A Portrait of God's Deliverer - Exodus 2

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2. And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.

But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him.

Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river and her maidens walked along the riverside. And when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child.

And behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew's children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women and she may nurse the child for you?

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.

So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, because I drew him out of the water.

Now, it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way.

And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion?

And he said, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? So Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known. When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. Now, the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and they filled the trough 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. When they came to Rehoel, their father, he said, how is it that you have come so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds.

And he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock. So he said to his daughters, and where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. When Moses was content to live with the man and he gave Zephora, his daughter, to Moses, and she bore him a son, he called his name Gershom.

For he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land. Now, it happened in the process of the time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage and they cried out and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

So God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them. This is the word of the Lord.

Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that we can go over this text today because there's something you want to speak to us from this text. Father, we pray that as we go out that your spirit would help us live in a manner that this text teaches us to live.

In Jesus' name, amen. The Bible is full of examples of God raising up deliverers for his people. This text introduces one of the greatest deliverers of the Old Testament, Moses. For the ancient people of God, Moses was the epitome of God's deliverer.

When Israel strayed from God and were conquered by foreign nations, they looked back to the days of Moses in hopes that God would deliver them again in the same manner as he did through Moses. Unlike the modern days, the ancient people looked to their redemptive history in hopes that God would do it again.

And this is why Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus, excitedly tells Nathaniel in John 1 .45, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

They were looking back to have hope in their current times for God to send a deliverer. This text paints a portrait of the kind of a man that God chooses and equips to be the deliverer of his people. And this is important for us today because when we know how God delivered his people in the past, we can discern how God will deliver his people now.

At the least, we are able to discern and avoid the false teachers and prophets whom God has not chosen to deliver his people. The world is full of false pastors and false teachers who hog the glory for themselves and fleece the sheep, who draw attention to themselves and not to God.

Today's text, however, paints a totally different portrait of God's chosen deliverer. And it does not resemble any of the prosperity gospel preachers that we see today. And the main point of our text today is that God provides a deliverer who reflects himself.

God provides a deliverer who reflects himself. The first point is that God protects his deliverer through compassionate people. God protects his deliverer through compassionate people. Starting with verse 1, Exodus, Exodus moves from the nation of Israel to one family from one specific tribe, a tribe of Levi.

Swiftly from one family to one child, a son. The mother knew that this did not bode well for the baby. Last chapter, chapter 1, said the king of Egypt commanded every Hebrew boy to be thrown into denial so that they might die.

However, verse 2 tells us that the mother loved her baby boy. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. When she looked at her baby boy, she saw that he was beautiful.

The more direct translation of this word, beautiful, is that this is good. And she saw that he was good. This is a stark reminder of Genesis 1's creation account. After God created each kind, he saw that it was good.

In fact, the phrase that it was good gets repeated seven times in Genesis 1. In Exodus 2, this phrase applies to a baby boy who is facing a death penalty for the crime that he did not commit. Even before the baby boy does anything, the mother instinctively sees him as good.

The irony is that it was not just his mother who saw the boy as good. But the baby boy was seen by someone of a much higher authority than the king of Egypt himself. Someone who could nullify the pharaoh's wicked, genocidal edict.

Although the mother tried to keep the baby for as long as she could, it became impossible to hide the baby any longer without risking all of their lives. Verse 3 shows us what she decided to do instead.

But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. Note how carefully she took care of her baby boy in the ark.

While the marriage to birth just flashed by, the author zooms in on the careful and meticulous actions of his mother to prepare for her baby boy's departure. The ark was coated with asphalt and pitch so that the water would not seep in and sink the ark.

Then she intentionally placed the ark by the reeds of the river so that it would not float away by the strong currents of the Nile. This is not an action done by a mother who thinks the baby will float away and just die.

This is an action of a desperate mother who wants to do everything possible so that the baby may live. This is not an abandonment. This is love. And I appreciate the NKJV's choice of keeping the word for ark rather than translating it to a basket which many modern translations have done.

In the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible which Moses wrote, the word for ark happens 28 times. While the 26 occurrences refer to Noah's ark, the other two refers to Moses' basket. And it is no longer used in Moses' writing.

The author is trying to make a connection with the first ark. Just as God protected and provided for Noah and his family through the first ark, God was protecting this baby boy in his ark which was carefully prepared by his loving mother.

In this providential ark, the baby boy was safer than he had been in his mother's arms just a few minutes ago. There was someone else looking out for the baby boy. In addition to the mother's attentive care, verse 4 tells us that she was not the only one who was concerned for the baby.

Verse 4, And his sister stood far off to know what would be done to him. We will later learn her name as Miriam, Moses' older sister. Verse 4 sets the context for how she will play a crucial role in God's providence and protection for this baby boy.

The narration moves to a new scene with a new character introduced, but faithfully follows the ark. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside.

