El Príncipe de Egipto / The Prince of Egypt
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
Live has many twists and turns. This has been the experience for many people throughout history:
John F. Kennedy made a decision made a decision to attend a fundraiser for the Democratic Party in Dallas, Texas; the day he was shot.
In the 1950’s the drug “thalidomide” was prescribed to women as an effective medication for morning sickness. Soon, people would realize that babies were being born without hands and feet and other severe birth defects.
Netflix saw its sales numbers slowly dropping (previously they relied on mail DVD rentals). They made the decision to produce their own content to stream on its own service. This has now made them a leader in the industry.
Decisions have the power to impact our lives for good or bad.
Some decisions make people enormously successful.
Other decisions are the reason why many people’s lives have been ruined.
In our journey through the Bible this week we read through .
In Exodus 1-7 we read about the life of Moses.
Moses is one of those figures in ancient history that many people know about.
He has been featured in at least two very successful films - The 10 Commandments and The Prince of Egypt.
He is known as a powerful leader for both Christians and Jews.
In our time today, we will consider what the author to the Hebrews tells us about:
His origen
His destiny
His new life
I. His origen
I. His origen
I. Su origen
I. Su origen
Moses had a very unusual origin:
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Por la fe Moisés, cuando nació, fue escondido por sus padres durante tres meses, porque vieron que era un niño hermoso y no temieron el edicto del rey.
The Jewish people were living in Egypt. They had grown into a great people in a short period of time.
Pharaoh took advantage of the people of God by turning the Jews into their slaves.
The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;
and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.
Los egipcios, pues, obligaron a los hijos de Israel a trabajar duramente,
y les amargaron la vida con dura servidumbre en hacer barro y ladrillos y en toda clase de trabajo del campo; todos sus trabajos se los imponían con rigor.
Ex
Heb 1.
Their numerical growth was the cause for Pharaoh declaring an ungodly decree:
Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;
and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
Ex. 1.15-16
Y el rey de Egipto habló a las parteras de las hebreas, una de las cuales se llamaba Sifra, y la otra Puá,
y les dijo: Cuando estéis asistiendo a las hebreas a dar a luz, y las veáis sobre el lecho del parto, si es un hijo, le daréis muerte, pero si es una hija, entonces vivirá.
Pharaoh was attempting to rid himself of the Jewish population by killing these undesirable baby boys who would later father more Jewish children.
However, these Hebrew midwives feared God and did no such thing. They obeyed God rather than man.
Therefore, Pharaoh declares the following edict:
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”
Entonces Faraón ordenó a todo su pueblo, diciendo: Todo hijo que nazca lo echaréis al Nilo, y a toda hija la dejaréis con vida.
It was in these awful circumstances that Jocabed (Moses’ mother) has a baby boy.
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
Ex 2.1
Un hombre de la casa de Leví fue y tomó por mujer a una hija de Leví.
Y la mujer concibió y dio a luz un hijo; y viendo que era hermoso, lo escondió por tres meses.
Pero no pudiendo ocultarlo por más tiempo, tomó una cestilla de juncos y la calafateó con asfalto y brea. Entonces puso al niño en ella, y la colocó entre los juncos a la orilla del Nilo.
Moses is born and his parents know they cannot keep him. If they keep him he will surely be captured by an Egyptian and thrown into the river to drown.
Notice how the Bible tells us that he was a “beautiful” child. This is repeated in the letter to the Hebrews. It probably does not refer to physical appearance but rather that there was something precious/great in this child. This child was destined to make an impact.
His mother and sister prepare a basket, covered in tar and pitch, and set him upon the river Nile.
The author to the Hebrews tells us how Moses’ parents acted in defiance of the king.
They had a baby boy and let him live knowing they were risking the baby’s life.
They hid the baby boy for three months knowing they were risking their own life.
They prepared a basket and set the baby upon the Nile river risking the baby’s life and their own lives, had they been seen by an Egyptian.
Why did they do this? Why would they risk their life and the baby’s life? They trusted in God. They acted in faith. They knew there was something special about this baby. God would take care of their child.
II. His destiny
II. His destiny
II. Su destino
II. Su destino
Moses is taken out of the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.
Y la hija de Faraón bajó a bañarse al Nilo, y mientras sus doncellas se paseaban por la ribera del río, vio la cestilla entre los juncos y mandó a una criada suya para que la trajera.
He is saved by the same people that want to kill him.
In God’s providence he is now in the lion’s den.
Moses’ sister is nearby who offers Pharaoh’s daughter to find a woman to nurse and raise the infant - his own mother. So now, Jocabed is being paid to take care and to raise her own baby! God has been faithful.
Then 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.
Y la hija de Faraón le dijo: Llévate a este niño y críamelo, y yo te daré tu salario. Y la mujer tomó al niño y lo crió.
Ex. 2.9
Ex. 9
Moses would eventually be brought to Pharaoh’s palace.
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Moses destiny had forever changed.
He was destined for death but now he is destined to grow up in a life of luxury, fame, and fortune.
He is now a prince in Egypt. He is no ordinary commoner. He will forever be known as a prince of Egypt.
