In the Beginning…that is a heck of start to a post. I just came up with that. On my own. With no help. Ahem… Anyways…
Humanity fell. It had it made but it believed the lie that God was not enough, that God was not sufficient and humans have been falling for it ever since. God tried to speak to us and all but Noah rejected his truth and so God started over with a flood of water. We found that we wanted to have a relationship with God but we tried to reach God the way we wanted, to do it ourselves, so God destroyed the tower and scattered us across the world.
God tasked Abram with the responsibility of being the father of a chosen people, chosen not for privilege but for purpose. The story continued in Abraham’s son, Isaac, in Isaac’s son, Jacob, and expanded exponentially in the form of Jacob’s 12 sons. Soon the people found themselves foreigners in the strange land of Egypt, cared for by Joseph, but strangers none the less.
And then there came a time when Pharaoh forgot about the service of Joseph and enslaved the people of Israel. Their burden was great and the taskmasters brutal. The powers of the world trying everything they could to establish control over these people. Even birthing a child became an act of rebellion for the Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian midwives to murder the little boys as they came out of the Israelite wombs.
And yet, here we see a picture of great faith. The faith of the Egyptian women who refused to murder those children, even going so far as to lie to the Pharaoh about it. But the threat remained. God’s work is always a threat to the powers of the world.
Moses’ parents, members of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, participated in this rebellion by giving birth to a son. He was placed in a basket and sent off down the river with his sister, Miriam, watching from the reeds. Here again we see faith, we see a great act of rebellion from the very daughter of Pharaoh. She was not so dumb as to not understand that this was an Israelite boy and certainly not so dumb to simply believe that some random girl just happened to be watching from the reeds and that she just happened to know a woman able to nurse the young man. Let us give credit where it is due.
So Moses grows up in a position of privilege. The grandson of the great Pharaoh, the ruler of all the land, a god among his people. Moses’ birthday parties must have been excellent. It also seems that he knew to whom he belonged. After all, he was raised by his Israelite mother and sister. I find it hard to believe that they never impressed upon him the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. One day as he is walking through the land, he sees an overseer beating up some of his people. He hatches a plan, waits for when he thinks he is alone and kills the overseer.
Somehow Pharaoh finds out about this and it seems like the only people who knew where his own Israelite people. Whoops. Moses flees as any self-respecting murderer would.
Moses goes from hunted infant to pampered royalty to herding sheep that he doesn’t even own. While he is running, the people are crying out and God is hearing them.
Humanity fell. It had it made but it believed the lie that God was not enough, that God was not sufficient and humans have been falling for it ever since. God tried to speak to us and all but Noah rejected his truth and so God started over with a flood of water. We found that we wanted to have a relationship with God but we tried to reach God the way we wanted, to do it ourselves, so God destroyed the tower and scattered us across the world.
God tasked Abram with the responsibility of being the father of a chosen people, chosen not for privilege but for purpose. The story continued in Abraham’s son, Isaac, in Isaac’s son, Jacob, and expanded exponentially in the form of Jacob’s 12 sons. Soon the people found themselves foreigners in the strange land of Egypt, cared for by Joseph, but strangers none the less.
And then there came a time when Pharaoh forgot about the service of Joseph and enslaved the people of Israel. Their burden was great and the taskmasters brutal. The powers of the world trying everything they could to establish control over these people. Even birthing a child became an act of rebellion for the Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian midwives to murder the little boys as they came out of the Israelite wombs.
And yet, here we see a picture of great faith. The faith of the Egyptian women who refused to murder those children, even going so far as to lie to the Pharaoh about it. But the threat remained. God’s work is always a threat to the powers of the world.
Moses’ parents, members of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, participated in this rebellion by giving birth to a son. He was placed in a basket and sent off down the river with his sister, Miriam, watching from the reeds. Here again we see faith, we see a great act of rebellion from the very daughter of Pharaoh. She was not so dumb as to not understand that this was an Israelite boy and certainly not so dumb to simply believe that some random girl just happened to be watching from the reeds and that she just happened to know a woman able to nurse the young man. Let us give credit where it is due.
So Moses grows up in a position of privilege. The grandson of the great Pharaoh, the ruler of all the land, a god among his people. Moses’ birthday parties must have been excellent. It also seems that he knew to whom he belonged. After all, he was raised by his Israelite mother and sister. I find it hard to believe that they never impressed upon him the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. One day as he is walking through the land, he sees an overseer beating up some of his people. He hatches a plan, waits for when he thinks he is alone and kills the overseer.
Somehow Pharaoh finds out about this and it seems like the only people who knew where his own Israelite people. Whoops. Moses flees as any self-respecting murderer would.
Moses goes from hunted infant to pampered royalty to herding sheep that he doesn’t even own. While he is running, the people are crying out and God is hearing them.