“Five Favorite Old Testament Stories:
Baby Moses”
Exodus 2:1-10

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost—August 29, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

During August we have had a series of sermons on “Five Favorite Old Testament Stories,” stories which are very familiar to us, but you may not know what they really mean, for you and your salvation.

We began with three stories from what is traditionally called the First Book of Moses, Genesis, the accounts of Creation, Noah’s Ark, and Joseph’s Coat.  We continue this morning with the Second Book of Moses, Exodus, and a very personal story which Moses wrote about his own birth and himself as a baby.

The Hebrew people came to Egypt as honored guests under the patronage of Joseph, who had risen to become prime minister of Egypt.  They were originally allotted choice land where they could continue their profession as shepherds.  Scripture reports that after his joyous reunion with his family Joseph lived with them in Egypt to the age of 110.  “Then Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.”

We are told that after Joseph’s death, “Then a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.”  It was this new Pharaoh who enslaved the Hebrews.  And because he feared they were growing too numerous and might rebel against their Egyptian masters, this Pharaoh cruelly ordered the boy babies of the Hebrews to be killed, which is where the story of Baby Moses begins.

St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down to instruct us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”  These events which happened to the Hebrews and in the life of Moses are “examples . . . written down to instruct us.”  As St. Paul says in Romans, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  As with the story of Joseph’s Coat, the “examples . . . written down to instruct us” in the story of Baby Moses teach us many important, practical life lessons.

First of all, the bravery of Moses’ mother and father in defying Pharaoh’s wicked decree to kill their baby, teaches us the principle which is stated by the Apostles in the book of Acts: “We must obey God rather than men.”  On the one hand, St. Paul says in Romans, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.”  God does indeed require us to obey and submit to the government and other authorities, but with an important exception, that Moses’ mother and father understood:  We obey and submit to earthly authorities only up to that point where they go against God’s Word and God’s will.

The rule of thumb is: If the government commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands, then “We must obey God rather men.”  So, when Moses was born, his mother and father obeyed God instead of Pharaoh’s wicked decree.  As the book of Hebrews says, “By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth . . . and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

We also have in the story of Baby Moses an example of the proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  In an unexpected turnabout, Moses’ is sent back to his own Hebrew home and Hebrew parents for the earliest years of his upbringing, probably to about age five.  Then he was taken to Pharaoh’s daughter, and as today’s Reading from the Book of Acts says, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” But, Hebrews says, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.”

In his earliest years Moses was taught the faith of the Hebrew people, especially the promise of the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world who was to come from the Hebrew people.  Moses later learned “all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” which was like going off to the finest boarding school and university.  But, what stuck with him throughout his life was the example and education in the faith he received from his own parents as a young child.  “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

Parents often worry about their children going off to school, to college, and out into the world.  Will they be led astray by the world?  Will their faith be sabotaged by what St. Paul describes in Colossians as “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ”?  The time to do something about it is NOW.  Like Moses’ parents, “Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down to instruct us.”  In the story of Baby Moses we have a beautiful example of the proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Of course, as with the story of Joseph rising from slavery and prison to become prime minister of Egypt, in the story of Baby Moses we also have a wonderful example of St. Paul’s promise in Romans, “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.”  How astounding and ironic it is that Moses is not only NOT killed as Pharaoh’s edict decrees, but he’s actually adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, his own parents are paid from the royal treasury to raise him in his earliest years, and then he is raised in Pharaoh’s palace as a prince of Egypt! God knew what he was doing in the life of Moses.  For, there could have been no better training and preparation possible for him to one day go to Pharaoh and declare, “The Lord says, ‘Let my people go’” than for him to actually be raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s court. 

And, when the book of Acts says, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” it really means he received a degree in governmental leadership from the greatest school of government existing in the world in that day, the most excellent education and training that Moses later used to lead the people of Israel.  God knew what he was doing in the life of Moses, and he knows what he is doing in your life too.  “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.”

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down to instruct us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come”; “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  These events which happened to the Hebrews and in the life of Moses teach us many important, practical life lessons.  But, they also have a deeper, symbolic significance.

Moses told the Hebrews, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own brothers.” Moses was not the ultimate prophet of God.  He was a prototype, pointing forward to a greater Prophet who was to come.  As the Gospel of John says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  In the life and work of Moses, the giver of the Law, we see a prototype and symbolic picture prophecies pointing forward to the greater Prophet who was to come, Jesus Christ, the giver of the Gospel. 

