Thoughts on Identity and Moses

The other evening, I watched part of The Prince of Egypt with my girls.  (I wouldn't advise it, there's some gory/tense stuff in there for little children.)  The movie gets a lot of stuff wrong, some things they are just adding in holes to make a story but there are other events that are different than what God put in the Bible.  A few things struck me about the story as I was watching, and I decided that since it had been a while since I had personally read Moses' story in the Bible, that I should go back and do that.

[As a disclaimer here, I'm not sure when it's correct to say 'Israelite' vs. 'Hebrew', so I use them interchangably because I way the word Israelite rolls off the tongue and I love the emotions the word Hebrew evokes.  But sorry to all you Bible scholars out there if I totally botch the uses.]

Moses was floated in a basket on the river when he was three months old.  But, after he was found he was actually raised until weaned by his biological mother.  This could have been until 2-3 years old.  He would have learned the Hebrew language, he would have learned about their God, he would have known a little about the Israelite world view.  He would have played with his sibling, Miriam and Aaron.  He would have very much missed his mother after moving into the Palace and becoming the Princess's son.

While he would have known that he was an Israelite,  their culture was vastly contrasted with his now.  In the movie, Moses identified as royalty (His brother (in the movie) was considered a 'god' once he became pharaoh.).  That seems logical, but the Bible is silent on this.  He would have lived as part of the royal family much longer than he had lived as an Israelite.  Moses seemingly quickly became empathetic to his people.  In the Bible, the verse after Moses gets named by his new mother is, "One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw how hard they worked.  He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people," (Exodus 2:11 NLV)  He killed an egyptian slave driver to defend that Hebrew brother in the next verse.  It seems to me that his identity at this point lay in his Hebrew heritage, despite the wealth and royalty he grew up with.

In the movie, Moses' brother is by now Pharaoh and begs him to stay.  In the Bible, Pharaoh tries to kill Moses for this little murder mishap, and that's when Moses ran.  What turmoil he must have been in.  The apex of the identity he grew up with- egyptian, was trying to kill him, for defending someone that Moses identified with only through his heritage. (Okay, I botched that sentence, but I think you get what I mean here...if I had an editor it'd come out much more succinctly.)

The Bible says nothing about what Moses knew about God up until the burning bush.  Surely before he was weaned, he was taught that he was part of the Chosen Ones of God.  Did his princess mother continue to teach him at all about the Israelite God?  I don't see why she would.

When he ran, it appears that he still knew next to nothing about the Israelite culture or God.

In the desert, Moses hides from his sin by throwing himself into an identity that was hated by many Egyptians- shepherding.  He married into the Midianite people group in the desert.  Moses' identity had switched to shepherd; was he trying to forget about the Israelites, or was he just running from punishment??

Then, God introduced himself.  In the Bible, it makes it sound like Moses just thought the burning bush was cool, so he stopped to look at it.  Then God talks to Moses about the Hebrews.  I think that a really telling question that Moses asks is, "See, I am going to the people of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they might say to me, 'What is His name?' What should I say to them?"  (Exodus 3:13 NLV)  Moses didn't REALLY get it.  This is such an innocent question, and God answers, of course, in a mind-blowing way by identifying himself as I AM.  Later, he calls Israel his first-born.  How's that for a solid identity handed to you by God?

Moses knows that he is an outsider, even though he was born Hebrew.  He doesn't say anything about this juxtaposition of having to lead to freedom the people that his adopted family oppressed for 400 years, but God seems to address it anyway.  "They will listen to what you say.  Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt..." (Exodus 3:18 NLV)  I wonder if Moses took comfort in  those words?  And what about what God says about taking precious metals and clothing from the egyptians? (Exodus 3:22) How's that for empowerment, validation, and reassurance that He will provide for his people? 

When Moses returned to Egypt on his mission, how did the Hebrews view him?  God said that they would accept Moses and that the leaders would join him in addressing Pharaoh, but man that had to be a tense first meeting!  They knew that he was a wanted man for killing an egyptian to defend one of their own, but they didn't REALLY know him.  They didn't know his intentions.  I would assume that they either saw him as an egyptian or as a disgusting shepherd, but certainly not an Israelite.  But at this point, he identified as a Hebrew by religion and a shepherd by trade, even though he still knew nothing about the Hebrew culture.  I mean, this dude was a third culture individual if there ever was one, right?

At this point, though, did he know more about the Hebrew God than the enslaved Hebrews did?  They had been enslaved for 400 years- had the verbally passed down the stories of God?  Had they lost hope and reverence?

Moses coming and asking for their release made life temporarily worse for the Hebrews. (Exodus 5:16) What did they think about him trying to get them free?  What did they think about the consequences in their lives of that tiny request of Pharaoh?  Where did he live during this time?  As an Egyptian, as a shepherd outside the city? As a Hebrew (did he actually work with them in slavery during this time?)?  What did they feel about him as he achieved freedom for them and physically led them out of Egypt.  And then after they crossed the Red Sea?

By the time Moses crossed the Red Sea, surely everyone was on the same page as far as Moses' identity.

Maybe another time I will reflect on the evolving Israelites' identity of themselves from freedom to Canaan.  But not now, my head hurts :)