Moses & the Plagues Creation to Kings | Episode 5
Born amidst a country in turmoil,
to a people who were being persecuted,
under a law that demanded his death,
Moses did not have the easiest start in life.
At the time of his birth, the Children of Israel had been living in Egypt for almost 400 years,
and the Pharaoh at that time had expanded the country considerably.
But it was at home where his tyranny was felt the most.
He decreed that all Hebrew boys needed to be thrown into the river and killed.
This was to prevent their continued growth and potential feared dominance.
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In desperation, Moses' mother Jochebed came up with a plan.
Weaving a basket of reeds, she made it waterproof
and then put her baby inside and hid the basket in the reeds of the river.
The Bible records that Pharaoh's daughter, believed to be Hatshepsut,
came down to the river one day to bathe and saw the basket in the reeds,
and upon finding a baby inside
she was so touched that a mother would go to such lengths to protect her child,
that she decided to adopt him.
Miriam, watching from a distance, offered to find a nurse for the baby
and promptly called her mother.
The princess asked Jochebed to look after the baby
until he was old enough to come and live in the palace as her son.
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For 12 years Jochebed filled her son's mind with a knowledge of God.
At the age of 12 he was taken to the court of Pharaoh
where he became the grandson of Pharaoh
and was afforded the best education that Egypt had to offer.
Growing up in the bewildering glamour of the Egyptian courts,
Moses never forgot his roots.
One day when he was out, he spied an Egyptian beating an Israelite
and he killed him and buried him in the sand.
The next day when he tried to arbitrate a dispute between two Israelites,
he was astonished to find that they knew he had killed an Egyptian the day before.
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Moses now has to flee,
and he heads out to the Midian desert, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia,
where he tends sheep for 40 years.
He gets married, has children,
and one day whilst in the desert, he sees a bush burning
and he hears the voice of God calling, saying, 'Moses, Moses.'
He instructs him to go back to Egypt
to deliver his people to take them to Canaan.
Moses is reluctant to go,
but he is reassured that his brother Aaron will go with him;
that the power of God will go with him, and he finally agrees to go.
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Entering Egypt with Aaron at his side, Moses stood before Pharaoh and said,
'Let my people go.'
His request was angrily refused as Pharaoh challenged him and God saying,
'Who is God that I should obey Him?'
Moses and Aaron and then demonstrated the power of God
using Aaron's rod as it was miraculously turned into a snake and then back into a rod.
Still, Pharaoh was unimpressed and refused to release his slaves.
It was then that God began to rain down plagues on Egypt,
but Pharaoh stubbornly refused to yield.
As the rivers turn to blood, and frogs, lice, and flies covered the land,
boils afflicted the people, and locusts and hail decimated the crops and herds,
and finally darkness covered the land,
yet still Pharaoh's heart hardened more decisively.
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Moses was a man who had a great foundation in life with his mother's education,
who then learned in the courts of Pharaoh for nearly thirty years
where he was trained to lead military campaigns.
However, instead of all of this he went to the wilderness for forty years where he tended sheep,
but this was exactly what he needed.
God knows what's best for us.
Sometimes we think we're prepared for the great challenges in life,
but we grossly misjudge ourselves and our circumstances.
Just like Moses needed time away in the silence and solitude of the desert,
so sometimes God withdraws us from the heat of life
to prepare us for something else great down the line.
If you are going through a wilderness experience right now, trust God.
Trust that He knows what's best for you and have patience in Him.