#18 2:1-3 Protection of the Human Deliverer Part A

Part 4: Introduction to the Human Deliverer

I. The Story of Redemption: Chapters 1-13:16

A. The Human Deliverer Chapters 2-4

We now move into a consideration of chapters 2–4, where we will meet and come to know a great deal more about Moses, the servant of God.

Moses’ life breaks clearly into three 40-year periods. We will use the following labels for these segments of his life:

The First Forty Years: The Years of Divine Protection (Exodus 2:1-15)

The Second Forty Years: The Years of Divine Preparation (Exodus 2:16-4:17)

The Third Forty Years: The Years of Divine Power (Exodus 4:18-Deuteronomy)

We begin with the Years of Divine Protection, as they are revealed in Exodus 2:1-15. God worked to protect Moses during these years in a number of clear ways, as we can see from the passage.

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

In the first three verses of this passage, we can easily see the first way that God worked to protect Moses from his birth: God worked through Moses’ parents to protect him. They were fully aware of Pharaoh’s command that all of the male babies born to the Hebrew women were to be put to death. Nevertheless, they refused to align with his command at the birth of Moses, choosing instead to hide him “at home” for three months. (Verses 1-4)

When he had grown to a point that he could no longer be hidden adequately, they cast him entirely upon the goodness and mercy of God. (Verses 3-4) Were they just “hoping for the best?” Hebrews 11:23 makes it clear that such was not the case.

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

Pay particular attention to the words at the very beginning of this verse, “By faith.” Moses’ parents did not hide him with their fingers crossed, hoping against hope that maybe God would “do something.” Romans 10:17 plainly teaches us that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Moses’ parents exercised faith in hiding Moses because they had received God’s clear word that He would protect the baby!

Notice also in Hebrews 11:23 that we are told that they “were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” We do well to remember at all times that the King with Whom we have to do is infinitely greater than any and all earthly kings. Those that align by faith with the LORD Jesus Christ are serving the King of all kings. In Joshua 24:14 Joshua commands the people to “put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt.” While the majority of the Hebrew people did serve other gods in Egypt, clearly not all of them did. Faith never merely aligns with the majority.

If we seek to “hide” our children from Egyptian (worldly) influence, we must seek God’s clear words about it, and place emphatic faith in His promises. To others it may seem almost as if we are “hiding them in an ark in the bulrushes.” But what is that to us? We trust the true King, and simply obey what He tells us (through His Word) to do.