1. Who claimed Moses as her son? "And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses; and she said, Because I drew him out of the water." (Exodus 2:10)
2. What advantages did this give him? "And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." (Acts 7:21-22)
3. What happened one day when he was grown? "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:11-12)
4. How old was he when this happened? "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian." (Acts 7:23-24)
5. Why did he do this? "For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not." (Acts 7:25)
6. What is indicated by this verse? That Moses had in some way learned that God would make use of him to deliver the children of Israel; and he supposed that they would understand it also.
7. Did they understand it?
8. What shows that they did not? "For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?" (Acts 7:25-28)
9. By this attempted deliverance of Israel, what stand did Moses take? He identified himself with Israel. "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." (Hebrews 11:24)
10. What choice did he make? "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." (Hebrews 11:25)
11. What did he value more highly than the wealth of Egypt? "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." (Hebrews 11:25)
12. When Moses found that even his own people would not acknowledge him as a deliverer, what did he do? "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well." (Exodus 2:15) "Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons." (Acts 7:29)
13. How long did he remain there? "And when forty years were expired." (Acts 7:30)
14. What did he do all these years? "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian." (Exodus 3:1)
15. At the expiration of forty years, what took place? "And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush." (Acts 7:30)
16. What did the Lord then propose to do with Moses? "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt." (Acts 7:34)
17. Did the Israelites believe in the mission Moses this time? "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped." (Exodus 4:29-31)
18. What must have been the reason that they did not accept him before? Because although he had been appointed to do the work, he did not go in the Lord's way nor the Lord's time; he had only his own credentials.
Notes:
Still further Rawlinson says (we leave out his references):
No one will for a moment imagine that the wisest of the Greeks went to study in Egypt for any other reason than because it was there that the greatest discoveries were to be learned; and that Pythagoras or his followers suggested, from no previous experience, the theory of the sun being the center of our system; or the obliquity of the ecliptic, or the moon's borrowed light, or the proof of the milky way being a collection of stars. ... The same may be said of the principle by which the heavenly bodies were attracted to a center, and impelled in their order, the theory of eclipses, and the proof of the earth being round. These and many other notions were doubtless borrowed from Egypt, to which the Greeks chiefly resorted. (The History of Herodotus, vol. II, chap. 7)
Stephen's statement would indicate that Moses was not simply well versed in the arts and sciences, but that he was a practical man. Josephus says that he was placed at the head of the Egyptian armies, and that by his skillful leadership he defeated the Ethiopians, gaining great glory for the Egyptians. (Antiquities, book 2, chap. 10) Whether this is true or not, it is certain that he was a great general.
In all the years of his stay in the court of Egypt, as well as while he was in the land of Midian, God was preparing him for the great work of his life. God works through means. While he could have miraculously endowed an ignorant man with the knowledge necessary to lead his people, he chose to take a man possessed of all the natural and acquired qualifications that from a human standpoint would seem necessary, and to place his Spirit upon him.
The Lord doesn't usually call people to do a work for which they have no fitness. One of the qualifications of a minister of the gospel is that he should be "apt to teach." (1 Timothy 3:2)
If he has not this aptness, and cannot cultivate it, he may accept that fact as evidence that God has not called him to the ministry. When God calls a man to a work, he calls him to prepare for it.--Signs of the Times, May 25, 1888--Lesson 23 - Sabbath, June 9--Exodus 2:10 to 4:31.
E.J. Waggoner