Ex. 2:23-3:1, Num. 11:10-12, God’s Burden for Israel

Remember the Apostle Paul, how he considered all the great things he accomplished in Judaism as in the loss column because he only want that which was by faith (Phil. 3:4-11)?  Moses had not left behind the power of his position as an adolescent in the house of Pharoah.  He was powerful, but God was not in it (Ac. 7:22).  Thus, he was destined to fail.  But wait!  He was still God’s chosen one to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt.  How would God turn this self-made man into a man of faith.

One thing we have noted already: God gave Moses the example of faithful parents.  The second thing God did was to give Moses 40 years in the desert.  In the desert, God let Moses fail (2:13-22).  Moses came to the conclusion that he would never lead Israel out of Egypt.  After 40 years he might even have become a little comfortable with taking care of someone else’s sheep.  The dream was dead. There was no way Moses would ever be the great man he knew he was supposed to be. 

·       He had experienced rejection by his fellow Israelites, even when he had made an heroic attempt at leadership when he killed the Egyptian (14a).

·       The proud man became a fearful man (14b).

·       He ran away from what had been his home (v15a).

·       He found himself in Midian, a semi-nomadic group in a barren desert (v15b).

·       Instead of delivering Israel he was delivering shepherdesses (v16-20).

·       He settled in for an average life (v21-22).

But to be quite honest, the life story of any person is about what God has done and is doing in their lives.  What God was doing was “hearing” and “remembering” and “acknowledging” His chosen people (v23-26).  In other words, it was now time for God to greatly magnify His name in the world, using a broken man who had no intention of being God’s man.  God heard the cry of the enslaved people.  God remembered His promise to Abraham, His friend, many years ago, a promise of a people who would go to a land after being afflicted for 400 years (Gen. 15:13).  The people were crying out, and He heard and was ready to keep His word to them.  In other words, God was deeply burdened for His people.

Eventually God’s burden would become Moses’ burden (Num. 11:11).  If God had gotten behind Moses when he took matters in his own hand, Moses would not have succeeded.  If not when Pharaoh repeatedly refused to let the people go, then when the people continuously grumbled, and certainly when the people rose up in rebellion against Moses’ leadership, Moses would have thrown up his hands in despair and resigned his job.  A man full of himself will have no room nor desire to be filled with the fullness of God.  So Moses’ rise to greatness had to begin in the desert.