Moses Flees to Midian (Exodus): Chapter 2 tells the story of Moses’ birth and adoption into the Egyptian royal family, which seems to set him up to be the great deliverer of the Hebrew people. However, after his disastrous first attempt at helping his people, he was forced to flee to the land of Midian. Had he squandered his chance? Was this God’s plan?? Recorded on Sep 29, 2024, on Exodus 2:1-25 by Pastor David Parks.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 32:12 — 73.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS
This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, and for about the next six months, we’ll be working through a sermon series on the book of Exodus called Journey to Freedom. Last week, we started by sharing that Exodus is a wild story, but it’s a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. And we saw the context of this story was the bitter suffering and oppression of ancient Israel when they were slaves in Egypt, something like 3,200 or 3,300 years ago. Things went from bad to worse and culminated in the wicked command of the king to commit genocide against the baby Hebrew boys. They desperately needed God to intervene. But would God be faithful to save? If you missed that intro to our series, you can always go back and watch or listen online. But we said that besides being a great story, Exodus is a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. That in Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and are led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Well, today, in Chapter 2, we’ll see the rescue plan of God start to unfold with the origin of Moses. But it doesn’t go at all how you’d expect. In fact, by the end of Chapter 2, we might have more questions than answers about God’s rescue plan. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 2:1. Chapter 2 has three parts with a little epilogue at the end. Here’s part one…
Exodus 2:1–10 (NIV), “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.” Part one is all about the birth story of Moses, who would become the mighty prophet and leader of the Israelites out of Egypt. Here, Moses writes that his parents were both of the tribe of Levi. Later, we learn that Moses’ father’s name was Amram, and his mother was Jochebed. Now, Chapter 1 ended with what? With the wicked command of Pharaoh to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys. Moses was born during this time. Imagine the fear that Amram and Jochebed must’ve felt for their son. Jochebed did her best to hide the child as long as possible, but when she couldn’t any longer, she made a papyrus basket coated in tar and pitch. In other words, she waterproofed this little container so she could hide her baby among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. Perhaps this was close to where they lived, so she could visit as often as she could. But then, the worst-case scenario happened. He was discovered. And by none other than one of the members of Pharaoh’s own household, his daughter, a princess of Egypt. She went to the river to bathe and likely heard the cries of this little one. It was his cries that went up to the princess that moved her heart. She felt sorry for him. She knew this was one of the Hebrew boys her father wanted to kill, and she took pity on him. But then, the boy’s sister came and offered to find a nurse for the boy. Later, we learn that this was Moses’ older sister, Miriam. Commentator Douglas Stuart estimates Miriam to be between six and twelve years old when this took place. If she was part of our church, she might be part of Gospel Kids Midweek. If you work with kids, imagine having bold little Miriam in your small group or class! But it’s such a beautiful little detail in this story that because of Miriam’s quick thinking and courage, Moses’ birth mom, Jochebed, who had to give up her son, turned out to be the one who was hired to care for her son. She could’ve been ordered to do this by the Princess, but she was given the dignity and worth of being paid to do this work. I’m sure this would’ve been so hard for her as a mom. On the one hand, what a relief this would’ve been! Not that she wanted to give her son up for adoption, but this situation was far better than death! But her son was not only going to live; he would have a very different set of opportunities being adopted by the princess and raised in the household of Pharaoh. Of course, she probably would’ve wondered if Moses eventually would forget about her and their family and his ancestry. Historical evidence suggests Moses would’ve been about three or four years old when he entered Pharaoh’s household. Later on, we learn that as an adult, Moses would have a relationship with Miriam and also with his older brother Aaron. He wouldn’t forget about his birth family or his ancestors. But at this point, unexpectedly, Moses the Hebrew becomes Moses the Egyptian and an adopted member of the royal family no less! What a reversal! Now, before we continue, I must say that so far in our story, the women have all been amazing. Remember Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who defied the evil command of Pharaoh, who feared God more than they feared the king? Here in Chapter 2, we have bold little Miriam, we have faithful Jochebed who trusted God with the life of her baby, and we have a compassionate Egyptian princess. God used all these women for his redemptive purposes. Ladies, how might God work in and through your lives? So what are we to make of this dramatic change of circumstances here at the end of part one? Well, what if Moses really would grow up to be the man God would send to deliver his people from Egypt? If that’s true, then this was a brilliant move. Get Moses out of the slave community and into the most powerful, wealthy royal family on earth. He’d have the best education for leading/governing a people you could possibly get. Moses would learn wisdom, how to work with people, how to command loyalty, and how to inspire people to do great things. He’d grow up with the next generation of royalty. Now, Moses wouldn’t become the next Pharaoh, but maybe he could be like Joseph had been and be second in command. Is that what God was planning here? Let’s find out.
