The Doctrine of Moses

Topics

Dividing up Moses’ Life

Moses: His Conversion and His Spiritual Growth

Moses and His Life as Typical of Jesus Christ

Moses’ Current Spiritual Maturity Level

Moses in Hollywood

Contrasting Moses and Jesus

Moses’ life conveniently divides up into three 40 year periods.

Dividing up Moses’ Life

Time Period

What Happened

References

First 40 years

Moses lived in Egypt and was brought up in the Pharaoh’s palace, for the first 40 years. It appears that he was raised to become a pharaoh.

Exodus 2:1–15a

For the first couple years, Moses lives in Goshen until he is weaned from his mother.

Interim Event: he kills an Egyptian taskmaster and flees for his life. Exodus 2:15

Second 40 years

He will then spend 40 years in Midian, a stranger in a strange land, having been guided by God to a well, where he met 7 daughters trying to water their father’s flock. He married one of those daughters and had two sons.

Exodus 2:15b–4:19

Interim Event: God calls Moses to return to Egypt and to lead God’s people out. Exodus 3:1–4:17

Third 40 years

Moses will lead the people of Israel into the desert wilderness between Egypt and Canaan, where they will live for 40 years. They do not take Canaan because of their negative volition.

Exodus 4:20 through Deut. 34:12

At this point in the Exodus narrative, the second of the first two 40 year periods of time is almost complete, and Moses will begin the third period of 40 years. During this 3^rd period of 40 years, he will return to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses, like many men of the Old Testament (Abraham, Isaac, Joshua, David, Solomon), is a type of Christ. This means that there are remarkable parallels between the person and history of Moses which look forward to the Person of Jesus Christ.

Moses and His Life as Typical of Jesus Christ

Moses

Jesus Christ

During the time that Moses was born, there was a ruler who was intent on killing all of the Jewish male children (because the Jewish people were multiplying too fast). Exodus 1:12–22

Similarly, during the time of the birth of our Lord, there was a ruler intent on killing all of the children of the Jews to prevent their King from being born. Exodus 2:16

Moses had two natures. He was born a Hebrew; however, he was adopted into the royal family of the ruling class of Egypt. Exodus 2:1–10

The Lord has two natures: one fully human and one of divine royalty. As believers, we have a common nature, but, upon exercising faith in Jesus Christ, we are adopted into the royal family of God. Philip. 2:6–8

Moses’ Jewish background parallels the Lord’s human nature; and his royal background as an Egypt parallels the Lord’s divine nature.

Moses will take the side of the Jews against their Egyptian masters and act as their deliverer and savior. Exodus 5–12

Jesus will take the side of man before God, taking on Himself the sins of mankind, acting as man’s Deliverer and Savior. 1Peter 2:24 Rom. 3:21–31

Moses acted as the mediator between God and man (the Exodus generation). Exodus 32:7–14

Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. 1Tim. 2:5 Heb. 8:6

Moses will stand before God to protect the people of Jacob.

Jesus stands before God to protect those who have believed in Him.

Moses so well understood the plan of God for the Jewish people that he spoke for God in the book of Deuteronomy.

Jesus understood the plan of God for the Jewish people and for all people; and the words which He spoke were the words of God. John 3:34 12:49

As we have seen in the book of Genesis, the study of typology is a marvelous field, and one of the many proofs of the divine nature of Scripture. Any person with a prominent place in Scripture nearly always is a type of Christ; and in very unusual ways. In the 3 examples given above, we have a parallel of events, the hypostatic union, and the purpose of Jesus Christ acting as our Savior. These parallels rarely involve trivial similarities (such as, they both wore sandals, they were both Cleveland Indian fans, etc.). Many times, the parallels are quite clever and not always immediately apparent.

The reason that we have the science of typology is, the Divine Author of Scripture is God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He includes information from the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, which is a shadow of things to come.

A more complete version of Moses as a type of Christ will be given part way through the book of Exodus.

When Moses first stood before Pharaoh, he had to have enjoyed some spiritual growth. Is there evidence of this?

I have been claiming that Moses is at some level of spiritual maturity; but he will put up some opposition to God in this chapter. How to explain?

Moses’ Current Spiritual Maturity Level

1.     It is logical that Moses has attained some level of spiritual maturity as a believer in the Revealed God. God would not have randomly plucked Moses out of the 2 million Hebrews who are available.

2.     An axiom of the spiritual life is, God uses prepared men. It is a mistake to believe that God would choose unprepared people to do the heavy lifting in the Angelic Conflict.

3.     As we have discussed, Moses had to have already believed in the Revealed God and then developed some spiritual maturity.

4.     What seems likely is, he learned Bible doctrine (spiritual information) from his father-in-law, who was a priest.

5.     Although there is no specific verse stating, and Reuel taught Moses the Word of God; Moses, by the time he has gotten to this point, knows the background of his people, which means, he knows at least portions of the book of Genesis.

        1)     I lean towards this as the most logical explanation, given that Reuel appears to be a legitimate priest and that he is kept on by Moses in the future as an important advisor. Moses would do this only if he respected the wisdom of his father-in-law.

        2)     Respecting the wisdom of your father-in-law suggests, on the part of Moses, that he believed Reuel to have divine wisdom.

        3)     Also, Moses running into this man in the first place was not some random event. I believe that this is right in line with the plan of God. Another spiritual axiom of life: there are no random events in the spiritual realm. If you want to know the Word of God, then God will lead you in that direction. If you truly want spiritual information, God will provide that for you (this is different from wanting information which backs up what you already believe).

