Moses' Faith - Pharaoah's Unbelief

Vol 2 - No 9, June 18, 2005

Moses' faith / Pharaoh's unbelief - Part 3:

Our last study focused on Pharaoh's response to the Word of God. Here we examine the faith of Moses, who was about 80 years old when the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ spoke to him from a burning bush while he tended sheep at Mt. Sinai - Exodus 3:1 - 101 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

& John 1:11 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

, 2 & 14. The Lord said He had seen the affliction of His people; He had heard their cry; He knew their sorrows, Exodus 3:77 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

; He would deliver them out of slavery in Egypt; He would take them to a good and large land flowing with milk and honey, verse 8; and He was sending Moses to bring His people out, verse 10. Moses was told what to expect; that Pharaoh would not at first let Israel go but after God smote Egypt with all His wondrous works Pharaoh would finally do so and the Israelites would leave Egypt with many riches donated to them by the Egyptians. - Exodus 3:19 - 2219 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

. At the time this happened there is no evidence Moses had planed to return to Egypt and there is no indication anyone from Israel had asked for his help or formed a committee to research the problem. The entire scenario was at the initiative of the Lord, who said what was going to happen and then accomplished what He said.

Although Moses questioned God occasionally he ultimately did exactly as instructed. With Aaron's help he confronted the contentious Egyptian king a number of times requesting Israel be let go and warned of the coming plagues. They held a rod to the heavens or threw ashes into the air, bringing on the plagues. And even though Pharaoh consistently reneged on his word it was at his request that Moses prayed to God on four (4) occasions (during the plagues of frogs, flies, hail/fire storm and locusts) that the plagues stop - Exodus 5 - 10. In all this Moses obeyed God by faith in His Word and at the same time recognized and respected Pharaoh as his earthly superior. Finally, after the last plague of darkness Pharaoh warned Moses to take heed because the next time Moses saw his face Moses would die. Moses responded that indeed he would not see Pharaoh's face again - Exodus 10:28 & 2928 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.

. (As it turned out Pharaoh was the one who died at their next encounter.)

Moses was then given instructions from God for the Passover feast and Israel's exodus. The Hebrews followed God's Word as revealed to Moses by killing the Passover lamb, displaying the blood thereof on their door posts and eating the lamb. Then they waited in their houses fully prepared to leave while the Lord passed over Egypt and killed the firstborn of all Egyptian men and beasts. To Israel the Passover was salvation from slavery and death but to Egypt it was condemnation to death, and therein it was a type of what God subsequently accomplished on the cross in the Person of Jesus Christ and what He ultimately will do at the end of this age when Israel is finally delivered from bondage and sin and the world is judged for its sin.

Death has a way of getting the attention of those who are left and when it struck Pharaoh's firstborn he was no exception. He sent word to Moses that Israel should leave in haste to serve their Lord - Exodus 11:1 - 12:33. Moses was highly esteemed and respected in Egypt, which is not surprising after having presided over the fearsome plagues and God gave Israel favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Thus the Egyptians gladly gave their gold, silver and clothing to the Hebrews when asked, which could be considered as partial payment for all the work they had done as slaves - Exodus 11:3 & 12:35 & 36. Bible commentaries have estimated a total of 2