34
Acts
Introduction:
One
of the charges which had been made against Stephen before the
Sanhedrin Council was that he had spoken
against Moses. In this text Stephen
begins to refute that charge. We will not cover everything that he said in
this
message, but we will cover enough to see
that Stephen had only admiration and
respect for Moses.
I.
The birth of Moses
V.
17, “But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to
Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in
great nation through
God had shown to Abraham. That nation had developed through Isaac’s
son, Jacob.
Jacob’s twelve sons became the heads of
twelve tribes of people and the nation
was made up of those twelve tribes of
people.
During
the 430 years that Jacob’s family had lived in
grew to be a young nation. It was a nation which was confined within the
nation
of
V.
18, “Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.” The word, king,
refers to the pharaoh. As long as the pharaoh who had appointed
Joseph to be
the governor of
Egyptians.
But soon a different pharaoh was on the throne who did not know
Joseph and how much he had done for
children of
worse.
By the time 430 years went by the pharaoh who lived during the days of
Moses was exceedingly cruel to the
Israelites and so were most of the Egyptian
people.
V.
19, “The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our
fathers, so that they cast out their young
children, to the end they might not
live.”
The pharaoh of Moses’ day feared that the Hebrews might be a threat to
Israelites might join forces with the
enemy and fight against the Egyptian
forces.
In
order to slow the rapid increase in the population of Hebrew people he
ordered the Egyptian midwives kill the
Hebrew male children at birth and to tell
the Hebrew families that the children just
died a natural death. When this plan
did not work because the midwives feared
God and refused to kill the Hebrew
children, Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian
armies and the Egyptian people to kill
the young Hebrew male children.
V.
20, “In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three
months.” When Moses was born his
parents hid him in their home for three
months. Can you imagine the fear the
parents would experience whenever baby
Moses cried. They must have done
everything in their power to keep him from
crying.
By
that time the parents of Moses realized that they could no longer keep
his presence a secret, and so they chose
another course of action. They made an
ark or basket large enough to hold little
Moses and they daubed it so that it
would not leak and sink. Then they put little Moses in the ark and hid
the ark
in the bulrushes of the river. Of course, you know the rest of the story
that
Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter when
she came to the river to take a bath.
V. 21, “And when he was cast out,
Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished
him for her own son.” When that woman looked into that basket and
discovered
little Moses there, her heart just
melted. She must have known that her
father
had ordered this child killed, but she
could not bear to see that happen. She
took little Moses into her own home and
brought him up as though he were her own
son.
II.
The training which Moses received in the household of Pharaoh’s daughter
V.
22, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was
mighty in words and in deeds.” Being in the household of Pharaoh’s daughter
meant that Moses would get the best of
education and training. It meant that
Moses was an heir to the throne in
heir to the throne. Therefore, special training for the potential
heir to the
throne was mandatory for him. He would be trained in all the skills which
would
be an aid to him once he came to the
throne.
The
Egyptians excelled in many fields of learning.
One of those fields
was astronomy. He would be educated in a knowledge of the heavenly
bodies.
The
Egyptians also excelled in mathematics.
There knowledge of
mathematics still staggers the minds of
modern day mathematicians. Moses was
highly trained in this field.
The
Egyptians were highly learned in the great philosophies of that day.
They were familiar with the Greek
philosophy and also with the philosophies of
the far eastern nations.
The
Egyptians excelled in architecture.
Moses was trained in designing
and constructing buildings. He studied them all from the least to the
greatest.
He learned how to build great pyramids and
sphinx.
The
Egyptians were very religious. Their
religion, of course, was not
approved of God, but they were
religious. The prospective ruler would
be
trained in all of the aspects of the
Egyptian religion and would be at least
somewhat familiar with the religions of
all the nations around Egypt.
The
Egyptians excelled in the field of medicine.
They were masters at
doctoring the living and embalming the
dead.
The
Egyptians was also a mighty military nation.
Moses would be trained
military tactics. Moses received training in all these and all
other fields of
study available in Egypt in that day. His training would most likely be the
equivalent of holding a doctor’s degree in
all of these different fields.
As
a potential ruler of Egypt Moses would have been requited to learn
several different foreign languages and he
would need to be familiar with the
different customs of the nations around
him.
Stephen
said that Moses was mighty in words.
This statement is to be
understood in the light of Exodus 4:10
which says that he was not eloquent in
speech.
His public speaking did not come easy.
He apparently spoke slowly
choosing his words carefully. Never-the-less, when he did speak he spoke with
knowledge and authority.
Stephen
said also that Moses was might in deeds.
It is believed that he
had engaged in several successful military
campaigns. It is probable that he
engaged in diplomatic discussions with
foreign nations. He may have overseen
some huge building projects.
III.
WHEN MOSES TURNED FORTY
V.
23, “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to
visit his brethren the children of
Israel.” When Moses turned forty, he
made a
big turn in his life. He visited the land of Goshen within Egypt
where his
kindred, the children of Israel,
lived. As heir to the throne it would be
a
natural thing for him to visit them or
with any of the inhabitants of the
nation.
Yet it appears that Moses was motivated more by his kinship with them
than he was by any governmental
objectives. Perhaps you will remember
that the
mother of Moses had been called upon to
nurse him when he was a baby. So he
would have at least some memories of being
with his mother, his father and his
older sister and brother. It would be natural for him to have some
curiosity
about them. He would want to know of their welfare. He would want to know more
about them and about their people.
But
perhaps the real motive for this visit was his desire to know the God
of Israel and about the promise of a
coming Christ. There was a desire down
with his heart to know and serve God and
His Christ. I think Hebrews 11:24-27
throws a lot of light on the thoughts and
motives of Moses when he went to see
his people. This passage reads, “By faith Moses, when he
was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s
daughter; Choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt: for he had respect unto the
recompense of the reward.” What came as
a
surprise to me is that Moses knew about
the Christ and he considered the riches
of serving Christ than to have the riches
of Egypt. Moses chose the greater
riches.
He chose to serve the God of the Hebrews and His Christ.
IV.
The greater riches that God offers to people today
There
are greater riches available to people today than the riches of
Egypt.
People today have opportunity today to get greater riches than all the
gold of Fort Knox. There are greater riches available to our
generation than is
held by Bill Gates, the owner of
Microsoft.
If
one should gain all the wealth of the world he could not keep it beyond
the grave.
But if one gains the salvation of his soul, he will have joy
throughout eternity. If one gains material wealth it cannot bring
him
happiness.
But if he gains the salvation of his soul, he will have joy
throughout eternity. If one gains material wealth he could lose it
in a
depression or in a stock market crash or
some crook may steal it from him. But
if he is saved and he served the God of
heaven and His Christ, he will lay up
treasures in heaven.
Conclusion:
I
am going to ask you to make the choices that Moses made. I am going to
ask you to get to know God in His love and
mercy. I am going to ask you to get
to know Christ in His saving grace. I am going to ask you to choose to serve
Christ and to gain for yourself riches
that are worth more than the treasures of
Egypt.
They are worth more than all the world.