By Faith, The Parents of Moses
The faith of Moses Parents kept them from being afraid of the Kings edict.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Hebrews 11:23 NIV
The faith of Moses directed him to choose the ways of God over treasure.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:24-27 NIV
The faith of Moses gave him the ability to be the voice of God to Pharaoh.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
Hebrews 11:28 NIV
The faith of Moses became the faith of the people trusting God do perform the miraculous.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned
Hebrews 11:29 NIV
Background: This is the legacy of Jacob that is carried on long after his death and the death of Joseph. Leading up to these events spoken of in Hebrews 11.
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers, and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
Exodus 1:1-6 NIV
The line of Pharaohs that followed eventually forgot the history of Joseph and the welcoming of the Hebrew people to Egypt.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
Exodus 1:8-10 NIV
Out of fear they oppressed the people, but the Hebrew people grew even more.
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so, the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
Exodus 1:11-14 NIV
Out of fear pharaoh demanded the killing of all baby boys by the midwives who delivered all the Hebrew babies.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
Exodus 1:15-16 NIV
Not fearing the Pharaohs edict but rather they feared God, the midwives refused to comply for which they were rewarded accordingly
17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile but let every girl live.”
Exodus 1:17-22 NIV
The faith of Moses’ parents kept them from being afraid of the Kings edict.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict
Hebrews 11:23 ESV
Question: Why were they not afraid of the kings edict? Moses is born and his parents hid him because he was a fine child.
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
Question: Does this mean that if he was not a fine child, would she have obeyed the kings edict and thrown the child into the Nile? No.
Question : Is there a connection between the child and being not afraid of the kings edict?
What is the significance of the words “he was a Fine Child “
- O.T. Hebrew= Pleasant, agreeable, good… Exodus 2:2
- N.T. Greek= Beautiful …Hebrews 11:23
I looked at 53 translations of this Exodus 2:2 Old testament, I found 14 different words or constructs. No Mention of God.
I also looked at 61 Translations of Hebrews 11:23 New Testament, I found 15 different words or constructs.
Stephen in Acts 7:20 Gives the commentary which gives us the true meaning. Stephen includes the approval of God.
Greek text says :
he was ἦν (ēn), beautiful ἀστεῖος (asetose), in the sight of God. Θεῷ (Theō)
Acts 7:20 …of the 61 translations 37 refer to God in the approval of Moses when he was born.
Acts 7 Steven speaking to the Sanhedrin :
7 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house,
Acts 7:7-20 ESV
Steven tells us: Why were Moses’ parents not afraid of the Kings edict?
The reason that Moses parents were not afraid of the kings edict was because they knew of the special nature of this child and that god was going to do some thing so special with him that they had no fear. They knew the truth, and acted upon the truth. And they kept him as long as they could.
3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Exodus 2:3-10 NIV
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