As you begin this next section, we are not yet looking at Moses alone, but those in the background of Moses’ life. There is an Egyptian in the story this time. This Egyptian is an enemy of the people of God and yet God used him. How did God use this Enemiey for his greater purpose and how does it relate to our 21st-Century life and story?
The chances are that Moses was just having another normal day, but this specific day he wanted to go among his own people. Maybe to visit his biological mother, father, brothers, sisters. Maybe he was told to go supervise the construction going on. Or maybe he was just curious about what was happening over there. We do know that he was older and he went out to his people and saw their burdens. Moses knew he was a Hebrew and it broke his heart to see his people in so much suffering. There must have been anger against the Egyptians for what they have done to his people. I can assume this because Moses killed one of the Egyptians for buried him in the sand. This anger, bitterness, and hate towards these Egyptians must have been growing inside of him for a long time. He finally released all this anger one day and killed the Egyptians he saw beating his own people.
Is Moses wrong for killing the Egyptians?
A strong question desires a strong answer. God was not very happy about Cain killing Able in Genesis, but as we read this passage, we don’t see a response from God at all when Moses kills an Egyptian. I think it’s safe to say, this is a moment in the bible that something serious happens, but I personally would say that this was righteous anger. It’s very possible that was Moses did was a righteous act of judgment. We know that God has a huge heart for the poor and the oppressed. In many places in the bible, there were instructions to slave masters to be kind to their slaves. So being a Master doing accuse you of being good to your slaves. So beating your slaves, probably deserves punishment and since Moses was 3rd or 4th in command, he could technically execute judgment in every way he sees to be justified, even though we might not think so. We have to read this in the understanding, Moses has not encountered God yet and he is literally 4th in command of Egypt.
So when we read this story, we will notice how Moses’ past will come back and hunt him. He finds two of his own people fighting and he tries to break the fight up and they tell Moses pretty much that they know he killed the Egyptian master. Upon hearing that they knew what he did, Moses packs his bags and flees from Egypt. What you have ever done something that you can push the redo button and try again. Game is Over situation? I have, I wish I could push the ‘Play Again’ button for my management career with Walmart. When we allow our sin to overcome us and he allows anger and bitterness to overtake our acts, we sometimes have to live with those effects them actions bring on our life. In Moses’ situation, he leaves his luxurious Egyptian life to go to the desert and live among foreigners, which was not exactly the life he thought he would be living. Maybe God could have used him in a better way in Egypt, but he made a mistake and now he has to live with its effects.
So here is when God starts secretly stepping into Moses Life. God seems to move in very interesting ways. I want to point out in verse 16, “Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters”. Moses will end up taking a wife from this priest’s daughters. The reason I point this out is that remember in Chapter 2:1-5 we learn that Moses’ father and mother are from the Tribe of Levi and this tribe is later the Tribe God uses as the Priest of Israel. So before God gets ready to use Moses, he brings him a wife who happens to be the Daughter of a Priest. Which is very interesting. Important to note that the chances are that he was a priest of another faith system and not of the Hebrew God. Something else we see is that Moses picks up a job in the desert and God plants Moses in the desert to most likely learn about the desert since one day God will be calling Moses to take the entire nation of Israel into the desert. So God is getting Moses ready in the middle of his life that he thinks “It’s over”. God is thinking, “It’s beginning”.
Something else interesting, the water. Moses was put into the water as a baby and that started a new season for him and his life. Right here we see Moses at a Well and this also started a new season in his life. Just something small and interesting. Moses’s Wife’s “Zipporah” name means ‘bird’. How did she get this name in the desert, are there birds in the desert or could this be a reflection of the father’s past life before going into the desert? Just thought to throw that out there. He named his son “Gershom” which means “Three Israelites”. Not sure why he name him that, but there must be a reason, but the bible says it’s because Moses was a sojourner in a foreign land. So maybe he was his son in his own view was the 3rd generation of the Israelites?
So verses 23-25 speak about the king of Egypt dying and Israel starts to cry out to God again. God remembers his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In all this time, while God is waiting for this King to die, he was also letting Moses grow in understanding of the Desert. He was getting Moses ready, without Moses really knowing what God was doing. God used the death of the Egyptian to drew Moses out into the desert and get him ready for the mission God has always had for him. God can use our enemies for our greater God and his greater purpose. We might not understand all the pain, suffering, and unknowns, but we can know that in the middle of the pain and suffering, we can have the assurance that God is Good and has a great plan for our lives to bless us and others in the process, but don’t be afraid if it looks like the enemy has won. God might just be waiting.
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