THE LIVES OF THE PATRIACHS #18 | THE FAITH OF MOSES ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF HEBREWS #1
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3699
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #18
THE FAITH OF MOSES ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF HEBREWS #1
Hebrews 11:27, NLT: "It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible."
Moses left Egypt on two occasions.
The first was when he escaped to Midian after killing an Egyptian.
The second time was when he led God’s people (the Israelites) out of Egypt in the Exodus.
To which incident is Hebrews 11:27 referring to?
1. Some commentators say this verse is about the first time. That was when he had to escape from Egypt alone, in Exodus 2:15.
Moses understood that God wanted him to rescue the Israelites (Acts 7:25). But Moses did not know exactly how God wanted him to do it.
He tried to free his people by human effort. He killed one of the cruel slave-driver who ill-treated the Israelites as slaves.
Moses thought that nobody had seen that event. But he was wrong. Soon everybody knew about it.
Moses quickly realised that his plan to free the Israelites by his own effort had failed.
Exodus 2:14 tells us that he was afraid. But Hebrews 11:27 tells us that he was not afraid of Pharoah’s anger. He was afraid for another reason. He was afraid because he had not served God in a proper manner. He believed that God was sending him to free the Israelites. But he did not even know the first thing that God wanted him to do.
The Pharoah became angry. Moses could not remain in Egypt and so he ran away to Midian.
But God had given him no authority to do that. Moses had acted without God’s authority once, and he must not do it again. He could not expect God to protect him in such circumstances.
That would not be faith; it is the sin (evil deed) called presumption.
The presumption is when we try to achieve God’s purposes, but not by His methods.
Really, we are trying to control God; we are trying to force Him to use our methods. And that is a very wrong thing to do.
Moses could not remain in Egypt and plead with the Pharoah to excuse him. To do that would be to deny what God had shown him.
So Moses left Egypt in faith. In other words, he left because he believed in God. Moses had not seen God, and he did not know God properly yet.
But Moses had chosen to stand firmly on God’s side. And he would wait patiently until God showed him what to do.
He remained in the desert of Midian for 40 years until God spoke to him at the Burning Bush (Exodus chapter 3).
2. Other commentators say the "leaving" mentioned here is that of the Exodus itself.
Moses' role in leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt required him to face the wrath of the Pharaoh.
Instead of shrinking from this duty, Moses obeyed God (Exodus 5:1; 12:40–41).
Conclusion
These two views have equal merits. But the second view seems to be more true to the text.
The author of Hebrews had given examples of faithful obedience leading to God's blessings. Those cases were mostly general, where a willingness to trust God was weighed against an uncertain future.
In this passage, however, we are shown men and women who chose to trust God despite immediate, personal hardships.
Could we say Moses feared God more than Pharoah?
This, as well, is a crucial aspect of faith, which the writer has already defined as a confident trust in God.
True, godly faith is defined as trust, relying on God when looking to the future, and obeying even when we don't fully understand all details even at the cost of being misunderstood and suffering as such.
The great figures of the Old Testament, such as Abraham, Moses, and David, all lived according to this type of faith.
Ultimately, that means trusting God's intent to make good on His promises from an eternal perspective.
The model of faith presented by those people, in light of the struggles they faced, ought to inspire believers towards a more confident, purposeful faith.
