As we continue our tour through the Hebrews 11 “Faith Hall Of Fame” we now stop to look at someone who is surely one of the most important people in the Old Testament. That “someone” is Moses…
“In due season Joseph and each of his brothers died, ending that generation. Meanwhile, their descendants were very fertile, increasing rapidly in numbers; there was a veritable population explosion so that they soon became a large nation, and they filled the land of Goshen. Then, eventually, a new king came to the throne of Egypt who felt no obligation to the descendants of Joseph.
“He told his people, ‘These Israelis are becoming dangerous to us because there are so many of them. Let’s figure out a way to put an end to this. If we don’t, and war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us and escape out of the country.’
So the Egyptians made slaves of them and put brutal taskmasters over them to wear them down under heavy burdens while building the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. But the more the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed them, the more the Israelis seemed to multiply…” (Exodus 1:6-12).
Well, that plan obviously didn’t work so the Egyptian leader came up with an even more wicked idea…
“Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, instructed the Hebrew midwives (their names were Shiphrah and Puah) to kill all Hebrew boys as soon as they were born, but to let the girls live” (Exodus 1:15-16).
So Pharaoh’s solution was to simply take out the source of the “problem” by murdering every male baby born to a Hebrew mother. Now this may have seemed like the perfect solution to Pharaoh but there was one small detail that his plan did not anticipate…
“But the midwives feared God and didn’t obey the king– they let the boys live too. The king summoned them before him and demanded, ‘Why have you disobeyed my command and let the baby boys live?’
‘Sir,’ they told him, ‘the Hebrew women have their babies so quickly that we can’t get there in time! They are not slow like the Egyptian women!’ And God blessed the midwives [because they were God-fearing women]. So the people of Israel continued to multiply and to become a mighty nation” (Exodus 1:17-20).
Foiled again. But Pharaoh was determined not to be stopped despite the midwives’ refusal to carry out his evil order …
“Then Pharaoh commanded all of his people to throw the newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile River. But the girls, he said, could live” (Exodus 1:22).
Apparently Pharaoh thought that since he couldn’t get a couple of midwives to do his dirty work, he’d just turn the job over to everyone in the entire country. So the situation looked pretty hopeless, huh? Well, this is the political situation that Moses was born into and it sets the stage for our look at the next “Hero Of The Faith”…
“There were at this time a Hebrew fellow and girl of the tribe of Levi who married and had a family, and a baby son was born to them. When the baby’s mother saw that he was an unusually beautiful baby, she hid him at home for three months. Then, when she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat from papyrus reeds, waterproofed it with tar, put the baby in it, and laid it among the reeds along the river’s edge. The baby’s sister watched from a distance to see what would happen to him.
“Well, this is what happened: A princess, one of Pharaoh’s daughters, came down to bathe in the river, and as she and her maids were walking along the riverbank, she spied the little boat among the reeds and sent one of the maids to bring it to her. When she opened it, there was a baby! And he was crying. This touched her heart. ‘He must be one of the Hebrew children!’ she said.
“Then the baby’s sister approached the princess and asked her, ‘Shall I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’ ‘Yes, do!’ the princess replied. So the little girl rushed home and called her mother! ‘Take this child home and nurse him for me,’ the princess instructed the baby’s mother, ‘and I will pay you well!’ So she took him home and nursed him.
“Later, when he was older, she brought him back to the princess and he became her son. She named him Moses (meaning “to draw out”) because she had drawn him out of the water” (Exodus 2:1-10).
So here we have a nice story with a happy ending (for the moment, at least), but some of you may be saying this: “If Hebrews 11 is the ‘Faith Hall Of Fame’ then where’s the act of faith here?” Well, to answer that question let’s consider a few things.
First, Moses’ family showed their faith in God just by the act of putting Moses in a waterproof basket and letting him float there in the Nile river. Keep in mind that Pharaoh had ordered every male Hebrew baby to be murdered by throwing them into the river where they would be sure to drown. But instead of just following Pharaoh’s order, Moses’ mother placed herself in personal danger by refusing to follow this unjust law. You see, it takes faith to trust God and do the right thing when others are telling you to do something wrong.
Secondly, once Moses’ mother placed him in that basket and let him go, there was nothing more that she could personally do for him- she had to place her trust totally in God for Moses’ protection. Of course, this kind of faith is not just limited to the people that we see in the Bible; Christians can show this very same kind of faith today, too. It takes faith to trust God to provide help for people when you are no longer in a position to be used by God to help them yourself.
But let’s continue…
“It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be treated as the grandson of the king, but chose to share ill-treatment with God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25).
Moses faithfully made the decision to allow God to direct his life rather than take the easy way of luxury and status that he could have had. After all, as a member of the Egyptian royal family, Moses could have had it all. Moses could have had wealth, privilege and a supermodel girlfriend if he wanted. But he made the choice to reject those things in exchange for following God’s plan for his life…
“He thought that it was better to suffer for the promised Christ than to own all the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking forward to the great reward that God would give him” (Hebrews 11:26).
Moses faithfully made the decision to trade temporary hardships to follow God here on earth in exchange for something a lot better in the future. Moses chose to suffer for the promised Christ in the same sense that Christians do today, for whenever someone suffers for a decision to follow God in faith they are following the ultimate example set by Jesus. For Moses, he was looking forward to Jesus’ example. For us today, we are looking back at Jesus’ example. In fact, Jesus may well have been speaking about someone like Moses when He said this in Matthew 5:11-12…
“When you are reviled and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers– wonderful! Be happy about it! Be very glad! for a tremendous reward awaits you up in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too” (Matthew 5:11-12).
So Moses could have taken the easy road if he wanted but he made the right move and chose to follow God by faith. Because of this, God has chosen to honor him by including him in the Hebrews 11 Faith Hall Of Fame!