Ct – The Faith of Moshe 11: 23-29

The Faith of Moshe
11: 23-29

The faith of Moses DIG: What was the basis for Moshe’s greatness? Who taught him about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? How do the world’s standards for evaluating greatness differ from God’s? Cite some passages in the Bible that point to the fact that sin’s pleasures are only temporary? Explain how Moses could have considered the disgrace of Christ of greater value than the treasures of Egypt when Yeshua had not been born yet? What did it mean that for Moshe to look ahead to his reward? What were some of the ways that the Adversary tried to pressure Moses into conforming to the world system of his day? Why didn’t Moshe fold under the pressure he faced?

REFLECT: When Moshe and the Israelites reached the shore of the Red Sea, they had to rely on God’s promise that they would safely cross over – with no visible assurance that they could make it. Do you sometimes find it difficult to believe the LORD’s promises when there is no tangible evidence that they will be fulfilled? If so, memorize Second Corinthians 5:7, and spend some time recalling some times in your life when ADONAI’s promises have been fulfilled.³²⁹

The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish readers. In Chapter 11 the writer wants his Jewish audience to understand the absolute priority of faith. That is important, because in Judaism at this particular time works had become the dominant factor. So the point the writer is making is that the B’rit Chadashah (Chapters 1-10) is only received by faith, not works. ADONAI is not approached by works, not even through the Levitical sacrifices anymore. He is only approached by simple faith – believing in Him and trusting in Him apart from any personal works. Salvation = faith + nothing.

The righteous of the TaNaKh have shown us a great deal of faith already: Abel showed us the obedience of faith; Enoch showed us how to walk by faith; Abraham showed us the shows us the pilgrimage of faith; Isaac, Jacob and Joseph showed us the victory of faith in the face of death, and now we will consider Moshe who will show us the choices of faith.

Right choices are made on the basis of faith. Often we cannot see the consequences of our choices. The Adversary tries to make his way seem attractive and good, and God’s way seem hard and impossible. When we know God’s will in some matter, we should choose it by faith. We can have confidence in our choice because we know it is God’s will, even before we see the results. God’s will is the only reason we need. When we choose God’s way, we put up the shield of faith, and the temptations of Satan are deflected (Ephesians 6:16).

The opposite of choosing God’s way is choosing the tempter’s way; and not believing God is believing the devil. There are only two kinds of spiritual food. There’s angel’s food and devil’s food – and if you aren’t eating one, you’re eating the other. Whenever we sin, we believe the ancient dragon; we believe that his way is better than God’s. We believe the father of lies (John 8:44) over and above our Lord and Savior Yeshua Messiah.

Moses lived most of his life before the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. But even before the Torah had been given on Mount Sinai he believed in YHVH and lived by faith, not works. No person in the Bible, other than Jesus, pictures the power of making the right decision better than Moshe. His decisions were right because his faith was right. He will forever be associated with the giving of the Torah, in fact, it is often referred to as the Torah of Moshe. But he was a man who lived by faith. That was the key to his life. He set a great standard for us in the choices that true faith must make. Because those who are righteous will live their lives by faith (Hebrews 10:38 CJB quoting Habakkuk 2:4 CJB).

Because the Jews revered Moshe as one of the most respected figures in the TaNaKh, to show that he lived by faith and not the Levitical sacrifices was one of the most powerful arguments possible to convince those Jews to whom he was writing that Yeshua was indeed the Messiah, and that the only way to YHVH was by faith.³³⁰

Faith Accepts God’s Plan: By faith Moshe’s parents Amram and Jochebed hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child and believed that ADONAI had a special plan for their son (Hebrews 11:23 quoting Exodus 2:2). To stem the population explosion among the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, Thutmose I gave the command that all male Hebrew babies were to be drowned in the Nile. But they were not afraid of pharaoh’s command, and to protect their newborn son, they first hid him for three months and then put him in a waterproofed basket and placed him in the Nile near the place where Pharaoh’s daughter Hatshepsut bathed. He was found by the princess and taken to be raised as her own child. However, Moshe’s sister, Miriam, was watching and persuaded the princess to let one of the Hebrew women nurse the infant. Miriam, of course, took the newborn to her mother, who was then able to raise her own son (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Ak – A Man of the House of Levi Married a Levite Woman).

When the child grew older, Jochebed took him to Hatshepsut and he became her son (Exodus 2:10). The normal age of weaning a boy in ancient Egypt was five. Our self-image is set by the age of five; therefore, by the time Jochebed took him to Pharaoh’s daughter to become her son, his Jewishness was already part of his personality. He would never forget his roots. It would be the basis of a life changing decision he would make thirty-five years later (2:11-12). Hence, after being weaned for five years he was legally adopted by Hatshepsut, to be raised as her son in the royal court of Egypt.

