Êxodo 2
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
Êxodo 2
Spurgeon - Their (MOSES' PARENTS) faith made them hide him, for that faith laid hold of God, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. Faith makes a person wise. It is one of the notable points about faith that it is sanctified common sense. That is not at all a bad definition of faith. It is not fanaticism; it is not absurdity. It is making God the grandest asset in our account, and then reckoning according to the soundest logic. It is not putting my hands into boiling water with the impression that it will not scald me; it is not doing foolish and absurd things. Faith is believing in God and acting toward God as we ought to do. It is treating Him, not as a cipher, but as a grand overtopping numeral in all our additions and subtractions. It is realizing God—that is what it is. And in that sense, faith is the truest reason, spiritualized and lifted up out of the ordinary sphere in which godless men choose to indulge in it. It is sanctified reason, enlightened from on high. (The Hiding of Moses by Faith) THOUGHT - How can we apply the lessons from this godly example of faith? (1) Do not fear the Pharaoh’s in your life (cp Pr 29:25, Mt 10:28+, Ps 25:15+). (2) Entrust your children into God’s watch care! And for all of you who were born into "Moses-like" godly homes where both parents were believers (I was not so blessed), let your praise and thanksgiving for such a wonderful gift continually resound to the Giver of all good gifts! (Jas 1:17+) Luke gives us the background story writing "But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. 19 “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive (REFERRING TO THE THIRD "POGROM" TO DECREASE THE NUMBER OF HEBREWS). 20 “It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home." (Acts 7:17-20+) ILLUSTRATION - We all have to make choices in life, and often those choices result in significant consequences. In 1920, the management of the Boston Red Sox made the bad choice to sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. After joining the Yankees, in 10 out of the next 12 seasons Ruth hit more home runs than the entire Red Sox team! Boston had not won a World Series since 1918, when Ruth was on the team, until this week! In 1938, Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel sold all their rights for a comic book character that they had invented for $130. The character’s name? Superman! In 1955, Sam Phillips sold to RCA Victor Records his exclusive contract with a young singer named Elvis Presley, thus forfeiting royalties on more than a billion records (Reader's Digest [7/85], p. 173). Bad choices! Our text tells us about two good choices that greatly affected world history. The first choice was relatively routine at the time. Two slaves in ancient Egypt chose to defy the king’s edict to kill all male Hebrew babies by hiding their son. That son turned out to be Moses, the great deliverer of his people. The second choice was that of Moses himself, and it was more difficult. He chose to give up his position of influence and wealth in the Egyptian court in order to side with the enslaved people of God. (Faith's Choice) Rod Mattoon - Moses did not come from the most popular or prominent tribe of Israel. The prominent tribes of the Israelites at this time were such tribes as Reuben, Judah, Joseph, and Benjamin. However, littleness or obscurity is not a hindrance to being used of God. Gideon complained that he was the least in his father's house (Judges 6:15), but that did not stop God from using him. David was the last of eight sons and was considered so insignificant that he was not even called to the meeting when Samuel came to look for a king among David's brothers. That which keeps us from effectively serving God is not our lack of fame, but our lack of faith. Beloved, if God wants us to be known, He will take care of it in a very effective way. Joshua 3:7KJV - And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Psalm 75:6KJV -. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. [7] But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Our concern as Christians and servants of the Lord is to be about our faith in the Lord and not our fame among men. Take care of the faith part and God will take care of the fame part. God often causes obscure folk to be mighty in His service in order that He might better get the glory. When we look at the parents of Moses, we find they were going hand-in-hand together in faith. We should too! Jesus should be first in your home. They faced their problems head-on by faith. They overcame their fear of the king and trusted in God's protection and preservation of their child. We too, are to confront our problems by faith. Their lives demonstrated characteristics of genuine faith. In fact, faith does a number of things. A. Faith Sees They saw a proper child. Those who have faith see what others do not. When Jehoshaphat was being attacked by multitudes of Moabites, and Ammonites, matters looked helpless, but Jehoshaphat depended upon the Lord. He realized that God was working behind the scenes. 