Tuesday – Pentateuch

Reading – Exodus 7-8

Highlight Verse:

“Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three when they made their demands to Pharaoh.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭7‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s just a little verse that opens up so many questions.

First, did you know that Aaron was older than Moses?

Apparently, Pharaoh didn’t have the baby boys killed off when Aaron was born. It’s quite possible that Aaron knew about Moses the whole time he was growing up in Pharaoh’s household. Aaron obviously knew about Moses when Moses encountered God at the burning bush since Aaron was already on his way there.

Why did God choose to speak through Moses who then needed Aaron to speak publicly?

I won’t spoil the story in case you haven’t read it, but Aaron tended to be a people pleaser. He gave in to the people when Moses stood strong.

Moses even talked back to God. Think about that. Moses was no pushover!

Why did God wait until Moses and Aaron were so old to have them speak to Pharaoh?

Life expectancy in Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs was about 40 years. Many Pharaoh’s lived much shorter lives. There would have been a sharp contrast between these two extremely old (by the standards then) men and a young impetuous Pharaoh.

God may have planned this so that Pharaoh would be less likely to give in to Moses’ demands and more miracles would be displayed.

Now that I’ve bored you with that little history lesson, here’s my takeaway from this verse. We tend to think of the prime time of our lives as being when we’re younger. In reality, the most productive decade of our lives in terms of eternal legacy tends to be when we are in our 70’s! The second most productive decade is our 80’s.

So if you’re feeling old, just keep Moses and Aaron in mind and see that their most important career started in their 80’s.

Have you felt the drag of aging pulling you down?
What does it feel like knowing that the most productive years are yet to come for most of us?