Evangel
High School Class

Series: Biblical Lives to Live By
Genesis-II Samuel

  • Noah
  • Abraham & Sarah
  • Rebekah
  • Jacob
  • Joseph
  • Moses
  • Joshua
  • Deborah & Jael
  • Gideon
  • Samson
  • Hannah
  • Samuel
  • Naomi & Ruth
  • David
  • Return to Lives Index
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    Series written and published to the Web by Dale Sullivan
    Moses
    This lesson is based on the following passages: (If you are online, you can look them up at Bible Gateway.)

    Exodus 2:11-15, Exodus 3:1-14, Exodus 4:1-17, Exodus 5:1-9 and 19-23, Exodus 32:1-6 and 25-35, Numbers 11:1-17, Numbers 12:1-15, Numbers 14:1-20, Numbers 16:1-3 and 23-33, Acts 7:20-41

    Discuss the follwoing questions:

    1. How did God call Moses and what did he tell him to do?
    2. What was Moses' reaction to God's call?
    3. What did Paraoh do when Moses first asked him to let God's people go?
    4. How did the people of Israel react to the things that happened after Moses talked with Paraoh?
    5. In the wilderness, the children of Israel rebelled against Moses' leadership several times. Based on our reading for today, answer these questions:
      • What names can you give to each of the rebellions?
      • Where did they happen and who led them?
      • Why did they rebell in each case?
      • How did God react to their rebellion?
      • How did Moses react to their rebellion?
    6. In Stephen's speech in Acts 7, Stephen emphasizes the relationship between the Children of Israel and Moses. How does he characterize that relationship?
    7. Why, do you think, did Stephen emphasize that aspect of their relationship?
    8. What lessons can we draw from Moses' life?



    Life Summary of Moses: Leading a Rebellious People
    Moses is one of the most important people in the history of the world. We could look at him as the Law Giver, the one God used to give Israel the written code that served as a model for many of the law systems in Western societies. We could also see him as the the great deliverer, the one God used to bring Israel out of slavery; or as God's prophet, the one who mapped out God's will and plan for Israel; or even as the first writer of Scripture.

    In this lesson, however, we focus on Moses as the leader of a rebellious people. In the passages we read for today, we see, first, that even before God spoke with him in the wilderness, he was rejected by his people when he tried to intervene during a quarrel between two Israelites. When God called him, some forty years later from the burning bush in the wilderness, Moses was no longer as confident in his leading abilities as he had been before, and so he argued with God that he really wasn't able to do the things God was sending him to do. We might say that Moses became a "reluctant" leader.

    Then, when he returned to Egypt and began to approach Pharaoh about letting the children of Israel go from their captivity, things seemed to go badly. Pharaoh made conditions even worse for the Israelites than they had been before, and the Israelites, in turn, began to grumble about Moses' interference. They were short sighted and would have preferred to be left alone rather than for someone to come along and stir things up, making things uncomfortable for them.

    Later, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they soon fell away from Moses' leadership. Even though they had seen God's mighty work through Moses during their escape from Egypt, they turned to idol worship while Moses was receiving the Law from God on Mount Sinai. Later they grumbled against Moses because they didn't have meat to eat. Even his sister, Miriam, at one point criticized Moses for taking too much leadership to himself. We might say that Moses was a "reluctant leader of a rebellious people."

    Sometimes we think that serving God will mean that everyone will recognize our call from God and will cooperate with us to help accomplish God's will, but we need to remember that everyone tends to think that they are the center of the universe. Sometimes people want roles different from the ones they find themselves in. Sometimes they even rebell against God's plan for them and try to frustrate God's plans for others. If serving God does not guarantee that He will make everything go smoothly for us, why should we want to serve Him?