And when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maids to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

Pharaoh's daughter just happened to be bathing on that day at the river among the reeds. And she happened to see the ark. The ark happened to pique her curiosity, and she ordered it to be retrieved. When she saw the child, she had compassion on him.

Instead of following her father's edict, her compassion drove to save the baby boy instead. This word, compassion, is the same word that God has for his people on the last days when he restores all things.

The same word for compassion is used for when the Pharaoh's daughter saves a Hebrew baby boy whom she's just met. A passionate drive to save that engulfs the thought to destroy. And how did the Pharaoh's daughter provide for the baby?

As you recall from verse 4, the baby's sister followed the ark. She happened to be still standing and watching. So she approaches the daughter of Pharaoh and asks, Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?

After all, she happened to know a nursing mother who recently lost a baby boy. When the birth mother arrives, Pharaoh's daughter offers to pay her to take care of her baby. Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.

In ancient Egypt and in the ancient world, the nurse would nurture the baby until he turned to 3 or 4 in her own home. She didn't have to enter the palace herself. By these series of providential events, the baby boy not only survived, but also was reunited with the birth mother.

She was protected. And this is an unexpected reunion made possible through compassionate characters being at the right place at the right time. The characters whose desire is to preserve the life rather than to destroy it.

Moreover, the narrator points out the irony of the Pharaoh's order from chapter 1 that gets broken by his own daughter. What her evil father ordered, his very daughter breaks by saving a Hebrew boy who will grow up to be the deliverer of God's people.

The people her evil father enslaved will be freed by the child that his daughter saved. The royal decree to kill led Moses to the royal protection that will raise him up to be the leader of his people.

Although God has not been mentioned so far, his presence is impossible to avoid. After all, all of the series of fortunate events here that occurred to keep this baby boy alive were all orchestrated by God himself with compassionate individuals who protected and nurtured this future deliverer.

Eventually, the child was returned to his adoptive mother and he was fittingly named. And the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, because I drew him out of the water.

This passage ends in another irony. Whether the adoptive mom knew or not, Moses, the one who was drawn out of the water, will draw God's people through the water in deliverance, the Red Sea. This, of course, would not have happened if it were not for the three compassionate women during the infancy of Moses' life.

What does this tell us about God? This tells us at no point in God's redemptive plan is the deliverer's life ever jeopardized because God's providence of compassionate people to protect him. This is a pattern all throughout and with a twist of irony.

David's life is spared by Jonathan, the very son of the murderous king Saul. Jesus' life is spared in infancy by faithful wise men who are not of his people, who avoided King Herod and returned and took another route.

This is because God does not gamble with his redemptive plan. God does not treat his deliverers like sacrificial chess piece. Even when there are times when the deliverer's life seem to be at risk, God finds a way to rescue by using caring individuals around.

Although you're not a deliverer, God still protects his redeemed people through caring individuals because, again, God does not gamble with his redemptive plan for his people. You may have experienced this in your faith journey.

God has placed the right people at the right time to say the right thing to draw you back to God or point you back to the correct doctrines. I know I owe a lot of gratitude to many faithful men and women who have pointed me back to what God says in Scripture rather than what my heart wants it to say.

And you may have gone astray for many years, but God found a way to rescue you from sin and hell through the help of caring Christian brothers and sisters who boldly spoke and acted when you were headed straight to condemnation.

At no point was God's hand off of you. That's who God is. He is faithful to the uttermost. And you could be one of those brothers and sisters in someone else's life. You could be like the Pharaoh's daughter.

You could be like the Moses' sister and his mother. You could point a lost soul to God and you would see miracles done to save that soul. Now, what does God's Deliverer experience growing up? God's Deliverer is rejected by His people.

After He's grown, God's Deliverer is rejected by His people. The next section fast-forwards to Moses' adulthood. Verse 11,. Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Although Moses grew up in the royal courts, his heart belongs with God's people in the field. Twice in one verse, the people of God are called His brethren, His brothers, His brothers and sisters, the ones who are suffering.

He identifies Himself as a part of them. He is not far away from His people's burden, but He is near them. He's not disgusted by them. He's not embarrassed by them, but He identifies with them. That's the heart of the Deliverer.

In fact, Moses' heart for His people is not missed by the New Testament. In Hebrews 11, 24 -25, the author notes that, by faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

That was not his identity. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Moses was legally the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Legally, he belonged to the royal courts.

He dressed like them. He ate like them. He was educated by them. Yet, by faith, he chose to be identified with the suffering people of God. He preferred the mistreatment with his people, a far greater treasure, than the fleeting pleasures of sin in the palace.

One of his heart, out of his heart for his people, Moses involved himself personally. Verse 12 shows that he avenged his Hebrew brother. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him there in the sand.

