Edifying Discussion with a Friend: Was Moses afraid or Faithful (Read Full of Faith)

I found this discussion with my friend Obadiah exciting so I decided to share it in its raw form. Feel free to add to the discussion.

The Bible says in Exodus 2:14 say, ‘… then Moses was afraid…’  and  ‘…Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian.’ Hebrews says, “By faith he left Egypt not fearing the Kings anger.”

Obadiah: Thanks. It seems this discussion got you. I agree what you say. Let me 'ruminate' on this.

“Mmmm he had to have faith to go away to a foreign place where he knew nobody. Perhaps the Midianites were connected to Pharaoh and could 'betray' him, but by faith he went there.... by faith he was being positioned, even though naturally it looks like he is running for his life. Am not sure about the preparation part in the wilderness because it seems like he is living a normal life... actually like one who has NO intention whatsoever to go back to Egypt! He gets married and lives normal even when the encounter of the burning bush happens it seems like he is surprised to be sent....Infact he looks for excuses not to go! It doesn't look like one prepared for the task!

The king is angry cause some say he was next in line to be pharaoh! (I haven't checked with concordance, etc) .  Acts 7: 22 ²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

He chooses to suffer affliction...with a plan to deliver: Acts 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.    -and he was afraid the plan was failing... Having spent a while ...in the castle... talking like an Egyptian, knowing all their plans , strengths and weaknesses... and one of the weaknesses is given in Exodus 1:9,10 

⁹ And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

¹⁰ Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

“Imagine growing up hearing the taskmasters bringing their reports to pharaoh, and  having to attend those security council meetings and those Strategic planning meetings and the department of labor meetings and the Pyramid Building committees, and seeing how the taskmasters get raises when they afflicted Jews more, and attending the evening entertainment sessions where they would entertain Pharaoh and crowds by acting out what goes in the field...some acting like taskmasters and some like Jews and the crowds laughing at the entertainment, mmmh, then the meetings of Department of Supplies that make sure there food prices in Goshen where the people of Israel are so crowded are so high compared to other places... and those ill reports from the department of health, human population and mid-wiving that have to report how many Jewish boys have been drowned in the Nile..

...and now see Moses take a step out to visit the brethren and just hoping they understood if they could get together they could overthrow Pharaoh himself! And he takes a step towards them hoping to have an evening meeting with the Elders to discuss ways of deliverance...then he sees one being afflicted by the taskmaster and jumps to the occasion- and bare-and single-handedly kills the man ( remember he had high training and does the burial,  and when the evening comes he goes back to palace so that things look normal...hoping that the fire of deliverance will have begun amongst the Jews - only to come the next day hoping to hear a good report of 'the ray of hope' , 'morn has dawn' only to hear how much afraid they are and how they don't appreciate any deliverance despite them recognizing that he is one of them... then Moses was afraid...

have a blessed day,

OB

Ezekiel: I read something very interesting the other day concerning Bible interpretation. The person said if you find a scientific discovery that contradicts the Bible, like Moses put down the scientific discovery and uphold the biblical truth but if you find two scriptures in the bible that seem to be contradicting each other, try to reconcile them the way Moses did with the Hebrews in Exodus 2.

In this case the story of Moses in Exodus and that in Hebrews need to be reconciled. Exodus say, ‘… then Moses was afraid…’  and  ‘…Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian.’ Hebrews says, “By faith he left Egypt not fearing the Kings anger.”

So what do we make of this apparent disparity between the exodus account and the Hebrews account of Moses. Did Moses run way from Pharaoh because he was afraid or did he do so by faith? To what level could we consider Moses’ flight to   have been motivated by fear and t what extend by faith? Can faith and fear all operate at the same time?

Its important to note that the aspect of fear is mentioned in relation to Moses when he finds out that his brethren the Jews knows about the murder. The guy asks him ‘who made you ruler and judge over us?” these words must have cut very deep in Moses’ heart since he considered himself to have been acting in favor and interest of the Jews who as this case indicate don’t seem to appreciate his effort to deliver them from the oppressor. There could be nothing as wounding and devastating as being rejected and betrayed by your very own people especially when you have put your life on the line for them. Moses must have felt isolated and therefore very vulnerable and thus the verse, “then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” So fear is expressed here as he tries to reconcile the two fighting Hebrews but he doesn’t flee immediately but only after Pharaoh hears about this and seeks to kill Him.

In that case when he is confronted with this truth he is afraid. But since it takes time before the word gets to pharaoh, may be a day or two, by this time we expect Moses to have had time to process. It’s the possibility of this time gap that the faith-fullness of Moses can be argued. As a firm believer of Jehovah it’s in order for us to believe that he at least prayed for guidance concerning the matter. Seen from this angle we can argue that that fear is not the primary motivation for Moses’ flight from Egypt. As indicated through the writer of Hebrews there was a greater reason for Moses to leave Egypt than the fact that his life was in danger.

In Hebrews 11:27 it says, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”

 If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, then Moses must have had some guidance from God to leave Egypt and go to Midian where God had prepared an encounter with Him that would fulfill his destiny. This way his flight to Midian should not be seen as merely an act of cowardice or self preservation but as a step of faith in obedience to God’s calling in line with his destiny. Pharaoh and the threats to kill him act as the trigger that God uses to get Moses’ attention to move to the next level in Gods school of leadership and to connect him with the work he had crafted for him before the foundation of the earth.

 We can therefore say the circumstances are divinely arranged to solicit this response and Moses obliges and flees in the right direction. The writer of the Hebrews could be considered to have captured the hindsight of Moses’ actions that show faith as Moses later encounters ‘the Invisible One’, in Horeb years later in the burning bush experience. In his flight it seems like the deliverance of the Hebrews has been postponed but sometimes God delays victory in order to win big. In the 40 years that lay ahead God marshals divine strength in Moses’ life that is impossible to resist or overcome.

In my argument therefore Moses flees under divine unction and guidance and this could be considered faith when perceived spiritually but fear humanly speaking.

I know I have done a lot above trying to argue its not just fear that drove Moses to run away but as I was concluding I got the simple and straight forward answer as below.

Hebrews 11:27 “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king...”  according to the KJV and NKJV rendering of that scripture it seem as though reference is made here to his refusal to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin…” (Hebrews 11:24-25)

The truth is Moses expected some consequences when he denounced his privileged position as the Son of pharaoh’s daughter and a prince in Egypt. He expected the king to act with anger and probably subject him to the same treatment that he was giving his fellow Hebrews. In this case the writer of the Hebrews says, Moses was not afraid at all.

In the same way we don’t try to negotiate with the devil when our time of salvation comes. In spite of how angry he may become, our minds are made up, we would rather suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a while.