The Greater Moses
In Matthew’s Gospel account, the life, and the deeds of Jesus echo key events in the history of Israel. Not that he reenacts them, but he brings what God began in the past to its intended fulfillment in the Kingdom of God. The Nazarene is the Greater Lawgiver foreshadowed in the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. By presenting parallels between Moses and Jesus, Matthew sets the stage for the teachings of the “Coming One,” especially as represented in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’.
Moses delivered the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai.
Likewise, on the “mount,” Jesus pronounces his definitive
interpretations of the “Law and the Prophets.”
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[Photo by Adrian Jakob on Unsplash] |
After the “wise men” told King Herod of their intent to find the one “born king of the Jews,” he asked them to inform him when they found the child so that he, also, could pay homage to him. But the “wise men” were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, for he intended to kill the child – (Matthew 2:1-12).
OUT OF EGYPT
Similarly, at the time Moses was born, the
“king of Egypt” ordered the “Hebrew midwives” to kill all male
infants when they were born. But they “feared God and did not as the king of Egypt
commanded them” - (Exodus 1:17).
In Matthew,
an angel warned Joseph to take the infant to Egypt, “for Herod will seek to destroy the child.” And
that is exactly what the king did when he ordered the slaughter of all the males
under the age of two in the village of Bethlehem.
Joseph
and his family remained in Egypt until Herod died in fulfillment of the
prophecy in the Book of Hosea, originally, a passage applied to Israel that
referred to the nation’s deliverance from Egypt - “Out of Egypt, I called my son” - (Hosea 11:1,
Matthew 2:13-16).
Likewise,
Moses fled Egypt because Pharaoh sought to slay him, and he remained in Midian
until Pharaoh died. Only then did Yahweh “hear the groanings of the children
of Israel and remember his covenant with Abraham” and send Moses back to
Egypt to deliver Israel - (Exodus 2:15-25, 3:14).
After his
baptism in the Jordan River by John, the “Spirit led Jesus into the
wilderness to be tested by the Devil.” And the temptation as recorded in Matthew
echoes the tests that Israel faced in the wilderness, only she failed each test
whereas he overcame them all - (Matthew 4:1-11).
THE WILDERNESS
In the
wilderness, the Israelites complained that they missed the “fleshpots of
Egypt.” God responded by sending them “manna” to eat, though many came
to despise it. Years later, Moses reminded the nation how God “fed you with
manna…that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by
everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh,” the very
passage Jesus quoted to Satan in the wilderness - (Exodus 16:3, Deuteronomy
8:3).
At Massah,
the Israelites grumbled about the lack of drinkable water, and in so doing, they
“tempted Yahweh.” Before entering Canaan, Moses reminded them of the
incident when he warned Israel not “to tempt Yahweh your God, as you
tempted him in Massah.”
In the wilderness of
Judea, Jesus cited the same passage from Deuteronomy when Satan
challenged him to throw himself down from the “pinnacle of the Temple” -
(Exodus 17:1-7, Deuteronomy 6:16). Moreover, when the Devil offered
Jesus political power, he responded by again citing the words of Moses issued
to Israel:
- “Beware lest you forget Yahweh who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt. You shall fear Yahweh your God, and you shall serve him” - (Deuteronomy 6:12-13).
After the
temptation, Jesus returned to Galilee where he began to proclaim the Gospel.
Consequently, “great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem and Judea” started to follow
him - (Matthew 4:18-25).
The
geographic names indicate that the crowds were comprised of Gentiles and Jews.
In the same passage, Galilee is referred to as “Galilee of the nations,”
and in the first century, it was populated by Jews and Gentiles. “Decapolis”
refers to the confederation of ten cities with largely Greek-speaking non-Jewish
populations to the east of Galilee.
Matthew’s
description of the “multitudes” is reminiscent of the “mixed
multitude” that “came up with the children of Israel” when God
brought them out of Egypt “with a high hand…and with signs and with wonders.”
So, also,
many members of the “multitude” in Galilee that followed Jesus were
attracted by his miraculous healings and exorcisms rather than by his teachings
and summons to repentance and discipleship – (Exodus 12:38, Deuteronomy 26:8).
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
The
background from Exodus and Deuteronomy prepares the reader for
the first major block of Christ’s teachings. In Chapter 5, after “seeing the
multitudes,” Jesus led his disciples “up into the mountain,” and
there, he sat down and began to teach.
The Greek
text uses the definite article or “the” with “mountain.” It was “THE
mountain.” However, the text does not name it or provide any information
about its identity. Instead, it includes a verbal allusion to the story of
Moses when he “ascended onto the mount” at Sinai.
Matthew wants us to hear these parallels with Moses. While Israel was encamped on the plain, Moses “went up to Yahweh” on the mount and received the “ten words” inscribed on the stone tablets.
In the Greek Septuagint
version of Exodus, Moses “ascended unto the mount” (anebé eis
to oros). The same precise clause is found in the Greek text of Matthew
describing how Jesus “ascended unto the mount” (anebé eis to oros).
This is not coincidental.
Moses also set “bounds
for the people” around
the mountain to prevent the Israelites from even approaching it so none would “go up into the mount” as he
had done, and anyone who even touched it would “surely be put to death” -
(Exodus 12:12-25).
When he ascended the mountain again to enter the presence
of Yahweh, only Aaron went with him. Not even the sanctified priests were
allowed on the mountain – “Let
not the priests and the people break through to ascend
up unto Yahweh, lest he break forth upon them.”
Thus, having ascended the “mount” as Moses did,
Jesus taught the words of God to his closest disciples. But unlike Moses, he gave
the definitive interpretation of the Law and the will of his Father.
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