1Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’ ”
2Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
3He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
4Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.” He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.
1 Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’ ”
2 Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
4 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.” He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.
KJVKing James Version
1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
1 And Moses answered and said: 'But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say: The lord hath not appeared unto thee.'
2 And the LORD said unto him: 'What is that in thy hand?' And he said: 'A rod.'
3 And He said: 'Cast it on the ground.' And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail — and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand —
Exodus 4:17(vv2–3)You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
Exodus 4:20(v2)Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand.
Psalms 110:2(v2)Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies.
Isaiah 11:4(v2)but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of…
Genesis 30:37(v2)Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, and plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in…
Show all 22 cross-references
Exodus 3:18(v1)They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the…
Leviticus 27:32(v2)All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh.
Exodus 4:31(v1)The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they…
Micah 7:14(v2)Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the middle of fertile pasture…
Genesis 22:1-2(v4)After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “Now take your son, your only son,…
Exodus 2:14(v1)He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and said,…
Exodus 6:30(v1)Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?”
Exodus 7:10-15(v3)Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his…
Psalms 91:13(v4)You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
Jeremiah 1:6(v1)Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”
Ezekiel 3:14(v1)So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.
Amos 5:19(v3)As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
Mark 16:18(v4)they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will…
Luke 10:19(v4)Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
John 2:5(v4)His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
Acts 7:25(v1)He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
Acts 28:3-6(v4)But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.…
22 distinct cross-references across this passage (23 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v1God beareth with Moses’ doubting, because he was not…
God beareth with Moses’ doubting, because he was not altogether without faith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Exo 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold,…
Exo 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
Ver. 1. They will not believe me.] They had formerly refused him, "and thrust him away." {Exo 2:14 Act 7:27} And so they might again, if he had not somewhat to show for his extraordinary calling. {a} In the year 434, the Jews of Crete were shamefully seduced by a pseudo-Moses, who promised to divide the sea for them to bring them back to their own country. {b} Those that will not receive the love of the truth, are justly given up to the efficacy of error. {2Th 2:10-11}
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{a} Quaeque repulsa gravis. - Hor.
{b} Funccius, in Comm. Chron.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3, 4They will not believe me; which he conjectured both…
They will not believe me; which he conjectured both from reason, because the greatness and strangeness of the deliverance made it seem incredible; and their minds were so oppressed with cares and labours, that it was not likely they could raise them up to any such expectation; and from the experience which he had of them forty years before, when their deliverance by his means and interest at court seemed much more credible than now it did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1It was a very great honour that Moses was…
It was a very great honour that Moses was called to when God commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt; yet he is with difficulty persuaded to accept the commission, and does it at last with great reluctance, which we should rather impute to a humble diffidence of himself and his own sufficiency than to any unbelieving distrust of God and his word and power. Note, Those whom God designs for preferment he clothes with humility; the most fit for service are the least forward.
I. Moses objects that in all probability the people would not hearken to his voice (Exo 4:1), that is, they would not take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign, which he had not been yet instructed to do. This objection cannot be justified, because it contradicts what God had said (Exo 3:18), They shall hearken to thy voice. If God says, They will, does it become Moses to say, They will not? Surely he means, "Perhaps they will not at first, or some of them will not." If there should be some gainsayers among them who would question his commission, how should he deal with them? And what course should he take to convince them? He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again. Note, 1. Present discouragements often arise from former disappointments. 2. Wise and good men have sometimes a worse opinion of people than they deserve. Moses sad (Exo 4:1), They will not believe me; and yet he was happily mistaken, for it is said (Exo 4:31), The people believed; but then the signs which God appointed in answer to this objection were first wrought in their sight.
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II. God empowers him to work miracles, directs him to three particularly, two of which were now immediately wrought for his own satisfaction. Note, True miracles are the most convincing external proofs of a divine mission attested by them. Therefore our Saviour often appealed to his works (as Joh 5:36), and Nicodemus owns himself convinced by them, Joh 3:2. And here Moses, having a special commission given him as a judge and lawgiver to Israel, has this seal affixed to his commission, and comes supported by these credentials.
1. The rod in his hand is made the subject of a miracle, a double miracle: it is but thrown out of his hand and it becomes a serpent; he resumes it and it becomes a rod again, Exo 4:2-4. Now, (1.) Here was a divine power manifested in the change itself, that a dry stick should be turned into a living serpent, a lively one, so formidable a one that Moses himself, on whom, it should seem, it turned in some threatening manner, fled from before it, though we may suppose, in that desert, serpents were no strange things to him; but what was produced miraculously was always the best and strongest of the kind, as the water turned to wine: and, then, that this living serpent should be turned into a dry stick again, this was the Lord's doing. (2.) Here was an honour put upon Moses, that this change was wrought upon his throwing it down and taking it up, without any spell, or charm, or incantation: his being empowered thus to act under God, out of the common course of nature and providence, was a demonstration of his authority, under God, to settle a new dispensation of the kingdom of grace. We cannot imagine that the God of truth would delegate such a power as this to an impostor. (3.) There was a significancy in the miracle itself. Pharaoh had turned the rod of Israel into a serpent, representing them as dangerous (Exo 1:10), causing their belly to cleave to the dust, and seeking their ruin; but now they should be turned into a rod again: or, thus Pharaoh had turned the rod of government into the serpent of oppression, from which Moses had himself fled into Midian; but by the agency of Moses the scene was altered again. (4.) There was a direct tendency in it to convince the children of Israel that Moses was indeed sent of God to do what he did, Exo 4:5. Miracles were for signs to those that believed not, Co1 14:22.
2. His hand itself is next made the subject of a miracle. He puts it once into his bosom, and takes it out leprous; he puts it again into the same place, and takes it out well, Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7. This signified, (1.) That Moses, by the power of God, should bring sore diseases upon Egypt, and that, at his prayer, they should be removed. (2.) That whereas the Israelites in Egypt had become leprous, polluted by sin, and almost consumed by oppression (a leper is as one dead, Num 12:12), by being taken into the bosom of Moses they should be cleansed and cured, and have all their grievances redressed. (3.) That Moses was not to work miracles by his own power, nor for his own praise, but by the power of God and for his glory; the leprous hand of Moses does for ever exclude boasting. Now it was supposed that, if the former sign did not convince, this latter would. Note, God is willing more abundantly to show the truth of his word, and is not sparing in his proofs; the multitude and variety of the miracles corroborate the evidence.
