Echoes of Transformation: Moses' Journey From Prince to Prophet

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Embark on an epic journey with me, Vic, as we trace the footsteps of Moses from the grandeur of Egyptian royalty to the humble life of a Midianite shepherd. Witness a defining moment in history when a single, compassionate act of defiance propels Moses into the wilderness, escaping Pharaoh's wrath. Our exploration doesn't stop at the edge of Egypt's might; we continue to follow Moses through his encounter with destiny at a Midian well, his marriage to Zipporah, and the birth of his son, Gershom. We'll unravel the tapestry of New Kingdom Egypt's political scene to understand why Midian, not Canaan, became Moses's sanctuary. It's a tale of transformation, a test of faith, and a testament to divine orchestration as we set the stage for Moses's prophetic mission to free his people.

In this narrative-rich episode, we traverse beyond the sands to the core of God's unwavering promise. As I recount Moses's years in Midian, parallels emerge with stories of Abraham's servant and Jacob, highlighting the profound tradition of hospitality and God's intimate awareness of human suffering. We contemplate the meticulous preparation of Moses for his destiny, a reminder of how God's providence shapes our own lives. Discover with me how the echoes of Exodus Chapter 2 continue to resonate, revealing a timeless narrative of hope and divine faithfulness. Tune in to not only revisit an ancient story but to find a fresh perspective on the presence of God's guiding hand in the trials and triumphs of our lives.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Music Twitter channel and I hope you enjoyed this

(00:52):
movie.
Welcome back to our AncientFuture story.
I'm Vic and I am so excited toshare with you another story
today.
Today we are continuing ourstory of Moses.
When we left off last time,moses was a baby nursed by his
own mother, and when he waswinged he was brought to the

(01:14):
palace to be raised by Pharaoh'sdaughter herself.
But today we will meet Moses asa young man, one with authority
in all, the power of Egypt athis fingertips, and yet he still
had compassion for theIsraelite people who were still
suffering in slavery.
So grab your cup of coffee orsomething to drink and let's get
ready to dive into the story ofMoses.

(01:45):
Our story opens with one daywhen Moses was grown up, he went
out to check on the Hebrews inplaces of service, in the fields
and construction sites when hesaw an Egyptian beating one of
the Hebrews.
Moses looked around and seen noone.
He struck down the Egyptian andburied him in the sand.
The next day he went out andsaw the Hebrews fighting with
one another.

(02:05):
So he walked over to them andasked the one fighting why are
you struggling with yourcompanion?
And his response is my favoritething who made you prince and
judge over us?
It's like who died and made youking, and it just makes me
laugh.
Anyway, he goes on to challengeMoses and say are you going to
kill me like?
You killed the Egyptian Moses,knowing he was caught and that

(02:29):
someone saw him.
He was afraid, and rightly so,because when word got back to
Pharaoh about what Moses haddone, he ordered him dead.
So Moses fled from Egypt, fromPharaoh and from the only place
he had ever known, and ran intothe wilderness of Midian and sat
down at a well.
Now there was a priest inMidian who had seven daughters

(02:50):
who had come to the well togather water for their father's
flocks, but the shepherds haddriven them away from the well.
Moses, seeing this, could notstand by and watch this happen,
so he stood up and watered theflock for them.
This ran home to tell theirfather of the man who helped
them at the well, saying anEgyptian delivered us from the
shepherds and even drew waterfor us and watered the flock.

(03:10):
Their father, amazed, askedthem where is he?
Why did you leave him at thewell?
Go get him so we may eattogether.
So Moses came to the house andwas content to dwell there with
him.
The father gave Moses hisdaughter, zipporah, as a wife,
and she gave birth to a son whomMoses named Gershom, because he
said I have been a sojourner inthe foreign land.

(03:31):
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, thePharaoh who was seeking Moses'
life had died, but the people ofIsrael still grown daily, for
their labor was difficult, butYahweh heard their groaning and
remembered his covenant withtheir forefathers, abraham,
isaac and Jacob.
Yahweh saw the Israelites andhe knew what was happening to
them.
And that is where our storyends, for today the people of

(03:51):
Israel seemingly lost, withouthope, and Moses is building a
life in a foreign land, awayfrom everything he has ever
known.
But the story is not over.
Next time we will see Yahwehreveal himself to Moses and
unleash his plan to rescue thepeople of Israel.

