Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 18:1) When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses's father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt; (2) Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses's wife, after he had sent her back,
Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and the children of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt. He then took his daughter, Moses's wife, Zipporah, and went to meet him. It is not clear when Zipporah and Moses's sons returned to Midian to her father, but it may have been when they were on the way to Egypt from Midian, at the inn, when Zipporah took the sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses's feet (Exodus 4:25). That was the last we read of her until now. Perhaps she had been alarmed at the danger to which one of her sons had been exposed, and afraid of even worse, left Moses and returned to her father. Or perhaps Moses, foreseeing the troubles to which his wife and children were likely to be exposed had he taken them to Egypt, sent them back to his father-in-law until such time when God would deliver His people. Jethro, now finding that God had delivered them and destroyed their enemies, went to visit Moses and to bring his wife and sons back to him.
(3) And her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”; (4) And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”. (5) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Moses's wife, Zipporah, and his two sons with him. Gershom was Moses's firstborn son, as we read in Exodus 2:22, and his name literally meant "refugee"; he was born when Moses had fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in that foreign land. Moses's second son was Eliezer, which literally meant "God of help" or "God is help"; he so named him because God was his help and delivered him from Pharaoh. Jethro came with Zipporah and her sons Gershom and Eliezer, to Moses in the wilderness where he camped at Mount Horeb.
(6) And he said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” (7) And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; and they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.
Jethro obviously sent word to Moses when he was a way off that he was coming with Moses's wife and children. Moses went out to meet him, bowed out of respect to him, kissed him, and they each asked about how the other was doing, and then went inside the tent.
(8) And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. (9) And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Moses told Jethro about all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in order to deliver Israel from their hands. He told him about all the hardships they had encountered in the wilderness, and how the Lord had delivered them out of each and every one. Jethro was very happy to hear of all the good things the Lord had done for Israel.
(10) And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. (11) Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly, He was above them.”
Jethro gave the glory to God for what He had done. Now Jethro knew that the Lord was greater than all the other gods. In all the ways they acted proudly, whether it was the way they enslaved the children of Israel, or the magicians who tried to mimic the Lord, or Pharaoh himself laying down the law, in all the ways they dealt proudly, the Lord was greater than the Egyptians and all their gods. It was Matthew Henry who pointed out in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "While the Israelites were themselves murmuring, notwithstanding all God's goodness to them, here was a Midianite rejoicing." Jethro was a priest, a Midianite priest. What exactly did that mean with regard to his belief in the one true God? He was a godly man; that part seems obvious by his words and behavior. I don't believe Moses would have married the daughter of a pagan priest. Some say he was always a believer in the one true God, and this was just confirmation to him. Others believe he was at this time converted to the one true God. I believe it might be a little of both. Midian was a son of Abraham from his wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1-2). I have read that the Midianites worshiped a variety of gods, but as Abrahamic descendants, they would have had knowledge of the one true God. From scripture, we have to assume they had indeed turned away from the one true God as they were not included with God's children of Israel. Jethro, having knowledge of the one true God, and having now heard of His miraculous rescue and provision for His people, was convinced that this was the one true God, greater than all other gods he may have worshiped previously.
(12) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.
I believe it may have been to confirm with a sign of his belief in the one true God, and his desire to worship and give glory to the Lord, that Jethro then gave a burnt offering and offered sacrifices to the Lord. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to share and eat in the place of the offered sacrifices to the Lord.
(13) And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. (14) And when Moses's father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand by you from morning until evening?” (15) And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. (16) When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
Even though his father-in-law had come for a visit, it appears that on the next day, Moses was back to work, apparently counseling the people, answering inquiries, and judging controversies between people. It appears to have been an unending task, as people were lined up before him from morning until evening. Jethro asked Moses about it, I think his point being why Moses "alone" sat and judged the people from morning until evening. Moses answered matter-of-factly that he did it because the people came to him. He realized that they saw that God worked through Moses and spoke to him, so they came to him to know the will of God; and I am sure Moses was happy to be a mediator between God and the people, happy that they trusted him to be led by God, and happy they sought their Lord's will. Additionally, when the people had a matter they could not solve, they came to Moses to judge between the parties, making known God's laws in each situation.
