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The Bible book of Shemot (Exodus) traces Moses’ transition from prince to pariah to prophet and stresses the importance of trusting God’s timing. The book touches on leadership, trust in God, and collaboration between different belief systems, culminating in a reflection on personal growth and humility. The overarching theme emphasizes humanity’s shared story of deliverance and parallels it with the liberation found in Messiah Yeshua.
The early life of Moshe (Moses) recorded in the Torah section שְׁמוֹת Shemot (“names,” Exodus 1:1–6:1) bears profound relevance not only to the children of Israel, but his biblical account resonates with all of us. We all have experienced crying out to God for deliverance from the struggles of our life. This existential desire for freedom from oppression is not unique to ancient Israel. It resonated with 18th and 19th century slaves in the U.S. South, inspiring spirituals (hymns) like “Go Down Moses.”
Misery in Mitzraim and the ‘mark of the beast’
We learn that when God’s people cry out to Him, He responds. His people are the ones who weep and cry about the degeneracy of the world, starting with what’s happening inside the body of believers (Ezekiel 9:4, a foreshadowing of the seal of God and “mark of the beast” in Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4). Those who cry out for repentance and deliverance not only for themselves but for the world are those who have God’s seal on their foreheads.
God remembered Israel’s living conditions in Egypt. He heard the cries of their oppression, and then decided to act in such a way to make Israels’ liberation from Egypt display of His power. He did not rebuke the Egyptians quietly. He told the Egyptians and the entire world who was truly in charge. The plagues that Moses put on the Egyptians show up again in the Prophets and also in Revelation 8–11 and 15–16. He responds and delivers us, not because of how good we are but because of His goodness.
The LORD remembers and responds to the cries of His saints (קְּדֹשִׁים qedoshim, “holy ones”), fulfilling His promises.
And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”
Gen. 4:10 ESV
[Saints under the altar in Heaven] cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Rev. 6:10 ESV
It’s important for us to believe in God’s promises and their relevance to the world today.
Exodus 1–2: Adonai hears and intervenes
Shemot is a revelation of the reconciliation of the children of Israel to God. We have the reassurance that the LORD remembers promises, hears lamentations and ultimately responds. Yeshua’s death, resurrection and ascension during Pesach was not a coincidence.
God is the God of the living, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. This is one of His favorite titles, when He presents Himself to His people. This title is a comfort because even though they are not here on earth now, they live, and those who have gone on in faith are not here, yet they are here.
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2Peter 3:8–9 NASB95
We also see that Israel’s cries for deliverance foreshadow the ‘mark of the beast.’ We see the pattern of the transformation from Prince to pariah in the people of Israel between the days of Joseph to the time of the Exodus. They went from a place of privilege to a place of oppression in the span of just a few generations. Moses’ life follows the same pattern. Moses’ life is a transition from the precious prince to pariah to plague-proclaiming prophet.
We pray for the leaders of our state, our country and for the nation of Israel, we are concerned about them and lift them up to the One who cares more about them than we do. All who claim to believe in God should lift up their leadership, asking for God to bless them with wisdom to rule properly.
Why was there a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph? The Egyptian dynasties in history were not consecutive, but concurrent. There are many periods where “upper Egypt” and “lower Egypt” were controlled by different dynastic families and some of those ruling dynasties did not come from Egypt, but either from nations further south or even from the east, such as the Hyksos.
There are those who did not know Joseph and did not want to know Joseph.
The pharaoh who knew Yosef also trusted in his Elohim to the point of turning rule of Mitzraim (Egypt) over to him and consolidating power to “the Great House” (in Akkadian pir’u and in Egyptian per a’o; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament).
Why was Joseph a “father” to that pharaoh (Gen. 45:8)? He was a “father” to that pharaoah in the sense that he blessed that king of Mitzraim with God’s wisdom and knowledge just as a father blesses his son with his wisdom and knowledge.
Pharaoh is not just a title, it’s a symbol of the seat of power. For example, our media might say, “The White House said…” The White House does not literally speak; people speak. It’s a euphemism for the American seat of power and authority, embodied by the leadership.
Ya’akob blessed this pharaoh (Gen. 47:7), because that pharaoh trusted Joseph as a father, so he also honored Joseph’s father.
The people of Israel were fulfilling God’s command in Genesis, but this Pharaoh did not see the people of Israel as a blessing but as a threat, a plague and a curse. He did not know Joseph and he didn’t know Joseph’s God, either.