The most obvious parallel between the birth of Moses and the birth of Jesus is the evil king in each instance who cruelly tried, but in vain, to end their lives at the outset.  In the story of Moses’ birth, Pharaoh orders the Hebrew boys to be killed at birth or cast into the Nile River.  After hiding him for three months Moses’ mother does put him in the Nile, but in a basket, floated by the place where an Egyptian princess bathed, with Moses’ sister Miriam watching to see what would happen.  By the way, Miriam is the Hebrew form of the name Mary.  It’s probably not just a coincidence that Moses’ sister, who watched over and protected him, has the same name as Jesus’ mother, who throughout his life, even to the cross, lovingly cared for and watched over him.

In the story of Jesus’ birth, it is King Herod, as we read in today’s Gospel Reading, who orders all the baby boys of Bethlehem to be killed, in an attempt to kill the One the Wise Men from the east said “has been born King of the Jews.”  This is not out of character for Herod, because he killed anyone, including many members of his own family, whom he even suspected was a rival to his throne.  In fact, it is an interesting historical parallel that about the very same time Herod ordered the infants at Bethlehem killed, he also ordered two of his own sons killed because he thought they were plotting his overthrow.  But, like with Moses in the Old Testament, with Jesus in the New Testament, God once again outwits the evil king, and saves his Son with a warning in a dream to his stepfather Joseph.

Today’s Reading from the Book of Acts says, “When Moses was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.”  So, another parallel between Moses and Jesus is that both of them were adopted.  Moses was adopted by a foster mother, the Egyptian princess; Jesus was adopted by Joseph, his earthly foster father. 

The Gospel of Matthew reports, “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’”  Because Joseph was the one who gave Jesus his name, in their culture that meant Joseph had adopted Jesus, and he was considered to be Joseph’s own child. 

As the Gospel of Matthew reports, “He began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?’ they asked.  ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’”

There is an INVERSE parallel between Moses and Jesus in the circumstances of their early home lives and upbringing.  The world’s museums have thousands of artifacts that attest to the sumptuous luxury of the Egyptian royal family.  Egypt at this time was the most powerful and advanced nation on earth, at the peak of its wealth.  There was no more opulent, privileged place to be in the entire world than in the palace of the Egyptian Pharaoh.  Moses was the son of a poor commoner, yet he was raised as one of the most privileged people on earth, as a prince of Egypt, growing up in Pharaoh’s palace, surrounded by what the book of Hebrews describes as “the riches of Egypt.”

On the other hand, Jesus was the eternal King of the whole universe.  But, as St. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”  When the Wise Men came from the east they went first to King Herod’s royal palace at Jerusalem, because that is where the One born king of the Jews SHOULD have been born, in a royal palace, surrounded by luxury.  Instead, he was born in a stable, surrounded by barnyard animals and laid in a feeding trough for an improvised cradle.

Jesus was entitled to be raised like Moses, in a royal palace as a great prince, but instead he was raised by a family so poor they could not afford to offer the proper sacrifice when he was presented at the Temple to be dedicated to the Lord.  For the first few years of his life they were essentially homeless, fleeing from Bethlehem to Egypt, as recorded in today’s Gospel Reading, until they finally settled back in the obscure little village of Nazareth.  There Jesus grew up not in a palace but in a humble home, working in the carpenter shop of his adoptive father Joseph.  Paul puts it this way in Philippians, “Being in very nature God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” 

Both Moses and Jesus were sent by God to free his people from slavery and bring them to the promised land.  The Lord said to Moses from the burning bush, “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey . . .  So now, go. I am sending you.” 

St. Paul says in Galatians, “Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.”  And Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  Just Moses in the Old Testament was sent to free God’s people from slavery in Egypt and bring them out into the promised land of Canaan, Jesus in the New Testament was sent to free God’s people from the slavery of sin, and bring us out of this world into the promised land of heaven.  As St. Paul says in Colossians, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” 

Like paying the purchase price to set a slave free, by his death on the cross Jesus rescued you from hell, purchased your redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  As Revelation says, “With your blood you purchased men for God.” Just as Moses set God’s people free from slavery in Egypt and bought them out into the promised land of Canaan, Jesus sets you free you from the slavery of sin, and will bring you out of this world into the promised land of heaven.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own brothers. . .  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  In the life and work of Moses, the giver of the Law we see a prototype and symbolic picture prophecies, pointing forward to the greater Prophet who was to come, Jesus Christ, the giver of the Gospel