WWUTT 1866 By Faith Moses’ Parents (Hebrews 11:23)

By faith, Moses' parents feared God instead of Pharaoh, and they saved the life of Moses, who would grow up to be a great prophet and the deliverer of Israel.

His parents are heroes of the faith when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. As we continue our stroll down the hall of faith, we stop to consider

Moses. That's where we are in our text, Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 23, and I'm going to read through verse 29 from the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the

Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. How about that?

He had pretty much the whole story of Exodus right there in just those few verses.

Back to verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents.

Now we don't really consider that. It's almost like he's born, he's an infant, and as practically a newborn, he is put in the basket and then sent down the

Nile, where he will end up in the presence of Pharaoh's daughter, who's there bathing in the

Nile, and she finds this Hebrew child, takes the child into the house of Pharaoh, and raises the child as her own.

That's what we envision about the story, all of those things happening so immediately. But let's go to the story and read it.

It's probably been a while for you since you've read the story of baby Moses in Exodus chapter 1.

I'm going to start reading here in verse 1. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob.

They came, each one with his household, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And all the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were 70 in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt.

So remember, we read about Joseph last time, last week, in verse 22 of Hebrews 11.

By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave commands concerning his bones.

And when we read about the exodus, when Israel finally left Egypt, it says they took the bones of Joseph with them as they headed to the promised land.

And when they would later arrive there, of course, it would be a generation from that time that they left

Egypt, because the generation that left Egypt would grumble against God so he would curse them to perish in the desert.

But then that next generation that came into the promised land, they would have buried Joseph with Jacob, with his fathers there in the promised land.

So in verse 6, this is Exodus 1 .6, then Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation.

But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people,

Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.

So they appointed taskmasters over them, to afflict them with hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities,

Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel to slave labor, and they made their lives bitter, with hard slave labor in mortar and bricks, and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor, which they brutally compelled them to do.

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other was

Puah. And he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.

But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them, but let the boys live.

So the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?

Then the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can come to them.

So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty. Now it happened that because the midwives feared

God, he made households for them. And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying,

Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.

That's all of Exodus 1. Now that story with regard to the midwives, that's often used to talk about whether or not we're allowed to lie.

Because didn't the midwives lie, and yet God blessed them? Well, notice that it says,

When Pharaoh spoke with his people, in verse 10, he says, Let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it be in the event of war that they join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.

So Pharaoh is dealing shrewdly with the Israelites, but in his shrewdness, he is a murderer.

You know, the word shrewd actually has a double meaning to it. It can mean to have sharp or wise judgment, and it can also mean to be piercingly cold.

And in this particular case, it would be the latter definition, it would certainly describe Pharaoh. He was being wicked, destroying these

Hebrew babies. But the midwives dealt shrewdly with Pharaoh in a God -honoring way.

They wanted to save the lives of these boys. Now consider in the

Ten Commandments, when we are told not to lie, this is the ninth commandment. Specifically, how is it worded in the

Ten Commandments when it says, Do not lie? What does it say? Does it say, Thou shalt not lie? In Exodus chapter 20, it says,

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. So speaking of your neighbor in such a way that would bring harm to your neighbor, whether it's harming a reputation, or bringing gain to yourself, or even destroying your neighbor's life, which is ultimately what we understand a lie to do.

A lie, according to the definition of the ninth commandment, would be to destroy another person.

Could just be destroying their reputation, or it could be something that actually costs them their lives.

But either way, you're talking about treating another person as less than you. It is a very serious sin to lie.

And Jesus says, Those who are liars will be excluded from the kingdom of God. They will be cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21 .8, As for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers, the sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and here's the last one, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

So, yeah, it's a very serious thing to lie. But here these midwives say something that we might call a lie.

But I would argue that it's not. I would argue that the midwives are dealing shrewdly with Pharaoh to save the lives of these children.

This is not an example that gives us permission to lie. I don't think we should see the story that way either.

We should consider it in its proper context. When God would send Israel to fight against their enemies, sometimes

God would give them battle strategies that would include flanking them from the side or from behind or making the opponents think that there was more

Israelites than there really were. Was all of that lying? Should Israel have given their opponents their battle strategy from the very front?

Hey, just want you to see that we are honest fighters here. No, there's something different to a war strategy.

And in this particular case regarding the midwives, it was the same kind of a thing. They are in the midst of battle, so to speak.

And so to save their own people against a tyrannical enemy, they deal shrewdly with him. And the

Lord rewards them. Exodus 120. So God was good to the midwives.

And the people multiplied. It became very mighty when the midwives spoke to Pharaoh the way that they did.

It says that they feared God and not Pharaoh. And so it was in the fear of the

Lord that they responded to Pharaoh with the words that they chose. We see the same sort of a thing said of Moses' parents here in Hebrews 11, 23.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

So let's continue on in Exodus two, beginning in verse one. And a man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as a wife.

And the woman conceived and bore a son, and she saw that he was beautiful. So she hid him for three months.

Those words that are right there, Hebrews 11, 23, exactly as we read them in Exodus 2, 2.

He was a beautiful child. She loved him, adored him, was not going to let an

Egyptian have him, at least not in the sense of claiming his life. She did let an

Egyptian have him in the sense that Pharaoh's daughter would end up raising him.

And really, Moses' own mother raised him. We'll consider that here in just a moment, if you know something of the story.

So she hides him for three months, verse three, but she could not hide him any longer. Kind of hard to hide an infant.

So she took him, she took for him rather, an ark of papyrus reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch.

Then she put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. Now pay attention to that.

This isn't the point of the lesson today, but just a fun little fact. So she took an ark of papyrus reeds.

She kind of wove these reeds together, it would have looked like a big nest. And she covered it over with tar and pitch.

