Doing GOD’S Work OUR OWN Way!

Exodus 2 

Moses 

Lorraine Day, M.D.

 

1 “And there went a man from the house of Levi, and took as a wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw that he was good, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could no longer hide him, she made for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with asphalt and with pitch, and put the child therein: and she laid it in the reeds, by the river’s edge.

4 And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, and her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.

6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold the boy was crying, and she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?”

8 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.”  So the girl went and called the child’s mother.

9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I shall give you your wages.”  So the woman took the child and nursed him.

10 And the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son, and she named him Moses and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

In Exodus, Chapter 1, Pharaoh had tried two types of genocide against those who believed in God to eliminate them: 

1)    Pharaoh first tried to use forced abortion, something akin to the present-day partial birth abortion because he called in the two apparently head Hebrew midwives and gave them the following command:  (Exodus 1)

16 And he (Pharaoh) said, When you go to the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the (delivering) stools: if it be a son, then you shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they bear quickly and are easily delivered before the midwives come in unto them.

Exodus 1:7 tells us, “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly and multiplied and became very numerous; and the land was filled with them.”

Notice that the Israelite women, who were eating and living very differently from the Egyptian women, were more fertile and had easier pregnancies and deliveries than the Egyptians.

God tells us in Deuteronomy 7:11-15, “ If you follow My Laws (including His Ten Natural Health Laws), My Commandments (ALL Ten of Them), and My decrees (including, “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you” and “Forgive 70 times 7 – everyone who has ever wronged you) . . . NONE of you will be barren.”

The Israelite women were reaping the happy results of their totally different way of life.

2)    When forced abortion did not work, Pharaoh decided on infanticide.  His next order was to drown all the male Israelite babies in the Nile River.

And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.  Exodus 1:22

Not much has changed.  Tyrants and totalitarian governments are continuing with the same policies.  The Pol Pot regime in Cambodia practiced this kind of brutality, and today in China this is going on.

On August 24, 2000, the London Times reported the following:

“China has been shaken by one of the most horrifying cases of official infanticide in recent memory, after family planners drowned a healthy baby in front of it’s parents.  The actions of the officials in the village of Kideon in the central Hubay Province carried out as a part of China’s one child policy caused a public outcry which forced the Hubay government to pledge that those responsible would be punished.  A rarity in such cases.

“The baby’s mother, identified by Chinese newspapers as  Mrs. Lu, was expecting her fourth child.  Couples in the countryside where 70% of China’s people live, often have more than one child without punishment despite the one-child policy.  But in Mrs. Lu’s case, she was forcibly injected with a saline solution to induce labor and kill the child.  However, the baby was born healthy to the surprise of the family planning officials, who had ordered the injection, which ordinarily destroys an infant’s nervous system.

“Immediately after the birth, they ordered the father to kill the child outside the hospital.  He refused to obey, but was so scared of further punishment that he left the crying baby behind in an office building where it was found by a doctor shortly afterwards.

“The doctor took the baby back to the hospital, reunited it with its mother, and he removed the umbilical cord, administered vaccinations and sent the family home.

“Five officials were waiting for them in their living room.  During an ensuing argument, the officials grabbed the baby, dragged it out of the house and drowned it in a paddy field in front of its parents.”

The London Times goes on to say, “Predictably the Chinese government has denied this.  They have said this is not true.  They merely carried out a forced sterilization.

As horrible as this sounds to Americans, this policy will soon be implemented here.  The same Masters, the Zionist Jews, that control China and its money supply, control the U. S. and its money supply.

God prepares to save His people through the birth of a baby boy.

Remember, the male Hebrew children were to be thrown into the Nile. Moses’ mother, indeed, “threw” her baby boy into the Nile River, as Pharaoh had ordered, but she added a “twist.”  She placed Moses in an ark (a wicker basket), called by the same name, tebah in the Hebrew (#8392 in Strong’s Concordance),  as was used for the ark made by Noah.

Moses’ mother covered the ark with pitch and bitumen just like the ark that God had instructed Noah to build.  Noah and Moses both go through watery ordeals which they survive and serve as representatives and leaders of God’s people.

Over and over in the story of redemption, God will bring about rescue for His people through the birth of children to people in obscure situations, whether it be Samson or Samuel or David or Jesus.

God uses the “weak” to thwart the evil plans of the mighty!

Pharaoh, probably the mightiest ruler on the earth at the time, had ordered the drowning of all the male Israelite babies.  But Pharaoh’s haughty plans were thwarted by those considered to be the weakest – three women: Moses’ mother, Moses’ sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter.

