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.