3. He is directed, when he shall come to Egypt, to turn some of the water of the river into blood, Exo 4:9. This was done, at first, as a sign, but, not gaining due credit with Pharaoh, the whole river was afterwards turned into blood, and then it became a plague. He is ordered to work this miracle in case they would not be convinced by the other two. Note, Unbelief shall be left inexcusable, and convicted of a wilful obstinacy. As to the people of Israel, God had said (Exo 3:18), They shall hearken; yet he appoints these miracles to be wrought for their conviction, for he that has ordained the end has ordained the means.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–4And Moses answered and said,.... In reference to what…
And Moses answered and said,.... In reference to what Jehovah had declared to him in the latter end of the preceding chapter:
but, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice; this seems to contradict what God had said to him, Exo 3:18 that they would hearken to his voice; but it can hardly be thought, that so good a man, and so great a prophet as Moses was, would directly fly in the face of God, and expressly contradict what he had said. To reconcile this it may be observed, that what the Lord says respects only the elders of Israel, this all the people; or Jehovah's meaning may be, and so this of Moses, that neither the one nor the other would regard his bare word, without some sign or miracle being wrought; for as his call was extraordinary, so it required something extraordinary to be done that it might be credited:
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for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto me: in the bush, as he would affirm he did, and might do it with the greatest assurance; yet the thing being so marvellous, and they not eyewitnesses of it, might distrust the truth of it, or be backward to receive it on his bare word; and this Moses might rather fear would be the case, from the experience he had had of them forty years ago, when it was more likely for him to have been a deliverer of them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–2This chapter,
This chapter,
I. Continues and concludes God's discourse with Moses, concerning bringing Israel out of Egypt. [1.] Moses objects the peoples unbelief, ver. 1. and God answers that objection by giving him a power to work miracles: (1.) To turn his rod into a serpent, and then into a rod again, ver. 2-5. (2.) To make his hand leprous, and then whole again, ver. 6-8. (3.) To turn the water into blood, ver. 9. [2.]Moses objects his own slowness of speech, ver. 10. and begs to be excused, ver. 13. But God answers this objection, (1.) By promising him his presence, ver. 11, 12. (2.) By joining Aaron in commission with him, ver. 14-16. (3.) By putting an honour upon the very staff in his hand, ver. 17.
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II. Moses's execution of his commission. (1.) He obtains leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt, ver. 18. (2.) He receives further instructions from God, ver. 19, 21-23. (3.) He hastens his departure, and takes his family with him, ver. 20. (4.) He meets with some difficulty about the circumcising of his son, ver. 24. 26. (5.) He has the satisfaction of meeting his brother Aaron, ver. 27, 28. (6.) He produceth his commission before the elders of Israel, to their great joy, ver. 29-31.
They will not hearken to my voice-That is, they would not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign. He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites…
CHAPTER IV
Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites would not
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credit his Divine mission, 1;
God, to strengthen his faith, and to assure him that his countrymen
would believe him, changed his rod into a serpent, and the serpent
into a rod, 2-5;
made his hand leprous, and afterwards restored it, 6, 7;
intimating that he had now endued him with power to work such
miracles, and that the Israelites would believe, 8;
and farther assures him that he should have power to turn the water
into blood, 9.
Moses excuses himself on the ground of his not being eloquent, 10,
and God reproves him for his unbelief, and promises to give him
supernatural assistance, 11, 12.
Moses expressing his utter unwillingness to go on any account, God
is angry, and then promises to give him his brother Aaron to be his
spokesman, 13-16,
and appoints his rod to be the instrument of working miracles, 17.
Moses returns to his relative Jethro, and requests liberty to visit
his brethren in Egypt, and is permitted, 18.
God appears to him in Midian, and assures him that the Egyptians who
sought his life were dead, 19.
Moses, with his wife and children, set out on their journey to
Egypt, 20.
God instructs him what he shall say to Pharaoh, 21-23.
He is in danger of losing his life, because he had not circumcised
his son, 24.
Zipporah immediately circumcising the child, Moses escapes
unhurt, 25, 26.
Aaron is commanded to go and meet his brother Moses; he goes and
meets him at Horeb, 27.
Moses informs him of the commission he had received from God, 28.
They both go to their brethren, deliver their message, and work
miracles, 29, 30.
The people believe and adore God, 31.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV
Verse 1. They will not believe me] As if he had said, Unless I be enabled to work miracles, and give them proofs by extraordinary works as well as by words, they will not believe that thou hast sent me.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Exo 4:1. They will not believe me — He…
Exo 4:1. They will not believe me — He means, they would not take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign. He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–3With this chapter begins the series of miracles which…
With this chapter begins the series of miracles which resulted in the deliverance of Israel. The first miracle was performed to remove the first obstacle, namely, the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness, and of the enormous power with which he would have to contend.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv1, 4They, &c. Many of the common people, not of…
They, &c. Many of the common people, not of the ancients, chap. iii. 18. (Menochius) --- He knew that all ought to bring credentials from God, when they come in his name to institute a new order of things. This Moses, Jesus Christ, and the apostles did. Nothing less than a miracle can suffice to guard against imposters, who will never be able to stand this test throughout, in such a manner, but that God will evidently confound their delusive designs, if they should even attempt to work miracles. (Haydock) --- Believe the works. (St. John, x. 15; Mark xvi.) (Worthington)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1Exo_4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they…
Exo_4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto 2thee. And Jehovah said unto him, What is that [this] in thine [thy] hand? And he said, A rod. 3And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, 4and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5That they may believe that Jehovah, God [the God] of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 6the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And Jehovah said furthermore unto him, Put now thine [thy] hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7And he said, Put thine [thy] hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked [took] it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither [nor] hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also [even] these two signs, neither [nor] hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10And Moses said unto Jehovah, O my Lord, [O Lord], I am not eloquent [lit. a man of words], neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but [for] I am slow of speech [mouth] 11and of a slow [slow of] tongue. And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the [maketh] dumb, or deaf, or the seeing [or seeing], or the blind? [or blind?] Have [Do] not I, Jehovah? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13And he said, O my Lord [O Lord], send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron, the Levite, thy brother? I know [Do I not know Aaron, thy brother, the Levite,] that he can speak well?5 And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words [the words] in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16And he shall be thy spokesman [shall speak for thee] unto the people, and he [it] shall be, even [that] he shall be to thee instead of 17[for] a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of [for a] God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine [thy] hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs [the signs]. 