Hebrews 11:24-28 NIVUK
[24] By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. [25] He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. [26] He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. [27] By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. [28] By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.11.24-28.NIVUK
I like football (soccer to my American-speaking readers). However, I often don’t have time to catch a game because I’m busy and can’t spend the best part of two hours watching TV (so it’s American variant is absolutely out of the question). I often find myself watching highlights, either on a streaming site or on YouTube. This has the benefit of giving me key events, but not covering the whole game, which is ideal.
However, it is definitely not the same. It’s not the same as watching a full game. And, having been in stadiums in my youth when it was much, much cheaper, it’s definitely not the same as watching a game in person.
The writer to the Hebrews gives us a potted history of Moses’ life here. This is, in essence, a highlights package. We get the main points of what made this man tick, but we don’t get the finer details.
We do, however, get enough for us to understand the faith that drove him and how it changed his life.
The first thing that we understand here is his identity: who he was.
And I mean that not just in terms of the names of his mother and father and the place where he grew up or the schools he went to. These all play a part of who we are.
However, we are more than the sum total of those parts – way more, in fact.
These verses tell us a lot about Moses’ character, in three separate phases:
Hebrews 11:24 NIVUK
[24] By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Now, this was a very big deal. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he gained a lot of power and privileges. On a human level, no-one could blame him for self-identifying as Egyptian. After all, Pharaoh’s daughter had saved his life.
Yet even though the Hebrew people – the Jews – are being sorely discriminated against and enslaved, Moses sees himself as one of them.
Doubtless this is because of his mother’s influence as his nurse, but I doubt even she would have seem things go this far:
Exodus 2:11-12 NIVUK
[11] One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. 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.
Now, we have to understand this correctly. The writer to the Hebrews is not condoning murder. Neither did Moses – more than forty years later he received from God a clear command not to do this (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17).
However, what the writer to the Hebrews is commending is the fact that Moses identified himself as a Hebrew, knowing the risks and what this would mean.
All across the world, people receive the Gospel and believe in Jesus, knowing this will lead to them being ostracised, losing opportunities to progress in education or in their career, or even their lives. Yet they choose Jesus. And these verses explain why:
Hebrews 11:25-26 NIVUK
[25] He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. [26] He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.11.25-26.NIVUK
In every business, decisions are taken based on a simple cost-benefit analysis to determine if it is truly worth it. Moses, and people like him – people of faith – do the same
thing. They analyse their situation and determine if it is worth it to have faith in God and follow Him, or if it is not. Moses clearly believed it was worth it and that is why he was faithful.
However, it’s possible we can get a little confused here. This verse mentions Jesus Christ, who doesn’t appear on the scene for thousands of years.
So how can He be part of the reason why Moses endured disgrace?
The cause of Christ did not begin at Christmas. The coming of Christ was part of God’s long-haul plan to redeem the human race. It began long before Moses. By choosing to be part of God’s plan to redeem the Israelites through Passover, Moses is aligning himself with the cause of Christ, because it’s all part of the same plan.
The burning question is: will we in more affluent countries, where life is considerably more comfortable, be prepared to do the same?
After who Moses was, we also see why he left.
Now, I don’t know if you have watched or listened to a sports event where two commentators have a differing opinion on what happened and it feels like they were both watching a different match. It can be very entertaining.
These verses seem to be describing two quite different events. Hebrews states:
Hebrews 11:27 NIVUK
[27] By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Exodus 2:15 NIVUK
[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. https://bible.com/bible/113/exo.2.15.NIVUK
The idea of fleeing brings with it the idea of fear of consequences, so how can both verses be true?
The answer is that these verses are describing two different events. Look at this verse after the plagues have taken place:
Numbers 33:34 NIVUK
[3] The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, [4] who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods.
So when Moses left Egypt with the Israelites, those whose heads were cowed under the jackboot of slavery marched out boldly, having looted their oppressors (Exodus 11:1-3, 12:33-36), and were unafraid of the wrath of the king who had enslaved them.
What is more, when all around him were flat panicking as the Egyptian army barrelled towards the Israelites as they stood on the banks of the Red Sea, Moses remained calm and unafraid:
Exodus 14:13-14 NIVUK
[13] Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. [14] The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/exo.14.13-14.NIVUK
This is an inner strength and resilience that could not have come from Moses himself. He had no way or means to take on the well-armed, well-experienced Egyptian army with a bunch of newly released slaves.
It came through faith. And not just faith in anything or anyone, but faith in God Almighty.
Moses left Egypt the first time to save his own skin; he left it a second time to save a million people’s skin. And in a quite spectacular way. Because after who he was and why he left, we see what he did.
And this is absolutely breath-taking:
Hebrews 11:28-29 NIVUK
[28] By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. [29] By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.11.28-29.NIVUK
These are two actions that involved bloodshed.
The first was the shedding of the blood of the lamb, which was then daubed on the doors of Israelite homes to prevent the angel of death from taking the lives of their firstborns.
This sounds like a strange thing to do, but it had quite the effect:
Exodus 11:4-8 NIVUK
[4] So Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. [5] Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand-mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. [6] There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt – worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. [7] But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.” Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. [8] All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, “Go, you and all the people who follow you!” After that I will leave.’ Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.
Exodus 12:29-33 NIVUK
[29] At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. [30] Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. [31] During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. [32] Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.’ [33] The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. ‘For otherwise,’ they said, ‘we will all die!’
So the Passover Feast, with its bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery, its flat, yeast-less bread speaking of their hasty departure from Egypt, and the perfect lamb dying in the place of their firstborn, was instigated and celebrated. And celebrated again by Jesus, very poignantly in the upper room (Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-23), where Jesus identifies Himself as the Passover lamb (something John the Baptist did three years earlier – John 1:29).
So this apparently strange and unusual Feast, instituted by God and commanded by Moses, was something deeply meaningful that prefigured the salvation plan God had already set in place from eternity.
Given their situation, and the real and immediate threat, having faith in God that this would work would have taken great faith. But Moses did it. As did the Israelites. And the results are there for all to see.
We also see the shedding of the blood of the tyrant, in the astonishing drama of Exodus 14.
As I write these lines, a friend of mine has spent months piecing together with video clip from his daughter’s life as she approaches a significant birthday. His aim is to have it ready for their family gathering and then show it on their TV. It will no doubt be an emotional experience for them, as they reflect on the highlights of her life.
Of all the incredible feats that Moses is linked with, and all the miraculous provisions in the desert, perhaps these are not the ones we would most link with Moses. Perhaps we would make a highlights reel containing different events and leave off his failings – like the murder of the Egyptian, or the debates with God when he was called, or the time he sought glory for himself instead of God, and how this cost him the Promised Land.
I don’t know if we would want to include those events.
But these have been curated specifically for us by the writer to the Hebrews. He wants us to understand what is possible when we have faith in God. He wants us to understand who Moses was, where he went and what he did, and how God was able to use a man, in his eighties it has to be said, for His glory and to save a nation.
If that is what God can do through an escaped fugitive herder, using all of his education and experiences, where would faith in God take you?
What could God do through you?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am challenged by the life of Moses: how You were able to take a baby destined apparently for destruction a d use every part of his skills and experience to save a nation. Here I am, Lord Jesus. Use me for whatever You will. I trust in You. Amen.
Questions
1. What experiences did Moses go through in his early life? How would these have helped him later on?
2. When did Moses leave Egypt fearlessly? What led to this?
3. What can you learn from Moses that could apply to your situation?
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