Leadership: Moses as a Leader – SS2 Christian Religious Studies Lesson Note (First Term)

MOSES AS A LEADER Exodus 1, 2, 3, 4:1-17

The birth and call of Moses

After the death of Joseph in Egypt, a new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph arose.  He was exceedingly afraid of the increase in the population of the Israelites in the land of Egypt.  The king therefore devised obnoxious ways of dealing with them.  He made the Israelites serve with rigour and bitterness.  As if this was not enough, he instructed the midwives to kill their sons at birthstool.  The midwives feared God and did not hearken to this instruction.  He, therefore, commanded his people that every son born to the Israelites should be cast into the river Nile.

 It was at this critical period that Moses was born to a couple from the tribe of Levi.  His father’s name was Amiram, and his mother Jocebed.  When Moses was born, his mother tried to hide him for three months, but when she could no longer hide him, she made a basket of bulrushes daubed with a bitumen pitch before she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river bank.  Pharaoh’s daughter and her maidens came to wash themselves at the river, she saw the child pick him up and adopt him as her son.  Miriam, Moses’ sister who was watching close by, called a nurse for her i.e. her mother to nurse the child for her.  Moses was therefore nursed by his mother and afterwards was returned to the palace.

Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh but was conscious of the fact that he was a Hebrew and he hated the wicked treatment of his people by the Egyptians.  This made him kill an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew.  He wanted to settle a quarrel between two Hebrews, having discovered that his sin was known; he fled to Midian and was taken care of by the priest of Midian (Jethro) and his seven daughters. He married Zipporah, one of the daughters of Jethro, they had a son and named him ‘’Gershom’’, meaning ‘I have been a sojourner in a strange land’.  

 Moses had an encounter with God when he was keeping the flocks of Jethro on Mount Horeb.  He saw a bush burning but it was not completely consumed.  God spoke to him and commanded him to go and rescue the Israelites from the hands of their taskmasters.  He was reluctant initially, but God promised to be with him.  Eventually, he went.

  The leading of the Israelites by Moses

God told Moses that he would harden the heart of Pharaoh so that he would not allow the children of Israel to go.  After the series of plagues, Pharaoh eventually allowed the Israelites to go.  As soon as he let them go, he pursued them again because God had hardened his heart.  The children of Israel were faced with crossing the Red Sea before them and the Egyptians behind them.  God commanded Moses to stretch forth his rod towards the water which he did, and the water parted right and left.  They walked on dry ground.  After they had crossed, God told Moses to stretch out the rod again; this time the water covered up with the Egyptians drowning in it.

 Moses’ quality as a leader

Moses was a very Patriotic nationalist who rendered selfless services to his people.

All that mattered to him was the interest of his people and not his interest.    

Twice, God threatened to wipe the Israelites out and make a great nation of the descendants of Moses, but he refused this and interceded for the people.

He was courageous in facing the challenges of Pharaoh.

He was very obedient and had strong faith in the God he was serving.

 Lessons to learn

1. Like Moses, Christians should demonstrate a high sense of patriotism and render selfless service whenever they are called upon to lead people.
2. As Christians, we should respect fear and depend on God to guide us in all our ways.