BIBLICAL BRIEFS 114
Moses’ perfectly phased life of 40 + 40 + 40 (= 120 years – Deut. 34:7) indicates God’s fulfilment with his life, also as a sign of wonder to you and me today. The number 120 signifies the final and full completion of earthly life (Gen. 6:3). With His chosen people in captivity, God had an overarching plan of action, but there was not any man that could fulfil His plan (Ps. 53:2-3). God was ready, but there was no one “who was willing in the days of His power” (Ps. 110:3). At the beginning of Ex. 3, Moses is in a place of total failure. But this was not the case earlier. Then he was known as “the royal son” in the household of Ramses II, the Egyptian king. According to the secular historian, Josephus, Moses luxuriously lived as royal prince in a world dynasty for forty years – he was a high-ranking man, a national celebrity, someone who received not only the best education and training, but who was also taught the Egyptian occult secrets. Acts 7:22 says, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action”. However, in an odd moment of blind anger, his Egyptian comfort live scattered. He destroyed his political privilege and had to flee from the country in order to save himself. Again, for forty years Moses literally lived in the desert. He was “content” (Ex. 2:21) being a failure. Here he was eighty years old, with a clear calling on his life (after all, he was born in his own ark – just as the predecessor Noah was saved from the water – 1Pet. 3:20 – this is what his name means). In Ps. 106:23 he is called “His chosen.” But somewhere along the way, calling and reality collided with one another. Although he was exceptionally gifted, and very attractive (Acts 7:20) (and in addition, he was the humblest person who ever lived – Num. 12: 1), this was not enough to launch him in his calling. It is strange how God often unexpectedly meets you at a point of no return to cause you to rise up in your calling, in spite of how God previously prepared you for that. Ex. 3 begins with an image of Moses’ quiet life of desperation: futile, energyless, passive, literally and figuratively an unimportant dry thorn bush. Mindful of the consequences of our sinful heritage on the earth since Adam’s time (Gen. 3:18), the landscape of Moses’ life was a dry curse, overlaid with thorns and thistles. But in this miserable state, the living God revealed Himself to Moses in the worthless, unimportant thorn bush! Sin (to miss your redemptive purpose) always cause sadness. The lonely thorn bush in the desert was just as meaningless as Moses’ life until it became a vessel of God’s fire. And despite being firewood, it was not consumed, but it became the turning point of regeneration. What Marianne Williamson says, is absolutely true: “It is not our failures that frighten us, but our potential for greatness. We fear authentic greatness far more than we fear our failures and shortcomings. We fear the kingly and queenly parts of ourselves because the other parts are so demanding that even if that royal part of us were to emerge, the other parts of us would seek to destroy it.” God the “consuming fire” (Heb. 2:29) tested Moses (1Cor. 3:13), but Moses’ undivided attention (Ex 3:3) that he brought about that he was not consumed but changed (Zech. 13:9). This supernatural encounter has always been cherished by him – forty years later, he testified of “the favour of him who dwelt in the burning bush” (Deut. 33:16)! This testimony of Moses as a sign for you and me on our journey of faith is the core of Heb. 11:27 – “By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.” Being taken up in the gallery of faith heroes shows that he achieved his redemptive purpose. Heb. 11:39-40 says that not all faith actions have concrete fruit and that while we receive evidence through faith, we sometimes do not get the promise, because He makes our descendants inherit it, thereby completing the predecessor as a sign and a wonder!
Dr Tom Gouws