Over and over God displays His sovereign power and His delight to use that which seems foolish and weak in the eyes of men to bring about His will.

Pharaoh, the presumptive destroyer of the Israelites, nurtures in his own household the actual physical “saviour” of the Israelites.

Pharaoh, who wanted to keep the Israelites in submission, eventually nurtured and educated, in his own household, the human deliverer of Israel.  This is truly remarkable evidence of the irony of God.

Pharaoh’s daughter even pays Moses’ mother to nurse her own son.  Another example of God’s wondrous sovereignty.  In verse 8 this Hebrew girl’s suggestion (Moses’ sister) actually prevails with the princess of Egypt.  Pharaoh’s daughter pays the mother of Moses to do that which is the desire of her heart – nurture her own son.

The name given by Pharaoh’s daughter to Moses means to draw out in Hebrew.  She drew him out of the river reeds.  But Moses eventually drew the children of Israel out of the sea of reeds, when they were crossing the Red Sea.  God has a sense of humor.  The name given to Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter meant much more than she understood.  God is sovereign.

Think of all the ironies setting forth the sovereignty of God in this great passage.

“Pharaoh appoints the waters of the Nile River as his means of destruction of the Children of Israel.  But God uses the waters of the Nile as the means of Moses’ salvation.

“A daughter who Pharaoh allowed to live, the sister of Moses, is used to thwart Pharaoh’s plan.

“Moses’ mother saves him by following Pharaoh’s orders for his destruction, slightly modified.

“One of Pharaoh’s own family members undermines his plan and saves the very person who is going to be used to liberate Israel from Egypt.

“An Egyptian princess takes the advice of a Hebrew slave girl.  Moses’ mother is paid to do what she wants to do most in the world, and she has done so out of Pharaoh’s treasury.

“Moses is prepared to be a leader of these people by being placed into the very court of Pharaoh.  And the boy is given a name that means more than that princess ever knew.

“Three women - the mother of Moses, the sister of Moses, and the daughter of Pharaoh – foil Pharaoh and redeem the redeemer.”  J. L. Duncan, Ph.D., The Deliverer Delivered, 10/8/2000.

Moses:  Doing God’s work his OWN way

11 Now it came about in those days when Moses had grown up that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And so he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 

13 And he went out the next day, and behold two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?”

14 But he said, Who made you a prince or a judge over us?  Are you intending to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?  Then Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely the matter has become known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian.

“The first chapter of Exodus reminds us that the requirements and blessings of God’s creation, the mandates, the commands, the ordinances that He gave in creation are still part of God’s plan of redemption. 

“Redemption and creation are linked in Exodus 1 by a repetition, for instance, of the fact that the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly.  Those same words were spoken in Genesis 1.  The language comes from the creation ordinances of marriage and procreation and indicates that even though God’s people were oppressed, God’s hand of blessing was upon them.”  Ibid.

Creation and Redemption are also linked by God in the Seventh-day Sabbath, as noted in the Fourth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and again repeated in Deuteronomy 5.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour and do all they work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

For in six days the Lord made (created) heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it (made it holy).  Exodus 20:8-11

The Seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of God’s Creation of the World!

Keep the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord thy God has commanded thee.  Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence (redemption from slavery) through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm, therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”  Deuteronomy 5:12-15

The Seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of God’s Redemption (Re-Creation) of the World from sin (symbolized by “Egypt”)!

 

Moses Recognizes God’s call to deliver the Israelites – but Responds in HIS way – NOT God’s way

In verses 11 and 12, Moses senses a call to be the deliverer of God’s people, the Israelites, and thus encounters the Egyptian.  We are not just reading this into the text.  The book of Acts, chapter 7 confirms this through Stephen who is re-telling this story.  He makes it clear that Moses sensed a call to be the deliverer of his people.

As Stephen is brought up before the authorities on false charges, he recounts the history of Israel, telling those who will soon stone him to death, that they are the murderers of Christ.

“In which time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:

And when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him as her own son.

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote (and killed) the Egyptian.

For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not.” 

Acts 7:20-25

Moses heard the call of God that he (Moses) was to deliver God’s people, the Israelites.  But he did not ask God for continued instruction.  Moses did not ask God HOW he should deliver God’s people!

Moses set out to do GOD’S work in his OWN way.

