Why Did Moses Choose Midian?

Isaiah’s lips were touched with a burning coal. Jesus was tempted in a desert without food for forty days. A mysterious voice within a burning bush told Moses to take off his shoes. All are examples of the Lord commissioning His servants to do His will. Throughout the cannon, each encounter of commissioning is unique and powerful. The same can be said for modern day sacred commissions of baptism, confirmation, or profession of faith. Even secular commissions, like graduations and weddings, hold momentous significance. Exodus 3:5 is more than just an enchanting children’s bedtime story or a clever message for a vehicle’s license plate. Even without getting into the commission itself, the details surrounding the burning bush narrative are

These forty years foreshadow the next forty years Moses would spend leading the Israelites through similar wilderness, to the same mountain of the burning bush, to the Promised Land. The is a significance of the number forty, as both Christ and Noah went through forty days of wilderness. Of all of the places to go, why would Moses choose Midian? An expedition of several days through a dry and desolate wilderness, Midian comprised of rugged desert country. However, the coastal lowlands of Midian bordered the eastern side of the Red Sea. The most successful ANE civilizations during this time depended on a body of water in order to thrive. Many Midianites could only survive by becoming bartering nomads, ironically like the ones who bought Joseph from his brothers and sold him into Egyptian

As one of the most optimistic sections of Exodus, one who has not read the following cannon may think that God has forgotten about the Israelite’s life in Egypt that is much different than Moses’ life in Midian. However, verses 23 to 25 provide significant theological importance in making the shift from God’s covenant being between patriarchs on an individual basis to a larger group of people on a communal basis. God not only remembers. He hears, looks on, is concerned about, and acts out to intercede on behalf of His people. Such signs of prosperity can be seen through the birth and naming of Moses’ first child. A firstborn son hold’s much more significance in ancient cultures than modern cultures. The naming of these children also holds more of a complex and sometimes prophetic meaning for Biblical lives than modern Western society. His son’s name, Gershom, relates to the Hebrew words ger and šam that translate together into “an alien there.” and the verb garaš, which means “to drive out.” This namesake not only speaks to Moses’ situation, (because he remained an alien throughout his entire life), but also to modern-day situations concerning how to view the immigrants and refugee crisis under debate. The person America rejects who is trying to escape persecution from their home country could be the