YouTube video sermon
Exodus 2:11-22
As always, I hope you brought your copy of God’s Word with you. Let me invite you to turn with me to Exodus 2. If you don’t have a Bible, then there should be one in the pew rack in front of you, or you can follow along on the big screens. The reason that I encourage you to bring a Bible is because I will often reference or even read/quote from other scriptures, other verses, and you might want to see if what I’m telling you is indeed correct. You might, also, want to make little notes or marks in your Bible to jog your memory when you reread these verses weeks, months, and years later.
So, we’ve been introduced to the people, their prosperity, and the problem. We’ve been introduced to an evil king, a pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph, and his diabolical plan to rid Egypt of all the Jews. We’ve been introduced to two Hebrew midwives whose names are recorded for posterity’s sake. Last week, we saw the birth of Moses and the faithful activity of three women – Moses’ mom, his sister, and pharaoh’s daughter. Today, we’re going to see some of the choices that Moses makes.
Every one of us, every day, almost moment-by-moment makes choices. Some good. Some bad. It starts the moment we wake up and it doesn’t end until we go to sleep at night. Am I going to get up? Or not? If I get up, then what am I going to wear? What am I going to eat/drink? Do I turn right/left? The light is yellow; should I stop/go? Thankfully, most of those choices don’t result in a crisis. However, every crisis will result in choices. Let me repeat that. Most of the choices we make don’t result in a crisis, but every crisis will result in choices.
And this morning, we’re introduced to Moses and the choices that he makes that leads to a crisis in his life. Hopefully, you’ve found your spot. Follow along as I read Exodus 2:11-22:
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
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 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
“Father, we come now to these precious moments when, in the mystery of your purposes, we hear Your voice, although it’s only the voice of a mere man that speaks. You promised that when Your Word is truly preached, then Your voice will be truly heard. This turns our focus away from the preacher, and it turns our attention directly to the Bible. And so, we pray that we may lose sight of everyone and everything besides the Lord Jesus, Himself, as He is made known to us in the printed page. For we ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.”
Quite a bit of time has passed from the end of verse 10 to the beginning of verse 11. In fact, if you look back at Acts 7 – one of those parallel passages that I’ve referenced – then you know that Moses is now about 40 years old. So, most of Moses childhood is lost to us, which reminds me that this is one of those areas where Moses is similar to Jesus. Of course, the Lord was greater than Moses could ever be, which is what Hebrews 3 tells us, “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses – as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.”
Nevertheless, there are several similarities of Moses’ life and Jesus. For example:
- Like Moses, Jesus was born to be the Savior and was rescued from an evil ruler at birth (Matthew 2:16).
- Like Moses, Jesus journeyed to Egypt: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matthew 2:15).
- Like Moses, there were “silent years” that preceded His public ministry.
- Like Moses and the Israelites who wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11),
- Like Moses, who received the Law on Mount Sinai, Jesus went to a high mountain and, in His Sermon on the Mount, gave the law newer and greater meaning.
Of course, as I’ve already said, Jesus transcends Moses in every way. Jesus is without sin, and Jesus is fully God. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us when we see Moses fail. Every mediator, rescuer, deliver, prophet, everyone in the Old Testament (and the New Testament for that matter) failed at some level. The Apostle Paul says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Jesus never did. Only He is perfect.
And that leads us to the first thing I want us to see this morning…
Moses’ Failure
One of the things you’ll discover about the Bible, if you haven’t already, is that it’s honest. Think about it. If you were going to write a story about your life, your family, this church, or even this wonderful community would you include the sordid details of your moral failures and your character weaknesses? Oh sure, we might say something like, “I made a few mistakes, or I wasn’t always the best, or I made a lot of wrong choices, or if you only knew how bad I was then…” Most ancient Near East literature casts its heroes in unrealistically good light. But not the Bible. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the three primary patriarchs of Moses’ day – all lied and were extremely deceitful. Adam, Eve, Noah, Aaron, King David, Peter, the Apostle Paul, even our friend Moses, all of them made choices that were sinful.
One of the things that we see change in Moses’ life is his identity, his relationship with the Israelites. Notice verse 11 says, “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.” Three times, the text emphasizes Moses’ view of the Israelites as being “his people.”
I’ve already referenced Acts 7, as being one of those parallel passages to the Exodus story. And, just a moment ago, I read from Hebrews 3 that says Jesus is greater than Moses. Last week, I also mentioned another one of those parallel passages from the New Testament – Hebrews 11. It provides us with this detail about Moses’ life at this time. It says, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26).
You say, “Pastor, I thought this was about Moses’ failure, but you’re talking about him identifying with the Hebrews. I don’t follow?” Moses was faced with a decision about how to handle the situation, and the choice that he made was informed by his identity with the Hebrews. This is indeed a rash act of violence – a murder, even. But even if it’s motivated by good intentions, nevertheless, we have no way of excusing it. Just because the Israelites are being oppressed doesn’t make Moses’ decision to murder right or godly.
