“And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives…When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live…And Pharaoh charged all his people [including his enslaved Hebrews], saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river.” (Exodus 1)
Infanticide has been the norm within many cultures throughout history.
What Pharaoh didn’t know was just how much faith-based fight some of these Hebes had in them.
“And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son…And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes…put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
“And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river [doubtless during a religious festival such as is common in India] ...she saw the ark among the flags…when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children…and he became her son.
And she called his name Moses…Because I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:10)
Let’s not be idiots and think this characterization memorializes a physical action. As a psychiatric provider my job is to identify the unseen psychological drives behind the seen actions.
The daughter of Pharaoh is publicly broadcasting her defiance of Pharoah’s order to “cast into” by “Drawn Out!”
We’re not told if Pharaoh’s daughter was motivated by allegiance to the previous monotheism the current regime was overthrowing. It’s very likely that she was drawn to identify with the Hebrews because she, too, was abused by the royal family in some way. Not only is domestic violence a woman’s greatest risk for harm and death, she could have been barren from the consequences of all the diseases of **warning! ancient pornography!** hyper sexualized Egypt’s sexually transmitted diseases. Perhaps she was unmarriageable so childless in a society where “marriage was deeply involved in the exercise and manipulation of political power, in the creation and distribution of prestige.”
We can certainly draw the conclusion that after she acted independently of her society’s rules she was “despised and rejected of men”. (Isaiah 53:3)
Can we not recognize / know / honor this Egyptian woman for her contribution in Moses’ development into the greatest biblical leader the world has ever known, acknowledged even by humanists?
Whoa! Wait! What about Jesus Christ?
Straight up – without Moses Jesus Christ has no standing.
“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me [Moses]” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
What is so Christ-like / prototypically Melchizedekian about Moses?
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel [physical manifestation of a spirit being] of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said [instead of running away screaming in terror], I will now turn aside, and see this great sight…
God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses! Moses!!
Why twice? Any parent can explain that. You raise your voice and shout the second time because your child is too distracted to pay attention to your first call.
And [startled into attention, Moses] said, Here am I. And [God] said, [this was not casually thrown out over his shoulder but thundered out as orders!]
- Draw not nigh hither!
- Put off thy shoes from off thy feet!
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!!”
Can’t you just hear Jethro having to bark out at Moses “Don’t come in the house! (laced with a tone of “you moron!”) until you take your filthy sandals off, you’ve been mucking about in sheep ___ all day!! Get washed up outside, this place is clean and I intend to keep it that way!!”
Can we not figure out without having to be explicitly told that when Moses first came to Jethro’s house he had deeply ingrained pompous mannerisms and attitudes and expectations of being treated with the utmost deference and respect and habits of being waited on that he grew up with under his pampering adoring mother?
No question about it. Moses must have experienced a great deal of depression from his losses, his unmet expectations, and his complete fall from grace. No doubt he filled his boring days following the sheep by daydreaming plans of Rescue My People!!
Didn’t happen. For about the next 60 years anyway.
As you read the following, read them as Moses heard them spoken in the original language.
- I am the God of thy Father Levi, Cursed to be Divided and Scattered!”
- the God of Abraham The Father of Many Nations – the man who had no sons for 100 years, and then only two, none of whom still have any land of their own to speak of, most of whom are under the boot of a cruel empire. It used to be a great setup for hysterical laughter in Abraham’s day but it’s just a bad joke now.
- the God of Isaac Mocking / Scorning / Laughing At Such A Ridiculously Impossible Idea,
- and the God of Jacob The Trickster / Supplanter.
This is not your usual introduction.
Without a good introduction, the audience will not have a strong enough reason to be open to the speaker’s ideas because they might not know the credibility of the speaker.
Actually, God was presenting his credentials.
Moses could totally believe that God would choose him despite being a member of the tribe Cursed To Never Be United With The Other Tribes to become the Authority of the Commonwealth of YHVH’s Nations and Promised Land.
Because (drum roll),
- childless Abram had become Abraham with many children against all odds,
- and two geriatrics past fertility had become parents against all odds,
- and the Narcissist Manipulating Everything To His Advantage Jacob had become an Upright One against all odds.
“And the LORD said I will send THEE unto Pharaoh, that THOU mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt…THOU shalt be to him instead of God.” (Exodus 3:5-10, 4:16)
Why Moses? Using scripture to draw my conclusion, it had to be that, like the shepherd David, he didn’t just idle away the time he spent following the sheep, but obsessed about becoming the savior, honing his skills fighting imaginary and real enemies with wood and stone weapons, never letting go of the dream even as he aged of becoming the man who against all odds led the Hebrews out of bondage back to the promised land.
“The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble…To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.” (Psalm 10:16-18)
And despite being 80 years old, Moses believed God, and like Abraham, it was counted unto him for righteousness.
But what about the Hebrews back in Egypt?
“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name / attributes / powers? what shall I say unto THEM? And God said unto Moses,
-
- Past truth, evidence on which to base belief: I Am That I Am.
- I Am / Ani Eternal All Powerful Force of Creation hath sent me unto you…the LORD / Creator God of your fathers…this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations…
- And I appeared unto / in order to interact with and bless Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…
- And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan
- Present truth, reason for belief: I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
- Future promise to be believed: Wherefore say unto the children of Israel,
- I am the LORD / YHVH / Creator / Bringing Into Being That Which Is Not,
- Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh…
- that THOU mayest bring forth MY PEOPLE the children of Israel out of Egypt.
- and I will…redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments…
- ye shall know / personally experience that I am the LORD YOUR God…
- I am the LORD / YHVH / Creator / Singularity / Infinite Source of Power.” (Exodus 3:6-15, 6:2-8)
- Past truth, evidence on which to base belief: I Am That I Am.
Kingdom Come 