SEMESTER 3
437 – Moses’ Life and Death
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: BIBLE SURVEY III LESSON # 37
MOSES’ LIFE AND DEATH
Read Num. 20:1-13
, Deut. 34:1-8, Acts 7:18-31.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Moses is one of the best known characters in Scripture.
i. Because of the miracles experienced by and through him.
ii. Because of the common Hebrew view of him as the giver of the law.
2. The problems with a character about which much extraordinary history is available are these:
i. Sometimes supernatural accounts come to be thought of as super-stories, not fact.
ii. Often the miracle is noted, rather than the lesson in it.
iii. Thus, the colorfulness is noticed, and true study is neglected.
3. In this lesson, I want us to learn some simple facts about Moses.
I. HE WAS BORN FOR A PURPOSE
1. The tribe, parents, circumstances, etc., unto and into which he was born imply particular, eternal purpose.
2. The providential arrangements of his survival indicate the same.
i. The fact that his parents hid him.
ii. The divine leadership to build the ark of bulrushes.
iii. The divine arrangement for Pharaoh’s daughter to find him.
iv. The divine arrangement for Moses’; mother to raise him.
II. HE KNEW OF GOD’S PURPOSE
1. We may safely assume he learned of Christ through his mother. (Ex. 2:8-10)
2. We must conclude that Moses’s; choice of the reproach of Christ, was by grace. (Heb. 11:24-26)
3. No doubt his knowledge of God’s plan for him to lead Israel out was by direct revelation. (Acts 7:22-25)
4. The constraint to wait (Ex. 2:15) and the leadership as to when to do the job came through both experimental trial and divine revelation. (Ex. 3:1-4:17)
III. GOD’S PLAN FOR MOSES
We must not confuse the commands given to Moses and to the nation of Israel with God’s eternal purpose.
1. This confusion would precipitate several mistakes:
i. We would see the life of God’s prophet as a failure.
ii. We would conclude that Israel could have reached the Promised Land, through the law.
2. God’s plan for Moses, was that which is recorded.
i. He was to lead Israel out of Egypt.
ii. He was to be God’s vessel for giving the law.
iii. He was to lead them through the desert of human reason and effort, so that our futility in self might be realized.
iv. He was to die short of Canaan, so that we might know that the promise is not by law (through Moses), but by faith through Joshua. (Rom. 9:31-32)
IV. MOSES’ DEATH
1. The common story is that Moses died short of Canaan, because he smote the rock in anger.
2. Scripture rather reveals it was because he did not exercise faith. (Num. 20:12-13)
3. Moses was not to lead the people to victory in the land, this would be victory through the law.
4. He was to lead them through great victory and yet total defeat outside the land, that we might see self-hopelessness.
5. So when God was ready to lead them in, He released Moses from his burden and took him home.
6. Moses died in good health and in God’s time. Neither God nor Moses failed to accomplish what was set before him.
7. Moses’ ministry to Israel (in leading them out) began about 1444 B.C. He died about 1404 B.C.