(17) And Moses's father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. (18) You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself."
How many times do good people of integrity pile too much on themselves thinking it is their responsibility? Jethro, as the wise father-in-law, was teaching Moses to delegate! Sometimes it takes an outsider to see more clearly what is going on and what is needed. Jethro could see it was no good the way it was being done at present. Not that anything was morally wrong, but he could see how time consuming it was, and that Moses would wear himself out at that rate, and then wouldn't be any good to any of the people. The people's patience would probably wear thin having to wait in lines all day to hear what Moses had to say.
(19) “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the causes to God. (20) And you shall teach them ordinances and laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do."
Jethro was a wise man and may have been given understanding and a solution to Moses's problem by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He had just confessed that the Lord was greatest of all, and had sacrificed to the Lord, and might well have received insights from the Holy Spirit, as he made it a point to tell Moses to listen to him, he would give him counsel, and God would be with him. Moses was to stand before God between God and the people as their mediator, which sounds like what he had been doing, but it would come to mean just the difficult cases would come before Moses. Moses would teach the people about God's ordinances and laws; then they would not have to bring every little thing to him. He would not just teach them legalism, but he would show them the way in which they should walk before the Lord, and the works they should do. He would teach them about their way of life as children of the Lord.
(21) “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (22) And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. (23) If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
Additionally, Moses was to select men from all the people to be "rulers", as the scripture says, but their jobs appear to be judges; perhaps "wardens" or "overseers" or "managers" might be the preferred definitions of the word "sar". Although scripture doesn't say exactly how this was to work, I found this rather concise and sensible description of how it worked from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and others: "Whatever matter the decarch, or ruler over ten, could not decide, went to the pentecontarch, or ruler of fifty, and thence by degrees to the hecatontarch, or ruler over a hundred, to the chiliarch, or ruler over a thousand, to Moses, and at length to God himself. Each magistrate had the care or inspection of only ten men; the decarch superintended ten private characters; the hecatontarch ten decarchs; and the chiliarch, ten hecatontarchs."
I love this description of how Moses was to select judges! They were to be men who feared God, men of truth, and unselfish men who hated covetousness, the idea being that they would do their work for God, and would never pervert justice for personal gain. Imagine if we selected judges by that criteria now! Our land wouldn't be filled with the blood of tens of millions of unborn babies, for one thing! The men Moses selected were to judge at all times, taking care of all the small matters, bringing to Moses only what was too difficult for them to judge. In this way, it would be easier on Moses, as he would have "lower court judges", so to speak, bearing some of the burden of judging the people with him. Jethro offered this good advice and plan, but was modest enough to leave the decision of whether or not to invoke it, to Moses under the direction of God. However, if he did follow this plan, Jethro added that Moses would be able to endure and continue helping the people, and the people would be able to go to their places in peace, having had their disputes handled in a much more timely manner.
(24) So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Knowing the nature of Moses, I am quite sure he did pray about the matter and receive confirmation from God, and did follow the advice of his father-in-law. Moses was not afraid to take the advice of an outsider or "inferior". John Wesley said it well, "Those are not so wise as they would be thought to be, who think themselves too wise to be counselled; for a wise man will hear, and will increase learning, and not slight good counsel, though given by an inferior."
(25) And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the
people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and
rulers of tens. (26) And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
Moses indeed chose judges from among the people and made them heads of groups of people, and they judged the people's smaller matters at all times. Only the more difficult cases were brought to Moses.
(27) And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.
After that, Moses "let" his father-in-law leave. Perhaps he had been encouraging him to stay, as many of the commentaries I read point to a passage in Numbers believing it to be the same time as this, when Moses was doing just that. Perhaps he reluctantly allowed this wise counselor and aid to him to depart back to his own country. It does seem that Jethro now had, if not a new, definitely a renewed and enhanced knowledge of the Lord that he would now take back to his people in Midian. I am struck by this awesome example of how God often uses people to enact His will. God could have easily told Moses Himself how to set up this "judicial system". By using Jethro, someone who could have been considered Moses's inferior, Moses was helped by remaining humble and teachable. A "lesser" man could have certainly become terribly prideful by this time. God, in His mercy, was constantly teaching and refining Moses. In addition, think of all the good that could come from Jethro going back to his people to tell them of all that the Lord had done, and how he was convinced that He was the greatest of all gods. I always love watching a Godly plan come together!
