Moses Called

MOSES CALLED (Exodus 1 to 4)

Next to the call of Abraham, and scarcely second in importance to that event, is the call of Moses.

As God called Abraham to found the nation, so God called Moses to deliver and develop the nation:

We may consider the life of Moses as follows:

(1) His birth and infancy

When other means of oppression failed to stay the growth of the Children of Israel, Pharaoh issued an edict that all male infants born among the Hebrews should be cast into the Nile. When Moses was born, his parents dared to defy the edict of the king and by a fine strategy,under the favoring hand of God, the child was saved from death.
(2) Forty Years in Egypt

The earliest of these years were spent under the care of his mother, from whom he received a training so vigorous and efficient that its force was never broken by the temptations to which he was subjected in the after years. From his mother's care Moses passed into the courts of Pharaoh and was trained in all the learning of the Egyptians.

(3) Forty Years in the Desert

Compelled by the failure of a premature effort at deliverance to flee from the wrath of Pharaoh, Moses, when he was forty years of age, went away into the desert of Arabia. Here for forty years the future deliverer was in training for his life task. He came to know the desert, and it meant much that he should know personally and minutely the land in which for so many years he was to lead and govern his people. In the solitude of the desert he found opportunity to commune with God, and here he developed that fullness of faith and that clearness of vision which marked his later life.

(4) Forty Years in Leadership

It has been said that Moses was forty years an Egyptian, forty years an Arabian, and forty years an Israelite.

Into Egypt

5. Israel in Egypt (Genesis 46 to 50; Exodus 1)

In four words we may outline the experiences of Israel through the long period during which they remained in Egypt:

(1) Blessed

For a time after beginning their sojourn in Egypt, the Children of Israel were blessed and prosperous. The land to which they were assigned was exceedingly fertile, extending from the Nile valley to the borders of the Arabian desert. This era of prosperity seems to have continued something like a hundred years.

(2) Oppressed

The rapid growth in numbers and in wealth of a subject race could but alarm the king of Egypt, who feared that in case of ware they might join forces with the enemies of Egypt and become a source of peril. Pharaoh therefore resolved to reduce tem to the condition of slaves and began to put on them heavy burdens, requiring them to build cities and various public works.

(3) Multiplied

The people increased in numbers with marvelous rapidity, owing to the warm climate, the abundance of wholesome food and doubtless chiefly to the favor of God. Israel went down into Egypt number seventy souls, while the host which went out under Moses numbered probably two million, of whom six hundred thousand were fighting men.

(4) Civilized

This sojourn in Egypt brought the chosen people into contact with the highest civilization of the day. They came out with some knowledge of the arts and sciences, bearing the impress of an advanced civilization.

Joseph

Joseph The Deliverer of His People (Genesis 37 to 50)

In Joseph we have a character of wonderful charm, one of the few eminent men of the Bible against whom no special sin is
recorded:

(1) Sold into Egypt

Jacob’s partiality to his son Joseph, as manifested in the gift of the “coat of many colors,” was a fruitful cause of envy and bitterness in the family. By indiscreetly telling his dreams, Joseph aroused further the enmity on the part of the brothers and they first plotted his death and afterward, persuaded by Reuben, cast him into a pit instead. Later they sold him to Midianitish merchantmen, who in turn sold him to Potiphar , an officer of Pharaoh in Egypt .


(2) A High Officer in Egypt

When Pharaoh was perplexed by his two dreams, that of the seven lean kine devouring the seven fat kine, and that of the seven thin ears consuming the full and fat ears, Joseph was called to interpret these dreams. The fat kine and the full ears were seven years of plenty, when the earth should bring forth in handfuls. The lean kine and the thin ears were seven years of famine, which should utterly consume the land. Joseph wisely counseled that plans should be made to gather up stores during the years of plenty in preparation for the years of famine. This met the
king’s favor, and Joseph was selected to be the overseer of the task.

(3) Delivered Israel from famine

The predicted famine prevailed in Egypt and in the surrounding countries. Canaan , the home of Jacob’s household, suffered severely. When the sons of Jacob went down into Egypt to buy corn, Joseph discovered himself to them and in order that he might better care for them and their families, he sent for Jacob and the members of his household, and caused them to be brought down into Egypt . Here they were warmly welcomed by Pharaoh and given the rich pasture land known as Goshen .

(4) Last days in Egypt

When Joseph was one hundred and ten years old, he gathered the elders of Israel about him and declared that God would lead the people out of Egypt to the land promised to Abraham. He further exacted a promise that they would carry his bones with them out of Egypt and give them burial in Canaan. Thus, after a long and useful life, Joseph was gathered to his fathers.

Jacob

3. Jacob and His Twelve Sons (Genesis 27 to 36)

We consider the life of Jacob under four points:

(1) Flight to Haron

Compelled to flee from the wrath of Esau, from whom he had by trickery taken the patriarchal blessing, Jacob went to his mother’s kinspeople in Padan-aram. Here he served Laban fourteen years in order to secure as his wives Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel. Continuing six years longer, he increased exceedingly and had much wealth.

(2) Return to Canaan

Because of differences with his father-in-law, Jacob was constrained to flee from Haran with his wives and his possessions. Overtaken by Laban, reconciliation was effected and Jacob made his way back to Sheechem, where Abraham had first built his altar in the Land of Promise. To Jacob were born twelve sons, who became the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

(3) Lost Rachel and Joseph

After the return to Canaan a shadow fell over the patriarch’s home in the death of his beloved wife, Rachel. While his heart was yet tender with this bereavement, Joseph, his favorite son, was taken from him through the treachery of his sons and sold into Egypt.

(4) Last days in Egypt

Driven by famine and invited by Joseph, Jacob went down into Egypt with his household. Here, under the care and protection of Joseph, the patriarch spent the last seventeen years of his life.