SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 4
IMPORTANT VERSE:
“Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? (Exodus 4:11)
“Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:12)
SIGNS FOR MOSES ( vs. 1-17)
Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. The Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail. So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so 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.”
Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
The Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” the Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”: But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”
MOSES RETURNS TO EGYPT (vs. 18-31)
Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law- and said to him, “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive”: Jethro said, “God and I wish you well.”:
Now the lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of Gods in his hand.
The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.”
At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform.
Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
Moses’ reluctance and fear were caused by over anticipation. He was worried about how the people might respond to him. We often build up events in our minds and then panic over what might go wrong. God does not ask us to go where he has not provided the means to help. Go where he leads, trusting him to supply courage, confidence and resources at the right moment.
A shepherd’s staff was commonly a three to six foot wooden rod with a curved hook at the top, Still, it was just a stick. But God sued the simple shepherd’s staff Moses carried as a sign to teach him an important lesson. God sometimes takes joy in using ordinary things for extraordinary purposes. What are the ordinary things in your life – your voice, a pen, a hammer, a broom, a musical instrument? While it is easy to assume God can use only special skills, you must not hinder his use of the everyday contributions you can make. Little did Moses imagine the power his simple staff would wield when it became the staff of God.
Leprosy was one of the most contagious and feared skin diseases of their time. There was no cure with a great deal of suffering. Through this experience, Moses learned that God could cause or cure any kind of problems. He saw that God indeed had all power and was commissioning him to exercise that power to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.
Moses pleaded with God to let him out of his mission because he was not a good speaker and would probably embarrass both himself and God. But God looked at Moses’ problem differently. God made his mouth and would give him the words to say. It is easy for us to focus on our weaknesses, but if God asks us to do something, he will help us get the job done. If the job involves some of our weak areas, then we can trust that he will provide words, strength, courage and the ability when needed.
Moses clung tightly to the shepherd’s staff as he left for Egypt to face the greatest challenge of his life. The staff was the assurance of God’s presence and power. When feeling uncertain, some people need something to stabilize and reassure them. For assurance when facing great trials, trust God’s promises from His Word and examples from great heroes of faith.
God was about to kill Moses because he had not circumcised his son. He could not serve as deliverer of God’s people if he had not fulfilled God’s law of circumcision. And Moses’s wife, who was a Midianite, may have opposed circumcision. Under Old Testament law, failing to circumcise your son was to remove yourself and your family from God’s blessings. So Zipporah, who had prevented the action, now had to perform it to save both her husband and son.