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Exodus 2b:

Reading #162    Moses’ education

Much time has gone by and a grown-up Moses, the possible heir to the throne, had openly shown his connection with the Hebrew people, thereby incurring the anger of the priests and politicians of Egypt.  His Egyptian mother had disappeared and Thutmose III was ruling alone.  Although Moses could not alter the political situation (the Hebrews were now a vital part of Egypt’s economy), his obvious association with them helped modify the general population’s treatment of them because of their love for him, and this did not suit some of the officials. 

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Exodus 2:

11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown [about twenty-eight years later when he was forty], that he went out to his brothers [and sisters], and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12  And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he [deliberately] slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.  [This was doing things man’s way with a vengeance!]

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He had now shown himself ready to maintain the cause of his people by force, and he hoped to see them rise to recover their liberty.  “He supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not.” Acts 7:25.  They were not yet prepared for freedom on God’s terms so the Son of God had to wait.

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Exodus 2:

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 [why] smite you your fellow?” 14 And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  [Do you] intend to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” [“What difference is there in you killing him, and killing me? That would be using the same method.”] 

And Moses feared, and said, “Surely this thing is known.” [He had not yet learnt that God’s way of solution is NOT superior force, for that inevitably leads to murder and reprisal.]

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We can be sure that the matter of Moses' killing the Egyptian was made known to the authorities by the envious Hebrew whom Moses told off, for that is the way of men.  The whole matter was quickly made public, and, greatly exaggerated, soon reached the ears of Pharaoh.  It was represented to the king that this act meant much; that Moses planned to lead his people against the Egyptians, to overthrow the government, and to seat himself upon the throne; and that there could be no security for the kingdom while he lived.  (Compare Esther 3:8-9.)  It was at once decided by the monarch that he should die; but, becoming aware of his danger, Moses made his escape and fled toward Arabia (and in doing so he left his post of duty). 

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Exodus 2:

15 Now when Pharaoh [Thut III] 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. 

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How had this come about?

In all who have been called to accomplish a work for God the human element is seen occasionally.  Yet they have not been satisfied to remain in that condition.  They earnestly desired to obtain wisdom from God and to learn to work for, and with, Him.  Says the apostle, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not [doesn’t ever growl]; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5. 

But God will not impart to us divine light while we are content to remain in darkness.  The use of force in religion must be the first to go.  There must be a major shift in our thinking – from one based on a forceful system (whether political or religious makes no difference) to one based on the needs of the people.  See Hosea 6:6 and Matthew 9:13. 

In order to receive God's help, as Christians we must realize our weakness and deficiency; we must apply our own minds to the great change to be made in our character; we must be aroused to earnest and persevering prayer and effort.  See Note 1, Hebrews 4:11.  Not to be worthy of salvation, but to be able to accept and use it!

Wrong habits and customs must be shaken off; and it is only by determined endeavour to correct these errors and to conform to right principles that the victory can be gained.  See Hebrews 4:11 again.  Many never attain to the position that they might occupy, because they wait for God to do for them that which He has given them power to do for themselves (this ability comes at conversion).  All who are fitted for usefulness must be trained by the severest mental and moral discipline, and God will assist them by uniting His divine power with their human effort.  (Note 2, Hebrews 12:6-7 when read in the right light!)  As we have seen, it is not easy to choose God’s way all the time even when we are reborn!  Yet “Do them [His commandments and statutes], that you may live”, we are told.  Deuteronomy 4:1; Leviticus 18:5.  And that’s what Moses needed.

The following dates are not necessarily correct, because many Egyptologists cannot agree on dynasty dating, nor even on some of the events, and therefore neither do some Biblical scholars.  However, they are accurate enough for me, and I hope, for you.  Dates are a bit “ho-hum” anyway!  But they do fit in with the principle shown in Hebrews chapter 4.  

So, as I see it:

Moses spent the early Egyptian part of his life under Thutmose I (1525-1508BC), and Thutmose II (1508-1504BC) his adoptive father.  Queen Hatshepsut, (1504-1482BC) was daughter to Thutmose I and wife to Thutmose II, her half-brother.  (They did things like that in those days!  It wasn’t considered wrong by either Christian or pagan.  God did not prohibit it till later, Leviticus 18:9.)  Thutmose I (the grandfather) fought battles against the countries right up to the river Euphrates, and was the first Egyptian king to record the use of Asiatic slaves [Hebrews?] in the building of some of his temples.  We still have some of his inscriptions today, as well as Hatshepsut’s great temple.

It was Hatshepsut who saved Moses while she was young and had no children.  (She had one daughter later, whom Tuthmose III married.)  Hatshepsut probably visited Moses during those formative years, but could not take him home because of her father and husband’s attitudes.  (I think she took him in when her husband died and she could have no more children.)  She took over the throne by herself after her husband’s death (Thutmose II), which shows that she was a strong independent woman.  She reigned as Pharaoh for twenty-two years, but the price of priestly co-operation was she had to share with the young Thutmose III.  He was a son of Thutmose II (the official story is that he was born of a minor wife), and he reigned on his own from 1482 - c.1450 after Hatshepsut disappeared during a coup. 

Moses was about 12 when he went to Hatshepsut.  Twenty-two years with his foster mother makes him about 34 when she disappeared.  He naturally grieved for her but stayed on at his post of duty as every good Christian should, and probably thought of avenging her.

Thutmose III (he took his father’s throne name) was the one who hated Moses because he considered him to be a rival for the throne as the adopted son.  That would have given Moses an added incentive to leave Egypt when he was threatened.  (He was forty years old at that time.)