18And Moses went, and returned to Jethro [Jether] his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee,6 and return unto my brethren which [who] are in Egypt, and see whether they be [are] yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19And Jehovah said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead which [who] sought thy life. 20And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them [made them ride] upon an [the] ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. 21And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And Jehovah said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thy hand [consider all the wonders which I have put in thy hand, and do them before Pharaoh]; but I will harden his heart that he shall [and he will] not let the people go. 22And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, even my first-born. 23And I say [said]7 unto thee, Let my son go that he may serve me; and if thou refuse [and thou didst refuse]6 to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born. 24And it came 25to pass by the way in the inn, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. Then [And] Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [a bridegroom of blood] 26 art thou to me. So [And] lie [i.e., Jehovah] let him go [desisted from him]; then she 27said, A bloody husband [A bridegroom of blood] thou art, because of the circumcision. And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into [to] the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 28And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah who had sent him [with which he had charged him]8, and all the signs which he had commanded him. 29And Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30And Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31And the people believed, and when they heard9 that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads [bowed down], and worshipped.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
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[Exo_4:14. We have ventured to follow the Vulg., Luther, Cranmer, the Geneva Version, De Wette, Glaire, and Kalisch, in this rendering; for, though grammatically the reading of the A. V. in more natural, yet it is difficult to see the force of the question, “Is not Aaron thy brother?” Fürst, Arnheim, and Murphy, try to avoid the difficulty by rendering, “Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite?” etc. This, however, is putting in what is not in the original. Bush, following Rashi, translates, “Is not Aaron thy brother, the Levite?” and understands the question to intimate that, in consequence of Moses’ reluctance to obey the divine commission, the priesthood, which otherwise would have been conferred on him, will be given to Aaron. As nothing is said about the priesthood, it is hard to see how the phrase “the Levite,” at this time, before any priesthood bad been established, could have been understood in this way. Knobel, translating in the same way, understands it as pointing forward to the duty of the priests to give public instruction. But the same objection lies against this, as against the previous explanation; Moses was a Levite as much as Aaron was. Lange, translating also the same way, understands the meaning to be: Aaron is a more genuine Levite than Moses. But in this case the definite article is quite out of place; and even without it such a thought would be very obscurely expressed. Keil, following Baumgarten, finds the significance of the question in the etymological meaning of לֵוִי, viz., to join, associate one’s-self to. This certainly has the advantage of suggesting a reason for the use of the phrase “the Levite,” which on other theories seems to be superfluous. But the definite article is out of place on this hypothesis also. Besides, as the special point here is Aaron’s ability to talk, the notion of association is not just the one needed to be suggested by the term, to say nothing of the subtlety of the mode of conveying either conception.—Tr.].
[Exo_4:18. אֵלְכָה־נָא is not to be understood as a request, as the A. V. seems to imply, especially by the phrase, “I pray thee,” which corresponds to נָא. We have exactly the same form in Exo_3:3, where Moses said אָסֻרָה־נָא “I will turn aside,” or, “Let me turn aside.”—Tr.].
[Exo_4:23. וָאֹמַר and וַתְּמָאֵן are most naturally to be rendered as preterites. It is very doubtful whether וַתְּמָאֵן can be taken as protasis to the following clause. The translation of the A. V. and of others, seems to have been prompted by the idea that this is the opening message to Pharaoh. But the threat to kill the first-born was in reality the last one made. The declaration, Exo_4:21, covers all the first part of the efforts of Moses to secure the deliverance of the people. In spite of all the plagues and signs, Pharaoh “will not let the people go.” Therefore (Exo_4:22) Moses is to make his final appearance, and threaten the death of the first-born because of Pharaoh’s past refusal to obey.—Tr.].
[Exo_4:28. שָׁלַח may take a double accusative, as e.g. in 2Sa_11:22; 1Ki_14:6. As Kalisch observes, “the usual translation, who had sent him, is languid in the extreme.”—Tr.].
[Exo_4:31. Knobel, following the reading ἐχάρη, of the LXX., would change וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ into וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ. There seems to be strong reason for the change. The people, according to the present text, seem to believe, before hearing. Moreover, we have, as Knobel points out, another almost unmistakable instance of the same error. The narrative in 2Ki_20:13 is identical with that in Isa_39:2, with the exception that the first passage has וַיִּשְׁמַע where the second has וַיִּשְׂמַח. The LXX. has here, too ἐχάρη in both cases. In reference to 2Ki_20:13, Keil says that “וַיִּשְׁמַע seems to be an error of transcription for וַיִּשְׂמַח,” though he says of Knobel’s conjecture concerning the verse before us, that it is “without ground.” If we adopt the amended reading, we translate, “and they rejoiced because Jehovah had visited,” etc.—Tr.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Chap. Exo_4:1. Four hundred years of natural development had succeeded the era of patriarchal revelations, and the people were no longer accustomed to prophetic voices. The more ground therefore did Moses seem to have for his anxiety lest the people would not believe him. Jehovah, moreover, does not blame him for his doubts, but gives him three marks of authentication. The symbolical nature of these miraculous signs is noticed also by Keil.
Exo_4:2-5. The casting down of the shepherd’s rod may signify the giving up of his previous pastoral occupation. As a seemingly impotent shepherd’s rod he becomes a serpent, he excites all the hostile craft and power of the Egyptians. Pharaoh especially appears in the whole process also as a serpent-like liar. But as to the serpent, it is enough to understand by it the dark, hostile power of the Egyptians which now at first frightened him. It is true, the enemy of the woman’s seed, the old serpent, constitutes the background of the Egyptian hostility; but here the symbol of the Egyptian snake kind is sufficient. When Moses, however, seizes the serpent by the tail, by its weaponless natural part, as is illustrated in the Egyptian plagues, it becomes a rod again, and now a divine rod of the shepherd of the people.
Exo_4:6-8. The white leprosy is here meant. Comp. Lev_13:3. “As to the significance of this sign, it is quite arbitrary, with Theodoret and others, down to Kurtz, to understand the hand to represent the people of Israel; and still more arbitrary, with Kurtz, to make the bosom represent first Egypt, and then Canaan, as the hiding-place of Israel. If the shepherd’s rod symbolizes Moses’ vocation, it is the hand which bears the rod, and governs. In his bosom the attendant carries the babe,” etc. (Keil). The leprosy has been explained, now as signifying the miserable condition of the Jews, now as the contagious influence upon them of Egyptian impurity. Through the sympathy of his bosom with the leprosy of his people Moses’ hand itself becomes in his bosom leprous; but through the same sympathy his hand becomes clean again. The actions of his sympathy cause him to appear as an accomplice in the guilt of Israel; and he really is not free from guilt; but the same actions have a sort of propitiatory power, which also inures to the benefit of the people. Jehohovah raises the voice of this second, sacerdotal sign above the voice of the first.
Exo_4:9. As the first miraculous sign symbolized a predominantly prophetic action, the second a sacerdotal, so the third a kingly kind. It gives him the power to turn into blood the water of the Nile, which is for Egypt a source of life, a sort of deity; i.e., out of the very life-force to evoke the doom of death. Let us not forget that a whole succession of Egyptian plagues proceeds from the first one, the corruption of the Nile water.