So what color would it have been? Would have been black. It's covered with tar and pitch, which makes it waterproof.

And then what does she do with it? She put the child into it. She puts Moses into it. An ark is kind of completely covered.

Just like Noah built an ark, a giant wooden barge that was covered with tar and pitch.

So it likewise would have been black, making it waterproof, sitting in the water. It had a roof over it.

It was completely enclosed, except for a single window, which God instructed Noah to build into the side of the ark.

So this was likely a basket and had another kind of top on it. So it's waterproof.

It's sitting in the reeds by the bank of the Nile. You notice that? She put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the

Nile. Did she send it up the Nile? And by the way, we say up the

Nile, not down the Nile, because as you might know, the Nile actually flows from south to north.

So she would send the child up the Nile. But does it say that she did that?

It says that she put him in the reeds by the bank of the Nile. We often picture this with Moses floating up the

Nile to eventually kind of passing by this place where Pharaoh's daughter and her maidens are bathing, right?

And here this basket comes floating along. And that's kind of the way we picture it. The way it's portrayed in stories and movies and things like that.

But that's not what's described here. She just put Moses in the reeds.

And he sat there in the reeds. Verse four. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

She doesn't follow the basket down the Nile, up the Nile. She just stands at a distance to see if somebody else is going to find the child.

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile with her young women walking alongside the

Nile. And she saw the ark among the reeds and sent her maid servant and she took it to her.

Again, baskets not floating by. It's just sitting there in the reeds. Then she opened it.

So it does have a top on it and saw the child and behold, the boy was crying and she had pity on him and said, this is one of the

Hebrews children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall

I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you? So this is

Moses sister has come to Pharaoh's daughter. Hey, I know somebody, I know a woman who can take care of him for you.

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. So the girl went and called the child's mother and 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 and she named him

Moses and said, because I drew him out of the water. So how do you like that? Not only is

Moses saved from the hand of Pharaoh, but Moses mother is even paid by Pharaoh's daughter to raise him and then takes the child to Pharaoh's daughter that he may be raised in Pharaoh's house.

Now, I'm sure that Moses mother would have much rather had him at home, but at least she rests in the comfort of knowing by God's providence,

Moses has been saved his life spared and he's growing up in a place where he will not be harmed.

And all of this was by God's hand, his sovereign hand that delivered

Moses from the hand of Pharaoh that he would even be raised in Pharaoh's house.

This would give Moses an opportunity 80 years into the future to step back into Pharaoh's house once again and tell him to let my people go having been raised in that very place.

So we see the faith of Moses parents here at the beginning of Exodus chapter one through the beginning of chapter two,

Moses, when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents. We read that in Exodus two, two, because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

Had their fear been of Pharaoh, then they would have turned Moses over to be killed to try to spare their own lives.

But that's not what they did. They risked their lives on Moses behalf so that he would be saved.

Are you noticing that kind of a theme that's going on here in Hebrews 11, you're seeing over and over again that some of these faithful are giving their very lives.

Abel lost his life because of the faith that he had in God. Enoch lived his life in faith and he was taken up at the very end because he was seen as pleasing to God.

Hebrews 11, five, Noah gave his life to serve

God. Even in the midst of all of the hateful people who opposed God and opposed

Noah because of his righteousness, yet he continued to trust in God and obey him and was delivered from the judgment of God.

Abraham left his place of dwelling and traveled hundreds of miles to the

West to a place he didn't even know where he was going until God told him to stop and that land he was going to give to his descendants.

Abraham lived his life in faith unto the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, same thing, Joseph, and here we get to Moses, his parents willing to risk their lives to save this child.

And then in verse 24, by faith Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the riches of Egypt.

Now how could Moses have regarded the reproaches of Christ when Jesus hadn't even come to life yet?

Well, he had not become incarnate as we understand that. We did not know the name

Jesus Christ at the time of Moses because God had not yet become incarnate, fully

God and fully man, born as a baby in Bethlehem, growing up and living a perfect sinless life, which no man has ever done but Christ alone, dying the death that we're supposed to die, rising again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

That story had not yet been told. Christ who was persecuted and even put to death and Moses regarded the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt.

So how was Moses able to do that if Jesus had not even yet been born? We'll talk about that tomorrow.

But just consider here, we don't think of Moses' parents as being in the hall of faith, but according to Hebrews 11, 23, they are by faith.

Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

Moses' parents are in the hall of faith. Now what were their names?

Because when we read at the very beginning of Exodus, Exodus two, verse two, it says that, well, verse one, rather, a man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as a wife and the woman conceived and bore a son and she saw that he was beautiful.

So she hid him for three months. We've not ever gotten their names there, but we do read their names in Exodus 6, 20.

And Amram took his father's sister, Jochbed, as a wife and she bore him

Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram's life were 137 years.

So there you go. Moses' father was Amram and his mother Jochbed, and they are heroes of the faith.

And likewise, like they, we should fear God rather than man.

As I heard recently in an old sermon from R .C. Sproul, he said, beloved, the single most frequent reason why people compromise and negotiate the gospel of Christ is to please man.

People will compromise on the gospel because they fear man rather than God.

But as Spurgeon said, fear God and nothing else. And so taking a lesson from Moses' parents, let us continue today in the fear of the

Lord. Heavenly Father, I pray you would give us courage in these days that we would stand firmly upon your truth as proclaimed in scripture.

Taking a lesson from even Moses' parents who feared God rather than the king.

We desire to obey you. We live for you today in the simple, the little things.

We even give glory to God in these things so that when big responsibilities may arise or something huge may land in our circumstance, we're even able to trust in you and continue in faithfulness to you in these little things because you have strengthened our hearts in Christ.

It is in his name that we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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