(Continued-Chapter One-Foregleams of Messiah's Career in the Torah)

To overcome these mighty obstacles, Moses was strengthened by the power of the Almighty. He became the kinsman-redeemer of Israel, leading them out of a state of abject poverty and bondage, such as few nations have ever experienced, into freedom and liberty. The exodus from Egypt was the greatest epoch in the life of the nation throughout all its history. It was such a momentous event that it is held up by Jeremiah in contrast with the great, final restoration of the future.

"Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land" (Jer. 23:5-8).

The contrast Introduced by Jeremiah in this passage implies the typical character not only of the deliverance from Egypt but also of the deliverer through whom God worked. Moses in this prediction typifies Messiah, and the deliverance under him, the final restoration of the nation.

The Torah is full of statements to the effect that God spoke to Moses the message contained therein. The writer of the book of Joshua referred to the Torah as, "the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee" (Josh. 1:7). The writer of II Chronicles mentioned the law given by Moses (II Chron. 34:14,15). Once more, the law is attributed to Moses in Nehemiah 8:3. Beyond question, Moses was the great Lawgiver of Israel who delivered to her both civil and religious laws.

Rooted in man's very being is the consciousness of his unworthiness to approach God. As is seen from a survey of all natural religions, this fact, in the form of a priesthood, is attested by the universal experience of mankind. When Israel made the golden calf at Sinai, Moses came down from the mount and remonstrated with the people. Then the Lord said to him, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation" (Ex. 32:9,10). Moses realized that the situation was a challenge to him. He had the glory of God at heart and the welfare of his people; hence he threw himself into the breach and pled earnestly to the Lord to save His people whom He had redeemed from Egypt. His intercessory, mediatorial work is set forth in the last paragraph of Exodus 32 (vss. 30-35). In commenting upon this incident the writer of Psalm 106 declared,

"Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach,
To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them" (vs. 23).

In the light of these facts, humanly speaking, we can see that Israel was saved by the mediatorial intercession of Moses. At the time of the captivity the Lord punished Israel because of her wickedness and sinfulness. In explaining why it was necessary for Him to bring the judgment upon the nation, God declared through the prophet:

"And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none" (Ezek. 22:30).

There was no mediator to approach the Lord in behalf of the people. His holiness demanded judgment. But His loving heart desired that some qualified mediator might be there to step into the breach and to save the people from the judgment but there was none.

In the last section we saw the necessity of a mediator between God and man. This discussion has shown us that one of the functions of the mediator was that of intercession. Of course, we are to understand that though the terms mediator and intercessor overlap to a certain extent, there are duties and functions that are peculiar to each. Hence in this connection it becomes necessary for me to emphasize the intercessory ministry of Moses.

Though I have already referred to the incident of the golden calf, of Moses' reprimanding Israel for her idolatrous action, and of his great intercessory work in behalf of his misguided people, it is necessary to examine the case more thoroughly.

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto Jehovah; peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made" (Ex. 32:30,35).

For some reason, unrevealed to us in the Scriptures, God, humanly speaking, seems to have His hands tied. They can be released only by the fervent, believing prayers of His people. The incident of the golden calf was such a flagrant transgression against the holiness of God that absolute justice demanded the extermination of the entire race. Had there been no other force or principle operative at that time, the Hebrew race would have been swept from the stage of action. God's loving-kindness was yearning for the people because it was through them the Lord promised to bless the entire world. When He made the promise that Israel should be the channel of universal blessing to mankind, he foreknew that the people would commit that sacrilegious offense which, upon the basis of merit, demanded the extermination of every one,--with the exception of Moses. At the same time, by His foreknowledge and providence, the Lord had raised up Moses to be the great intercessor who would fall into the breach with all of his soul and would perform such a ministry in agonizing prayer that would release His saving, protecting grace to the end that the nation might not be blotted out. Realizing the seriousness of the situation and knowing the plan of God to bless the world through the Hebrew people, Moses with the fervent earnestness of an unselfish soul pled with unparalleled devotion in behalf of Israel. His consecrated, believing prayer therefore released spiritual powers and energies which met the just demands of a righteous God and which justified Him in averting the calamity of exterminating the entire race. We see from the quotation given above that certain ones who doubtless were the ringleaders in this revolt against divine holiness and justice were to be punished; for God declared "in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." Though one may be forgiven by divine grace and mercy, he must be punished for his sin. Chastisement is a corrective measure. From this discussion we can see that the office of the great intercessor was indispensable to the perpetuity and the well-being of the Hebrew race.

