Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 4:1) And Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or hearken to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
In the last chapter, God told Moses to take the elders of the children of Israel and go to Pharaoh and request that he allow the Hebrews to go three days' journey into the wilderness, that they might sacrifice to the LORD their God. Moses had his doubts that Pharaoh would listen to him, and God had assured him He would be with him. God had told Moses that Pharaoh would refuse at first, but would eventually let them go after God struck Egypt with all His wonders. Then Moses doubted that the people would go with him, and even after God gave His personal name, told him what to tell the people, and even told him that when the people left they would not go empty-handed, Moses apparently still didn't believe the people would listen to him. Maybe Moses didn't really doubt that the people would eventually go as the Lord said, but he knew the people would have questions and objections and he just wanted to be prepared with how to address them.
(2) And the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A rod.” (3) And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (4) And the LORD said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand; (5) “That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
The Lord patiently answered Moses's next objection. He empowered Moses to work a miracle that would convince the people that it indeed was Almighty God who had appeared to him. When Moses cast his rod or staff to the ground as God instructed him to do, it turned into a serpent which made Moses flee from it. God then instructed him to pick up the serpent by the tail, which he did. I think it had to take great faith in the Lord for Moses to reach out and grab what had just frightened him enough to make him run from it. I think this demonstrates that Moses did indeed have faith in the Lord God, but his objections came from the feeling of his own inadequacy to facilitate God's plan. Indeed when Moses caught the serpent by the tail, it became a rod again. God told Moses that by observing this miracle, the people would believe that the Lord God of their fathers had appeared to him.
(6) And the LORD said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. (7) And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” And he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. (8) “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, nor hearken to the message of the first sign, that they will believe the message of the latter sign.”
God empowered Moses with another miracle. It was not by Moses's act of moving his hand into and out of his bosom that brought disease or cured it, but this miracle signified that Moses, by the power of God, would bring terrible diseases or plagues on Egypt, and that at his prayer they would be removed. Although the plagues would be God's acts, and Moses would only be putting into action what God planned to do anyway, God was giving Moses the power to start and stop them when he said or asked, as in prayer. By this, God said, that even if the people did not believe by the first miracle that He had appeared to Moses, they would surely believe by this sign. It was Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible, who said that the "instantaneous production and cure of the most malignant and subtle disease known to the Israelites was a sign of their danger if they resisted the command, and of their deliverance if they obeyed it. The infliction and cure were always regarded as special proofs of a divine intervention."
(9) “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land; and the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”
God instructed Moses on one last miracle He would empower him to perform for the people. By this demonstration, the children of Israel could see how easily the Lord could destroy the land of Egypt. The Lord had given Moses miraculous power in his rod and in his own hands, and with this last miracle, the people could see that those miracles could be used to destroy Egypt and make a way for them to leave the land. By all of these signs they would surely know that it was Jehovah Elohim who had appeared to Moses and would deliver His people.
(10) And Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
Even after all this, Moses still had doubts that he could convince the people. The word translated as "eloquent" was actually two words meaning "man of words" or even "champion of words". Moses didn't consider himself a master of words, not before God appeared to him, and with all the miracles God had empowered him to do, that was one thing that hadn't changed. With the double expression of "slow of speech" and "slow of tongue", it is apparent that Moses felt inadequate in two different areas regarding speech. When I looked at the original words, the word translated as "speech" was "peh" and literally meant "mouth", and the word translated as "tongue" was "lashon" and meant "tongue" or "language". I believe Moses felt he was slow in speech and either slow in the Hebrew language (since he had been educated in Egypt) or slow to form the right words or thoughts. It is interesting to think about how inadequate Moses felt in his ability to speak to the people, but with God at the helm, he was remembered by Stephen in Acts 7:22 as a man mighty in words! It was Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible who pointed out that even the apostle Paul whose great eloquent letters make up a large part of the New Testament, had a weak body and contemptible speech, according to 2 Corinthians 10:10. But isn't that always the way with our Lord? When we are weak, He is strong, and we may be strong through Him!
(11) And the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? (12) Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
God reminded Moses that He was the one who made Moses's mouth. He knew perfectly well what Moses's mouth was capable of and He would be with him to tell him what to say.
