Hebrews Chapter Eleven, Moses' Flight

 

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

 

This passage appears to contradict Exodus 2:14, 15, where we have Moses himself admitting, “So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” Verse 15 informs us that Pharaoh became aware of the murder and sought to kill Moses, prompting him to flee to Midian.

The Septuagint renders the passage a little differently, stating, “Then Moses was alarmed, and said, If it be thus, this matter has become known.” Verse 15 records that Moses departed from Pharaoh’s presence after the king endeavored to slay him. Like Abraham, Moses departed, not knowing where he was going. He entered Midian and sat by a well, perhaps confused that the Jewish people did not understand his intentions, Acts 7:25. Moses attempted to help his Hebrew brethren in his own strength, and the fruit it bore was a dead Egyptian, spite between brethren, and an enraged king, seeking Moses’ death.

 

If ever we wish to know if we are in God’s will with what we do, the fruit produced by our actions will bear testimony. Be that as it may, the author of Hebrews attests that Moses did not fear the wrath of Egypt’s king, forsaking Egypt not out of fear, but out of faith. Moses was eighty years of age when at last he would encounter the burning bush, or God’s theophany, and be commissioned to bear His message to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:7. Thus occupied in Midan, the former Pharaoh, who had ordered Moses’ execution, died, Exodus, 2:23. Pharaoh’s son, his adoptive mother’s brother, would be taking the throne. The children of Israel groaned at this time because of their bondage, and God heard their cry and recalled His covenant with the patriarchs. Chapter two of Exodus concludes by stating, “God acknowledged them,” Exodus 2:25. It is clear that God does not forget; so He does not need reminding. But He was certainly waiting for a specific time, and Moses was four decades too soon for God’s timetable. Like the Flood in Noah’s time, God is given human attributes to liken His behavior to a man’s decision-making. But ultimately the Lord was waiting until the circumstance was correct; the players were all in place, events transpired that needed to, and now, in His time, the Lord would act.

 

If Moses did not fear Pharaoh’s wrath, then he might have been lamenting his timing. He acted prematurely, killing a man and making himself a fugitive, and having to leave Egypt in order not to suffer the penalty prescribed for such a crime. His people, whom he left behind, suffered under the yoke of bondage, while he traded palace life for temporary exile in Midian, unable to further help their plight. Perhaps he meant to use his position as Pharaoh’s grandson in some way; but these things will never be known. What is known is that Moses’ timing was not God’s timing, and in the end he fled Egypt, waiting in a foreign land until God appeared to him and prepared him for the task ahead.

 

What motivated Moses was apparently a fear of God, or godly reverence. He persevered by trusting in the Lord, despite what circumstance currently dictated. He fled in haste, but fled in faith, trusting that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would uphold His promise to visit His people, and when that time came, Moses—who associated openly as one of the Hebrews—would be a part of it. He saw through the lens of faith Him who is invisible. Jesus told us that God is Spirit, John 4:24. John attests that no man has seen God at any time, 1 John 4:12, and that a love for God may only be openly demonstrated to men by loving the people of this invisible God, 1 John 4:20. Paul adds that no man has or even can see Him, 1 Timothy 6:16. Recall Hebrews 11:1? Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Verse 2 articulates that by this type of faith the patriarchs received a good testimony, among whom is Moses.

 

When you bear witness to something often enough and behold its evidences, you need not see the originator itself to believe that it is true. Jesus, when reproving Thomas, told him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” John 20:29. We are among those of whom Jesus spoke. Our witness is the unbroken line of succession from teacher to disciple, leading back to Jesus Christ and the church He founded on the day of Pentecost through the preaching of the men that walked with Him and learned from Him. The church and its sacraments (baptism and communion) exist as evidences of what took place in Israel 2000 years ago. Manifold threads of evidence weave together to create compelling testimony about the veracity of Jesus’ truth claims, regardless of whether or not we lived in His time and saw Him for ourselves. We have the witness of Scripture and the church.

 

Moses had the witness of not only conscience and creation, but the Genesis account and the testimony any of the Hebrews may have shared with him about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that had promised to visit them and remove them from Egypt into the Promised Land. God’s fidelity led seventy persons into Egypt; Moses was confident that it would be sufficient to lead out the proposed three million Jews that served as slaves by that point.