Another incident of the efficacy of Moses' intercessory ministry is found in Numbers 14. The discouraging report of ten of the twelve spies who investigated the land of Palestine is recorded in Numbers 13. When this majority report was given to the people, despondency seized the entire nation. Thinking foolishly and superficially, the great masses of the people threw the blame upon Moses, saying that he had only brought them out in the wilderness to fall by the sword. With fainting hearts they longed to return to Egypt. The suggestion was made, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt" (Num. 14:4). With a purely unselfish motive both Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves before God and made intercession for the people. Notwithstanding this great exhibition of love and pure unselfishness, the congregation insisted upon stoning both Moses and Aaron. At the psychological moment the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting. Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they" (Num. 14:11,12).

If ever a person effaced self and forgot personal interests, Moses did. His one absorbing thought was to honor God and to protect His people. With a fervency and earnestness seldom equaled, Moses interceded for his people in the following words:

"And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah art in the midst of this people; for thou Jehovah art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of Jehovah be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now" (Num. 14:13-19).

The Lord responded and declared that, as He lived, and as all the earth shall be filled with His glory, not one of those men should have the privilege of entering the land of Canaan except Caleb and Joshua the son of Nun who had followed Him implicitly. Intercession in behalf of others is a ministry that is set forth throughout the Tenach as one of the most important functions in the divine system of redemption. In the time of Jeremiah the people had apostatized from God and had sunken into such gross idolatry that the Lord through this prophet was forced to say, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth" (Jer. 15:1). Before one reaches "the dead line" in his rebelling against God, intercession on the part of another in his behalf avails. When, however, he has gone roughshod over the mercy of God, has refused the light, and has persisted in his own stubborn way, he finally crosses the line after which intercession avails nothing. Such was Israel's condition in the time of Jeremiah. Therefore the Babylonian captivity was inevitable as is evidenced from this verse which we have just seen. From these and many other instances we can see the great value of the intercessory ministry.

There must be a directing head to every movement. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, subjected to the greatest severities and servile bondage ever known. In order that they might be delivered, the Lord sent Moses to be their leader. He commanded Moses saying, "go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee . . ." (Ex. 32:34). In one of his farewell addresses Moses speaking to Israel for God said, "and I led you forty years in the wilderness" (Deut. 29:5). Humanly speaking, it took a leader of consummate skill, wisdom, and patience to conduct Israel through the forty years of wilderness wandering. This feat which was accomplished by Moses is unparalleled in the annals of history.

The seventh and one of the most important official positions occupied by Moses, as set forth in the Torah, was king. In his blessing which he pronounced upon the children of Israel before his death, we have the inspired statement concerning this office in the following verse:

"And he was king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together" (Deut. 33:5).

Most of us usually think of Moses as simply the lawgiver and mediator and overlook this statement concerning his having been king in Israel.

Moses reached the ripe age of one hundred and twenty years; "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut. 34:7). His life falls naturally into three divisions: first, the period at the court of Pharaoh; second, the period in the desert shepherding sheep; third, the period in the wilderness shepherding Israel. Since, according to this prediction which we are studying, God would raise up a prophet for Israel like Moses, it is reasonable to suppose that even his life in its general outline should foreshadow the career of this great future prophet. The force of this statement becomes the more apparent when we see these three clearly defined periods and their great significance. Emphasis is given to this interpretation when we realize that the first period was a preparation for the second; and the second, in turn, was a season of training to qualify him as the deliverer of his people--the crowning work of his life.

Though Moses was a Hebrew by birth, he was brought up in the royal palace of Egypt. God overrules all the affairs of men and nations to bring about His plans and purposes. Providentially, He opened the way, overruled circumstances, and had Moses taken to the court of Pharaoh where he was adopted as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Hence this future lawgiver grew up in the atmosphere of the royal palace. The cream of the land was at his disposal. His advantages educationally were unexcelled. From the material standpoint he lacked nothing. As to what his official position in the government would have been, had he remained at court cannot, so far as I know, be ascertained. Some, however, have conjectured that he was in line for the throne. Upon what this supposition is based, I cannot say. Since, however, it is in the realm of the speculative, I pass it by.

