96 lines
24 KiB
HTML
96 lines
24 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<html><head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script>
|
|
currentBook = 'Exd';
|
|
currentChapter = 4;
|
|
PriorBook = 'Genesis';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Gen_1.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Exodus 3';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Exd_3.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'Leviticus';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Lev_1.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Exodus 5';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Exd_5.html';
|
|
Title = 'Study Guide for Exodus 4';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'all');">Exd 4</a> - Moses' Commission from God</h2>
|
|
<p>A. God gives Moses signs to confirm his ministry.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,1);">1</a>) Moses asks, "How will they believe me?"</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The <span class="c6">Lord</span> has not appeared to you.'"</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">But suppose they will not believe me</span></b>: It was not wrong for Moses to initially ask <i>Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?</i> in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,11);">Exd 3:11</a>; this was a logical question considering how great the task was. Yet God answered this question more than adequately in <a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,12);">Exd 3:12</a>: <i>I will certainly be with you</i>. After that point, and in this passage, Moses' questions show unbelief more than sincere seeking.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice</span></b>: In <a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,18);">Exd 3:18</a>, God promised that the leaders of Israel <i>would</i> listen to Moses. He said, "<i>they will heed your voice</i>." When Moses makes this protest he may as well be saying, "But what if you are wrong, God?"</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. It was good when Moses had no confidence in the flesh; but it is bad that he now lacked confidence in God.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'2-5');">2-5</a>) The first sign: Moses' rod turns to a snake and back again.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">So the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to him, "What <i>is </i>that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take <i>it </i>by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), that they may believe that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">What is that in your hand</span></b>: This reflects a precious principle regarding how God uses men - God used what Moses had in his <b><span class="c3">hand</span></b>. Moses' years of tending sheep were not useless. Those years had put into Moses <b><span class="c3">hand</span></b> things he could use for God's glory. God didn't use the scepter that was in Moses' royal hand when he lived in Egypt, but He did use the simple shepherd's staff.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. God likes to use what is in our hand.</p><ul class="c6"><li>God used what was in Shamgar's hand (<a onclick="return mV('Jdg',3,31);">Jdg 3:31</a>)</li><li>God used what was in David's hand (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',17,49);">1Sa 17:49</a>)</li><li>God used the jawbone of a donkey in Samson's hand (<a onclick="return mV('Jdg',15,15);">Jdg 15:15</a>)</li><li>God used five loaves and two fish in the hand of a little boy (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',6,9);">Jhn 6:9</a>)</li></ul>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">He said, "A rod"</span></b>: That rod of Moses would part the Red Sea. It would strike a rock and see water pour forth. It would be raised over battle until Israel was victorious. It would be called <i>the rod of God</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,20);">Exd 4:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Exd',17,9);">17:9</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">It became a serpent</span></b>: Not only did Moses' rod become a snake; it became a real snake that was frightening enough to Moses that he ran from it.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Reach out your hand and take it by the tail</span></b>: We see the faith of Moses when he reached out to grab the snake when God commanded him to. The tail is the most dangerous place to grab a snake; yet Moses was unharmed.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. In this little incident Moses learned how to do what God tells him to do even when it is uncomfortable.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">That they may believe that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> God of their fathers...has appeared to you</span></b>: This miracle would make the children of Israel realize that <b><span class="c3">the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob</span></b> was with them and that the God of the covenant had not forsaken them.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'6-9');">6-9</a>) The second and third signs: Moses is made leprous and whole again; water turns to blood and back again.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">Furthermore the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said 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 <i>was </i>leprous, like snow. And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his <i>other </i>flesh. "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour <i>it </i>on the dry <i>land. </i>And the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry <i>land</i>."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">It was restored like his other flesh</span></b>: Each of the first two signs have to do with <i>conversion</i>. Something good and useful (a rod or a hand) is converted to something evil (a serpent or a leprous hand), and significantly, they are then converted back again.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. There was a real message in the first two signs. The first said, "Moses, if you obey Me, your enemies will be made powerless." The second said "Moses, if you obey Me, your pollution can be made pure." Doubts in each of these areas probably hindered Moses, and before those signs ministered to anyone else, the ministered to Moses. This is the pattern with all God's leaders.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land</span></b>: The third sign is simply a sign of judgment. Good, pure waters were made foul and bloody by the work of God and they did not turn back again. This showed that if the miracles of conversion did not turn the hearts of the people, then perhaps the sign of judgment will. <b><span class="c3">If they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice</span></b> shows that if the sign of judgment is only given when unbelief persists in the face of the miracles of conversion right before them.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,10);">10</a>) Moses makes an excuse: "I can't speak well."</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">Then Moses said to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, "O my Lord, I <i>am </i>not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I <i>am </i>slow of speech and slow of tongue."