MOSES: Part 1 – The Death Decre
INTRODUCTION
Moses. Born a slave, but destined to rule over Egypt’s empire. Rescued from the river, adopted by a princess, and raised to be pharaoh. Instead, leads a nation of slaves to freedom and changes the world. Moses – a hero for our time!
It was a royal death decree – and it was devastating. When they heard of Pharaoh’s command to throw their newborn sons into the Nile River , the pain and grief passed over the oppressed Hebrew slaves like a bitter flood. They already suffered from brutality and this new tragedy was more than they could bear.
The Hebrews, or Israelites, hadn’t always been enslaved. They were the descendants of Jacob and his sons, including Joseph, the slave who became Prime Minister of Egypt and saved the kingdom from famine.
In a show of gratitude for Joseph’s services to the nation, Pharaoh had granted his family land and permanent resident status in Egypt.
But after the death of Joseph, a new Pharaoh ascended to the Egyptian throne. He didn’t know Joseph and was unwilling to acknowledge the service Joseph had rendered to the nation most likely because Joseph was a habiru, a term used by Egyptians to describe outsiders, including Canaanites and others.
When this new Pharaoh looked around at his kingdom and saw the property and prosperity of the Hebrews and their vast numbers, he realised that they could pose a serious threat to national security and the future of Egypt.
NATION ENSLAVED
In an attempt to manage the threat, Pharaoh forced the Hebrews into slavery. Almost overnight the stable, prosperous lives of the Hebrews turned into a living nightmare, punctuated with whippings and hard labour.
The Hebrews longed for freedom, but freedom seemed like an unattainable dream, too far off on the horizon to be grasped.
Then, just when they thought their lives couldn’t get any worse, Pharaoh passed an inhuman decree – a death decree.
At Pharaoh’s command, every newborn Hebrew boy was to be thrown into the Nile River. If slavery wouldn’t contain or destroy them, then Pharaoh decided that mass murder, or infanticide by drowning, would achieve his ends.
A MOTHER’S DEFIANCE
But one woman chose to resist the cruel mandate of a tyrannical ruler. A mother’s love knows no limits! Determined to defy the king’s decree Jochebed hid her newborn son at home for three months.
When her baby boy was too big and making too much noise to hide, she resorted to desperate measures. Gathering the sturdy reeds that grew along the banks of the Nile, she wove a basket and smeared it with pitch to make sure that it was watertight.
Then she did something that only a mother desperate to save her child would do: she put her baby in the basket and placed the basket in the reeds by the bank of the river.
As a safety measure she asked her six-year-old daughter Miriam to watch over the place where her baby brother was hidden. It was a massive gamble. A plan that didn’t seem to have a clear endgame beyond daily survival.
The Nile was riddled with as much danger as the life of a slave. Boat traffic was heavy, crocodiles were everywhere, and any number of other potential problems loomed large.
But Jochebed was more than a Hebrew slave. She was a woman of faith. Placing her child amidst the relative safety of the reeds, she committed him to the protection of the God she worshipped.
A God who heard the prayers of desperate mothers and slaves. A God who was powerful enough to protect her son. A God who answered her prayers in a miraculous and unprecedented way.
Join us this week as we begin a new series on the life of Moses; the miracle baby who was rescued from the reeds, destined for the royal throne of the greatest Kingdom on earth at that time, but instead became God’s chosen deliverer of a nation of slaves.
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THE NILE
The Nile River begins its journey somewhere near Lake Victoria. It winds its way through the heart of Africa before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea, nearly 7,000 kilometres north of its source.
For thousands of years the Nile has been viewed with an almost reverential awe by Egyptians. In fact, ancient Egyptians worshipped the Nile, among the many other gods they worshipped.
The Nile was regarded as the centre of Egyptian life and the centre of the cosmos. It was key to ancient Egyptian ideology and worship.
For example, though the Egyptians worshipped the Sun, as Ra, the sun rose and set either side of the Nile, which meant their chief deity revolved around the Nile.
