Moses

Having heard the difficult situation in which the Hebrews were living in Egypt, we are now introduced to the hero of the story of Exodus in our first reading.

As all male children were to be drowned at birth, the baby – who does not yet have a name – was hidden by his mother for three months. However, the bigger he grew the more difficult it would be to hide him, so she took the drastic step of waterproofing a basket and sent it floating down the river.

In a clearly providential happening, the Pharaoh’s daughter and her attendants had gone to the river to bathe. The floating child is found and immediately recognised as a Hebrew and she was full of pity for the abandoned baby. The boy is eventually adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. This probably happened when the child was weaned or a little later. He was given the name Moses because, as Pharaoh’s daughter said, “I drew him out of the water.” Actually, ‘Moses’ in Hebrew is mosheh but the word translated ‘draw out’ is mashah. The words are not linguistically connected and it is rather a play on words.

Then we are suddenly brought to a time when Moses was already a grown man. Once on seeing an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, he killed the man and buried the body, hoping that he had not been seen.

Later he scolded two Hebrews who were fighting among themselves, telling them that was no way to win their freedom. They, however, turned on him and asked if he was going to kill them in the same way he had killed the Egyptian. Moses, aware that his secret was out and that it had even reached the Pharaoh’s ears, fled into hiding and stayed in the land of Midian. He becomes a fugitive from the law.

Later, Moses would indeed liberate his people but in a very different and unexpected way.

Let us today ask ourselves what mission we have been given by God as our contribution to building the Kingdom. And, if, like Moses, we are only too conscious of our shortcomings, let us remember that one of the greatest prophets of Israel was a man who had committed murder, even if that murder was in defence of fellow-Hebrews. God, unlike society, does not look at our past but at our present and future potential. He can transform us in order to make us transforming agents in the society and the church.