(04:15):
If you grew up in church, youhave probably heard this story
many, many times.
It's basically the staple VBSstory.
But I think there are a fewthings that are important for us
to know and that will helpshape the context of the story
for us.
The first location Our storytakes place primarily in Egypt,
but then in Midian.
According to Acts 723, moseswas 40 years old.

(04:38):
Moses was 40 years old whenthis story took place.
So, going off of our early andlate dates of the Exodus, we
will see the different scenariosthat could have faced Moses at
this time.
If we go with the early date ofthe Exodus of 1446 BC, then add
40 years of life to Moses,because we know he was 80 years
old at the Exodus.

(04:59):
So we add 40 to 1446 and get1486 BC.
So that means during the story,the Pharaoh would have been
Tutmost the first, the same manthat wanted to kill the Hebrew
boys in the Nile.
The same man whose youngdaughter pulled Moses out of the
Nile.
And now the same man wants tokill Moses for the second time,

(05:20):
but with good reason, because hekilled one of their own in cold
blood in broad daylight.
However, if we go with the latedate of the Exodus of 1275 BC,
then add 40 years of Moses' life, we get 1305 BC, which would
put a new Pharaoh on the throne,king Horimhib, who would have
known Moses from the palace.

(05:40):
His father, king I, was thenephew of Amenhotep III, the
father husband of Siddharth Moon, the daughter who found Moses
in the Nile.
Historical fun fact, kingHorimhib started as the
commander of the boy king, kingTut's army, but after King Tut
suspiciously died, I took overas next in line for the throne.

(06:02):
King Horimhib also had goodreason to want to kill Moses for
killing one of their own.
As per Egyptian law, moses wereto be sentenced to death and
the advisor of Pharaoh's housewould determine how to execute
the murderer.
Our other location is Midian,which is located east of the
Sinai Peninsula, roughly 400miles from the palace in Egypt,

(06:23):
so averaging about 20 miles perday.
It would have taken Mosesroughly 20 days to reach Midian.
But before we get there, let'stake a minute and talk about
this journey.
Egypt is this lush land becauseof the Nile, but the Sinai
Peninsula was all desert and hehad to cross it quickly because
the Egyptians were chasing him.
But why Midian?

(06:44):
Why not go upward toward Canaan?
Well, at this time, either earlyor late, moses is living in the
new kingdom of Egypt and duringthe new kingdom, the empire
spanned from modern-day Sudan upthrough Canaan and modern-day
Syria, almost to the Turkeyborder.
So in order for Moses to betruly free from the Egyptians,

(07:07):
he had to leave the empire andflee into the desert.
But when he arrived, he foundherdsmen like his family who
owned livestock.
Historical fun fact the Midianknights are considered one of
the earliest tribes of Arabia.
Their ancestor, midian, was theson of Abraham and his second
wife, kachura, according toGenesis 25, 1-6.

(07:27):
So what this means for us isMoses didn't just find some
random people.
He found his distant cousinsand settled with them.
The next thing I think isinteresting about this story is
the position of power Mosesholds now when we open our story
.
He is a grown man, a man whogrew up in the palace with all
the privileges of the son ofPharaoh, which means he was

(07:48):
likely trained to be the nextPharaoh, especially with the
early date of Queen Hetshepsut,because her father took most of
the first to not have any sonswith his primary wife, amos,
which means any son Hetshepsuthad was the rightful heir to the
throne.
So it is likely he was educatedand was given responsibilities

(08:08):
around the empire.
Likely checking on slaves andensuring they were staying on
task was one of theseresponsibilities.
Same with the late date,cidamoon likely never
consummated the marriage withher father, so she had no sons,
but by adopting Moses she had anheir that was in the royal
family.
It's possible that Moses grewup with the boy King Tut, and if

(08:31):
that's true, then Moses wasonly around 30 when King Tut
died, so it's possible he wasput in the running to be the
next Pharaoh because he was theadopted son of Amenhotep III and
Cidamoon.
Again, he probably was intraining to lead.
He had access to Egyptianeducation and responsibilities,

(08:52):
so going out to check on theslaves and the building
operations is not too far out ofthe question.
The last thing I think isimportant for us to take note of
is the way Moses handled thewell in water when he arrived in
Midian.
This story should look similarto you, because it is what the
servant of Abraham did when hewent to find a wife for Isaac in
Genesis 24.