Showing posts with label Zipporah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zipporah. Show all posts
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Moses Begins His Mission After More Objections
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!
(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!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Moses, the Prequel
I have been doing a chronological Bible study, the order of which was set forth by Skip Andrews here. Before continuing in Exodus, chapter 2, the chronological order directed me to Hebrews in the New Testament:
(Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
We learned at the end of the first chapter in Exodus that Pharaoh's last command to the people was to kill any boy Hebrew baby they came across. With this passage from the New Testament about the great faith of Moses, we learned that his parents hid their baby Moses for the first three months of his life. In reality, verse 23 spoke of Moses's parents' faith. They saw Moses was a special child and it was said they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I believe the sense is that once again they feared God more than men. They must have feared the commandment somewhat or they would not have hidden Moses, but their passion to save their beautiful baby was stronger than any fear of the king. As they were included in Hebrews' great people of faith, I have to believe when it says "they saw", that perhaps by the Holy Spirit of God, they knew Moses was special and must be saved. However, even without a unique vision from God, God-fearing people of faith would know that the king's commandment was against the laws of God and contrary to God's promise to multiply His people.
(24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
I'm not sure why the rest of the Hebrews passage about the faith of Moses would be placed chronologically before the rest of Exodus 2, but it is, and I find myself studying something that has not happened yet in Exodus 2. I believe the sense of the passage in this chronological place was to show that Moses, regardless of his upbringing, identified with the children of Israel. Although he could have surely enjoyed much honor and many benefits by being considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had more regard for the promises of God. Even though he would suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than probable ease and honor and comfort as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses chose to follow God. Moses was surely lifted up by God to be used by Him, and we know that God spoke to Moses, and the Holy Spirit of God surely inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Old Testament, so I feel certain that Moses had received prophetic knowledge of the coming Messiah, and that was by far the greatest reward, worth all the suffering that might come.
(Acts 7:17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, (18) Till another king arose who did not know Joseph."
Next in the chronological study, I was directed to Acts 7:17-29. Although this passage does not really take place chronologically before the rest of Exodus, Stephen was speaking about the time of Moses, and his speech may provide a more complete picture of the events leading up to the rest of Exodus. As Exodus 1 began, so began Stephen's retelling of the time when the children of Israel grew and multiplied in Egypt and there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.
(19) “This man dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil affected our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, that they might not live."
Stephen told of how the new pharaoh dealt with the children of Israel in Egypt. He used the original word "katasophizomai", which to me looks like a combination of "catastrophe" and "schizophrenia", and the meaning might actually be closer to that than you might think! The KJV translators used the phrase "dealt subtilly" which was similar to the word used by the pharaoh in Exodus 1:10 when he said he wanted to "deal wisely" with the Israelites, which was more craftiness and deceit than it was wisdom. Strong's gave the meaning of the original word as "to be crafty against, that is, circumvent". Consider "catastrophic splitting" or breaking, as we previously learned the Egyptians were trying to do to the Israelites, and "katasophizomai" covers it pretty well! Stephen told of how the pharaoh's evil plans affected their forefathers, that they should cast out their babies that they, and therefore the Hebrew nation, might not live and grow.
(20) "In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."
Stephen told how Moses was born during this time and was nourished in his father's house for three months, but was apparently cast out as ordered by the king, and was taken by Pharaoh's daughter to be her son.
(22) “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
It appears that Moses had the finest education, being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was "mighty" in words and in deeds. The word translated as "mighty" was "dunatos", and it meant "powerful" or "capable". As a learned man, he had a command of language and was a capable man of great abilities. We will learn later in Exodus that Moses considered himself slow of speech, so being mighty in words may not have meant that he was a great orator, but he was a learned man wise with words and possibly with a vast vocabulary and understanding of language. However, as Stephen was speaking about Moses in the past after the exodus, he might have been referring to Moses's mighty communications and deeds as he led the children of Israel from Egypt.
(23) "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel."
