ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tu’apulelulu Fepueli 23, 2023

משה Moses the Water Man

MOSESE, KO E TANGATA ‘O E VAI

EXODUS 2:10

WHEN THE CHILD GREW OLDER, SHE BROUGHT HIM TO PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER, AND HE BECAME HER SON. SHE NAMED HIM MOSES, "BECAUSE," SHE SAID, "I DREW HIM OUT OF THE WATER."

‘EKISOTO 2:10

Pea ‘i he‘ene tupu ‘a e tamasi‘i, na‘a ne ‘ave ia ki he ‘Ōfefine ‘o Felo, pea na‘a ne tama ‘aki ia. Pea na‘a ne fakahingoa ia ko Mōsese (ko Toho-mai) he‘ene pehē, He na‘a ku toho mai ia mei he vai. 

Moses was a water baby. He had his Noah - like ark, a pitch-covered vessel that saved him from a watery grave. At three months old, his life's work was already foretold by God. He would be a man of water, judgment, and salvation. His name, Moshe, is prophetic. It's a play on the verb masha, "to draw out." He would grow up to masha his people: to draw them out of slavery, to draw them across the Red Sea, to draw water from a rock. In great irony, the daughter of Pharaoh gave her adopted son a name that foreshadowed when he would send Pharaoh himself into a watery grave.

We usually associate Moses with the law, but he's also a man of grace, saving his people through water. In that way his life is a blueprint for the Messiah, a prophet like him (Deut. 18:15). God also rescued Jesus from a tyrant, Herod, when he was a child (Matt. 2:16-18). Then, when he was lifted up on the cross, he drew all people to himself (John 12:32) in his crucifixion baptism (Mark 10:38) by which he destroyed all the powers of evil. 

Send from on high, O Lord, and take us; draw us out of many waters (Ps. 18:16).