Discussion Moses as Savior Figure
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Apr 3, 2024
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BIBL 300
Module 3
Discussion Thread: Moses as Savior Figure
February 2, 2024
Prompt: Briefly analyze how Moses serves as a savior figure (type of Christ) in his original context. Answer in what ways Moses’ life, calling, character traits, experiences, and victories illustrate what is to come in Jesus Christ in a more perfect/complete way.
Many analogies comparing Moses as a savior figure with Christ can be found in the book of Exodus as well as numerous others found in the Pentateuch. In leading God’s chosen people out of Egypt, Moses displayed great power. Jesus, with even greater power, led God’s elect out of spiritual bondage and slavery to sin. In Exodus 5:1, Moses stood before Pharaoh and said, “'Let my people go.” Likewise, in Luke 4:18, Jesus stated that he had been sent “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and . . . to set the oppressed free.” Paul writes “For the law of the Spirit
of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2 ESV)
Other analogies between Moses and Jesus can be found in the Gospel of Matthew, or more exactly, analogies between the Torah of Moses and Jesus’ Torah (instruction). Five references in the Pentateuch tell of Moses finishing a work or discourse (Exodus 40:33; Numbers
7:1; Deuteronomy 31:1, 24; 32:45). Three of the five references in Matthew’s Gospel (7:28; 19:1; 26:1) are nearly identical to Deuteronomy 31:1.
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The similarity between Moses and Jesus as reliable teachers is further strengthened between their respective first and last speeches. Jesus went up the mountain to teach his disciples
his Torah (Matthew 5:1) and the interaction with the Mosaic Torah (Matthew 5:17-48) is a likely analogy to Moses’ first mountaintop “speech” to Israel (Exodus19:2-3; 11, 14, 16-18, 20, 23, 20:18; 24:4, 12-13, 15-18). Moses’ last discourse focuses almost exclusively on the last days (Deuteronomy 31:29) just like Jesus’ final mountain speech is entirely focused on last-day events
(Matthew 24:3 – 26:1).
Additionally, Moses is the lawgiver. He brings down from Mount Sinai the Ten Commandments. Obeying these laws cements the Covenant, the bond of faithfulness between God and his people. And Jesus gave the new commandments, the Beatitudes, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses gives one of his final speeches prophesying “The Lord
your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. The prophet that Moses is speaking of bears these qualities: he will be raised up by God, he will come from among the Israelites, he will be like Moses, and he will be worthy of being heard and obeyed. The prophet who fulfills these words is Jesus Christ, the prophet like Moses.
Other ways the two were alike are how both Moses and Jesus mediated a covenant between God and men (Exodus 34:27; Acts 7:44), and Jesus the New (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15). Moses spent forty years as a shepherd (Exodus 3:1), and Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John
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Seth D. Postell, “Jesus (Not) as Moses in the Gospel of Matthew” in A Handbook on the Jewish Roots of the Gospels, edited by Craig Evans and David Mishkin. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2022) pp 148-159. Accessed February 2, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central.
10:11, 14). Both Moses and Jesus were known for their meekness (Numbers 12:3 and Matthew 11:29). Moses was also like Jesus in that he performed miracles—not all prophets did. Several of
the miracles of Moses bear a resemblance to Jesus’ miracles, most notably the provision of bread in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35), which is comparable to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1–
13). After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14).
Both Moses and Jesus served as intercessors for God’s people but while Moses’ intercession was temporary, our Lord’s is everlasting. “If anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ. (1 John 2:1). Jesus is right now “at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Not only was Moses an intercessor for God’s people but, like Jesus, he was willing to die for them. In Exodus 32:32, Moses offers his life in exchange for sinners. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” Jesus said (John 15:13), and Jesus proved
his love when he “laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16; cf. John 10:15).
Perhaps most significant is how both Moses and Jesus held intimate conversations with God: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). Jesus also had a special relationship with God, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son” (Matthew 11:27); “The Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10:15). When Moses stood in God’s presence, his face shone with a heavenly glory and had to be covered with a veil (Exodus 34:29-35), reminding us of Jesus’ transfiguration, when “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2).
Finally, Moses and Jesus were alike in that both were sent to people who, by and large, rejected them and would not listen. Moses led a rebellious people (Psalm 78:17–55; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13, 27; Acts 7:39). Numerous times, the people tested God rebelled against Moses (Numbers 14:1–4, 21–23; 16:1–3). Likewise, Jesus was sent to a people who “did not receive him” (John 1:11), besmirched His character (Matthew 12:24), and eventually killed Him (Matthew 27:22–26).
There are certainly more comparisons between Jesus and Moses, but I will end it with this quote from one of our videos: “Jesus, in essence is the new Moses who reinterprets the Law of Moses . . .Here’s the real intent of its spiritually. He’s not contradicting Moses. He’s amplifying the story with a direction that takes you right to him, that he’s the redeemer, he’s the savior.”
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Dr. Jeff Dixon, “What is the Exodus?” (video lecture in BIBL 300 at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, Spring 2024).
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