The Faith of Moses’ Parents

Hebrews 11:23

 

Faith is a gift of God’s grace that enables the believer to look away from human terrors, and gives courage and boldness by enabling us to trust God our Father, though we see him not.

 

      In other words, faith prevails over fear. I do not mean that believers know nothing of fear. It is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless, that we are all, at times, fearful. But faith prevails over fear and says with David, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (Ps. 56:3-4). Here in Hebrews 11:23, the Holy Spirit holds before us the faith of Moses’ parents as an instructive, encouraging example for us to follow.

 

Moses Hid

 

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents”—The Apostle mentions the faith of both of Moses parents. Moses, in his account mentioned only his mother; Stephen, in his speech before the Sanhedrin mentioned only his father; Paul combines two inspired narratives.

      Happy is that home in which husband and wife, mother and father walk together in faith, in the fear of God. Blessed, blessed beyond what words can express, are those children born into such a home! “It is a happy thing,” wrote Matthew Henry, “when yoke-fellows draw together in the yoke of faith, as heirs of the grace of God; and when they do this in a religious concern for the good of their children, to preserve them not only from those who would destroy their lives, but corrupt their minds.” Moses’ parents show us three things about faith.

 

1st, Faith fears God. Pharaoh had given orders that every male child born among the Jews be thrown immediately into the Nile. Instead of complying with this atrocious command, Moses’ mother and father concealed their infant son for three months.  Without question, we are to be in subjection to the higher powers. We are to be obedient to our divinely appointed civil rulers, no matter who they are (Rom. 13:1-7). But we have a higher authority than any earthly monarch. Our God is our King. “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). As those noble brethren in Daniel 3, we cannot do that which God has forbidden, no matter who demands it. And, like Peter and John in Acts 4, we must obey God’s will, no matter who opposes it.

 

2nd, Faith overcomes the fear of man. The fear of God makes the fear of man insignificant. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1).

 

3rd, Faith obtains God’s salvation. Deliverance came to Israel because Moses’ parents, believing God, hazarded their lives to do what they knew to be his will. Fearing God, they obeyed his Word, though obedience might cost them their lives.

 

 “Three Months”

 

“Moses was hid three months.”— Faith proves itself by works. Moses’ parents, like Abraham before them and Rahab after them, showed their faith by their works. They concealed the birth of their son, not fearing the wrath of the king. From the beginning they showed greater concern for Moses’ soul than for their own lives. They hid him for three months. Theirs was a persevering faith. No doubt they made many cries unto God. Can you imagine the faith it required to put that baby in a basket and leave him alone to God’s care in the Nile River?

      Such faith is both well founded and most reasonable. God preserves his own. Nothing can harm them, much less destroy them! In the preservation of Moses we have an illustration of how God preserves his elect from infancy to the day of their calling (Jude 1).

 

A Proper Child”

Their faith was not so much a parental act of love as it was the act of two people who believed God. That which motivated the faith of these godly parents was that which the Lord God had made known to them. —“They saw he was a proper child.” The Holy Spirit is not talking about Moses’ being a physically beautiful child, too good looking to murder! This was an act of faith. They saw that Moses’ was beautiful to God, chosen of God to be Israel’s deliverer (Acts 7:20). It is obvious from the Book of Exodus that they taught him this from his youth. Had this not been a matter of divine revelation, something specifically made known to them by God, it would not have been an act of faith, but of desperation. They believed God’s word, the promise he had given to Abraham and Joseph, and had confirmed to them.

 

By Faith

We know this because the Holy Spirit tells us specifically that the hiding of Moses was “by faith.” It was an act of faith, God given, God wrought, God sustained faith. The principle of their actions in the preservation of Moses was faith. Paul’s purpose in this chapter was not to honor men, but to honor faith. Particularly, their faith was in Christ, the Deliverer of his people, of whom Moses was both a type and one by whom the Seed of the woman must be preserved. They had a particular revelation form God. They had a firm faith in the deliverance of the children of Israel in the appointed season. And they had faith in him whom Abraham believed. They trusted Christ.

 

Not Afraid

"And they were not afraid of the king's commandment."—Their faith was eminent in this: In the discharge of their duty they did not fear the kings command. No doubt they had fear, but not such as would prevent the performance of their duty. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

      Because they believed God, Moses’ parents secured for themselves and for the nation of Israel the promised blessing of God’s salvation. Israel was delivered by the faith of a godly mother and father. Let us train our children for God, heaven, and eternity. Train them, first and foremost, by believing God ourselves,by making the will and glory of God the rule of all things in our lives.