PREPARING MOSES FOR MINISTRY After the first chapter revealed the need for salvation, chapters 2-4 tell us about preparing the prophet Moses for ministry. 1- Moses in the river Ver. 1-4 2- Moses in the palace 5-10 3- Moses ministering with human zeal 11-15 4- Moses in the land of Midian 16-25 1- Moses in the river God allowed the people to pass through a severe temptation. Yet, at the same time, “He also made the way of escape” (1 Cor. 10.13). For their sake, He prepared Moses and trained him for the duration of eighty years along three stages: The first stage: For 40 years, Moses grew up in the palace under Pharaoh’s daughter and he was educated according to the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians. However, at the same time, he was fed the breast-milk of his Hebrew people. During that period, he thought that he could serve God, as he depended on his eloquence, his management abilities and wisdom but he failed. The second stage: He spent 40 years in the wilderness to be trained to realize that without God he is worth nothing. He realized that he is “not eloquent, slow of speech, and slow of tongue” (Exod. 4.10) and incapable to work by himself (Exod. 4.14). The third stage: This started by his encounter with the burning bush, when he got to know God, who works through ‘nothing’ to show forth His glory. After this introduction, we go back to the childhood of Moses. Listen to the words of the apostle Paul speak of his parents as heroes of faith saying, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command” (Heb. 11.23). Likewise, we, by our faith in God, who in secret sees our actions, we should hide every virtue lest it be attacked by Pharaoh (the devil) and be devoured by the waves of the river. Seeing how God turned Pharaoh’s command into a blessing for Moses, St. John Chrysostom says1, “Unless the infants had been cast forth, Moses would not have been saved, he would not have been brought up in the palace. When he was safe, he was not in honor.” However, when he was cast into the river he had honor. The Saint believes that all events, even the most fierce against the children of God, are used by the Lord as part of His plan for their salvation. Ark of Bulrushes “When she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank” (Exod. 2.3). St. Gregory Bishop of Nyssa believes that Moses, representing the virtuous life born by the free will through the bitter pains of labor, has to be put in an ark of papyrus, or in a casket of wooden boards in order to keep that virtuous life secure against the river’s waves2. That ‘ark’ is the ‘learning’. When man always cares to learn and yearns for renewed and flourishing spiritual 1 St. Chrysostom. Homilies on Acts. Hom. 54. 2 The Life of Moses. 2:7. 25 knowledge, he would be like Moses secure against all deadly currents. No waves can devour him, but would rather push him to the security of the river’s bank1. His Mother’s Tears The ark has been the apparent keeper of the child but his mother’s tears were the concealed protection. St. Gregory of Nyssa says that whoever escapes such things should follow Moses’ example and should never stop shedding tears for, although having been secure inside the ark, the tears are the strong keeper of him who is saved by virtue2. Tears of repentance are the protection of every virtue hidden inside the heart and its shield lest it be devoured by the enemy of good. 2- Moses in the palace The Daughter of Pharaoh St. Gregory Bishop of Nyssa believes that the ‘daughter of Pharaoh’ represents the philosophies of the world; while being barren and fruitless, she labors but does not deliver3. The ‘daughter of Pharaoh’, despite her beauty, authority, wealth, charm and many admirers, is barren and her soul is dissatisfied. Nevertheless, the Church is not against her. Moses was taken into her palace, although he was fed from his mother’s breast. Likewise, we accept the philosophy and science of the world and do not despise them. Nevertheless, we abide by the traditions, gospel, teachings, thoughts and the whole life of our Church. The school of Alexandria since its beginning was keen on adopting such a line of thought, namely, the acknowledgment of the worldly philosophy without deviating from the Evangelic thought. The historian Schaff says that the Theology of Alexandria intended to reconcile between Christianity with philosophy basing that unity on the Holy Bible and the teachings of the Church4. St. Clement of Alexandria, criticizing those who say that philosophy is evil, declared that there is no animosity between Christianity and philosophy5. He also said that philosophy is not the work of darkness but in every one of its principles, a ray of light shines upon it6 from the ‘Logos’ criticizing those who believe that philosophy is evil7. He said that God used the philosophy of the Greeks to get them into the knowledge of Christ the “Truth”. The scholar Origen believes that the daughter of Pharaoh refers to the Church of the Gentiles that received Moses (the Law) from the Jews through the river (Baptism) and comprehended it with a new concept having carried him to her palace. Therefore, he believed that the daughter of Pharaoh represents the Church coming from all nations. Although her father was a pagan oppressor she was told, “Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house; so the King will greatly desire your beauty” (Ps. 45.10-11). She gets out of her father’s house and comes to the water to wash herself from the sins that she committed in it. Then, she gets compassionate toward the child. This is the Church, coming from the Gentiles, to find in the river Moses who was rejected by his own. She gets him a nurse of his own race with whom he spends his early childhood 1 Ibid. 2:8. 2 Ibid. 2:9. 3 Ibid. 2:11. 4 Schaff. Vol 2. 77. Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty. The Early Church Fathers of Alexandria. 1980. 14, 15, 48-9, 72-6, 181-4. 5 The Early Church Fathers of Alexandria. 73-6. 6 Strom 1:13. 7 Ibid. 1:4. 26 till he grows up. Then, she adopts him. Origen often referred to Moses as representing the Law. By coming to the water of Baptism, the Church takes up Moses who was hidden in an ark of bulrushes daubed with asphalt and pitch. The Law was motionless in such a place being confined in the defiled bodily lusts of the Jews until the Church of the Gentiles came to draw him out and give him a dwelling place in the court of the royal palace of wisdom. Thus, the Law left Its own, as they did not know how to listen to It spiritually while It was a milk-fed infant. However, once he was introduced to the Church and entered it, he grew up and gained strength, casting away the garment of humbleness and weakness to be clothed with greatness, exaltation and beauty. What is this greatness but the eminence of spirituality? Therefore, let us beseech our Lord Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to us and to let us also see the greatness of Moses1. As for the name ‘Moses’, the daughter of Pharaoh named him “Moses”, meaning “water” in the old Egyptian language (Exod. 2.10). By this name, God Himself called him. St. Gregory Bishop of Nyssa says that God did not refuse to call His servant by this name and did not consider it abominable to let him keep the name given him by that foreign woman in order to be fit for being a prophet2 St. Clement of Alexandria3 believes that “Moses”, the Egyptian name, meant meant “the one taken out of water”. As for his Hebrew name, given him on his circumcision, it was “Yaweh Yoakim” and he had a third symbolic name in heaven - “Melchi” (Deut.). 3- Moses ministering with human zeal Having acquired the wisdom of the Egyptians for over 40 years, Moses assumed that he became capable of serving the Lord depending on his eloquence and wisdom. He highly estimated himself; thus, he got confused, “He looked this way and that way” (Exod. 2.12), caring for the others’ view of him although a minister of God should not care whether those around him are pleased or displeased with his ministry, as long as he knows that he is sent by God. Moses started his ministry depending on his own abilities; therefore, he became scared and escaped from his ministry (Exod. 2.15). Moses’ experiences are significant, showing us that everyone who dedicates his life to God faces two kinds of war: a ‘left war’ and a ‘right war’: A- A left war: This is the war against the obvious evil, as when Moses saw the fight between an Egyptian and a Hebrew, one of his brethren; Moses killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. This carried a symbolic portrait of the believer, who strikes, not a human being, but every evil in his heart and buries it so that any sin foreign to our nature would have no place in us. B- A right war: This is a war against self-righteousness. When man assumes that he is righteous and is better than others without remembering his sins. This war is by far worse, as it is waged between a Hebrew man and his brother, namely, between man and his ego “self”. Such is the case with the believer who faces two wars: a war against sin, (this war is obvious and relatively easy) and then the war of the schism inside the Church, which is much more dangerous and cruel, leading many to abandon the ministry, as Moses was forced to do. 1 In Exode. Hom. 2:4. 2 Answer to Eunomius, 2nd Book. N.P.N.F., Series 2 Vol 5: 79. 3 Strom. 1:23. 27 St. John Chrysostom comments on the words of the Hebrew man, “Who made you a prince and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me” (Exod. 2.14)? He says1 that the people were “Just as if one seeing a physician using the knife excellently well, and succoring that limb in the body which was diseased, should say, `Who made thee a physician and ordered thee to use the knife?'” On the other hand, God used that incident for Moses’ benefit, to let him flee, to learn philosophy in the wilderness and to see the divine vision2. 4- Moses in the land of Midian When Moses was 40 years of age, he left to the wilderness to experience the truth of his self, that he is actually ‘nothing’, as he says, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” (Exod. 3.12). Consequently, he became worthy of gaining the divine strength. A minister is in need of leaving his position of ministry and setting forth to a “life of solitude”, where he would practice unity with God in order to be worthy of attaining a bigger heart to accommodate more love for those he ministers. In the wilderness, he joined ‘Reuel’, meaning (God is a Friend), and married ‘Zipporah’, (meaning a sparrow), who gave birth to ‘Gershom’, (meaning a stranger). As though Moses here represents the minister, who, in his solitude, encounters God as his Friend, unites his life to the sparrow, namely, the heavenly thought soaring in the heights and always has a feeling of being a sojourner. It is to be noticed that ‘Reuel’, his father-in-law, has been called ‘Jethro’ (Exod. 3.1), most probably a title of honor, having been the priest of Midian, (meaning with noticeable greatness)3. He was also called ‘Hobab’ son of Jethro (Judg. 4.11), that may also mean ‘Reuel’. He was probably a descendant of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25.2). Moses’ job was to shepherd the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law (Exod. 3.1). St. Clement of Alexandria4, and the scholar Origen517 see in this task a type of the Lord Christ, the Good Shepherd, who takes care of the inner thoughts of the soul as if they were a flock. 1 St. John Chrysostom. 2 Cor. Hom. 15. 2 Acts. Hom. 54. 3 Hastings, J. Dictionary of the bible. 496. 4 Strom. 1:23. 5 In Jerm. Hom. 5:.6.
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