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Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Exodus 3:10-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.'
And Moses said unto God: 'Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?'
And He said: 'Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.'
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11–12 He doth not fully disobey God, but acknowledgeth his…
He doth not fully disobey God, but acknowledgeth his own weakness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send…
Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Ver. 10. That thou mayest bring forth.] Which, though as unlikely to be done as to remove a rock with his shoulder, yet, setting upon it in God’s strength, he effecteth it. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret. {a} Howbeit, let a man do what he can naturally, and God will meet him graciously; - there is no truth in such an assertion.
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{a} Chrysostom.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–12 What a mean, inconsiderable person am I! how unworthy…
What a mean, inconsiderable person am I! how unworthy and unfit for that employment! He was more forward in the work forty years ago, by reason of the fervours of his youth, his inexperience in affairs, the advantage of his power and interest in the court, by which he thought he could and should procure their deliverance; but now age had made him cool and considerate; the remembrance of his brethren’s rejection of him, when he was a great man at court, took away all probability of prevailing with them to follow him, much more of prevailing with Pharaoh to let them go. Thus Moses falls into that distemper to which most men are prone, of measuring God by himself, and by the probabilities or improbabilities of second causes.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v11 God, having spoken to Moses, allows him also a…
God, having spoken to Moses, allows him also a liberty of speech, which he here improves; and,
I. He objects his own insufficiency for the service he was called to (Exo 3:11): Who am I? He thinks himself unworthy of the honour, and not par negotio - equal to the task. He thinks he wants courage, and therefore cannot go to Pharaoh, to make a demand which might cost the demandant his head: he thinks he wants skill, and therefore cannot bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt; they are unarmed, undisciplined, quite dispirited, utterly unable to help themselves; it is morally impossible to bring them out. 1. Moses was incomparably the fittest of any man living for this work, eminent for learning, wisdom, experience, valour, faith, holiness; and yet he says, Who am I? Note, The more fit any person is for service commonly the less opinion he has of himself: see Jdg 9:8, etc. 2. The difficulties of the work were indeed very great, enough to startle the courage and stagger the faith of Moses himself. Note, Even wise and faithful instruments may be much discouraged at the difficulties that lie in the way of the church's salvation. 3. Moses had formerly been very courageous when he slew the Egyptian, but now his heart failed him; for good men are not always alike bold and zealous. 4. Yet Moses is the man that does it at last; for God gives grace to the lowly. Modest beginnings are very good presages.
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II. God answers this objection, Exo 3:12. 1. He promises him his presence: Certainly I will be with thee, and that is enough. Note, Those that are weak in themselves may yet do wonders, being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; and those that are most diffident of themselves may be most confident in God. God's presence puts an honour upon the worthless, wisdom and strength into the weak and foolish, makes the greatest difficulties dwindle to nothing, and is enough to answer all objections. 2. He assures him of success, and that the Israelites should serve God upon this mountain. Note, (1.) Those deliverances are most valuable which open to us a door of liberty to serve God. (2.) If God gives us opportunity and a heart to serve him, it is a happy and encouraging earnest of further favours designed us.
III. He begs instructions for the executing of his commission, and has them, thoroughly to furnish him. He desires to know by what name God would at this time make himself known, Exo 3:13.
1. He supposes the children of Israel would ask him, What is his name? This they would ask either, (1.) To perplex Moses: he foresaw difficulty, not only in dealing with Pharaoh, to make him willing to part with them, but in dealing with them, to make them willing to remove. They would be scrupulous and apt to cavil, would bid him produce his commission, and probably this would be the trial: "Does he know the name of God? Has he the watch-word?" Once he was asked, Who made thee a judge? Then he had not his answer ready, and he would not be nonplussed so again, but would be able to tell in whose name he came. Or, (2.) For their own information. It is to be feared that they had grown very ignorant in Egypt, by reason of their hard bondage, want of teachers, and loss of the sabbath, so that they needed to be told the first principles of the oracles of God. Or this question, What is his name? amounted to an enquiry into the nature of the dispensation they were now to expect: "How will God in it be known to us, and what may we depend upon from him?"
2. He desires instructions what answer to give them: "What shall I say to them? What name shall I vouch to them for the proof of my authority? I must have something great and extraordinary to say to them; what must it be? If I must go, let me have full instructions, that I may not run in vain." Note, (1.) It highly concerns those who speak to people in the name of God to be well prepared beforehand. (2.) Those who would know what to say must go to God, to the word of his grace and to the throne of his grace, for instructions, Eze 2:7; Eze 3:4, Eze 3:10, Eze 3:17. (3.) Whenever we have any thing to do with God, it is desirable to know, and our duty to consider, what is his name.
IV. God readily gives him full instructions in this matter. Two names God would now be known by: -
1. A name that denotes what he is in himself (Exo 3:14): I am that I am. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, (1.) That he is self-existent; he has his being of himself, and has no dependence upon any other: the greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am; but God says absolutely - and it is more than any creature, man or angel, can say - I am that I am. Being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss. (2.) That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and for ever; he will be what he will be and what he is; see Rev 1:8. (3.) That we cannot by searching find him out. This is such a name as checks all bold and curious enquiries concerning God, and in effect says, Ask not after my name, seeing it is secret, Jdg 13:18; Pro 30:4. Do we ask what is God? Let it suffice us to know that he is what he is, what he ever was, and ever will be. How little a portion is heard of him! Job 26:14. (4.) That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature, and not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this, I AM hath sent me unto you.
2. A name that denotes what he is to his people. Lest that name I AM should amuse and puzzle them, he is further directed to make use of another name of God more familiar and intelligible: The Lord God of your fathers hath sent me unto you (Exo 3:15): Thus God had made himself know to him (Exo 3:6), and thus he must make him known to them, (1.) That he might revive among them the religion of their fathers, which, it is to be feared, was much decayed and almost lost. This was necessary to prepare them for deliverance, Psa 80:19. (2.) That he might raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the promises made unto their fathers. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed; and these three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant, when their brethren were rejected. God will have this to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be, his name, by which his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods; see Kg1 18:36. Note, God's covenant-relation to his people is what he will be ever mindful of, what he glories in, and what he will have us never forget, but give him the glory of: if he will have this to be his memorial unto all generations, we have all the reason in the world to make it so with us, for it is a precious memorial.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Come now therefore,..... Leave thy flock, thy family, and…
Come now therefore,..... Leave thy flock, thy family, and the land of Midian:
and I will send thee unto Pharaoh: this Pharaoh, according to Eusebius, was Cenchres, the successor of Achoris; but according to Bishop Usher (u), his name was Amenophis, who immediately succeeded Ramesses Miamun, under whom Moses was born. Clemens of Alexandria (w) relates from Apion, and he, from Ptolemy Mendesius, that it was in the times of Amosis that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt; but Tacitus (x) says, the name of this king was Bocchoris, who obliged them to go out, being advised by an oracle to do so; and so says Lysimachus (y):
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that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt; and conduct them through the wilderness to the land of Canaan, and so be their deliverer, guide, and governor under God, who now gave him a commission to act for him.