As these miraculous signs are throughout symbolical, so, in their first application, they are probably conditioned by a state of ecstasy. Yet the first miracle is also literally performed before Pharaoh, and in its natural basis is allied with the Egyptian serpent charming. Vid. Hengst. [Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 100 sqq.].
The third sign, however, is expanded in the result into the transformation of the water of the Nile into blood. This, too, has its connection with Egypt; therefore there must doubtless have been some mysterious fact involved in the second sign, inasmuch moreover as the text reports that Moses did the signs before the people, and thus authenticated his mission before them (Exo_4:30-31), although indeed in Exo_4:17 the signs seem to be reduced to signs done with the staff.
Exo_4:10-12. There were wanted no more signs, but, as Moses’ modesty led him to feel, more oratorical ability. How could Moses have exercised his slow tongue in his long isolation in the desert, associating with few men, and those who could but little understand him? This difficulty Jehovah also regards. He will impart to him the divine eloquence, which from that time through the history of the whole kingdom of God remains different from that of the natural man. He ordained for him his peculiar organs, and the organic defect of a heavy tongue, as all organs and organic defects in general, and will know how to make of his tongue his divine organ, as the history of the kingdom of God has so richly proved.
Exo_4:13-14. It cannot be said (with Keil) that now the secret depth of his heart becomes open, in the sense that he will not undertake the mission. If this were the case, Jehovah would no longer deal with him. But the last sigh of his ill-humor, of his despondency, finds vent in these words, which are indeed sinful enough to excite the anger of Jehovah, and so also to make him feel as if death were about to overtake him. We are reminded here of similar utterances of Isaiah (Exodus 6), of Jeremiah, (Exodus 1), of the detention of Calvin in Geneva by the adjurations of Farel, and similar scenes. The anger of Jehovah is not of a sort which leads him to break with Moses; and in the further expression of it it appears that the hesitation on account of the slow tongue is still not yet overcome.—Is not Aaron thy brother?—“The Levite” means probably a genuine Levite, a model of a Levite, more than Moses.1 With the cautious genius a more lively talent was to be associated. Also he seems, in reference to the affairs of the Israelites, to be more prompt than Moses; for he is already on the way to look for Moses (doubtless in consequence of divine instigation). Vid. Exo_4:27, where the sense is pluperfect. Moses, then, has two things to encourage him: he is to have a spokesman, and the spokesman is already coming in the form of his own brother. For a similar mysterious connection of spirits, vid. Acts 10.
Exo_4:15-16. The fixing of the relation between Moses and God, and between Moses and Aaron, must have entirely quieted the doubter. The relation between Moses and Aaron is to be analogous to that between God and his prophet. This assignment does not favor the notion of a literal verbal inspiration, but all the more decidedly that of a real one. It accords with the spirit of Judaistic caution, when the Targums tone down לֵאלֹהִים into לְיַב “for a master or teacher.”2
Exo_4:17. And this staff.—Out of the rustic shepherd’s staff was to be made a divine shepherd’s staff, the symbolic organ of the divine signs. This ordinance, too, must have elevated his soul. Here there was to be no occasion to say, “ gentle staff, would I had ne’er exchanged thee for the sword!”
Exo_4:18. This request for a leave of absence is truthful, but does not express the whole truth. This Jethro could not have borne. His brethren are the Israelites, and his investigating whether they are yet alive has a higher significance.
Exo_4:19. All the men are dead.—This disclosure is introduced with eminent fitness. Among the motives which made Moses willing to undertake the mission, this assurance should not be one. He had first to form his resolution at the risk of finding them still living. Moreover, he has on account of these men at least expressed no hesitation.
Exo_4:20-26. What is here related belongs to Moses’ journey from Jethro’s residence to the Mount Horeb, i.e., from the south-eastern part of the desert.
Exo_4:20. His sons.—Only the one, Gershom, has been named, and that because his name served to express Moses’ feeling of expatriation in Midian. The other, Eliezer, is named afterwards (Exo_18:3-4). But his name is introduced here by the Vulgate (according to some MSS., by the LXX.), and by Luther. Moses went on foot by the side of those riding on asses, but bears the staff of God in his hand. “Poor as his outward appearance is, yet he has in his hand the staff before which Pharaoh’s pride and all his power must bow” [Keil].
Exo_4:21. On the way from Midian to Horeb, towards Egypt, Jehovah repeats and expands the first commission, as it was in accordance with Moses’ disposition to become absorbed in meditations on his vocation. All the wonders.—כָּל־הַמֹּפְתִים. The τέρατα, or the terrible signs which are committed to him constitute a whole; and accordingly he is to unfold the whole series in order (on miracles vid. the Comm. on Matt., p. 153). And why? Because this is made necessary in order to meet the successive displays of obduracy with which Pharaoh is to resist these terrific signs. But, that he may not on this account become discouraged in his work, he is told thus early that God himself will harden the heart of Pharaoh with his judgments, for the purpose of bringing about the final glorious issue (Vid. the Comm. on Rom., Exodus 9). The three terms expressive of hardening, חזק, to make firm (Exo_4:21), קשה, to make hard (Exo_7:3), and כבּד, to make heavy or blunt (Exo_10:1), denote a gradual progress. The first term occurs, it is true, as the designation of the fundamental notion, when the hardening has an entirely new beginning, and a new scope (Exo_14:4; Exo_14:17). It is rightly brought forward as a significant circumstance by Hengstenberg, Keil, and others, that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ten times ascribed to God, and ten times to himself. Pharaoh’s self-determination has the priority throughout. The hardening influence of God presupposes the self-obduration of the sinner. But God hardens him who thus hardens himself, by furthering the process of self-obduration through the same influences which would awaken a pious spirit. This he does as an act not merely of permission, but of judicial sovereignty. Vid. Keil, p. 453 sqq.
Exo_4:23. Israel is my son, my first-born. Comp. Deu_14:1-2; Hos_11:1. The doctrine of the Son of God here first appears in its typical germinal form. Keil makes the choosing of Israel begin with Abraham, and excludes from it the fact of creation,3 as well as the spiritual generation, so that there remains only an election of unconditional adoption and of subsequent education, or ethical creation. But the application of these abstractions to the Christology of the N. T. would perhaps be difficult. Vid. Com. on Romans 8. The expression, first-born son, suggests the future adoption of other nations. I will slay thy son.—This threat looks forward to the close of the Egyptian plagues.