        4)     God always uses prepared men; so it is reasonable to assume that Moses was prepared for his mission during this time in Midian (Moses spent 40 years in Midian).

6.     We have also discussed the possibility that Moses learned under an ancient Hebrew scholar (s) when still in the Pharaoh’s palace. This is also conjecture, but it is reasonable conjecture.

        1)     Moses would have been well-educated as he was in line to become a pharaoh.

        2)     Moses would have known about the peoples round about; and he may have had a Hebrew teacher for some of this.

        3)     There is no reason to assume that Moses, born a Hebrew, was ignorant of that information; and people in the Hebrew community would have known this as well. So, if Moses had a Hebrew teacher, it is logical that they would have used their Scriptures at that time (the book of Genesis) to teach him.

7.     Even though Moses being taught by Reuel and/or by a Hebrew teacher is conjecture; it is very reasonable conjecture.

8.     The reason we know that Moses knows something about his familial history is, when God speaks of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6), Moses does not ask, “Now, who are those guys exactly?”

        1)     Now, you may object, saying, everyone knows their ancestors.

        2)     Do you know the names of your ancestors from the 1700 and 1800's? Moses knows his.

        3)     And, let me point out the obvious: Moses was raised by an Egyptian family; not by a Hebrew family. So the knowledge which he clearly has did not come with the territory (that is, Moses does not know Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob simply because he is a Hebrew man).

9.     God speaks of giving the land of Canaan to the Hebrews; Moses does not say, “Now why would You do that, God? I think everyone would be fine just living here in Goshen, as long as Pharaoh sets us free.” We know that, if Moses has an objection, then he is going to raise it. We have seen that in the previous chapter. But he never raises and objection to Israel settling in Canaan. Exodus 3:8, 17

10.   Also, Moses appears to have no objections to Israel getting out of Egypt to worship their God. He seems to take it for granted that they worship a very specific God; not one of the Egyptian gods. Exodus 3:18

11.   Moses has no questions about his ancestors or about Canaan; and when he talks to the elders of Jerusalem, they seem to understand these things as givens as well. Exodus 4:30–31

12.   Moses is clearly not shy about voicing objections, but none of them are about his ancestors or about the land of Canaan. Moses does not say, “Now, who is Jacob?” Nor does he say, “What is Your obsession with Canaan?”

13.   There will be one person who seems to have some opposition to all of this: Zippora, Moses’ wife of 40 years. When she is required to circumcise her son, she is none too happy about it and she clearly expresses her displeasure. Exodus 4:24–26

14.   Now, you might think there is a bit of a contradiction. I am claiming that Moses has some spiritual chops; but, when God tells him what to do, Moses suddenly says, “I am not capable of doing those things. I am not a good speaker. You need to find somebody else, God.”

15.   In real life, we have seen the athlete or celebrity who is converted to Christianity, and, a few days later, he is making pitches for Jesus. This is not God’s plan. This is not a good plan. Recall that Jesus prepared His disciples for at least 3 years, and that was a crash course, teaching them day and night. When they began their ministries, they were well-prepared (but not without faults).

16.   Here is what is going on: Moses has the spiritual information; and he has believed most of it. But now God is putting him to the test; now it is time for Moses to walk over the hot coals, as it were, and he expresses some natural reticence. That is pretty normal, because Moses has not had to apply that level of doctrine before. There are times when you cannot move ahead spiritually until God throws something in your way that you must deal with by applying Bible doctrine. You have to apply the spiritual skills which God has given you. In other word, the doctrine is in your human spirit, God puts a situation in front of you that requires the application of that doctrine; and you move ahead spiritually when you do that. When you use them and see that they work, you develop further confidence in God and His plan.

17.   To sum up: Moses has a level of spiritual maturity; God is now going to require him to apply this doctrine at a level that Moses has not operated at before.

18.   Moses will continue to grow spiritually during his next 40 years. His teacher at that time will be God...and he recorded his lessons in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses will interpret and apply Bible doctrine for the next generation of Israel.

Essentially what I have done here is taken information about Moses which we clearly know and place him into a time and place, assuming that he knows this information and believes it. He behaves exactly as we would expect him to.

Although Moses is a type of Christ; there are times in the New Testament when he is presented in contrast to Jesus. Moses is often used to represent the Law, whereas Jesus is our salvation through grace.

The ESV; capitalized is used below.

Contrasting Moses and Jesus

Moses and the Law

Jesus and Salvation

Judgement; associated with the Law.

Grace, associated with redemption.

John 7:19a “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.”

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Moses turns the life-giving waters into blood, killing all the life in it. Exodus 7:20–21

Jesus turns water into wine, turning life into a grand celebration. John 2:1–11

Moses, who brings the Law to the people, brings with it judgement of the people.

Jesus brings relief to man from the judgment of the Law. We are judged by the Law and found wanting. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

There is no freedom in the Law. Acts 13:38–39 (Paul is speaking) “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this Man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”

Freedom comes by means of Jesus Christ. John 8:36 (Jesus is speaking) “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Gal. 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (The yoke of slavery is subjection oneself to the Law.)

At best, the Law of Moses brings knowledge of sin. Rom. 3:19–20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The righteousness of God comes not through the Law but through Jesus Christ. Rom. 3:21–22a But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Gal. 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Gal. 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." (Deut. 27:26)

Gal. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— (Deut. 21:23)

Therefore, we are condemned by the Law, which is associated with Moses.

We are redeemed by the Lord.

To many believers in the first century, Moses represented the Law and Jesus our freedom from penalty of the Law.

The Abbreviated Doctrine of

Bibliography