Jesus and Moses

Introduction

I don’t know if you know this, but Moses is kind of a big deal. For thousands of years the words that he wrote down in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy have been treated as Holy Scripture by countless numbers of people. Not only we Disciples of Jesus but also all of the Jewish people, and even Muslims treat these five books as sacred. Even when the Samaritans and the Sadduccees rejected the authority of the poetry and prophecy of the Bible they still all respected the words of Moses.

Not only this, but through his obedience to God’s will Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery and helped to truly make them a nation. He gave them the law that set them apart as Holy unto the Lord.

Yet I would argue that while his resume is impressive, chiefest of his accomplishments is how well he serves as a prefigure or a foreshadowing of another greater prophet and leader to come.

“A prophet like Moses”

Like Isaac, Moses checks all the “Finding Jesus in the Old Testament” boxes. He has a few encounters with what could be a pre-incarnate Jesus or Christophanies, which we will get to in a future sermon, he is himself a type of Christ and he also gives a prophecy about the Messiah to come.

So at first blush you may look at this first text and think “Well that doesn’t sound like much of a Messianic prophecy,” but stick with me here. This is Moses speaking to the Israelites as he reiterates God’s Law to them.

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 ESV

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Your first thought might be, “but Josh, there have been a number of prophets since the time of Moses. Why think this is about Jesus?” That’s a good question, thanks for asking. Some in face would claim that Moses is simply talking about his successor Joshua here, but the text of Scripture tells us directly that that’s not the case. We read

Deuteronomy 34:9–12 ESV

And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Notice a few things: First, the statement that “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses” comes AFTER the apointment of Joshua to lead Israel. Clearly he is not considered this prophet like Moses. So what about all the other prophets? Why aren’t any of them “a prophet like Moses?” Well let’s look at the requirements from this passage for what a prophet like Moses needs to be like:

Must be an Israelite (… from among you, from your brothers)

Must speak God’s very words (And I will put my words in his mouth)

He will speak everything the Lord commands him to (and he shall speak to them all that I command him)

Anyone who doesn’t listen to him will be subject to judgement (And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.)

Must come after the time that the epilogue of Genesis was written (And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses)

Must know the Lord “face to face” (…whom the Lord knew face to face)

Must perform signs and wonders (none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt)

Who else but Jesus fulfills all those requirements? None of the prophets after Moses in the Old Testament fit this bill. This is why by the first century AD the Jewish people were still waiting for this prophet to appear. This is the background behind what they ask John the baptist in

John 1:20–21 ESV

He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

So clearly up to this point no one had come who fulfilled this requirement. That is until Jesus came along. His ministry and his signs and wonders led the people, after the feeding of the five thousand to say in

John 6:14 ESV

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

So Jesus is this prophet like Moses, and how “like Moses” is He well let’s take a look at some of the parallels between Moses and Jesus and how excellent a type of Jesus Moses is.

Spared From Death As Infants

Moses and Jesus both had a rocky start to their journey on this earth. We read in exodus about a new Pharaoh who rules Egypt and decides that the Israelites are growing too numerous and he’s beginning to fear they may revolt, so he decides to cull their population by killing all of the male children. To me that sounds like a great way to inspire a revolt, but what do I know? We read in

Exodus 2:1–10 ESV

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.”

So Moses is spared from the Pharaoh’s slaughter of children so that he can survive to one day free the oppressed people of Israel from his rule. And as you may know or may have guessed, Jesus has a similar story as a part of the account of his birth found in the book of Matthew. When King Herod hears from the wisemen that a King has been born in Bethlehem, he reacts out of jealousy and has all the male children in Bethlehem aged two or younger killed. Yet before this can happen, we read in

Matthew 2:13–14 ESV

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

Showing that in both cases God was intervening to safeguard his plans to deliver his people.

Shepherds

Another similarity between Moses and Jesus is that they were both shepherds. In Exodus we read about Moses being born and then adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, but when he grows up he murders an egyptian in order to protect one of the Hebrew people, so he flees Egypt frightened for his life. While living outside of Egypt he meets a woman who he marries, and then we read in

Exodus 3:1 ESV

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Eventually he returns to Egypt to deliver the people, and goes on to be a sort of shepherd over the entire nation of Israel, leading them through the wilderness and guiding them.

Now I know what you’re thinking, wasn’t Jesus a carpenter? He was a carpenter by trade until He began His teaching ministry, but Jesus always has been and always will be a shepherd at heart. He says in

John 10:11 ESV

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In this way He is the shepherd of His people in a very similar way that Moses was a shepherd AFTER the Exodus, except He was leading even Moses back then.

Humility

Now I’ve heard more than one person crack jokes about the following verse of the Bible. This is

Numbers 12:3 ESV

Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

The reason some consider this to be a funny verse is because… well, the book was written by Moses. It’s even funier when you read it in a translation that uses the word “humble” so that it comes out something like this:

“Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth”

-Moses

But before you scoff consider a few things about Moses. First off, he was adopted by the royal family of Egypt. Now unlike the film “Prince of Egypt” we have no reason in the text to think he was raised alongside the heir to the throne, though that makes for an excellent movie. In fact unlike the film Moses is picked up by the Pharoah’s daughter, not the Pharoah’s wife. It’s possible that Pharaoh had any number of daughters, and so Moses was not really close in succession to the throne. Even still being raised by a princess would have meant a life of luxury. He gave this all up to fight for the people of Israel. This is also the same man who when called by God to deliver the people said no. We read in

Exodus 3:11 ESV

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Reflecting that he didn’t think of Himself highly or as some great hero. He only went because God sent Aaron with Him and because God promised to be at his side and confirmed this with signs and wonders.

