Sermon Tone Analysis

MOSES PART ONE

EXODUS 2:1-10.

Moses was born during a time when the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were suffering terrible slavery in Egypt.

The Pharaoh had ordered that newborn Hebrew boys be drowned in the Nile, but by God's providence, Moses' parents hid him for three months.

When it become impossible to hide him any longer, they relinquished him to God and set him floating in the Nile in a waterproofed basket.

Again by the providence of God, Moses was found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who had pity on him, and adopted him as her own son.

Acts 7:22 says that Moses was educated, and came to have power in word and action.

From a human point of view, Moses had it all: privilege, power, education, and high social standing.

When Moses was about 40 he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave.

He responded as an Egyptian, with violence and deception, murdering the Egyptian and burying his body in the sand.

But other Hebrews saw him, and rejected his attempts at leading them.

Pharaoh learned that he had murdered an Egyptian, and ordered Moses himself killed.

Moses escaped from Egypt and fled to Midian.

For the sake of time this morning I’m not going to say much about this episode, other than this: God’s work must be done at God’s time and in God’s power.

I think Moses knew that he was to deliver Israel out of Egypt.

But he tried to deliver Israel according to Egyptian values: violence and deception.

He tried to deliver his people by his power.

He wasn’t ready yet, and wouldn’t be ready for another 40 years.

Hebrews 11:24-26 says,

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

(Hebrews 11:24–26)

Moses’ faith led him to separate himself from the world in which he lived, a world of privilege, pleasure, and immediate gratification.

Now, what did Moses have in Egypt?

EARTHLY ADVANTAGE

He was called Son of Pharaoh’s Daughter.

This wasn’t just the description of his relationship with Pharaoh’s daughter, but a statement of position and privilege.

It’s almost a title.

In fact, the word “the” is missing from every Greek text I have.

He wasn’t simply “THE son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” but “SON of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

That involves tremendous privilege and power.

Everyone knew that Moses was Hebrew, but he was protected by his position.

Acts 7:22 says that Moses was “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians,” a privilege given to him through his adopted sonship.

He had access to the passing pleasures of sin.

The Hebrew people were just trying to stay alive.

They certain could sin, and did sin, but Moses had access to a vast market of sinful behaviors that are not available to the poor and oppressed.

(In Exodus 1:10 we read that Pharaoh was concerned that the Hebrews would depart the land.

Perhaps he was concerned because the Egyptian quality of life depended on having a very large number of slaves.)

Moses could enjoy the treasures of Egypt.

It’s not saying that he had ownership of the treasures of Egypt, but certainly as Son of Pharaoh’s Daughter, Moses enjoyed the use of the treasures of Egypt.

He also may have been in line to inherit something as Son of Pharaoh’s Daughter, gaining significant wealth in the process.

By the way, it was Joseph, Moses’ fellow Hebrew, who had so greatly increased the wealth and property of the Egyptian monarchy.

Genesis 41:56 says that when the famine hit Egypt, he SOLD food to the Egyptians.

Genesis 47:16 says that when the Egyptians had no more money, Joseph took their livestock in exchange for food.

And Genesis 47:20 says that when their money and livestock was gone, Joseph took their land for Pharaoh in exchange for food.

So the treasures of Egypt were as great as they were because of a Hebrew.

But Moses turned his back on those privileges and pleasures and treasures.

Why?

ETERNAL PROMISE

There was an eternal promise that far outweighed any earthly advantage.

Moses believed Yahweh’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about a future, eternal reward for the people of God.

Hebrews 11:24-26 begins with the words “By faith,” and ends with the words “he was looking to the reward.”

By faith Moses was looking to the reward.

We can summarize everything in this passage with that simple statement: By faith he was looking to the reward.

WHAT WAS THE REWARD?

The reward was the promises made to the patriarchs.

Their descendants would be impossible to number.

They would be blessed by Yahweh.

They would be the source of blessing to the entire world.

Yahweh made an eternal covenant with them.

The eternal nature of the covenant meant that there was a spiritual nature to it.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says that the reward is a better country, a heavenly one.

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

(Hebrews 11:13–16)

It didn’t matter to Moses that he was called Son of Pharaoh’s Daughter; he was a stranger and an exile on the earth.

It didn’t matter that he had easy access to temporary pleasures and earth treasures.

He wanted a better country, a heavenly one.

As Hebrews 11:10 puts it, he wanted the city whose architect and builder is God.

If Moses had not believed the promises of God; if he had not believed that there was a city which God had designed and built; if he had not believed that there was better, heavenly country; then he would have been a fool to give up passing pleasures and earthly treasures.

But because Moses believed the promises of Yahweh, and believed that God had designed and built an eternal city, and believed that the people of God would enter a better, heavenly country, he did the only rational thing: he gave up the paltry, meager, puny advantages of earth in order to set his heart and mind firmly on that which is eternal.

EARTHLY DISADVANTAGES

Because Moses had this faith, he willingly suffered certainly earthly disadvantages.

ILL-TREATMENT WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD

First, he chose to suffer ill-treatment with the people of God.

The phrase “ill-treatment” is a relative to what happens in a particular culture at a particular time of history.

For us, ill-treatment might mean slightly marginalized, or being the object of humor, or being accused of being mean-spirited or narrow-minded.

For Moses, ill-treatment meant the confiscation of all wealth and property, the brutality of slavery, the murder of infant boys, being treated like an animal rather than a human being.

Moses chose that over the ease and comfort of palace life.

He crossed the line in the sand and stood with his people.

The murder of the Egyptian was a sin, but Moses committed that sin because he had determined to stand with his fellow Hebrews because of his faith in Yahweh’s promise.

As a result not just of the sin, but of that faith, he spent forty years in the land of Midian, which is now the north-western border of Saudi Arabia, on the Gulf of Aqaba.

He spent those years working as a shepherd – the profession of his ancestors – in a hard, hard place to handle sheep and goats.

THE REPROACH OF CHRIST

Moses also chose the reproach of Christ.

It’s not that Moses could look 1,400 years into the future and see what Jesus would encounter during his earthly life and ministry.

Rather, the author of Hebrews is saying that Moses served as a shadow of Christ.

We see that when Moses is hidden because of the threat of murder; Jesus was taken to Egypt to save Him from Herod’s command to murder baby boys.

We see it in Moses choosing ill-treatment; the Son of God emptied Himself of His divine privileges, and took on the form of a slave, and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross.

Moses spent forty years in relative peace.

He worked as a shepherd for a man named Jethro (who is also known as Reuel).

Moses married one of the man’s daughters, a woman named Zipporah, and she gave him children, Gershom and Eliezer.

And then after forty years in Midian, Yahweh spoke to Moses from a burning bush, and sent him back to Egypt to deliver the people of Israel.

Moses chose the reproach of Christ, the sacrifices and suffering of one who gives his life to deliver others.

It’s not that Moses gave his life as a sacrifice for sin, but Moses did give his life.

The apostle Paul describes what he suffered for the sake of Christ:

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

Three times I was beaten with rods,