(u) Annal. Vet. Test. p. 19. (w) Stromat. l. 1. p. 320. (x) Hist. l. 5. c. 3. (y) Apud Joseph. contr. Apion, l. 1. c. 34.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–12 I will send thee - And the same hand…
I will send thee - And the same hand that now fetched a shepherd out of a desert to be the planter of the Jewish church, afterwards fetched fishermen from their ships to be the planters of the Christian church, that the excellency of the power might be of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Verse 11. Who am I - that I should…
Verse 11. Who am I - that I should bring] He was so satisfied that this was beyond his power, and all the means that he possessed, that he is astonished that even God himself should appoint him to this work! Such indeed was the bondage of the children of Israel, and the power of the people by whom they were enslaved, that had not their deliverance come through supernatural means, their escape had been utterly impossible.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Exo 3:10. I will send thee — And the…
Exo 3:10. I will send thee — And the same hand that now fetched a shepherd out of a desert to be the planter of the Jewish Church, afterward fetched fishermen from their ships to be the planters of the Christian Church, that the excellency of the power might be of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Who am I - These words indicate humility (compare…
Who am I - These words indicate humility (compare Num 12:3), not fear. He feared failure, owing to incompetency, especially in the power of expression.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v12 A sign. Moses had modestly represented his own inability…
A sign. Moses had modestly represented his own inability to perform so great a work, and such God generally selects. He encourages them therefore with a sign, to the splendour of which he was then a witness; and with another, which should appear in future, to convince him and all the world, that the undertaking was from God, when they should see him offering sacrifice in that place, out of the reach of Pharao, chap. xxiv. 3. Thus a future event is assigned to Achaz and Ezechias, as a sign of something that was to happen first. (Isaias vii; 4 Kings xix. 29.) Perhaps the sign here appointed is the presence of God enabling Moses to work miracles. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee--Considering the…
Come now therefore, and I will send thee--Considering the patriotic views that had formerly animated the breast of Moses, we might have anticipated that no mission could have been more welcome to his heart than to be employed in the national emancipation of Israel. But he evinced great reluctance to it and stated a variety of objections [Exo 3:11, Exo 3:13; Exo 4:1, Exo 4:10] all of which were successfully met and removed--and the happy issue of his labors was minutely described.
Next: Exodus Chapter 4
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. Who am I — Forty years before he…
11. Who am I — Forty years before he had been all ready in his youthful confidence, but the work that God had for him has been rising before him in its vastness, till now it overwhelms him. So Isaiah, when he had seen Jehovah and received his commission, cried, “Woe is me!” So Paul cried, “Who is sufficient for these things!”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. Now therefore [Heb. And now = Quae quum…
10. Now therefore [Heb. And now = Quae quum ita sint] come. Gen_31:44; Gen_37:20; Num_22:6 al.
11 ff. In his youth (ch. 2) Moses was confident and impulsive: but now ‘a fugitive and a shepherd, without influence or position’ (Kn., Di.), the greatness of the task laid before him makes him distrustful of his powers to undertake it. Accordingly the narrative which follows describes how four difficulties felt and urged by Moses are successively removed by Jehovah, vv. 11–12, 13–22, Exo_4:1-17. Moses’ reluctance to undertake the difficult task laid upon him is emphasised, it may be observed, by each narrator, by E in Exo_3:11 ff., by J in Exo_4:10-12, and by P in Exo_6:12, Exo_7:1.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 (11) Who am I, that I should go?—The men…
(11) Who am I, that I should go?—The men most fit for great missions are apt to deem themselves unfit. When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, his reply was, “O Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child” ( Jer_1:6). St. Ambrose fought hard to escape being made Archbishop of Milan. Augustine was loth to undertake the mission to England. Anselm was with difficulty persuaded to accept the headship of our Church in the evil days of Rufus. The first impression of a fit man selected for a high post generally is, “Who am I?” In Moses’s case, though there were some manifest grounds of fitness—e.g., his Egyptian training and learning, his familiarity with the court. his knowledge of both nations and both languages—yet, on the other hand, there were certain very marked (apparent) disqualifications. Forty years of exile, and of a shepherd’s life had at once unfitted him for dealing with a court, and made him a stranger to his brethren. Want of eloquence seemed to be a fatal defect in one who must work mainly by persuasion. Even his age (eighty) might well have seemed to him unsuitable.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Vers. 10-12. Insufficiency.
Vers. 10-12. Insufficiency.
A very different Moses this from the hero who was formerly so ready, even without a call, to undertake the work of Israel"s deliverance. Probably failure in that first attempt led him to doubt whether he was the instrument ordained for so great a task. He may have concluded he was not, and learned his first lesson of acquiescence in the Divine will, by surrendering the hope. Or, he may have thought himself rejected for his fault. In any case, Moses had now much juster views of the magnitude of the work, and of his natural unfitness to undertake it. Who was he a man of lonely, self-retired spirit that he should brave the power of the Pharaohs, or think of bringing Israel out of Egypt?
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1. Conscious unfitness for our work is one of the best preparations for it, The greatest of God"s servants have had this feeling in a remarkable degree. They needed to be "thrust forth" to the harvest. (Mat_10:38) Or,
2. Conscious unfitness for work grows with the clearness of ourapprehensions of the Divine call to it. The nearer we are brought to God, the less we feel fit to serve him. (Isa_6:5)
3. God"s call and promise are sufficient reasons for undertaking any work, however deep our consciousness of personal unfitness. "Our sufficiency is of God". (2Co_3:6) The sign in ver. 12 was a pledge to Moses that God would "make all grace to abound toward" him. J.O. (2Co_9:8)
Vers. 10-12. The first difficulty: "Who am I?
Divine promises are not long kept separated from human duty. Scarcely has God presented to Moses this welcome, almost dazzling prospect for Israel, when there breaks upon his ear an announcement of his own connection with it, and that in the most trying and responsible position. That he was to have some sort of connection with the liberation of Israel Was just what he might expect. God assuredly had not chosen to visit him so far from Egypt, and in that solitary place, simply to give him the good news and leave him there. And now a duty indeed is laid upon him, the duty of duties; he who has not been near Israel for forty years is to be the chief agent in their deliverance.