Similarly, Jesus also was humble. Though unlike Moses Jesus was worthy of all honor and praise and glory, He came to earth as a lowly baby and lived as a carpenter and walked humbly among a sinful people. In Jesus own words in

Matthew 11:29 ESV

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

And in the famous passage in Philippians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

40 Day Fast

Another detail in the lives of Moses and Jesus that lines up is that they both did a 40 day fast. In the case of Moses he actually did three 40 day fasts, each of them on the mountain when he was receiving the law for the people from God. For example in

Exodus 24:18 ESV

Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

In the case of Jesus we read of His 40 day fast just before the temptation in the wilderness.

Matthew 4:2 ESV

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

I would be hungry too, wouldn’t you? In the book of Matthew this 40 day fast and temptation is placed just before the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus expounds on the law and gives the terms of the New Covenant to the people.

The Two Covenants

One of the biggest parallels and the quality that most uniquely qualifies Jesus to be a prophet like Moses as opposed to all the other prophets is that both Moses and Jesus bring a covenant from God to the people. We famously call these as Christians “the Old Covenant” and “the New Covenant.” Of course in the time of Moses it was a New Covenant, but speaking from the time of Jesus on it became the Old Covenant in comparison.

With Moses after he rescues the Israelite slaves and brings them to the wilderness he brings the people a covenant between them and God. God gives them the Law and along with it a list of blessings for keeping the law and a list of curses for breaking the law. This is when the people of Israel officially become the people of Israel. Although God had made covenants with the patriarchs this is the first time He made a covenant that created a new people, and Moses was the first and only prophet of the Old Testament to mediate a covenant between God and the people. The Patriarchs entered their covenants with God directly and were not given a law. We read in

Exodus 34:27 ESV

And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Jesus likewise brings a covenant to the people. This is prophecied in Jeremiah 31:31-33

Jeremiah 31:31–33 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Like Moses Jesus brings His covenant after rescuing His people, this time from the slavery of sin and death as opposed to the slavery to Egypt. Unlike the covenant of Moses this new covenant would not be ratified with the blood of an animal sacrifice, but by the blood of Jesus Himself.

Luke 22:20 ESV

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Brought Freedom

While preparing this sermon I may or may not have listened to the soundtrack to the movie “Prince of Egypt,” which I am now excited to rewatch in the near future. Perhaps the best song on that soundtrack is the opening song “Deliver Us.” Gives me chills, honestly. They do a really good job of portraying the desperation of the oppressed Hebrew slaves. God heard their cry, and he sent Moses to deliver his people, in spectacular fashion.

Exodus 3:9–10 ESV

And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

When you really think about it though, while the plight of the Israelites was severe, how does it even compare to the slavery to sin and death that the entirety of mankind faces? In fact, the enslavement of the Israelites is a symptom of the slavery of sin and death on mankind. A result of the sins of Pharaoh. This slavery is what Jesus came to save all His people from, people from every tribe and nation and tongue. In the words of Paul in

Romans 8:2 ESV

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

So we too can leave the land of Egypt and go to our promised land, though for us both the land of Egypt and the promised land are metaphorical. Our Egypt is this present Kingdom of darkness, and our promised land is eternal life in the New Heaven and New Earth as citizens of the Kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring for us where there will be no more sorrow and death.

Intercessors

Another amazing way that Moses prefigures Christ is in his role as an intercessor. Think back to the story of the Exodus and first consider this question: what did the Israelites do to free themselves from Egypt? The answer? Nothing. Through Moses God delivered Egypt. He stands as their representative and by the Will of God frees them. That itself is an intercession of sorts. Yet even more so does Moses intercede for the people after the Exodus when they fail several times in the wilderness.

Consider this account that takes place after the Israelites become impatient for Moses to return with God’s law and end up worshipping a golden calf, earning God’s wrath for their unfaithfulness and idolatry. God says that He is about to destroy the people and then Moses replies in

Exodus 32:11–13 ESV

But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

Now God is all knowing, He knew beforehand that Moses would intercede and so knew that He would spare His people. This moment I think was for the benefit of the Israelites and for us to learn God’s merciful nature and to foreshadow the nature of the Messiah, Jesus.

Jesus is an even greator intercessor than Moses ever was. Moses eventually wore out and lost his patience with the Israelite people. Jesus never loses patience with His people, despite the fact that we fail at least as often as the Israelites did. We read in

Romans 8:34 ESV

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Conclusion

So what then? These are all really interesting facts about Moses and about Jesus, but what do they mean for those of us who are disciples of Jesus today? What can we learn about what it means to follow Him from what we read of Moses?

Well perhaps the first and greatest lesson is the awe of looking at how Christ is so much greater than an already great man. We should worship Jesus with our whole heart in thankfulness for all of the blessings that He has given us, not the least of which was delivering us from our metaphorical slavery just as Moses delivered the people of Israel.

We should live in obedience to the New Covenant that Jesus gave to us. While Jesus “yoke is easy” He does ask us to take on a yoke. We read in John 14:15 the words of Jesus

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Thankfully the context following this statement is His assurance that He will send the Holy Spirit to help us, because the Law of Moses fails to make people righteous for the same reason that trying in our own strength to do all the things that Jesus asks us to do would also fail. We are sinful weak people who need God’s help to live by His truth.

Finally we should live with the confidence of knowing that Jesus like Moses stands interceding for us, being our advocate with God and assuring us that we will not perish for our sins.

What more reason do we need to gratefully worship Him? Let us pray and then sing another song of praise.