September: Day 4: Teaching 3: Holy Prophet Moses

September: Day 4: Teaching 3: 

Holy Prophet Moses
 
(Lessons From His Life:
a. God's Providence in Each of our Lives;
b. Let Us Not Be Carried Away By a Brilliant External Position, but Serve the One God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Among all the holy personalities of the times before the coming of Christ, the most remarkable is the Prophet and God-seer Moses, whose memory is celebrated today. He delivered the Jewish people from slavery, miraculously led them out of Egypt, gave them the God-written law and led them to the Promised Land. He is the first sacred and divinely inspired writer of Genesis; he was glorified by the entire Old Testament Church; our Savior Christ Himself often pointed to him, and conversed with him on Tabor. Let us listen, brethren, to what the holy history tells us about him.

Moses was born in Egypt at the most unfortunate time, when the Egyptian kings issued a decree to cast all Jewish babies into the Nile River. Moses' mother, after his birth, kept him secretly with her for three months; finally, surrendering to the will of God, she took a reed basket, tarred it, put her infant son in it and lowered it into the water in a bay of the Nile River. Meanwhile, she left behind her daughter, Moses' sister, and ordered her to watch from afar what would happen to the baby. And so, by God's providence, the daughter of Pharaoh the King came at that very time and to the very place where the basket with the baby was floating. Seeing the basket, the princess ordered her maids to take it and, opening it, saw a crying baby in it, understood that this baby must be one of the children of the Jews, and out of compassion she decided to save his life. Looking at this, Moses' sister went to the princess and said to her: "Would you like me to call a wet nurse to raise this baby?" and, having received permission, brings her mother to her. Thus Moses was delivered from death, returned to the bosom of his own mother, and was safely nursed and brought up by her. Wondrous are the destinies of God! Ineffable is the wisdom, goodness and power of the Providence of the world!

The well-bred youth was presented to his mother by Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him and left him at the royal court. At that time, the Egyptians were at a high level of education, and therefore Moses, as a courtier, "was taught," according to the testimony of the apostle and first martyr Stephen, "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). In spite of this, Moses, having come to the age of maturity and, seeing the miserable situation of his brethren, grieved for them in his soul and was ready to share with them their bitter fate rather than remain in the glorious lot of the pagan king. It happened once that he saw an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, and in the heat of jealousy, interceding for his brother, he killed him and hid him in the sand. This, however, became public and reached the ears of the king-pharaoh himself. Moses, in order to save his life, had to secretly leave the royal house and flee from Egypt. When he came to the land of Midian, he stayed with a certain pious man Jethro, entered into marriage with his daughter Zipporah, and began to live with him, taking care of the flock of sheep.  At one time, while with his flock near Mount Horeb, Moses saw a bush that seemed to be burning, but was not consumed. Intending to find out what it was, he approaches the place, but was suddenly stopped by a voice commanding him to remove his sandals, because the place on which He stood was holy. And then he heard a cry: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; I see the affliction of my people in Egypt, I hear their groans and their cries, and I want to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land that flows with milk and honey. Go now, I am sending you to Egypt to King Pharaoh, so that he may let My people go." This was said by the God of Israel Himself, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Moses more than once denied such a difficult commission for him; but God armed him with His eternal and almighty name - "I am He who is" - communicated to him His strong and high hand, and gave him his brother Aaron to help him. Moses, returning to the house of Jethro, took his wife and children and went to Egypt; on the way, by God's arrangement, meeting with his brother, both came to their compatriots, the sons of Israel, in Egypt, and after declaring to them the will and mercy of God to them, they were received by them with honor and joy. Thus Moses became a great chosen one of God and entered into the extraordinary service of delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. How this great deliverance was accomplished, and what circumstances accompanied it, we will not speak about this; but now we will say something for our own edification.

II. a) First and foremost, the great and wondrous providence of God, which saves the perishing, appears to us here. The Israelites, of course, did not imagine that there would ever be an end to their misfortune, and could not expect a deliverer from anywhere. But what does the all-wise and all-good God do? He looks with His own Divine eyes upon the heavy and painful labors of the Israelites, He listens with His own Divine hearing to their cry and groaning, and behold, He Himself prepares a deliverer for them, He Himself inspires the mother of Moses to hide and then carry the baby to the river, He Himself sends the princess to him, He Himself instills in her a compassionate feeling and the intention to save the life of the baby, He Himself brings him up in his mother's bosom, and then in the king's house, and finally He Himself appears to him in the land of Midian at the bush and sends him to Egypt to save His people. Thus, by the wise dispensation of God, King Pharaoh, in destroying the Hebrew infants, himself preserved the life of the God-chosen infant and, trying to keep the Israelites in slavery forever, prepared for them their own deliverer. Who after this will not be attentive to such destinies of God? Who will forget that always and in everything there is the Providence of God, caring for everyone and arranging everything for our benefit? If therefore any troubles and misfortunes happen to us, should we not believe that everything that happens to us is done by the will of God, and that the Lord will not fail to visit us in good time with His mercy and deliver us from the troubles that weigh us down. Should we not, therefore, endure the misfortunes that befall us with good spirit, casting our sorrow upon the Lord (Ps. 54:23), surrendering ourselves to the holy will of God and with hope expecting help and intercession from God?

b) And in order to be worthy of heavenly help, let us love God, in Whom we believe, completely and serve Him diligently, without deviating from the guidance of our Mother Church and from her saving laws. Let the deliverer of the Jews, Moses, be our example this time. He lived for quite a long time at the royal court, was adopted by the daughter of the king of Egypt, was brought up and educated in all sciences and, as a courtier, was at the height of earthly greatness and glory. Did he value all this? Was he captivated by his condition and did he consider himself happy in this apparently brilliant lot? He only outwardly lived at the court of a foreign king, but his heart was constantly turned to the God of his fathers; he looked with a sick heart at his brethren in faith and at their sufferings, and inwardly shared with them their bitter lot. This is precisely what the apostle testifies about Moses: "Being great," he says, "he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to have the temporary pleasure of sin" (Heb. 11:24, 25). So let us live in this world and, despite its soul-harming rules and customs, serve our one God and fulfill His holy will, to the glory of His name and the salvation of our souls.

III. Glory to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

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