I CONSIDER THE RECEPTION WHICH MOSES GIVES TO GOD"S ANNOUNCEMENT. Observe
1. The point on which Moses expresses no doubt. He says no word of doubt as to the possibility of Israel being delivered from Egypt. The achievement is from the human point of view a great one, and how it is to be managed he has not yet the slightest clue, but he does not doubt that it will be managed. He might have asked, "How can a thing so great as this be done, and the thraldom of generations utterly cast off?" but he had profited already by the lesson of the burning bush, and no such question crossed his lips. For whether is easier, to preserve a bush amid the fierce flames, or to deliver a nation from bondage? The power that can do the one can do the other.
2. The point on which he is full of doubt. "Who am I?" etc. His mind is turned at once to his own qualifications. And what wonder? It was a great leap from being a shepherd in the wilderness to being an ambassador to. a king, and a leader of men. The fact that Moses questioned his personal ability and personal worthiness is, though it may not at first appear so, a great indication of his very fitness for the post. He did not jump at the chance of distinction. He had a remembrance of his bad odour in Egypt. He had lived, too, at court, and knew how hard it is to get at kings. We can hardly call this doubt of Moses blameworthy, for he was spoken to as a sinful man, and God did not expect from him at this first opening of the interview a response such as could only come fittingly from an angel, ready at once to fly on any errand of the Almighty. A Gabriel would not have said, "who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?" for angels cannot be spoken of as either humble or proud. But Moses was deeply conscious of his own faults. Indeed, if he had not been, God would not have chosen him. Men of a different sort, self-complacent and self-confident, were the last God would have looked to in such circumstances. The men he wants are such as feel keenly all natural defects sensitive, may be, to criticism and harsh words of every kind; men, too, who for their own inclination, love the quiet and shady nooks of existence, and do not care to leave them, save under the pressure of some manifest public claim or some persistent voice of God to the tender conscience within. Such men are generally called, upon their first emergence into public, presumptuous, meddlesome, and fanatical; and they have to lay their account with these hard names. They are apt to meet with a great deal of gratuitous counsel, given on the grounds of what is called common sense. Moses well knew the difficulties that would come in his way. The one thing he had yet to learn was that God knew him far better than he did himself.
II CONSIDER THE ENCOURAGEMENTS GOD GIVES TO MOSES. There is no word of rebuke in any way, but immediate and abundant encouragement.
1. The emphatic assurance of God"s presence and companionship. The "I" of Moses is met by the "I" of God. Moses was to go to Pharaoh strong in the consciousness that the God who sent him was also with him. There would not be about him anything that ambassadors usually had rich personal adornments, pomp of attendance, great profusion of presents, distinguished earthly rank. But the absence of these things only makes more manifest the presence and dignity of the invisible God. The less of earth was seen, the more of heaven; the less of man, the more of God. If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be with us, what need we care who forsake us? Because Moses felt his own deficiencies, compared with the greatness of the work before him, God gave him this promise, and the fulfilment of it gave both needed and sufficient strength during all his conflict with Pharaoh. What about our relation to Christ"s promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world?" The mournful truth with respect to us may be that we do not feel, either the greatness of the work before us, or our utter lack of strength to do it. We must know the burdens and the bonds, the smitings and the contumely, the sighing and the crying, of spiritual Egypt, before we can appreciate the necessity and graciousness of Christ"s parting promise to his people.
2. God adds something even more noticeable than the promise of hispresence. We do not say it is more important, but it is certainly more noticeable. He makes an intimation of a very helpful token to be exhibited in the future. Moses needed no more tokens of God"s power at present; he had a sufficient token in the burning bush. If this had failed to impress him, neither could he have been persuaded by any additional wonder. But God gave to Moses a word which would keep in his mind the prospect and hope of a great sign in the time to come. What a thought to take with him through all the dismal succession of the plagues, through all the steady progress towards deliverance that somehow or other God would bring the large host of Israel in this very mountain; to this lonely place where few people lived, because few could live! Moses would need a token by-and-bye even more than he bad needed one now. His greatest difficulties were to be, not with Pharaoh, but with Israel; not in getting them out of Egypt, but in leading them onward to Canaan. Some difficulties doubtless he would expect, but all the stubbornness, waywardness and carnality of Israel he did not yet foresee. So the Apostle found his greatest difficulties and sorrows, not from those who stoned him at Lystra, imprisoned him at Philippi, and conspired against him at Jerusalem; but from the fornicators, the litigious, the schismatical, the deniers of the resurrection at Corinth; from the pliable yielders to Jewish bigotry, in Galatia; in short, from.all who, having professed to receive the truth, acted in a way incompatible with their professions; and thus we see God keeping Moses, as it were, ahead of the people. He was forty years ahead of them already. The creature comforts of Egypt, for which Israel lusted so in the wilderness, were no temptation to him, seeing he had become used to the wilderness. And so, when he came again to Horeb, with all this vast host in his charge, it was to rejoice in the strength that came from a fulfilled promise of God.
III CONSIDER THE EXPECTATION FROM ISRAEL WITH WHICH GOD LOOKS FORWARD TO THE GIVING OF THIS TOKEN. Not only will God bring Israel to this mountain, but when they reach it, it will be to serve him. He says very little; only, "Ye shall serve God," but that little would be enough to set Moses thinking. And yet, with, all his anticipations, they must have fallen far short of the reality. One small word from the lips of God has behind it a fulness of meaning far beyond present thoughts. We learn, by the time we come to the end of this book, that serving God meant gathering in solemn and timid awe around the smoking mount; meant for Moses himself forty days and nights of retirement with Jehovah; meant the construction of the Tabernacle with all its holy contents according to the pattern shown in the mount. What a difference in the knowledge, the obligations, and the outlook of the Israelites when they left Sinai! And if the word "service," looked at in the light of past experience, was a word of meaning so large with respect to them, is it not incumbent on us to do all we can for ourselves to fill the great terms of the Christian dispensation with the fulness of their meaning? Faith atonement the blood of Christ regeneration love holiness heaven: let these words represent to our minds an ever-growing, a devout and correct experience of the great body of the truth as it is in Jesus. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv10–12 I will send thee unto Pharaoh.
Exo_3:10
I will send thee unto Pharaoh.
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The calling of a great deliverer
I. His call was rendered necessary by intense national suffering (Exo_3:7).
1. The sufferings to which the Israelites were exposed.
(1) Politically they were prisoners.
(2) Socially they were bondmen.
(3) Commercially they were ruined.
(4) Religiously they were degenerate.
2. The Divine attention to the sufferings of the Israelites. God has deep sympathy with the sorrowful.
(1) God sees the pain of the oppressed.
(2) God hears the cry of the oppressed.
(3) God relieves the pain of the oppressed.
II. He was called to his mission by the immediate agency of god (Exo_3:10).
1. His free agency was consulted. Such a call is--
(1) Honourable
(2) Responsible.
2. His adaptability was considered. Social considerations are subordinate. A shepherd may be called to accomplish the freedom of Israel. Hence the Divine call to human souls is--
(1) Emphatic.
(2) Judicious.
