LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Choice of a Man and a People
The election of the people of Israel, as well as his long history, is an example that would show in the future God's dealings with his church. In the same way, the choice and dealings with Moses are prophetic and types of things to come, as stated in Hebrews 3:5: "And Moses indeed was faithful in all the house of God, as a servant, for a witness of what was to be said". Moses did things after God's pattern, but those things were a testimony to what was to be said.
Naturally, it refers to the things that we Christians experience today, no longer as shadows or figures, but as definitive, eternal realities. So the figures of Israel and Moses, their deeds, their dealings, adversities, their failures and infidelities, as well as the faithfulness of Moses, are things that we have to look at carefully to better understand our own path.
Now, we have to ask ourselves preliminary: Why did God choose that people, and that man? We know that with regard to Israel there is a past linked to Abraham and Isaac that explains the choice, but if we focus our attention on the people themselves, we ask ourselves, being a people of princes, destined to possess the land, why did God take it down the path of slavery, and why did he lead Moses down the path of an outlaw?
Abraham's choice must have passed very clearly from father to son. Isaac must have been very aware of her; same Jacob. When Jacob —and Israel— blesses his children, and prophesies of his future, he especially shows Judah and Joseph a most glorious way (Gen. 49:10, 25-26).
The destiny prophesied here to the children of Israel is glorious; however, the first thing that God does with this people is to take them to Egypt so that they would become a people of slaves. We know how he got to Egypt, and how God provided good days for him while Joseph lived. However, times changed, and Israel, the chosen people, literally became a slave people, and with the worst kind of slavery imaginable.
In the same way Moses, having been born a beautiful child, not only to his parents, but also to God (Acts 7:20), and having been brought up in the royal palace, he fell to the lowest degree of human honor. A prince of God became a murderer, a fugitive from justice for more than forty years.
There is a very big mystery in these facts that we briefly review. It is as if God, who favors his own, honors them and lifts them up, had let them fall. It is as if his hand had been removed from them, he had left them alone, and then confusion engulfed them and they lost all hope. What purpose did God have with all this? We'll see him tomorrow.