It appears that Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh for 40 years, and at the end of that time, it came to him to visit his people, the children of Israel, probably by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.
(24) “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."
We will learn when we return to Exodus that the Egyptian was striking a Hebrew, one of Moses's brethren, and Moses defended his brother by killing the Egyptian and hiding him in the sand. Moses was probably beginning to feel the leading of God to be the deliverer of his people and supposed that the people would understand that he was stepping in to save them, but they didn't see it that way at all.
(26) “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' (29) Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
The next day Moses appeared to two Hebrew men who were fighting and tried to intervene and reconcile them. However, when he asked why they were fighting, the one who was apparently in the wrong, shoved Moses away, and basically asked what right he had to interfere in their matter. When the man asked Moses if he would kill him as he killed the Egyptian the day before, Moses fled. We learn a little more of this incident in Exodus 2, that Moses was careful to be unobserved when he struck the Egyptian, so he now knew that what he had done was known, and he surely feared what would happen to him if Pharaoh heard what he had done. It appears that Moses made no further attempts to deliver Israel, but settled as a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:1) And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
The last thing we read in Exodus 1, was that Pharaoh had commanded his people to cast any Hebrew boy babies into the river. We now read of a man of the house of Levi who at this time married a daughter of Levi. We learned previously this was Amram, Moses's father, and Jochebed, his father’s sister.
(2) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
Moses's mother conceived and bore Moses during the time of that terrible decree that all male Hebrew babies be destroyed. Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were older than he was, so were no doubt born before this decree. Moses's mother hid him for three months. You would think that any mother would try to hide her newborn baby and do all that she could to save her child from an evil law that would have him killed. However, from the Hebrews passage above, we learned that Moses's parents had great faith, faith in God and His will, and not fear and therefore a kind of faith, in a godless king and government. Stephen said above that evil affected their fathers so that they cast out their young children. Yes, it was an evil king and an evil law, but the people themselves cast out their babies. Moses's parents chose not to do this evil thing. They instead chose God; they chose life! Is that not a beautiful picture of what we should do when faced with an evil law and government? They did the right thing and they were considered among the great people of faith in Hebrews!
(3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. (4) And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
When Moses's mother felt she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat for him, put him in it, and laid him in the reeds by the river's bank. She knew Moses's fate was death if she kept him with her, so her only hope that he might live was to put him in a basket and hope someone else would find him and save him. She even had his sister watching to see what would happen to him. When you think about it, Moses's mother must have placed him near where she knew the Egyptian princess might find him. Otherwise, if any other Egyptian had found him, he or she would have obeyed the king's commandment and killed the baby boy. If any Hebrew found him, he would be no safer than he was with his mother.
(5) And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Sure enough, Pharaoh's daughter came to that location in the river to wash and saw the little boat among the reeds. She sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it and saw the crying baby, she had compassion for him, realizing he was one of the Hebrew children, destined to die.
(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister had obviously been prepared for this possibility, and immediately asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should get her a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for her.
(8) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother.
I believe the maid here refers to "the maiden", Moses's sister, rather than the princess's own handmaiden. Pharaoh's daughter thought that was a good idea she had and sent her to find someone to nurse the baby. The girl went and fetched her own mother, also Moses's mother, again, obviously having been coached in this.
(9) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
And so Moses was saved from death, and his mother received the additional blessing of being paid to take care of her own child! I love how God works this way! I recall once when I was questioning whether my husband and I in good conscience could accept Social Security disability payments from such a wicked government as ours that promotes the killing of innocent babies, among many other evil things. He reminded me of this incident in the Bible where Moses's mother received wages for nursing her own child from the very household that killed Hebrew babies. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are or will be times when we must refuse to do evil if it is in conflict with God's laws, but in this instance, and in the matter of paying taxes to a wicked government, we have models. Jesus taught us to pay our taxes, and in the matter of accepting money from the government, we must remember that it is all God's anyway, and if He chooses to bless us with the government's money, we can accept it and thank and praise Him. However, I don't doubt that if it was in a person's heart not to accept money from an ungodly government, that God, knowing the person's heart, would find another way to bless him. That's the way our awesome God works! He is sovereign above all things and everyone, and He knows the heart of every man and woman.