Exo_4:24. Seemingly sudden turn of affairs. Yet it is occasioned by a previous moral inconsistency, which now for the first time is brought close to the prophet’s conscience. He who is on his way to liberate the people of the circumcision, has in Midian even neglected to circumcise his second son Eliezer. The wrath of God comes upon him in an attack of mortal weakness, in a distressing deathly feeling (Psalms 90). Probably Zipporah had opposed the circumcision of Eliezer; hence she now interposes to save her husband. She circumcises the child with a stone-knife (more sacred than a metallic knife, on account of tradition); but she is still unable to conceal her ill-humor, and lays the foreskin at his feet with the words: “A bridegroom of blood art thou to me.”4
Exo_4:26. Zipporah seems to be surly about the whole train of circumcisions. Probably Moses is thereby led to send her with the children back to her father to remain during the remainder of his undertaking. For not until his return to the peninsula of Sinai does his father-in-law bring his family to him.
Exo_4:27. On the one hand, Moses is freed from a hindrance, which is only obscurely hinted at, by the return of Zipporah; on the other hand, a great comfort awaits him in the coming of his brother Aaron to meet him.
Exo_4:29. They went.—This is the journey from Horeb to Egypt.
Exo_4:30-31. The elders of the people, after hearing Aaron’s message, and seeing his signs, believingly accept the fact of Jehovah’s commission, and bow adoringly before His messengers. Thereby the people organized themselves. They accepted the vocation of being the people of Jehovah.
Footnotes:
[1][On this point comp. under “Textual and Grammatical.”—Tr.].
[2][The A. V. also softens the expression by using the phrase “instead of,” whereas the Hebrew would more exactly be rendered, “He shall be a mouth to thee, and thou shalt be a God to him.” We have here language similar to, and illustrated by, that in Exo_7:1, “See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” As the prophet (προφήτης one who speaks for another) is the spokesman (mouth) of God, so Aaron is to receive and communicate messages from Moses.—Tr.].
[3][Lange’s language is: “Keil lässt die Erwählung Israels mit Abraham anfangen, und schliesst von ihr aus auf die Thatsache der Schöpfung,” etc. In translating we have ignored the preposition “auf,” which, if recognized, would require the sentence to read: “Keil … infers from it [the choosing of Israel] the fact of creation,” etc. But this would certainly be a misrepresentation of Keil, even if it would convey any clear sense in itself. We conclude that “auf” is inserted by a typographical error.—Tr.].
[4][The text and the commentary both leave it somewhat doubtful whether these words are addressed to Moses or the child; but there can be little doubt that Moses is the one. The meaning is that Moses had been well-nigh lost to her by disease. She regains him by circumcising the son; but the bloody effect excites her displeasure, and by the saying, “A bridegroom of blood art thou to me,” she means that she has, as it were, regained him as a husband by the blood of her child.—Tr.].
[5][Chap.4. Exo_4:14. We have ventured to follow the Vulg., Luther, Cranmer, the Geneva Version, De Wette, Glaire, and Kalisch, in this rendering; for, though grammatically the reading of the A. V. in more natural, yet it is difficult to see the force of the question, “Is not Aaron thy brother?” Fürst, Arnheim, and Murphy, try to avoid the difficulty by rendering, “Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite?” etc. This, however, is putting in what is not in the original. Bush, following Rashi, translates, “Is not Aaron thy brother, the Levite?” and understands the question to intimate that, in consequence of Moses’ reluctance to obey the divine commission, the priesthood, which otherwise would have been conferred on him, will be given to Aaron. As nothing is said about the priesthood, it is hard to see how the phrase “the Levite,” at this time, before any priesthood bad been established, could have been understood in this way. Knobel, translating in the same way, understands it as pointing forward to the duty of the priests to give public instruction. But the same objection lies against this, as against the previous explanation; Moses was a Levite as much as Aaron was. Lange, translating also the same way, understands the meaning to be: Aaron is a more genuine Levite than Moses. But in this case the definite article is quite out of place; and even without it such a thought would be very obscurely expressed. Keil, following Baumgarten, finds the significance of the question in the etymological meaning of לֵוִי, viz., to join, associate one’s-self to. This certainly has the advantage of suggesting a reason for the use of the phrase “the Levite,” which on other theories seems to be superfluous. But the definite article is out of place on this hypothesis also. Besides, as the special point here is Aaron’s ability to talk, the notion of association is not just the one needed to be suggested by the term, to say nothing of the subtlety of the mode of conveying either conception.—Tr.].
[6][Exo_4:18. אֵלְכָה־נָא is not to be understood as a request, as the A. V. seems to imply, especially by the phrase, “I pray thee,” which corresponds to נָא. We have exactly the same form in Exo_3:3, where Moses said אָסֻרָה־נָא “I will turn aside,” or, “Let me turn aside.”—Tr.].
[7][Exo_4:23. וָאֹמַר and וַתְּמָאֵן are most naturally to be rendered as preterites. It is very doubtful whether וַתְּמָאֵן can be taken as protasis to the following clause. The translation of the A. V. and of others, seems to have been prompted by the idea that this is the opening message to Pharaoh. But the threat to kill the first-born was in reality the last one made. The declaration, Exo_4:21, covers all the first part of the efforts of Moses to secure the deliverance of the people. In spite of all the plagues and signs, Pharaoh “will not let the people go.” Therefore (Exo_4:22) Moses is to make his final appearance, and threaten the death of the first-born because of Pharaoh’s past refusal to obey.—Tr.].
[8][Exo_4:28. שָׁלַח may take a double accusative, as e.g. in 2Sa_11:22; 1Ki_14:6. As Kalisch observes, “the usual translation, who had sent him, is languid in the extreme.”—Tr.].
[9][Exo_4:31. Knobel, following the reading ἐχάρη, of the LXX., would change וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ into וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ. There seems to be strong reason for the change. The people, according to the present text, seem to believe, before hearing. Moreover, we have, as Knobel points out, another almost unmistakable instance of the same error. The narrative in 2Ki_20:13 is identical with that in Isa_39:2, with the exception that the first passage has וַיִּשְׁמַע where the second has וַיִּשְׂמַח. The LXX. has here, too ἐχάρη in both cases. In reference to 2Ki_20:13, Keil says that “וַיִּשְׁמַע seems to be an error of transcription for וַיִּשְׂמַח,” though he says of Knobel’s conjecture concerning the verse before us, that it is “without ground.” If we adopt the amended reading, we translate, “and they rejoiced because Jehovah had visited,” etc.—Tr.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v2the Lord said, . . . What is that…
the Lord said, . . . What is that in thine hand?--The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses.
A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–2MOSES RECEIVES THE THREE SIGNS, Exo_4:1-9.
MOSES RECEIVES THE THREE SIGNS, Exo_4:1-9.
