"What Would Moses Do?"

Exodus 2.11-12, 15-17 NASU

“...when Moses had grown up,... he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw and Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian...

“When Paraoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and 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.”

The life of Moses may be divided into three forty year periods:

• Birth to Forty Years Old

A Hebrew baby boy was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. She named him Moses and raised him as her own. Moses was “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians” and grew to become “a man of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7.22). At the age of forty, Moses killed an Egyptian he witnessed abusing an Israelite. He assumed “his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him” (Acts 7.25). However, “they did not understand.” His crime was made known to Pharaoh who “tried to kill Moses” (Exodus 2.15), so Moses fled for his life to the land of Midian.

• Forty to Eighty Years Old

Moses encountered a family of shepherdesses, “stood up and helped them,” and later married into the family. “After forty years had passed” (Acts 7.30), while Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3.2). The voice of the Lord announced Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” and called Moses to go and set His people free from their bondage in Egypt. Moses reluctantly and miraculously led an entire nation “out of the affliction of Egypt” (Exodus 3.17) and embarked on a journey to the promised land.

• Eighty to One Hundred and Twenty Years Old

“This man [Moses] led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years” (Acts 7.36). Moses delivered the Ten Commandments on “stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God” (Deuteronomy 9.10). Under this ancient leader’s direction the people of Israel built a mobile worship center called the Tabernacle and enjoyed God’s provision of daily manna until a whole new generation of Israelites prepared itself to possess the promised land of Canaan “flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3.17).

There is no doubt that Moses was a truly gifted man of God. He was the greatest leader who ever lived, second only to Jesus Christ. I am inspired by the character of the man Moses who, when encountered by people in need, “stood up and helped them.” 

But, how inspired am I? Am I inspired enough to take risks like Moses did to help others in need? Or, am I content to admire this great leader without exerting myself to assist the plight of downtrodden people in my own community? 

I should get a rubber wristband that reads: “What would Moses do?” and snap it every time I feel complacent.

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The portrayal of "Moses" with “stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God” (Deuteronomy 9.10) is used by permission of the artist. It is the work of the amazing American illustrator, Louis S. Glanzman, whose paintings have appeared in Readers Digest, True, Argosey, Colliers, Boys Life, New Yorker, National Lampoon, Saturday Evening Post, and many more magazines. His covers for Time magazine helped to establish Mr. Glanzman's career as a portrait painter and he is a member of the 'American Portrait Society'. Check out his fabulous work at http://louisglanzman.com/.