(10) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Apparently, when the time of nursing was over, Moses's mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She called his name Moses, the original word being "mosheh", meaning "drawn forth".
The chronological order of this particular Bible study now takes me to Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60:
(Exodus 6:23) And Aaron took for himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
(Numbers 26:60) And to Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
As Aaron was older than Moses, it is assumed that he was grown and married while Moses was still young and living in the palace of Pharaoh. Aaron took Elisheba as wife, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon, a prince of the tribe of Judah. Elisheba bore Aaron four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:11) And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
I'm not crazy about this chronological order, as we have already been told about this incident by Stephen in the New Testament, long after it happened, but we are now returned to the time it originally happened. Moses was grown, 40 years old, according to Stephen, and he went out, apparently from the palace of Pharaoh where he had up to this point lived, to see his people, and he observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(12) And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
In this original telling of this incident, we see that Moses sought to be unobserved in what he did. He obviously felt justified in defending his brother, and from Stephen's telling, may have even felt led by God to rescue his people, but he surely knew that the slaying of an Egyptian would never be seen as justified by the Egyptians and by Pharaoh.
(13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your neighbor?” (14) And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
Moses was trying to hide what he did from the Egyptians, but he surely didn't expect his own people to spread the story and turn on him. He feared that surely this news would now spread to Pharaoh.
(15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. That is when Moses fled to the land of Midian. As he came to Midian, he sat down by a well.
(16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The original word translated as "priest" was "kohen" and meant either "priest" or "prince". It was suggested by early commentaries that he might have been a priest of the one true God, or at least as a descendant of Abraham, might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be considered a priest of His. Otherwise, Moses who was being drawn to his own people, surely would not have married one of his daughters, as we will soon learn he did. In addition, if the seven daughters were daughters of a pagan prince, they more than likely would not have been drawing water for their father's flock, but would have surely had servants for such a task. If their father was a prince, then the daughters were honorably born, and humble and industrious.
(17) And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Rude shepherds coming to the well, and possibly even to the very troughs the maidens had already filled, drove the maidens' flock and possibly the maidens themselves out of their way. Moses, ever the man of honor and justice, helped the maidens and watered their flock.
(18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
When the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, came to their father, he asked how they could have finished so soon. Evidently, with Moses's help, they watered their flock and returned much faster than usual.
(19) And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
Reuel's daughters mistook Moses for an Egyptian, probably judging by his dress and speech. I suppose he had been raised as an Egyptian up to this point.
(20) And he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
The girls had surely been modest and didn't even consider bringing a strange Egyptian man home with them. However, their father recognized the man's kindness and wished to show his gratitude, and asked that they call the man to come eat with them.
(21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Moses was content to live in or among Reuel's household, and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah in marriage to him.
(22) And she bore him a son; and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
Zipporah bore Moses a son whom he named Gershom, which literally meant "refugee". Moses felt forced to leave his people to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in this foreign land.
(23) And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
In the process of time, the current king of Egypt died, the one who had sought to kill Moses, but apparently things did not change for the children of Israel. They cried out to God because of the severity of their oppression and bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.
(24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God heard His people and "remembered" His covenant. It's not as if God ever forgets; He is ever mindful of all things. The sense of this "remembering" was that at that point, it was the proper time for God to act and to fulfill His promise and His covenant, proof that He remembered. God looked upon His children and acknowledged them and their oppression. God obviously had seen them and their situation for years leading up to this point. Apparently this was the proper time for God to act. In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Mr. Henry observed that God heard, remembered, looked, and acknowledged the people, after they cried out to Him. Verse 23 didn't say specifically that they cried "to God", but it certainly can be inferred, because before this time they groaned and bore their troubles and fretted inwardly, but they finally reached the point where they cried out. That is certainly the way with our God, and that theme is repeated throughout the Bible, that God waits until His people turn back to Him and realize they need only Him, and then He acts in a big way. Matthew Henry also pointed out that in verses 24 and 25, God's name is mentioned 4 times. The way he expressed it was, "The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention towards them....The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum - A work worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf." God was about to work in a big way!