From what we know of the man Moses after he emerged from the dazzle and the glamor of court life, we may be certain that he utilized every opportunity presented him to make progress and advancement in order that he might act well his part in the great drama of life.

Childhood and youth are the periods when people determine their future. In commenting upon the loss of the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon, according to reports, said that that battle was lost when he was a boy of twelve in school. The incident to which he referred was this. One day he failed to prepare thoroughly a certain difficult lesson. Being more interested in some amusement, he failed to concentrate his attention on the task before him until he mastered it. From that day onward he began to contract a habit of neglecting minor details, which in and of themselves frequently appear to be insignificant and unimportant. It was this failure to attend to the little things which went with him through life and which caused his overthrow and exile. Hence he went down to utter defeat.

Not so with Moses. His life's work shows that he prepared everything properly and did his work faithfully, giving heed to the seemingly insignificant and minor matters. He utilized his opportunities and made good. He realized that the Lord had given him from the standpoint of this world the very best. It was all a matter of His free, sovereign grace. These things were granted to him in order that he should not abuse them but rather that he should use them the more.

b. The first epoch--a visit to his brethren

"And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren" (Ex. 2:11).

The occasion of Moses' going into the wilderness was as follows: "when Moses was grown up" he went out to visit his brethren. His heart was moved with compassion for their deep distress and hard bondage. As he looked upon the situation of his unfortunate kinsmen, an Egyptian mistreated one of his brethren, a Hebrew. Having looked around and seeing no one, Moses slew the offender. On the following day when he was on his tour of inspection, he saw two Israelites "striving together." He tried to become a peacemaker. The man in the wrong immediately retorted by asking him, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" This incident, though a seemingly trivial and unimportant matter as far as the nation was concerned, revealed the exact attitude which his brethren bore toward him. They misunderstood his motive. This rebuff disillusioned Moses as to the favorable reception which he expected to receive from his kinsmen. Unfortunately they thought that he was trying to usurp authority over them in a selfish manner. Realizing that his killing of the Egyptian on the previous day was known to Pharaoh, he concluded that the only thing for him to do was to leave the country, which thing he did. According to the record, he escaped to the land of Midian.

How old was Moses when he fled from the court of Pharaoh? According to Exodus 7:7, he was eighty years old when he appeared before Pharaoh at the conclusion of his wilderness stay. The Jewish Encyclopedia, article MOSES, Vol. 9, page 44, col. b, gives him forty years in the wilderness: "There he sojourned forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born (Ex. 2:11-22)." According to this reckoning, then, Moses was forty years old when he fled from the court of Pharaoh. Dr. Martin Anstey in his excellent work The Romance of Bible Chronology Vol. 1, page 132, explains the clause, "when Moses was grown," in the following words:

"It is not definitely stated in the Text of the Old Testament that Moses was exactly 40 years old at the date of his flight, but we are told in Ex. 2:11 that it took place 'when Moses was grown,' a phrase which meant 'when Moses was 40 years of age,' just as with us the phrase 'coming of age' means arriving at the age of 21."

In view of all the facts, we can be fairly certain that Moses was forty years old when he fled from the presence of Pharaoh.

God always times everything and overrules all events and incidences for the advancement of His cause in the human family and for the specific protection and blessing of His servants. Knowing the woman who would be the proper helpmeet for Moses, the Lord in a providential manner brought him in contact with his future bride (see Ex. 2:16-22).

A certain training and discipline are necessary for one if he is to accomplish anything that is worth while. All athletes regardless of their physique must undergo a certain amount of training to prepare them for the supreme test to which they are subjected in the final contest. One must not only have the knowledge but the experience in order to be an efficient worker in any field. In their college course physicians are given a theoretical knowledge of the human body and the functioning of the various organs. Before they can practice, however, they must serve as interns in hospitals in order to acquire the practical side of their work. The same thing is true of every vocation of any importance.