The pharaoh who didn’t know Yosef (Ex. 1:8) saw the fruitfulness of Israel as a curse instead of a blessing, because this king didn’t know Yosef’s Elohim and saw the Israelites as a threat:
“Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides [also], I will not let Israel go.”
Ex. 5:2 NASB95
Abraham’s, Moshe’s and our transformation
Moshe’s parents saw him as (Moses) the טוֹב tov (“beautiful”) child (Ex. 2:2) who was miraculously delivered from death in the Nile and raised as a prince of Mitzraim. Quite an auspicious start to life, one would say. Moses’ family trusted God despite challenges and the evil intentions of the Egyptians.
One take on Moshe’s intervention between the two Hebrews (Ex. 2:11-15) was that he sought to use his own power to be a judge. This is another example of a person trying to accelerate God’s timetable and “help Him out.” Which did not turn out well, just like when Abraham and Sarah tried to “help” God by bring Hagar into their marital relationship.
The Apostle Paul also emphasizes in his Romans letter that people can do a lot to help themselves, but they can’t do what needs to be done to enter the Kingdom of God. We all need God’s revelation of what is right and wrong (the Word), covering for sins, transgressions and iniquity against that Word, and a Spirit-filled new “heart” (mind and passions) for guidance on how to do what is right, so that our hearts and our actions are on the same track.
Honesty is the best policy with the malevolent?
The Ten Commandments say not to “bear false witness” (Ex. 20:16), which many interpret as “do not lie.” But the context in the Torah is to not testify falsely “against [the life] your neighbor,” else you will get the punishment that would have been meted out on the innocent.
We see in Exodus 1:15-21 that the midwives lied to Pharaoh. They defied Pharaoh’s order to kill Hebrew baby boys, demonstrating their loyalty to God despite Pharaoh’s evil intentions. That was the right answer, just as when the Nazis came to a door and asked if the household were hiding Jews, the good answer was always “no.” The evil intent of the Nazis did not deserve honesty or cooperation, and that was also true of that pharaoh’s evil intent. His genocidal plan did not deserve their cooperation.
When believers dwell together
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
Psalm 133:1 NASB95
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
How does the congregation of Messiah live together as Jews and Gentiles when one group has generation of knowledge of the Torah and how to follow its mitzvot (commandments), whether they have learned it from family tradition or the tradition of their favorite rabbi and another group that is just starting to learn the Torah? As a body of believers, we have to have some way for the entire congregation to come to agree on how to come together, including in how they make their meals and when they would fast. (See the opening discussion on Romans 13 in this Torah cycle’s study on Vayigash.) You have to work together on those things that are not “thus says the Lord” from Mt. Sinai. It’s import to follow God’s instructions rather than human authority and it’s equally important to find ways to work and fellowship together as a congregation on non-essential matters.
Moses tried to use his own power to put God’s promises into effect, but like Abraham, Yitzkhak, Ya’akov and Yosef, so too Moshe had to learn to trust Adonai’s lead in becoming a שַׂר sar (“ruler”) in יִשְׂרָאֵל Israel (“rules/struggles with El/God”). We read through the book of Shemot that Moses does grow and change, just as Joseph and Judah grew up and changed.
We can see Moshe’s change, like with Yehudah before Yosef, from ruler by the flesh to ruler by Adonai power Moshe’s statement of inadequacy to be the chosen one to lead Israel out of bondage (Ex. 4:10-17). God gave Moses a 40 year “time out” to go from Prince of Egypt to a shepherd in Midian. He lived in the most civilized countries of the world to living in a backwater, outside Egypt’s reach.
How does this square with deacon Stephen’s recounting of this passage (Acts 7:22)? Solomon was said to have wisdom superior to that of Mitzraim, and prophet Yeshiyahu warned about leaning on Mitzraimic wisdom (1Kings 4:30; Isa. 19:11).
Moses’ eloquence is revealed through his conversation with God, despite his initial self-doubt.
We would assume that Moses would have studied all the wisdom of Egypt, but perhaps, this is a foreshadowing of the Apostle Paul’s reflection on his own high level of training in the Torah under great sage Gamaliel.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11 NASB95
Moses went from trying to use his position as “Prince of Egypt” to free the Hebrews to being the “most humble man on the face of the earth.” It was the humble shepherd who God appointed to liberated the Hebrews, not the Prince of Egypt. God is the one who appointed Moses a judge over Israel but He gave Moses this position in His timetable, not in Moses’s timetable.
This is not the story about ancient people, but also our story, we were in bondage, cried out for deliverance and received our deliverance in Messiah Yeshua.
Summary: Tammy