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">O my Lord, I am not eloquent</span></b>: After these remarkably persuasive signs, Moses still objected to God's call. Moses revealed that he was not confident with his ability to speak - <b><span class="c3">slow of speech</span></b> is literally "heavy of mouth."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">I am slow of speech and slow of tongue</span></b>: It seems that Moses' excuse was not justified. Clearly 40 years before this Moses was not <b><span class="c3">slow of speech and slow of tongue</span></b>. <a onclick="return mV('Act',7,22);">Act 7:22</a> says <i>Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds</i>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. In those years of silence - preaching only to the sheep - Moses had to deal with all the discouragement and sense of failure and condemnation that accumulated over 40 years. It isn't hard to see why he now believes he can't do what he clearly thought he could do before.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. Instead of Moses "regressing" in speaking ability during those years in the desert, it is far more reasonable to believe that he has simply lost confidence in himself - something that can be good, but not if it makes him lose confidence in what God can do in him.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">5. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'11-12');">11-12</a>) God's response to Moses' excuse.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">So the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? <i>Have </i>not I, the <span class="c6">Lord</span>? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Who made man's mouth?</span></b> The fact that Moses believed that he was not eloquent is completely beside the point. The God who created the most eloquent mouths who ever lived was on his side.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the <span class="c6">Lord</span>?</span></b> This is a dramatic statement revealing the sovereignty of God, and God reveals it in the context of an invitation to trust God and to work with Him.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. There is not the slightest sense of fatalism in this declaration of God's sovereignty. It is <i>never</i> "God is so mighty we can't do anything," but it is <i>always</i> "God is so mighty, He can work through us if we make ourselves available."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. Some have thought it cruel that God would say He <b><span class="c3">makes the mute, the deaf,...the blind</span></b>. Nevertheless the point here is not to analyze the origin of evil, but to show that God is so mighty that He can even call the mute, the deaf, and the blind to do His work. Moses' perceived inadequacies don't matter at all.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. If Moses was a poor speaker, was this news to God? Does God have trouble keeping track of who is deaf, who is blind, and who is mute? Does Moses really think God made a mistake here?</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. If Moses was a poor speaker, it didn't matter - the mighty God said, "<b><span class="c3">I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say</span></b>." By extension, God is sufficient for us, no matter what real or imagined inadequacies we have.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">6. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'13-17');">13-17</a>) Moses' unwillingness, and God's reply.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever <i>else </i>You may send." So the anger of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now 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. So 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. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Please send by the hand of whomever else You may send</span></b>: Finally, Moses is done with excuses and declares the real state of his heart. Simply, he would much rather that God send someone else. His problem isn't really a lack of ability, it is a lack of willingness.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. "It's common for men to give pretended reasons instead of one real one." (Benjamin Franklin)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">So the anger of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> was kindled against Moses</span></b>: God was not angry when Moses asked, "<i>Who am I?</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,11);">Exd 3:11</a>). He was not angry when Moses asked, "Who should I say sent me?" (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,13);">Exd 3:13</a>). He was not angry when Moses disbelieved God's Word and said, "<i>suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,1);">Exd 4:1</a>). He was not even angry when Moses falsely claimed that he was not and had never been eloquent (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,10);">Exd 4:10</a>) - but God <i>was</i> angry when Moses was just plain unwilling.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. There may be a hundred understandable reasons why Moses was unwilling, some of them making a lot of sense. Perhaps Moses really <i>wanted</i> to serve, but was unwilling because of past rejection. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Moses was <i>unwilling</i>, not <i>unable</i>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well</span></b>: When God brought Aaron to help lead with Moses, it was an expression of His chastening to Moses, not of His approval or "giving in" to Moses. Aaron was more of a <i>problem</i> to Moses than help.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Aaron did turn out to be a source of problems for Moses. Aaron instigated the worship of the golden calf, fashioning the calf himself and building the altar himself (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,'1-6');">Exd 32:1-6</a>). Aaron's sons blasphemed God with impure offerings (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',10,'1-7');">Lev 10:1-7</a>). At one time, Aaron openly led a mutiny against Moses (<a onclick="return mV('Num',12,'1-8');">Num 12:1-8</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. As these episodes unfolded, Moses surely looked back at why the <span class="c6">Lord</span> gave Aaron to Moses as a partner - because God was angry at Moses' unwillingness.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">I know that he can speak well</span></b>: Aaron was a smooth talker, but a man weak on <i>content</i>. Moses had to put the words of God into the mouth of Aaron (<b><span class="c3">you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth</span></b>). In this sense Aaron was like a modern-day news anchorman, who does nothing but read what others have written for him.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Aaron wasn't God's spokesman; he was the spokesman of Moses. God doesn't need leaders like this. It isn't God's way to have a man minister as a smooth talker but not be qualified for leadership. God wants to combine the offices of "talker" and "leader."</p>
|
|