1. They will not believe me — Moses pleads that Israel will not accept him as a divinely-commissioned leader, and Jehovah gives him three signs to demonstrate to himself, to Israel, and to the Egyptians, that he is sent of God. Egypt was a land of symbols, and these are symbolic miracles, divine hieroglyphs. Three is the complete or perfect number, and the three signs give to each of the three parties involved complete proof of his mission.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. they (twice)] not the Egyptians (Exo_3:22), but the…
1. they (twice)] not the Egyptians (Exo_3:22), but the Israelites, as v. 30 shews. The verse is the sequel in J to Exo_3:18.
1–9. Moses’ third difficulty: in spite of the assurance of Exo_3:18 a, the Israelites will perhaps not listen to him, or believe in his divine commission. To enable him to meet this contingency, he is endowed with the power of performing three signs, which may serve as credentials of his commission.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–4(1) Behold.—Some render the word here used by “perhaps”…
IV.
(1) Behold.—Some render the word here used by “perhaps” (LXX., Aben-Ezra, Saadia, &c); but it does not appear to have anywhere this meaning. Moses meant to express a positive conviction that he would not be listened to. His faith was weak.
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They will say, The Lord hath not appeared.—It is very probable that the people would have said this if Moses had not had any credentials to produce. It is even possible that they did say it. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to any one for above four hundred years, and they might well think that the age of miracles was past. Miracles cluster around certain crises in God’s dealings with man, ceasing alto gether between one crisis and another. They were suspended for above 500 years between the time of Daniel and the appearance of the angel to Zacharias.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh1880 · Public DomainOn v1Exodus 4
Exodus 4
We are still called to linger at the foot of Mount Horeb, at "the backside of the desert;" and, truly, the air of this place is most healthful for the spiritual constitution. Man’s unbelief and God’s boundless grace are here made manifest in a striking way.
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"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of the human heart! How difficult man ever finds it to trust God! How slow he is to venture forth upon the naked promise of Jehovah. Anything, for nature, but that. The most slender reed that the human eye can see is counted more substantial, by far, as a basis for nature’s confidence, than the unseen "Rock of ages." Nature will rush, with avidity, to any creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide by the unseen "Fountain of living waters.
"We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive titles, the divine commission, the assurance of the divine presence, - all these things might have quelled every anxious thought, and imparted a settled assurance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises questions, and still God answers them; and, as we have remarked, each successive question brings out fresh grace. "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod." The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in his hand. The rod with which he had tended Jethro’s sheep was about to be used to deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of Egypt, to make a way through the deep, for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over, and to bring forth water from the flinty rock to refresh Israel’s thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram’s horn," "a cake of barley meal," "an earthern pitcher," "a shepherds sling," anything, in short, when used of God, will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid means; but such is not God’s way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east wind. (See Jonah.)
But Moses had to learn a deep lesson, both as to the rod and the hand that was to use it. and the people had to be convinced. Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." This is a deeply significant sign. The rod became a serpent, so that Moses fled from it; but, being commissioned by Jehovah, he took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod. Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan’s power being turned against himself. This is largely exemplified in the ways of God. Moses himself was a striking example. The serpent is entirely under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in his mad career, he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his work throughout eternity’s countless ages. "That old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall be eternally crushed beneath the rod of God’s Anointed.
"Then the end - beneath His rod,
Man’s last enemy shall fall;
Hallelujah! Christ in God,
God in Christ, is all in all."
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom; and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh." The leprous hand and the cleansing thereof present to us the moral effect of sin, as also the way in which sin has been met in the perfect work of Christ. The clean hand, placed in the bosom, becomes leprous; and the leprous hand placed there becomes clean. Leprosy is the well-known type of sin; and sin came in by the first man and was put sway by the second. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15: 21) Man brought in ruin, man brought in redemption; man brought in guilt, man brought in pardon; man brought in sin, man brought in righteousness; man filled the scene with death, man abolished death and filled the scene with life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall the serpent himself be eternally defeated and confounded, but every trace of his abominable work shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning sacrifice of Him who "was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil."
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land." This was a solemn and most expressive figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to the divine testimony. This sign was only to be wrought in the event of their refusing the other two. It was, first, to be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague upon Egypt. (Comp. Ex. 7: 17)
All this, however, fails to satisfy the heart of Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Terrible backwardness! Nought save Jehovah’s infinite patience could have endured it. Surely when God Himself had said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible security. in reference to everything which could possibly be needed. If an eloquent tongue were necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over against "I AM?" Eloquence, wisdom, might, energy, everything was contained in that exhaustless treasury. "And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Profound, adorable, matchless grace! worthy of God! There is none like unto the Lord our God, whose patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, and proves itself amply sufficient for our manifold need and weakness. "I THE LORD" Ought to silence for ever the reasonings of our carnal hearts. But, alas! these reasonings are hard to be put down. Again and again they rise to the surface, to the disturbance of our peace, and the dishonour of that blessed One, who sets Himself before our souls, in all His own essential fullness, to be used according to our need.
It is well to bear in mind that when we have the Lord with us, our very deficiencies and infirmities become an occasion for the display of His all-sufficient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses remembered this, his want of eloquence need not have troubled him. The Apostle Paul learnt to say, "most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak then am I strong." (2 Cor. 12: 9, 10) This is, assuredly, the utterance of one who had reached an advanced form in the school of Christ. It is the experience of one who would not have been much troubled because of not possessing an eloquent tongue, inasmuch as he had found an answer to every description of need in the precious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of this truth ought to have delivered Moses from his diffidence and inordinate timidity. When the Lord had so graciously assured him that He would be with his mouth, it should have set his mind at rest as to the question of eloquence. The Maker of man’s mouth could fill that mouth with the most commanding eloquence, if such were needed. This, in the judgement of faith, is most simple; but, alas! the poor doubting heart would place far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than in the One who created it. This would seem most unaccountable, did we not know the materials of which the natural heart is composed. That heart cannot trust God; and hence it is that even the people of God, when they suffer themselves to be, in any measure, governed by nature; exhibit such a humiliating lack of confidence in the living God. Thus, in the scene before us, we find Moses still demurring. "And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." This was, in reality, casting from him the high honour of being Jehovah’s sole messenger to Egypt and to Israel.
It were needless to say that divinely-wrought humility is an inestimable grace. To "be clothed with humility" is a divine precept; and humility is, unquestionably, the most becoming dress in which a worthless sinner can appear. But, it cannot be called humility to refuse to take the place which God assigns, or to tread the path which His hand marks out for us. That it was not true humility in Moses is obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against him." So far from its being humility, it had actually passed the limit of mere weakness. So long as it wore the aspect of an excessive timidity, however reprehensible, God’s boundless grace bore with it, and met it with renewed assurances; but when it assumed the character of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew down Jehovah’s just displeasure; and Moses, instead of being the sole, is made a joint, instrument in the work of testimony and deliverance.
