Echoes of Transformation: Moses' Journey From Prince to Prophet

Music Twitter channel and I hope you enjoyed this movie. Welcome back to our Ancient Future story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to share with you another story today. Today we are continuing our story of Moses. When we left off last time, moses was a baby nursed by his own mother, and when he was winged he was brought to the palace to be raised by Pharaoh's daughter herself. But today we will meet Moses as a young man, one with authority in all, the power of Egypt at his fingertips, and yet he still had compassion for the Israelite people who were still suffering in slavery. So grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into the story of Moses. Our story opens with one day when Moses was grown up, he went out to check on the Hebrews in places of service, in the fields and construction sites when he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrews. Moses looked around and seen no one. He struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw the Hebrews fighting with one another. So he walked over to them and asked the one fighting why are you struggling with your companion? And his response is my favorite thing who made you prince and judge over us? It's like who died and made you king, and it just makes me laugh. Anyway, he goes on to challenge Moses and say are you going to kill me like? You killed the Egyptian Moses, knowing he was caught and that someone saw him. He was afraid, and rightly so, because when word got back to Pharaoh about what Moses had done, he ordered him dead. So Moses fled from Egypt, from Pharaoh and from the only place he had ever known, and ran into the wilderness of Midian and sat down at a well. Now there was a priest in Midian who had seven daughters who had come to the well to gather water for their father's flocks, but the shepherds had driven them away from the well. Moses, seeing this, could not stand by and watch this happen, so he stood up and watered the flock for them. This ran home to tell their father of the man who helped them at the well, saying an Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock. Their father, amazed, asked them where is he? Why did you leave him at the well? Go get him so we may eat together. So Moses came to the house and was content to dwell there with him. The father gave Moses his daughter, zipporah, as a wife, and she gave birth to a son whom Moses named Gershom, because he said I have been a sojourner in the foreign land. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Pharaoh who was seeking Moses' life had died, but the people of Israel still grown daily, for their labor was difficult, but Yahweh heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with their forefathers, abraham, isaac and Jacob. Yahweh saw the Israelites and he knew what was happening to them. And that is where our story ends, for today the people of Israel seemingly lost, without hope, and Moses is building a life in a foreign land, away from everything he has ever known. But the story is not over. Next time we will see Yahweh reveal himself to Moses and unleash his plan to rescue the people of Israel. If you grew up in church, you have probably heard this story many, many times. It's basically the staple VBS story. But I think there are a few things that are important for us to know and that will help shape the context of the story for us. The first location Our story takes place primarily in Egypt, but then in Midian. According to Acts 723, moses was 40 years old. Moses was 40 years old when this story took place. So, going off of our early and late dates of the Exodus, we will see the different scenarios that could have faced Moses at this time. If we go with the early date of the Exodus of 1446 BC, then add 40 years of life to Moses, because we know he was 80 years old at the Exodus. So we add 40 to 1446 and get 1486 BC. So that means during the story, the Pharaoh would have been Tutmost the first, the same man that wanted to kill the Hebrew boys in the Nile. The same man whose young daughter pulled Moses out of the Nile. And now the same man wants to kill Moses for the second time, but with good reason, because he killed one of their own in cold blood in broad daylight. However, if we go with the late date of the Exodus of 1275 BC, then add 40 years of Moses' life, we get 1305 BC, which would put a new Pharaoh on the throne, king Horimhib, who would have known Moses from the palace. His father, king I, was the nephew of Amenhotep III, the father husband of Siddharth Moon, the daughter who found Moses in the Nile. Historical fun fact, king Horimhib started as the commander of the boy king, king Tut's army, but after King Tut suspiciously died, I took over as next in line for the throne. King Horimhib also had good reason to want to kill Moses for killing one of their own. As per Egyptian law, moses were to be sentenced to death and the advisor of Pharaoh's house would determine how to execute the murderer. Our other location is Midian, which is located east of the Sinai Peninsula, roughly 400 miles from the palace in Egypt, so averaging about 20 miles per day. It would have taken Moses roughly 20 days to reach Midian. But before we get there, let's take a minute and talk about this journey. Egypt is this lush land because of the Nile, but the Sinai Peninsula was all desert and he had to cross it