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UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD
PART TEN - B     MOSES, GOD’S MAN

September 9, 2001
Moses had now spent the last 40 years as a sheepherder, married to Zipporah, the
daughter of the priest of Midian, whose name was Jethro. Zipporah bore Moses two sons.

The Midianites were the offspring of the fourth son of Abraham with Keturah, who was named Midian. Abraham married Keturah after the death of Sarah. Genesis 25:1-2

Thus the Midianites were not heathens, they worshiped Yahweh, but they had stopped practicing circumcision. Exodus 4:19-26

Moses and his wife Zipporah did not get along, once they arrived in Egypt. After some time Moses sent her back to her father with their sons who, after the exodus out of Egypt, were brought back to Moses by Jethro. Exodus 18:1-7

There are no more records of Zipporah, and the sons of Moses did not inherit the position of their father.  Instead it was given to Joshua. (Numbers 13:16, Moses changed his name from Oshea [salvation] to Joshua [Yahweh is salvation]. It is also interesting to note that Joshua was a descendant of Ephraim, the son of Joseph)

Moses must have had some difficulties in his personal life, because when he married an Ethiopian woman (a black woman), both Aaron and Miriam came against Moses so strongly, that God had to intervene in the family brawl - Numbers 12:1-16

The conclusion we can draw from this is that Moses had severe marital problems which caused him to reject his own two sons.

When God was ready to call Moses into his final calling, he called a man who had given up all hopes of hearing from God again, being 80 years old, he was just living from day to day waiting for the day he was to die - Exodus 3:1-3

Physically Moses was in top condition, and would stay like this until his death at 120 years, but mentally at this time he was down - Deuteronomy 34:7-12

God knew that at this time Moses needed a personal supernatural meeting with God himself, as the Lord was going to transform Moses into the greatest leader of all time --
Exodus 3:4–5

God informed Moses who He was, that He had seen the affliction of the children of Israel in Egypt and at this time God was going to deliver them, having selected Moses to be the man who God was going to work through -- but Moses wanted no part of this - Exodus 3:6-22

As we look at this proposed project 4,000 years later, to understand it fully, we must look at it from the viewpoint of Moses. The children of Israel at this time consisted of 600,000 men, plus the wives and the children, which together came to three million persons, plus their cattle and personal belongings. Exodus 12:37-38

Moving this large number of people would require tons of water to drink daily, tons of food for the people and tons of feed for the cattle. They would need wood to burn in order to cook food, clothing and shoes, not to forget tents for three million people. Sanitation would be another problem. Three million people and cattle would leave tons of feces and urine behind them on a daily basis.

Instead of telling God about these staggering numbers, Moses tried to weasel himself out of the job, which at this time he did not believe could be done - Exodus 4:1-13

It was not until God became angry with Moses, that he realized who he was dealing with - God himself in the form of Jesus - 1 Corinthians 10:1-4; and then Moses decided to go and do the job - Exodus 5:14-17

But when Moses came to his father-in-law, he did not tell him that he had met God. Exodus 5:18

It was not until he met Aaron, that he shared his experience - Exodus 5:19-31

Our lesson to learn from this: Do not look at the project or situation -- look to God and obey Him! Isaiah 55:8-11

     Do you have an ear with which to hear?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      To be continued . . . . 

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