Insight started a new Adam Hamilton study on “Moses: The Reluctant Prophet.” One of the most important people to the Jewish faith, Moses is also a key figure to Christianity. He is mentioned more than 70 times in the New Testament. Hamilton believes that Moses’s reluctance to take up his call from God made Moses very human.
There are three basic theories about the existence of Moses. Minimalists see Moses’s story as similar to the Greek myths. Scholars who hold this view argue that it is not important whether Moses actually lived. Maximalists hold that the stories about Moses are factually accurate. Those who take a middle-ground approach believe that the stories are meant to convey something about ourselves. But they believe Moses did exist.
On Sunday, we started with the birth of Moses. He was born in Thebes (modern-day Luxor) and grew up there. Thebes was the center of Egypt, home to the pharoah, who was considered an intermediary between the gods and humanity. Facing an edict that all male Jewish babies be killed, Moses’s mother put him in a basket, which she placed in a river. The baby was found by Pharoah’s daughter and raised in the royal household.
Eighty years later, Moses and Pharoah (probably one of the Rameses) faced off over Egypt’s treatment of the Jews, setting in motion what would become the great Exodus.
Written by: Marie Price