2 Chronicles 20:12KJV -... O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. Faith sees the Lord and focuses upon Him. This is the challenge of Scripture. Hebrews 12:2KJV -Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 11:1KJV -Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. B. Faith Acts They acted to save Moses' life. They were convinced God had a special purpose for him. Faith produces courage and confidence to swallow up our fears. How? We do this by focusing our lives on the Lord. Moses' parents took an ark of bulrushes or papyrus plants to save Moses' life. Why were they doing this now after three months? Babies cry and it would be difficult to conceal Moses as he grew. The Egyptians used these papyrus plants to make very light and swift boats. It had a triangular stalk about the thickness of a finger, which grew to the height of ten feet; and from this, the lighter Nile boats were made. The peeling of the plant was used for sails, mattresses, mats, sandals, and other articles, but chiefly for the preparation of paper. They daubed the ark of the bulrushes with slime and pitch. The "slime" is probably the mud, of which bricks were usually made in Egypt, and which in this case was used to bind the stalks of the papyrus into a compact mass, and perhaps also to make the surface of the ark smooth for the infant. The pitch was bitumen, a tar-like substance that would waterproof the ark. This same material was used to embalm the dead and now was used to protect and spare the life of a baby. C. Faith Risks Moses was put among the reeds or flags in the shallow waters of the Nile River. The word "flags" is translated from a word which refers to a smaller species of papyrus. This was a smart place to place the ark, for the "flags" would protect the ark from drifting down stream with the current. The current is mild in these reeds and they would offer protection and keep it stationary. The brink of the river was the lip of the river. Hold the phone for a minute here! Think about this plan. What has been happening at the river? Babies have been drowne by the people. This baby was taken to the last spot which carnal reasoning would have suggested. The place of death becomes the place of life, deliverance, and freedom. Pharaoh's command was to put the boy babies in the river and technically, the mother of Moses did this. Beloved, we have eternal life because someone died for us. At the cross, the place of death, there is life, deliverance, and freedom from the bondage of sin when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though Moses was brought to the place of death, he was secure in the ark. The word "ark" is the same word for Noah's ark. It is a picture of Christ. We are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 6:37-All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Exodus 2:3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. But when she could hide him no longer - Ex 1:22 Mt 2:13,16 Ac 7:19 she got him a wicker basket - Isa 18:2 covered it over with tar and pitch - Ge 6:14 11:3 14:10 MOSES DISCOVERED JOCHEBED OBEYS ORDER TO CAST SON INTO NILE! How ironic that she obeyed the pharaoh's edict, but added a touch of her own! There is no record that pharaoh had prohibited Jochebed's method of child disposal! As explained below the actions of these godly parents in the midst of the crooked and perverse generation (Egyptian idolatry which was even corrupting the hearts of many of the sons of Israel) was an act of faith. They prove once again that genuine faith is an action word. It is not passively sitting around doing nothing! " By faith these parents displayed great courage and boldness which enabled them to overcome the fear of man, even when it meant the certain death of their son and themselves. We learn from these parents that real faith operates in spite of adversity....Was it Moses’ beauty that caused the parents to hide him? I think not, but it was their faith in the living God that caused them to do this mighty act. Amram and Jochebed were true believers and knew of God’s promises and predictions that Israel would be delivered out of Egypt. (Read Ge 15:13-14, Ge 50:24) They believed that the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concerning the promised land would come to pass." (Jack Arnold) But when she could hide him no longer - The text does not tell us why Jochebed could no longer hide Moses. It is possible that the cries of 3 month old Moses were loud enough to attract attention of the infant killers among the Egyptians. As alluded to above the parents are listed in Hebrews 11 "Hall of Faith," so clearly they trusted God which led them to hide him, an act which could have put their lives in jeopardy. Hebrews 11:23+ says "By faith (pistis) Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict." This was not Moses' faith but the faith of his parents. And although Exodus 2:3 describes the acts of Moses' mother, the Hebrews passage indicates it was the faith of both parents Jack Arnold comments on Moses' parents in Hebrews 11:23 - They may be obscure people to you and me but they are precious saints in the sight of God, for He thought enough of them to put them in the believer’s hall of fame. Amram and Jochebed were the parents of Moses. ....Amram and Jochebed were common folks but they were mightily used of God to accomplish His purposes. They are an example of persevering faith in God, which