Although the translation does not capture it, the verb is actually to strike, not to kill. The intention here wasn't to kill. He meant to strike the Egyptian. This is the same verb that the Egyptian did when he hurt the Hebrew brother.

He struck the Hebrew slave. So what Moses was doing was an eye for an eye. He knew that the Hebrew slave would not find justice unless he stepped up. So the verb is actually he struck, but the Egyptian ended up dead.

And it's an unfortunate thing that the Egyptian man died and Moses hid him in the sand where hopefully he would not be found. However, verse 13 will show us that Moses' action on the previous day was not buried with a body.

And when he went out on the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion? The wrong person instead of repentance challenges Moses' authority.

Then he said, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Translation, you're not the boss of me. You belong with the Egyptians, not with us. You may be the prince of Egypt, but not my prince.

Moses, God's deliverer, was at first rejected by his own people, the very people that he came to save. This leads Moses to leave Egypt for Midian. If these Hebrew men knew about what happened the previous day, then it is a matter of time before Pharaoh found out.

In fact, verse 15 tells us that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses after hearing about this matter. Despite Moses' first attempt to deliver his people, God's people rejected him. Instead of protecting their deliverer who stood against the oppression of Egypt, for their sake, he didn't have to do this.

They rejected him and let the news spread about Moses. And this leads him to a well in the land of Midian, a source of water. Hopefully that he may live. This shows that God's deliverer is not exempt from rejections.

Moses' childhood probably was very peaceful and comfortable. After all, he's the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But being chosen to be God's deliverer is not just a walk in the park. It's hard. It's difficult.

It has rejections. And this goes back to show that whenever God deliver his people from their enemies, it is not because the people deserved it, but it is purely by God's mercy and grace. Imagine a people who keeps rejecting the deliverer who came to save.

Yet the deliverer still saves anyway. That's mercy. That's grace. It was by Moses' mercy and grace that he stepped in for the sake of the oppressed Hebrew. Yet the Hebrew people rejected him. They counted him not their own.

Third, God's deliverer suffers like his people. God's deliverer suffers like his people. The setting changes to a foreign land and the narrator introduces a new character involved in verse 16. Now, the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and they filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

Well, who else is by the well? Moses. Before Moses can get some rest, a trouble rises up right before his eyes. It seems he can't escape it. Then the shepherds came and drove them away. Here again, this also does not directly affect Moses.

He could have looked away and moved away, find a different spot to rest. Yet again, Moses intervenes. But Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. Recall that Moses is precisely in the foreign land because of his previous decision to help out the weak when he didn't have to.

We see here that he was not jaded by fighting for the oppressed. He was not burnt out from doing the right thing. This is the character of God's future deliverer, full of integrity despite the circumstances, full of justice despite the past.

He does not compromise good and bad. He does not get them confused despite the personal history. His righteousness remains intact despite the cost. Verses 18 through 20 show us the retelling of Moses' act of delivering the seven daughters of the Midianite priest.

The question that he asked in verse 18 shows that the oppression by the shepherds was a rather a common occurrence. How is it that you have come so soon today? This is a loaded question. Did the shepherds not prevent you from watering the flock today as they normally would?

They excitedly answered that an Egyptian not only delivered them from the oppressive shepherds but he also watered the flock for them. It was not partial but a complete deliverance. In response, the priest invites Moses to commune with him.

And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him that he may eat bread. Eating bread was a symbol of deep community in the ancient days. When you eat together, you accepted that person.

Ironically, the deliverer of God's people is rejected by his own people yet accepted by the paganistic foreigners of the Midianites. His people drove him away yet the Midianites are grateful for the mercy and grace that this deliverer provided for his daughters.

Chapter 2, which portrays the profile of the God's deliverer ends just as it started with a marriage union and a birth of a son in a foreign land summarized in two verses. It's intentional. It's well written.

Then Moses was content to live with the man and he gave Zipporah, his daughter, to Moses and he bore him a son. He called his name Gershom for he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land. Here, the baby boy who was delivered out of Pharaoh's deadly edict has the opportunity to name his own baby boy.

Just as Moses was born in a foreign land, his baby boy is born in a foreign land. Lest God's people accuse Moses of belonging to Egypt rather than to the suffering people, Moses also experiences an exile of 40 years away from Egypt where he was born.

He, for the first time, lives away from the comfort of the palace and the loving arms of his mother. Moses is a deliverer who knows what it is like to be a foreigner, a stranger. Moses is a deliverer who knows what it is like to do physical labor under the burning sun.

God places Moses in the foreign land precisely to prepare him to lead the suffering people out of the foreign land. God supplies a deliverer who experiences what his people go through. God provides a deliverer who leads from the trenches rather than from the throne.

That is the portrait of the kind of deliverer that God provides. How can Moses deliver God's people now? The fourth point is that God is the ultimate deliverer who is attentive to his people. God is the ultimate deliverer who is attentive to his people.

