wished that all God’s people were the spiritual leaders. |
Num. 10: 29-32; 11:11-15, 21-23
Num. 11:28 | | | 27. Miriam and Aaron try to humiliate Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had palled up with in earlier days. But his response was humility itself; so much so that the record comments: " The man Moses was very meek (some suggest the Hebrew implies 'made very meek', as a process), above all the men which were upon the face of the earth" . What a compliment! The most humble man that was then alive; and humility is of great value to God, according to the Proverbs and 1 Pet. 3:4. That the leader of 3 million people for forty years could be the meekest man is a sure wonder. Perhaps this comment is made at this point because Moses weakness in the previous chapter had perhaps further developed his humility. He truly cries unto God to heal Miriam of the punishment she was given for criticising him. | Num. 12:1, 13 | 9 | | 28. Israel want to return to Egypt. God again wants to destroy them and make Moses' family His people. But Moses successfully asks God to forgive Israel for this rather than take the personal honour God offered him. | Num. 14:11-20 | 9 | | 29. God openly declares His acceptance of Moses to all Israel. | Num. 16 | 9 | | 30. God again wants to destroy Israel and make of Moses' family a new people. Again, for the third time, Moses knows God well enough, he has enough faith, enough humility and enough true love for Israel to ask God- successfully- to relent from this. That God wanted to do this three times shows His great love for Moses. | Num. 16:44-50 | 9 | | 31. God again openly declares His acceptance of Moses in front of all Israel in the incident of the rods. | Num. 17 | 9 | | 32. Moses' faith slips for a moment; his spirit is provoked by Israel, so that he speaks unadvisedly with his lips and is therefore barred from entering the land (although maybe such an apparently temporary slip was the reflection of deeper problems?). Yet it does seem uncharacteristic, a tragic slip down the graph of ever rising spirituality. There must have almost been tears in Heaven. Being easily provoked was one of Moses' characteristics; consider how he turned himself and stormed out from Pharaoh (Ex. 10:6; 11:8); how his anger waxed hot when he returned from the mount, how he went out from Pharaoh in great anger, how he first of all feared the wrath of Pharaoh and then stopped fearing it; how Moses was " very wroth" at Israel's suggestion that he was appropriating the sacrifices for himself; how he was " angry" with Eleazer (Ex.32:19; 11:8; Num. 16:15; Lev. 10:16,17). This temperament explains his swings of faith. Was the Lord Jesus likewise afflicted?Note carefully the process of failure here. Moses and Aaron were told to both speak to the rock, and this would result in Moses personally bringing forth water: “Gather thou [singular] the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye [plural- both of them] unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou [Moses personally] shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink” (Num. 20:8). But Moses seems to have dismissed Aaron’s intended involvement and assumed that he alone could bring the water out with his rod. Yet Aaron was also condemned for this incident- presumably because he didn’t speak to the rock but just let Moses smite the rock with his silence meaning consent. | Num. 20:12; Ps. 106:32,33 | 1 | | 33. The people again complain, and God punishes them with serpents; Moses' prayer for them is accepted. These prayers for others' salvation must have required intense faith and acceptability to be heard. | Num. 21:7 | 8 | | 34. Moses did not get bitter at his rejection, nor disinterested in Israel's future because he would not be with them in the land. He asked God to provide a replacement for him. | Num. 27:16,17 | 8 | | 35. The love of Moses for Israel as reflected in his final address to them in Deuteronomy, his knowledge of them, his sensitivity to their weakness, his constant desire for them to be spiritually strong and to enter the land; God's respect of him at the end of his life, shown in his burial and in subsequent comments about him. Although Moses is at a spiritual peak in Deuteronomy, he does repeatedly comment- almost under his breath as it were- that he was not going to enter the land “for your sakes”, and that he was thereby bearing the anger of God against Israel (e.g. Dt. 4:21 etc.). Whilst in a sense this was true, God’s anger was against Moses personally regarding the sin of striking the rock. Given that “that rock was Christ”, his inappropriate striking of it was some kind of symbolic crucifixion of Christ. He was in the wrong- the record of the event makes that clear. And yet at the end of his life, Moses is blaming Israel for his sin and his exclusion from the land. Perhaps he was indicating his understanding of how his prayer to not enter the land for their sakes was being answered. On the other hand, one could argue that even on the last day of his life, Moses never came to terms with that sin, sought to justify himself in the eyes of Israel, to shift the blame… and yet even then, God’s grace was big enough to accept him. Quite how to score Moses on this point will always be debatable, but the exercise certainly provokes a lot of introspection about our own attitudes to public confession of sin, both in ourselves and in others, and its relationship to God’s ultimate acceptance of a person. | Deuteronomy | 10 |
    
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