In our first study of Exodus, we saw God working behind the scenes to prosper his people while in slavery, but also prepare them for exodus from slavery. In our passage today, he will prepare just one of his people. Moses, whose birth we studied last week, had to go through a process to become a man God could use. As the prince of Egypt, he looked the part, and like Joseph before him was a Hebrew inside Pharaoh's power structure, but God needed to perform surgery on Moses' heart.

And we would expect this surgery is needed by taking a cursory glance at Scripture. In Jesus' parable, it was the prodigal son who'd blown everything in rebellion who got the father. In Samaria, it was the woman on her seventh husband who discovered Jesus. In Jesus' disciple group, it was the biggest loudmouth and failure who got the keys to open the gospel to the Gentile world. And in Jesus' sermon on the mount, it is the poor in spirit who get the kingdom, the mourning who are comforted, and the meek who inherit the earth (Mat. 5:3-5).

But that's the New Testament. In the First (Old) Testament, the younger son was always chosen over the firstborn, the barren who became mothers of nations, and the forgotten son of Jesse became the greatest king of Israel.

Because of all this evidence, we would expect that the kind of people who experience God's exodus are humble outsiders who fear God. And, at the point our story picks up today, Moses is none of those things. He is the proud prince of Egypt. He is the ultimate insider as the adopted grandson of Pharaoh. And he does not yet display the fear of the Lord. So, in our passage today, God surgically repairs his man. As he does, we discover the kind of people who experience exodus.

1. Humble (2:11-15)

11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. (Exodus 2:11-15, ESV)

We are not given the details about Moses' childhood—the baby in the basket is now all grown up (11). But in the book of Acts, Stephen preached a sermon in which he said Moses was forty years old at this time (Acts 7:23). In this passage, the grown man Moses is shown as conscious of his Hebrew lineage, so he went out to his people and looked on their burdens (11). When he saw an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew brother of his, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (12). Every reader knows that this is not going to work and that Moses has now pitted himself against the supreme leader and his nation. The next day, through an interaction with two Hebrews who were struggling together, Moses realized that what he'd done was known (14). It was, and when Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses, so Moses ran for his life to Midian and sat down by a well (15).

Words are not wasted on Moses' childhood or how he knew he was a Hebrew. All we get is this man who went out as an Egyptian by class and a Hebrew by race, thinking he could deliver his suffering relatives. As readers, we might begin to wonder if Exodus is going to be two chapters long—the bad situation followed by the quick deliverance. And it all comes crashing down so quickly. Moses is hastily rejected and is—just like that—a fugitive.

In this first movement, we learn that people who experience God's exodus are humble. This passage does not begin with Moses as a humble man. Apparently, as Stephen said in Acts, Moses "supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand" (Acts 7:25). But though it doesn't start with him as humble, it shows the process he went through to become humble.

The episode isn't all negative, however, as Moses is shown to have the raw elements of a deliverer. Like God, he saw the pain of God's people and defended them. And the killing of the single Egyptian, followed by his burial in the sand, is meant as a cheap foreshadowing of the much better job God would do when he crushed Pharaoh's army and buried them in the Red Sea. But as long as Moses was not broken and dependent upon God, he would never experience or bring the exodus God had planned.

The lesson seems to be that the proud-hearted do not experience God's exodus. In the Christian life, the way up is to first go down. Like Jesus, the Jesus-follower must first become humble before God will lift them out of various forms of captivity. As long as we justify our faults, defend our sins, and excuse our addictions and tendencies, we will not live in God's exodus power. As James said:

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:10, NIV)

2. Outside (2:16-22)

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.

18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” (Exodus 2:16-22, ESV)

So Moses had run for his life from Pharaoh, and he found himself at a well in the Midianite territory of the east. Just as Adam and Eve were thrust eastward out of Eden, so Moses was thrust eastward out of Egypt. No longer was it a cradle to nurture him or a paradise to indulge him. For Moses, Egypt had become what it was for every other Hebrew—a terror. Sitting at that well, dreams shattered, Moses must have wondered what would become of his life.

