Exodus 04

 

The Source of Sufficiency

1Moses answered again, “And if they do not believe me or pay attention to me, but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?” 

 

Moses gave his third objection of why he was not qualified to lead Israel out of Egypt. He did not think that the Jews would believe him.

 

2The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 

 

God gave his answer in verses 2-9. Moses was holding a staff in his hand. The staff was the main tool of a shepherd. The Egyptians despised shepherds. This tool of the despised shepherd would be used to battle the plurality of the gods of Egypt.

 

3The Lord said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran from it. 

 

The serpent was worshipped in many ancient cultures, including Egypt.

 

4But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grab it by the tail” – so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand – 

 

Since man is totally depraved and evil, this miracle will not convince him to believe in God, unless God supernaturally changes his attitude.

 

5“that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

 

The only ones who will be able to believe in God are those that God has chosen to do so before the foundations of the world.

 

6The Lord also said to him, “Put your hand into your robe.” So he put his hand into his robe, and when he brought it out – there was his hand, leprous like snow! 

 

Jehovah was going to prove the doctrine of election and predestination by allowing Moses to perform some powerful miracles. Moses’ hand will turn leprous, which was a loathsome and incurable disease of that day.

 

7He said, “Put your hand back into your robe.” So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe – there it was, restored like the rest of his skin! 

 

This was the first time in history that leprosy had been cured. This should have convinced everyone that Moses spoke for God. However, because of total depravity, only those who were called by God will believe.

 

Notice that it was God who cured the leprosy. When Jesus would later heal leprosy during His earthly ministry then He would prove to the Jewish people that He was God.

 

8“If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign. 

 

God will give Moses a third miraculous sign.

 

9And if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

 

The Egyptians worshipped the Nile River. They called it “the artery of Egypt.” It overflowed twice a year, bringing the Egyptians large crops. 

 

There were three purposes of these miracles. First, they would strengthen the faith and confidence of Moses. Second, they would authenticate that the message from Moses was actually a message from God. Third, it would show Pharaoh and all of Egypt that Jehovah was superior to their Egyptian polytheistic system.

 

10Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

 

Moses gave his fourth objection. He did not think that he was eloquent enough in speech to convince Pharaoh of obeying God’s command.

 

11The Lord said to him, “Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 

 

God’s answer was that He was the one who created the mouth of Moses.

 

12So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say.”

 

God will speak through Moses. Before his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ promised the apostles that they would be brought before kings, but the Holy Spirit would give them the words to speak.

 

13But Moses said, “O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”

 

Moses’ fifth objection was that he politely asked God to send someone else.

 

14Then the Lord became angry with Moses, and he said, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak very well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.

 

Notice that God possesses emotions, just like His creation. The response of Moses made God angry. Many skeptics will claim that since God became angry, then He was guilty of sin. However, there is a righteous anger. Righteous anger is not a sin.

 

Thutmose III was dead and no longer a threat to Moses. Aaron traveled to the Sinai desert to deliver this message to his brother, Moses.

 

Notice that God called Moses to deliver a message from God to Pharaoh. However, Moses used his free will to say “no.” Therefore, God then chose another person who would be happy to perform this service for God. If God calls a believer into service, but the call is rejected, then God will choose someone else to complete the task. God will give the rewards in heaven to the one who was obedient to the call of God.

 

15“So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do. 

 

God will do the talking through Moses and Aaron.

 

16He will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were his God. 

 

Aaron will be the mouth of God. He will receive the pleasure of serving God.

 

17You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”

 

The shepherd staff was despised by the Egyptians.

 

The Return of Moses

18So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 

 

Moses returned the flock to Jethro. Jethro was the head of the family tribe, so Moses had to receive permission from Jethro.

 

19The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 

 

This was God’s second message to Moses. Thutmose III was dead. Moses was now free to return to Egypt.

 

20Then Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and headed back to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 

 

Notice that Moses left with his wife and both sons. The entire family of Moses was given the opportunity to observe all of the miracles that God would perform in Egypt.