Ancient Egyptian life depended on the annual inundation or flooding of the Nile, when the river would overflow its banks and flood the surrounding valley. When the waters receded, they left behind black rich mineral silt which made the soil extremely fertile.
GOSHEN
When Jochebed hid her baby boy among the reeds on the bank of the Nile River, she, along with the rest of the ancient Israelites lived in the land of Goshen. In 1885 Edouard Naville, a Swiss archaeologist, Egyptologist and biblical scholar identified the ancient site of Goshen.
The site was located in the 20th Nome or province of Egypt and is located in the eastern part of the Nile Delta. Living in the Nile Delta region meant that Jochebed would have had access to large swaths of swampy riverbank where reeds and papyrus grew in abundance. But the Nile River was also fraught with danger.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Jochebed committed her son to God’s keeping. During the day Jochebed’s daughter Miriam kept a careful eye on her baby brother’s basket.
Now, while Miriam was keeping watch, an unexpected visitor paid a visit to the part of the river where the little Hebrew boy was hidden. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, with her ladies in waiting.
The Bible describes what happened next in these words:
“Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.” (Exodus 2:5)
BABY DISCOVERY
When the curious princess opened the floating basket she was shocked to find a baby inside, but her surprise soon gave way to understanding and compassion. She knew about her father’s decree and knew that this was a Hebrew child.
Exodus 2:6 says:
“She had compassion on him, and said “this is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
The situation touched her heart. It would have been easy for her to obey her father’s command and toss the baby back into the water, leaving him to drown.
But instead she found herself drawn to the crying child. In that moment, perhaps sensing the compassion and kindness that radiated from the Princess at the riverbank, Miriam approached.
A REGAL OFFER
She’d been watching the entire scene unfold before her eyes, no doubt terrified of what the Princess might do to her brother. Seeing the Princess’ soft expression gave her boldness to approach her and suggest a plan.
Exodus 2:7 says,
“Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
The princess accepted the offer, and Miriam quickly raced off to find her mother.
A startled, and most likely nervous Jochebed came trailing after her excited daughter to face the Princess. Instead of censure or suspicion she found an ally in the most unlikely person – the actual daughter of the man who had sentenced her son to death.
Handing the wailing baby to his mother, the Princess asked her to nurse him and she promised to pay Jochebed for taking care of her own child! Grateful and relieved, Jochebed accepted the generous offer and took her baby home.
But before Jochebed left the riverbank to take the baby home, the Princess gave him a name: Moses. The name meant to pull out or draw from the water. It was a fitting name, because he had been pulled out of the river by his new Egyptian mother, who would eventually adopt him.
Hebrews 11:23 describes the experience of Moses’ parents in the face of impossible circumstances.
“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”
Their faith in God, and their belief in God’s purpose for their son gave these Hebrew parents courage. They chose to commit their son to God’s protection, and what a reward they received for their faith!
Often in life when we’re faced with challenging circumstances, it’s easy to give in to fear or despair. To focus on the giants in our path without seeing any way around them.
And Hebrews 13:5 assures us that God has said,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
This promise was fulfilled in the life of Moses when his mother chose to step out in faith and leave her child in God’s care. God delivered him, and that same God is willing to protect and deliver us as well.
ROYAL ADOPTION
When Moses was twelve years old, he was taken by his royal Egyptian mother to live with her in the palace, and from that point forward he became her adopted son.
As a prince of Egypt, Moses received a royal Egyptian education which would have included arts, science and military training, but through it all Moses tenaciously clung to his identity as both a Hebrew and a follower of God.
Growing up at the heart of the Egyptian royal court, Moses would have been surrounded by the wealth and opulence of one of the most powerful and affluent kingdoms on the planet.
Not only was Egypt one of the most successful agricultural economies of the ancient world, it was also an important trading centre and boasted some of the most celebrated architectural marvels of the ancient and modern world; the pyramids.
In fact, until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1887, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was the highest structure in the world. Not only that, the pyramids are among the oldest structures in the world, having survived largely intact for over 4,000 years.
