Day 031 (Exodus 4-6) - Year 7
07:18 Share

Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Yesterday, we ended our reading halfway through God's conversation with Moses, and Moses had given two reasons why God shouldn't or couldn't use him to rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Today, we pick up the back half of that conversation. God gives Moses some signs to use to prove himself, and Moses gives God three more excuses or rebuttals to his call.

Honestly, Moses seems kind of right. But God is unmoved. God patiently responds to each of his concerns, never hedging on his plan, despite the fact that Moses is completely ill-fitted for this calling. I mean, even in verse 3, Moses throws the staff on the ground, and when it becomes a snake, he runs from it. The guy who's afraid of a snake probably shouldn't go toe-to-toe with a dictator.

But God reassures him, not with a promise that everything will go perfectly, but with words like these, Moses doubts himself, but God, his maker, reminds him who he's talking to. Questioning God's calling is an insult to the God who made him. All five of Moses' excuses are identity issues.

Growing up in the environment he grew up in, it would be shocking if he didn't have identity issues. At this point, it doesn't seem like he really knows or believes God, which means he can't really know who he is either. At the last excuse, God gets angry. It seems like Moses' hesitation was an affront to God's wisdom in calling him, as though Moses believes God wouldn't be sufficient. Moses' fears and insecurities here are an attack on God's character.

But God does not lean into this offense. He leans into patience and compassion. He provides Aaron, Moses' older brother, to go with him. So Moses gets permission from his father-in-law Jethro, packs up the family, and heads to Egypt. But God does not promise an easy journey. He basically tells Moses, "'You're going to ask Pharaoh for something, and I'm going to harden his heart so that he says no to you.' That's a tough assignment."

But in the part of this conversation we read yesterday, God said that with a mighty hand, he would compel Pharaoh to yield. So at least Moses has that to hold on to. One thing I want to point out, God calls Israel his firstborn son and promises to kill the firstborn of Egypt if they don't let his son go. This is foreshadowing not just of the Passover, which we'll get to in a few days, but also of the inclusion of the Gentiles into God's family.

Remember how the firstborn gets the blessing, but Jesus, our older brother, shares his inheritance with us as co-heirs? We see this with the Israelites, too. They're God's firstborn, but in God's great generosity, he also adopted Gentiles, non-Jews, into his family as a part of his promise to bless all the nations of the world through this one family. And because of that, we Gentiles share in their inheritance, just like with Jesus.

Something puzzling happens on the way to Egypt where God gets angry and seeks to kill someone, but it's unclear who or why. Most scholars believe the reasons for God's anger is that Moses' son Gershom hasn't been circumcised. And most think that God's anger is directed toward Moses. To not circumcise his son is a violation of the covenant. And this is especially important given that Gershom is about to be in the midst of a powerful enemy culture. He must be set apart.

So, Zipporah to the rescue. She circumcises Gershom, then touches the foreskin to Moses' feet. But one caveat here is that the Hebrew word for feet is occasionally used as a euphemism for genitals, so this whole passage is filled with mystery. Don't get too hung up on it. Remember what we talked about in the prep episodes? We don't want to build our theology on obscure, unclear passages.

By the way, if it was Moses that God sought to kill, then this is the second time his life has been saved through the help of a woman. If it was Gershom that God sought to kill, then this is an interesting foreshadowing of killing the firstborn son of those who don't live under God's protective covering. More on that in the days ahead.

In the next scene, God himself has sent Aaron, Moses' older brother, to help him. They go to Egypt, Aaron gives a speech to the Israelites, Moses demonstrates the sign from God, and the people are thrilled. But when Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh, he denies their request. So they ask again. This time, he not only says no, but cracks down even harder on the Israelite slaves who blame Moses for it.

Moses obeyed God's commands and things got worse. God tells Moses to go back to the Israelites and remind them what he's promised, but they don't believe him. They were excited when Moses first showed up on the scene, but their enthusiasm got crushed by the extra workload. Life has been too hard for them to be hopeful. Then God sends Moses back to Pharaoh to try again.

We end with a genealogy connecting these two messengers with the lineage of the people they're coming to rescue and a reminder that Moses feels inadequate. But this marks a turning point. After scripture makes this connection, we don't see Moses doubting God's power anymore. He's finding confidence and freedom in God despite his own shortcomings.

Where did you see God at work today? Here was my God shot. I saw so much of God's compassion in his response to all the hesitation Moses displayed. God knew his story, God knew his brokenness, and he was patient toward Moses and his self-doubt. Later, I saw God's compassion again when Moses went back to the Israelites a second time after their workload had been increased and their former excitement had turned to despair. They couldn't muster any kind of faith on their own.

Heartache and oppression can steal your ability to hope and trust in the words of God. God knew they had no strength to fight, so he sent someone to fight for them. He sent someone who had received his compassion to demonstrate it to them. He sent a conduit of hope and freedom to the people who were hopeless and had never known freedom.

He's compassionate. He's attentive. And he's where the joy is.

If you've got three seconds to spare, we'd love for you to rate this podcast on the platform where you listen. That really helps others to find us and we want to help as many people dig into scripture as possible. Five-star ratings are our favorite. And if you want to leave a review as well, we'd love that too. And if your platform doesn't allow you to rate and review, feel free to leave those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts. It always encourages me to go read through these and see how much God is using this in your lives.