Exodus 4

The little girl who defined “radio” as “television without pictures” didn’t know what she was talking about. I grew up in the Golden Age of Radio, and I can assure you that as I listened, I saw many vivid and exciting pictures—right in my own imagination. Television doesn’t let you do that. And the stories on radio went on and on, day after day, always leaving us wondering, “What will happen next?”

The Old Testament is God’s “continued story” of His great program of salvation that He announced to Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15) and to Abraham (12:1–3). That explains why the Hebrew text of Exodus begins with the word “and,” for God is continuing the story He started in Genesis. God’s wonderful story finally led to the coming of Jesus to earth and His death on the cross, and it won’t end until God’s people go to heaven and see Jesus on the throne. What a story!

The theme of Exodus is deliverance, and you can’t have deliverance without a deliverer. That’s where Moses comes in, the great liberator, legislator, and mediator.

Moses spent forty years serving as a shepherd in Midian (Acts 7:23; Ex. 7:7), and during those many days and nights in the field, he no doubt meditated on the things of God and prayed for his people who were suffering in Egypt. It’s significant that God calls people who are busy: Gideon was threshing grain (Judg. 6), Samuel was serving in the tabernacle (1 Sam. 3), David was caring for sheep (17:20), Elisha was plowing (1 Kings 19:19–21), four of the apostles were managing their fishing business (Mark 1:16–20), and Matthew was collecting taxes (Matt. 9:9). God has nothing good to say about laziness (Prov. 24:30–34; Matt. 25:26–27; 2 Thess. 3:10–12).

What Moses saw (vv. 1–4). God can take an insignificant bush, ignite it, and turn it into a miracle, and that’s what He wanted to do with Moses. Some see in the burning bush a picture of the nation of Israel: they are God’s light in the world, persecuted but not consumed. But the burning bush was also a picture of what God had planned for Moses: he was the weak bush but God was the empowering fire (19:18; 24:17; Deut. 4:24; Judg. 13:20; Heb. 12:29), and with God’s help, Moses could accomplish anything.

What Moses heard (vv. 5–10). God spoke to Moses and assured him that He was the God of his fathers and that He felt the suffering of the Jews in Egypt. He was now ready to deliver them out of Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land, and Moses would be His chosen leader. God’s statement “Behold, I will send you” must have astonished Moses. Why would God choose a failure?

What Moses did (3:1—4:17). Moses should have rejoiced because God was at last answering prayer, and he should have submitted to God’s will saying, “Here I am! Send me!” But instead, he argued with the Lord and tried to escape the divine call to rescue Israel from slavery. In Egypt, forty years before, Moses had acted like the impetuous horse and rushed ahead of God, but now he is acting like the stubborn mule and resisting God (Ps. 32:9). Moses gave five reasons why he couldn’t accept God’s call.

(1) “I’m a nobody” (3:11–12). What Moses thought of himself, or what others thought of Moses, really wasn’t important. God had spoken and that was all Moses needed for assurance that he was the right man for the job. Had forty years of shepherding so extinguished the fire in his soul that he didn’t think he could serve the Lord? Why was he looking at himself instead of looking by faith to the Lord? “I will be with you” is all the assurance God’s servants need in order to succeed (Josh. 1:5; Isa. 41:10; 43:5).

(2) “I don’t know your name” (vv. 13–22). As the representative of God, Moses had to be able to disclose His character to the Jewish people. Of course, God’s name “Jehovah” had been known centuries ago (Gen. 4:26) and was familiar to the patriarchs (14:22; 15:1; 25:21–22; 28:13; 49:18). What Moses asked was, “What does Your name mean? What kind of a God are You?” God explained that the name Jehovah is a dynamic name, based on the Hebrew verb “to be” or “to become.” He is the self-existent One who always was, always is, and always will be, the faithful and dependable God who calls Himself “I AM.” Centuries later, Jesus would take the name “I AM” and complete it: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the light of the world” (8:12), “I am the true vine” (15:1), and so on.

The eternal God knows the end from the beginning, so He was able to tell Moses exactly what would happen when he returned to Egypt (Ex. 3:16–22). The elders of Israel would accept Moses as their leader and believe that God was about to deliver them. The king of Egypt would resist God’s message and suffer the terrible judgments of God. The people of Israel would be delivered from the land and spoil the Egyptians and thus receive the wages they hadn’t been paid during their years of slavery.

(3) “The elders won’t believe me” (4:1–9). “They will not believe” really means “I do not believe.” Moses was concerned about his credentials before the Jewish elders, so God gave him three signs to convince the elders that he was truly God’s chosen servant. “The Jews require a sign” (1 Cor. 1:22). From now on, Moses will experience God’s power and work miracles.

(4) “I’m not a fluent speaker” (4:10–12). Moses completely missed the message of God’s name and God’s miraculous power. “I AM” is all that we need in every circumstance of life, and it’s foolish for us to argue, “I am not.” If God can turn rods into serpents and serpents into rods, if He can cause and cure leprosy, and if He can turn water into blood, then He can enable Moses to speak His Word with power. Moses was making the mistake of looking at himself instead of looking to God (6:12). The God who made us is able to use the gifts and abilities He’s given us to accomplish the tasks He assigns to us.