gives one great courage and causes him to do what he would not normally do. Persevering faith is courageous in suffering, hardships and tribulations so that one accomplishes things that seem humanly impossible. They believed that the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concerning the promised land would come to pass. While the record does not state specifically, it could well be that Amram and Jochebed were given a direct revelation from God that Moses had a special destiny among the people of God. Whatever the means, Moses’ parents knew that Moses was “lovely unto God” (Acts 7:20) and that he had a special place in God’s program. The point of significance is that it was not primarily because of his external beauty or their natural affections towards Moses that his parents hid him, but it was because of their faith -- they believed God! They trusted God for a humanly impossible situation and God supernaturally took care of the situation. Notice carefully that Amram and Jochebed exercised faith and acted because true faith always acts. Faith is not sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for something to happen. In fact, that kind of a concept of faith is fatalism. Faith works, faith acts, and faith is doing something now, for faith is acting upon the promises of God now! It took great faith for Jochebed to put her child in the little ark in the high grass at the bank of the river. She was believing God but she also probably knew that Pharaoh’s daughter came regularly to that area to bathe and she was believing God for a supernatural intervention, even though humanly it seemed as though Moses would be put to death. (Sermon) Spurgeon on by faith of Amram and Jochebed the names of Moses' parents who believed God's promises to Abraham - The stress in these passages of sacred biography should be laid upon the words “by faith.” The mighty deeds of heroes and the obedient acts of pilgrim fathers are only told to us because they spring out of faith. It is to commend the root that the fruits are mentioned. The children are named one by one that the mother may have the praise, for faith is the mother of all virtues. The Lord is not praising the natural affection, but the supernatural faith. A very strong current is seen when nature and faith both set the same way, yet it is not nature but faith that bears the sway. Sometimes faith has to go against nature, as in the case of Abraham when he was bidden to offer up his son (Heb 11:17), and then faith wins the victory. Here, though faith and nature ran together and so made the current stronger, still the text does not say, “By the force of nature, by the natural love of parents for their child, Moses was hidden for three months.” No, but they did it “by faith.” Both the parents of Moses believed, and both acted by faith in disobeying the cruel order of the king. If they had not agreed about it, I do not see how Moses could have been concealed. But they both went together in the hiding of the child, and how well it will be if we all go together in the endeavor to bring our children to Christ. If our prayers are united, if our example is one, if our teaching is never contradictory, if both parents are with like earnestness seeking the salvation of their little ones, we may rest assured the promise will be kept, “Train the child concerning his way; even when he is old, he will not stray from it” (Prov 22:6). (The Hiding of Moses by Faith) THOUGHT - Faith is believing that God will keep His promises, despite circumstances that seem to be to the contrary! May the faith of these godly OT couple encourage all parents that they can still train up their children to be friends and servants of God even in the darkest of days (even as we see America, "one nation under God", in effect becoming "one nation" that is no longer under God but under the rule of rebellious, God-rejecting men!) She got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch - The term for basket (tebah) "is used elsewhere only to refer to the ark of Noah. It may be connected to the Egyptian word for "chest."" This recalls God's order to Noah in Ge 6:14 "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch" (koper)."
Êxodo 2
Spurgeon - I wish I knew how to preach on this verse. He looked on the children of Israel, and he did not remember their sins—their practically becoming Egyptians, their loving Egypt and Egypt’s idols—but he did remember his friend, Abraham. He remembered Isaac. He remembered Jacob whom he loved, and he remembered how he had promised to bless them and to make them a blessing—not because of any merit in the Israelites but for the sake of those whom he had loved and honored. For the sake of the covenant that he had made with them, he said, “I will break the power of Pharaoh, and I will bless my people; I will bring them out of bondage and set them at liberty.” If God were to look on a sinner for all eternity, he could not see anything in him but what he is bound to punish. But when he looks on his dear Son whom he loves—and remembers how he lived and loved, and bled and died, and made atonement for the guilty—and when he remembers his covenant with his well-beloved, he says, “I will bless these people whom I gave to him by an everlasting covenant. I promised that he would