MOSES: The Analytical Melancholy

Over the next 4 weeks, we’ll be exploring the life and leadership of 4 Biblical characters. (Click HERE to find out more about this series.) This week, we’ll be concentrating on Moses, the Analytical Melancholy.

As many of you know, the Scriptural account of Moses is extensive to see the least. Not just in what God led Moses to write, but also in what was written about him. So in preparing this series, I wondered, how can I give adequate yet brief overview of Moses’ life?

Thankfully, we have a great snap-shot of Moses’ life and leadership in Acts 7. Here we read a part of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, recorded by Luke.

Acts 7:18-36

“Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.”

“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’”

“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.”

40 In Egypt, 40 In Midian & 40 In the Wilderness

So to recap Stephen’s excellent overview; Moses spent 40 years in Egypt with health and wealth, 40 years as a family man in Midian, then 40 years wandering the wilderness with hundreds of thousands of complaining people.

Seems like every 40 years (give or take a few), Moses’ life takes a drastic turn downhill on in the socio-economic realm. And yet, as we will see through out this week, God blesses his leadership with every new season of struggle.

CAN I GET YOUR FEEDBACK?

What common theme(s) do you see within Stephen’s overview of Moses’ life and leadership? What can we learn?

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