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Let us turn to this passage and read this portion of scriptures together: Exodus chapter 2, verse 11. "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 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." The Lord blessed the reading of his holy and sacred word.
Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank thee for how thou hast brought us together, that we may attend this prayer meeting. We thank thee for sustaining us through yet another week; we thank thee for how we have experienced thy hand of protection upon us as we travel from place to place. We have also experienced thy goodness in providing for all our needs; that our families are fed, that our families are provided with good things. Indeed, thou art so gracious. We thank thee also for good health and strength that thou hast blessed thy people with. As we remember those who are sick in our midst, that thou wilt also raise them from the bed of affliction according to thy sovereign time, and will, and purpose. We pray that thou wilt continue to grant us many such opportunities that we can be gathered together to unite our hearts in prayers and supplications, knowing that we have an almighty God who loves us with a perfect love, who will always incline his ear unto our cries. So we have come tonight, and we also want to be instructed by thee. Teach us thy precious word, and even as we learn from the book of Exodus, we want to draw spiritual lessons that we may apply into our lives. As we learn about Moses in Egypt, may thou teach us through the wonder-working of thy spirit, illumine our minds, and convict our hearts that we may understand spiritual things, and rightly apply the word of truth into our lives. We commit this time into thy loving hands, for we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Last week, we had learned how baby Moses was adopted by the princess of Egypt, and by God's providence, his formative years were spent with his own mother, and later on he grew up in the Pharaoh's palace. Today, in this passage, we want to learn what Moses did while he was in Egypt. One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not kill." It is a sin to kill, and almost every nation in this world would have their own laws to protect the sanctity of life. Most nations would prescribe their own judgements against murder, and some of them would take into consideration how the murders were committed, the reasons why those murders were committed—for example, was it premeditated, was it a crime of passion, or was it self-defence, etc.? Because of that, many commentators had tried to defend Moses in regards to the charge of murder. John Calvin said, "Moses was armed by God's command, and conscious of his legitimate vocation, rightly and judiciously assumed that character that God had assigned to him." But we have to be mindful that at this point in time, Moses had not yet been called by God to lead his people out of Egypt. Other commentators say that it was an act of defence because of the word "smiting," as in Moses saw an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew in verse 11. That word can mean to beat or to kill, so they believe that the Egyptian was beating the Hebrew to the point of death or intended to beat him to death. So before he could finish killing him, Moses intervened and killed him instead. But even then, violence begets violence, and that is not right. In any case, it was wrong for Moses to kill the Egyptian because firstly, no one has the right to take another person's life except God. Secondly, God had not commanded his people to take the laws into their own hands, or to take up arms. Later on, God himself would smite the Egyptians; they were drowned in the Red Sea, but that was God's business, and the time had not yet come. Thirdly, hatred and violence were never the way of the cross or the way of Christ. Remember, Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:38-39).
The title of our message for tonight is "Moses in Egypt." Our first point is: Moses identified himself with God's people. Let us begin with Exodus chapter 2, verse 11. "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren." Between verse 10 and verse 11, there was a lapse of 40 years, so the baby in the basket had become a grown man. According to Acts 7:22-23, Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was powerful in both words and deeds, and he was 40 years old. But one thing Moses had not forgotten: it was his Hebrew heritage. Here, verse 11 says, "He went out unto his brethren," which means he went to visit his own people. He considered the Hebrews his own people. Who had taught him all those things about God and about the children of Israel? Most certainly his parents, especially Jochebed, his mother. Remember, by God's providence, he was taken care of by his mother. Can you imagine the lessons he had learned from his mother were so embedded in his mind that 40 years later he still remembered, and he ran to visit his own people? This should be an encouragement to all the parents that the things you teach your children when they are young will be remembered for a very long time. So Moses went to visit the Hebrews in their labour camps. He looked on their burdens. The word "look" means more than just to see or to look; it means to see with emotions and compassions. In other words, when he saw the misery of his own people as they were suffering under the oppression of the Egyptians, their burdens became his burdens.
Many years ago, when I was a young Christian, I attended a prayer meeting, and the church was preparing to send a missionary and his young family off to Africa. At that time, the church was very small with little resources. They did everything they could to support the missionary and his family, and I will always remember when the pastor said to the missionary, "Please remember, when your son is hungry, my son is hungry." In other words, your burden is my burden, your son is my son. My friends, this should be our hearts and our desires toward our missionaries in Myanmar too. They are our people, are they not? Whenever we hear of them going through political struggles, how people are dying in the streets, how the young people are pressured to take up arms to fight against the militants, how they struggle to put bread and butter on the table, their burdens have become our burdens. Our hearts—we feel for them. Just as Moses looked on their burdens and he felt this great compassion for his own people, we must bear in mind that Moses had everything the world had to offer. He had grown up as one of the princes of Egypt, enjoying all the riches you can ever imagine. So on that day, when Moses left the Pharaoh's palace to visit the Hebrews, he had everything to lose and nothing to gain, but one thing he could not take away from his mind: that was the Hebrews. So he left the palace to be identified with God's people, to visit them. In some way, Moses was like a type of Christ. Just as Moses left the palace to identify himself with God's people, Jesus Christ—obviously the greater Moses—he left heaven's glory to be identified with mankind in order to save them. The fact that Moses was willing to be identified with the Hebrews tells us that he was not ashamed of them, even though they were slaves. Hebrews 2:11 tells us, "Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren." Our Lord Jesus, the eternal most powerful God, he was not ashamed to call you and me his brethren. Moses condescended to join his brethren, but the supreme ultimate condescension was when Jesus Christ came into this world. He was identified as a man so that you and I can become members of his own family.
