The Baptism of Moses

This is from a booklet I am currently working on about covenantal infant baptism.

Baptism of Moses

“And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.”

Exodus 1:22–2:10

One day while mowing my parent’s yard I had an epiphany. It all hinged upon one word, the word ‘ark’. I had listened to a podcast from Joel McDurmon earlier in the day and he mentioned that Moses was placed in an ark. Upon reflection I recalled the text in my mind. Excited about my discovery, I turned off the blades and pulled up Exodus on my Kindle. After reading the text I looked up and exclaimed, “Moses was baptized as an infant!” For me, it was just another piece of biblical testimony to the practice of infant baptism. Moses himself was symbolically baptized as an infant. All the baptisms of the Old Testament prefigure, in some fashion, the baptism that was to come in the New Covenant. No doubt, the similarities between the covenant signs of circumcision and baptism are genuine but so too are the examples of baptism that prefigured what was to come. One such figure is found in the story of Noah.

“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 3:20, 21

Peter tells us that baptism is pictured in the deluge. This is no surprise when we consider the story and what baptism itself pictures. Baptism is a demonstration of death and resurrection. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This image of death and salvation is seen in the days of Noah. “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female” (Genesis 6:17–19). As the history reveals God did just as he said. If we are not careful we tend to leave the story there and reduce it to a children’s story that we grow out of when we mature. Sure it happened, but it really doesn’t say much to edify us. I hope to dispel the mere historical reading of the Old Testament.

The waters, in which was the sentence of death, came upon the earth and all that was in the water did die. After many days in the ark Noah, after sending out a raven that returned void, sent out a dove and it came back to him with an olive leaf. Creation had been recreated. The waters subsided and the ark was opened. Noah and all those with him came out of the ark to replenish the new creation God had promised. What of this dove? Recall Jesus’ baptism. Who came down to him like a dove? The Holy Spirit. At the beginning of creation the Holy Spirit brooded over the waters until land appeared. In the ark the dove was sent out to brood over the waters until land appeared. We also see that the Holy Spirit broods over the waters of baptism and the Christian is raised to new life (Acts 2:38). Man, who came from the dirt, is created afresh. What of the olive leaf? God told Noah he would establish his covenant with him. In Scripture the olive plant is a symbolic reference of covenant (compare Romans 11 and Jeremiah 11). The covenant with Noah was confirmed through the olive leaf brought by the dove over the waters of death that brought new life. This is the symbolic imagery of the deluge. Noah himself became a “man of the soil” as Adam was a man of the soil (9:20). Death and resurrection. De-creation and recreation are in baptism. Peter gave to us an interpretation of Noah’s ark as an allusion to Christian baptism. And that brings us to this baptism of Moses.

Pharaoh had consigned all the male Israelite children to death. Where did the death take place? The water. For Moses, however, his mother made him an ark and covered it in pitch that the child may survive the waters of death. This ark was covered in pitch just as the ark of Noah (6:14). Moses was placed into the waters where others had also been placed to their death. But he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. He was found among the reeds. Moses had survived the waters and emerged from the ark. And what did Pharaoh’s daughter name him but Moses—one drawn from the water. When Moses himself was writing this story for all to later read, would the similarities between Noah and himself have escaped him? I doubt so. Let us not make the same error. As Noah was in his ark so was Moses. The waters surrounding the ark were a consignment unto death, both in Noah and Moses. Both were saved from death by their respective arks. Moses was found among the reeds. Like Christ after him, he brought judgment upon the Egyptians and saved his people. “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth” (Isa. 42:3). Moses was set apart at birth through baptism to redeem the bruised reeds, the Israelites, and bring judgment upon Egypt—the very hands that picked him up from among the reeds, from among his own. This is the baptism of Moses. He received his baptism as a 3 month old infant. Indeed this is symbolic, but it is the very thing Peter himself does with the flood and Noah, of which Moses correlates. Moses, as Noah, was brought forth from the waters and given new life. All the males were to be killed and yet Moses was raised from death out of the water. He was raised in the household of Pharaoh, he died as an Israelite and was raised an Egyptian. The hands of his Jewish mother placed him in the water and he was raised, quite literally, by the hands of an Egyptian. This is the outward appearance. In reality he was drawn from the water a set apart vessel for God. He was placed in the water a slave and was drawn from the water a freeman. Yet, being removed from the reeds, from among his own, first set apart by his mother, God would return Moses, the one from the water, to lead his people through their own baptism. This freeman would later free God's people. Not insignificantly did Moses turn the same river in which all the males were cast into blood. Judgment had come upon Egypt. If all this seems a bit peculiar that is understandable at the front. Before you discount this as fanciful symbolism and squinting to find a biblical example to support infant baptism wait until you hear Paul’s argument about the Israelites being baptized unto Moses.



Image: Alexey Tyranov, 'Moses' Mother'