Abraham and Moses: Lessons from Two Great Heroes of Faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Heb 11:1-2 

The Old Testament Writer as merely a Reporter or Messenger of God

I know it is in David’s character that we famously meet him craving for his God ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks’, but I want to propose that even Abraham and Moses did so, though from reading their accounts in the Old Testament, one would never think so. There they are silent, and they don’t publish to the whole world the matters of their hearts as David famously did in his psalms. Therefore we are more conversant with the latter than we are with the rest of the Old Testament prophets, except perhaps Solomon. These two were not only kings in Israel, but even more important they were also poets and writers, and to be a poet, singer or writer is to be ‘a noise maker’, for by their nature they cannot be shut up! That is why governments all over the world hate them, and kill them.

But it wasn’t so for Abraham. Apparently he didn’t (in his tongue) possess ‘the pen of a ready writer.’ So in Old Testament Abraham is told to leave his father’s land by God… and he leaves. Likewise he is told to sacrifice his son and ‘automatically’ he obeys… thus we see him in a figure only, but we don’t really see his heart. That is left to the New Testament writers to shed light for us on those matters. And it is from them that we get glimpses of Abraham and Moses strong cravings for their God. In the Old Testament Moses is a reporter per excellence (as the writer of the Pentateuch) and as a good writer, he doesn’t let his feelings interfere with his reporting. Again it is the New Testament writers who go ‘behind the scene’ to reveal to us the state of Moses’ heart. Without them, Abraham and Moses should never have appeared to us as real humans, but as stock characters, allegories or archetypes.

 The Shadow and the Reality: The examples of Abraham and Moses as ‘called out’ Ones

It is essentially from Paul that we receive a hint of Abraham’s true heart, where, in six heavy words, he describes Abraham’s conflict as consisting of one ‘Who against hope believed in hope’. And so at last we learn that Abraham made a tough decision when he decided to leave Mesopotamia as God had commanded him for a new land. And isn’t that always the case, whether one is getting into ministry, or whether one is getting saved?

 

And so as the Old Testament writer reports about Abraham wandering in the vast Canaan country with his wealth of animals, the Hebrews writer knew what Abraham’s longing was for all along: ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God’ (Heb 11:10).  

 We are Strangers and Pilgrims in this World

It is especially in the book of Hebrews that the whole heart of Abraham is laid bare for us to see. For it is here that we see his great faith, his great vision, and his great patience, as it is written, ‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city’ (Heb 11:13-16).  And so as the Old Testament writer’s vision ended with The Promised Land, the New Testament writer saw something larger than that, he saw heaven, ‘To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you’ (1Pe 1:4).

Likewise Moses’ heart is opened fully for us only in the New Testament book of Hebrews as it is written: ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible’ (Heb 11:24-27). And so, at last, we comprehend how an enlightened man like Moses can be content for forty years to be a plain shepherd in a desolate desert, and not why he should be a prince in a Pharaoh’s palace in rich Egypt.

The happenings in this world do not seem to have had any hold on these prophets. Their whole life and business was about their God only. O that we should have such a burning passion for our missions in this life!

Is it possible for us in our modern age to embody the spirit of being merely sojourners and pilgrims here on this earth?

I think we can. For even in the New Testament that spirit of being citizens of heaven but strangers in this world is still clearly spelt.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Joh 15:19  

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Joh 17:14 

 

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Joh 17:15-16   

 

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. 1Jn 2:15-17  

In the End it is the Word of God which Counts

So, I ask myself, and you probably ask yourself, can we, in our modern era, exhibit such passion, such single mindedness, and such craving for our God as these two great prophets of God?

What distracts us?

Where do our fears come from?

May we be encouraged indeed, and God grant us the courage to imitate these prophets, or even more, to imitate Christ himself, the author and captain of our faith, now and forever more. Amen.