Moses
Patriarch & Prophets • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Sermon Intro
Sermon Intro
Series Intro
Patriachs & Prophets
More narrowly and more common - Abraham, Isaac & Jacob - ancestors of the Israelites
Abraham’s story begins in Genesis 12… and God makes a promise to Abraham to bless the entire world through the nation that will come from him. (Only problem is, he’s OLD and his wife has not been able to bear any children)
Isaac is the son God gives Abraham and Sarah. The one whose name means “laughter” because how could they do anything but laugh when they realized Sarah had conceived?
Jacob is Isaac’s younger son. The second of twins who emerged from the womb grasping the heel of Esau and who continued to grasp and strive and deceive his way through life. But we’ll get to him in a minute.
Our series will give us an opportunity to examine some of the “big names” from the Old Testament… and to discover among the patriarchs & prophets some very human companions for the journey. People who wrestled and limped. Who stuttered and shied away from leadership. Who listened for the still, small voice. Who, when faced with a world of injustice, longed for justice to be realized. Who longed for hope in the midst of what could rightly be called a hopeless time. And who continued to look for glimmers of light in the midst of deep darkness.
Maybe Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah are the companions we need.
Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. The Patriarchs.
Today, we shift our attention to Moses.
But as we do, I want to make sure you know how the stories of the Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are connected to Moses.
Jacob wrestles with God and is given a new name… Israel. And Jacob, or Israel has 12 sons… The youngest two are Joseph & Benjamin
Joseph
Exodus 1 summary -
1-14 - a new chapter for the children of Israel… not a good chapter
15-22 - a dark day, but two of my favourite in the whole Bible
Exodus 1
Exodus 1 summary -
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
death of Joseph & all his brothers + a new king who didn’t know Joseph - means a new chapter for the children of Israel… not a good chapter; a new king, doesn’t know Joseph and so is worried about “all these Israelites”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15-22 - a dark day, but two of my favourite in the whole Bible; a plot foiled by Shiphrah & Puah; Israelites become even more fruitful
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
It is into THAT scenario that we will get Moses’ origin story…
1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. 18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” 23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Moses’ birth - Amram & Jochebed (we learn from Exodus 6) are from the disenfranchised tribe of Levi…
his mother creatively obeys the edict… and ‘puts him into the Nile’ - resistance to tyranny?
Pharoah’s daughter - rescues the rescuer… mixed identity - the grandson of the same Pharoah who is brutally oppressing Moses’ people
Moses - mixed identity: sees the mistreatment and reacts - and then runs away when Pharoah tries to kill him…goes to Midian and sits down by a well
RAISES EXPECTATIONS OF THE READERS - Tremper Longman III
How to Read Exodus The Burning Bush and the Return to Egypt (Exodus 3:1–4:31)
After all, in Genesis we first encounter Rebekah at a well (
And what about God? God heard their groaning, remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. Looked on the Israelites and was concerned. They are suffering. And God sees it. It has not escaped divine notice. This is the setting for our reading today.
From the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob) to the great prophet Moses Deuteronomy 34:10-12
10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
But we have to back up and see how this mighty prophet rose to be the messenger & leader that we remember him to be… (cue the relatable part!)
As Judy comes to read for us, would you prepare your hearts to hear this account of the call of Moses? Please stand as you are able.
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
This is the Word of the Lord.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
a story about leadership?
a story about resisting the call?
a story about ??
The burning bush… Tremper Longman III:
How to Read Exodus The Burning Bush and the Return to Egypt (Exodus 3:1–4:31)
We should understand this phenomenon as Moses surely did, a miracle that demonstrated God’s presence at a crucial time.
Moses’ experience of a mysterious sign (the burning bush) reveals three things:
connection, compassion and call.
CONNECTION -
6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
It matters for Moses that he knows that Yahweh - his God - is the same God who covenanted with Abraham, who was faithful to Isaac and with whom Jacob wrestled.
It matters both for continuity in theological reality AND because Moses’ experience of mixed identity likely means he’s not sure where he fits in the whole “children of Israel” thing. Moses isn’t sure he’s really “one of them.” After all, he had a very unusual upbringing. He was both removed from the experience - can we use the word trauma here? - of being an Israelite baby boy at such a moment - AND he was also raised in two worlds during his early childhood.
How to Read Exodus Rescue from the Water: Moses’ Birth Story (Exodus 2:1–10)
The very child that Pharaoh’s murderous policies were shaped to kill actually grew up in his very house.
