One of the most famous Laborers in the Bible would be ... Moses.
Moses is Historically seen in "The Letters of Two Brothers" surrounding Pharaoh Seti II and Salt Papyrus 124 in the 1200s BC.
A friend one time said, it was a shame that Moses did not get to lead the Children of Israel into the Promised Land. Maybe, but the Exodus is really a Work of the Lord.
Noah is famous for launching a dove onto the waters to see if the Dove could find the promised land. Moses also 'winged' it. Even with God.
Exodus 15
9 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
25 And he cried to the Lord
Moses was not singing,
"I had the Time of My Life,"
during a lot of the Exodus journey.
If you are your friends and family
have never have seen
"The Ten Commandments" movie
it is
EPIC
in the Epic sense of the word.
Why?
Charlton Heston is
the exact duplicate
of
Michelangelo's Moses, 1515 AD
for
the tomb of Pope Julius II.
Astonishing.
Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 epic, The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses. However, DeMille also directed an earlier, silent 1923 version that included a prologue about Moses before shifting to a modern-day story.
By the end of the 40 years,
The Lord and Moses had an understanding about Retirement.
Moses had beaten a stone angrily when he was supposed to be displaying another Act of God. And Moses had complained about the unruly Children of Israel numerous times and for many decades. The very same unruly Children of God called God's Chosen People. The Salvation in the Exodus was for His compassion and mercy upon the people who knew nothing but harsh slavery. And perhaps, they would not have felt joy in freedom without sincerely wishing for freedom.
Making the Exodus a great topic of discussion for Labor Day.
Biblical Account of the Numbers
Exodus 12:37:
"The people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.".
Numbers 1:
A total of 603,550 men aged 20 and older, who were able to go to war.
This "men on foot" figure is often used to estimate a total population of 2-3 million, including women, children, and others.
Another friend of mine, once said studying the Exodus made her feel unusually uncomfortable in Bible Study. Seeing the conditions of the Exodus, she felt she would have been complaining and unruly as well! Making us all feel a joy in being the People of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, Savior.
It's Labor Day, so let's look at Moses and his retirement.
We will look at the Scriptures and make some guesses.
Retirement day arrived...
Mount Nebo, Jordan. Moses watched the Children of Israel go forth into Israel and Jericho.
Mount Nebo is on the east side of the Jordan River, in the country of Jordan. Mount Nebo is graced with a panoramic view across the Jordan Valley and is visible on a clear day from the summit.
Proverbs 12:10
A righteous man takes care of his animal, but the wicked.
Even his compassion is cruel.
Good people are kind to their animals, but a mean person is cruel.
We tend to let the end of Moses' journey hang loosely.
Bible Studies suppose Moses watched the Promise Land unfold for the Children of Israel, dug his own grave and waited to die. This seems less than Gracious of God.
When we look at the History of Moses, he was 80 years old and climbing Mountains to see if the sheep were being cared for as he saw a fire on the Mountain. The fire was not moving, but a fire sweeping down the mountain to his sheep would be a terrible trauma. Moses risked the fire to see why it wasn't on the move. And Moses began to know God very well.
It's highly doubtful God let Moses rot. When Moses met God the first day. God showed Moses he could display his arm as filled with Leprosy. I always get a smile out of this. OH, Great. OH, Lord. And the Scriptures go on to say Moses never did want to show his adopted brother, The Pharaoh of Egypt, his plague riddled body. So the Lord, graciously, did not want Moses to have this Burden. And we would all have to say Go God, to this undisplayed plague and unangered Lord God.
So, whatcha really think? God said ok, dig the grave and wave goodbye?
And no gold watch.
I highly doubt this. If anything, Moses was eventually going like Elijah. Remember with me, Moses was seen again. Yes, Moses was seen again. Once again, on the 4th Mountain of Moses, this is the Transfiguration with Jesus Christ. Moses seems to like Mountains. And if you'd been left to dig your own grave and go that way, you might not like Mountains all that much in the future. Agreed.
1. Mountains of Horeb, the bush not consumed by fire.
2. Mount Sinai, The Covenant, 10 Commandments of God.
3. Mount Nibo, beautiful view of the Promised Land, Moses is retired by God.
4. Transfiguration.
Mount Nebo looks very lovely.
Especially compared to the Mount Sinai Desert Mountain, probably the place of the Covenant Mountain. And better than the Mountains of Horeb, where Moses lived with his priest father-in-law and wife. Was Moses left alone? We certainly do not know. We know Moses' family returned to him. Miram's death was recorded. Aaron's death is recorded in the 40th year. Not Recorded: The deaths of Moses, Zipporah, Moses' sons and his second wife. The death of Moses' 2 wives, Zipporah and the one Zipporah arranged with a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman are not recorded.
This could say Moses was not alone, or suggest strongly.
Moses may have witnessed Joshua and The Lord making the Jordan River part, to leave Jericho as they were told. From the summit and with a miracle.
And also interesting, we know Moses knew how to explore.
He found Midian, Zipporah and Jethro. And he made his way through a killer desert many times.
This is what I am suggesting:
"God buries His workmen but carries on His work"
God would eventually bury His workman, Moses.
However, Moses had time to carry on His Work.
Moses continued on. Not indefinitely, but saw more of God's Good Creation.
People of the area were taken with the Exodus and Moses.
Jordan has an wonderous and amazing River named Wadi Moses. Very Dynamic.
Petra, Jordan did not look like The Treasury building we think of today.
