“Why have you done this and let the boys live?”^[1] the king of Egypt accused the midwives.  Hebrew women are vigorous, they answered, they give birth before the midwife gets to them!^[2]  Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live.”^[3]  But Moses’ mother disobeyed the law.  She hid her baby for three months.  Then she set him adrift in a papyrus basket, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him as her own.

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.  He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.^[4]  Then he saw two Hebrew men fighting.  When he tried to break it up one of them said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?  Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?”  Then Moses was afraid (yârêʼ)^[5], thinking, “Surely what I did has become known.”^[6]

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)^[7] here.  There are no more occurrences of ἐφοβήθη in the New Testament.  By choosing this word however they have made Moses’ fear equivalent to Sarah’s fear when she lied to God about laughing at him.^[8]  It was like Lot’s fear to live in Zoar after witnessing the destruction of the surrounding cities,^[9] and Isaac’s fear to acknowledge Rebekah as his wife.^[10]  It was like Jacob’s fear of Bethel the morning after his dream,^[11] and when he heard that Esau was coming out to meet him on his return to Canaan.^[12]

When Pharaoh heard [what Moses did to the Egyptian], he sought to kill Moses.  So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian…^[13]  During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor.  They cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God.^[14]  And God responded (Exodus 3:1-5 NET).

Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.  The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush.  He looked – and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!  So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight.  Why does the bush not burn up?”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”  God said, “Do not approach any closer!  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

God added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid (yârêʼ) to look at God.^[15]  In the Septuagint εὐλαβεῖτο (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) was used.  It does not occur in the New Testament but is close to εὐλαβηθεὶς, translated reverent regard in Hebrews: By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard (εὐλαβηθεὶς, another form of εὐλαβέομαι) constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family.  Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.^[17]

The Lord said [to Moses], “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.  I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.  And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.  So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”^[18]

I think the rabbis who translated the Septuagint were wise to choose εὐλαβηθεὶς (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) here rather than φοβέω, a word that connotes flight.  The NET online definition of εὐλαβηθεὶς is a continuum from caution through wariness to reverence.  For Moses was not afraid to stand and argue with God:  “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”^[19] And his question prompted a couple of my own about the timing of God’s calling.  Wouldn’t it have been better to call a prince of Egypt for this diplomatic mission than a shepherd from Midian?   And certainly the moralist in me would prefer that God had called Moses before he became a murderer and a fugitive from justice.

To address my first question I turned to Paul:  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”^[20]  Paul quoted the prophetic word of God through Isaiah as a clear statement of God’s purpose and intent.  This is like an overarching theme with God.  Then Paul elaborated (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NET Table):

Think about the circumstances of your call (κλῆσιν, a form of κλῆσις), brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.  But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.  He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Given my upbringing and temperament it probably bears saying that Paul did not invent rules for God to obey.  He revealed what he heard from Christ or observed of God’s behavior in Scripture.  David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons (and a shepherd, by the way), not the eldest.  Jephthah was the illegitimate son of Gilead and a prostitute.  Solomon was apparently not the eldest of David’s sons with Bathsheba,^[22] and David’s and Bathsheba’s relationship began as an adulterous affair, yet God called Solomon Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord.

As for Moses being a murderer and a fugitive from justice it is clear that God was working at (what I would call) cross-purposes.  If God sent me to gain the Israelites release from Pharaoh I would hope, and even prayer, that He would grant me favor with Pharaoh.  He told Moses, So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.^[23]  But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.^[24]

It occurred to me years ago that one way God might have hardened Pharaoh’s heart was to grant him wealth, position, power and prestige without first humbling him to serve God.  As I imagine the scene now I see Moses, a murderer and fugitive from Egyptian justice, standing before the king of Egypt, saying, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.  So now, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.^[25]  It was almost guaranteed that his heart would be hardened against such a request from such a man.  And if Egyptian justice had become forgetful of Moses’ crime as a prince in Egypt, Moses had become a Midianite shepherd.  Again Pharaoh’s heart was likely to be hardened, for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting (KJV, an abomination) to the Egyptians.^[26]

I am in the heart now of the issues that Paul considered important when discussing election:  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy [Table].  For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.^[27]

What was God’s response to Moses’ objection?  Surely I will be with you [literally, I AM with you], and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.^[28]  God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble,^[29] both James and Peter quoted from the Proverbs of Solomon.

Anyone called to the salvation of righteousness in Jesus Christ might feel just like Moses.  Who am I to love [my] enemy and pray for those who persecute [me], so that [I] may be like [my] Father in heaven?^[30]  Who am I to Rejoice and be glad^[31] when people insult [me] and persecute [me] and say all kinds of evil things about [me] falsely on account of [You]?^[32]  I’m not one of the prophets.  Like Peter I might say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”^[33]  But as He promised Moses, I AM with you, so He does not intend that I do righteousness on my own, but tapped into that infinite daily living stream of his Holy Spirit, relying on his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his  gentleness, and his self-control.  Against such things there is no law.^[34]