Moses’ experience at the burning bush affirms his connection to the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob… and his connection to their descendants. Moses is connected to God and to God’s people.
COMPASSION -
If you lived in this time, what would be your number one theological question?
Is God there? Is God good? Does God see? Does God hear us? Does God care? Why doesn’t God DO something?
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
I HAVE SEEN. I HAVE HEARD. I AM CONCERNED.
So I have come down.
CALL
I have come down. And I’m sending YOU. Wait. What?
9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
I want you to DO something. I don’t want to be the one who does something.
Fix this. But send someone else.
Who am I?
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
In the face of Moses’ sense of inadequacy, God promises presence.
How to Read Exodus The Burning Bush and the Return to Egypt (Exodus 3:1–4:31)
Moses hesitates, first out of a sense of inadequacy, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people out of Egypt?” (
CONNECTION - perhaps you, like Moses, also need to know the history of your God, and to know your connection to God’s people. To find your story connected to the story of God and God’s people. That is, at least in part, why you’re here. Why you’re trying to be part of this local expression of that reality. But you, like Moses, may also struggle to feel like your experience is okay. You are connected - the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of all the prophets who would follow - who would point towards the Messiah… and then your connection to Jesus Himself. The One who shows us what God is really like.
COMPASSION - The God who sees, hears, is not unmoved, and who COMES DOWN. Jesus… God come down. God with us. God keeping the covenant in ways we could never have imagined, because it seems too good to be true. But God has been coming to be with God’s people all along. Seeing them, hearing their cries and groans under weights that are too heavy to bear.
CALL - in the world right now, there is much that we might be experiencing as wrong. As unjust. As problematic. Out there, but also in YOUR life… or in the lives of people you live near and with. Or people you’re connected to in some way. But, if we’re honest, I think we feel like Moses … God, this is a problem. Fix it. Okay… let’s go. No, not ME. I want you to fix it.
Nicole’s St. Christopher post?
October is ADHD Awareness Month. Around this time a year ago, I began my own journey of realizing that I have ADHD and began the work of seeking a diagnosis.In honour of this month, I wanted to tell you about the legend of Saint Christopher.
According to the story, Christopher was a man who desperately wanted to be a monk and to join a monastery. The trouble was, Christopher was a towering giant of a man, at over eight feet tall. He spent his days bumping his head into doorways, breaking chairs and beds and gardening tools, eating far too much monastery food in order to support his size, snoring and tooting and fumbling his way through his days.Eventually, his fellow monks suggested that Christopher was not cut out for monastery life, and that he should leave and find his purpose elsewhere. Christopher found his way to a dangerous river that flowed fast and deep. It was a common place for people to cross, and many children had drowned at the site of the river. Christopher spent the rest of his life ferrying children on his massive shoulders, gently taking each one to safety. It was the very thing that made Christopher the Other that became his purpose in the world and supported the children in their time of great need.
I think of Christopher when I reflect on my own journey with my ADHD diagnosis, the depression, the PTSD. And maybe Autism, because really, who the hell are we kidding? This is a diagnosis that has been debilitating and painful, and yet has made my life incurably rich. When I think of my own children, the families and children I support in my professional practice, I wonder if standing strong for them in the torrential waters of this world - to stand with compassion, love, connection, and strength - I wonder if being able to stand for all of my kids might be the very reason I was given this gift. So this is me, with ADHD, still here, living openly and authentically, still standing in the water.
In the face of whatever we experience as our inadequacies, God promises PRESENCE. I will be with you.
God is at work setting things right. God sees and hears and is moved by what God sees… and then God moves towards the suffering. And invites us along.
From the story of Moses, we see the boy who was placed into the Nile in creative insurrection eventually lead the children of Israel out of slavery and into - or right up to the edge of - the Promised Land. Moses’ reluctantly said yes to God’s call to join in on the divine work of setting people free… though I also want you to note, that Moses’ hesitations don’t end in chapter 3. In the following chapter, Moses continues to hesitate and hedge… so much so that God becomes frustrated and angry with him. Fair. But when Moses complains that he isn’t a good speaker, God makes an accommodation for Moses… God recruits Aaron, his brother, to join him.
I wonder how God is also calling us to join in on how God is seeing and hearing and allowing Godself to be moved by the suffering in our city. In our world. And how God might be inviting us to join in on the renewal that is coming…
How will we respond?
time of silence
song of response that invites us to place our hope in Yahweh - the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, the God of Moses, the God who shows us most clearly who God is in the person of Jesus.