(13) And he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of him whom You will send.”
The interpretation of this answer by Moses is a little difficult. At first I wrote it as interpreted by the NKJV translators, as well as most of the other newer translations. That might be the correct interpretation, but as I have studied and learned before, oftentimes the newer translations miss important details. Most of the newer translations interpret this line of Moses's as meaning "Send someone else", and it is apparent that he means something of the sort by the reaction that God has to this statement. But it was from reading the old commentaries of people like Adam Clarke and Dr. John Gill, and even from the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, that I learned that many ancient commentators thought Moses was referring to the Messiah. In that case the line would read correctly just as it is, but I will capitalize to make it clearer: "Please send...Him whom You will send." Moses pleaded with God to go ahead and send the One, the Messiah, the one He planned to eventually send anyway. Moses knew God's plan for a coming Messiah to deliver His people. Wasn't this a job for the Messiah? Oh, how much we can miss when we study the NIV or other newer translations of the Bible! I have studied this before and have been fascinated to learn just how much has been removed in the NIV, especially in matters considering the deity of Jesus Christ. A study and some very interesting links to fascinating examples can be found at this blog post, Which Version of the Truth Will You Use? For this reason, I love studying the older commentaries because they were studying the older translations of the Bible, before people got so wise in their own eyes and decided they knew better than all the Biblical scholars before them what was meant! But I digress.
Back to Moses and his objection: I just heard an interesting teaching yesterday on Gideon, and what God looks for in someone He will use to fulfill His purpose. Humility--that seems to be the number one priority. God first uses the humble, and He uses the weak, so that He may work through them. It would be much more difficult to work through a proud person who would pat himself on the back for what he did or was about to do. Not that God couldn't bring that person to his knees and use him anyway, as He has surely done, but a humble-hearted person who loves and seeks to follow the Lord would appear to be His first choice. And by choosing a weak person, God is shown strong, and there can be no doubt Who is performing the act at hand. So Moses was indeed humble; he didn't see himself in any way capable of doing what God had proposed and he listed all his objections. However, he might have been going a little too far and showing a lack of faith, because God kept telling him He would be the One working through Moses. But then again, for the first time, I better understand what Moses meant. He wasn't telling God to just send somebody else. Rather he was asking about God's coming Messiah, as he knew that was the One who would ultimately deliver God's people, and this would have surely seemed like that deliverance to Moses.
(14) And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also look, he is coming out to meet you; and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart."
Even though I can better understand Moses now that I see he was asking about the Messiah and he wasn't just saying to send anyone else but him, God's anger was still kindled. Actually, one of the old commentaries used this as the reason why it couldn't have been the Messiah of whom Moses had spoken. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote, "Surely this would not have been the case had he only in modesty, and from a deep sense of his own unfitness, desired that the Messiah should be preferred before him. But the whole connection shows that this interpretation is unfounded." Personally, I don't see how Moses referring to the Messiah would have prevented God's anger, whereas anyone else would not. Moses was still saying, in essence, he didn't want to go, that wasn't this a job for the Messiah? God knows the heart of man, and he knew this was more than humility on Moses's part; this was a lack of faith in the Lord God who told him He would be with him and would tell him what to say and do; and He even told Moses how it would turn out!
Even though God's anger was kindled against Moses and his apparent lack of faith, He did not reject him for this service, but gave him help. Dr. John Gill pointed out that God still seemed to prefer Moses for this job over his older brother, and pointed out that Moses did in fact show "himself to be a faithful historian in recording his own weaknesses, and the displeasure of God at them." God had a plan for Aaron the Levite, too, in the Levitical priesthood, but He also used Aaron to help Moses and to give him confidence to proceed. Aaron could speak well, and the Lord apparently called him to join Moses in this mission. When the Lord said, "...look, he is coming out to meet you", Aaron wasn't immediately in sight, but I believe He was saying that at that moment the Lord had called Aaron and he was happy and willing to answer the call. When he met up with Moses, he would be glad in his heart, rejoicing in their mission and ready to heartily cooperate with Moses in the task at hand.
