The Likeness of Moses and Paul
“God will raise up … a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me” (Deuteronomy 18:15).
Moses, as a type, points to Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15). As the messenger of God, Moses was used to convey the Law and be a mediator between God and the nation of Israel. Jesus likewise is designated as the “mediator of the new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).
However, despite this direct connection between Moses and our Lord, there are striking similarities in the ministries of Moses and Paul. Note the following.
BOTH CHOSEN BY GOD FROM BIRTH
The baby Moses was providentially saved from death in the Nile River (Exodus 2:5, 6, 10). He was to be God’s instrument in delivering his people. ♦ Paul was also chosen from the womb to reveal God’s Son as the way of salvation (Galatians 1:15,16).
BOTH HIGHLY EDUCATED
Moses was learned in the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22). In the house of Pharaoh he learned leadership and gained organizational skills to be later used as the leader of natural Israel. ♦ Paul learned the wisdom of Judaism. His pharisaical training in the Law prepared him to teach spiritual Israel (Acts 22:3, Galatians 1:14).
BOTH DELIVERED IN A WOVEN BASKET
Pharaoh’s decree to slay every newborn Hebrew boy caused the mother of Moses to hide him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she placed him in a papyrus basket and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile (Exodus 2:3). ♦ Paul too was saved in a basket. In Damascus the Jews plotted to kill with him, his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket (Acts 9:23-25, 2 Corinthians 11:33).
BOTH WERE INVOLVED IN MURDER
Moses murdered an Egyptian taskmaster who was harming a Hebrew slave and hid the Egyptian in the sand (Exodus 2:12). ♦ Before his conversion, Paul was a direct accomplice in the murder of Stephen (Acts 7:58, 59).
BOTH PROLIFIC CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BIBLE
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and was Israel’s sole written authority until the time of Samuel and David. He interpreted the Law and prepared Israel to enter the Promised Land. His writings later helped those Jews living at the First Advent to transfer into Christ with the prospect of entering the heavenly Canaan (See John 5:46, 47). ♦ The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 New Testament books. From the pen of this great apostle, we understand the doctrines of the ransom, justification by faith, the resurrection, and the covenants. Paul was used to reveal the great mystery which is the Church as body members of Christ. He identified the sin offering revealed the Old Testament types related to the Passover and the Tabernacle. He expounded on importance of agape love.
Paul encouraged believers to enter into a covenant of sacrifice and become part of the spiritual seed of Abraham. (Romans 12:1, 2, Galatians 3:26-29)
BOTH FLED TO ARABIA
After killing the Egyptian, Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian and became a shepherd (Exodus 2:15). ♦ Paul too went to Arabia immediately after being converted (Galatians 1:16-17).
BOTH SPOKE TO SPIRIT BEINGS AND WERE INSTRUCTED
The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush. He was then tasked with delivering his people (Exodus 3). This extraordinary encounter set the course for the remainder of his life. ♦ Saul saw a brilliant light emanating from the risen Jesus and spoke to him on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-8). This likewise was to change the course of his life as a servant of God’s people.
BOTH PHYSICALLY AFFECTED FROM THEIR ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
Moses’ Face shone after receiving the Law and being in the presence of God (Exodus 34:29). ♦ While traveling near Damascus, Paul was blinded by a light from heaven out of which the risen Lord spoke to him (Acts 9:3-6).
BOTH WERE NOT ELOQUENT SPEAKERS AND NEEDED ASSISTANCE
In appealing to God, Moses said, “I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue” (Exodus 4:10). He was given his brother Aaron to help him speak (Exodus 4:10, 14-16). ♦ Paul is described in a similar way: “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible’” (2 Corinthians 10:10). “But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge” (2 Corinthians 11:6).
Paul was first given Barnabas, who introduced him to brethren in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26, 27). He later received help from a variety of brethren, including Silas who accompanied him on two of Paul’s missionary journeys.
Paul, preaching
BOTH CHOSE FIDELITY TO GOD AND REJECTED EARTHLY PROSPERITY
Moses rejected his Egyptian lifestyle when he chose to defend a Hebrew slave. Moses was “considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:26 NASB). ♦ Paul likewise rejected the power and prestige of the Jewish elite in favor of becoming a servant to Christ (Philippians 3:5-8).
BOTH PERFORMED EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLES
“Moses led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years” (Acts 7:36). ♦ It says of Paul, “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out” (Acts 19:11-12). Paul also healed a man who was lame from birth, and raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 14:10, Acts 20:10).
The purpose of these miracles for both Moses and Paul was to demonstrate that their ministries were authorized by God.
BOTH SAW THEIR BRETHREN CHOOSE SLAVERY OVER FREEDOM
Just before crossing the Red Sea the Hebrews said to Moses, Did we not say, “Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Exodus 14:12). ♦ Paul offered the Jews freedom from the curse of the Law, but most refused. He said, “Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia (i.e. she represents the Law Covenant), and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, she (i.e. the Sarah feature of the Abrahamic Covenant) is our mother” (Galatians 4:25, 26).
Paul condemned Jewish Christians who returned to the slavery of Judaism. He said, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you” (Galatians 5:1-4).
BOTH MADE A PERSONAL REQUEST TO GOD BUT WERE DENIED
Moses desired to enter the Promised Land but died in Moab (Deuteronomy 3:25, 26). ♦ Paul wanted his “thorn in the flesh,” i.e. his impaired vision, removed. God’s answer was simply, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
BOTH LOVED THEIR BRETHREN AND OFFERED THEIR OWN LIVES
After making a golden calf, Moses said, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written” (Exodus 32:32). ♦ Paul expressed a similar sentiment. “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:2, 3).
BOTH GIVEN A GLIMPSE OF THE PROMISED LAND
From the top of Pisgah’s Mountain God allowed Moses to see the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 34:1, 4). ♦ Paul wrote that he was “caught up to the Third heavens,” into paradise, but was not allowed to share what he saw (2 Corinthians 12:1-4).
BOTH MEN REWARDED BY GOD
Moses, who lived during the Jewish Age, will receive a “better resurrection” on earth (Hebrews 11:35). He will be one of the “Princes in all the Earth” (Psalms 45:16). ♦ Paul described his reward: “There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
Surely, Moses and Paul were examples of faithfulness. The similarities of their experiences are unmistakable, and their deep devotion is reflected in the lives of all who love the Father and His Son.
— Br. Brad Sweeney