 

21The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 

 

This was God’s third message to Moses. Ten times in Exodus, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Four times, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Six times, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened in a neutral sense.

 

Man is born with a hard heart. He is totally depraved and evil. He does not seek God. He does not understand God. He wants nothing to do with God. If God leaves man alone, then man’s heart is too hard to turn to God. If the Gospel is given, then the Gospel will harden the heart of man even more. Man is born in a lost condition. His heart is too hard to turn to God. Unless God intervenes, man will reject Christ and burn in the Lake of Fire forever. This was the condition of Pharaoh. God was going to give him a powerful witness of miracles, but these miracles will harden Pharaoh’s heart even more.

 

When a believer presents the gospel to a lost person, this message is supernatural. If God changes the attitude of the listener, then the message will soften the heart and lead to the person’s salvation. If God leaves the receiver alone, then the receiver’s heart will be hardened even more, and the message from God will be rejected. It is not the persuasiveness of the presentation that saves. If this was true, then someone could argue that God should not allow him to burn in the Lake of Fire, because God sent someone with a faulty presentation. Instead, the saving is 100% God and 0% human. God sends a person to teach the gospel. God changes the attitude of the lost person so that they can hear it and respond to it. Once God changes the person’s attitude, the human will of the changed person will say “yes” to salvation.

 

Therefore, Pharaoh was born with a hard heart. God decided not to change his attitude. The message from God hardened Pharaoh’s heart even more. The doctrine of election and predestination was proven to angels and men through this historical event.

 

Everyone born into this world will possess a heart of Pharaoh. God will leave most men alone to make their own decision. Their free will choice always says “no.”  God will show mercy to some and change their attitude. Those lucky enough to be chosen by God will say “yes” to salvation.

 

22You must say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 

 

Israel was the firstborn son of God. They will receive the double blessing rights of the first born. However, they will also receive double punishment. Pharaoh was persecuting God’s firstborn son. 

 

23and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!”’”

 

Pharaoh violated the Abrahamic Covenant by persecuting Jehovah’s firstborn son. Therefore, Egypt will receive the kind-for-kind curse of the Abrahamic Covenant. Since Pharaoh was attempting to kill God's firstborn son, then God would kill the first born son of Pharaoh.

 

24Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. 

 

Jehovah struck Moses with a fatal disease.

 

25But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 

 

According to the Abrahamic Covenant, every male was to be circumcised on the eighth day. Moses circumcised his first son. When the second son was born, Zipporah interfered and would not allow Moses to circumcise their new son. Moses cannot lead the chosen nation if he cannot control his own wife. Therefore, God was going to take the life of Moses and choose another deliverer.

 

Moses was so sick, that now ZIpporah had to perform the circumcision on her son in order to save Moses’ life. She insulted God and Moses by calling Moses “a bloody bridegroom.” 

 

26So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.)

 

This insult by Zipporah caused her and her two sons to stay behind in Midian and miss all of the miracles of Egypt which God would perform. Zipporah was not a help-mate to her husband. They were unequally yoked. Moses wanted to do things for God, such as becoming the deliverer of the Abrahamic Covenant. Zipporah wanted to remain in a carnal condition and do things by her own human viewpoint.

 

27The Lord said to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss. 

 

Aaron met Moses at Mount Sinai. The kiss was the standard Jewish cultural greeting of that time.

 

28Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him. 

 

Moses informed Aaron of God’s coming exodus program.

 

29Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders. 

 

Moses and Aaron met with the elders of Israel.

 

30Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people, 

 

Moses performed miraculous signs to authenticate that their message was from God. This was the same purpose for the miracles of Jesus and for those miracles of the apostles in the Book of Acts.

 

31and the people believed. When they heard that the Lord had attended to the Israelites and that He had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.

 

The Jewish elders believed Moses. They worshipped Jehovah. Their day of deliverance was about to take place.