Reflections on Exodus 4

 

Exodus 04 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Moses asked the LORD, "Suppose everyone refuses to listen to my message, and no one believes that you really appeared to me?"
2. The LORD answered, "What's that in your hand?" "A walking stick," Moses replied.
3. "Throw it down!" the LORD commanded. So Moses threw the stick on the ground. It immediately turned into a snake, and Moses jumped back.
4. "Pick it up by the tail!" the LORD told him. And when Moses did this, the snake turned back into a walking stick.
5. "Do this," the LORD said, "and the Israelites will believe that you have seen me, the God who was worshiped by their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
6. Next, the LORD commanded Moses, "Put your hand inside your shirt." Moses obeyed, and when he took it out, his hand had turned white as snow--like someone with leprosy.
7. "Put your hand back inside your shirt," the LORD told him. Moses did so, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8. Then the LORD said, "If no one believes either of these miracles, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. The water will immediately turn into blood."
9. (SEE 4:8)
10. Moses replied, "I have never been a good speaker. I wasn't one before you spoke to me, and I'm not one now. I am slow at speaking, and I can never think of what to say."
11. But the LORD answered, "Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don't you know that I am the one who does these things?
12. Now go! When you speak, I will be with you and give you the words to say."
13. Moses begged, "LORD, please send someone else to do it."
14. The LORD became irritated with Moses and said: What about your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know he is a good speaker. He is already on his way here to visit you, and he will be happy to see you again.
15. Aaron will speak to the people for you, and you will be like me, telling Aaron what to say. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will tell each of you what to do.
16. (SEE 4:15)
17. Now take this walking stick and use it to perform miracles.
18. Moses went to his father-in-law Jethro and asked, "Please let me return to Egypt to see if any of my people are still alive." "All right," Jethro replied. "I hope all goes well."
19. But even before this, the LORD had told Moses, "Leave the land of Midian and return to Egypt. Everyone who wanted to kill you is dead."
20. So Moses put his wife and sons on donkeys and headed for Egypt, holding the walking stick that had the power of God.
21. On the way the LORD said to Moses: When you get to Egypt, go to the king and work the miracles I have shown you. But I will make him so stubborn that he will refuse to let my people go.
22. Then tell him that I have said, "Israel is my first-born son,
23. and I commanded you to release him, so he could worship me. But you refused, and now I will kill your first-born son."
24. One night while Moses was in camp, the LORD was about to kill him.
25. But Zipporah circumcised her son with a flint knife. She touched his legs with the skin she had cut off and said, "My dear son, this blood will protect you."
26. So the LORD did not harm Moses. Then Zipporah said, "Yes, my dear, you are safe because of this circumcision."
27. The LORD sent Aaron to meet Moses in the desert. So Aaron met Moses at Mount Sinai and greeted him with a kiss.
28. Moses told Aaron what God had sent him to say, he also told him about the miracles God had given him the power to perform.
29. Later they brought together the leaders of Israel,
30. and Aaron told them what the LORD had sent Moses to say. Then Moses worked the miracles for the people,
31. and everyone believed. They bowed down and worshiped the LORD because they knew that he had seen their suffering and was going to help them.
    

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    God told Moses, recorded in the previous chapter, what he was to do and the outcome. Moses voiced a couple of objections to his assignment. "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh" (3:11) was his first objection. God assured him that He would be with him. Then Moses said, "If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, 'What is His name?' what should I tell them?" (3:13) God told him to reply that "I AM WHO I AM" is His name. Moses was not satisfied, though. In chapter 4 several more objections are recorded, objecting to the point that God became angry with Moses.
    
    First Moses was concerned the Israelite elders would ask him the name of the god who spoke to him. Then he was concerned they wouldn't believe him. In response to this concern God demonstrated two signs and described a third that He would give Moses to use to convince them. The first was the turning of Moses' rod into a snake and then back to a rod. Next He made Moses' hand diseased and then restored it. The third sign God only described to Moses. If the elders did not believe because of the first two signs they would because of the third. With this sign Moses would take water from the Nile, pour it out on the ground and it would become blood. This would be the most convincing of the three signs. Each of the signs had significance to the Egyptians. Snakes symbolized power and life to them. The disease to his hand was a prevalent disease of the day and considered incurable. And the Nile was regarded by the Egyptians to be the source of life and productivity. Having power over the Nile through Moses' demonstration would prove God had given him the ability to overcome the Egyptians.
    
    These three signs, however, were not enough to allay Moses' fears. Next he objected that he was "slow and hesitant in speech." God assured him that He, who had made his mouth, could help him speak and teach him what to say. But Moses was still not convinced. Finally, he said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." (4:13) I suspect that this request gets to the bottom of the issue. Moses' fears, though probably real, were not the real issue. Rather it was the willingness of his heart that was the root issue. He did not want to step out from his comfortable life to take on such a daunting task - even if God did make him successful. Oh, how I can identify with that! How much of our objections to God are just a smokescreen to what the real issue is. Our hearts are simply unwilling!
    
    Moses' insistent hesitancy to do what God was telling him to do finally raised God's ire - He became angry with Moses. But in this we also see God's persistent patience. He didn't give up on Moses or strike him down. He made another provision instead, sending Moses' brother Aaron to be the spokesperson. We also see that God knew full well that Moses would object as he did and had already dispatched Aaron to meet him. I am inclined to believe, however, that although Aaron could "speak well," this was not why God used him for this purpose. God would help Aaron speak just as He planned to do with Moses. God's first choice was to have Moses do the speaking even though he was not "eloquent" of speach. It is always in God's power and not our own abilities that we effectively serve Him. Sometimes the ability gets in the way.