Context Study: Why Did God Choose Moses?

Ask: What do you remember about Moses’ life before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt? List responses on the board. (He was the child of Israelite slaves in Egypt; his mother placed him in a basket and set him in Nile river where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him in the palace; as an adult, when Moses killed an Egyptian for beating an Israelite slave; Moses then fled to Midian where he married a Midianite woman; Moses worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro.) Ask: What do you remember about Moses’ life during the years he led Israel? Add these responses to the list on the board (which should include: Moses had a severe stutter; Moses put his staff in the water for God to part the Red Sea; Moses governed the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness; God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the instructions for the Tabernacle; God did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land.)

Invite learners to review the list on the board and identify things that made Moses a good choice to be God’s representative. Circle those identified in blue. Invite learners to identify things that you believe hindered Moses ability to be God’s representative. Draw a single line through these in red (make sure they can still be read).

Share that Jewish rabbi Benyamin Cohen believes these things made Moses a good choice:

• Scripture recorded three times when Moses showed deep concern for others: (1) He intervened when he saw an Egyptian beating a Jewish slave (Exo. 2:11); (2) He mediated an argument between two Jews (Exo. 2:13); and (3) He settled a dispute between two non-Jewish groups in Midian (Exo. 2:17). In each case, Moses had stepped in when he witnessed unfair treatment.
• Moses stuttered and spoke with a lisp, so it was difficult for him to speak and teach.
• Moses was an excellent scribe—patient and attentive to the details God gave him in the Ten Commandments, in building the Tabernacle, and in recording the Torah (Jewish history in the first five books of the Bible).
  [Adapted from On Moses by Benyamin Cohen.]

Discuss:

• What did God use to His advantage that we might have used to “disqualify” Moses? (Through Moses had killed a man, God used his concern for people; though Moses was not a charismatic speaker, God used him to speak on His behalf to both Egyptians and Israelites.)
• What do you think God saw in Moses that we failed to see? (Moses cared about people, he was patient and detail oriented, he depended on God instead of himself.)
• What does God’s choice of Moses tell you about God? (God’s wisdom sees what we don’t see; God’s power is so great that He can use us in spite of our imperfections; God knew that He would be ever-present with Moses and the people, so they would need nothing else.)