Brother Brad Sweeney has compiled these
excellent parallels (2023):
Brad Sweeney – Beauties of
the Truth
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.
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
[sic?], 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