(Exodus 6:25) And Eleazar Aaron's son took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phinehas; these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Since this is a chronological order I am studying, apparently sometime after Moses married Zipporah and began having a family, Aaron's son Eleazar also married. He married one of the daughters of a man named Putiel, and she bore him a son named Phinehas. These men were some of the heads of the Levites, mentioned among the sons of Levi in Exodus 6.
(Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
We learned at the end of the first chapter in Exodus that Pharaoh's last command to the people was to kill any boy Hebrew baby they came across. With this passage from the New Testament about the great faith of Moses, we learned that his parents hid their baby Moses for the first three months of his life. In reality, verse 23 spoke of Moses's parents' faith. They saw Moses was a special child and it was said they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I believe the sense is that once again they feared God more than men. They must have feared the commandment somewhat or they would not have hidden Moses, but their passion to save their beautiful baby was stronger than any fear of the king. As they were included in Hebrews' great people of faith, I have to believe when it says "they saw", that perhaps by the Holy Spirit of God, they knew Moses was special and must be saved. However, even without a unique vision from God, God-fearing people of faith would know that the king's commandment was against the laws of God and contrary to God's promise to multiply His people.
(24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
I'm not sure why the rest of the Hebrews passage about the faith of Moses would be placed chronologically before the rest of Exodus 2, but it is, and I find myself studying something that has not happened yet in Exodus 2. I believe the sense of the passage in this chronological place was to show that Moses, regardless of his upbringing, identified with the children of Israel. Although he could have surely enjoyed much honor and many benefits by being considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had more regard for the promises of God. Even though he would suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than probable ease and honor and comfort as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses chose to follow God. Moses was surely lifted up by God to be used by Him, and we know that God spoke to Moses, and the Holy Spirit of God surely inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Old Testament, so I feel certain that Moses had received prophetic knowledge of the coming Messiah, and that was by far the greatest reward, worth all the suffering that might come.
(Acts 7:17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, (18) Till another king arose who did not know Joseph."
Next in the chronological study, I was directed to Acts 7:17-29. Although this passage does not really take place chronologically before the rest of Exodus, Stephen was speaking about the time of Moses, and his speech may provide a more complete picture of the events leading up to the rest of Exodus. As Exodus 1 began, so began Stephen's retelling of the time when the children of Israel grew and multiplied in Egypt and there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.
(19) “This man dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil affected our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, that they might not live."
Stephen told of how the new pharaoh dealt with the children of Israel in Egypt. He used the original word "katasophizomai", which to me looks like a combination of "catastrophe" and "schizophrenia", and the meaning might actually be closer to that than you might think! The KJV translators used the phrase "dealt subtilly" which was similar to the word used by the pharaoh in Exodus 1:10 when he said he wanted to "deal wisely" with the Israelites, which was more craftiness and deceit than it was wisdom. Strong's gave the meaning of the original word as "to be crafty against, that is, circumvent". Consider "catastrophic splitting" or breaking, as we previously learned the Egyptians were trying to do to the Israelites, and "katasophizomai" covers it pretty well! Stephen told of how the pharaoh's evil plans affected their forefathers, that they should cast out their babies that they, and therefore the Hebrew nation, might not live and grow.
(20) "In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."
Stephen told how Moses was born during this time and was nourished in his father's house for three months, but was apparently cast out as ordered by the king, and was taken by Pharaoh's daughter to be her son.
(22) “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
It appears that Moses had the finest education, being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was "mighty" in words and in deeds. The word translated as "mighty" was "dunatos", and it meant "powerful" or "capable". As a learned man, he had a command of language and was a capable man of great abilities. We will learn later in Exodus that Moses considered himself slow of speech, so being mighty in words may not have meant that he was a great orator, but he was a learned man wise with words and possibly with a vast vocabulary and understanding of language. However, as Stephen was speaking about Moses in the past after the exodus, he might have been referring to Moses's mighty communications and deeds as he led the children of Israel from Egypt.
(23) "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel."
It appears that Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh for 40 years, and at the end of that time, it came to him to visit his people, the children of Israel, probably by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.
(24) “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."
We will learn when we return to Exodus that the Egyptian was striking a Hebrew, one of Moses's brethren, and Moses defended his brother by killing the Egyptian and hiding him in the sand. Moses was probably beginning to feel the leading of God to be the deliverer of his people and supposed that the people would understand that he was stepping in to save them, but they didn't see it that way at all.
