Tag Archives: Pharoah

Great But Dented Series # 5

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Our focus this time around is Aaron, senior brother to Moses. We see also that undying love of the Lord outweighs the dent in the personality of a great man of God. No one is completely sinless out of all notable men and women of God except our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, this post should not be viewed as judgemental, rather it mirrors mankind as clay in the hand of the potter. The potter can mould any shape depending on his discretion. One common thread among these great people is that they do not set out to despise God.

Let us look at the life of Aaron who God appointed as spokesman to Moses who presented his speech defect to God. He was reluctant to take up the job of freeing the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. God honored his honest supplication and chose Aaron to be spokes person even though he was senior to Moses in age. Ex  7: 1-2 The Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharoah, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharoah to send the children of Israel out of his land.” Aaron was blessed along with his junior brother, Moses. Aaron’s rod was used in performing miracles. It turned into snake that swallowed Egyptian magician’s snakes. It was used to perform the plagues in Ex. 7:10 – 8:17. Aaron was so blessed that from him descended the class of priests in Israel Ex. 29: 9. He made an atonement that stopped a plague. His rod even though dry budded in showing the power of God vested in him.

Aaron’s most significant sin was the sheepish way he allowed the children of Israel to turn into idolatry without any words of restraint from him. When Moses went up to the mountain of God to receive the ten commandments, the children of Israel demanded to be given a god that they claimed led them out of Egypt. To them they did not know what had become of Moses and so they could not wait any longer. Aaron was clearly afraid of the faces of his hard-hearted co-travellers. Exodus 32: 1-5 They forgot the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob their fore-fathers. Having any other god other than the od of Israel was and still is the most abominable sin against Yahweh, their God. Aaron was also part of the conspiracy that eared Miriam leprosy as punishment. It was by virtue of his anointed priestly dress that he was not made a leper at least for a season. However, God forgave him from which we conclude that no mortal being is virtually free from committing sins, only unrepentant sinners like King Saul and Judas Iscariot will fail to benefit from God’s overwhelming grace and love. Aaron did neither rationalized his position nor justified why he did what he did with the children of Israel Exodus 32: 21-24

 

 

Great But Dented Series # 4

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This time around, our search light is on Moses the lawgiver, prophet and servant of God. The bible described him as the most humble of all mankind that ever lived. Moses was born at a time when oppression was at its climax from the Egyptians to the Hebrews. Ex, 1: 22  – 2: 22. At the same time, Pharoah gave a decree that all male Hebrew children should be killed. By divine providence Moses was spared and was even brought up in Pharoah’s palace as a son of the Princess. He was recognized as a Prince of Egypt but he identified with his oppressed people. In practical terms he had a soft spot for the Hebrews, to the extent that when an Egyptian task master was manhandling a Hebrew man, he was filled with great anger. He attacked the task-master. Moses jumped on the oppressor and killed him in the process.

This led to his fleeing to Midian where he stayed for forty years. Exodus 2: 15-25. He also had a rare privilege of God’s call, through the burning bush experience, to liberate the Israelites. Ex 3: 2-5 God endowed him to cause plagues to ravage the Egyptians because of Pharoah’s intransigence. The Hebrew free slave labor was not to be lost because it provided cheap source of their prosperity. Since God had hearkened to the cries of HIS chosen people, Moses loomed larger than the size of “the young prince of Egypt from the slave stock”. In other words, Moses became greater than Pharoah. His “Let my people go” was an irresistible order that the king was forced to obey. Ex. 7: 14 – 12: 30

He led the Israelites for 40 years on their way to the promised land. He was liaison between God and his Hebrew people for the supply of all their needs for water and food (manna from heaven and supply of quail birds for meat). However, in spite of his spirit filled personality, his readiness to die instead of the hard-hearted Hebrews and his extreme humility, that which is human in him made him to incur the wrath of God. The incessant provocation of his people turned his anger on. He broke the first two tablets of the ten commandments because after 40 days on Mt Sinai his people changed allegiance from God their deliverer to molten image which they made Aaron to craft for them. Ex. 32: 19 (NKJV) He disobeyed God’s instruction to stretch forth his rod rather than striking the rock. It got him on the wrong side of God and was unable to reach the promised land. He was made to see it and was asked to hand over to his apprentice Joshua who was having the necessary anointing for the onerous task ahead.