by Guest Writer, Joshua Torrey
The Baptism of Moses
After addressing the clear union of water and Spirit in the story of Noah and Peter’s teaching, some might conclude that the matter of baptism is settled. But there are more Old Testament references to be incorporated to validate and expand the doctrine of this interpretation. Through the seed of deliverance in Noah came the great Patriarch Abraham and the Scriptures tell us that through Abraham God began to build a people to provide a Savior and Blessing, found in Jesus Christ, for the entire world. The remainder of the Old Testament is filled with “how to recognize Him when He gets here” type of material.
One of these important Old Testament reminders and pointers to Christ comes with the story of Moses. He like Noah is a savior. But this time he saves all of Abraham’s family (seed) from the land of Egypt. The early portions of the book of Exodus set the stage for this salvation of Israel,
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. – Exodus 1:8
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. – Exodus 2:23-25
The contrast between these two passages is important. Pharaoh’s lack of knowledge led to persecution and trials for Abraham’s seed. This Pharaoh ceased to “know” the blessings of God through the faithful deliverance of Joseph (a subject matter all its own). As a result the people of Israel were forced into slavery and their lives were made miserable. Despite Pharaoh’s rejection God chose to bless Israel. Pharaoh responded by taking things to the highest level: He attempts to kill the covenant children of Israel (Exo 1:15-22). The importance of this event and its relationship with children will be fully developed later but this event does cast a looming shadow on the tenth and final plagues sent by God. For now it is against this death of Israelite children that the great arm of the Lord is revealed and He does this through “knowing” His people. As seen with Noah, this means that God is acting in favor and mercy towards His covenant people. And so through the faithfulness of two Levites (Exo 2:1) God brought forth a deliverer. And once again He used an ark (H8293),
2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. – Exodus 2:3
Before addressing the reintroduction of God’s saving basket/ark, it is interesting to note that Moses upon birth is declared “good” (H2896). This is the reason given in the Scriptures for the saving of Moses and it is an element of the story that gets repeated in the New Testament (Acts 7:20; Heb 11:23). Since good is rarely used in the Hebrew concerning people (Genesis 24:1; 26:7; 1 Sam 9:2; 16:12 among the exceptions) the description surely stands out. In two cases it is associated with women found at wells (Gen 24:1; 26:7) and in two others it is the kings of Israel (1 Sam 9:2; 16:12). In every case the individual is clearly being marked out to bring deliverance (the kings) or new life (the Godly wives of the patriarchs) to God’s promised seed. Moses stands in this tradition and the Scriptures mark him out. And it is this marker that explains the actions of his mother.
The English translation hides the symbolism of the Hebrew word tebah (H8293). Moses’ mother truly built “an ark made of bulrushes” to deliver her son. The parallels to Noah are fairly obvious. Pharaoh has declared that all Hebrews shall be “cast into the Nile” (Exo 1:22) to die by water. Moses too is cast into the waters that are meant for death but the Lord delivers him through an ark. This is done not only for the deliverance of Moses but to bring salvation to the people of Israel. One can speculate if Paul’s concept of being “buried with him [Christ Jesus] by baptism into death” (Rom 6:4) is influenced by this out-of-death typology for baptism.
The very name Moses means “to be drawn out.” It stems from a Hebrew verb used only in David’s baptism/deliverance from Saul (2 Sam 22:16-20; Psa 18:15-19). In Moses’ example, God brings forth “new land” from the waters of death. Moses’ rise up out of the water once again reminds us of the baptism of Jesus Christ (Matt 3:16; Mark 1:9). Through baptism, Moses is now capable of saving His people and providing new life. Even more graphically, the ark carrying Moses is delivered from “the reeds” (Exo 2:3). This is the same Hebrew word to describe the baptism of Israel and the conquest of Pharaoh (Exo 15:4). Moses is lifted up from the very death that consumes the armies of Pharaoh (we’ll see more of this is the next section).
The Holy Spirit has no direct link to this story and the symbolism found in Noah is obvious. Sinfulness and death abounds. God has once again “remembered” His covenant people and had godly people build an ark. God has used this ark to perform a baptism of deliverance and instituted a man to deliver His people. As Moses is tightly linked to Noah so also he is to Jesus Christ. In fact the example of Moses brings into focus the particulars concerning Jesus’ baptism under John. Moses, like Christ, was baptized before His ministry began and both spent a full time (40 years/40 days) in the wilderness. Jesus Himself was saved from the arm of an evil king (Matt 2:13-15). He was even delivered to and from Egypt like Moses.
But how does this apply to the baptism practiced by the church? As already seen, Moses’ baptism prepares him to lead Israel through one large baptism to save all of the people. This story points forward to Jesus Christ and the church. Jesus would participate in a baptism in order to start a ministry that would lead to a baptism for God’s people. He would be baptized in John’s “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3) and then send His disciples out proclaiming “repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47). We know that Christ’s baptism was water and Spirit. Now it is to be seen how Moses’ baptism in the Red Sea is also a union of water and baptism.<>
