The Man Moses Was Very Great

“And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.”

The Bible describes Moses in a number of ways. For instance, in Numbers 12:3, “the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Stephen says in Acts 7:22 that “Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” He is referred to as “Moses, the servant of God” (1 Chron. 6:49; 2 Chron. 24:9; Neh. 10:29; Dan. 9:11; Rev. 15:3). Moses was said to be “faithful in all God’s house as a servant” (Heb. 3:2, 5).

Moses authored the Pentateuch, and God’s Law is called “the law of Moses” (Josh. 8:31, 32; 23:6; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 23:25; 2 Chron. 23:18; 30:16; Ez. 3:2; 7:6; Neh. 8:1; Dan. 9:11, 13; Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 7:23; Acts 13:39; 15:5; 28:23; 1 Cor. 9:9; Heb. 10:28). Jesus said that Moses wrote of him (John 5:46). It was Moses who appeared along with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30, 31). Hebrews 11 reveals him as a man of faith (Heb. 11:23-28).

The name “Moses” occurs more than 800 times in the Bible. He is mentioned almost four times more than Abraham, and almost as much as David and Jesus. Moses was described as a beautiful child (Acts 7:20; Heb. 11:23). He was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and brought up as a son of Egypt (Ex. 2:10). He was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was great military leader (Acts 7:22). Moses was the great lawgiver of Israel and prophet of God (Ex. 20; Deut. 18:15). His words and deeds have come down to us through the centuries, preserved in the Bible for us.

Our verse tells us that Moses was very great. Exceedingly great is the idea. He had a reputation. Moses did not arrive at this acclamation by chance. He had spent the first forty years of his life as a son of Egypt, achieving a great reputation both in knowledge and action (Acts 7:22). All the comforts and privileges of royal Egyptian life were his.

The second forty years of his life were spent in the desert as a shepherd (Ex. 2:11-25). A life of loneliness and hardship! Somehow during the first forty years of his life in Egypt he came to the realization that he belonged to Israel (Ex. 2:11; Heb.11:24-26). The writer to the Hebrews speaks of the self-denial of Moses in abandoning the riches and prestige of Egypt for the humiliation of belonging to Israel. Hebrews 11:25, 26 tell us that Moses chose “rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin,” and “he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

Egypt is often viewed as a type of the world and sin. All that Egypt had to offer was sin. Moses chose mistreatment rather than the pleasure of sin, and this is explained as suffering for Jesus sake–of more value than all the riches of Egypt. It would appear that Moses gave up everything for Christ.

Moses is esteemed also by the Egyptians. He was very great in the all the land of Egypt. All the servants of Pharaoh had high regard for Moses, as did all the people. Here is a man with an incredible reputation. He was highly regarded because the hand of God was upon him. It is God, behind the scenes, who brings Pharaoh’s daughter to the edge of the Nile to bathe (Ex. 2:5). It is God who saves Moses’ life in the basket of bulrushes as it floats on the Nile (Ex. 2:3). It is God who orchestrates all the events of his life. He must abandon Egypt to meet with God on the mountain of God (Horeb) as the bush burns without being consumed (Ex. 3:1-4).

In order for us to meet with God we must be prepared to give up that which hinders us from doing so. This is what the Bible calls self-denial. This was the life Jesus called his followers to (Mark 8:34-38). As far as Jesus is concerned, there can be no discipleship with self-denial. Self-denial is the way of death. It is the way of dying. Not only dying to things, but also dying to ourselves. We usually think of this in terms of bad or negative things, but Jesus means all things that we value, things that are good, not bad in themselves.

There was nothing wrong with being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but Moses renounces this privilege to be identified with God’s people. Everything that Moses learned in the first eighty years of his life stand him in good stead during his last forty years. The confrontation with Pharaoh in Egypt is nothing in comparison to what Moses had to put up with in the wilderness (Ex. 4:29-12:41).

The burden of leadership for Moses was immense. The constant complaint of the people must have been like a noose around his neck. Yet the Bible describes Moses as the meekest man in all the earth (Num. 12:3). He is described in this way when his authority and leadership are challenged by his own sister and brother. This was, of course, rebellion against God who had appointed Moses, and Miriam suffered the consequences despite Moses pleading for her to be healed (Num. 12:13-15). How lonely Moses must have felt facing resistance from his own family members. The only approval that counts, though, is God’s. God tells Miriam and Aaron that he speaks face to face (mouth to mouth) with Moses as one does with a friend, because Moses was faithful in all God’s house. God views Moses as a faithful man.

There is something great about Moses. You cannot read about his life without coming to the conclusion that he was a great man. His greatness, though, is not seen in his achievements, though they were great and incredible. No, his greatness is seen in his humility, in his submission to God, in his willingness to believe and do what God said, even in the midst of rebellion and complaint. His greatness is all the more magnified when he refuses to advance himself or his own cause (cf. Ex. 33). This is the mark of greatness. It is the subordination of ourselves and our achievements to God. God then must be first in everything. If God is first in everything he will take care of everything for us.

This is what we see in the life of our Lord. His humility is seen in his willingness to do what the Father has planned. He learned obedience in the flesh by the things that he suffered. The pathway to glory is the pathway of suffering. Perhaps we are too occupied with ourselves and our lives to think like this. We must make the conscientious effort to subordinate all things to Christ. This means all my daily activities. Physical demands may be tiring, but spiritual demands are even more so. The spiritual life is a life of disciplined hardship.

This is what Moses went through. It took forty years in the desert to prepare him to lead God’s people through that desert. We all want everything made easy, but have you not found that prayer is not easy or spending time with God is not easy? Discipline is always painful, yet always fruitful and beneficial. Greatness with God is in total submission to him. God’s favor and blessing is in valuing the reproaches of Jesus above everything else. It was for Moses. It can be for us.