(09:12):
It is also what Jacob did whenhe met Rachel in Genesis 29.
It is an overwhelming act ofhospitality to give an entire
herd water.
But just as Abraham's servantand Jacob found favor with the
owners of those herds, mosesfound favor with the priest of
Midian, who responds to hiskindness was giving his

(09:33):
daughters a pora to him inmarriage.
But I also love that thedaughters of the priest of
Midian described Moses not as aHebrew but as an Egyptian, which
means he must have looked likean Egyptian, which makes sense,
since he was living in thepalace and being trained in the
way of Pharaoh.
So what does our story have totell us about God?
Every time we gather together,we will hear a story from

(09:56):
scripture, and we will take timeto see what the story tells us
about Yahweh.
In today's story, we learn thatYahweh hears the groans of his
people.
God didn't just stand by andlet his people suffer.
Instead, he raised someone upwho could pull them out of Egypt
, so that they would know thathe is the God of their
forefathers, who promised themthe land of Canaan.

(10:17):
And even though Moses had leftthe palace and went into the
wilderness and had not yet hadhis encounter with God, god was
still working in his life evenin those moments.
But y'all, if he can do it forthem, he can do it for us too.
Sometimes we find ourselves inlife situations where we are in
pain and suffering and God hearsthe cries of our hearts.

(10:39):
He has not forgotten you and me.
Instead, he's still activelyworking to make his promises a
reality.
So before we go, I want tospend our time together by
reading scripture, from whichour story comes from today,
exodus chapter 2.
I hope that as we read thestory together in light of
everything that we have justlearned, that this story would

(11:00):
be illuminated for you in a newway.
Let's read One day, when Moseshad grown up, he went out to his
people and looked on theirburdens and he saw an Egyptian
beating a Hebrew, one of hispeople.
He looked this way and that, andseeing no one, he struck down
the Egyptian and hid him in thesand.
He struck down the Egyptian andhid him in the sand.

(11:22):
When he went out the next day,behold, two Hebrews were
struggling it together and hesaid to the man in the wrong why
do you strike your companion?
And he answered who made youprince and judge over us?
Do you mean to kill me as youkilled the Egyptian?
Then Moses was afraid andthought surely this thing is
known.
When Pharaoh heard of it, hesought to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from Pharaoh andstayed in the land of Midian

(11:45):
and he sat down by a well.
Now the priest of Midian hadseven daughters and they came
and drew water and filled thetroughs to water their father's
flock.
The shepherds came and drovethem away, but Moses stood up
and saved them and watered theirflock.
When they came home to theirfather, he said how is it that
you have come home so soon today?
They said, an Egyptiandelivered us out of the hands of

(12:07):
the shepherds and even drewwater for us and watered the
flock.
He said to his daughters Thenwhere is he?
Why have you left the man?
Call him that we may eat bread.
And Moses was content to dwellwith the man and he gave Moses
his daughter, sephora.
She gave birth to a son and hecalled his name Gershom for, he
said, I have been sojourner inthe foreign land During those

(12:30):
many days.
The king of Egypt died and thepeople of Israel groaned because
of their slavery and cried outfor help.
Their cry for rescue fromslavery came up to God and God
heard their groaning and Godremembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac and withJacob.
God saw the people of Israeland God knew.

(12:51):
Thank you for listening totoday's episode of our HM Future
Story.
I hope that you really enjoyedit.
This episode was written andproduced by me.
Vic Harmon Music is embarkingon an adventure by Evan McDonald
.
Please support the show bysubscribing and rating us and if
you want more info or want todive deeper, check out our
website at ourancientfuturestorycom.

(13:13):
See you next time.
Bye.