PT-2 "Moses" (Acts 7:17-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/17/2017 9:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  PT-2 “Moses”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Acts 7:17-37

            Message of the verses:  We begin to look at the second 40 year period in the life of Moses in our SD for today as God’s call came: “23  "But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.”  I have to say that when I was much younger that I watched “The Ten Commandments” many times, but after I became a believer I learned that Moses actually knew that he was from the children of Israel.  I guess that in the movie this made for some drama, but it was not filmed accurately.  Moses decided to go and to visit his family when he became forty years old.  Moses was actually nursed by his mother as seen in Exodus 2:7-9, and in those days I have learned that the nursing of a child went a lot longer than it does today and so Moses’ mother would have had time to talk to him about what it meant to be from Israel, from the tribe of Levi, and may have even talked to him about the coming redeemer.  We move on in Stephen’s story:  “24 “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.”  It seems that Moses knew that he was God’s chosen deliver and so he took matters into his own hands and struck down an Egyptian, and in the OT account we read in Exodus 2:12 “12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”  The word “hid” in the Hebrew can mean bury and I remember hearing a sermon many years ago about this portion of Scripture.  The pastor giving the sermon said that burying an Egyptian in the sand was what really got Moses into trouble and this should never have happened to an Egyptian.  What they did with dead bodies in Egypt is rather famous, but it did not include burying them in the sand and so Moses had to leave after learning that two Israelites saw what he did and so he left Egypt in fear of his life.  Now as we mentioned his goal of visiting his brothers was not really a social call, but to let them know that he was their deliverer, but they did not understand.  “26 “On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ’Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ 27 “But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ’WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US? 28 ’YOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?’”   29 “At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.”

            Moses probably knew that he was the deliverer and perhaps as mentioned earlier this could have come from his mother as she certainly knew that God was going to send a deliverer to take Israel out of Egypt as He had promised Abraham in Genesis chapter 15.  Moses was not ready to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt at this time but after tending sheep for forty years he would have the experience that he needed as we will see as we move into the next 40 years of Moses’ life.

            30 "After forty years had passed, AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH. 31 “When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ’I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. 33 “BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ’TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND. 34 ’I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.’”  As we look at these verses we see that Stephen left out some things from the OT story, but as mentioned earlier it was not his goal to teach them about OT history for they knew it well themselves, but he was defending himself against the charges that they were accusing him of. 

            We will conclude this SD with a comment from John MacArthur’s commentary on these verses: 

“This is a constant pattern in Israel’s history—spiritual pride coupled with spiritual ignorance that causes them to reject the deliverers God sends them.  It is sometimes argued that Jesus could have not been the Messiah, or else Israel would have recognized Him.  As Stephen points out, however, they rejected both Joseph and Moses.  This was their typical response to those God sent to deliver them.  Jesus spoke of this attitude in Matthew 21:33-46.” 

“33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 “When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 “The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ’They will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ’This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 “They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" 41 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." 42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ’THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Patience is seen in this story of Moses as he waited on the Lord to bring about the plans that he had for him to accomplish through the power of His Spirit.  I can learn from the lives of Moses and from Stephen as Moses teaches me patience and Stephen teaches me to stand for the truth no matter how it will affect me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord for all the preparations for Sandy’s father’s 100^th birthday party tomorrow, that it will all bring glory to the Lord.

Memory verse:  Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Upon the forehead of the woman” (Rev. 17:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who helped Ahab get Naboth’s vineyard?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/17/2017 10:16 AM