MOSES’ TIMELINE
Now, an often-asked question in relation to the story of Moses is, what part of Egyptian history he occupied. Well, recent archaeological evidence gives us a clear answer to this question.
The Merneptah Stele, discovered at Thebes in 1896 and now housed at the Egyptian museum in Cairo, offers us some interesting clues.
The Stele depicts the victories of Merneptah, the son of Rameses II, the longest reigning monarch of Egypt. Mentioned in the stele are Merneptah’s victories over various kingdoms in the ancient world, including Israel.
By the time Merneptah claimed a victory over Israel they were already well settled in Canaan, which indicates that their enslavement in Egypt and by extension Moses’ time in Egypt had to have been well before this period.
Scholars place the reign of Merneptah between 1213 to 1203 B.C. He was the fourth Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. This means that Moses would have lived well before this period of time.
Another marker that gives us a sense of the time period that Moses would have lived in Egyptian history is found in the Bible, in 1 Kings 6:1 which says:
“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel…that he began to build the house of the Lord.”
Now Solomon’s temple was built around 970 or 966 B.C. Using that as a starting point, scholars estimate that Moses would have been found in the bulrushes by the river around 1530 B.C.
18th DYNASTY
This places him within the 18th dynasty of Egypt, which is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom, a period that is considered to be the golden age of Egyptian culture and influence.
The kings of the 18th dynasty worked hard to establish Egypt as an empire taking on military campaigns into Syria and Nubia. The best-known king of the 18th dynasty is Thutmose III.
The most unconventional king of the 18th dynasty was Akhenaten who tried to transform Egyptian religion from polytheism and the worship of many gods, into a monotheistic worship of just one god, the sun god Aten.
But it is Akhenaten’s son who is probably most familiar to us.
The teenaged Tutankhamun, the famous boy-king, whose tomb was discovered and excavated in 1922 by Howard Carter. The nearly intact tomb was packed full with buried treasure, over 5,000 priceless artifacts of gold, silver, and precious stones that received global media attention.
Today King Tut’s death mask and mummy are popular symbols of Egyptology and ancient Egyptian history and can be found at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
DYNASTIC CHALLENGES
But the 18th dynasty was also fraught with serious challenges. During the early part of the dynasty the Pharaoh’s failed to produce male heirs, which meant that when they died there were no legitimate royal successors who could ascend the throne of Egypt.
It wasn’t a crisis that resolved itself within a few years or even a single generation. For three generations the Great Royal Wives of the Pharaohs failed to bear them royal heirs which meant the king had sons from his non-royal wives.
Now, this created a dynastic crisis and threw the succession into question. Thutmose I was Pharaoh of Egypt around the time Moses was born. He and his Great Royal Wife were unable to produce a male heir. They did, however, have one daughter whose name was Hatshepsut.
The irony is that while Thutmose I ordered the destruction of Hebrew boys, he himself was struggling to produce a royal male heir to take his throne when the time came.
When Thutmose I died his heir was the son of one of his secondary wives. This new Pharaoh, Thutmose II, married his royal half-sister, Hatshepsut. Now, this was not unusual for Egypt or for any other royal dynasty of this period in history.
Thutmose II was sickly and only managed to reign for two or three years. When he died the question of dynastic succession was once more raised. Hatshepsut was the Great Royal Wife and she had been unable to produce a male heir.
HATSHEPSUT AS CO-REGENT
So once more the son of a lesser wife became king. Thutmose III was believed to have been only 2 or 3 years old when his father died. And since he was so young, Hatshepsut became co-regent, reigning as Pharaoh alongside him.
Even when Thutmose III came of age, Hatshepsut continued to rule as Pharaoh alongside him. She was the first female Pharaoh to rule over Egypt and is widely regarded as an effective ruler, undertaking an extensive building program during her reign.
It was Hatshepsut who drew Moses out of the water as a baby. Her involvement has raised the question of why an Egyptian princess would choose to rescue a Hebrew baby.
