“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.” -Hebrews 11:23-28
After discussing the faith of the patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the author now jumps to the man whom many say is the greatest (or at least the most popular) figure in Jewish history: Moses.
Moses is known for being the one to receive the Law from God – specifically the Ten Commandments, but also the rest of the laws that God gave to the nation of Israel. Moses was also the one who led the people out of slavery in Egypt and the first leader of that great nation that was promised to Abraham. So, one would think that the author of Hebrews would highlight those great accomplishments in his discussion on Moses’ faith, but those highlights of Moses’ life are only hinted at. Instead, the author gives other faith experiences in Moses’ life.
This passage starts out by first looking at Moses’ parents. Even before Moses was old enough to have a faith of his own, his parents’ faith was key in keeping him alive. Though only his mother is mentioned in Exodus 2:2-3 as being the one who hid Moses and placed him in the basket in the river, this could not have been accomplished without his father’s participation.
Why did Moses’ parents hide him? “They saw he was no ordinary child” (verse 23). The Greek word used there generally means that he was “beautiful,” so perhaps Moses was so beautiful that his parents thought God had a great plan for him. Or perhaps they knew that even this child’s great beauty would not save him from the Pharaoh’s decree to kill every male Hebrew child (Exodus 1:22). So instead of simply living in fear of the Pharaoh, they trusted God and hid their son by faith.
The next instance of faith in Moses’ life is when he was grown and did not want to be associated with the Egyptian palace (verse 24). We know from the account of Stephen in Acts 7:23 that Moses was around 40 years old at this time, so this was not simply some teenage rebellion on his part. Moses had the opportunity for great wealth, comfort, the prestige, yet he gave it all up, trusting in God by faith.
This decision by Moses led to him not only losing the luxuries of the palace but to being mistreated along with his fellow Israelites (verse 25). Moses knew that his true identity was not in the world of the palace. Once he saw where God was calling him, he could no longer go against that calling by staying in the palace and being a part of Pharaoh’s family. It’s clear that Moses’ faith gave him strong values and trust in God; he knew that obedience to God is more beneficial in the long run than the “fleeting pleasures of sin.”
This point is echoed in verse 26. Even though Moses lived many generations before Jesus, he knew that a Messiah would one day be coming to save God’s people. He knew that following God was of much greater value than any treasure held in Egypt. He looked forward to that day when the Savior would come, and he suffered disgrace for a time because of that choice. This decision likely looked incredibly stupid to those in Pharaoh’s court, but Moses knew what was really important: following God and being obedient to Him, even in the face of short-term suffering.
In verse 27, we see that Moses lived by faith when he left Egypt and did not live in fear of the king’s anger. But this verse is confusing, as there were two times when Moses left Egypt; once after he killed the Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-15) and again at the time of the great exodus from Egypt with all the people (Exodus 12:31-32). The first time, he did leave in fear (Exodus 2:14), but the second time he left with the confidence of living out God’s plan for his life. But the fact that the Passover is mentioned in verse 28 implies that this happened before the Passover, which would mean the first time Moses fled Egypt.
At any rate, Moses persevered by faith and he saw “him who is invisible.” There are a few times in which Moses saw God in various ways, including in the burning bush in Exodus 3. He also experienced God’s presence on Mt Sinai before receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19), and later in Exodus 33 before receiving the new tablets. Even though Moses never actually saw God’s face, he saw Him enough to truly live by faith in God.
The final example of faith from Moses’ life is celebrating the Passover (Exodus 12). Moses and the people of Israel had witnessed all of the previous plagues and been affected by them too, so it was by faith that they knew that God would keep them safe from the firstborn of each family being killed. Moses instituted this ritual that the people continued to celebrate every year after leaving Egypt to remind them of God’s faithfulness.
What can we learn from all of these examples of faith in Moses’ life? Living the life of faith is not always the easy one. It often means making tough choices that seem to go against what the world desires. I would guess that it nearly broke Moses’ mother’s heart to put her beautiful baby in a basket in the river, but she had faith that God would take care of her son if he was meant to live. Moses made the choice to give up a luxurious lifestyle for one of being oppressed out of faith and obedience to God.
Moses was rewarded for his faith by having a close, personal relationship with God, including many close encounters with Him. Those times gave him the strength to get through the more difficult times, and they built up his faith in God that God would sustain him and take care of Moses and his people no matter what.
Today, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we all have the opportunity to have a close, personal relationship with God! Are you taking advantage of that and growing your faith by spending time with God as Moses did? Those times will strengthen your faith to live out obedience to God, even when you’re faced with difficult decisions or times get tough.
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