(26) “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' (29) Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
The next day Moses appeared to two Hebrew men who were fighting and tried to intervene and reconcile them. However, when he asked why they were fighting, the one who was apparently in the wrong, shoved Moses away, and basically asked what right he had to interfere in their matter. When the man asked Moses if he would kill him as he killed the Egyptian the day before, Moses fled. We learn a little more of this incident in Exodus 2, that Moses was careful to be unobserved when he struck the Egyptian, so he now knew that what he had done was known, and he surely feared what would happen to him if Pharaoh heard what he had done. It appears that Moses made no further attempts to deliver Israel, but settled as a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:1) And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
The last thing we read in Exodus 1, was that Pharaoh had commanded his people to cast any Hebrew boy babies into the river. We now read of a man of the house of Levi who at this time married a daughter of Levi. We learned previously this was Amram, Moses's father, and Jochebed, his father’s sister.
(2) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
Moses's mother conceived and bore Moses during the time of that terrible decree that all male Hebrew babies be destroyed. Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were older than he was, so were no doubt born before this decree. Moses's mother hid him for three months. You would think that any mother would try to hide her newborn baby and do all that she could to save her child from an evil law that would have him killed. However, from the Hebrews passage above, we learned that Moses's parents had great faith, faith in God and His will, and not fear and therefore a kind of faith, in a godless king and government. Stephen said above that evil affected their fathers so that they cast out their young children. Yes, it was an evil king and an evil law, but the people themselves cast out their babies. Moses's parents chose not to do this evil thing. They instead chose God; they chose life! Is that not a beautiful picture of what we should do when faced with an evil law and government? They did the right thing and they were considered among the great people of faith in Hebrews!
(3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. (4) And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
When Moses's mother felt she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat for him, put him in it, and laid him in the reeds by the river's bank. She knew Moses's fate was death if she kept him with her, so her only hope that he might live was to put him in a basket and hope someone else would find him and save him. She even had his sister watching to see what would happen to him. When you think about it, Moses's mother must have placed him near where she knew the Egyptian princess might find him. Otherwise, if any other Egyptian had found him, he or she would have obeyed the king's commandment and killed the baby boy. If any Hebrew found him, he would be no safer than he was with his mother.
(5) And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Sure enough, Pharaoh's daughter came to that location in the river to wash and saw the little boat among the reeds. She sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it and saw the crying baby, she had compassion for him, realizing he was one of the Hebrew children, destined to die.
(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister had obviously been prepared for this possibility, and immediately asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should get her a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for her.
(8) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother.
I believe the maid here refers to "the maiden", Moses's sister, rather than the princess's own handmaiden. Pharaoh's daughter thought that was a good idea she had and sent her to find someone to nurse the baby. The girl went and fetched her own mother, also Moses's mother, again, obviously having been coached in this.
(9) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
And so Moses was saved from death, and his mother received the additional blessing of being paid to take care of her own child! I love how God works this way! I recall once when I was questioning whether my husband and I in good conscience could accept Social Security disability payments from such a wicked government as ours that promotes the killing of innocent babies, among many other evil things. He reminded me of this incident in the Bible where Moses's mother received wages for nursing her own child from the very household that killed Hebrew babies. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are or will be times when we must refuse to do evil if it is in conflict with God's laws, but in this instance, and in the matter of paying taxes to a wicked government, we have models. Jesus taught us to pay our taxes, and in the matter of accepting money from the government, we must remember that it is all God's anyway, and if He chooses to bless us with the government's money, we can accept it and thank and praise Him. However, I don't doubt that if it was in a person's heart not to accept money from an ungodly government, that God, knowing the person's heart, would find another way to bless him. That's the way our awesome God works! He is sovereign above all things and everyone, and He knows the heart of every man and woman.
(10) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Apparently, when the time of nursing was over, Moses's mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She called his name Moses, the original word being "mosheh", meaning "drawn forth".