(3) Hopeful.
III. He was definitely made acquainted with the mission he had to undertake (Exo_3:10).
1. He was to pay a visit to royalty.
2. He was to achieve the freedom of Israel. God forewarns him of the difficulties, that they may not surprise or overwhelm. This arrangement is--
(1) Merciful.
(2) Considerate.
(3) Accommodated to our weakness.
IV. In the performance of his mission he was animated by the highest hopes (Exo_3:8).
1. He anticipated the freedom of Israel.
2. He anticipated conquest in the event of war.
3. He anticipated residence in a land of beauty and fertility. God always animates those engaged in great service by great hopes.
Lessons:
1. That God knows how to prepare men to become the deliverers of the good.
2. That a Divine call is requisite for the mission of life.
3. That human sorrow is pathetic and powerful in its appeal to God. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The mission of Moses; or, the qualification for a Divine work
I. God elevates the race by the instrumentality of individual men.
1. It serves to promote in man the principle of self-helpfulness.
2. It serves to promote social unity.
II. God specially qualifies the man He employs to elevate the race.
1. By a special manifestation of Himself.
2. By impressing him with the divinity of his mission.
3. By assuring him of His co-operation.
4. By making him sensible of his own insufficiency.
5. By providing him with a coadjutor to supplement his deficiencies. (Homilist.)
The call of Moses
I. The manner of the call.
1. Remarkable for its suddenness.
2. Remarkable for its mysteriousness.
3. Remarkable for its manifestation of God.
(1) His holiness.
(2) His faithfulness.
II. The reason of the call.
1. The severity of the affliction of Gods people.
2. The cry of Gods people, which had come up into the ears of God.
III. The purpose of the call.
1. The deliverance of His people from the task-master.
2. The fulfilment of the Divine covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
IV. The encouragement to obey the call. The personal presence of God.
V. The name of Him who issued the call.
1. The revelation of this name was called out by a significant question of Moses.
2. The significance of the name.
(1) It represents the personality, eternity, and supremacy of God.
(2) It represents an authority and sovereignty that even Pharaoh cannot gainsay.
Lessons:
1. We learn Gods deep and practical interest in His people.
2. We learn that God is a hearer and an answerer of prayer.
3. We learn Gods wisdom in calling His servants.
4. We learn the all-sufficiency of the Divine encouragement, to every worker. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Gods choice of instruments
God chooses the humblest instruments. He passes by the tempest, and waters the fields and gardens with His imperceptible dew. He passes by the great elephant, and bestows the hues of sapphire and amethyst upon the tiny humming-bird. He passes by the lofty pines and huge elm tree, and lavishes blossom and perfume on the violet. All history teaches the same truth. Moses was the son of a poor Levite; Gideon was a thresher; David was a shepherd boy; Amos was a herdsman; the apostles were obscure and unlearned; Zwingle was a shepherd; Melancthon, the great theologian of the Reformation, was an armourer; Luther was the child of a poor miner; Fuller was a farm servant; Carey, the originator of the plan of translating the Bible into the language of the millions of Hindustan, was a shoemaker; Morrison, who translated the Bible into the Chinese language, was a last-maker; Dr. Milne was a herd-boy; Adam Clarke was the son of Irish cotters; John Foster was a weaver; Jay, of Bath, was a herdsman. (Christian Age.)
The call of Moses
I. The preparations for the call. His miraculous escape in infancy; his careful training in the court of Pharaoh; his knowledge of governments, men, armies, religious rites; his silent years of obscurity, watching the leisure of the seasons as they came and went, the slow movements of the star.s; the care of God for the helpless creatures over which he was a shepherd; the home-life--all these were part of the call. His soul ripened.
II. The call itself. A greater one was never issued to mortal man. The only greater one was assigned to that Prophet like unto Moses who, in the fulness of time, came to lead the world out of a worse than Egyptian bondage through the death of the cross.
III. The hesitation of Moses at the great summons. He was perfectly honest before God. And it is because he was so honest that we can understand him and get our lessons from him at this turning-point in his career. We would not lose the picture of this great man--this chosen vessel of God--hesitating, confessing his cowardly feelings, and trying to hide away from duty. The response from Jehovah was as sudden as the command, and it was a complete satisfaction for all the real and imaginary troubles in the situation: Certainly I will be with thee.
IV. Lastly, if we seek further practical lessons from this part of sacred history, we shall be led to ask why the Bible makes so much of the calls its chief characters received to their office. Was it merely to prove the genuineness of their commission? They proved that by their works done in the name of God. Was it to show the power of Him who can call out children to Abraham from the stones and cause things that are not to be as those that are? Not this alone, but rather to make us feel that we may be receiving calls to His service, though we disregard them, and that, if we live near Him, life may at any time take on a new form and character. (E. N. Packard.)
The deliverer and his commission
The personal history of the deliverer and his commission, viewed in reference to the higher dispensation of the Gospel, exhibits the following principles, on which it will be unnecessary to offer any lengthened illustration.
1. The time for the deliverer appearing and entering on the mighty work given him to do, as it should be the one fittest for the purpose, so it must be the one chosen and fixed by God. It might seem long in coming to many, whose hearts groaned beneath the yoke of the adversary; and they might sometimes have been disposed, if they had been able, to hasten forward its arrival. But the Lord knew best when it should take place, and with unerring precision determined it beforehand. Hence we read of Christs appearance having occurred in due time, or in the fulness of time.
2. The Deliverer, when He comes, must arise within the Church itself. With her is the covenant of God; and she alone is the mother of the victorious seed, that destroys the destroyer.
3. Yet the deliverance, even in its earlier stages, when existing only in the personal history of the deliverer, is not altogether independent of the world. The blessing of Israel was interwoven with acts of kindness derived from the heathen; and the child Moses, with whom their very existence as a nation and all its coming glory was bound up, owed his preservation to a member of Pharaohs house, and in that house found a fit asylum and nursing-place. Thus the earth helped the woman, as it has often done since. In the history even of the Author and Finisher of our faith, the history of redemption links itself closely to the history of the world.
4. Still the deliverer, as to his person, his preparation, his gifts and calling, is peculiarly of God. That such a person as Moses was provided for the Church in the hour of her extremity, was entirely the result of Gods covenant with Abraham; and the whole circumstances connected with his preparation for the work, as well as the commission given him to undertake it, and the supernatural endowments fitting him for its execution, manifestly bespoke the special and gracious interposition of heaven. But the same holds true in each particular, and is still more illustriously displayed in Christ. (P. Fairbairn, D. D.)