Now, the photo is useful! At the very right, we see a man to the right of the Treasury building. And then notice, at the entrance, 2 people in front of the incredibly massive doorway. Next, see the brown curtains style framing the photo. These incredible cliffs and narrow river walk way is actually... Wadi Moses. The River of Moses.
Wadi Moses in Jordan
is not
on almost 100% of every route of the Exodus.
Remember,
The Scriptures
give
details
about
The Exodus,
their ongoing source of
water
This is completely similar, the dramatic path into Petra.
The Story of Moses in the Exodus.
Risky and completely captivating.
And the life taking Wadi Moses, even today, this steals lives of tourists.
A sudden rain makes no escape, but drowning should the rain be over an hour. Wadi Moses is a place of intense landscaping, Towering, towering cliffs with a shape looking carved by a master hand. No escape, if sudden weather changes.
The tourists are asked to go by camel if the weather should look like a flash flood. The canyon formed by Wadi Moses is just under a mile. And, yet, precautions are made.
What was Petra, Jordan in the time of Moses?
This period aligns with the Biblical Iron Age, c. 1200
The Edomites began consolidating power after the collapse of major Bronze Age empires like the Egyptians. Yes, Moses would have known about this.
Petra, Jordan
likely looked like based on archaeological findings, historical context, and biblical references, while noting the limitations of evidence from this era:
A Dramatic Desert Fortress
Petra's geography has remained, largely, unchanged since antiquity,
providing a natural wonder dominating 12th-century BC Petra.
The Atlantis quality of 1200s BC, was not the intricately carved rock buildings. Petra was created by nature forging a fortress, and their ability to store water. The cliffs made excellent houses for ponds covered by basic house type buildings. This location was strategically located along vital caravan routes. And became not just a place to find water in a very dry area, but spices and incense. It is a fort. It is secure and has a defensible position due to Wadi Moses. Exactly like Moses and the wars he fought with the 602,000 boots on the ground. And the unlikeliness of a victory, yet victory. This water innovation was a system and supported many miles of population and travelers.
A Strategic Stopping Point
along early trade routes
from Arabia to the Mediterranean.
Habitation was limited and utilitarian.
The 7,000-year history of Petra. Some cliff dwelling. Hut building, not the fame of Petra today, a different fame of arriving through Wadi Moses.
Rugged Sandstone Cliffs and Canyons:
The city sits in a basin surrounded by towering red, purple, and yellow-veined sandstone mountains, part of the Arabah Valley extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.
Wadi Moses
The most famous feature,
A narrow, 1.2 km-long gorge (3–12 meters wide and up to 80 meters high)—
a natural pathway formed by tectonic activity and erosion.
In the 12th century BC, this would have appeared as a dramatic, shadowy chasm, but not yet engineered with the Nabataean famous channels visible today.
Bringing us some Labor Day Scripture
Deuteronomy 28:1
If you fully obey
The Lord
your God
and
carefully follow
all
His Commands
I give you today,
The Lord your God
will
set you high
above
all
the nations
on earth.
Deuteronomy 28:1
If you fully obey
The Lord
your God
and
carefully follow
all
His Commands
I give you today,
The Lord your God
will
set you high
above
all
the nations
on earth.
Mount Nebo:
2 Maccabees 2:4-62
One finds in the records that the prophet Jeremiah ordered those who were being deported to take some of the fire, as has been mentioned, 2 and that the prophet, after giving them the law, instructed those who were being deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord, or to be led astray in their thoughts on seeing the gold and silver statues and their adornment. 3 And with other similar words he exhorted them that
the law
should not
depart from their hearts.
4 It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him,
4 It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him,
and
that
he went out to the mountain
where Moses
had gone up
and
had seen the inheritance of God.
5 Jeremiah came and found a cave-dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the way, but could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. 8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place
should be specially consecrated.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD
ALL
the earth!
Matthew 22:37
Jesus declared,
“‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and
with all your soul and with all your mind.’ "
Abba, Father,
We are blessed to pray
for more of Your Good Will
on earth
as it is in Heaven.
Help us to
Go
Forth.
To be more Heaven on earth
To see more Heaven on earth
To bring more Heaven on earth
To Your Joy
and
Glory
1 Timothy 4:10
Labor and strive
because we have put our hope in the Living God,
who is the Savior of all people,
and
especially
of those who believe.
Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust
so as
to overlook
your work
and
the love that you have shown for
His Name
in serving the saints,
as you still do.
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,
We expect to hear Good News.
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father,
guide the nations
of the world
into the way of justice and truth,
and
establish among
them
that peace
which is the fruit of righteousness,
that
they
may become
The Kingdom of our Lord
and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Mercy for the merciful.
Eternal God,
in whose perfect Kingdom
no sword is drawn
but the sword of righteousness,
no strength known
but
the
strength of love:
So mightily spread abroad your Spirit,
that
all peoples
may be gathered under the banner
of the Prince of Peace,
as children
of one Father;
to whom be dominion
and
glory, now and forever.
Amen.
Dwell in us, Father,
we ask in the Highest Name of Jesus.
Dwell, fully, in those we love
Help us to seek You
first
and we will finish well
in Jesus Christ.
We pray
Peace
for Israel
and
Your Good Creation.
We know we will hear Good news.
Mercy for the merciful.
Joy.
Love.
Thank You. Jesus.
Our God is working. His Son,
Jesus is working.
Amen!
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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