Trying to improve on God’s plan is more arrogant than taking a felt-tipped pen and trying to improve on the Mona Lisa. Our scribbling would do nothing but ruin the masterpiece. ADONAI needs our obedience, not our help; our trust, not our counsel. Faith works despite adversity and faith accepts God’s plan.³³¹

Faith Rejects the World’s Prestige: For forty years Moshe had been the prince of Egypt, the wealthiest, most cultured, and advanced society of that day. He was therefore highly educated and skilled, as well as being a part of the royal court. Moshe was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action (Acts 7:22). He enjoyed everything Egypt had to offer. However his training in Egypt never blunted his knowledge of the hope of Isra’el and of the promises of ADONAI.

When Moshe reached the age of forty, he faced a crucial decision. He had to decide between becoming a full-fledged Egyptian, with absolute loyalty and no reservation, or joining his own people, Isra’el. The deciding factor was faith. By faith Moshe, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24 quoting Exodus 2:11). In the world, fame always brings a certain amount of honor and Moshe was on top of the Egyptian pyramid so to speak. From a worldly perspective, he was sacrificing everything for nothing; but from a spiritual perspective, he was sacrificing nothing for everything. Before missionary Jim Elliot was killed by Ecuador’s Quechua Indians, he wrote in his diary, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot loose.” The things the world considers great have nothing to do with what YHVH considers great. Moshe gladly joined with God’s chosen people, though they were slaves, rather than take the advantage of the prestige and privileges of Egypt.

Somehow Moshe knew that the Hebrew slaves were the ones that ADONAI, God, would use to bring about the Jewish Messiah, who at His Second Coming, would set up a far greater Kingdom than that of the Egyptian empire. So it was a conscious act on the part of Moses. He intuitively knew God’s program. He knew God was going to use Isra’el and get them out of Egypt, and he also knew he was the instrument to be used. Perhaps this was from his own mother because she recognized that he was a special instrument of God.³⁵⁰

Faith Rejects the World’s Pleasure: Once Moshe knew that Ha’Shem had called him to be the redeemer of Isra’el, he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin (11:25). But it was a choice. He could obey or disobey. Disobeying had many attractions. Among other things, the pleasures of sin would have been a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable in the short run. It is hard enough to stop seeking worldly things. It is even harder to give them up once you have them, and Moshe had plenty of them by the time he was forty. He had the best food, the best living quarters, the best recreation, the best of everything that Egypt had to offer.

No one needs to be convinced that sin is often fun, but only for a season (Job 20:5, 21:7-13; Psalm 37; James 5:5-6). It can feed our pride, satisfy physical desires and offer many other pleasures. But it is always evil and it is always fleeting. So no matter how temporarily satisfying it may be, its satisfaction is destined to fade. Nevertheless, it seems like worldly people are, on the surface of things, successful, famous, wealthy, and healthy in every conceivable way. On the other hand, many of God’s most faithful are poor, sickly, unsuccessful in business and ridiculed. We want to ask with Jeremiah, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease” (Jeremiah 12:1)? The psalmist answers the quest when he says: Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted and every morning brings new punishments, and when I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply . . . until I entered the Temple of God . . . then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin (Psalm 73:13-18).

Therefore, Moshe chose to be mistreated along with the people of god rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He rejected his position in Egypt, a position that would have required him to reject God’s calling on his life and commit the sin of disobedience. But he left it all behind. YHVH has called us to holiness and to reject sin. Obedience is not always easy, but in the end sin is much, much harder. God’s way is not only for His own honor but for our own good. Satan’s way is for his honor and our detriment.³³³

Faith Rejects the World’s Plenty: Moshe had been a prince in Egypt for forty years, living in one of the most luxurious palaces in human history. The word luxurious came from the city of Luxor – where Moses was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. Yet, he considered (Greek: hegeomai involves careful thought, not a quick decision) disgrace for the sake of Christ (Greek: Christos or the Anointed One) as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward (11:26). Like Rabbi Sha’ul after him, whatever were gains to Moshe personally (all the wisdom and wealth of Egypt), he considered it as loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7). That is, Moshe suffered disgrace for the sake of Christ, the Anointed One, because he identified with Messiah’s people and purpose long before Jesus Christ was born. But how that could be since Moshe lived nearly 1,500 years before Christ? We do not know how much Moshe knew about God’s future great Deliverer. But he had considerably more light than Abraham, and Yeshua tells us plainly that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). In the same way, Moshe rejoiced at the thought of seeing Jesus Christ.³³⁴

It is critical that you stay focused on God’s plan for you and not your pain or problem. That is how Yeshua endured the pain of the cross, and we are urged to follow His example: Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy He knew would be His afterwards (Hebrews 12:2a LB). Corrie ten Boom, who suffered in a Nazi death camp, explained the power of focus, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But it you look to Christ, you be at rest!” Your focus will determine your feelings.

The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal. Moshe endured a life of problems because he was looking ahead to his reward. Rabbi Sha’ul endured hardship the same way. He said: Our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever (Second Corinthians 4:17 NLT)! Don’t give in to short-term thinking. Stay focused on the end result: If we are to share His glory, we must also share in His suffering. What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that He will give us later (Romans 8:17-18 NLT).³³⁵

Faith Rejects the World’s Pressure: By faith Moshe left Egypt, not fearing pharaoh’s anger. Forty years after Moshe was brought into the house of Pharaoh, Thutmose III, had taken control of the throne because Hatshepsut, Moshe’s adoptive mother, had died. He was the fourth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty and had grown up hating Hatshepsut and anyone associated with her (see the commentary on Exodus Ak – A Man of the House of Levi Married a Levite Woman for the details of this). Not only was Moshe Hatshepsut’s adopted son, but he was also royalty and an indirect heir to the throne. As long as Hatshepsut was alive, Moshe was in safe hands. But after her death, Moshe no longer had the protection of his adopted mother. Therefore, Thutmose III set out on a campaign to kill him.

