033. XX. Moses’s Childhood And Training
§ XX. MOSES’S CHILDHOOD AND TRAINING
1.Moses’sbirthand concealment. Now a man of the house of Levi had married a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of papyrus reeds, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and after she had put the child in it, she placed it in the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister stood at a distance to learn what would be done to him.
2.Adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, and while her maids were walking along beside the Nile, she saw the ark among the reeds, and sent her waiting-maid to bring it. And when she opened it and saw the child, behold, the baby-boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you wages. Then the woman took the child and nursed it. But when the child had grown up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, for she said, I drew him out of the water.
3. Moses’s murder of an Egyptian. Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his kinsmen and saw their tasks; and he beheld an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one in sight, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
4.Flight from Pharaoh’s court. And he went out on the following day and saw two men of the Hebrews striving together; and he said to the one who was doing the wrong, Why do you smite your fellow- workman? But he replied, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and said, Surely the thing is known. When, therefore, Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and took up his abode in the land of Midian.
5. His life in Midian. Now he was sitting down by a well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. But the shepherds came and drove them away; then Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come so early to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds, and besides, he drew water for us, and watered the flock. Then he said to his daughters, And where is he? why have you left the man? Call him that he may eat bread with us. And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bore a son, and she called his name Gershom [An alien resident there]; for he said, I have been an alien resident in a foreign land.
I.The Moses Stories. With the second chapter of Exodus the narrative ceases to be a record of national experiences and again becomes a personal biography. Moses, however, stands as the representative of his age. Simply and with superlative dramatic power the narrative records the different stages in the training of the prophet. Poetic and prophetic imagination may have supplied the details in these wonderful stories; but the narratives themselves are in perfect harmony with conditions of the age. Stories regarding the birth of a great hero usually spring last into existence. The exquisite story of the birth of Moses was apparently not known to the earliest historians, for it is found only in the Northern Israelite group of narratives; but it is in harmony with the other facts in Moses’s life.
II.Moses’s Birth and Early Training. The prophetic tradition associates Moses with the tribe of Levi, which figures in later history as the tribe especially devoted to the care of the sanctuaries and of Jehovah’s oracles. A very late priestly tradition also adds that Moses was the fourth in the line from Levi, the son of a certain Amram and Jochebed. The modem reader shares the fear of the mother, the keen interest of the watching sister, and the sense of relief and joy when the Hebrew baby is received into the palace of the Pharaohs and entrusted to the tender care of his own mother. Although the Old Testament histories do not record the fact, the statement in Acts 7:22 that Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians is in perfect accord with the implications of the story. Opportunity was thus given for the future prophet to become intimately acquainted with the policy and character of the reigning house of Egypt and to note the oppression of his people and to estimate intelligently the possibilities of their deliverance. Moses’s life in the Egyptian court also gave him that training and knowledge which were essential to his work as the leader of an infant nation.
III.The Great Crisis in Moses’s Life. The great crisis in Moses’s life came to him unexpectedly. The event proved, however, that he was not unprepared to meet it. The temptation to luxury and to a false view of life, which were strong in the court of the Egyptians, had not dulled his sense of justice and loyalty to his race or his power to act. Judged by the laws of Egypt, his slaying of the Egyptian taskmaster was a crime. Measured by the universal laws which must govern men or nations at great critical moments in their history, when the issue is clear between intrenched injustice and the rights of classes or of the individual, Moses’s act was akin to that of the great patriots of the past and the present who have taken the sword to deliver their people from the hands of tyrants. His act may be condemned as hasty. In its immediate results it was as fruitless, as is every hasty and intemperate attempt to right a wrong by violence. It was significant, however, because it allied Moses definitely with his kinsmen. It also marked an important step in the making of the prophet. The great need, which is the first essential in the call of a prophet, had been clearly revealed to him, and he had responded to the call. Henceforth he was committed to the greater task of freeing his kinsmen from that oppression which had aroused his youthful wrath. With him it was a question of further training in knowledge and method. These came in the new field of experience which opened to him as he fled a fugitive out into the wilderness.
IV.The Origin of the Jehovah Religion. Although it is not definitely stated, it is probable that he followed the great highway which runs from the Isthmus of Suez to the eastern arm of the Red Sea. He fled back to those nomad tribes on the border of Edom, which appear to have shared with his ancestors the worship of the same God. This conclusion is confirmed by the readiness with which he was received, even as Jacob of the patriarchal stories, by the Midianite chieftain, who soon adopted him as a member of his own family. In the early Judean narrative, this father-in-law of Moses bears the name of Hobab or Reuel, but in Northern Israelite stories he is known by the more familiar name of Jethro. The Midianites were a nomadic people who appeared sometimes to the southeast and sometimes to the east of Palestine. In general, however, they ranged up and down east of Edom and the eastern arm of the Red Sea. In the subsequent narratives Jethro is still further identified as a Kenite. In the earliest Hebrew traditions the Kenites figure as worshippers of Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. The clear implication of these early narratives is that Moses worshipped the God of these local Midianite tribes, and from that God received the message which made him the prophetic leader of his people. From these facts the conclusion has been drawn by recent writers that Moses for the first time there learned of the new God, whom he worshipped and later proclaimed as the true God and deliverer of his kinsmen in Egypt. It has been urged that the religion of the Hebrews was unique, primarily because at the exodus they were delivered by this newly revealed God, and then that the debt of gratitude which they therefore felt was the basis of their national faith. While this inference is not impossible, it is only a conjecture, and not altogether satisfactory. At this early period the different tribes in southwestern Arabia, and especially to the south of Canaan, appear to have been closely bound together by tradition, custom and religious belief. This fact is definitely and repeatedly stated in the patriarchal stories. It is also difficult to conceive of a group of clans, like the Hebrews in Egypt, suddenly adopting the worship of a hitherto unknown god. It seems more probable, therefore, that Moses only appealed to the faith of his clansmen, which had perhaps been dimmed by the long and painful contact with the dominating civilization of Egypt. If this is true, Moses’s experiences in Midian, as the subsequent stories imply, meant simply that revival of his own faith in the God of his race, which was essential to his great prophetic work.
V.Influence of the Wilderness Life upon Moses. The wilderness, with its barren wastes, its solitude, its rocky heights, its sense of dependence, ever intensified by the paucity of food and water, was well fitted to develop the religious instincts of the youthful fugitive. The close communication between Midian and the land of Egypt also enabled him to keep in constant touch with the needs of his kinsmen. In the quiet of the wilderness the great need, the divine message and the man to deliver it came together, and thus a prophet was born.
VI.Aim and Teachings of the Stories. The primary aim of these stories is historical and biographical; but the truths which they illustrate find their basis in universal human experience. Even if tradition has contributed certain details to these fascinating narratives, they remain absolutely true to life. They reveal the working of the divine Providence which overrules for good the most cruel and despotic plans of men. (1) The seemingly trivial accidents of life are important factors in the realizing of God’s purpose in the lives of men and nations. (2) The blow struck hastily and in anger, even in behalf of a righteous cause, is usually futile. (3) The recognition of a crying public need is the first element in a prophet’s call. (4) Long and special training is required for every great service. (5) Opportunities for training come to each man whose spirit is right. (6) These opportunities lie along the ordinary paths of life.