Just then, Moses' day is brightened a little bit when seven young women arrive at the well to water their father's flock (16). Every reader of Genesis is paying attention at this point because major players like Isaac and Jacob and Judah found their wives far from home at wells or sources of water (Gen. 24:10-28, 29:2-14, 38:14). And those three men, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, were the confirmed recipients of the promised coming deliverer who would set the people free. And now Moses is far from home at a well, defending these women from antagonizing shepherds. Moses clearly has the raw material to stand up to abusers like Pharaoh because he had stood up to the Egyptian he saw abusing a Hebrew and the two Hebrews arguing with one another, and now he stands up to the shepherds abusing these women.

Soon, one thing leads to another, and Moses is invited home by their dad, Reuel, and is given Zipporah's hand in marriage (17-21). The story maintains its rapid pace with the birth of their first child, a boy named Gershom (22). His name means "sojourner" because Moses knew he was a foreigner in a distant land (22). No longer on the inside of the power structure and world system of his day, Moses was now an outsider, far removed from Egypt and its pleasures.

Make no mistake, Moses is having his own mini-exodus here. Like Israel will, Moses left Egypt. Pharaoh wanted to kill him. At the waters of the well, rather than the Red Sea, God delivered him. After the waters, he meets with Reuel (also called Jethro), just like he did after the Red Sea. After that meeting, Moses entered into the covenant of marriage, just like Israel entered into a covenant with God through the Ten Commandments.

In this second movement, we learn that people who experience God's exodus are often outsiders. Just as Jesus did most of his ministry among the people of Galilee, far outside the religious epicenter of Jerusalem, so Moses was far outside of Egypt as God prepared to deliver his people. He was used to the culture and customs of Egypt, but now he is lonely, living with his family of three in the wilderness of Midian.

What about us? If we want God to perform his exodus in us, if we want to be set free from the entanglements of this world, we will have to come to terms with being outsiders. Peter wrote to us to "conduct ourselves with fear throughout the time of our exile," urging us "as sojourners to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against our souls" (1 Pet. 1:17, 2:11).

3. Reverent (2:25-3:6)

23 During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 2:23-3:6, ESV)

Now our story really gets going. Up to this point, we've watched God work behind the scenes. We've felt his presence. But now he is known. He heard his people. He saw his people. His covenant with their ancestor Abraham was at the top of his mind. God knew exactly what they were going through during their years of captivity (23-25).

And because he knew, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush (1-2). It was burning, yet it was not consumed, making it an excellent picture of Israel at that moment, burning in Egypt's persecution but never consumed by those same fires. And it would become an even better picture of Israel once the fire of God's plagues rained down on Egypt without burning up Israel in their midst.

But who is this angel of the Lord? He will reappear throughout Exodus and the rest of the Old Testament story. He is unlike other angels in that he receives worship. And, when he appears, he often comes in the form of a man. So, his connection to the Lord himself is very close, but he also holds a resemblance to the common man, which leads many to think of him as the second person of the Trinity, a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ.

However we identify the angel of the Lord, it is clear that Moses had quite an encounter with God. When he turned aside to see what this burning bush was all about, God called to him, "Moses, Moses!" (3-4). Then God told him he was standing on holy ground and commanded him to act like it by taking off his shoes (5). And after God announced his connection to Moses' dad, along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God—a demonstration of his reverence for God (6).

In this third movement, we learn that people who experience God's exodus are reverent. Years ago, there was a shirt floating around youth groups with a depiction of Jesus and the phrase "Jesus is my homeboy." Not quite. I mean, he is our friend in so much as he saw from his divine vantage point that our sin set us in opposition against God, so he became one of us, lived a perfect life for us, and then received the wrath of a holy God during the agony of the cross for us before rising from the dead. Not quite a "homeboy" who will likely turn a blind eye to our sins, Jesus saw it all and came to suffer for it, so he deserves our reverence for his grace, but also for his holiness.

And on this day, Moses felt overwhelmed by the presence of God. Fire would become a symbol of God's presence—Mt. Sinai will become enveloped in smoke because God will descend on it in fire—and Moses sensed the tremendous weight of being in God's presence, hiding his face out of fear of looking at God. And, in the coming pages of Exodus, Israel will learn that God's holiness demands a careful approach to him. They would take off their shoes by building a tabernacle, offering sacrifices, and pursuing moral and ceremonial cleanness.

All this should speak to Christians on two levels. First, praise God for the cross of Christ that transfers Jesus' holiness onto all who believe! But second, God's holiness and our sin are no joke. We should not be cavalier about it. We must guard what we do, say, hear, and see. If we do not regard God as holy, we will never experience exodus.