Here, we transition from the life of Moses back to the people of God. And here is a new context, a huge political change in Egypt. Now, it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. We find out that the evil king died.

The king who enslaved the people of God was no more. The king who committed the male genocide of Israel met his maker. Usually, when there is a change in the administration, a change in the king, there are newer policies.

Oftentimes, the policies are gracious, merciful. However, the bondage of Israel did not change. There was no favorable policy for the people of God. Their suffering continued under the new king. This time, the people of God respond differently than the first time in chapter 1.

Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage and they cried out. Although they silently submitted to the bondage in chapter 1, they finally cry out here. And it does not take long before God enters the picture.

And their cry came up to God because of the bondage. The cry reaches the throne room that is higher than that of the new king, Pharaoh. What does God do when the cry reaches him? Does he dilly-dally?

Does it go to his answering machine? No. So God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them.

God is mentioned for the first time in this chapter and he enters the scene when his people cry out. In suffering. It does not even say they cried out to God. Specifically. But by his people's cry, God enters the scene.

This is who God is. The suffering of his people becomes his business. We have a God who hears, who is not far off, who hears the suffering cry of his people. At the first time, not the second. Immediately, not later.

And we have a God who hears. That's important. We take our prayers for granted knowing that God can hear all things because he's omnipresent everywhere and also omniscient, knows all things. But this cannot be said about any other God.

God who hears is our God because false gods cannot hear. They cannot even hear if they wanted to. False gods cannot respond like the Lord our God. That's a privilege. After he heard their cry, he remembered them.

This does not mean God had a divine amnesia before this and realized that he had a people to take care of. Like turning on an oven and forgetting to turn it off. God remembering his covenant means God did not abandon his people.

God did not forsake his promise to his people. God has always been attentive to his people. When God's people were at their lowest point, God did not abandon them but looked at them and acknowledged them.

He was with them. That is who God is. God is intimately aware of his people's suffering. This text shows us that in the end, the ultimate deliverer is God himself. Ultimately, we do not depend on Moses or wherever he is.

But ultimately, we depend on God. He was the one who protected and provided for the infant Moses. And he is the ultimate deliverer who will call Moses to deliver his people out. When we piece together the portrait of God's deliverer, it is nearly impossible to miss God's perfect deliverer, Jesus his son.

Like Moses, God protected Jesus from a genocidal king who decided to kill all the babies in Bethlehem. Like Moses, Jesus experienced suffering and temptation as his people did. Hebrews 2 .18 says, because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

When you are tempted to sin for the umpteenth time this week, Jesus is available and approachable for the umpteenth time this week. Jesus is there for you because he is the deliverer who has experienced the temptation to sin, yet didn't.

He knows how hard it is. It's much harder to be tempted to sin, to be tempted to sin, and not sin than to be tempted to sin, to be tempted to sin, and sin. He knows how hard it is, but so much more. And he's there for you.

He suffered as you have, but more. And he welcomes you in his open arms. He will never turn you away, even in the grossest, most disgusting brokenness and sinfulness that you can ever experience. This deliverer has experienced it, and he welcomes it.

Like Moses, Jesus was rejected by the very people he came to save. He was rejected by his hometown. Isn't this the son of the carpenter? He was rejected by the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew 2, when the wise men come, knowing that there's the Messiah who's born, the scribes knew where he was supposed to be born, where the Messiah was to be born, because they tell the wise men where it is, Bethlehem.

But what do the scribes not do? Well, they do not follow the wise men and worship him, rejected by his people. And he was rejected by his own disciples, when they fled the scene of arrest. And finally, he was rejected by the crowd, when they chose to save Barabbas, a murderer, instead of their deliverer.

Ironically, by putting their deliverer to death, Jesus ultimately delivered his people from sin and death, once and for all. However, unlike Moses, Jesus is the ultimate deliverer, because he is God with us.

In order to deliver his people from the ultimate enemy, sin and death, God ultimately came down to his people. He is the better deliverer, because he is none other than God himself. He is the image of the invisible God, Colossians 1 .15.

He is the radiance of God's glory, Hebrews 1 .3. Anyone who has seen the Son has seen the Father, John 14 .9. In the end, the utmost deliverer who saved us from sin, the greatest enemy, is none other than God himself.

Jesus, God in the flesh, Jesus, God with us, who came to conquer sin and death once and for all by dying on the cross for our sake. Moses may be a portrait of God's deliverer, but we look to Jesus, who is the ultimate deliverer, whom the portrait is based off of.

Let us pray. Father, we are thankful that your plan from thousands of years ago still is consistent with the plan that you had for Jesus. Your plan to deliver your people from Egypt resembles your plan to deliver all people from sin.

We thank you that we have a portrait of the ultimate deliverer by looking at Moses. We pray that we would treasure and delight in Jesus today and this week. In his name we pray.