Chapter 2
Have you ever felt like life is a bit of a battle? Oh sure, we all enjoy the peace of living in the valley, or the views from the mountaintop, but boy, the struggles of getting up and down can sometimes feel so defeating. Life is a battle. It started from the very day of conception, really. Millions of “racers” were released to find one tiny egg. Out of those millions, only a few hundred reach the goal. And of those hundreds, most of the time, only one makes it home. Yep. Life can be tough.
But guess what? You started life as a winner! You faced off with those millions, and you beat out those hundreds at the goal line! You may not remember it, but it was you! So, when things seem hard, remember: God made you a winner from day one! He had a plan for you that very first day—just as He did with Moses.
Moses is a type of Jesus. That’s a fancy way of saying he’s a shadow or a hint of the plan God has for mankind. Not everything Moses did was perfect, but his life, his mission, and his devotion to God foreshadowed the plan of Jesus that was still to come.
I really enjoy seeing Jesus in the next chapter. It excites me to see those little hints of what came later and what will come again. Reading things like this really encourages me when I’m climbing up and down the mountain. It reminds me that God had a plan then, He has a plan for me, and I’m in Good Hands. Sometimes, I just need to take one step at a time and let the finish line come to me.
The Birth of Moses
1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived, and bore a son: and when she saw him that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 And when she could no longer hide him, she built for him an ark [Hebrew word “teba”, only used one other time in the Bible, with Noah.] of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child inside, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. [Ironically, Moses’ mother did exactly what the Pharaoh demanded—she placed the male children in the river. However, she used wisdom in how she did it.]
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river-side; and she saw the ark among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. 6 And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call for you a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will pay you.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Moses Flees to Midian
11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his own people, and looked on [literal meaning: “to see with emotions”] their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people. [Hebrews 11:24-26 sheds more light on this moment. For right here, Moses rejected his position as Pharoah’s prince, and chose to be Hebrew.] 12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting each other: and Moses said to him that did the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 And the Hebrew said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Are you going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared, and said, “Surely the thing I did is known.” [Look at the shadow of Jesus within Moses. Moses wanted to deliver his people, so he had to step down from the throne and become one of them. Yet, even as he did, they did not recognize who he was or what he was trying to do, and they rejected him the first time too.]
15 When Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon to-day?” 19 And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.” 20 And he said unto his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and the father gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. [Here is another beautiful revelation: Moses was rejected by his people, yet he found a home with Gentiles and even married one. Who is included as the bride of Jesus today? The Church, which includes millions of Gentiles! Yet, Moses still had a mission to deliver the nation of Israel, just as Jesus continues to carry out that mission. The book of Revelation becomes even clearer.] 22 And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel groaned by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God by because of the bondage. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God saw the children of Israel, and God took concern for them. [This too will be repeated!]