Preparation for the ministry
I. A human ministry for a Divine salvation. The mother in the nursery, or at the bedside of her children; the father, by his godly life, as well as by direct instruction; the merchant among his clerks and salesmen; the employer among his employee; the mistress among her servants: all these have opportunities for the exercise of the ministry of grace. Other means besides the public ministry, or the direct dealing of the Christian worker, are used of God to bring His people up out of the land of bondage into His kingdom of life and light. A thousand silent and cumulative influences may be amongst the agencies that end in the conversion of every soul
II. This ministry is not self-appointed. I will send thee. In all our service we should bear in mind that we are to go in Gods name, by His appointment to do His work and not our own: otherwise the work will be a miserable failure, and the name of God will be blasphemed.
III. The nature of the commission. I will send. The Lord calls all His people to go forth into this world with a testimony and witness from Him. What the Lord needs now, as at the beginning, is that His disciples should go everywhere preaching Jesus and the Resurrection. When the Spirit works freely in believers, then are many more disciples made.
IV. Moses was to go down to where the people were. Now, mark that when God bade Moses to go down He did not tell him to build a pulpit on the border of Egypt, and cry, Come! I heard of a minister who was asked to go and see a man who was anxious about his soul. He replied, He knows where I live. If he wants my help or counsel, let him come to me. If he is in earnest, he will. I should have said to him, If you are in earnest about your Masters work, and know the meaning of the commission under which you hold your office, you will go to him. Do net forget that our commission is to go. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)
The Divine call to service
1. It is persuasive--come.
2. It is immediate--now.
3. It is logical--therefore. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
I will send thee unto Pharaoh
1. A vocation.
2. A preparation.
3. A commission. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
A God-given task
1. Arduous in its requirement.
2. Responsible in its exercise.
3. Glorious in its issue.
4. Unique in its character. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Notes
1. Gods call--is instant, and suffers no delay.
2. Though God needs no man, He calls some for the help of His people.
3. Such as God calls, He sends to bring about deliverance.
4. The mission of God may be of the poorest man to the greatest potentate.
5. Gods command is enough to empower the weakest man for the strongest work. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The principle of mediation in Gods dealings with men
In the eighth verse God says, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians; and in the tenth verse He says, I will send thee unto Pharaoh. Is there not a discrepancy here? If God Himself came down to do a work, why did He not go and do it personally? One word from Himself would surely have done more for the cause which He had espoused than all the words which the most gifted of His creatures could have used. Looking at this incident as standing alone, it does undoubtedly appear most remarkable that God did not personally execute what He had personally conceived. The thinking was His, so was the love; all the spiritual side of the case belonged exclusively to God; yet He calls a shepherd, a lonely and unfriended man, to work out--with painful elaboration, and through a long series of bewildering disappointments--the purpose which it seems He Himself might have accomplished with a word. We find, however, that the instance is by no means an isolated one. Throughout the whole scheme of the Divine government of the human family, we find the principle of mediation. God speaks to man through man. Undoubtedly, this is mysterious. To our imperfect understanding, it would seem that the direct personal revelation of His presence and glory would instantly secure the results which are so desirable, and yet so doubtful. It is here that faith must lead us. Moreover, this principle of individual selection in the matter of all great ministries, is in keeping with the principle which embodies in a single germ the greatest forests. It is enough that God gives the one acorn, man must plant it and develop its productiveness. God works from the one to the many. (J. Parker, D. D.)
That thou mayest bring forth My people.
The typical character of Moses considered, as the deliverer, mediator, lawgiver, and guide of Israel
I. Moses typical of Christ as a deliverer.
1. When we were dead in sin, God prepared a Deliverer.
2. Only one Deliverer for the whole race.
3. A Man, like unto His brethren.
4. Moses, like Christ, made no common sacrifice to fulfil the duty with which God had charged him.
II. In no point of view is the character of Moses more venerable, or himself more illustrious as a type of our blessed Lord, than when we regard in him the appointed mediator between God and Israel, Moses was qualified for this office--by cordial love--meekness--long suffering--dis-interestedness--ever-watchful zeal; so God could have no interest with men except through Christ, who is far more qualified for the office of mediator than Moses.
III. In attempting to estimate the character of Moses as a type of Christ, we must by no means neglect to regard him in his office of lawgiver to Israel. It was necessary that some mode of government should be given to them. This was given by the Most High--through Moses. So, in the mournful captivity of the soul, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, oppose the will of God; and the fallen creature becomes a fatal law unto himself. Even when the condemnation of impiety is removed, and the fetters with which it bound all the passions, and faculties, and principles of the mind are broken, the liberated bond-servant needs a revelation of the Word of God by which his conduct may be governed. Christ a law-giver--assisted at the formation of the law--can best explain it--best enforce it.
IV. Consider his typical character, as the leader and guide of Israel. Ye may have fled from Egypt; but are ye beyond the reach of temptation? Have ye passed through all the wilderness of sin and seduction? Have ye triumphed over all your enemies, and received your allotted portion in the habitations of eternal rest and glory? Ye have not. A difficult pilgrimage is before you: but infinite mercy has not left you to wander alone. Your Conductor fully knows the way to that blessedness whither ye are endeavouring to follow Him. Ignorant as ye are, He can give you knowledge--feeble, He can support you--faint, He can refresh you. Lessons:
1. Be persuaded that the gospel is worthy of all acceptation.
2. But if worldly and unholy affections still oppose the influence of that gospel over your hearts, yield not tamely to the slavery they would impose, until ye are provided with an answer to the awful question, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?
3. It will naturally be asked, Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? While therefore the ministers of religion are endeavouring to make others wise unto salvation, they may read in this history a rebuke to their own unbelief and timidity. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
Leaders
1. Leaders we must have. To be a leader one must have courage. Not without reason did Sir Walter Scott say: It appears to me that what is least forgiven in a man of any mark and likelihood is want of that quality called pluck. All the fine qualities of genius cannot make amends for it. Boldness is demanded by the very nature of the ease. He who never moves till every one else is moving may be an excellent companion or follower; but a leader he is not. He who would lead must go before, must be in advance.
2. But courage must have some basis; and this basis is found largely in convictions. He who would lead must have not opinions alone but convictions. He must have before him some definite result to be reached, and a fixed conception of the manner in which the end is to be gained. And all this must not be a surmise, but an assurance. We cannot lead people with a perhaps. Usually, in proportion to the positiveness of ones convictions will be his courage in obeying them. If ones aims, methods, convictions are elevated and noble, so much the better; but convictions he must have, if he would be a leader, and he must hold them with a tenacity that death alone can unloose.
3. One of the convictions that go to make up leadership is a belief that things ought to be done, that they can be done, that they must be done; or, in other words, faith. There must be faith in a cause, faith in ones self, in ones destiny, in man; or, rather, there must be a faith in what God is able and desirous to do for man and through man. To say nothing can be done is to say God can do nothing. This despair is not only totally unchristian, it is fatal to leadership. I cant is powerless, or potent only for evil. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me conducts to victory.
