Exodus

Exodus 2: Part I Observations 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi...from the third son of Jacob comes the first notable son. Aaron will be second. Moses will be like Christ, in that he is prophet, priest, and king. 2. And the woman conceived and bare a son...the Lord's determined time had arrived and the deliverer was to be born. A son was the seed of the Lord. It would appear that Aaron is Moses' brother of three years, thus making it that the edict came after his berth. Satan's wiles are most specific. He sought the Lord's deliverer, his chosen seed. 3. And when she saw him that he was a goodly child...she saw that he was good, something peculiar and special about him, that drew them to favor him. 4. She hid him three months...what caused her to end the charade after three months is unstated, perhaps faith waned. 5. And when she could not longer hide him...her an answer is given, as the child was before hidden, but now exposed. Still, to abandon their child to the river was an extreme act of circumstance, as they cast off their hope. Hebrews tells us that for three months by faith they hid the child. 6. An ark of bulrushes...in an attempt to protect their cast off son, they leave him to the water in God's hands, crafting an ark of refuge. In a sense, much like Jonah, Moses is cast to the depths, like Noah kept in an ark of God's refuge, though the parents could not know it. 7. And his sister stood afar off...even in her despair it appears the family intended to carefully keep watch upon the child to see what would become of him. 8. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash...while we cannot pardon the parent's act of abandonment, still the hand of God in providence had prepared to raise the child from the depths, as Calvin says, "For there can be no question but that his secret providence brought the king's daughter to the river, who had the courage to take up the child and to have it nursed; and that he, too, influenced her mind to the kind act of saving its life, -- in a word, that he controlled the whole matter." It would appear at first glance that Satan had hold of the child and his doom was certain, but God intervened, and with a special cry the daughter's heart was wed to the child. 9. She saw the child and behold, the babe wept...God inclined the child and the woman to a good and purposed end. It was this that God employed to His glory. Calvin says, "For to ascribe to fortune such an harmonious combination of various and manifold means, is no less absurd than to imagine with Epicurus that the world was created by the fortuitous conjunction of atoms. Assuredly he drew out Moses, who was to be the future redeemer of his people, as from the grave, in order that he might prove that the beginning of the safety of his Church was like a creation out of nothing. And this was the crowning act of his divine mercy, not only that he was given to his mother to be nursed, but that she received wages for it." 10. This is one of the Hebrews' children...there is no doubt that she identified that child and knew of her father's edict, but was bound to the child by the secret work of God's Spirit and could not let him go. What a remarkable act of God that He would twist the course of providence to a remarkable act of confounding Pharaoh, Satan, and His enemies. 11. Call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women...the hand of God continues to thwart the evil one, by bringing the very child and the very mother herself to raise the child until weened. Never think that the Lord's mighty hand cannot bring that which is not to be that which is, as we read, Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High, That woe and well-being proceed (Lam. 3:37f)? 12. And he became her son...how wondrous that under the very roof of Pharaoh the Hebrew deliverer was raised. The son of his very own daughter. In fact, every time his name was spoken in Pharaoh's house God laughed in derision. 13. And she called his name Moses...the child would ever have a name to remind him of His heritage, as his name echoed the sovereign hand of God that fetched him from certain death. Moses is a Hebrew name, but it may be that she gave him the Hebrew equivalent. "We may probably conjecture that she asked the mother of Moses the word which expressed this signification, or we may prefer supposing that he had an Egyptian name, which was interpreted by his Hebrew one, and this I am most inclined to think was the case. When Moses subsequently fled, he again took the name his mother gave him (Calvin)." 14. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown...here begins that tale told by Hebrews, where Moses forsook Egypt and refused to be called Pharaoh's son. Still, he was raised as his son, and God used that training in making Moses an able deliverer, as Stephen says, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds (Acts 7:22). 15. He went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens...it appears he ventured to find the people of his kindred. 16. He spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren... 17. And he looked this way and that way...much like Gideon, who was not a mighty man of valor until trained up by the Lord, so Moses was timid in his design. Nonetheless, it was as Stephen says in Acts 7, Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. See how Moses understood his calling and purpose. 18. And hid him in the sand...even in weak faith God was grooming his mighty man of valor, but the time was not yet. First, he would need be schooled in the school of God in Midian. He must learn to be a shepherd first. Thus, by the hand of providence God lead him into the wilderness that He might train him in shepherding His flock. 19. Behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together...Moses was not ready, nor was Israel, for first Moses must be schooled, then God must demonstrate His choice of Moses. 20. Who made thee a prince and a judge over us...Israel did not yet know Moses was the Lord's chosen vessel to mediate between them and God. He would soon be the mediator of the Old Covenant, but a shadow of Christ. 21. And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known...God would drive him to His school for forty years. Doctrines I. Faith alone (Sola Fide) II. Divine Providence III. The Offices of Moses and Christ IV. The Remarkable Portrait of Divine Redemption Uses 1. For our wonder in seeing God's work. 2. For our delight in seeing God's raising of His church. 3. For our confidence to trust in God by faith alone. 4. For our hope in knowing the Lord's will is done; He will save. 2