Chapter 4
My wife loves taking care of the elderly and has done so for many years. She managed all the caregivers and was always determined to ensure every resident was treated like her own mother or father. It was her passion. However, there was one thing she absolutely hated: public speaking. Part of her job required her to conduct monthly training sessions with her staff. She once told her boss after years of service, “I love this job, but I hate doing the training in front of everyone.” Despite knowing every person in the room and being familiar with every detail of the training, standing in front of everyone made her feel queasy.
Have you ever felt that way? I know I have. As a shy person, I still feel that way from time to time. Most of the time, it isn’t because I’m unprepared or ignorant of the material; it’s just because I don’t want to do it. It’s easier to sit back and watch. It’s much less fearful to stay out of the spotlight than to step into it and take the risk.
Moses faced a similar challenge. When he met God, he was in awe, but when God told him what He wanted him to do, Moses came up with excuse after excuse, from verse one all the way through verse ten. Finally, in verse thirteen, Moses gave up the excuses and simply asked, “Can you send someone else?” (Tim’s modern paraphrase.) With no more excuses, Moses admitted his true feelings: “I don’t want to do this. Can you find someone else?” In His mercy, God did provide an assistant for Moses, though this helper would cause problems down the road.
We can learn from this. Fear can keep us from walking in God’s perfect will. While God’s grace still covers us, there may be consequences later because of our weak choices now.
Signs for Moses
1 And Moses answered and said, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Jehovah has not appeared to us.’”
2 And Jehovah said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And Moses said, “A rod.” [a rod is symbolic of protection]
3 And God said, “Cast in on the ground.” And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And Jehovah said to Moses, “Reach out your hand, and take it by the tail.” (and Moses reached out his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.) 5 “This,” God said, “is so they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to You.” [This shows a physical, perhaps literal protection with God; not always to keep us away from all harm, but deliverance through it.]
6 And Jehovah said furthermore to him, “Put now your hand into your bosom.” And Moses put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, [leprosy is symbolic for sin.] as white as snow. 7 And God said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” (And he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other hand.) [We see again a subtle hint of Jesus’ mission: notice the hand going to the heart in these verses? It is out of the heart that our hands/actions become stained with sin. And it is by giving our heart to Jesus that our hands are washed clean from sin. Thus, this shows the spiritual purity we gain with God.]
8 God said, “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, nor listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which you take out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.” [A sign of judgement. Not only in the book of Exodus do we see this come about, but also in the book of Revelation.]
10 And Moses said to Jehovah, “Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither in the past, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” 11 And Jehovah said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes [a man] dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”
13 And Moses said, “Oh, Lord, I pray you, send someone else.” 14 And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he comes forth to meet you: and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 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 will teach you what you shall do. 16 And he shall be your spokesman to the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to you a mouth, and you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take in your hand this rod, where you shall do the signs.”
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go, I pray you, so that I may return to my brothers that are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 And Jehovah said unto Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men are dead that sought your life.” 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21 And Jehovah said unto Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what Jehovah says, Israel is my son, my first-born.’ 23 and I have said to you, ‘Let my son go, that he may serve me. But you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your first-born.’”
24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met Moses, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint knife, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at Moses feet; and she said, “Surely a bridegroom of blood are you to me.” 26 So God let him alone. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision.” [Moses had been living in the dessert for 40 years. He married and had children. However, he failed to circumcise his son according to the covenant of Abraham. Perhaps because his wife and her family were not a tribe of the covenant. Before launching into this mission, God took issue with this. We don’t know much about the history that led to this event, but we can see his wife took serious issue with the circumcision. She appears to have reluctantly performed it. She later leaves Moses altogether. It can be a trial in a relationship when one chooses to follow God and one does not. Moses allowed her to leave.]
27 And Jehovah said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” And he went, and met Moses in the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him.
29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed, and when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