Well, one viable theory is the dynastic crisis that the Royal House was facing. Could it be possible that when Hatshepsut saw the crying child in the basket, she saw him as an answer to Egypt’s succession woes?
Considering how much the Egyptians revered the Nile, and taking into account the fact that Moses was drawn out of the Nile, perhaps Hatshepsut, the Pharaoh’s daughter saw him as a gift from the gods of Egypt.
In fact we know that her main reasoning for naming him Moses is because she drew him out of the Nile. Perhaps she saw Moses as an answer to her prayers.
Moses was raised at the Royal Court and most likely viewed as a potential heir to the throne since he was the adopted son of Hatshepsut, the daughter of Pharaoh’s Great Royal Wife and therefore considered to be part of the legitimate royal line.
IDENTITY CRISIS
But the Bible says something interesting about Moses in the book of Hebrews 11:24.
“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin…”
From a young age Moses understood his identity, not just as a Hebrew, but also as a follower of Yahweh or Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. This God was nothing like the gods of Egypt.
Moses believed that what God had to offer him was far more appealing and more enduring than anything that the gods and affluence of Egypt had to offer. As alluring as the power and wealth of Egypt was, Moses saw something more alluring in the promises of God.
The stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph must have been repeated to him time and time again and he made a choice to hold on to the invisible, all-powerful God of his ancestors rather than the gods of Egypt.
Almost 400 years before Moses was born, God had given Abraham a prophecy and a promise. In Genesis 15:13-14 God says to Abraham:
“Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also, the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”
Moses, like every other Hebrew, had heard of this prophecy and promise. The prophecy gave them context for the circumstances they found themselves in, and the promises gave them hope that God would deliver them.
Given Moses’ position within the Royal court, and the miraculous circumstances surrounding his infancy and childhood, it would have been easy for him to see himself as this deliverer.
PLANS GO AWRY
Added to this was his access to Egyptian military power, wisdom and education along with his youthful confidence. But Moses’ plans went awry in the worst possible way.
One day in the heat of the moment Moses killed an Egyptian who was threatening the life of a Hebrew slave. Moses hoped he could hide his actions. But the very next day while trying to intervene in a dispute between two Hebrews, he was cruelly rebuffed and reminded of his crime.
The Hebrews fighting each other mockingly asked him:
“Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14)
In that moment Moses realised two things: his people didn’t respect him enough to follow him. Secondly, if the Hebrews knew about his crime it was only a matter of time before Pharaoh got wind of it too.
Things fell apart rapidly. The Bible says in Exodus 2:15,
“When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.”
Now, it would have been easy for Moses to forget about his ancestry and embrace the power and affluence of Egypt. He could have chosen Egypt and its gods, but instead he chose a nation of slaves and their God.
A BETTER OFFER
Why? Because Moses saw that what the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Bible, had to offer him was far more enduring than anything that Egypt had to offer.
Egypt offered him a season of pleasure, fame and fortune, but at the end of it he would end up mummified and ensconced in a pyramid, or in a royal tomb in the valley of the kings. But the God of his ancestors offered him something entirely different.
And what was it that the invisible and all-powerful God of His fathers offered Moses? A country that was infinitely better than Egypt. A heavenly country that would endure forever. God offered him eternity.
John 3:16 summarises the hope that God offers each of us. It is the same hope that Moses grasped, and it is also ours for the taking as well.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Through Jesus we can not only find freedom from sin, but we can also have hope for eternity.
It was this hope that Moses clung to as he found himself a fugitive in the wilds of Midian, with no home, no family, and a bleak future. What would happen next? Would God reach out to him? Find out next week as we continue our incredible journey through the life of Moses.
CLOSING PRAYER AND SPECIAL OFFER
If you would like to know more about Moses, Egypt and the Bible, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.
It’s the booklet, Egypt and the Bible. This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive your free gift today.
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Be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s pray to the God of Moses and the Bible.
Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for your love and goodness to us and your promised guidance in our lives when we commit our lives to you. We pray for your blessing on us and our families. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