<p>B. Moses leaves Midian, goes to Egypt.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,18);">18</a>) Moses asks leave of his father-in-law Jethro to go to Egypt.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brethren who <i>are </i>in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">So Moses went</span></b>: When the fire fades from the burning bush and when the voice of God is silent across the desert, then it is upon us to <i>obey</i>, and to do what God told us to do. More than one person has had a spectacular "burning bush" experience and then carried on as if it had never happened.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Did Moses have any idea what he was getting into when he agreed to take the <span class="c6">Lord</span>'s call? Could he see the Egyptian army closing in, and God parting the Red Sea through Moses' hand? Could he see the song of victory, the water from the rock, the manna from heaven, the battles won through prayer? Could he see vision of God on Mount Sinai, the voice of God from heaven, the tablets of stone, the golden calf? Could he see the tabernacle built, the priests consecrated? Could he see the spies sent forth into Canaan, the response of unbelief, and a thirty-eight year sentence to wander the wilderness? Could he see a lonely climb to the top of Mount Pisgah, where he would die looking out over the land of promise? Could he see the honor of sitting beside the <span class="c6">Lord</span> on the Mount of Transfiguration? Did Moses have any idea what he was getting into?</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Please let me go</span></b>: Moses is a good example of the truth that serving God doesn't mean neglecting your employer. Moses made sure that it was clear for him to go.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive</span></b>: As well, Moses didn't really tell his father-in-law the story behind his desire to return to Egypt. Perhaps he just felt it was too fantastic, and would rather let God demonstrate His Word through fulfilling it.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. It is far more important - and more beneficial - for others to see the fruit of God's guidance in your life than to hear you explain all you believe God said to you.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'19-23');">19-23</a>) God tells Moses how events will unfold in Egypt.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">And the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead." Then 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. And the <span class="c6">Lord</span> 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, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the <span class="c6">Lord</span>: "Israel <i>is </i>My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn."' "</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">The men who sought your life are dead...I will harden his heart</span></b>: God knew Moses was safe in Egypt, and so eased his mind from this anxiety; but God also knew that He would <b><span class="c3">harden</span></b> Pharaoh's heart, and that it would take the death of the firstborn before Pharaoh would agree to release the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Sometimes, it says that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,21);">Exd 4:21</a>). Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',8,15);">Exd 8:15</a>). Sometimes it says simply that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, without saying who did it (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',7,13);">Exd 7:13</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. Who really hardened Pharaoh's heart? We might say that it was both God and Pharaoh; but whenever God hardened Pharaoh's heart, He never did it <i>against</i> Pharaoh's will. Pharaoh never said, "Oh, I want to do what is good and right and I want to bless these people of Israel" and God answered, "No, for I will harden your heart against them!" When God hardened Pharaoh's heart, He allowed Pharaoh's heart to do what Pharaoh wanted to do - God was giving Pharaoh over to his sin (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,'18-32');">Rom 1:18-32</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">iii. "God does not harden men by putting evil into them, but by not giving them mercy." (Augustine)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Israel is My son, My firstborn</span></b>: As a picture, God regarded Israel as His <b><span class="c3">firstborn</span></b> and God knew that there would be an exchange of His <b><span class="c3">firstborn</span></b> (Israel) and Egypt's firstborn.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'24-26');">24-26</a>) Moses' life is spared on the way.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast <i>it </i>at <i>Moses' </i>feet, and said, "Surely you <i>are </i>a husband of blood to me!" So He let him go. Then she said, <i>"You are </i>a husband of blood!" because of the circumcision.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> met him and sought to kill him</span></b>: This is a mysterious event; but it seems that God is confronting Moses - in the strongest possible way - because Moses had not circumcised his son. God demands that this be set right before Moses enter Egypt and begin to fulfill the call of God.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. There is often a point of confrontation in the life of the leader where God demands that they lay aside some area of compromise, and will not allow them to progress further until they do.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Surely you are a husband of blood to me!</span></b> Perhaps Zipporah objected to the rite of circumcision. She was not an Israelite and may have thought it a barbaric custom. Perhaps this was why God held Moses accountable (for not doing what was right, even though his wife didn't like it), but disabled Moses so that Zipporah had to perform the circumcision itself.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Some wonder why Moses' wife seems so bitter here. Perhaps for the first time she recognizes the serious nature of her husband's call and how important it is for their whole family to walk in the ways of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,'27-31');">27-31</a>) Moses and Aaron present themselves to the people of Israel.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">And the <span class="c6">Lord</span> said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. So Moses told Aaron all the words of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. So the people believed; and when they heard that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">So he went and met him on the mountain of God</span></b>: God told Moses that He would send Aaron to him (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',4,14);">Exd 4:14</a>), and now it happens. God is showing Moses that He keeps His promises. </p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">So the people believed</span></b>: It happened just as God said. God had promised <i>then they will heed your voice</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',3,18);">Exd 3:18</a>), and the people of Israel did - and their excitement was real as they anticipated the deliverance of the nation.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">When they heard that the <span class="c6">Lord</span> had visited the children of Israel</span></b>: Years before when Moses offered himself as a deliverer to Israel, they rejected him. Now the time and the circumstances are right, and God's destiny for Moses' life will begin to be fulfilled.</p>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG_Footer.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|