Hebrews 11:24

Hebrews 11:24

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

a. refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

1. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years…”

a. [Amplified Bible] Aroused by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great,

b. come [1096 * ginomai] [Thayer: to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be.]

c. to years [3173 * megas] [Thayer: great, of the external form or sensible appearance of things (or of persons), predicated of rank, as belonging to persons, eminent for ability, virtue, authority, power, things esteemed highly for their importance: of great moment, of great weight, importance.]

1). Most translations focus on the physical growing up in their rendering, but I believe it involves more than just physically growing up and coming to maturity. Moses was highly educated in Egypt.

a). Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

b). In his Old Testament Through the Bible Series, Gordon Lindsay writes in Volume 9,

“The wisdom of the Egyptians included knowledge of the sciences, much of which was afterwards lost until comparatively recent times. Writing (hieroglyphics), arithmetic, and geometry were known. Surveying was a well developed and necessary art, since the annual inundations of the Nile obliterated all boundary marks. Engineering had reached a high state of efficiency. The Great Pyramid reveals an amazing knowledge of its builders in the science of astronomy, geometry, and agriculture. As for astronomy, the Egyptians used a year of 365 days, and employed ingenious means to keep the calendar in step with the seasons. These people also had considerable knowledge of chemistry. The present state of preservation of their mummies attests to a remarkable proficiency in the embalming art. The Egyptians mined and worked such metals as iron and copper. A variety of musical instruments had been developed, and music held a prominent place in Egyptian worship.”

d. Flavius Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, writes that Moses was perceived from his earliest years by the Egyptians to being the one who would bring down Egypt.

1). “MOSES, therefore, when he was born, and brought up in the foregoing manner, and came to the age of maturity, made his virtue manifest to the Egyptians; and showed that he was born for the bringing them down, and raising the Israelites.” Josephus, Book II, Chapter 10, Paragraph 1.

2). Scripture does indicate that Moses before he was forty had an understanding that he was going to be the one to deliver them.

a). Acts 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

e. Josephus also writes that Moses was appointed to be the leader of the Egyptian military in order to rescue the nation from the invasion of the Ethiopians. Josephus, Book II, Chapter 10, Paragraph 1 & 2. Though Scripture does not back up this account, it is possible that these deeds or some similar were the ones spoken on in Acts 7:22, in speaking that Moses “was mighty in words and deeds.”

2. “…refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter.”

a. refused [720 * arnemai] [Thayer: to deny,

to deny someone, to deny one's self, to disregard his own interests or to prove false to himself, act entirely unlike himself, to deny, abnegate, abjure, not to accept, to reject, to refuse something offered.]

b. called [3004 * lego] [Thayer: to say, to speak, affirm over, maintain, to teach, to call by name, to call, name, to exhort, advise, to command, direct, to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say, to speak out, speak of, mention.]

c. son [5207 * huios] [Thayer: a son, generally used of the offspring of men.]

d. Pharoah’s [5328 * Pharao] [Thayer: Pharaoh = "his nakedness", was a common title of the native kings of Egypt.]

e. daughter [2364 * thygater] [Thayer: a daughter, a female descendant.]

f. The phrase “refused to be called” definitely is strong language and declares that Moses wanted nothing to do with Egyptian identity. This refusal occurred when Moses had grown up in every way. In Acts and in Exodus there are a couple of verses that no doubt fits into this time period.

1). Acts 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

2). Exodus 2:11 “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens…”

3). Here we see Moses at age forty identifying with being a Jew, not only in the Old Testament but also in the New. There is Rabbinic teaching in the Chumash that perhaps is the foundation for the wording in Hebrews 11:24.

a). “Moses had been raised in the splendor and anti-Semitism of the palace, but he remained the son of Amram and Jochebed. Though his mother had had him for only the earliest years of his life, she succeeded so well in imbuing him with love of and loyalty to his people, that despit his royal upbringing, he did not become an Egyptian prince, but remained a Jew. As he matured, he displayed the compassion for the downtrodden that stamped him as the future redeemer of Israel.” Chumash, p. 298, Note for verses 11-15.

g. The analogy I want to present is that we as believers in Christ should refuse to be called children of this world because of its corruptive tendencies.

1). Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

2). 1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

3). John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.