One thing that stands out to me about the life of Moses is his relationship with God. Moses had every reason not to know, or even try to get to know, the God of the Israelites.

He grew up in the royal family of the Pharoah. The Sovereign ruler of all Egypt, which was basically a super-power at that time. He was the adopted grandson, son, and finally brother to the most powerful men in the world at that time. The Pharoah was considered a minor deity of sort (it is hard to comprehend this in today’s culture), and Moses grew up in a home, culture, and country that worshipped many gods. It is unclear if Moses himself participated in any actual worship of Egyptian gods.

Moses had an Egyptian name, a royal upbringing, and a knowledge of the heavens that included many divine beings. He was about as far as anyone with Israelite blood in their veins could be from a relationship with Elohim. Additionally, it is unclear how much he knew about the Israelite people; their culture, their day-to-day lives (outside of their public work), and even their religion. He went to live with his Egyptian mother by the time he was weened from biological mother, so there is not much he could have learned at that very young age. From then on, it can safely be presumed that he grew up as a royal Egyptian boy in the house of the Pharoah.

Yet, God chose Moses to lead His people out of captivity in Egypt. God chose Moses to physically appear to: once as a burning bush (Ex3:1-10), and then later passing in front of Moses on Mount Horeb (Ex33:18-23). God chose Moses as the one he would reveal His “name” to. It is a little humorous that Moses was so uneducated to the God of the Israelites, that Moses thought to ask for God’s name. Moses, thinking like an Egyptian, figured the God of the Israelites must have a name, just like all the gods he grew up with had names.

Moses was the absolute wrong person to choose to lead the Israelites out of captivity and into the promised land. But that just shows how much higher God’s wisdom is above ours.

I love looking at the relationship that Moses had with God, because it is so very human and flawed. Moses argued with God (EX33:15), bartered with God (EX4:13), disobeyed God (Num:20:8), ignored God (EX4:24-26), and even took credit for the work of God (Num:20:10). Yet, out of all the Israelites, Moses was also the one most dedicated to following God. Moses, the Israelite who knew God the least became the Israelite with the most faith. “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Heb11:26)