(15) “And you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. (16) And he shall be your spokesman to the people; and he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. (17) And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
God continued to tell Moses how he could use Aaron as his spokesman. It seemed God would still go to Moses first and then Moses would, in turn, instruct Aaron on what to say, and God would be with both their mouths, guiding them for His purposes. Aaron would be Moses's spokesman to the people, speaking as Moses himself would or should have; and Moses would speak to Aaron the exact words of God, as if God Himself were speaking directly to Aaron. God further instructed Moses to take the rod with him, as that would be the instrument with which he would do the miracles or wondrous signs.
(18) And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” (19) And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought your life.”
Moses had been living in the land of Midian, but most recently had been tending the flock of his father-in-law at the "backside of the desert" at Mount Horeb, when God appeared to him at the burning bush. Moses returned to his father-in-law and asked for leave to return to his people in Egypt, which he apparently had not seen or heard from in 40 years. Jethro gave his consent and good wishes to Moses's reasonable request. It was at that point, when Moses had returned to Midian from tending the flock, that the Lord appeared to Moses again and confirmed that he should return to Egypt, but he further informed him that the men who had sought to kill him were now dead. That surely brought assurance and confidence that he was doing the right thing.
(20) And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Moses indeed packed up his wife and sons and returned to Egypt, taking what was then referred to as the "rod of God" as it was the one with which he would perform the miracles of God.
(21) And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand; but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."
The Lord told Moses that when he returned to Egypt he was to do the miracles with which He had empowered him, not only before the people, but before Pharaoh, as well. However, God let Moses know that Pharaoh would not let the people go. It might seem a harsh thing that God would harden Pharaoh's heart that he would not let the people go, and then he and the Egyptians would suffer because God had hardened Pharaoh's heart. It is important to know that God did not harden the heart of an otherwise just or innocent man. Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart against God and His people, but God could turn or soften anyone's heart, as He did at the end. Nothing ever happens that God doesn't allow to happen, so in effect, He Himself hardens or softens the heart. God could have softened Pharaoh's heart sooner, but He would not until He had struck Egypt with all His wonders. Also it is important to remember that this hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a righteous judgment for a long series of oppressions and cruelties. Yet another fact to remember is that God often allows bad things to happen or even causes them to happen to get His people to turn back to Him! Of course, that is where ultimate salvation is. Often people have to get to their lowest points before they turn back to God, so God allows those things for their salvation! I thought Adam Clarke addressed this beautifully in his Commentary on the Bible:
"From the whole of Pharaoh’s conduct we learn that he was bold, haughty, and cruel; and God chose to permit these dispositions to have their full sway in his heart without check or restraint from Divine influence: the consequence was what God intended, he did not immediately comply with the requisition to let the people go; and this was done that God might have the fuller opportunity of manifesting his power by multiplying signs and miracles, and thus impress the hearts both of the Egyptians and Israelites with a due sense of his omnipotence and justice. The whole procedure was graciously calculated to do endless good to both nations. The Israelites must be satisfied that they had the true God for their protector; and thus their faith was strengthened. The Egyptians must see that their gods could do nothing against the God of Israel; and thus their dependence on them was necessarily shaken. These great ends could not have been answered had Pharaoh at once consented to let the people go. This consideration alone unravels the mystery, and explains everything. Let it be observed that there is nothing spoken here of the eternal state of the Egyptian king; nor does anything in the whole of the subsequent account authorize us to believe that God hardened his heart against the influences of his own grace, that he might occasion him so to sin that his justice might consign him to hell. This would be such an act of flagrant injustice as we could scarcely attribute to the worst of men. He who leads another into an offense that he may have a fairer pretense to punish him for it, or brings him into such circumstances that he cannot avoid committing a capital crime, and then hangs him for it, is surely the most execrable of mortals. What then should we make of the God of justice and mercy should we attribute to him a decree, the date of which is lost in eternity, by which he has determined to cut off from the possibility of salvation millions of millions of unborn souls, and leave them under a necessity of sinning, by actually hardening their hearts against the influences of his own grace and Spirit, that he may, on the pretext of justice, consign them to endless perdition? Whatever may be pretended in behalf of such unqualified opinions, it must be evident to all who are not deeply prejudiced, that neither the justice nor the sovereignty of God can be magnified by them."