Was Moses manifesting an attitude of pride or true humility? Forty years before, he felt perfectly adequate to face the enemy and act on behalf of his people, but now he’s backing off and professing himself to be a worthless failure. But humility isn’t thinking poorly of ourselves; it’s simply not thinking of ourselves at all but making God everything. The humble servant thinks only of God’s will and God’s glory, not his or her own inadequacy, success, or failure. Moses was clothing his pride and unbelief in a hollow confession of weakness.

(5) “Somebody else can do it better” (4:13–17). “O Lord, please send someone else to do it” (v. 13 niv). Moses calls Him “Lord” and yet refuses to obey His orders (Luke 6:46; Acts 10:14). Most of us understand that attitude because we’ve made the same mistake. If God isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.

In His anger, God appointed Aaron to be the spokesperson for Moses, but Aaron wasn’t always a help to his brother. It was Aaron who cooperated with the people in making the golden calf (Ex. 32), and Aaron and his sister Miriam were critical of Moses and his wife and brought trouble to the camp (Num. 12). There’s the suggestion in Exodus 4: that in accepting Aaron, Moses was confusing the Old Testament ministries, for Aaron was to be the priest and Moses the prophet. When God in His anger gives us what we selfishly want, that gift rarely turns out to be a blessing (Num. 11:33; Hos. 13:11). One of the most painful judgments God can send is to let His people have their own way.

Subsequent events proved that Moses was very capable of speaking God’s words with mighty power, both to his own people and to the king of Egypt. As the history of Israel unfolds, you find Moses delivering some eloquent messages in the power of the Lord. The book of Deuteronomy records his magnificent farewell speech.

The lesson is plain: God knows us better than we know ourselves, so we must trust Him and obey what He tells us to do. When we tell God our weaknesses, we aren’t sharing anything He doesn’t already know (Judg. 6:15; 1 Sam. 9:21; Jer. 1:6). The will of God will never lead you where the power of God can’t enable you, so walk by faith in His promises.

When you’ve lived in a place for forty years, how do you go about packing up and moving elsewhere, especially when you’re going to a place of danger? The text describes five encouragements God gave Moses as he sought to obey the will of God.

His father-in-law’s blessing (v. 18). Moses couldn’t leave without first informing his father-in-law and receiving his permission and blessing. However, there’s no record that Moses told Jethro of his meeting with Jehovah and his call to deliver the people of Israel from bondage. All he told Jethro was that he wanted to visit Egypt to see if his family was still alive.

The promises of God (vv. 19–23). As Moses stepped out by faith, God spoke to him and encouraged him. God told Moses not to be afraid to return to Egypt because his enemies were dead. Then He assured Moses that He would enable him to do the miraculous signs but that Pharaoh would only harden his heart and thereby invite more judgments from the Lord. Before Moses even arrived in Egypt, he knew he had a battle on his hands. It wouldn’t be easy to convince Pharaoh to let his Jewish slaves go free.

God also assured Moses of His special love for Israel, His firstborn son (Jer. 31:9; Hos. 11:1). In the ancient world, the firstborn in every family had special rights and privileges, and God would see to it that Israel, His firstborn, would be redeemed and rewarded, while the firstborn of Egypt would be slain. God was reminding Moses that he was the servant of a great God who knew what He would do. The key to victory was faith in the Lord.

Zipporah’s obedience (vv. 24–26). Moses had neglected to circumcise his second son, Eliezer, and God struck Moses down with an illness that could have taken his life. We get the impression that when Moses had circumcised Gershom, his firstborn, Zipporah had been appalled by the ceremony and therefore had resisted having Eliezer circumcised. Moses let her have her way and this displeased the Lord. After all, Moses couldn’t lead the people of Israel if he was disobedient to one of the fundamental commandments of the Lord (Gen. 17:10–14). Even if the Jews didn’t know it, God knew about his disobedience, and He was greatly displeased.

The servant of the Lord must be careful to “manage his own family well” (1 Tim. 3: niv) if he expects to enjoy the blessings of the Lord; for “[i]f anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” (v. 5 niv)

Aaron’s arrival (vv. 27–28). At Horeb (another name for Mount Sinai; 19:10–11; Deut. 4:10), Moses met his elder brother Aaron who would be his companion and associate for the next forty years. When it comes to serving the Lord, two are better than one (Eccl. 4:9). Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs (Mark 6:7) and God called Paul and Barnabas together to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 13:2). In spite of his faults, and we all have a few, Aaron ministered along with Moses and became the founder of the priesthood in Israel.

The nation’s faith (vv. 29–31). Moses had expressed fear that the Jewish elders wouldn’t believe his message or accept his leadership, but they did, and so did the rest of the nation when they saw the demonstration of God’s power in the signs. On hearing that God was concerned for them and was about to rescue them, they bowed in grateful worship. Worship is the logical response of God’s people to God’s grace and goodness.

This was the lull before the storm. God was about to declare war on Egypt and Pharaoh, and life for the Jews would become more difficult before it would get better.