Nothing is more dishonouring to God or more dangerous for us than a mock humility. When we refuse to occupy a position which the grace of God assigns us, because of our not possessing certain virtues and qualifications, this is not humility, inasmuch as if we could but satisfy our own consciences in reference to such virtues and qualifications, We should then deem ourselves entitled to assume the position. If, for instance, Moses had possessed such a measure of eloquence as he deemed needful, we may suppose he would have been ready to go. Now the question is, how much eloquence would he have needed, to furnish him for his mission? The answer is, without God no amount of human eloquence would have availed; but, with God, the merest stammerer would have proved an efficient minister.
This is a real practical truth. Unbelief is not humility, but thorough pride. It refuses to believe God because it does not find, in self, a reason for believing. This is the very height of presumption. If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the ground of something in myself, I make Him a liar. (1 John 5: 10) When God declares His love, and I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar and exhibit the inherent pride of my heart. The bare supposition that I could ever be worthy of ought save the lowest pit of hell, can only be regarded as the most profound ignorance of my own condition and of God’s requirements. And the refusal to take the place which the redeeming love of God assigns me, on the ground of the finished atonement of Christ, is to make God a liar, and cast gross dishonour upon the sacrifice of the cross. God’s love flows forth spontaneously. It is not drawn forth by my deserts, but by my misery. Nor is it a question as to the place which I deserve, but which Christ deserves. Christ took the sinner’s place, on the cross, that the sinner might take His place in the glory. Christ got what the sinner deserved, that the sinner might get what Christ deserves. Thus, self is totally set aside, and this is true humility. No one can be truly humble until he has reached heaven’s side of the cross; but there he finds divine life, divine righteousness, and divine favour. He is done with himself for ever, as regards any expectation of goodness or righteousness, and he feeds upon the princely wealth of another. He is morally prepared to join in that cry which shall echo through the spacious vault of heaven, throughout the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." (Ps. 115: 1)
It would ill become us to dwell upon the mistakes or infirmities of so honoured a Servant as Moses, of whom we read that he "was verily faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after." (Heb. 3: 5) But, though we should not dwell upon them, in a spirit of self-complacency, as if we would have acted differently, in his circumstances, we should, nevertheless, learn from such things those holy and seasonable lessons which they are manifestly designed to teach. We should learn to judge ourselves and to place more implicit confidence in God - to set self aside, that He might act in us, through us, and for us. This is the true secret of power.
We have remarked that Moses forfeited the dignity of being Jehovah’s sole instrument in that glorious work which He was about to accomplish. But this was not all. "The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well: and, also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs." (Ex. 4: 14-17) This passage contains a mine of most precious practical instruction. We have noted the timidity and hesitation of Moses, notwithstanding the varied promises and assurances with which divine grace had furnished him. And, nom, although there was nothing gained in the way of real power, although there was no more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another, although it was Moses after all who was to speak unto Aaron; yet was Moses quite ready to go when assured of the presence and co-operation of a poor feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would be with him.
Oh! my reader, does not all this hold up before us a faithful mirror in which you and I can see our hearts reflected? Truly it does. We are more ready to trust anything than the living God. We move along, with bold decision, when we possess the countenance and support of a poor frail mortal like ourselves; but we falter, hesitate, and demur, when we have the light of the Master’s countenance to cheer us, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to support us. This should humble us deeply before the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance with Him, so that we might trust Him with a more unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step, as having Him alone for our resource and portion.
No doubt, the fellowship of a brother is most valuable - "Two are better than one" - whether in labour, rest, or conflict. The Lord Jesus, in sending forth His disciples, "sent them two by two," - for unity is ever better than isolation - still, if our personal acquaintance with God, and our experience of His presence, be not such as to enable us, if needful, to walk alone, we shall find the presence of a brother of very little use. It is not a little remarkable, that Aaron, whose companionship seemed to satisfy Moses, was the man who afterwards made the golden calf. (Ex. 32: 21) Thus it frequently happens, that the very person whose presence we deem essential to our progress and success, afterwards proves a source of deepest sorrow to our hearts. May we ever remember this!
However, Moses, at length, consents to go; but ere he is fully equipped for his work, he must pass through another deep exercise; yea, he must have the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God upon his very nature. He had learnt deep lessons at "the backside of the desert;" he is called to learn something deeper still, "by the way in the inn." It is no light matter to be the Lord’s servant. No ordinary education will qualify a man for such a position. Nature must be put in the place of death and kept there. " We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. (2 Cor. 1: 9) Every successful servant will need to know something of this. Moses was called to enter into it, in his own experience, ere he was morally qualified. He was about to sound in the ears of Pharaoh the following deeply-solemn message, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Such was to be his message to Pharaoh; a message of death, a message of judgement; and, at the same time, his message to Israel was a message of life and salvation. But, be it remembered, that the man who will speak, on God’s behalf, of death and judgement, life and salvation, must, ere he does so, enter into the practical power of these things in his own soul. Thus it was with Moses. We have seen him, at the very outset, in the place of death, typically; but this was a different thing from entering into the experience of death in his own person. Hence we read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision." This passage lets us into a deep secret, in the personal and domestic history of Moses. It is very evident that Zipporah’s heart had, up to this point, shrunk from the application of the knife to that around which the affections of nature were entwined. She had avoided that mark which had to be set in the flesh of every member of the Israel of God. She was not aware that her relationship with Moses was one involving death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This was natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the matter; and this explains to us the mysterious scene "in the inn." If Zipporah refuses to circumcise her son, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her husband; and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah will "seek to kill him." The sentence of death must be written on nature; and if we seek to avoid it in one way, we shall have to encounter it in another.
It has been already remarked, that Zipporah furnishes an instructive and interesting type of the Church. She was united to Moses, during the period of his rejection; and from the passage just quoted, we learn that the Church is called to know Christ, as the One related to her "by blood." It is her privilege to drink of his cup, and be baptised with His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to be conformed to His death; to mortify her members which are on the earth; to take up the cross daily, and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is founded upon blood, and the manifestation of the power of that relationship will, necessarily, involve death to nature. "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, mho hath raised him from the dead." (Col. 2: 10-12)
Such is the doctrine as to the Church’s place with Christ - a doctrine replete with the richest privileges for the Church, and each member thereof. Everything, in short, is involved: the perfect remission of sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance, everlasting security, full fellowship with Christ in all His glory. "Ye are complete in him." This, surely, comprehends everything. What could be added to one who is "complete" Could "philosophy, "the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons," "Sabbaths" "Touch not" this, "taste not that, "handle not" the other, "the commandments and doctrines of men," "days and months, and times, and years," could any of these things, or all of them put together, add a single jot or tittle to one whom God has pronounced "complete?" We might just as well enquire, if man could have gone forth upon the fair creation of God, at the close of the six days’ work, to give the finishing touch to that which God had pronounced "very good?"
