Sermon Tone Analysis

Moses, God’s Deliverer

Moses, God’s Deliverer

“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.

He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight.

And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers.

Why do you wrong each other?’

But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’

And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them.

And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this

man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.”

Let us pray…

David said in, , The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”

David also said in, , “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

Paul said in, , “What then?

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Now this morning as we look at the second section of Stephen’s sermon before the Jewish leadership, he also is speaking to them about a deliverer, God’s deliverer that in this case is Moses.

Having successfully defended himself against the charge of blaspheming God, Stephen now moves to the second accusation, that he had rejected Moses.

He shows that just as he reveres God, so also does he honor and revered Moses.

Again, he pleads “ not guilty” to the charges.

Stephen clarifies his defense by continuing his historical survey of the Old Testament.

Now in the first sixteen verses of this chapter, he has covered the period from Abraham to Joseph, from the call to Abraham to the very captivity of Israel in Egypt.

Now he moves into the second great period of Israel’s history, from Moses to the Babylonian captivity.

The time of the promise refers to the time when God would fulfill His promise to Abraham.

That promise was that “He would give (the land) to him as a possession, and to his offspring after him.

By this time, the patriarchs were dead and the people of Israel had increased and multiplied in Egypt.

They were content there, and had not returned to the land God had promised them.

The time for God’s promise to be fulfilled had arrived, and He sovereignly orchestrated events to move Israel out of Egypt.

They unknowingly received God’s deliverer

At this time, there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.

, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.

They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.”

This reference to a new leader in Egypt who did not know Joseph presumes they were familiar with the narrative of Joseph’s entry, problems, and rise to power in Egypt.

The description of the taskmasters who were put in place to afflict Israel echoes the vocabulary of God’s covenant with Abraham, which he foretold that his offspring would sojourn in a foreign land and “be afflicted for four hundred years”.

It is commonly accepted today that the site of Raamses is located at Qantir in the eastern Nile delta about 12 miles (19 km) south of Tanis.

Excavations have confirmed this identification.

During the second millennium B.C., a massive settlement of Asiatic foreigners lived here.

In addition, a factory has been discovered at the site; it produced decorated glazed tiles.

Pottery fragments found in the factory bear the name Raamses.

Pithom is probably located at, about 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Raamses.

Stephen uses this quote to show his knowledge of the Old Testament history.

He shows them that the Pharaoh took shrewd advantage of the Jewish race, forcing them into slavery and hard labor.

They mistreated them, compelling them to expose their infants so they would not survive.

This infanticide by throwing babies out to be left to the elements was limited to male infants we see the explanation of this practice in .

, “Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

So God dealt well with the midwives.

And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

God had prepared His deliverer, however.

It was at this crucial time in Israel’s history that Moses was born.

The details of Moses’s life and ministry were well known to the Sanhedrin, so Stephen merely summarizes them to make his point.

Sensitive to the accusation that he had blasphemed Moses, Stephen makes a point of praising him, describing him as lovely in the sight of God.

Moses could not escape the peril of the time, and after being nurtured three months in his father’s home, he also was exposed.

Like so many other infants, he was to be thrown into the Nile to drown.

His parents, however, placed him in a basket so he would not die.

According to God’s sovereign plan.

Pharaoh’s daughter found him, took him away, and nurtured him as her own son.

, “Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch.

She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river.

She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying.

She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.”

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.”

So the girl went and called the child's mother.

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”

So the woman took the child and nursed him.

When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.

She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

As the adopted grandson of the pharaoh, Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.

Stephen continues to show his respect for Moses by describing him as a man of power in words and deeds.