Thutmose III was perhaps that greatest of all the so-called Warrior Pharaohs. He evidently undertook seventeen victorious campaigns. This pharaoh was a natural leader and general. He made unpopular military decisions that proved to be correct. He planned his attack in such a way that he always had the high ground and left his enemy at a disadvantage. In fact, Thutmose III has been called the Napoleon of Ancient Egypt, and was feared both inside and outside of the land of Egypt.

The statement that Moshe did not fear Thutmose III seems to be a contradiction (see the commentary on Exodus Al – Moses Fled From Pharaoh and Went to Live in Midian). The Exodus account seems to imply that Moshe left Egypt because he was afraid of the Warrior Pharaoh; however, a closer reading makes it clear that Moshe left Egypt because he was rejected by his own people when they said to him, “Who Made you ruler and judge over us” (Exodus 2:14)?³³⁶ But he knew he had an invisible, but powerful means of support. He persevered because he saw the Anointed One who is invisible (11:27). He knew that, no matter what happened, whatever he had to face, he would be held up and strengthened and rewarded. He believed along with David: Adonai is my light and my salvation: whom should I fear? Adonai is the stronghold of my life: whom should I dread (Psalm 27:1 TLV) Moshe was the kind of man he was because he chose to focus his sights on God rather than on pharaoh. Yet how many times do we fall apart or back down in the face of a much lesser threat. Faith rejects the world’s pressure, whatever it may be.³³⁷

Faith Accepts God’s Provision: By faith Moses kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Isra’el (11:28 and Exodus 12:1-30). The Greek word kept is the translation of poieo, which means to institute. This verb is in the perfect tense which speaks here of the continued significance of Pesach; not that it is viewed as a permanent institution, for it is not, being only a shadow of the Reality to which it pointed, appeared. Its significance, however, is in the type of blood – Messiah’s superior blood – which is much better than the blood of goats and bulls (Hebrews 10:4), that is of permanent value.³³⁸

Moshe kept the Passover (see the commentary on Exodus Bv – The Egyptian Passover). The tenth and last plague that Ha’Shem sent upon the Egyptians was the plague of the firstborn (see the commentary on Exodus Bu – I Will Bring One More Plague On Pharaoh). To protect the Israelites from this this plague Pesach was instituted, in which a lamb’s blood was put on the sides and top of the doorframes of their houses (Exodus 12:7). Obviously the blood itself had no power to stave off the death angel, but putting it there as the LORD had commanded was an act of faith. The blood was symbolic of Messiah’s sacrifice by which He conquered death for all who believe in Him. The people of Isra’el, including Moshe, did not understand the full significance of the ceremony, but they knew it was part of God’s plan. He required it and they obeyed. Moshe accepted God’s provision. Faith always accepts God’s provision, no matter how strange and pointless it may seem to our finite human understanding.

When a believer accepts Jesus Christ by faith, he or she accepts God’s provision for salvation. To the world, good works seem like a much better way to please God than faith. But the world’s way is not God’s way. To Him, “All of our righteous act are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6a). Faith accepts all of Yeshua’s righteousness transferred to our spiritual bank account (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith). This is ADONAI’s way, and is therefore faith’s way.³³⁹

Faith Accepts God’s Promise: By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land (see my commentary on Exodus Ch – The LORD Will Fight For You, You Need Only To Be Still); but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned (Hebrews 11:29 and Exodus 14:1 to 15:21). Finally, faith accepts God’s promise. When Moshe and the Israelites got to the Red Sea, Thutmose III and his army were not far behind. From all the Israelites could see they were trapped. There was no escape. At first the people lost heart and complained sarcastically to Moshe, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us our of Egypt” (Exodus 14:11)? But they took heart again when Moshe said: Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you only need to be still (Exodus 14:13-14). So for a while they trusted God, and by faith they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground (see the commentary on Exodus Ci – The Waters Were Divided and the Israelites Went Through the Sea on Dry Land).

Faith takes God at His word and is victorious. Our flesh denies God’s word and is destroyed. The Egyptians repeatedly hardened their hearts towards YHVH and relied on their own wisdom and they drowned. The test of faith is trusting ADONAI when all we have are His promises. When the waters are piled high all around us and problems and dangers are about to overwhelm us, this is when faith is tested, and when the Lord takes special pleasure in showing us His faithfulness, His love, and His power.

At every juncture in our lives, we either choose to fulfill the will of God and are filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, or we choose to fulfill our own will and quench the Spirit. When we truly believe ADONAI, we will know that in everything He has our best interest at heart, and we will always choose Him.³⁴⁰