Verse 12 continues, “He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” Moses makes his first bad choice right here. He looks left and he looks right. Shoot, he even looks down to bury the guy in the sand, but he never looks (where?) up. And we do the same thing. We look this way and that way – “It’s all clear” – and rarely, if ever, do we give any thought to looking vertical in prayer. Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”
Whenever we act, even as Christians, in the impulses of our flesh, there always has to be a cover up. We have to cover something up. When we’re not walking in the Spirit we’re walking in the flesh – fulfilling the desires of the flesh, going out and sinning. Then, we have a feeling that we have to cover that up.
All of us have failed. We’ve all committed a felony. No, it’s not necessarily something that will land us in a Federal or State prison, but sin definitely puts us outside the fellowship of God. Thankfully, we have the assurance of 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Moses’ Flight
That brings us to verses 13-15 and Moses’ flight. The next day he sees two Hebrews struggling and one of them calls him out, “Hey, you gonna knock me off like you did that Egyptian the other day?” Moses now finds himself between a rock and a hard spot. What he tried to do it in the flesh has backfired. He certainly thought what he had done was the right thing, but this Israelite saw it differently. Verse 14, “Who made you a prince and judge over us?” This guy, and maybe many other Israelites, didn’t like the idea of this johnny-come-lately trying to pass himself off as their defender.
It’s not difficult to imagine why Moses was disliked by his own people. Let’s leave aside the fact that he’s been living it up in the lap of luxury the past 36 years or so. An Egyptian slave master is missing. That means an investigation. If not already underway, certainly it would be soon. And there’s no doubt in the minds of many Hebrews (certainly this guy) that the Israelites will be blamed, and their punishment will be made worse. So, Moses isn’t received well by the Hebrews.
But he’s not really free to return to the palace either, as verse 15 says “When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.” Moses tried to do it his way – the Egyptian way. He’s part of the royal family. He’s the Egyptian in control. He can take life. But that doesn’t sit well with Pharaoh. Why? Because he couldn’t have a turncoat Hebrew-raised-as-an-Egyptian now killing Egyptian supervisors. So, this whole ordeal has really put Moses in a bind. He was thinking he was doing the right thing and now everything’s a mess. You’ve been there, right?
But here’s where God begins to work in Moses’ life in a way that Moses wouldn’t have recognized at the time – just as we can virtually never understand how our own miseries and misfortunes, at the time we’re experiencing them, might end up leading to a blessing. I’m reminded of Isaiah 55:8, where God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8). And even when we make very poor decisions in our own strength and our own will, when we yield ourselves to the Lord, somehow, in some way, He brings some good out of them.
What does Romans 8:28 say, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (NKJV). So, God uses these bad decisions to clearly separate Moses from his Egyptian ties and begin to build Moses up for His ultimate purpose – to deliver the Israelites from bondage.
Perhaps you’re here this morning, and you can identify with Moses’ failure. Maybe not murder, but there have been more than enough bad decisions and sinful actions in your life. In fact, you still feel the weight of sin and shame and regret – even now – bearing down on your heart. And as you survey your past there’s just no way that God can, as the psalmist says, “turn [your] mourning into dancing” (Psalm 30:11), or as the songwriter puts it “give beauty for ashes and turn shame into glory” (Graves Into Gardens, Elevation Worship). But I want you to know, there’s nothing impossible for our God.
The Apostle Paul murdered Christians for a living, and yet he was redeemed and forgiven. When Jesus needed him most, Peter outright denied knowing the Lord and yet he was restored to fellowship. King David committed adultery and murder and was still called a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). What’s true of them can be true of you, but only by the forgiveness and grace offered in a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Moses’ Family
That brings us to our final point: Moses’ Family. Moses flees Egypt and he ends up in Midian. According to Genesis 25, the Midianites were descendants of Abraham. Midian was Abraham’s fourth son through his second wife Keturah. They occupied a territory that we would associate with northwestern Saudi Arabia today. And our text has Moses sitting down at a well.
If you know anything about Bible stories, then you know that all sorts of dramas begin at wells. Abaraham and Isaac both dug wells. Jacob met Rachel at a well. And, of course, who can forget the New Testament account of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at a well. So, in one sense it’s not strange to find Moses at a well. But on the other hand, because so much biblical drama is associated with wells, we have to figure that something’s about to happen. And sure enough, once again, Moses finds himself trying to be the peacemaker (or troublemaker, depending on your view).
We’re introduced to seven girls – all daughters of a Midian priest named Reuel a.k.a. Jethro – and they’ve come to the well to water their father’s flocks. And there’s a group of redneck shepherds who haven’t been taught southern hospitality. (They might also be considered idiots seeing as they just chased off seven girls in a dessert, what? Don’t do that.)
