Exodus 3:1-4 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
A goodly child:
When Moses was born his mother must’ve had a sense of God’s hand upon her because the word says, “she saw he was a goodly child”. Goodly means: pleasant, of a higher nature. In Heb 11:23 it says he was a proper child. Proper means: of the city; of polished manners. His parents hid him from Pharaoh for three months and then placed him in a basket boat and committed him to God.
God watched over Moses, either because of their prayers of because God had His calling upon Moses. The word gives indication that somewhere along the way Moses had knowledge that he was to be the deliverer of Israel from their bondage (Acts 7:25).
Moses’ training:
Moses’ early training was at the hand of his own mother Ex2:5-10). Moses was also schooled in all the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22). His third area of learning was tending sheep in the back side of the desert (Ex 3:1). Moses’ final area of learning was leading, guiding and instructing Israel in the wilderness after they escaped Egypt.
Moses’ character traits:
From the words used about him, Moses must have been an easy child to train and teach – he seemed to grasp what he was taught and not forget it.
Moses was a defender of the weak and down trodden (Ex 2:11-12, 15-17); he had a desire to uphold justice.
Moses was human like all of us and it appears that he may have resigned himself to tending sheep and not leading Israel out of Egypt after his first attempt – he made many excuses for not accepting God’s call (Ex 3:11ff). Moses made excuses about:
His social standing vs 11
His being believed vs 13; 4:1
His ability to speak before Pharaoh 4:10 (see Acts 7:22)
Moses apparently also balked at going along the way because it says the Lord’s anger was kindled against him and his wife delivered him by circumcising their son (Ex 4:24-25).
Moses was uncertain at times about God’s deliverance (Ex 5:22-23; 6:12), yet he had met God and he trusted His word (Ex 7:6).
Moses was very meek (Num 12:3).
Moses and God:
Moses’ had knowledge of God from his childhood (Acts 7:20). Nourished means: to bring up with the predominant idea of forming the mind. He was taught about God from a child and he also was taught that he was a Hebrew (Acts 7:23).
At Moses’ first encounter with God at the burning bush, he was taught about the power and holiness of God – the bush did not burn up; take off his shoes, staff became a snake; his hand became leprous.
Moses had a very intimate relationship with God (Ex 33:11; Deut 34:10). He spent forty days on the mount alone with God and his face shone because of his closeness to God (Ex 34:28-29)
God is no respecter of persons and when Moses sinned, God would not permit him to enter the Promised Land until after his death (Num 20:12; Deut 3:23-26)