I love that! It is what I have truly come to know in my heart, that God is always fair and just and He knows the hearts of men. He knows what it will take to bring them to their knees back before Him, and He knows if they will ever accept Him. So when unbelievers use the question of people dying unfairly as examples of how there cannot be a just God, it just doesn't fly with me. For one thing, they are seeing this world and living in it, as reward, and that is not our reward; we are just passing through this sinful place. God said in Isaiah 57:1 that sometimes He chooses to have mercy and take people out of this sinful place to save them from the evil to come. So when innocent children suffer and die, they go to His bosom, and are so much happier than we could ever be on this earth. When good innocent people die, it's worse for the people left on earth, and that is possibly where salvation comes to those who are left. That could be one of those lowest points that brings a person to God. In John 9:1-3, Jesus's disciples asked Him about a blind man they had seen, and wondered who had sinned that he was born blind. Jesus said that neither he nor his parents had sinned to bring this judgment on him, "but that the works of God should be revealed in him." It was so that Jesus could heal him and bring others who witnessed it to salvation! I often think about this example when I hear Word of Faithers presuming to know the will of God and saying that God wants you to be healed and it is only your lack of faith holding you back. In this case, they would have been wrong. It was not God's will that this blind man be healed as a child, but at the time when Jesus would heal him for the benefit of witnesses who might become saved. Now back to Moses:
(22) “And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. (23) And I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”
As God had said He would, He told Moses exactly what to say to Pharaoh. He was to begin with "Thus says the LORD..." Pharaoh must know his message came from Jehovah. Moses must let Pharaoh know Israel's relationship to God, and God's concern for Israel. It was from reading Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible that I understood that the expression, “Israel is My son, My firstborn”, would have been something that Pharaoh well understood. Pharaoh's official designation was “son of Ra.” Quoting Mr. Barnes, "In numberless inscriptions the Pharaohs are styled 'own sons' or 'beloved sons' of the deity. It is here applied for the first time to Israel; and ...emphatically in antithesis to Pharaoh’s own firstborn." Moses was to demand of Pharaoh that he let God's son go in order that he might serve Him in a place He had designated, in a place safe and free as a son, not there in Goshen in oppression and servitude. Finally, Moses was to threaten Pharaoh with the death of his firstborn, which meant his own firstborn, as well as the firstborn of all his subjects, if he refused God's firstborn. I don't know if this was something Moses was necessarily supposed to say to Pharaoh at his first meeting with him, but it was something to which Pharaoh's refusals would ultimately lead.
(24) And it came to pass on the way, at the place of lodging, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. (25) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses's feet, and said, “Surely you are a bloody husband to me.” (26) So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a bloody husband” because of the circumcision.
This is a rather difficult passage that seems out of place. Moses, who was usually so good about writing about his own weaknesses and about God's displeasure with him, seems to have left a line or two out in this situation. It's obviously about circumcision; that much we know. There are many different thoughts about this, and even about whom God intended to kill. At first thought, it would seem to be Moses. God had just finished talking to Moses and told him what to say to Pharaoh, and as Moses was on his way, God sought to kill him. Note how Moses's wife, Zipporah, was the one who jumped into action and quickly performed the circumcision on her son, and then God let Moses go. I explored the thoughts of the early commentaries of Barnes, Clark, Gill, Henry, Scofield, Wesley, and even the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, on this. As Zipporah was the one who jumped into action, but then perhaps seemed disgusted with Moses as she threw the foreskin at his feet and called him a bloody husband (definitely because of the circumcision, as the scripture pointed out), there are a couple of different thoughts about this. One could be that Zipporah was the one who stood in the way of the circumcision before. Zipporah was a Midianite, and I have read that the Midianites most likely waited until age 13 to circumcise their sons, whereas God had instructed it be done on the 8th day. It seems reasonable to believe Zipporah knew about circumcision as she performed it correctly. Maybe Zipporah was the one who was the hindrance, and when she saw God's displeasure, jumped into action, saying essentially, "Okay, okay, I did the bloody act!" Or perhaps Zipporah recognized that Moses had been lax in his duty and she jumped into action. It could be that since God had sought to kill Moses, perhaps Moses was struck very ill and unable to perform the circumcision, and Zipporah, realizing what had to be done, quickly performed the deed.