Exodus 2:11–15 (NIV), “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.” Well, that didn’t seem to go according to plan, did it? According to the book of Acts, Moses was forty years old when he went to visit his people and “watched them at their hard labor.” This was likely around the Nile River delta, where the Nile River emptied into the Mediterranean Sea. Generations earlier, Joseph had secured an area called Goshen for his people. But the Hebrews were building several store cities around that area, too (Rameses). But while he was there, he saw firsthand the suffering and brutal treatment of his people. He saw an Egyptian, likely one of the slave masters mentioned in Chapter 1, beating a Hebrew man. And he identified with the man being beaten. But instead of using his position in the royal family to lobby for better conditions for his people, Moses looked this way and that way (which suggests that he knew this would be wrong), and he attacked and killed the Egyptian and hid the body. What he had seen was surely wrong; it was a terrible injustice. But his solution was just as bad. In a burst of vigilante justice, he murdered a man and tried to cover it up. Maybe he thought he got away with it that night. But by the next day, when he tried to intervene again, this time between two Hebrew men, it became clear that someone had seen what Moses did. It wasn’t hidden. Moses was right to be afraid. Murder was a capital offense. But even worse, as a member of the royal household with a Hebrew background, Moses could be guilty of treason if it was believed that he was trying to lead a rebellion of his own people. But then, the Hebrew people (his people) didn’t welcome him with open arms, either! When he tried to use his status and royal education and training to lead and govern justly and wisely, what did they say to him? “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” This must’ve been a shock for Moses. It must’ve felt like he was a stranger in his own land and that he had no people. You see, Moses was a Hebrew by birth but an Egyptian by adoption. No doubt, there were some in the Pharaoh’s household or other Egyptians who never accepted him as one of their own. “You’re not one of us.” And no doubt, there were some Hebrews (maybe these men here) who resented his life of luxury growing up in the Pharaoh’s household while they suffered bitterly as slaves. So Moses had to run from his adopted family because of what he had done. But he was given no quarter from his birth family either. Was this God’s plan? To have his mighty prophet, who was supposed to lead his people out of captivity in Egypt, leave Egypt? To commit murder, be rejected by his people, and then run for his life to Midian, the middle of nowhere?!? What kind of plan is this? Have you ever wondered about God’s plans for your life? Have you ever cried out to God, asking him what he was doing or why things seemed to be getting worse instead of better? I’d be willing to bet that Moses prayed some of those prayers as he fled to Midian. So Moses traveled east, across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, toward the Gulf of Aqaba, and most likely into modern Saudi Arabia. Did he just squander his first chance to help his people? Had he completely failed to be the leader his people needed? Would he ever get a second chance? Would he even be able to make a new life in Midian? Was any of this part of your plan, oh God? Part three, life in Midian…
Exodus 2:16–22 (NIV), “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.” Chapter 2 takes us from what seems to be the providence and protection of God around the birth of Moses to his exile in Midian. But I like this part of the story. Though he’s alone and is a foreigner in a foreign land, Moses still cares about justice. So when shepherds were mistreating some women at a well, Moses intervenes yet again. But this time, he doesn’t kill the men. He was able to get them to leave and didn’t let them do anything more serious to these women. Then, though he was raised in the Egyptian royal household, he started serving them. He watered their flock and drew water for the women as well. When the seven sisters returned home and their dad, a pagan priest of Midian, heard what happened, he was like, “Where is this Egyptian?” He probably thought, “This sounds like a good man…and I have seven daughters.” So he said, “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” So they went back and invited him to stay with them. Eventually, Moses married Zipporah, one of the daughters of Reuel, who was also known as Jethro. In time, Moses and Zipporah had a little boy of their own and Moses seems to come to terms with his new reality. As a consequence of his disastrous attempt at doing justice for his people, he was now a foreigner in a foreign land. He had been rejected by the Hebrew people. He had a death sentence from his adopted people in Egypt. Now, he was a foreigner in Midian. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “He was a failure as a deliverer of his people, a failure as a citizen of Egypt, unwelcome among either of the nations he might have called his own, a wanted man, a now-permanent resident of an obscure place, alone and far from his origins, and among people of a different religion.” (Exodus, TNAC, p. 101) None of this seemed like it would be part of God’s plan. Did God even have a plan? If our story ended here, it might seem hopeless. But then, Chapter 2 ends with an epilogue that seems to give a glimmer of hope.