Moses finally begins to put things together. He’s a real gentleman: raised, pampered, the best life of Egypt but he’s a gentleman. “Looks like these guys are harassing the chicks, I’m going to push them away.” So, Moses acts to combat this injustice. Only, this time, he didn’t kill anyone. Instead, he simply drives them away. What we’re witnessing in these verses is Moses beginning to act as a righteous deliverer. He not only rescued them but also “watered their flock” (v. 17). Moses displayed servant leadership.
The girls come home early and tell their father about this hunky, dark-skinned, well-mannered Egyptian that came to their rescue. And listen to Jethro (he’s a smart guy), “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. You don’t leave a man like that; you catch a man like that. Go get him, are you nuts? Your home is here in Podunk Midian. It’s not every day that you have men stopping by the well, especially an Egyptian. Go get him, bring him back that he may eat bread.”
(Ok, so not all of that is recorded in the Bible, but that’s the gist.) And come to find out, Moses enjoyed being there in Midian and so he stayed there, and Jethro gave his daughter, Zipporah, to Moses in marriage. Obviously, much time is passing by in these last few verses. What I want you to see is how Moses is a “type” of Christ.
Now, when I say a “type,” please don’t take that to the 10th degree and try to find that every single thing in his life has to be like Jesus. After all, Moses murdered somebody, and you won’t find that in the life of Jesus. What I mean is that there’s a general typology that’s unmistakable. Let me point out a few of them and we’ll conclude:
- Moses was chosen to be the deliverer from bondage for the children of Israel.
- He’s rejected by Israel at his first coming.
- He turns to the Gentiles, (he’s now in Midian) to another country related to the Semites but not completely, not fully.
- He takes a Gentile bride. Zipporah would, by all genealogical records, be considered a Gentile.
Now, I bring up those four (4) points because that’s exactly the argument that Stephen makes in Acts 7, when he’s witnessing to the Jewish leaders: “Look let me tell you about Jesus Christ. He’s not unlike the one that you revere so highly – Moses the law giver.”
And we conclude with verse 22, “And [Zipporah] bore him a son, and called his name Gershom, for he said, ‘I have been a stranger in a foreign land.’” You probably have a footnote in your Bible that says Gershom sounds like the Hebrew word for “foreigner” or “sojourner.” But it can also mean “banishment” and maybe this is how Moses is viewing his life. Maybe it’s how you’re seeing your own life. It’s over. I’ve blown it. I’ve been banished. I’m sentenced to live in my version of Midian the rest of my life, when, in reality God is preparing you for service in His family.
James Montgomery Boice was an American Reformed Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author and pastor once said, “Moses was 40 years in Egypt learning to be something; 40 years in the desert learning to be nothing; and 40 years in the wilderness proving God to be everything” (Ordinary Men, 59). Think about that. God is emptying some of us of ourselves, today. God is bringing us to a place where the only thing left is Him. The only place left to look is up. We’ve looked left and right and down, but now’s the time to look up. These middle verses of Exodus 2 is the summary of every sinner’s journey to salvation: failure, fleeing and finally family.
Maybe you’re 50 or 60 or 70 years old; shoot, some of you are staring at 80, and you’ve never dealt with your past. Like Moses, there are secrets from days gone by that are buried in the sands of time. You’ve tried to cover them up. You’ve tried to make amends. You’ve tried getting things in order with God in your own strength, but you’ve never received the gift of true forgiveness and the grace that only Jesus offers.
Maybe you’re listening to this sermon and you’re thinking “My time has come and gone. I’m spent. I’m all done. There’s nothing left for me to do.” Folks, Moses didn’t hit his stride until he was 80. “Yeah, pastor, but that was Old Testament stuff. God doesn’t work that way anymore.” Not so. There are countless Christian ministries and non-profits that need the corporate knowledge and professional experience, coupled with a desire to serve the Lord, that you have. And whether or not time or physical ability allows this kind of service, you always have your family and friends to influence for the kingdom.
“Our Father in heaven, as we’ve considered the formal life of Moses – from birth to banishment, from inception, to rejection, to isolation – we considered the kinds of choices that were made along the way. Jochebed and Amram (Moses’ parents) made really good choices. We considered the choices that Moses made: a really good choice to identify with Your people, but just going about it the wrong way, and another choice to defend justice. Finally, You get a hold of his life and he becomes what You always wanted him to become, a humble servant of the living God. Moses realized it’s not about him, it’s not about his authority, it’s not about his strength, it’s about You and Your authority and Your strength. Lord, would we all discover this truth.
I pray, Father, that everyone here in choosing the steps they’re going to take today, tomorrow, this week, this year, that You, O Lord, would be at the very upper most of our thinking, that we would think about eternal things, spiritual things, heavenly things, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”