Exodus 2:10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s
daughter and he became her son. And she
named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
There is
some misunderstanding within the Christian community (and potentially other
faiths) with regard to how or why Moses got his name. I know this sounds like a really boring
reason to blog but please stay with me because I think you will see that the
truth behind it reveals something really incredible and Marvel comic awesome
about God and His intentions for Moses.
Give me at least a few paragraphs before you move on… Of course now that you are committed, I have
decided to do the rest of the blog in one solid paragraph.
Most of
the confusion comes from the verse in Exodus itself. Not that the verse causes confusion but it
was originally written in Hebrew and we miss some of the subtlety now that Moses' name has been transliterated through Latin and then to English. I won’t go into all the details (because that
part is pretty boring) but suffice it to say that the name “Moses” does not
mean “to draw out of the water” like the verse seems to say, but the Egyptian
name “Mosheh” (Moses) sounds like the Hebrew word “mashah” which means “to draw
out.” It would be like if I named my son
“Juan” because he was my first child… get it? My first Juan? As in, my second child would be named “Tu?” Nevermind.
Anyway, Moses’ name sounds like a Hebrew word that means “to draw out”
but it does not actually mean "to draw out" because his name is not a Hebrew name. His name is an Egyptian name. So what does “Moses” mean in Egyptian? I am glad you asked.
In the
Egyptian language, “Moses” means “is born.”
As simple as that. Moses= is
born. So why is that significant? Wow, you are asking great questions
today. That is significant because among
the pharaohs they would often name themselves and their children using “moses”
as a suffix. Perhaps you have heard of
Rameses? Knowing what you know
now about the Egyptian language can you figure out what his name means? Rameses means “Ra” (Egyptians god of
the sun) “is born.” “Thutmose”
means “Thoth” (Egyptian god of wisdom) “is born.” “Ahmoses” means “Iah” (Egyptian moon
god) “is born.” So Moses is just the
suffix of a name. Poor Moses, he never
got the rest of his name. Can you imagine your name just being "is born?" It would be like someone's favorite color being manila. He was only
ever half named; that must be why he had such temper. But God loves naming things, so it would seem
very fit that He Himself would give Moses a name or at the very least change
Moses’ name so that he didn’t have to go all over the desert with this sorry Egyptian label. Kids would probably pick on him
and stuff. Well maybe God did give him a
new name and we just missed it. As
promised, this is where it gets interesting.
In Exodus
3:13-14 God is speaking to Moses at the burning bush and discussing all
that this mission entails. Moses, ever
questioning, says he is worried because as he goes to the sons of Israel and
tells them that the God of their fathers sent him, they are likely to ask, “What
is His name?” God never flinches
and tells Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” It is from these words “I AM” that the Hebrew
people constructed the name of God now pronounced Yahweh. Did you see what just happened there? God just gave Moses a new name. He filled in the blank for Moses and gave a
prefix to his suffix. Did you miss
it? And it is important that God changed
it just as He was commissioning Moses to go and set His people free from the
Egyptian pharaohs and all of their gods.
Let me help you out with it if you are still not able to see it.
From
now on, whenever Moses was asked his name he would reply, “I AM Moses.” God filled in his little blank and put His
own covenant making name in there. He is
not “Ra”moses, or “Thut”moses, but rather he is “Yahweh”moses and more powerful
than any Egyptian pharaoh or their made up gods. Kids won’t be making fun of him now! All of this and he is only a type of the
Messiah to come. The Messiah will be the
true Moses because in Him the full meaning of “I AM Moses” becomes “Yahweh is
born.” Read that last line one more time
just in case you missed it. I told you it
would be worth it if you hung on for a minute!
So whenever you go out there and no matter what opposing force you stand
before, when they say “Who are you?” You
put your hands on your hips, puff out your chest and belt out “I AM Franklin!” Or “I AM Lucy!” and watch the cohorts draw
back and fall to the ground just as they did when Jesus invoked the same name
before He allowed them to put Him on the cross (John 18:4-6). Even if your name is Ruchibard you have a
fabulous banner if only you say boldly, “I AM Ruchibard!” Go get’em today Ruchibard, you serve an
awesome God, and He gave you a name.
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