Moses was the equivalent of the Secretary of Defense in Pharaoh’s government.  Apparently he was a skilled warrior and war strategist.  Moses, unfortunately, decided on his OWN way to deliver the Israelites – by murdering an Egyptian

But that was Moses’ way - - NOT God’s way. 

Moses’ crime was witnessed and Pharaoh called for Moses to be slain.  Moses was afraid – and fled – to Midian, where he was a stranger in the land.

In Egypt, the Israelites had been strangers in the land, but not so for Moses.  Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household as an insider in the government.  Now Moses had to understand what it was like to be a stranger – an alien – in the land.  In fact, Moses named his first child, Gershom, which means “sojourner or temporary dweller” – essentially, stranger in the land.

Moses tried to do God’s work his own way, and it ended in disaster for Moses.  He paid a price of forty years in exile in the wilderness.  But when Moses was eighty years old, when his warrior days were over, when he had learned to lead sheep in the pasture, when God had humbled him, when Moses was ready to follow God’s instructions rather than his own ideas, THEN God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

But it still took a lifetime, until Moses was 120 years old, for him to learn fully that we must do things GOD’S way and NOT our own.

Moses set up an Organization – on Jethro’s (NOT God’s) advice

Another example of Moses’ folly of following his own ideas, instead of God’s direction, is revealed by Moses setting up an organization.  This suggestion came from his father-in-law, Jethro – and NOT from God!  We have no Biblical evidence that Moses asked God for His direction.  Instead, he implemented the suggestion of Jethro, his father in law, on his own.

God had picked Moses as His man.  God had NOT picked Jethro to give advice to Moses, and God had NOT picked the men that Moses, at Jethro’s insistence, picked to assist Moses.

Another “perfect” example of Moses doing GOD’S work in his OWN way!

 

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.

And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, “What is this thing that thou doest to the people?  Why do you sit alone as judge, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening?

And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God;

When they have a difficulty, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and His laws.

And Moses’ father in law said unto him, “The thing that thou doest is not good.

Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee” for this thing is too hard for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

(Notice, it is Jethro talking – and NOT God!  God says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”  Jethro says, “This is too hard for you.”)

Hearken now unto MY voice (says Jethro), I will give you advice, and God shall be with you. . .

(That’s a lot of chutzpah on Jethro’s part.  Jethro is giving the advice, and promising that GOD will bless Jethro’s advice!)

“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto you, but every small matter they shall judge, so it shall be easier for you, and they shall bear the burden with you. . .

So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law (NOT God!) and did all that he (Jethro) had said.”  Exodus 18:13-24

Even this was not enough to teach Moses that he must do God’s work, God’s way.  Moses had to suffer yet another severe lesson, one that would keep him out of the Promised Land.

Moses HITS the Rock

Throughout the years in the wilderness, the Israelites were always complaining (murmuring) and accusing Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the desert.  When they were thirsty, God told Moses to hit the rock with his rod and water would come forth for the people.  Moses did so, and the people’s thirst was quenched.

This was to symbolize Jesus, the Rock, being crucified ONCE, and delivering the Water of Life to the whole world.

Later in their travels through the wilderness, the Israelites were again without water and again, began complaining.  God told Moses this time, to speak to the rock, and water would be given.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him.

And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, “Hear now ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?  (God, not Moses and Aaron, was responsible for the miracle of the water from the rock!)

And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.  Numbers 20:7-11

Moses – again - did GOD’S work his OWN way. 

Instead of speaking to the rock, as God had directed, Moses, out of anger, smote the rock – twice – and thus misrepresented God’s character of love. 

In addition, Moses demeaned Christ’s coming sacrifice – Christ’s crucifixion on the cross – just ONCE – for all mankind.  Animal sacrifices for sin had to be performed over and over again, but when Christ was to come, He would die ONLY ONCE – for ALL mankind.  Moses, again, misrepresented Christ and His coming sacrifice.

Because of this grave sin – the misrepresentation of God’s character and the future sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, Moses and Aaron were not allowed, after forty years in the wilderness, to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”  Numbers 20:12

And all the pleading and confession of Moses could not change God’s mind.  Moses would have to die without entering the Promised Land.

The Moral of this Story – and ALL those to follow in this study?

We must ALWAYS take our instructions directly from God – and NOT from our fellow man.

 

Abraham

The great patriarch, Abraham, revealed many instances of doing GOD’S work his OWN way:

1.    He listened to his WIFE (humanity) rather than listening to GOD, when he tried to “help God out” in giving Abraham a son.  At Sarah’s suggestion,
Abraham committed adultery with Hagar, Sarah’s maid, who became pregnant with Ishmael.