My friends, are you grateful for what Jesus had done for you when he became a man, when he was identified as a man, when he came into this world because of you and me? Do you think the Hebrews were grateful to Moses when he was willing to identify himself with them? Well, we will learn about that very shortly. Our second point is: Moses chose to take things into his own hands. The last part of verse 11: "And he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren
." Although Moses was a man with many spiritual qualities, he was also a man with many flaws, and here we see how one foolish mistake caused him to throw away 30 years or 40 years of spiritual preparation. Indeed, Moses had a sense of hatred for injustice; he had a deep love for his own people—that was well and good—but it was a zeal not based on knowledge. As Romans 10, verse 2 tells us, "They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Think about this: what happens when a man is zealous and enthusiastic, but his zeal is without knowledge, which means not in accordance to the word of God? That would mean his zeal is based on his own emotions, his own passions, his own desires, his own ideas, or other people's opinions and initiatives. It has nothing to do with God and his word. So Moses' failure had nothing to do with his motivation; his heart was right, but the problem was with his method. Moses was trying to save God's people by his own works, by his own strength, rather than letting God save them by his grace and by his power. The same thing goes with many professed Christians: they can be very sincere and their motivation may be right, but the way they go about doing the thing is wrong, whether it be the worship of God or their services or fellowship or helping other believers who have fallen into sin. Their hearts may be in the right place; the problem is with their methods. Our zeal for God must always be based on our knowledge of his word; otherwise, we can be sincere, but we can be sincerely wrong.
Verse 12: "And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." When he looked this way and that way, it simply means he was checking if there was anyone who could be a witness, and when he saw that no one was looking, he slew the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Why did he bury the body in the sand? Obviously, he did not want anyone to know about it. What can we learn from here? Oftentimes, we are only concerned about the people whom we can see, whether it be in a church, in our families, in our workplaces. Whenever we do something, whenever we say something, we look around and see if anyone is watching, but we forget that there is always someone watching over us, and that is God himself. Who can ever hide from God? No one. So whether Moses looked here and looked there, there was always the almighty God watching over him. Remember, there are some theologians who are eager to clear Moses of the charge of murder, and these people will say that he looked this way and that way because he was actually looking to see if there was no one to stop the Egyptian or if there was no one who would help the Hebrew slave. So when Moses saw that there was no one else to help, he was the only one. That was when he intervened.
My friends, rather than justifying Moses, it actually serves to condemn him. It is one thing for God to raise up someone to be the deliverer, but it is another thing altogether for a sinful human being to presume himself to be the deliverer. To put it into logical terms, when Moses decided to take matters into his own hands, when he decided to kill the Egyptian, he was attempting to achieve salvation by his own works, by his own efforts, and not by grace. It is very clear that his way was not the right way because God had to send him into the wilderness for 40 years before giving him another chance to deliver Israel. You see, God wanted to make sure that His people would be saved for His glory and His glory alone, so when His salvation finally came, it would not be by the strength of any man but only through the power of God alone.
Our third point is Moses was rejected by his own people. Look at verse 13: "And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" People who were under oppressions would be subjected to much violence. Put yourself in that scenario; day in and day out, they would see the Egyptians smiting the Hebrews, and when they were subjected to violence long enough, they themselves would become violent men too. So it was not surprising to see two Hebrews fighting, physically fighting—that is the meaning of strove together, fighting to destroy. Again, Moses went to visit his own people, and when he saw them fighting, he felt for them with great compassion and emotion. He took the side of the victim and tried to accuse the man who was wrong, perhaps the one who instigated the fight.
According to Stephen, the first Christian martyr, he said in Acts 7:26 that Moses tried to be the reconciler; he tried to say to them, "Come on, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?" In our context, it would be like watching two Christians in the church fighting with each other. Most certainly, it would be most painful to watch; it will surely trouble our hearts. To his surprise, he discovered that he was not only unable to make peace, but his sin was discovered.