quickly because the Egyptians were chasing him. But why Midian? Why not go upward toward Canaan? Well, at this time, either early or late, moses is living in the new kingdom of Egypt and during the new kingdom, the empire spanned from modern-day Sudan up through Canaan and modern-day Syria, almost to the Turkey border. So in order for Moses to be truly free from the Egyptians, he had to leave the empire and flee into the desert. But when he arrived, he found herdsmen like his family who owned livestock. Historical fun fact the Midian knights are considered one of the earliest tribes of Arabia. Their ancestor, midian, was the son of Abraham and his second wife, kachura, according to Genesis 25, 1-6. So what this means for us is Moses didn't just find some random people. He found his distant cousins and settled with them. The next thing I think is interesting about this story is the position of power Moses holds now when we open our story. He is a grown man, a man who grew up in the palace with all the privileges of the son of Pharaoh, which means he was likely trained to be the next Pharaoh, especially with the early date of Queen Hetshepsut, because her father took most of the first to not have any sons with his primary wife, amos, which means any son Hetshepsut had was the rightful heir to the throne. So it is likely he was educated and was given responsibilities around the empire. Likely checking on slaves and ensuring they were staying on task was one of these responsibilities. Same with the late date, cidamoon likely never consummated the marriage with her father, so she had no sons, but by adopting Moses she had an heir that was in the royal family. It's possible that Moses grew up with the boy King Tut, and if that's true, then Moses was only around 30 when King Tut died, so it's possible he was put in the running to be the next Pharaoh because he was the adopted son of Amenhotep III and Cidamoon. Again, he probably was in training to lead. He had access to Egyptian education and responsibilities, so going out to check on the slaves and the building operations is not too far out of the question. The last thing I think is important for us to take note of is the way Moses handled the well in water when he arrived in Midian. This story should look similar to you, because it is what the servant of Abraham did when he went to find a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24. It is also what Jacob did when he met Rachel in Genesis 29. It is an overwhelming act of hospitality to give an entire herd water. But just as Abraham's servant and Jacob found favor with the owners of those herds, moses found favor with the priest of Midian, who responds to his kindness was giving his daughters a pora to him in marriage. But I also love that the daughters of the priest of Midian described Moses not as a Hebrew but as an Egyptian, which means he must have looked like an Egyptian, which makes sense, since he was living in the palace and being trained in the way of Pharaoh. So what does our story have to tell us about God? Every time we gather together, we will hear a story from scripture, and we will take time to see what the story tells us about Yahweh. In today's story, we learn that Yahweh hears the groans of his people. God didn't just stand by and let his people suffer. Instead, he raised someone up who could pull them out of Egypt, so that they would know that he is the God of their forefathers, who promised them the land of Canaan. And even though Moses had left the palace and went into the wilderness and had not yet had his encounter with God, god was still working in his life even in those moments. But y'all, if he can do it for them, he can do it for us too. Sometimes we find ourselves in life situations where we are in pain and suffering and God hears the cries of our hearts. He has not forgotten you and me. Instead, he's still actively working to make his promises a reality. So before we go, I want to spend our time together by reading scripture, from which our story comes from today, exodus chapter 2. I hope that as we read the story together in light of everything that we have just learned, that this story would be illuminated for you in a new way. Let's read One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling it together and he said to the man in the wrong why do you strike your companion? And he answered who made you prince and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought surely this thing is known. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock. When they came home to their father, he said how is it that you have come home so soon today? They said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock. He said to his daughters Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him that we may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave Moses his daughter, sephora. She gave birth to a son and he called his name Gershom for, he said, I have been sojourner in the foreign land During those many days. The king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Thank you for listening to today's episode of our HM Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me. Vic Harmon Music is embarking on an adventure by Evan McDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us and if you want more info or want to dive deeper, check out our website at our ancientfuturestorycom. See you next time. Bye.