By faith Moses, when he had become great, refused to be called son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Moses had everything Egypt could give a man — education, wealth, a royal name — and faith made him hand it back. Two questions matter here: what "when he was grown up" means, and why refusing a name cost so much.
The phrase marks a settled age, not a passing mood. One writer fixes his age from Stephen's speech in Acts 7:
How old was he when, as the Holy Spirit says here, "he was grown up"? Acts 7 tells us exactly. There the Spirit of God, speaking through Stephen, says, "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel" (Acts 7:23). Perhaps you would not call a man of forty young. But he was not old, taking his whole lifespan into account: "Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated" (Deut. 34:7).
This rules out the idea of a rash gesture. He weighed both sides:
Moses was not in the immaturity of his life, for he was forty years old. He took in the whole field. He saw the possibilities of his position in Egypt. He saw the disgrace of his own relatives. Looking calmly at both sides, what does faith do? It refuses all this greatness, its dignity, its expectations.
The world's favour is its own kind of test, and Moses was well fitted for the place he refused:
The parents overcame the fear of the world; their son overcame its favours. This makes the faith of Moses all the more striking, for we may overcome the fear of the world and yet fall under its favour. In Acts 7, Stephen tells us that Moses was "beautiful in God's sight", and that he "was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds." Here, then, was a man whose appearance was attractive, whose mind was well-stored with all the learning of the leading country of the world in that day, who could apply his wisdom with weighty words, and follow up his words with mighty deeds. Moses, then, was in every way fitted to fill with distinction the highest position in this world. Moreover, this great position was within his grasp, for he was by adoption the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and thus in the direct line to the throne of the Pharaohs.
Note what the verse says he refused: a name. That points to something he did among people who knew him daily:
This victory first shows itself when he tells the courtiers not to treat him as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This is a very beautiful glimpse of his faith. It shows us much of his inner mind and his daily walk among people. He was not ashamed to own his origin and early history: how his own person was loathed, as it were, on the day he was born, and how his whole fine estate came through the king's daughter adopting an abandoned child. This was indeed beautiful. This was above nature. This was victory over "the pride of life."
There was an obvious argument for staying. Providence had placed him there, and his influence could have served Israel well.
If providence brought him into her house, faith led him out. It was certainly not from any lack of ability to judge the advantage of his position. Suppose the aim had only been to relieve Israel by influence, or even to move them peacefully to Canaan by skilful use of circumstances. No one had a better opportunity, or was better fitted, to bring it about by diplomacy or any other means. But this would have brought praise to Moses, not glory to God, as faith always and rightly seeks. And so Moses turned his back on all natural and worldly advantages, that God might act for His people and against His enemy and theirs.
His refusal was really a choice. He traded each thing he gave up for its opposite:
He gives it all up. "He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." He gives up ease, and chooses hardship. He gives up luxury, and chooses degradation. He gives up the very thing the heart would delight in, and chooses the very thing that flesh and nature shrink from.
Christian living is not built on the negative:
Moses was a man of conviction, and his conviction showed itself in this way — he refused! He refused — choosing! The Christian does not live on a negative plane; he lives on a very positive one.
The pull Moses felt has not gone away:
What victory over the world that was! We like those things that put worldly honour on us. Moses would not have it; and I am sure faith is set to the same battlefield and challenged to win the same victory to this day.
- Grown up. Moses was forty. He weighed both sides with a clear head. This was conviction, not youthful impulse.
- Grown great. Educated, capable, adopted, in line for the throne. His parents overcame the world's fear; Moses had to overcome its favour.
- Refused a name. He would not let the court flatter him with a title. He owned his origin instead — victory over the pride of life.
- Refused providence's logic. His position looked God-given and useful. But using it would have crowned Moses, not glorified God.
- Refused so he could choose. Faith says no so it can say yes — and the same battlefield is set before faith still.
choosing rather to suffer affliction along with the people of God than to have [the] temporary pleasure of sin;
Hebrews 11 lists Moses among those who lived by faith. This verse records the choice that shaped his whole life. He turned down Egypt's court and joined a nation of slaves. Which is worth more: hardship with God's people, or pleasure that runs out?
The previous verse tells us what Moses turned down. This one tells us what he took instead.
We also learn what he chooses, and his choosing is as striking as his refusing. In his day there was a large number of people who formed the lowest class in Egypt. They were unwanted foreigners, treated with the utmost harshness as slaves. Their hard bondage made their lives bitter. They laboured at brick-making and worked in the fields under the scorching sun (Exodus 1:13-14). But despite their low position and hard bondage, these slaves were the people of God. Moses chose to throw in his lot with these people. He preferred to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
God's providence had surrounded Moses with honours. One question still decided the matter for him: where was God?
The people may be suffering, wretched, and disreputable. They may little understand and poorly repay the love and faith that could give up everything... but it was enough for Moses that the poor captives were God's people... His single eye judged all that Pharaoh's daughter could offer to be the pleasures of sin. He deliberately gave up the glittering honours and worldly influence that God's providence had spread around him... With whom was God identified? With Pharaoh's palace, or with Israel in the iron furnace?
The verse calls Egypt's comforts "pleasures of sin." One writer explains what made them sin.
The moment the truth of God fully awakened his heart, he saw that God completely disowned Egypt and its many attractions. No one knew God in Pharaoh's house. A nation that served other gods afflicted His people. To remain at Pharaoh's court with this conviction in his soul would be to despise the people of the living God. Both his education and his habits fitted Moses well to appreciate the pleasant things of Egypt. God's word promised him only unseen things, so the sacrifice it asked of him looked large.
The verse puts a time limit on the pleasures — "fleeting", or as older translations read, "for a season". Faith sees the same limit on the affliction.
Egypt's greatness may be attractive, its pleasures many, its power unlimited. But the words "For a season" stood over all the greatness of Egypt. So it is with everything this world has to offer. Faith says: those things are temporary. And, thank God, the affliction is temporary too. I will take the affliction. I will identify myself with my people.
Moses lived long enough to test his own choice.
Moses lived a long life — one hundred and twenty years. He turned his back on Egypt and its sinful pleasures at the end of forty years. He had forty years on the far side of the desert. Then a much worse forty years, worried and irritated by people who behaved in a very perverse way... But Moses never regretted turning his back on all the pleasures that could only have lasted another eighty years.
A choice like this takes courage. Faith needs that courage added to it.
Virtue is that energy and courage of soul that knows how to refuse as well as to choose. Moses is the example. He "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin"... You have the faith that connects you with God, and you believe in what you do not yet see. But now you must add virtue. That is the courage which knows how to say "No" to the thousand things that come up day by day, and how to press on without wavering in the path set before us.
- Refuse. Moses first gave up a name: "son of Pharaoh's daughter." A refusal is only half the story.
- Choose. He threw in his lot with brick-making slaves. They were God's people, and that was enough.
- Company. One question decided it: with whom was God — Pharaoh's palace, or Israel in the furnace?
- Season. "For a season" stands over Egypt's pleasures — and, faith adds, over the affliction too. Both run out.
- No regret. Across a hundred and twenty years, Moses never wished back the pleasures that could only have lasted eighty.