In the book of Acts, Stephen describes Moses’ upbringing:
“Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.
Y Moisés fue instruido en toda la sabiduría de los egipcios, y era un hombre poderoso en palabras y en hechos.
Moses would now have a life of privilege.
He did not need to be a slave.
He was not subject to force labor.
He was not subject to the abuses of the Egyptians.
His life had forever changed.
However, Moses knew he was a Hebrew. Although the Bible does not tell us how he knew that he was a Hebrew, we can speculate that his mother taught him about his origins, as she was raising him for Pharaoh’s daughter.
How could he ignore the fact that while he was living in luxury and comfort, his own people were slaves among those who had taken him as their child?
How could he ignore that his own mother and father experienced the abuses of the Egyptians.
How could he ignore that his own flesh and blood were treated harshly every day just so he could continue enjoying the earthly pleasures of the Egyptians?
III. His new life
III. His new life
III. Su nueva vida
III. Su nueva vida
The author to the Hebrews describes this turning point in Moses’s life as follows:
Heb 11.24
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
Por la fe Moisés, cuando era ya grande, rehusó ser llamado hijo de la hija de Faraón,
escogiendo antes ser maltratado con el pueblo de Dios, que gozar de los placeres temporales del pecado,
There came a moment in life were Moses was determined to not be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Moses makes a decision to live the kingly home.
He refuses to be known as the prince of Egypt.
He chooses rather to be amongst his people, knowing the abuses and ill-treatment that they face every day at the hands of the Egyptians.
Notice how the author to the Hebrews contrasts his new chosen life (living amongst his suffering people) to the “passing pleasures of sin”.
Moses was leaving a life of temporary pleasures.
He had all the food he could imagine.
He had access to all kinds of drink.
He had access to many women, especially as the prince of Egypt.
However, at the end of the day he realized that the many treasures of Egypt () were passing/temporary/fleeting/only for a moment.
Somehow, someway - we do not know how or when - but Moses became aware about the hope of the people of God.
Moses had to have become familiar with the promises of God to send a redeemer.
He had to have learned that the people of God were given a promise that one day the people of God would return to their land ().
He had to have learned that God had chosen the people of Israel amongst all the nations upon the earth to be his and that God has established his covenant with them.
He had to have learned that his people, the children of Abraham, would be a blessing to all the nations of the land.
He saw that his people had recieved God’s revelation from Adam, to Abel, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He had to have learned that the people of God had not set their eyes upon a strip of land but upon the God that had created the heavens and the earth.
Moses chooses eternal rewards, he chooses God, rather than the temporary pleasures of Egypt:
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
Heb 11.
escogiendo antes ser maltratado con el pueblo de Dios, que gozar de los placeres temporales del pecado,
considerando como mayores riquezas el oprobio de Cristo que los tesoros de Egipto; porque tenía la mirada puesta en la recompensa.
Moses chooses to suffer with his people knowing that he is suffering because of his people’s hope in the Messiah.
Moses chooses to be amongst his suffering people who are waiting for a redeemer.
Moses chooses a life as a slave in Egypt knowing that God will be faithful to his promises.
Moses chooses to be ridiculed, to be persecuted, to be made fun of, to be harassed by the Egyptians and rather to be with his people!
Can you imagine how the former prince of Egypt would have been treated by the slave masters?
Can you imagine how much people would be making fun of Moses who was once robed as a prince in Egypt. He had a life of luxury and now he was like any other ordinary slave in Egypt.
Moses’ decision shows us that he knew that one day Egypt’s pleasures and treasures would come to nothing - but his hope in the God of Israel and the promises he would fulfill would never end.
All of Egypt’s earthly pleasures would one day end. That great and marvelous civilization no longer exists. All we have are relics and artifacts of the past.
The Egyptians died along with their earthly pleasures.
In the same way, the luxuries and pleasures of this world will one day end up in the city’s landfill or buried in a cemetary six feet underground.
At the end of the day, earthly possessions will one day be destroyed - they will be worthless.
One day, even your body will waste away and have no cure.
One day, all the pleasures of the earthy - whether it be alcohol, narcotics, or hard drugs will not be able to take away the pain and fear as death comes knocking at your door.
One day, all that which has brought you pleasure and happiness - your career, your body, your money, your secret life, etc…-will be gone. Death will come and nothing will be able to comfort you as you depart this life and step into an eternity away from the Creator.
Moses turned his face away from anything that Egypt could offer and set his face upon an eternal inheritance.
He looked upon the Savior that would one day come.
He looked upon the promises lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
He looked upon him who would one day reconcile us to God by the power of his blood.
Look upon Jesus! Look upon what he was done on your behalf. Do not consider it meaningless. Give your entire life devoted to God knowing that there is in fact an eternal reward for those who have had their sins forgiven through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christian, if you have believed in Christ you have also recieved the promise of eternal life.
Christian, do not think for a moment that the pleasures of this world can satisfy or in any way compare to God’s eternal reward.
Christian, you will suffer, you will endure pain, you will be ridiculed by many - but do not fear - God will fulfill his promises.