Exodus 2:23–25 (NIV), “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.” This is God’s word. Ok! So here, at the end of Chapter 2, two pivotal things happen that signal that this will be a rescue story. First, the people start to pray. If you go back to Chapter 1, the Israelites were suffering bitterly, but it never says that they cried out to Yahweh God. They never prayed for God to be faithful to the promises he made to Abraham and Sarah — promises to bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them — promises to make them into a great nation and give them a place to live (Promised Land). But during this time of suffering, the people remembered the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and cried out for help. The second pivotal thing was that the Lord heard their prayers. He heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw them and was concerned about them. His heart was moved with pity and compassion just as the princess was moved by the helpless little baby she found among the reeds in the river. And the Lord knew what he was about to do. God did have a plan. Despite the unexpected twists and turns of Moses’ story, we’ll see next week in Chapter 3 that Yahweh God isn’t done with Moses. So it was according to the infinite wisdom of God that his deliverer would spend the first half of his life learning to lead and govern in Egypt but the second half of his life learning humility and patience in obscurity there in Midian. What an incredible plan! No one could’ve predicted this! But today, instead of focusing on how we might apply this text to our lives as we close, I’d like to show how clearly this story points forward to Christ and to the gospel. The vital clue is slightly obscured by the NIV translation of the papyrus basket back in v. 3. The Hebrew word translated basket is literally the word ark. It’s the same word Moses used back in Genesis for Noah’s Ark. Moses saw his birth story as repeating a pattern where God graciously provided saving from a watery death through an ark. And just as Noah and his family was preserved by God to start a new chapter in history, so Moses would be used by God for the same purpose. Does this pattern remind you of anyone else? But even more, Moses was born into slavery in Egypt and under a sentence of death. But in the providence of God, Moses was saved by grace from the Nile River. But not only was he rescued from death, he was adopted by a Princess. He went from a child of slavery to a child of the royal family. In Christ, we, too, were born into slavery, not in Egypt, of course, but into slavery to sin. As slaves to sin, by nature and by choice, we were separated from God, and we, too, were under a sentence of death (“For the wages of sin is death…” Ro 6:23a). But the good news of the gospel is that because of the gracious providence of God, he not only rescued us from death God did this by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life, die the death we deserved on the cross for the sins of the world, but on the third day rise again from the dead. (“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ro 6:23) So today, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you will not only be saved from sin and death, but you too will be adopted as a beloved son or daughter of the Father in heaven, a member of the royal household of God. Did you know that? Did you know this was and is and ever will be God’s plan for your life? It is. So today, let us put our faith and trust in him. Maybe today you’re struggling or suffering, not as a slave in Egypt, but maybe life is hard right now. Don’t forget the pattern — the pattern of God’s saving grace, the pattern of God doing unexpected things not only to save us but to adopt us, to give us his whole kingdom. Let’s look back to these patterns and use them to help us trust in him. For the Lord sees us, he has compassion for us, even in our suffering, he hears our cries, and he will, in his timing, be faithful to save. Let us pray.
