People in the Bible – Moses Part II

People in the Bible — Moses Part II

Moses runs away

Wanted for murder, Moses fled Egypt and went to a land called Midian. He had to find a place where he could be safe. He had made a mistake by trying to rescue the Israelites his own way when he killed and Egyptian who was hurting one of his people. That was not the way God wanted Moses to fulfill his mission.

1.  When you make important decisions, how often do you pray to God before deciding what to do?

Often                           Sometimes                   Rarely                          Never

2.  How do you know if your decision is in line with what God would want?

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The Rescue

While in the valley at Midian, Moses saw the daughters of a Jewish priest named Reul. The girls were drawing water from a well when a group of shepherds came and tried to harass the girls into leaving so they could get the water for themselves. Moses, seeing this jumped in to scare off the shepherds and made sure they left the girls alone. When the girls told Jethro their father this news, he told them to invite Moses over for dinner.  After meeting Moses Jethro invited Moses to live with him and eventually Moses married one of his daughters and had a son named Gershom. All the while God’s plan was at work. By living with a man who knew God and worshipped him faithfully, Moses had a good spiritual mentor to learn under. This way he could get closer to God and start hearing Him.

3.  Do you have any friends or family who you can look to as a Christian mentor?   ___________

4.  Do you think you should be hanging out with more people who know God and the Bible?  _______________

The Burning Bush

Now that he was married in Midian, Moses took care of the sheep of his father in law. One day he was watching the sheep near Mt. Horeb, when the Angel of The Lord appeared to Moses.

Exodus 3:  ²And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.   ⁴And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.  ⁵And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.   ⁶Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.   ⁷And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;  ⁸And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Moses had been trained up enough. It was time for his mission.

5.  Why did God say to Moses about the people of Israel? __________________________________________________________________

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6.  When you are going through affliction or stress or drama, do you let the Lord know? ______

Moses Gets His Mission

Exodus 3:¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.   ¹¹And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?  ¹²And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.  ¹³And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?  ¹⁴And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  ¹⁵And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

7. When God gave Moses his mission, what was Moses’ reaction?  __________________________________________________________

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8.  What is God’s name? ______________________________

So God commanded Moses to go to Egypt and meet with Pharaoh and demand that the Israelites be set free because God has requested it.  Moses was still scared and told God he could not speak to Pharaoh because he had a speech impediment (he stuttered).  But God told Him that He would be with Moses so he did not have to be scared.  God also gave Moses a rod that when Moses put it on the ground,  turned to a snake. He gave it to Moses to show Pharaoh so that Pharaoh would know Moses was sent from God.  Moses was still worried about the entire mission, so God let Moses bring his brother Aaron with him (Aaron was a very good speaker).  Even though Moses was scared, he still obeyed God.

Moses and Aaron in Egypt

So Moses and Aaron got their chance to meet with Pharaoh.  They requested that he let the Israelites go into the wilderness for 3 days so they could worship God and make sacrifices to him. When Pharaoh heard this not only did he say no, he decided to make the work even harder for the Israelite slaves.  It appeared that the plan backfired. When the people of Israel saw Moses and Aaron, they were mad at them.

9.  Does it ever seem like choosing to follow God’s plan will make our friends see us differently?

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10.  How willing are you to be seen differently by people for your Christian faith?

Very willing                            Somewhat willing                   A Little                       Unwilling

God instructed Moses to tell his people that God would rescue them and bring them out of Egypt. Things seemed to be going badly but God was in control. So He wanted Moses to be confident. They went back a second time and this time they told Pharaoh again to let their people go. And Aaron put down the rod on the ground and it turned to a serpent. So Pharaoh called his own wizards and sorcerers (who get their power from Satan) and they did the same thing with their rods. So we see that Satan can perform miracles too.

The Plagues

God then told Moses to warn Pharaoh that if he did not let the Israelites free he was going to turn the Nile river into blood. The Nile river was the only way the Egyptians could survive (since they lived in the desert and there was not much water around).  But even after they did this, Pharaoh refused. They brought down 10 total plagues, including sending masses of frogs throughout Egypt, turning all the dust to lice that got on all the Egyptian people, destroying all the animals and even removing all light for 3 days. Egypt had a lot of Gods but their main God’s were in charge of all these things (so they believed). By bringing the plagues, Moses was showing that the real God, the God of the Bible was actually in charge of everything and the gods they worshipped were fake.

The Passover

The last plague Moses warned Pharaoh of was that if he did not let the Israelite people go, every firstborn son in Egypt would die, including Pharaoh’s son. The Egyptians wrongly believed Pharaoh was a god himself and his son was the most important person in the kingdom because he was the “god reborn.”  So the real God of the Bible sent His angel to slay every firstborn son in Egypt but told the Israelites to take the blood from a pure, clean lamb and put it over their doors. So when the angel came to kill, it would ” pass over” every house that had the blood and they would be spared from God’s judgment.

11.  When the blood of the lamb is used to protect people judgment, what are we seeing a preview of?

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12.  What is God protecting you from today?  _____________________________________________________________________________

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Escape from Egypt

After this last plague, Pharaoh and the Egyptians were so devastated. None of their false gods helped them and now their own children were dead. Not only did they send the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery, they gave them gold and silver as well.  Moses then took the Israelites into the wilderness where they could travel to the Promised Land that was waiting for them. Pharaoh soon became angry about all of this and wanted revenge. He then sent his armies after Moses and the Israelites to go kill them in the wilderness.  Moses then performed one of his greatest miracles. God told him to raise his staff in front of the Red Sea and then God would part the water for him so he and his people could escape on the ground.  And so they went through this walkway God made in the sea.  When Pharaoh’s men reached it, the waters closed back up to normal and they were all drowned in the sea. Moses trusted God and God delivered him.

13. Moses was able to be used by God because he was prepared by God. He had trained in The Word and that led him to be able to hear and be effective for The Lord. What are 3 things you can do this week to help train yourself up?

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14.  Prayer and Reading Challenge

How many times do you plan on praying this week? _______________________

How many Psalms do you plan on reading this week? ____________________________