4. Helped (3:7-12)

7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:7-12, ESV)

So Moses hid his face, but the Lord kept speaking, telling Moses that he had surely seen the affliction of his people in Egypt (7). God is omniscient—there is nothing he does not know—but now he heard their cry and was ready to respond (7). His goal was to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up to a prosperous land flowing with milk and honey—cows and bees could flourish in that land because of its fertile nature (8).

But the big surprise was God's announcement that he would send Moses to Pharaoh to bring God's people out of Egypt (10). Moses, at age eighty, had been a fugitive from Egypt for forty years at this point. God is ready to put him back in the game, but Moses responded with a question: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (11). No longer self-confident or self-assured, Moses is a shell of his Egyptian self.

How are we to understand Moses' question? Is it rooted in fear or insecurity? Or is it rooted in humility? Or is it a mix of both? Either way, God's solution was to assure Moses that he would be with him, guaranteeing that the mission would be so successful that they'd all come out to serve God on the very same mountain as the burning bush (12). This promise was to be enough: I will be with you (12).

In this fourth movement, we learn that people who experience God's exodus are helped by God in the process. God does not leave us to accomplish exodus alone. He promises to involve himself. When we trust Christ, God the Father sees us as his only begotten Son. This means he sees us as completely and totally delivered. Our future resurrection (or exodus) with Jesus is secure. But, experientially, we are meant to go through a continual sanctifying process, a personal growth experience. Continual. Transforming. As Paul wrote:

Now we can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT)

More and more. Or, as other translations say, from glory to glory. And each time we do, we are going outside the way of the world, departing from the way of our flesh, or exiting a spiritual darkness. It is always departure. We are meant to be outsiders. But when we feel we must be just like everyone else—when life outside Egypt is hard for us—exoduses will be hard to come by.

Conclusion

So God is the God of exodus—he is always at work to bring us out of "Egypts" in order to bring us into himself. In our passage today, we have thought about the person God uses to create that exodus. They are humble, outside the world system, live in the fear of the Lord, and are empowered by God for their task.

All of these elements are found most fully in Jesus Christ. The reality is that he is better than Momses. He humbled himself much more than Moses did when he identified himself with us by becoming one of us. He was more of a foreigner than Moses was when he stepped out of eternity to tabernacle with us. He revered God much more than Moses did, for he has forever known the holiness of God. And he was assisted by God much more than Moses was, the Spirit having come upon him from his baptism onward—this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Because God saw, heard, and knew of our sin, he sent his Son. Truly, to bring this story to our situation, Jesus is like Moses and we are like the enslaved Hebrews. And Jesus has come to set us free.

But if you are in him today, he is forever operating within you as better than Moses to help set you free. He wants to produce all he is in us. He is trying to cultivate humility in us. He is trying to make us comfortable with being outsiders. He is trying to stir in us a reverence for God and his holiness. And he is trying to assist us as we come out of Egypt—over and over again—to worship and serve our God. Let him do it. Let him do his perfect work. Let him humble you. Let him bring you out of the world. Let him be your holy God whom you respect. Let him help you.

Study Questions

Head Questions:

1. How does Moses go from being a self-confident prince of Egypt to a humble fugitive in Midian? What events lead to this change in him?
2. What is significant about God appearing to Moses in a burning bush that is not consumed? How does this connect to Israel's situation in Egypt?

Heart Questions:

1. Have you ever experienced a time when God humbled you or made you feel like an outsider for his purposes? What did you learn from that experience?
2. How would you describe your current reverence for God? Is there anything that needs to change in how you regard his holiness?

Hands Questions:

1. How can you cultivate more humility, embrace being an outsider, grow in reverence for God, and rely on his help this week? Pick one practical step.
2. How can you encourage other Christians who feel "unqualified" for what God may be calling them to? What truths about God's empowering presence can you share with them?

Resources

Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage.

Christopher J. H. Wright, Exodus, ed. Tremper Longman III, The Story of God Bible Commentary.

John D. Hannah, “Exodus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures.

John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary.

Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III, Expositor’s Bible Commentary.

Kevin D. Zuber, “Exodus,” in The Moody Bible Commentary.

Michael L. Morales and Benjamin L. Gladd, Exodus Old and New – A Biblical Theology of Redemption.

T. Desmond Alexander, “Exodus,” New Bible Commentary.