4. Out of faith comes progressiveness. To have no aspiration beyond holding things just where they are--or, perhaps, pushing them back an inch or two--this is fatal. But there is inspiration in the thought of achieving something that has not been done before, of treading heights unattained hitherto. The brakeman is very well in his way. But he is not the conductor. He cannot start the train.
5. For leadership there mast be sympathy--a knowledge of men, of their feelings, of their desires, hopes, and fears, prejudices, etc. And for leadership there must be unselfishness. Many other qualities are needed that a man may lead wisely, successfully. These seem to me indispensable that he may lead at all.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_3:11-12
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_3:11-12
MINISTERIAL TIMIDITY
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I. It is sometimes occasioned by undue and depreciating thoughts of self. (Exo_3:11.) By undue thought of our social position. “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?” Moses might imagine the need of social position, in order to obtain an interview with the King. Some of the best ministers of the gospel have come from the most humble scenes of social life. There are times in ministerial labour when good social position may aid the mission of truth and freedom—but it is not an absolute necessity. Men from the lower ranks of humanity may do as much to subdue the tyranny of a king, as the most refined aristocrat of the realm. A man of great soul, independent of social standing, may successfully accomplish a campaign against moral evil.
2. By undue thought of our intellectual weakness. “Who am I?” True, Moses was well educated—still his mental discipline would hardly appear to him as equal to the present crisis and undertaking. He would have to fall back upon his knowledge of the Egyptian court, and upon other matters, of important bearing on his mission. So, may ministers of to-day feel their inability to combat the error—scepticism—and refined sin of the age—through their lack of brain power. They have not had the advantages in their early days that even Moses had. Of what little information they possess, they make the best possible use. It requires a well disciplined mind to go to the Pharaohs of the world, and to demand efficiently the moral freedom of their slaves.
3. By undue thought of our moral inability. A man requires not only a strong mind—but much more, a strong soul—of devout impulse—large sympathy—and strong determination, to perform such a commission as that now given to Moses. Equally so, with the minister of Christ. And, when the true preacher looks into his heart in moments of depression, he feels his lack of great moral qualities—and cries, “Who am I,” &c.
II. That it is sometimes occasioned by an undue estimation of the difficulties of the work.
1. This may arise from the depressing experiences of youth. When young—living in the palaces of Pharaoh—Moses had striven to interrupt a quarrel between two Hebrews by referring them to the fact of their common brotherhood and suffering—he had been repulsed. No doubt a remembrance of this fact now lingered within his mind—as there are certain experiences that never leave us—they become the constant, and great educational influences of our souls. This reminiscence would give Moses to feel the difficulty of the task now imposed upon him. So, with ministers of the Gospel—it may be that the experiences of boyhood and younger manhood, have introduced an element of difficulty, perplexity, into their toil, that they almost shrink from the call.
2. This may arise from the removal of friendly aids. Moses once had friends in the court of Pharaoh—he was the adopted son of the King’s daughter—had he retained her friendship—it might have been of use to him now; but he had lost it by flight. So, it sometimes happens that ministers often lose earthly, accidental friendships, aids to the achievement of their mission, and hence their timidity as to its issue.
III. That it is sometimes occasioned by our not appreciating, as we ought, the Divine Presence and help.
1. The Divine Presence is our Guide. God would teach—guide Moses as to the best methods of approach to Pharaoh. So, the same Jehovah will equally guide all true ministers who are seeking the moral freedom of men. This guidance makes up for any scholastic deficiency—is our truest help.
2. The Divine Presence is our sustaining influence. It would sustain Moses under his memory of youthful failure to subdue the quarrel of the two Israelites. It would sustain him in the performance of all arduous toils—in the event of suffering—rebuff, either from Pharaoh—his courtiers—or his bondmen. So, the Divine Presence sustains the minister of Christ—under the bitter memories of past failure—misdirected effort—wanderings—loneliness—and opposition, from whatever source. But for this he would be unequal to the task for an hour.
3. The Divine Presence is our victory. It gave Moses an insight into the future history of Pharaoh—it enabled him to work miracles—it empowered his moral nature—rendered it superior to the conflict. So, with the minister of truth—though he cannot work miracles—the Divine Presence is the pledge of moral conviction in the minds of others—and of final victory.
IV. It should be removed by the hopes with which it is animated.
1. By the hope of achieving the freedom of a vast nation. Moses was to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. So, it is the hope of the gospel ministry to bring the universe from under the reign of sin—to freedom—happiness—hope—what a sublime anticipation!
2. By the hope of leading a vast nation into the land of promise. Moses was to lead the Israelites into Canaan: (i.) Fertile. (ii.) Abundance. (iii.) Beauty. So, the minister of Christ has to lead men to heaven—this is the hope by which he is animated—and ought to subdue all timidity—and inspire him with holy joy.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo_3:11. The man who in youth slew the Egyptian, and was willing to undertake the emancipation of his nation, now modestly shrinks from the task.
The power of increasing age—
1. To change the views.
2. To calm the temper.
3. To humble the soul.
No wonder that he so inquired. The message seemed to be much greater than the messenger. He works best who magnifies his office. Preachers, and all ministers of good, should see their work to be greater than themselves if they would work at the highest point of energy. Let a man suppose his work to be easy, to be unworthy of his talents, and he will not achieve much success [City Temple].
It is far better to partake of the spirit of Moses as manifested in this verse, than to too rashly seek the dignity and position of ministerial work.
Worth is modest: the proud man asketh, who am I not? [Trapp].
God may sometimes be denied by the best of men in their infirmity.
The best souls are apt to have the lowest thoughts of themselves for God’s work.
Visible difficulties in the Church may dishearten men to work.
The power of Egyptian oppressors may startle weak instruments of deliverance.
The redemption of men from the house of bondage is a startling fact.
Exo_3:12. “Certainly I will be with thee.” The Divine companionship realised by the good in the service of the Christian life:—
I. It was considerate. Never did Moses more need the Divine companionship than in this exigency of toil. The work is great—he feels his inability for it—it is at the time of his weakness that the Divine companionship is promised. This promise will stand true for Christian workers during all time.
II. It was emphatic. “Certainly.” The promise—in tone—manner—could leave no doubt on the mind of Moses as to the likelihood of its fulfilment. Its emphasis satisfied his utmost requirement—left no room for doubt. So, now the promise of the Divine companionship is emphatic—becoming even more so by the accumulating experiences of the good.
III. It was sympathetic. “With thee.” Not I will follow thee—not I will go before thee—not I will be near thee—but with thee—as a companion to cheer thy soul; as a friend—to give thee counsel; as a God—to make thee victorious. How can a mission fail when God is with the worker. How refreshing to a timid soul is the sympathy of Heaven. Our sufficiency is of God.