Moses had the theoretical side of life as presented in the schools of his day. What he needed was to get out into the rough, rugged world and acquire practical experience. God had a definite work for him to do--namely, the shepherding of His people Israel. The very best place, therefore, to learn how to be a shepherd of people is to become a shepherd of sheep; hence the Lord led him out of the glamor and pomp of the luxurious Egyptian court into the obscurity of the wilderness where he had to tend the sheep of his father-in-law. While at court he did not have time to get his bearings, to arrive at the basic principles of life, and to look upon this earthly pilgrimage in the serious, sober manner in which it should be viewed. Out in the lonely wilderness, however, as he cared for the dumb, wandering sheep, he had time to think things through. This experience was invaluable to him, preparing him for his life's work. This wilderness training brought him down out of the ethereal regions of highly speculative thought and Egyptian philosophy to the firm foundation rock of actual, rugged happenings. Theories and hypotheses must be battered into shape upon the anvil of rugged, everyday experience.

The Lord providentially, doubtless, led Moses out in the wilderness through which he was to conduct the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan in order that he might become acquainted with the territory and its conditions. The acquisition of accurate knowledge and details concerning the country and the possibilities therein was an essential element of his training and preparation for his great life's work. When he completed his practical training course in his eightieth year, he was usable in the plan of God.

While Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, he observed a sight which was very strange--a bush burning in the distance which was not consumed. This unusual phenomenon excited his curiosity. Immediately he started to investigate. As he approached the sight, a voice came from the burning bush saying, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Ex. 3:5). As we have seen in Messiah: His Nature and Person, it was the angel of the Lord, who is none other than the Lord Himself, and who spoke to Moses on this occasion. This angel of the Lord commissioned Moses to go immediately to Pharaoh, requesting the release of the children of Israel. He protested upon the basis that neither his own people nor Pharaoh would believe his story nor accept his words. To convince them that he had been commissioned by the Lord, the Almighty endued him with miraculous power--his credentials--by which he could perform certain wonders. The Lord met every excuse made by Moses. Finally, he appeared before the elders of his people and thoroughly convinced them that God was intending to deliver Israel by his hand notwithstanding his having been rejected.

When Moses approached the elders of Israel after the forty years of wilderness experiences, they were ready to receive him and to be guided by him. Then he appeared before Pharaoh. This proud monarch resisted his demands. Under the mighty power of absolute proof and demonstration by the Spirit of God, Pharaoh yielded to the demand for allowing Israel to go out into the wilderness to sacrifice to her God. No sooner would Pharaoh give permission, than he recanted and bitterly opposed. It was only after Moses had brought the ten plagues upon the land, the last of which was the destruction of the first-born of the Egyptians, did that haughty monarch permit the Hebrew people to leave Egypt.

By the power of God he separated the sea and Israel passed through on dry land. On the opposite shore the people praised God for the deliverance. Then Moses led them gently to Mount Horeb where God spoke the ten words, the fundamental, axiomatic truths and principles which constitute the basis of all human relationships. From Sinai he guided them through the wilderness, an eleven days' journey, to Kadesh Barnea on the southern boundary of the promised land. They could have entered into possession of their possessions had they not disbelieved and disobeyed. On account of their failure at that critical moment, they were forced to wander around in the wilderness for forty years, approximately speaking, until that generation passed away and a new one arose. This younger generation crossed triumphantly over Jordan into the land, which flowed with milk and honey, under the leadership of Joshua, Moses' successor. The great lawgiver, however, just before their entrance into the promised land, went up on Mount Pisgah at the command of God, passed into the presence of his Maker, and was buried on the mountain top in the land of Moab.

Thus ended the checkered, eventful, and fruitful life of this faithful and mighty servant of God.

Moses by the illumination of the Spirit of God told his generation that God would raise up for them a prophet from among them like himself. As stated in the beginning of this discussion, we gather from Deuteronomy 18:15-19 that Moses in character, in official position, and in the general trend of his life would foreshadow this Coming One. We have seen under section A that this prophet can be none other than King Messiah. Therefore we should study the life, the character, the position, and the entire career of Moses in order to learn all we can about King Messiah. The antitype corresponds in general to the type. While we are recognizing this fact, we must not try to press premises beyond the lawful limit determined by the facts.