Verse 14: "And the Hebrew said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" Perhaps there were witnesses who saw the act of murder, or the Hebrew whom Moses had rescued had told all his friends. Moses thought his own people would appreciate his help; he thought they would think that God was using him to deliver them. Obviously, his thinking was wrong. As far as the Hebrew slaves were concerned, he had no authority whatsoever to be their leader. Moses was rejected by them: "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" That was a good question—no one. It would be 40 years later before God would call Moses out of the burning bush. So for the time being, Moses was simply operating as a self-appointed saviour; he was just taking matters into his own hands, he was just trying to lead and deliver the Hebrews with no divine authority, and the Israelites rejected him: "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?"
So firstly, God had not called Moses at this point in time. But secondly, more importantly, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" has a sense in which you are not qualified to lead us. In the eyes of the Hebrews, how could a murderer be a reconciler? His credibility as a leader was destroyed immediately. That was why the Hebrew said, "Are you planning to kill me also, just as you had killed the Egyptian? You are a murderer; who made you a prince and a judge? You are disqualified."
When Moses tried to stop the fight between the two Hebrews, his heart, his motivation, and his intention were 100% right. Remember, his method was wrong. It was absolutely right for Moses to take on the role of a peacemaker. Jesus Himself said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9). So what was the problem? What was the thing that stopped the Hebrews from accepting him? His testimony. He himself had committed the sin of murder.
So, my friends, how can we apply this lesson into our lives? Some of us may want to be preachers, or Sunday school teachers, or Bible facilitators. Our message may be biblical and accurate, but if our lives are not in line with God's Word, if we are living in sin and we have not repented of our sins, we are disqualified. The people will not accept us, nor the message we preach. If we have lied and we try to teach others about honesty, if we ourselves are lazy and we try to teach others about diligence, or if we are immoral and we try to teach others about morality, our message may be biblical and accurate, but we have disqualified ourselves. That is why it is extremely important that we be careful of the message we preach and teach. But at the same time, we must be equally careful of the lives we live. If we do not live the way we preach, then we are disqualified: "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Are you going to kill us like the way you have killed the Egyptian?"
Later on, when God called Moses, then he would regain the respect of the Hebrew people, but it took almost a lifetime for him to regain that respect. So his first attempt to deliver the Hebrew people ended up in failure, and now he had to go into the wilderness for 40 years to learn from that foolish mistake—one foolish mistake, and it took almost 40 years for him to learn.
Our final point is Moses had to flee from Egypt. Look at the second part of verse 14: "And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known." Verse 15: "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." So the secret was out—the prince of Egypt had committed murder. It was not an ordinary murder because, as the prince, he had killed an Egyptian because of a Hebrew. In other words, he had committed treason. That was why in verse 15, when the Pharaoh heard about this thing, he sought to kill Moses. A death warrant was issued that would make Moses the most wanted man in Egypt. From a prince, he became the most wanted man. Firstly, Moses was rejected by his own people, and now he had to flee for his own life because Pharaoh wanted to kill him. So you can imagine how miserable Moses would have been when he went into the land of Midian and he sat down by the well.
Take a moment and picture Moses sitting down by the well—someone who was rejected by his own people, someone who had to flee for his own life because of one foolish mistake he had done. My friends, Moses was just as human as you and I. He was just as weak and fearful as you and I. But God had chosen him despite his weaknesses and failures, and if God is able to use Moses, He is also able to use you and I for His glory. But before God could use us, He had to teach us, He had to correct us, and sometimes He had to allow us to go through struggles and even tribulations for the purpose of training us to be the person He wants us to be. Just like Moses, he was allowed to run for his life, to go into the wilderness for 40 years, to be trained, to be humbled, to be equipped, to be taught by God. And then God would use him to lead the people out of Egypt.
So, my friends, these are the lessons that you and I can learn from Moses in Egypt. When we return, we will learn about Moses in the wilderness. Let us pray.
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this blessed time that we can learn a portion of Thy Word. Though it be only five verses in Exodus chapter 2, verse 11 to 15, they are wonderful lessons for us to draw from the life of Moses while he was in Egypt. And even as we learn from Thy dear servant, we remember our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who left heaven's glory to come into this world for us. We remember His love and how He was willing to be identified with mankind in order to save us from our sins. We learned valuable lessons also from how Moses, though he was weak, though he was a man with many flaws, but Thou hadst chosen him despite his many failures. And Thou wast the one who led him into the wilderness to be trained, to be taught, to be humbled. And for 40 years he would learn valuable lessons.
Just as we know that nothing happens by chance, no coincidence but by Thy appointment, there are times whereby we face the consequences of our sins, and that was the reason why we go through struggles and many pains. But there are times whereby for Thy own sovereign purposes, Thou allow struggles to come into our lives, not because we have sinned but because Thou wouldst equip us, Thou wouldst mould us to be the person that Thou wouldst want us to be. We humble ourselves before Thee, and we accept whatever trials, whatever difficulties, whatever lessons that Thou wouldst want us to learn from, and we want to grow in Thee.
So teach us, even as we continue to study through the book of Exodus. Help us at every point that we may draw spiritual lessons to apply to our lives, that we may live our lives all to the glory of Thy precious name. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.