THE GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS
I. “Certainly I will be with thee.” Then man is servant, not master. He should know his place, or he can never keep it. As servant—
1. He should consult his master.
2. Speak in the name of his master.
3. Be jealous of the honour of his master.
II. “Certainly I will be with thee.” Then the work must succeed. The guarantee of success:—
1. Not human cleverness.
2. Not skilful organisation.
3. But the word of the Lord. “My word shall not return unto Me void.”
III. Certainly I will be with thee. Then the servant is to be received for the master’s sake. “He that receiveth you, receiveth me.” The Romans were to receive Phebe in the Lord.
IV. “Certainly I will be with thee.” Then there need be no lack of grace or power. “I any man lack wisdom,” &c. “Lo, I am with you alway.” God is with His servants for,
1. Their comfort.
2. Justice.
3. Safety [City Temple].
“This shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee.” Tokens that a minister is Divinely commissioned:—
1. That he reflects the light of heavenly vision.
2. That he is conscious, and his life gives evidence, of Divine companionship.
3. That he seeks to proclaim the name of God, as connected with the moral freedom of men.
4. That some amount of spiritual success attends his labours.
5. Sometimes special evidences of favour given in answer to prayer.
We render the highest honour to God when, relying on His proffered aid, we seek no ground of confidence out of Himself, when in the deep sense of our own impotence we count it enough that He is with us and for us [Bush].
God is not moved from His purpose by the objections of men.
To all human appearance Moses is to undertake the responsibility of this mission, whereas he is only a secondary agent. God is invisible.… God’s goodness satisfieth the plea of His unwilling instruments for His work.
God’s presence is always with those who are engaged in His redemptive work.
God will answer the objection, and solve the difficulties of His workers.
Redemption promised by God will surely be performed.
The worship and service of God is the great end of His people’s freedom.
The true worship of God in the place appointed by Him is the best return for deliverance.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Exo_3:12. There is an excellent story of a young man that was at sea in a mighty, raging tempest, and when all the passengers were at their wits’ end for fear, he only was merry; and when he was asked the reason of his mirth, he answered that the pilot of the ship was his father, and he knew that his father would have a care of him. The great and wise God, who is our Father, hath from all eternity decreed what shall be the issues of all wars, what the event of all troubles. He is our pilot, He sits at the stern; and though the ship of the Church or State be in a sinking condition, yet be of good comfort, our pilot will have a care of us. There is nothing done in the lower House of Parliament on earth but what is first decreed in the higher house in heaven. All the lesser wheels are ordered and overruled by the upper. “Are not five sparrows,” saith Christ “sold for a farthing?” One sparrow is not worth half a farthing, and there is no man shall have half a farthing’s worth of harm more than God hath decreed from all eternity [Calamy’s Sermon].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v10 Exo 3:10 - - Exo 3:20.
Exodus
THE CALL OF MOSES
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Exo 3:10 - - Exo 3:20.
The ‘son of Pharaoh’s daughter’ had been transformed, by nearly forty years of desert life, into an Arab shepherd. The influences of the Egyptian court had faded from him, like colour from cloth exposed to the weather; nor is it probable that, after the failure of his early attempt to play the deliverer to Israel, he nourished further designs of that sort. He appears to have settled down quietly to be Jethro’s son-in-law, and to have lived a modest, still life of humble toil. He had flung away fair prospects,-and what had he made of it? The world would say ‘Nothing,’ as it ever does about those who despise material advantages and covet higher good. Looking after sheep in the desert was a sad downcome from the possibility of sitting on the throne of Egypt. Yes, but it was in the desert that the vision of the bush burning, and not burning out, came; and it would not have come if Moses had been in a palace.
This passage begins in the midst of the divine communication which followed and interpreted the vision. We note, first, the divine charge and the human shrinking from the task. It was a startling transition from Exo 3:9, which declares God’s pitying knowledge of Israel’s oppression, to Exo 3:10, which thrusts Moses forward into the thick of dangers and difficulties, as God’s instrument. ‘I will send thee’ must have come like a thunder-clap. The commander’s summons which brings a man from the rear rank and sets him in the van of a storming-party may well make its receiver shrink. It was not cowardice which prompted Moses’ answer, but lowliness. His former impetuous confidence had all been beaten out of him. Time was when he was ready to take up the rôle of deliverer at his own hand; but these hot days were past, and age and solitude and communion with God had mellowed him into humility. His recoil was but one instance of the shrinking which all true, devout men feel when designated for tasks which may probably make life short, and will certainly make it hard. All prophets and reformers till to-day have had the same feeling. Men who can do such work as the Jeremiahs, Pauls, Luthers, Cromwells, can do, are never forward to begin it.
Self-confidence is not the temper which God uses for His instruments. He works with ‘bruised reeds,’ and breathes His strength into them. It is when a man says ‘I can do nothing,’ that he is fit for God to employ. ‘When I am weak, then I am strong.’ Moses remembered enough of Egypt to know that it was no slight peril to front Pharaoh, and enough of Israel not to be particularly eager to have the task of leading them. But mark that there is no refusal of the charge, though there is profound consciousness of inadequacy. If we have reason to believe that any duty, great or small, is laid on us by God, it is wholesome that we should drive home to ourselves our own weakness, but not that we should try to shuffle out of the duty because we are weak. Moses’ answer was more of a prayer for help than of a remonstrance, and it was answered accordingly.
God deals very gently with conscious weakness. ‘Certainly I will be with thee.’ Moses’ estimate of himself is quite correct, and it is the condition of his obtaining God’s help. If he had been self-confident, he would have had no longing for, and no promise of, God’s presence. In all our little tasks we may have the same assurance, and, whenever we feel that they are too great for us, the strength of that promise may be ours. God sends no man on errands which He does not give him power to do. So Moses had not to calculate the difference between his feebleness and the strength of a kingdom. Such arithmetic left out one element, which made all the difference in the sum total. ‘Pharaoh versus Moses’ did not look a very hopeful cause, but ‘Pharaoh versus Moses and Another’-that other being God-was a very different matter. God and I are always stronger than any antagonists. It was needless to discuss whether Moses was able to cope with the king. That was not the right way of putting the problem. The right way was, Is God able to do it?
The sign given to Moses is at first sight singular, inasmuch as it requires faith, and can only be a confirmation of his mission when that mission is well accomplished. But there was a help to present faith even in it, for the very sacredness of the spot hallowed now by the burning bush was a kind of external sign of the promise.
One difficulty being solved, Moses raised another, but not in the spirit of captiousness or reluctance. God is very patient with us when we tell Him the obstacles which we seem to see to our doing His work. As long as these are presented in good faith, and with the wish to have them cleared up, He listens and answers. The second question asked by Moses was eminently reasonable. He pictures to himself his addressing the Israelites, and their question, What is the name of this God who has sent you? Apparently the children of Israel had lost much of their ancestral faith, and probably had in many instances fallen into idolatry. We do not know enough to pronounce with confidence on that point, nor how far the great name of Jehovah had been used before the time of Moses, or had been forgotten in Egypt.