The chronological order of this particular Bible study now takes me to Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60:
(Exodus 6:23) And Aaron took for himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
(Numbers 26:60) And to Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
As Aaron was older than Moses, it is assumed that he was grown and married while Moses was still young and living in the palace of Pharaoh. Aaron took Elisheba as wife, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon, a prince of the tribe of Judah. Elisheba bore Aaron four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:11) And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
I'm not crazy about this chronological order, as we have already been told about this incident by Stephen in the New Testament, long after it happened, but we are now returned to the time it originally happened. Moses was grown, 40 years old, according to Stephen, and he went out, apparently from the palace of Pharaoh where he had up to this point lived, to see his people, and he observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(12) And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
In this original telling of this incident, we see that Moses sought to be unobserved in what he did. He obviously felt justified in defending his brother, and from Stephen's telling, may have even felt led by God to rescue his people, but he surely knew that the slaying of an Egyptian would never be seen as justified by the Egyptians and by Pharaoh.
(13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your neighbor?” (14) And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
Moses was trying to hide what he did from the Egyptians, but he surely didn't expect his own people to spread the story and turn on him. He feared that surely this news would now spread to Pharaoh.
(15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. That is when Moses fled to the land of Midian. As he came to Midian, he sat down by a well.
(16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The original word translated as "priest" was "kohen" and meant either "priest" or "prince". It was suggested by early commentaries that he might have been a priest of the one true God, or at least as a descendant of Abraham, might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be considered a priest of His. Otherwise, Moses who was being drawn to his own people, surely would not have married one of his daughters, as we will soon learn he did. In addition, if the seven daughters were daughters of a pagan prince, they more than likely would not have been drawing water for their father's flock, but would have surely had servants for such a task. If their father was a prince, then the daughters were honorably born, and humble and industrious.
(17) And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Rude shepherds coming to the well, and possibly even to the very troughs the maidens had already filled, drove the maidens' flock and possibly the maidens themselves out of their way. Moses, ever the man of honor and justice, helped the maidens and watered their flock.
(18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
When the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, came to their father, he asked how they could have finished so soon. Evidently, with Moses's help, they watered their flock and returned much faster than usual.
(19) And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
Reuel's daughters mistook Moses for an Egyptian, probably judging by his dress and speech. I suppose he had been raised as an Egyptian up to this point.
(20) And he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
The girls had surely been modest and didn't even consider bringing a strange Egyptian man home with them. However, their father recognized the man's kindness and wished to show his gratitude, and asked that they call the man to come eat with them.
(21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Moses was content to live in or among Reuel's household, and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah in marriage to him.
(22) And she bore him a son; and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
Zipporah bore Moses a son whom he named Gershom, which literally meant "refugee". Moses felt forced to leave his people to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in this foreign land.
(23) And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
In the process of time, the current king of Egypt died, the one who had sought to kill Moses, but apparently things did not change for the children of Israel. They cried out to God because of the severity of their oppression and bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.
(24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God heard His people and "remembered" His covenant. It's not as if God ever forgets; He is ever mindful of all things. The sense of this "remembering" was that at that point, it was the proper time for God to act and to fulfill His promise and His covenant, proof that He remembered. God looked upon His children and acknowledged them and their oppression. God obviously had seen them and their situation for years leading up to this point. Apparently this was the proper time for God to act. In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Mr. Henry observed that God heard, remembered, looked, and acknowledged the people, after they cried out to Him. Verse 23 didn't say specifically that they cried "to God", but it certainly can be inferred, because before this time they groaned and bore their troubles and fretted inwardly, but they finally reached the point where they cried out. That is certainly the way with our God, and that theme is repeated throughout the Bible, that God waits until His people turn back to Him and realize they need only Him, and then He acts in a big way. Matthew Henry also pointed out that in verses 24 and 25, God's name is mentioned 4 times. The way he expressed it was, "The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention towards them....The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum - A work worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf." God was about to work in a big way!
(Exodus 6:25) And Eleazar Aaron's son took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phinehas; these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Since this is a chronological order I am studying, apparently sometime after Moses married Zipporah and began having a family, Aaron's son Eleazar also married. He married one of the daughters of a man named Putiel, and she bore him a son named Phinehas. These men were some of the heads of the Levites, mentioned among the sons of Levi in Exodus 6.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)