It was Adam Clarke who suggested that verse 23 may not have been part of what Moses was supposed to tell Pharaoh, but was in fact, a message to Moses himself. That seems reasonable, since it doesn't appear that Moses was to tell Pharaoh upfront that God would kill Pharaoh's firstborn if he refused to let His firstborn go. Consider that God was telling Moses to let Moses's son go to serve the Lord, which he couldn't do until he was circumcised, and if he refused to do it, then God would kill that son. Perhaps the "him" that God sought to kill was the son, and that is why the mother hen Zipporah jumped into action so quickly to save her son. However it played out, it is evident that this was all about circumcision; and one other thought, is that Zipporah was not disgusted about the circumcision at all, but that her exclamation was more of congratulations or maybe thankfulness to God for the espousal of the child to God by the covenant of circumcision. After the quick circumcision of her son, God let Moses or his son, or maybe both, go. The plan to kill was withdrawn as a direct result of the circumcision.
(27) And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” And he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.
This is when God actually sent Aaron to Moses. In verse 14 above, God spoke about Aaron already coming to meet Moses. God knew it would be, but it looks like this is when He actually told Aaron to go. Perhaps Aaron was already receiving some leading of God's Holy Spirit, but this was the time he heard from God to go meet Moses. It appears Aaron obeyed immediately and God obviously led him to the mountain where He had met Moses previously. There the brothers met and kissed.
(28) And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. (29) And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
Moses told Aaron all of what the Lord had said to him, and about all the miracles He had empowered him to use. Aaron was ready and willing to proceed with God's plan, and the brothers gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
(30) And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. (31) And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Aaron, as Moses's spokesman, spoke all the words that the Lord had given Moses that he had certainly relayed to Aaron. It was Moses who performed the miracles in the sight of the people. I believe these were now all the people, after having first gone to the elders. The people believed that it was indeed God who had met with Moses, and when they realized that God Himself in His grace and mercy took a personal interest in them and their affliction, they bowed their heads in worship, surely thankful for His goodness and mercy.
The chronological study that I am doing is from A Chronological Bible Reading Schedule by Skip Andrews, and it now takes me back to Stephen in Acts with a recap:
(Acts 7:30) “And when forty years had passed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush."
Stephen was continuing what he had previously started in the retelling of Moses and his call, and was referring to 40 years after Moses had fled to Midian. Stephen referred to the mountain as Sinai, whereas Moses called it Horeb. I have read that both are peaks of the same mountain. He told how an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
(31) “When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him, (32) Saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look."
Moses wondered at the sight because as we read in Exodus, the bush was burning, yet was not consumed by the fire. When Moses turned aside to look at it, the Lord called out to him from the burning bush, saying He was the God of his fathers, the God of the living, the God of the covenant, and Moses dared not look upon God.
(33) “Then the LORD said to him, ‘Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. (34) I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’"
Stephen continued to retell the story of Moses at the burning bush where the Lord told Moses he was on sacred ground because of the Lord's presence. The Lord then told Moses that He had seen and heard the oppression of His people and that He had come to deliver them, and that He would send Moses to Egypt.
(35) “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. (36) He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of
Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years."
Stephen referred to Moses as one who was initially rejected (Exodus 2:13-14), but was indeed the one God had sent to be the deliverer of His people. Stephen said Moses did, in fact, bring the people out of Egypt, after performing miracles in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness. Stephen told the story of Moses as an example of God's deliverer who was first rejected by his people, but indeed delivered, as a picture of Christ who was sent as God's deliverer from the bondage and oppression of sin and of Satan, one who was also rejected by His people. As surely as Moses did deliver the people from Egypt, so much more so had Christ delivered His people from the bondage of sin and death!
Moses is one of those inspirational characters of the Bible, who was flawed and imperfect as we all are, but God worked through him to accomplish great things! He was a reluctant hero in the beginning, even arousing the anger of God, but God didn't reject him; He still used him to do mighty things. Moses was even a fugitive from the law! I believe that should give us all hope that God can use us no matter how miserable our beginnings! It matters how willing our hearts are to do His will now!
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