After Thutmose III died his son Amenhotep II (the god “Amen” is satisfied) came to the throne (1450-1425BC).  When he in his turn died in 1425, the historical records of Egypt tell us that it was not the crown prince, but one of his other sons (known to us as Thutmose IV) who succeeded.  This fits in well with the thought that the firstborn son of the Pharaoh Amenhotep died on the night of the exodus, when Moses was in his eighties, and was replaced by one of his brothers.  

Feel free to agree or disagree with this profile!

Let’s continue in the reading with Moses at 40 years of age:

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Exodus 2:

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.  17 And the shepherds came and drove them away [made them wait till last]: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.  18 And when they came to Reuel [aka Jethro] their father, he said, “How is it that you are come so soon to day?” 19 And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.” 20 And he said to his daughters, “And where is he?  Why is it that you have left the man?  Call him, that he may eat bread.”

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The LORD directed Moses’ course through his courtesy to the girls, and he found a home with Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian, who was also a worshiper of God.  (Many people all over the world and in all ages have responded to the Son of God’s pleas and accepted salvation.  The Bible just tells us the story of His representative people.)  After a time Moses married one of the daughters of Jethro; and here, in the service of his father-in-law, as keeper of his flocks, he remained forty years, making him 80+ years old at the exodus.

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Exodus 2:

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter [in marriage].  22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name “Gershom” [“A stranger here”]: for he said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

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Consider the experience of Moses: 

Hatshepsut determined to make her adopted son her successor on the throne.  She therefore ordered that the youth be educated for his high station. “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” Acts 7:22.  It was the priests who insisted that Thutmose III should have that place, and so the rivalry began.

Moses’ ability as a military leader made him a favourite with the armies of Egypt, and he was generally regarded as a remarkable character.  Thus Satan had been defeated in his purpose.  The very decree condemning the Hebrew children to death had been overruled by God for the training and education of the future leader of His people.  The daughter of the man who made the decree was the one who overrode it!  How great is God who does all things without brute force, but with the greater power of love and persuasion!

At the court of Pharaoh, Moses received the highest civil and military training available in the world, and as a result he felt that he was fully prepared for the work of delivering Israel from bondage.  But God judged otherwise.  His providence, or way of working, then appointed Moses to forty years of training in the wilderness as a keeper of sheep.  One method taught him to manage a nation as a boss, the other how to work with (not against) people as a servant!  Mark 9:35.  Both were needed.

Moses was naturally of an impetuous spirit, and he had been accustomed to receiving praise and flattery in Egypt as a successful military leader and a favourite with the kings and the nation,.  He had attracted the people to himself, therefore he hoped to accomplish by his own powers the work of delivering Israel.  Far different were the lessons he had to learn as God's representative.  As he led his flocks through the wilds of the mountains and into the green pastures of the valleys, he learned faith and meekness, patience, humility, and self-forgetfulness.  He learned to care for the weak, to nurse the sick, to seek after the straying, to bear with the unruly, to tend the lambs, and to nurture the old and the feeble.  All this without losing his Egyptian skills of organisation.

In killing the Egyptian, Moses had fallen into the same error so often committed by his fathers (and others since), of taking into their own hands the work that God had promised to do.  It was not God's will to deliver His people by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, that the glory (and the way of it) might be credited to Him alone.  See Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12.  So this rash act was overruled by the Son of God to accomplish His purposes, for Moses was not yet prepared for his great work.  He had to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught -- not to rely upon human strength or wisdom, but upon the power of God for the fulfilment of His promises. 

And there were other lessons that  Moses was to receive amid the solitude of the mountains.  In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to temper his passions.  Before he could govern wisely, he must be trained to obey.  His own heart must be fully in harmony with God before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel.  By his own experience he must be prepared to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help.

Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time.  But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of his people to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd because time is not so important to the Son of God as are the people. 

This is the difference between Christianity and every other religion.  Man’s way is to be in a hurry – “the end is coming soon!!”  God’s works are not dependent on time, but on the peoples’ obedience.  He saves each and every one those who will accept His grace, while He is working out the greater plan.  Not one honest and sincere person was lost while those preparations were being made. 

The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed, prepared Moses to become the compassionate, longsuffering undershepherd of Israel.  Psalm 77:20; Isaiah 63:11.  No advantage that human training or culture could bestow could be a substitute for this experience.

All who become co-workers with Christ will have a great deal of hard training to undergo, because this is what happened to Jesus as the (supposed) son of a poor carpenter who lived in a proverbially wicked village.  John 1:46.

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Exodus 2:

23 And it came to pass in process of time [about thirty years after his flight], that the king of Egypt [Thut III or Amenhotep] died [c. 1450BC]: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried [confessed and prayed], and their cry came up to [the Son of] God by reason of the bondage. 

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob [He hadn’t forgotten as we do, but now He was able to start to do something for them through their repentance, although it took another ten years to fulfil His purpose His way]. 

25 And [the Son of] God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect [was able to reply] to them.

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The years rolled on, and as Moses wandered with his flocks in solitary places, often pondering upon the oppressed condition of his people, he thought over the dealings of God with his fathers and the promises that were the heritage of the representative nation, and his prayers for Israel ascended by day and by night.  “How can I help?’ was the burden of those prayers. 

In reply heavenly angels shed their light around him.  Here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he assembled the book of Genesis adding a little at the end of it, setting out for us what we have just learnt in our past studies.  The long years spent amid the desert solitudes were rich in blessing, not alone to Moses and his people, but to the world in all succeeding ages.

Hope you are enjoying these readings as much as I am in researching them.

Bye, 

RonP            

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Hebrews 4:

10 For he [any saved person] that is entered into His rest, he [she] also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.  11 Let us labour therefore [find out how] to enter into that [Sabbath] rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Back

4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children [young Christians], “My son, despise not you the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him: 6 for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son [and daughter] whom He receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? [It’s not the fact of chastening, but HOW it is done, that matters.]  Back

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