EXODUS: We May be Content Where We Are, but Eventually We Will Have to Fulfill Our Destiny; "But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; Moses was content to live with the priest of Midian, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses."

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. (Exodus 2:11) 

We were introduced to Moses in the previous lesson. He was a Hebrew; a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. (Exodus 2:1-2) His mother hid him because Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every [Hebrew] son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” (Exodus 1:22) Pharaoh feared the the size of the children of Israel, And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” (Exodus 1:9-10)

However, Moses mother eventually took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (Exodus 2:3-6)

Moses sister had followed him all the way to the princess, and offered to go get a milk nurse for Moses, who was their mother. So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:9-10) Therefore, Moses was raised as an Egyptian, a prince of Egypt. But obviously, he was raised and taught that he was actually a Hebrew, because when he was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. 

And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. (Exodus 2:11-15)

Stephen, the first recorded martyr of the church, explained this in his sermon, “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian,... (Acts 7:23-29)

Paul would explain it this way, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:23-27)

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?” And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.” (Exodus 2:16-19)

So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” (Exodus 2:20-22) ...Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. (Acts 7:29)

Yes, Moses was content living in Midian with his wife, children and her family, but he was right when he supposed that that God would deliver his brethern by his hand. Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Exodus 2:23-25) “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him [Moses]... (Acts 7:30)