[Exodus 4] Moses Argues with God. In our chapter, Moses stands before God in the burning bush. He is intimidated and objects to the commission to lead the people out of Egypt. Have you ever felt unqualified for the call of God on your life? God remonstrates with Moses and assures him that his assignment will be accompanied by signs, miracles, and wonders to accomplish the task.
[Exo 4:1-31 KJV] 1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What [is] that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand [was] leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his [other] flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken 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 also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour [it] upon the dry [land]: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry [land]. 10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I [am] not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I [am] slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand [of him whom] thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, [Is] not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, [even] he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. 18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which [are] in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy 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 the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, [even] thy firstborn. 24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast [it] at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [art] thou to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband [thou art], because of the circumcision. 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: 30 And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
In verse 1, Moses is concerned about the people not believing that he is a commissioned by God to lead the people out of Egypt’s bondage. He feels that they will not believe God appeared to him in the desert. Have you experienced or felt the call of God on your life only to be rejected by those that God sent you to? We can’t take this as an excuse not to pursue the thing God has put in our hearts. Peter exhorts us:
[2Pe 1:10 KJV] 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Just because the thing God calls us to is difficult doesn’t give us permission to disobey. Just because people don’t accept our experience in God is no basis for throwing up our hands and forgetting all about what God has commissioned us to do. This is a common experience. God’s answer to Moses is an answer to us.
What is that in your hand?
When we feel the call of God, we tend to look away from ourselves for sufficiency, but God says, “what is that in your hand?” For Moses, it was a rod – a shepherd’s rod. This was what Moses did for a living. What do you do for a living? What is your life’s employment right now? You would be surprised to what extent God uses your life’s experience to equip you for your call. Even if you feel like a total failure or that you have nothing to offer – the greatest tools you can give God to work with are in your hand right now.
What did Moses do with the rod that God drew his attention to? He was told to cast it to the ground, and what happened? A miracle. Shepherd’s rods were not meant to do anything by being thrown to the ground. Be willing to cast your rod to the ground – to move beyond convention and common sense in order to see God’s power demonstrated and displayed in your life. When the rod turned into something else, Moses ran away. Sometimes God will do something in your life – you might want to run away. Have you ever experienced this? I’ve seen many give up in fear because things don’t work out like they expected them to. What did God tell Moses to do next?
Next, God tells Moses to pick up the very thing that frightened him and made him flee. Never be fearful of going back into an intimidating situation or something that makes you nervous. What do you have to lose? God is God, and He will never let you down. Moses picks up the serpent by the tail, and it becomes a rod again. The tail of a serpent in scripture represents false prophecy (see Isa. 9:15). You can start to obey God, and it doesn’t look like things are going to work out. Others wiser than you may predict (prophesy) that you are going to fail. You may feel like a failure yourself. Pick that serpent up by the tail, and your rod of authority will be made manifest. The authority was not just in the rod but in the man who took up the rod against everything that was in him saying differently. If you do this – then as in Moses’ case in v. 5, the people will believe.
Furthermore, God gives Moses a second sign. He puts his hand into his bosom, and it turns leprous as snow. What is God saying? Don’t look to yourself. Don’t trust in your own ability. How did God solve the problem for Moses? He told him to put his hand back into his bosom. In other words, when you find yourself leaning to your own strengths, to your own devices, be willing to reverse yourself, to back up and lay the arm of flesh down, and everything will be ok. Keep your trust in God, no matter what. The promise God goes on to give Moses is that if the people don’t believe the first sign of the rod turning into a serpent and back into a rod, they will undoubtedly believe the second sign. What is this all about? If the people don’t believe you when they see you moving against fear and stepping in authority, they WILL believe the second sign of not relying on your own natural, fleshly abilities but relying on God alone.
We see in verse 10 that Moses is a very strong personality. He still resists with the complaint that he is not eloquent. The Lord chastises him for his stubbornness and assures Moses that He will be with his mouth and will tell him what to say and when to say it. This is the point where Moses tries the patience of God to the end that what God originally had mind is unalterably changed. Moses continues to maintain that he isn’t articulate in speech, and God sends Aaron to be Moses’ mouth. Aaron will be God’s spokesman for Moses, and Moses will be to Aaron instead of God. This was not in God’s original plan. We need to learn from this. God’s spirit will not always strive with us, and if we continue to resist, we will wind up with something more complicated in the fulfillment of God’s plan than was necessary in the beginning.
After his encounter at the burning bush, what does Moses do next? In v. 18, he returns to Jethro his father-in-law and notice what he does – he ASKS Jethro to release him to return to Egypt. This is something I’ve never heard anyone teach on. Jethro was a Kenite by nationality and it is known that the Kenites were worshippers of Jehovah at that time. Nonetheless you would think that the burning bush encounter would without question negate all other commitments Moses had to hold him in the wilderness but we see that is not the case. Moses was a man under authority. He understood order, and he will not just leave without preamble, his sense of duty requires that he must be released with Jethro’s blessing. Jacob didn’t do this. When Jacob served Laban the time came that he left in secret and created a problem in so doing. What about your situation? If God calls you what do you do? Well, you have to ask yourself, are you a Jacob or a Moses? Jacob fled Laban’s employ without so much as a by-your-leave. Every situation is different, and you must seek the face of God and not make assumptions based on your own rationale.
In v. 20, we see that Moses leaves for Egypt with his wife and two sons. Moses’ sons will make up the ancestors of the tribe of Levi, specifically the Kohathites and the Merarites, and Aaron’s family line will establish the high priestly order and lineage. The question of Moses taking his family with him is in contrast to the disciples of Jesus, the original 12 who did not take their families with them when following Jesus or when pursuing the apostolic mandates that came after. What may we learn from this? Listen to the voice of God. Sometimes God may instruct that you conduct yourself in one particular manner but then tell someone else to do exactly the opposite. This was the lesson that Jesus impressed upon Peter. Jesus was instructing Peter, but Peter wanted to know what John’s instructions were, and Jesus answered him this way in John 21:22:
[Jhn 21:22 KJV] 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what [is that] to thee? follow thou me.
What are Moses’ instructions upon arrival in Egypt? He is to command Pharaoh to let the people go (v. 22). If Pharaoh refuses, the warning is that Jehovah will slay Pharaoh’s firstborn son. Can you imagine saying this to a world leader in his own court? It would be taking your life in your hands but nonetheless this was the command of God. What about you? What if God tells you to do something that has some risk involved? Every one of the apostles except John, died a martyr’s death. This is very sobering for us and challenges us to take such things very seriously.
After these instructions, Moses is on his way (v. 24), but incredulously we read that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Why? Because his sons were not circumcised. This put Moses outside the covenant of Abraham. This is important for us because while Moses was required to be circumcised in his flesh, you and I are required to be circumcised in our hearts. You cannot go about to fulfill the call of God with an uncircumcised heart; else, the consequences are more dire than you might be prepared for. You might object that this is the Old Covenant and doesn’t apply today, but Jesus taught that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we will not enter into the kingdom of God. We must not approach the call of God or the things of God light-heartedly.
In v. 27, we see that God now sends Aaron into the picture to meet Moses. Moses relates all these things to Aaron, and now they go together to meet with the elders of the children of Israel in captivity in Egypt. True to the instructions (and allowances of God), Aaron is indeed Moses’ spokesman before the people, and the people believed and accepted that Moses was sent of God, thus setting the stage for the confrontation to come with Pharaoh.
