Exodus 2

Introduction - Life can be complicated.

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS president Dr. Don Harper Mills related a bizarre death. Here is the story:
On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. He had jumped from the top of a ten story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to that effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly. Now, neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been installed just below at the eighth floor level to protect some building workers, and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.

”Ordinarily”, Dr. Mills continued, "a person who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he "intended" is still defined as committing suicide. That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below at street level, but that this suicide attempt probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a murder on his hands.

The room on the ninth floor from where the gunshot came, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously, and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B.

When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were adamant. They both said they thought the shotgun wasn't loaded. The old man said it was his long standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident, because the gun had been accidentally loaded.

The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son’s financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the Shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now for the twist. Further investigation revealed that the son was in fact Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

Success and Failure
Life can be complicated, and a mixture of success and failure. We come now, to one of the most famous stories in the Book of Exodus – the placing of the baby Moses in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. If chapter 1 concerned the nation of God’s people as a whole then this chapter focuses on an individual and the way God deals with him. But this individual is not chosen to be a foot soldier but a leader, so we are able to observe God choosing and training this leader for his people.

Within what we might call the macro plan of history, God has micro plans for the individuals who are part of those bigger plans. If the road to deliverance is not straightforward for the Israelite nation, as we saw in chapter 1, it is likewise a roller-coaster of Blackpool Pleasure Beach proportions for individuals. There exists a mixture of success and failure.

The Christian life is not one triumph after another. God does not deal with us in that fashion but he moulds us to his purposes through experience. I hope this study will help you be able to bring a better perspective to your failures. We will discover in this book of Exodus that God is the God who enters into our lives, our joys and our pains. He is always imminent.

Let's briefly scan the chapter for successes and failures.

Structure:
There are three episodes here: Moses the Baby, Moses the Murderer, and Moses the Fugitive

Moses the Baby (verses 1-10)

Moses’ parents, Amran and Jochebed have a boy child who is therefore subject to Pharaoh's edict and they hide him for three months. Eventually they hide him in the basket on the Nile. Should we award them the badge of success or failure? Hebrews 11:23 says,

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.

The hiding of the baby is success according to the New Testament and not the placing him on the Nile. Rather, that was failure because it amounted to compliance with Pharaoh’s edict. The text in Exodus says literally that they ‘threw him out’. They discarded him. They recognise he is special but eventually fail to protect him, so God has to intervene and work around their failure. These poor parents only had hope left to them and they put their son in the reeds so the current would not sweep him away, they place him in a basket so he would be dry and protected from the sun, and they locate him where there is at least a chance an Egyptian might find him and protect him.

The word basket in the NIV is better translated as ark, so as we read, we should be reminded of Noah's Flood with its theme of judgement and death by water. The Israelite boys are dying in the Nile according to Pharaoh’s judgement, but God rescues Moses on the Nile jst as he recused Noah's family. They were carried safely over the water as others perished in the water. Salvation in the context of Judgement.

A King in Training
Moses is of course rescued by a compassionate Egyptian, and God ensures that it is one of Pharaoh’s daughters that does so. He controls circumstance so that he is given first to his natural parents for for weaning. We should note that Moses’ name means ‘drawn out’ or ‘rescued’. God raises his leader through a remarkable circumstance. Moses is protected from Pharaoh’s edict. His natural parents are able to teach him Hebrew ways. He is educated as a prince in the art of kingship. It is more than likely that he would have been taught the Hammurabi Code, a legal system from Mesopotamia which would make him suitable for his later role of judge for the Israelites.

Let us take stock of what we are witnessing. Here we see emerging the truth that the rescued person becomes the rescuer. It is the job of Christians who are rescued people to help in rescuing others. God saves us and puts us to work, but we need training and must not avoid it. A friend of mine met Billy Graham who told him that like so many great Christian people he regretted not studying and knowing the Scriptures better. he recognised the need for solid training.

Furthermore, we see that whatever the circumstance God will bring about his purposes and his chosen people will be brought through safely.

