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What the Bible says about Moses as a Statesman
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Acts 7:22-23

Forty years had passed since Exodus 1, and Moses is now 40 years old. We do not know a great many specifics about his life, but there are a few historical tidbits that can be put together. From archaeological finds as well as some written histories, we know that Egypt was the greatest land of its day, the United States of America of that time.

Moses probably lived in the palace with his mother (Pharaoh's daughter), Pharaoh, and the rest of his family, for about 35 years. We can understand from this conjecture, that Moses had access to the cream of everything in Egypt. Being part of the Royal Family, if he rode out on a chariot, the people on the street bowed. He would have had the best. If Moses traveled down the Nile by barge, it was among the finest in Egypt.

When it came to education, he probably had the finest tutors available in the land. We know for sure, from written records, that they had a great university, in its time comparable in esteem to an Oxford or a Harvard today. He would have been instructed in astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, music, and art. The movie, The Ten Commandments, depicted this well. Undoubtedly, much of what he was taught was nothing more than sheer foolishness—just as much in our modern universities also teach a lot of foolishness. Nevertheless, the overall effect of what he learned filled him with knowledge and understanding that would stand him in good stead later.

In reading between the lines of Scripture, during his 35 years in the palace, Moses never really lost contact with the people of Israel and with his real family, even though Jochebed and Amram turned him over to Pharaoh's daughter. From time to time, he would have been able to visit with them. He would, then, have had access to the language, history, and expectations of Israel. His mind, to be used later by God, was being formed by being filled with knowledge.

Stephen says that he was "mighty in words and deeds." He became a statesman, representing Egypt to foreign peoples and leaders. Ancient historians say that he was a soldier. The years passed. But despite being prepared for high office in Egypt, the memories of his early childhood and his real parents—the knowledge that they were slaves and that his kinsmen were groaning in the brickyards—never left him.

A mind was being formed during those years. Please do not forget yourself in all of this. God has been dealing with us a great deal longer than our conversion, perhaps from our earliest years.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Conviction and Moses

Hebrews 11:24-26

The importance of Pharaoh's daughter comes to the fore because Egyptian royal succession went, not through the male line, but through the female line. This historical oddity derives from Egyptian mythology, in which Isis, the sister of Osiris, marries her brother, and from them descends the royal line. The Pharaohs continued this incestuous practice of the crown prince marrying the Pharaoh's firstborn daughter, and the prince's claim to legitimacy as the future Pharaoh, hinged on his marriage to her. Their son, in turn, would be the new crown prince, also known as "the son of Pharaoh's daughter."

This makes God's manipulation of events when Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the Nile very significant. He guided Moses' ark of bulrushes directly to the Egyptian kingmaker! As Pharaoh's daughter, it was in her power to name Moses as the next Pharaoh, because he was her son by adoption. She could say, "He was born of the Nile. He was a gift from the gods," and seal his legitimacy via his miraculous appearance to her.

Thus, Moses was in the position to rule all of Egypt. This makes his sacrifice of Hebrews 11:24, "refus[ing] to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," all the more remarkable. As Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth at the time, he gave up the world's premier position of authority to lead God's people—a nation of a few million slaves—to the Promised Land.

What do we know about Pharaoh's daughter? It is evident that she was a woman of great spunk, defying her father's—the Pharaoh's—command to kill all Hebrew male babies. Does Egyptian history have a crown princess like this? Yes, indeed. In fact, she had so much initiative, intelligence, cunning, and political acumen, that she became Pharaoh herself! Her name was Hatshepsut, and she is known as Egypt's greatest queen or female Pharaoh.

She was the firstborn daughter of Thutmose I and married her brother, Thutmose II, who did not live very long. However, he lived long enough to sire a crown prince, Thutmose III, by a concubine. Since Thutmose II died while Thutmose III was a young child, Hatshepsut was proclaimed regent until he should come of age. She, however, had other ideas. She did not surrender the throne for about twenty years, proclaiming herself Pharaoh in the meantime.

Hatshepsut's reign is known for its internal peace and increase in trade. Egypt made advancements in art, architecture, and the natural sciences while she ruled. She personally conducted wars in Nubia and Syria, even leading her troops into battle on at least one occasion. She also enjoyed the support of the religious powers of her time. Some historians say that her manner of governance is unrivaled in Egyptian history.

If she (or someone very like her, as there are chronological difficulties) was the Pharaoh's daughter who raised Moses, Acts 7:22 now becomes clearer: "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." Now we know how this could happen. Moses, as the son of a formidable Egyptian princess, had all the learning of Egypt at his disposal, and the wisdom of Egypt was unrivaled anciently (I Kings 4:30).

In his first forty years, Moses accomplished a great deal. The Jewish historian Josephus says that as its general, he led Egypt's army into Ethiopia, where he took an Ethiopian wife to secure peace with the Ethiopians rather than put them to the edge of the sword. As a prince, he received the best education available in governmental administration, arms, trade, religion, science, music, art, literature, architecture, and many other fields. In this way, God used the royal house of Egypt to prepare His chosen servant for the massive operation of leading stiff-necked Israel for forty years through the wilderness.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Moses, Prince of Egypt


 




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