The questions connected with these points and with the history of the name do not enter into our present purpose. My task is rather to point out the religious significance of the self-revelation of God contained in the name, and how it becomes the foundation of Israel’s deliverance, existence, and prerogatives. Whatever opinions are adopted as to the correct form of the name and other grammatical and philological questions, there is no doubt that it mainly reveals God as self-existent and unchangeable. He draws His being from no external source, nor ‘borrows leave to be.’ Creatures are what they are made or grow to be; they are what they were not; they are what they will some time not any more be. But He is what He is. Lifted above time and change, self-existing and self-determined, He is the fountain of life, the same for ever.
This underived, independent, immutable being is a Person who can speak to men, and can say ‘I am.’ Being such, He has entered into close covenant relations with men, and has permitted Himself to be called ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ The name Jehovah lifts Him high above all creatures; the name ‘the God of your fathers’ brings Him into tender proximity with men, and, in combination with the former designation, guarantees that He will forever be what He has been, even to all generations of children’s children. That mighty name is, indeed, His ‘memorial to all generations,’ and is as fresh and full of blessedness to us as to the patriarchs. Christ has made us understand more of the treasures for heart and mind and life which are stored in it. ‘Our Father which art in heaven’ is the unfolding of its inmost meaning.
We may note that the bush burning but not consumed expressed in symbol the same truth which the name reveals. It seems a mistake to take the bush as the emblem of Israel surviving persecution. Rather the revelation to the eye says the same thing as that to the ear, as is generally the case. As the desert shrub flamed, and yet did not burn away, so that divine nature is not wearied by action nor exhausted by bestowing, nor has its life any tendency towards ending or extinction, as all creatural life has.
The closing verses of this passage {Exo 3:16 - - Exo 3:20} are a programme of Moses’ mission, in which one or two points deserve notice. First, the general course of it is made known from the beginning. Therein Moses was blessed beyond most of God’s servants, who have to risk much and to labour on, not knowing which shall prosper. If we could see, as he did, the lie of the country beforehand, our journeys would be easier. So we often think, but we know enough of what shall be to enable us to have quiet hearts; and it is best for us not to see what is to fail and what to succeed. Our ignorance stimulates effort, and drives to clinging to God’s hand.
Then we may note the full assurances to be given to the ‘elders of Israel.’ Apparently some kind of civic organisation had been kept up, and there were principal people among the slaves who had to be galvanised first into enthusiasm. So they are to be told two things,-that Jehovah has appeared to Moses, and that He, not Moses only, will deliver them and plant them in the land. The enumeration of the many tribes {Exo 3:17} might discourage, but it is intended to fire by the thought of the breadth of the land, which is further described as fertile. The more exalted our conceptions of the inheritance, the more willing shall we be to enter on the pilgrimage towards it. The more we realise that Jehovah has promised to lead us thither, the more willing shall we be to face difficulties and dangers.
The directions as to the opening of communications with Pharaoh have often been made a difficulty, as if there was trickery in the modest request for permission to go three days’ journey into the wilderness. But that request was to be made, knowing that it would not be granted. It was to be a test of Pharaoh’s willingness to submit to Jehovah. Its very smallness made it so more effectually. If he had any disposition to listen to the voice speaking through Moses, he would yield that small point. It is useless to speculate on what would have happened if he had done so. But probably the Israelites would have come back from their sacrificing.
Of more importance is it to note that the failure of the request was foreseen, and yet the effort was to be made. Is not that the same paradox which meets us in all the divine efforts to win over hard-hearted men to His service? Is it not exactly what our Lord did when He appealed to Judas, while knowing that all would be vain?
The expression in Exo 3:19, ‘not by a mighty hand,’ is very obscure. It may possibly mean that Pharaoh was so obstinate that no human power was strong enough to bend his will. Therefore, in contrast to the ‘mighty hand’ of man, which was not mighty enough for this work, God will stretch out His hand, and that will suffice to compel obedience from the proudest. God can force men by His might to comply with His will, so far as external acts go; but He does not regard that as obedience, nor delight in it. We can steel ourselves against men’s power, but God’s hand can crush and break the strongest will. ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ It is a blessed thing to put ourselves into them, in order to be moulded by their loving touch. The alternative is laid before every soul of man.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The Emphatic Commission
The Emphatic Commission
v. 11. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Moses certainly had learned humility in. the school of Midian, not unmixed with dejection; all his youthful rashness was forgotten. "He who once would, when as yet he ought not, now will no longer when he ought. "
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v. 12. And He said, Certainly I will be with thee, the presence, the power, and the wisdom of God was to accompany Moses; and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee: When thou halt brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. This was literally fulfilled, for it was on almost the identical spot then occupied by Moses that the children of Israel were encamped when they entered into the formal relation of worshipers of Jehovah. But Moses had another objection.
v. 13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? The name God Almighty was too general to distinguish the true God from the idols of Egypt, and therefore the inquiry for the name has the purpose of obtaining some expression on the part of God which would indicate His essence and the actual manifestation of the divine essence toward His people, by which they might understand and apprehend Him.
v. 14. And God said unto Moses, I am that I am; and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. It is a majestic declaration in which God reveals His essence to Moses as the unchangeable, eternally faithful covenant God. From past to future, from everlasting to everlasting, He is the same merciful Lord over all, without change or shadow of turning.
v. 15. And God said, moreover, unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is My name forever and ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations. Forward into the endless future, and backward into the past without beginning: there is only that one true God as He should be accepted by all men.
v. 16. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, visiting I have visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
v. 17. and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction, the burden, of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. The apparently cumbersome repetition of the name of God and the long enumeration of the Canaanitish tribes all serve for emphasis to bring out the certainty of the fulfilment.
v. 18. And they shall hearken to thy voice; and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, for the present revelation of God to Moses concerned, and had significance for, all the people; and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God. This request was not a deception, but agreed with the plan of God, for because the Lord knew the hard heart of Pharaoh, Moses and the elders were, at the beginning, not to ask more than a leave of absence, for Pharaoh’s denial of this petition would then reveal the hardness of his heart. God intended to make Pharaoh an example for all time.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh…
Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh ... Egypt?
Moses uses this question to tell God that Moses is a nobody and no one will listen to him. AT: "I am not important enough to go to Pharaoh ... Egypt!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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translationWords
Moses
God
Pharaoh
Israel
Egypt
sign
worship
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–12 3:10 God would act compassionately to save his suffering…
3:10 God would act compassionately to save his suffering people, but it would be through a human agency. Often God is known among us because of the way his people carry out his will.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.