Moses the Murderer (verses 11-15)

In Acts 7:23 Stephen says that Moses was 40 years old by the time we come to verse 11 of Exodus 2. And the writer to the Hebrews has the following to say about him in that great chapter of people of faith,

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 pleasures of sin for a short time. 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. (Hebrews 11:24-27)

Moses has grown to have a strong identity with his natural people rather than his adoptive people, and a deep sense of right and wrong. However, his commendable compassion and courage to deliver the oppressed goes badly wrong as he tries to resolve injustice in a human way, trying to bring a political solution and he ends up becoming a murderer. His impulse is right, but his action wrong.

In verse 14 the Hebrews ask him who has appointed him over them. The answer is no one! No one has yet made him leader and judge, although he is ruler and judge in waiting unbeknown to all except God. He tries to make a bid to help and lead the Israelites 'as king' before he is fully trained by God. What failure!

Moses fears for his own life and flees Pharaoh’s anger now that he is rightly under human condemnation and judgement. Once again God has to step in and rescue his impetuous rescuer.

Let's draw some lessons from this.
Our actions belie our character. If we claim to be Christian but act in a worldly way, we will dishonour God and fail to create the conditions in which we can work effectively for him.
We should act when God is ready. Success in Christian service can mean a long training, and a patient wait. Be eager but don’t act too soon. Rather, pray for God to give the opening.
Vijay Menon who spoke here at Living Word some years back had a lovely slide of the new convert all kitted out for mission asking the Lord where am I going? But God says, "First, back to the Bible – Lets’ get the grounding before your mission begins."

Moses the Fugitive (verses 16-22)

According to Exodus 7:7 Moses was a fugitive in Midian for 40 years because the verse tells us that he was 80 years old when he spoke to Pharaoh.

On day 1 of his sojourn in Midian Moses comes to a well there. Isn't it interesting the number of meetings in the Bible that occur around wells? For example, the Samaritan woman in John 4 and the meeting of Abraham's servant with Rebekah in Genesis 24. So often we get this theme of water – a physical symbol for the bringing of spiritual life. Immediately Moses does something that is in keeping with his courageous and compassionate character. He rescues Reuel’s girls and then serves them by doing their work for them (v17).

Notice that here Moses is described as an Egyptian. We conclude that he is not yet the proper leader for the Hebrews and must undergo further training before God can set him to the task that his life is purposed for.

Further Training
God ensures that Moses undergoes this next part of the training by making him part of Reuel’s household (meaning 'friend of God') and Reuel’s occupation is that of priest (v16). The Midianites are descended from Abraham and his wife Kiturah (Genesis 25:2), ss they too worship the same God Elohiym, as the Hebrews. Moses marries (Zipporak means female bird, twitterer) and has a son (Gershom meaning refugee) that will make him want to stay. Note the relationship theme again and also that names describe peoples' characters.

Moses recognises he is an alien, not just in Midian and not just in Egypt, but on the whole earth. Having received a solid royal education Moses now needs to get a Godly perspective on things which is what he receives. He learns humility - aving been a prince he now becomes a lowly shepherd. Although not stated explicitly, perhaps he learns too what it is to be a priest.

Long Shadows
At the end of this process Moses emerges trained as both Priest and King. God is throwing long shadows into the future and making us think about what it is to be the deliverer of God's people and preparing the way for the ultimate Priest-King 'in the order of Melchizedek', Jesus Christ. As we look at Moses so we are being taught to recognise a saviour and Messiah.

The Big Picture (verse 23-25)

Verse 23 acts as a bridge back to the big picture. The original Pharaoh of chapter 1 dies and that would indicate that some considerable time has elapsed since verse. God has continued to be busy preparing his people for Exodus, even as he has been busy preparing their leader. He has been showing them the evil of the world and making them ready to listen to him. Also he has been making them ready to receive Moses when he returns as their leader.

Notice how suddenly the text mentions God (Elohiym, the supreme God) a number of times. God has been rather conspicuous by his absence from the text, but he returns now. God remembers his covenant. In "Hebrew thought ‘to remember’ is ‘to act’", says Alan Cole. God has never really forgotten, but he now judges that the time is right to act visibly in history, time and space, and to fulfill the promises already made to Abraham in Genesis 15.

In chapter 3, God will come centre stage. There we will see how he deals with our reluctant hero and how he reveals himself to us.