I had actually never made these connections before I started preparing for this study, but there are many similarities between Moses and Jesus. Today we’ll be comparing their two lives through typology. Typology is where a person or event in the Old Testament foreshadows a person or event in the New Testament; in this case, Moses and Jesus. St Paul actually came up with this concept in Romans, where he referred to Adam as a type of Christ.
When you see their lives side by side, it’s really amazing to see just how similar they were. As infants, they were both supposed to be killed by order of the current ruler: Pharaoh had ordered the death of all Hebrew boys, and Herod had ordered the death of all boys two and under in Bethlehem. Moses and Jesus were both were saved by family members: Moses’ mother kept him hidden for three months and his sister kept watch while he was floating down the river in a basket, suggesting his own mother (unknown to the Egyptians) as a wet-nurse when Pharaoh’s daughter decided to adopt him; while Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt for their protection. That led to another similarity, that both were in Egypt for a period of time in their childhood. Can you imagine the fear those poor mothers had for their children?
Though not much is known about their transition from childhood to adulthood, the similarities continued. Moses became a prince of Egypt, while Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Moses then went from being a prince to becoming a pauper, while Jesus went from being God to man. They both had a mission to redeem people from slavery: Moses saved Israel from slavery to Egypt, while Jesus saved us from slavery to sin. Moses fasted for forty days on Mt Sinai, while Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert.
Moses changed water into blood while still in Egypt, and Jesus changed water into wine, and then wine into his Precious Blood. They were both rejected by their own people.
So how were Moses and Jesus prophets? They were both messengers sent by or speaking for God. How were they both priests? They both offered sacrifices to God: Moses in the form of animals on the altar and Jesus in the form of Himself on the cross. How were they both kings? By being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses became a Prince of Egypt. Jesus was the King of the Jews, whose kingdom is in Heaven.
Try to spend some time today using typography to study about other comparisons between the Old Testament and New Testament. If you printed this journal, write about your comparisons in the space below.