Abraham had to pay a terrible price for that sin.  He had to send his first-born son away, apparently never to see him again.

2.    When Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt to avoid the famine in Canaan

(showing their complete lack of faith that God could provide food for them in the land to which he had led them), he lied about Sarah being his sister.  This shows again, his LACK of trust in the Lord’s ability to protect both Abraham and Sarah while they were in Egypt.

3.    God asked Abraham to offer Isaac as an “ASCENT” offering (always MIS translated in the Bible as a “burnt” offering).  Since animal “ascent” offerings were always burned on the altar, Abraham, being an extremely new and primitive “believer” in God, ASSUMED incorrectly that God wanted Abraham to literally sacrifice his son, Isaac, by binding Isaac to the sacrificial altar, stabbing him to death, then burning him with fire.

It was PAGAN gods that required human sacrifice.  God NEVER wanted that, and has stated so in the Bible.

Jer 19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire [for] burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake [it], neither came [it] into my mind:

Jer 32:35 And they built the high places of Baal, which [are] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through [the fire] unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

God wants us to present our bodies a “LIVING sacrifice” to God – NOT a burned-up  DEAD sacrifice!

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.

 

Paul took his instructions DIRECTLY from God – and NOT from his friends,  relatives, or ANY other person – including the apostles in Jerusalem!

When Paul was on the road to Damascus and the Lord appeared to Him, blinding him and calling Paul to be God’s messenger, Paul stated, when recounting this incident:

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace,

To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen (unbelievers); immediately I conferred NOT with flesh and blood:

Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia . . . (where God taught Paul directly)

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.  Galatians 1:15-18

 

Paul took his orders DIRECTLY from God and NOT from “man.”

Later on, Paul failed to take his orders directly from God.  He compromised, and agreed to take orders from James, the leader of the false “church” in Jerusalem.  This failure on Paul’s part led directly to his death in Rome 

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly

And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. . .

Then they declared to Paul, Thou seest, brother how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law;

And they are informed of thee, that you teach all the Jews that are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

What is it therefore? The multitude must certainly come together; for they will hear that you have come.

Do therefore what WE SAY TO YOU:  We have four men that have a vow on them;

Them take, and purify thyself with them, and pay their expenses, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also are walking orderly, and keeping the law.  Acts 21:17-24

It was this very incident, when Paul took his directions from “man” – James – and NOT from God, that eventually led to Paul’s death!

Peter ALSO tried to do GOD’S work his OWN way!  He picked the 12^th Apostle!

After Jesus' resurrection and ascension to heaven, Peter and the others stayed in Jerusalem as Jesus had told them to do, studying and praying. 

What did Peter do? Acts 1:15-26

Answer:  Peter, of his own accord, decided to take over what Jesus had done - and was still going to do - and Peter chose the 12th disciple to replace Judas Iscariot who had hanged himself.   

Who told Peter to do that?

Answer:  NO ONE!  Certainly Peter got NO authority from Jesus to do it.  Peter took the job upon himself and decided to do Christ's work for Christ.  (Note:  Jesus Christ is perfectly capable of making HIs OWN plans and picking His OWN people.  He doesn't need Peter's help!) 

What perverse method was used to pick Matthias?

Answer:  They gambled!  They cast lots.

Who picked the first twelve disciples?

Answer:  Jesus, Himself. 

Who picked the REAL replacement for Judas?

Answer:  Jesus Christ, Himself 

Who was it?  (It was NOT Matthias?)

Answer:  It was Saul of Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul.  Jesus personally picked Saul/Paul while Paul was on the Road to Damascus.

This shows that Jesus Christ did NOT authorize Peter to take over Christ's job of choosing people.  Jesus Christ is the ONLY one qualified to pick His people.  Neither Peter nor ANY man-made church or religious authority has the right to do the choosing.  Only Christ is capable of choosing His "Called Ones."

 

Conclusion:  We must keep our eyes on Jesus, and take our instructions DIRECTLY from Him – and NOT from “man.”

 

What is the Moral of ALL These Stories – even from the great human “giants” of the Bible?

We must ALWAYS take our instructions directly from God – and NOT from our fellow man.  We must trust God and His ways, rather than “man” and his ways.

“The wisdom of this world is FOOLISHNESS with God.” 1 Corinthians 3:19

”We ought to obey God rather than man.” Acts 5:29