Bible Questions #209 - 217

209. Why did Moses leave Egypt? Exodus 2: 11- 15

210. Moses went to the land of Midian----out in the desert. What happened there? Exo. 2: 16-22

211. The pharaoh that knew Moses---- has died. The Hebrew people in Egypt call out to God to help them and get them out of slavery.

God heard their prayer. God remembers what He promised to Abraham (Gen. 15: 13, 14) How long did God say they were to be slaves? (Vs. 13)

Read Exodus 12: 41 How long were the Hebrews in slavery?

Moses is out keeping the sheep. The angel of the Lord comes to Moses in a very different way.

What is it? Exo. 3: 2, 3

God tells Moses that God wants him to go to the new pharaoh and tell him to let the Hebrew people go.

Moses said, "Who am I that I should tell Pharaoh such a thing?" Exo. 3: 11

Why would Pharaoh let all those "free workers" go, just because Moses said to?

Moses was worried that the Hebrew people would not follow him.

Moses said, "If they ask me who told me to say these things, what will I them?"

God tells Moses His name. It is two short words. What is God's name?   Exo. 3: 14

In Egypt with the worship of idols, there was the idea that spirits come to live in idols. They believed that spirits of idols sometimes had secret names and only special people like priest could know their secret names. If a person knew the secret name, they would have more power with the spirit to get their prayers answered.

God's name means He lives, He is now. For God it is always "now, the present". God does not have a beginning and He has no end. For God there is no "past" or "future". Time is for man. Time for God is always "now".

God tells Moses how Pharaoh will act. What does God say about what Pharaoh will do? Exo. 3:22

The Hebrews have worked for 430 years with no pay. So when they leave they are to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver, jewels, anything of value.

The Egyptians will be so glad to get rid of the Hebrews---- because they blame the Hebrews for all the terrible things that have happened to them----so the Egyptians will give them whatever they want so they will leave.

The Bible says that the Hebrews "spoiled" the Egyptians. This word "spoil" is an old-fashioned word used when one army goes in and wins over another city and takes away all the valuable things.

After 430 years of working with no pay----God feels the Hebrews have a right to get the silver and gold.

212. God gave Moses a little example of the miracles He would do. What are the two things God did there in the desert with Moses? Exo. 4: 2-9

213. Moses is still worried about going. What excuse does he give God?  Exo. 4: 10

214. God is not happy about Moses' not trusting Him. In the end, God said that someone can help Moses. Who?    Exo. 4: 14

215. God speaks to Aaron. Exo. 4:27     He tells him to meet Moses, where?

People who study history think this may have been Mt. Sinai. This mountain had been known for many, many years as a special place for meeting God.

216. What was the warning that Moses was to give Pharaoh?     Exo. 4: 22, 23

217. Moses is almost killed by God. Why?    Exo. 4:24

This is hard for us to understand,----because of the way we think today.

God had told Abraham that he was to have all the males circumcised. Genesis 17: 10 Verses 12 says when they are 8 days old.

Moses had been circumcised by his parents when he was 8 days old. So he knew he was different from the Egyptians. He surely asked why when he was young. The Egyptians surely knew the customs and beliefs of the Hebrews---at least that one.

How Moses learned all the other things about how the Hebrews were to believe and do, we are not told. Moses grew up in the Egyptian palace. He would have been taught how the Egyptians believed.

Moses was 40 when he killed a man and had to leave Egypt. In 40 years---He would have had plenty of time to talk to Hebrew people to find out what they believed and why they believed it. He knew he was a Hebrew and had been adopted.

He surely knew how that happened. Did he ever meet any of his family? We do not know. He must have remembered that he had an older sister and older brother.

Moses must have learned the Hebrew language. When he met his brother in the desert at Mt. Sinai, he talked with him. He surely did not need an interpreter. They were to talk about what God had told him to do. This would surely be a private talk.

He was in the desert for 40 years. We do not know what he learned there.

He must have learned more about God.

We do not know how much Moses knew about God's rules that He gave to Abraham.

Always, in the Bible, God warns people about the wrong things they are doing before He punishes them. It would seem that Moses knew about the rule to circumcise his son. Because if God is getting ready to kill Moses, Moses must have known about the rule.

Moses did not think it was so important. Moses' wife, Zipporah, was not a Hebrew and would not believe those things. Maybe she did not want her baby circumcised.

Moses was the head of his family and he was responsible to keep God's rules for his family. So Moses should have done it even if his wife did not want it done.

God made it clear that He expected Moses to keep the rule. Zipporah sees that God means it, too. She circumcises her son. She is angry about it.

Moses must have sent Zipporah back home to her father, because Exo.18:2,6 says that her father brought her to Moses when Moses and the Hebrews arrived at Mt. Sinai.