COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 112 - HOW THE PRINCE OF EGYPT BECAME A SHEPHERD OF MIDIAN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

At some point as Moses grew up in the Egyptian palace as a prince, he must have realized that he was actually a Hebrew. 

He had been nursed by his own mother until he was two.  Perhaps he had memories of being with her in that warm, cozy little house where they lived in Goshen.  

Perhaps his sister had stayed in touch without letting anyone know.  Children are not easily separated.  

It seemed that at some point he knew but did not acknowledge who he really was.

The scriptures speak of Moses as a grown man going out one day and seeing how hard his “brethren” worked and feeling sorry for their burdens. 

One day Moses saw an Egyptian harshly beating a Hebrew.  When Moses looked around and saw that there were no Egyptian witnesses; he killed that hateful Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  It seemed like the thing to do, since there would be no defense for a Hebrew slave and the Egyptian man was clearly committing a hateful sin.  Moses, in a sense, made his own justice, and then he tried to hide the evidence by covering up the body.

Does anything about this remind you of the story of Cain?  You would not expect to find the same traits of the sinful Cain lurking in the heart of Moses.  Yet, similar to Cain, Moses had become angry and that anger had led to murder.  Of course the man who abused the Hebrew WAS guilty.  Did that make Moses less guilty?  Was his anger righteous anger?  Did the fact that there was no justice for the Hebrew people make Moses’ actions right?  This is something to ponder and perhaps discuss a little later.

Moses thought he had covered up the evidence of the murder. 

The next day two Hebrew men were fighting and Moses approached them and asked them “Why are you striking your companion?”  One of the men apparently had seen Moses kill the Egyptian because he answered “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”  

The truth always comes out.

Moses became afraid that his secret justice was known.  Word of mouth travels swiftly.  When Pharaoh heard of the matter he commanded that Moses be killed.

Apparently the fondness that Pharaoh showed before when his daughter adopted Moses had worn off.  Moses had presented Pharaoh with an easy and legal way to dispose of his unpleasant company.

Moses and Pharaoh must have disagreed on almost everything as Moses had grown into manhood.  Living in the Egyptian palace might have been a bit uncomfortable for Moses at times.   Pharaoh might have considered Moses a threat to his kingdom from inside its very walls, especially in the times when they disagreed; which was probably every day that passed.   

Moses was not stupid.  He could see where this situation was headed and he ran away.  He had not been very happy in the palace anyway.

Moses went to live in the land of Midian.  When he arrived there he sat down beside a well.  I’ll give you three guesses as to which well this was?  Perhaps we will speak more about this at a later time too.

The seven daughters of the priest of Midian came out to draw water from the same well. They sought to water their father’s flocks, but some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses saw this and stood up to the shepherds for them and helped them to water their flock.  Something about this story sounds oh so familiar.  

Remember how Jacob met Rachel?  The same details are included in both stories.

Perhaps this problem of not being able to use the well until all the other shepherds had left the area happened often to the daughters of the Midian priest.  Maybe they came home late many times over because they had been waiting their turn and had been forced to be the last to water their flocks after all the other shepherds had finished watering their sheep.  One automatically wonders about this because when they arrived back home to their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

They told their father an Egyptian man had delivered them from the hands of the shepherds and that he stayed and drew enough water for them and their flock.  I had to wonder if this Midian priest knew the old stories of Abraham and his descendants.

The father, Reuel, asked them why they had not called the man to come and eat dinner with them?  It would have been customary to return a favor.  So they ran and found Moses and brought him to their father’s table to share his bread.  Reuel and Moses became good friends.  Reuel invited Moses to stay awhile.  Moses enjoyed their company very much and was content to live under Reuel’s roof. 

Eventually, the father and priest named Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

Zipporah bore Moses a son. His name was Gershom, meaning “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”  Perhaps we will also have more to say about Moses and his relationship with Zipporah later.

Time passed.

Eventually the King of Egypt died.

 The plight of the Hebrew people only grew worse under the new Pharaoh. They groaned under the burden of their heavy bondage. They cried out to God again.

It is funny how people always seem to remember God when they come into miserable circumstances; though they had completely forgotten Him when they were doing well on their own.

The Israelites in Egypt were not doing well at all and they cried out night and day.

God heard of their bondage.

He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God looked down and saw the pain of the Children of Israel and God acknowledged them.  They were, after all, God’s chosen people.