see of the travail of his soul, and so he will. I will break the power of sin, and I will set these captives free to the praise of the glory of my grace. And they will be accepted in the beloved.” Remembered (02142)(zakar) means to recall, call to mind or to be brought to remembrance. The first use of zakar is wonderful for it says "God remembered Noah" remembering His covenant (Ge 6:18), declaring later "I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Ge 9:15-16) Similarly we see "that God remembered Abraham" and for that reason (based on covenant), He spared Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Ge 19:29). When Israel was in bondage in Egypt "God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (Ex 2:24, Ex 6:5, cp Lev 26:42, 45, Ps 98:3 [lovingkindness = covenant term] Ps 105:5, 106:45, 109:16, Ezek 16:60) Moses interceded for Israel asking God to "remember" the Abrahamic covenant and pass over their stubbornness, wickedness and sin (Dt 9:27) Thus we see these many of the early uses of zakar speak of God's good memory (so to speak - for His memory is perfect) is based on the fact that He is in covenant with those He recalls to mind. If you are like me and from time to time think God has forgotten you, recall to mind that you are in covenant with Him (New Covenant) and on that basis He will (forever) remember you! I love Hezekiah's prayer "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly." (2Ki 20:3) King David called on the people - "Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth...Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations." (1Chr 16:12, 15) Nehemiah repeatedly called on God to remember in his prayers (Neh 1:8, 4:14, 5:19, 6:14, 13:14, 13:22, 29, 31). I think Nehemiah gives us a good "template" to imitate when we make petition to the Most High God! I love David's prayer to God not to remember and then to remember (Ps 25:6-7). Korah gives us a great pattern to imitate when we are downcast in Ps 42:4, 6. Many of the psalms (see 49 uses below) speak of either men remembering God (often in form of a prayer) or of God remembering men (e.g., Ps 78:35, 39) Ps 78:42 is a warning to all believers = "They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary." Have you been saved? Then you have experienced His power! And doubtless there are countless other instances we could all remember (if we chose to!) in which His great power has been palpably present to enable or deliver us! Lord, give us ready recall of Your past power in our life that we might apply it to our present circumstances. Amen Related Resources: Covenant: Abrahamic versus Mosaic Covenant: New Covenant in the Old Testament Covenant: Why the New is Better Covenant: Abrahamic vs Old vs New Exodus 2:25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them. BGT Exodus 2:25 καὶ ἐπεῖδεν ὁ θεὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐγνώσθη αὐτοῖς NET Exodus 2:25 God saw the Israelites, and God understood…. LXE Exodus 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and was made known to them. NLT Exodus 2:25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. KJV Exodus 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. ESV Exodus 2:25 God saw the people of Israel-- and God knew. NIV Exodus 2:25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. ASV Exodus 2:25 And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them. CSB Exodus 2:25 God saw the Israelites, and He took notice. NKJ Exodus 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. NRS Exodus 2:25 God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them. YLT Exodus 2:25 and God seeth the sons of Israel, and God knoweth. NAB Exodus 2:25 He saw the Israelites and knew.... NJB Exodus 2:25 God saw the Israelites and took note. GWN Exodus 2:25 God saw the Israelites being oppressed and was concerned about them. BHT Exodus 2:25 wayyaºr´ ´élöhîm ´et-Bünê yiSrä´ël wayyëºda` ´élöhîm s BBE Exodus 2:25 And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself. God saw - Ex 4:31 1Sa 1:11 2Sa 16:12 Job 33:27 Lu 1:25 took notice - Ex 1:8 3:7,8 Ps 1:6 55:22 Mt 7:23 GOD SAW AND GOD UNDERSTOOD God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them - God is omniscient and He ALWAYS sees EVERYTHING! He sees the good, the bad and the ugly. He sees our sorrows and our sins! Earlier we saw Moses looked (raah) on their hard labors using the same verb used to describe God's looking upon the plight of Israel here in Ex 2:25 "God saw (raah)" where the Septuagint saw with the verb epeidon (only NT use Acts 4:29+ in a prayer by the believers) which pictures God as fixing His gaze, looking with concern with the suffering He saw. A great picture of God's eye on Israel. Are you suffering did child of God? Rest assured He is looking and even doing so with an eye of concern and a heart of compassion (even though it may not "feel" like it because of what you are experiencing. Do like Israel did - cry out - play song Cry Out!) THOUGHT - God saw the affliction of His people, and He heard their cries. Then why didn’t He act sooner? Because He was following a perfect timetable (Gen. 15:13–16+). You must learn to wait on the Lord. (See Ps. 37:7 - Play and ponder the words of Wait on the Lord based on Isaiah 40:31+; Another song = I Waited)