Moses and HIS-tory?

Overview

How much do you know about Moses? Moses lived a very eventful and adventurous life! Moses was actually about 80 years old when he met God for the first time. He lived to be 120 years old! Did you know that we might actually know what Moses looked like as a young man?  

We know almost nothing about the first 40 years of Moses' life that he spent in Egypt being raised by a princess who may have become a Queen of Egypt. Pharaohs usually married their own sisters.  It was a common practice in Egypt for many years for the royal family to inter-marry.  But there are some things we can know or at least be fairly sure of: Moses most likely did not know Jehovah God while he lived in Egypt.  (He had to ask God who he was at the bush? - Ex. 3:13-14) Moses was raised as an Egyptian. So it's logical to conclude that Moses would have conducted himself as the Egyptians would have and had been taught about the Egyptians gods.  As an Egyptian, he had the same education and the same knowledge that they had. Probably the same palace drama and intrigue. The same desire for power. Surely every son of pharaoh (which for all intents and purposes Moses was) wanted to be Pharaoh himself. There is no reason to think that Moses did not desire this as well.   (40 years is a long time!) 

We are not told that he was raised with the knowledge that he was Hebrew. It is a possibility but that would be unlikely because he was raised in Pharaoh's household.  Pharaoh’s children, grandchildren or maybe close family would have had that privilege but definitely not slaves! He was 40 years old when he had to leave Egypt because he was in trouble for murder.

The Bible does not tell us all of the other events that happened during those 40 years. (We are not told much about the next 40 years either.) Moses is writing this all down and was probably not eager to share all of those details and God obviously did not command or inspire him to?  We just see Moses one day, at the age of 40 going out and seeing the suffering of his people. But why wait until you are 40 to see the suffering of your people? Maybe this is when he found out he was Hebrew?  We just can't be sure.  We have to be careful when studying the life of Moses to read God's word and not allow a movie by Cecil B Demille, (The Ten Commandments) or some other movie or book to shape the story for us!  We have the Bible and we have archaeology that may shed some light on Moses?

JUST SOME INTERESTING THOUGHTS:

Something interesting is there is some archaeological evidence that has been found in Egypt that may very well point to Moses!  There is no way to know for sure but it is worth a look.

This is the head from a statue of Amenmose. On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. There is a lot of debate on who this really is? In fact very little is known about this man. There are some Egyptian carvings and Hieroglyphics that have survived, but very little. It is as if someone tried their best to erase him from History!  That happened a lot in Egypt! The date of his birth is also debated.  1300’s bc? 1500’s bc?  When your erased from history it is hard to figure out?

He was most likley a general in the Egyptian Army at some point. But his brother was the rightful heir to the throne of a Pharaoh, (possibly Seti II). Or Seti could have been his brother? Sound confusing? That's what happens when Kings try to erase there predecessors names from history and take all the credit for themselves!  Amenmose was probably the son of a princess named Takhat. Again we are not sure. It seems no one wanted to claim him in their lineage. 

He was not next in line to become king and there is some confusion about who his father really was?  But, that crown on the head of his statue is the crown of a Pharaoh of Upper Egypt (where Goshen is located).  Some say he could have been the son of Rameses? Some say his father was a pharaoh called Merneptah?  And others - several other kings or people are suggested by some egyptologist.

There are some accusations which may or may not be true in Egyptian records.  It appears that Amenmose took power over at least the northern part of Egypt for 2 to 3 years and stirred up a lot of trouble while his half-brother was off with the army fighting in Asia (the middle east). It is possible that during this time the Pharaoh - their “father” died.  It was during this time that Amenmose makes himself the Pharaoh and had statues and other things made with the Pharaohs crown on his head. But his half-brother returns home and removed him from the throne. 

He did not have him killed because of it. It seems that he was forgiven or at least hid out to keep from being punished?  We can’t be sure. But eventually he is accused of killing the “Egyptian Chief Workman”. That is the Master Builder. A very high ranking official. Amenmose then disappears from the Egyptian records and is virtually lost to history until a tomb is found in the valley of the kings in Egypt. Tomb kv10. But, Amenmose was not inside!  2 female mummies and 1 male mummy were found in the tomb but not Amenmose! 

Even in Egyptology there are many disagreements about Amenmose - sometimes spelled Amenmessa. He is a shadowy figure in history. Some think  Amenmose is Moses and others say, someone made the character of Moses  up based on the life of Amenmose.  But I want to know how someone wrote  Exodus at a later date, as some critics claim and used a man for  inspiration for a character called Moses when Amenmose had been wiped  from history?  Who knew anything about him after he kills the Master  builder and had all traces of him erased? Chiseled off, buried, broken  and forgotten. 

TApplication

If this was Moses, he may have been erased from Egyptian history but God un-erased him 40 years later!!!  Whether this is the same man or not, Moses is worth a hard look! There is so much we can learn from his life! God uses him in spite of his past and all of his failings! Think about those 80 years before he saw the burning bush!  And now think about this: God never mentions Moses failures during those times! He never throws any of it back into Moses’ face!  When God forgives… HE FORGIVES! When God calls someone… HE SENDS THEM FORWARD! Never backwards! If you feel that shame or guilt, stop looking back!  Stop feeling guilty about your past! "But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:63). Be who God made you to be! Moses made some bad choices! But it did not thwart God’s plan to deliver Israel! It may have delayed it for a while? What if he hadn't committed that murder against the Egyptian?

We live under Grace!  We are FREE from the Law of Sin! "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). We are free from performance! We gain nothing toward salvation from our works! (Eph. 2:8-9) God gives us complete acceptance, therefore we no longer have to earn his acceptance by performing. Nor do we have to earn his love. He loved us before we loved him! (1 John 4:19) We are free from shame and guilt of the past!  When we are forgiven… WE ARE FORGIVEN! That’s Grace! That’s What Jesus did on the cross! "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). He took all of our sin, all of our guilt, all of our shame, all of our need to earn salvation and nailed it to the cross in his body. Think about that for a while!