Nor is this completeness to be, by any means, viewed as a matter of attainment, some point which we have not yet reached, but after which we must: diligently strive, and of the possession of which we cannot be sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or stand before a throne of judgement. It is the portion of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most unlettered child of God. The very weakest saint is included in the apostolic "ye." All the people of God "are complete in Christ." The apostle does not say, "ye will be," "ye may be," "hope that ye may be," "pray that ye may be:" no; he, by the Holy Ghost, states, in the most absolute and unqualified manner, that "ye are complete." This is the true Christian starting-post: and for man to make a goal of what God makes a starting-post, is to upset everything.
But, then, some will say, "have we no sin, no failure, no imperfection?" Assuredly we have. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1: 8) We have sin in us, but no sin on us. Moreover, our standing is not in self, but in Christ. It is "in him" we "are complete." God says the believer in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ. This is his changeless condition, his everlasting standing. "The body of the sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of Christ." The believer is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power of a new and an endless life, and that life is inseparably connected with divine righteousness in which the believer stands before God. The Lord Jesus has put away everything that was against the believer, and He has brought him nigh to God, in the self-same favour as that which He Himself enjoys. In a word, Christ is his righteousness. This settles every question, answers every objection, silences every doubt. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one." (Heb. 2: 11)
The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the deeply-interesting type presented to us in the relationship between Moses and Zipporah. We must, now, hasten to close this section, and take our leave, for the present, of "the backside of the desert," though not of its deep lessons and holy impressions, so essential to every servant of Christ, and every messenger of the living God. All who would serve effectually, either in the important work of evangelization, or in the varied ministries of the house of God - which is the Church - will need to imbibe the precious instructions which Moses received at the foot of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn."
Were these things properly attended to, we should not have so many running unsent - so many rushing into spheres of ministry for which they were never designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, or teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously enquire if, indeed, he be fitted, and taught, and sent of God. If not, his work will neither be owned of God nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases, the better for himself and for those upon whom he has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening to him. Neither a humanly-appointed, nor a self-appointed ministry, will ever suit within the hallowed precincts of the Church of God. All must be divinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent.
"And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him." This was a fair and beauteous scene - a scene of sweet brotherly love and union - a scene which stands in marked contrast with many of those scenes which were afterwards enacted in the wilderness-career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness life are sure to make great changes in men and things. Yet it is sweet to dwell upon those early days of one’s Christian course, before the stern realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked the gush of warm and generous affections - before deceit, and corruption, and hypocrisy had well-nigh dried up the springs of the heart’s confidence, and placed the whole moral being beneath the chilling influences of a suspicious disposition.
That such results have been produced, in many cases, by years of experience, is, alas! too true. Happy is he who, though his eyes have been opened to see nature in a clearer light than that which this world supplies, can, nevertheless, Serve his generation by the energy of that grace which flows forth from the bosom of God. Who ever knew the depths and windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them? "He knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." (John 2: 24, 25) So well did He know man that He could not commit Himself unto him. He could not accredit man’s professions, or endorse his pretensions. And yet, who so gracious as He? Who so loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathising? With a heart that understood all, He could feel for all. He did not suffer His perfect knowledge of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from human need. "He went about doing good." Why? Was it because He imagined that all those who flocked around Him were real? No; but because God was with him." (Acts 10: 38) This is our example. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we shall have to trample on self and all its interests, at every step of the way.
Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of nature, that experience, which only lead men to ensconce themselves within the enclosures of a hard-hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody? Surely such a result could never follow from ought of a heavenly or excellent nature. God gives wisdom; but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives a knowledge of nature; but it is not a knowledge which causes us to grasp with a selfish eagerness that which we, falsely, call " our own." He gives experience; but it is not an experience which results in suspecting everybody except myself. If I am walking in the footprints of Jesus, if I am imbibing, and therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if, in short, I can say, "to me to live is Christ;" then, would I walk through the world, with a knowledge of what the world is; while I come in contact with man, with a knowledge of what I am to expect from him; I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ in the midst of it all. The springs which move me, and the objects which animate me, are all above, where He is, who if "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Heb. 13: 8) It was this which sustained the heart of that beloved and honoured servant, whose history, even so far, has furnished us with such deep and solid instruction. It was this which carried him through the trying and varied scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely assert that, at the close of all, notwithstanding the trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could embrace his brother, when he stood on Mount Hor, with the same warmth as he had when first he met him, "in the mount of God." True, the two occasions were very different. At "the mount of God" they met, and embraced, and started together on their divinely-appointed mission. Upon "Mount Hor" they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly robes, and see him gathered to his fathers, because of an error in which he himself had participated. (How solemn! How touching!) Circumstances vary: men may turn away from one; but with God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1: 17)
"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." (Ver. 29-31) When God works, every barrier must give way. Moses had said, "the people will not believe me." But the question was not, as to whether they would believe him, but whether they would believe God. When a man is enabled to view himself simply as the messenger of God. he may feel quite at ease as to the reception of his message. It does not detract, in the smallest degree, from his tender and affectionate solicitude, in reference to those whom he addresses. Quite the contrary; but it preserves him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can only tend to unfit him for calm, elevated, steady testimony. The messenger of God should ever remember whose message he bears. When Zacharias said to the angel, "Whereby shall I know this?" was the latter perturbed by the question? Not in the least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee: these glad tidings." (Luke 1: 18, 19) The angel rises before the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he would say, "How can you doubt, when a messenger has actually been dispatched from the very Presence-chamber of the Majesty of heaven?" Thus should every messenger of God, in his measure, go forth, and, in this spirit, deliver his message.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Vers. 1-17. The reluctance of Moses to undertake the…
Vers. 1-17. The reluctance of Moses to undertake the part of leader, indicated by his first reply at his first calling, "Who am I that I should go?", (Exo_3:11) was not yet overcome. God had promised that he would succeed; but he did not see how he could succeed, either with the people or with Pharaoh. It was not enough for him that God had declared, "They (the people) shall hearken unto thy voice" (ib. 18); he does not, cannot believe this, and replies: "Behold, they will not believe, neither hearken unto my voice". (Exo_4:1) This was plain want of faith; but not unnatural, and not, in God"s sight, inexcusable. God therefore condescended to the human weakness of his servant, and proceeded to show him how he intended that he should persuade the people of his mission. He should persuade them by producing the credentials of miracles (vers. 2-9). But the laggard heart finds yet a further objection. Moses feels that he labours under a personal defect, which (he thinks) is an absolute disqualification. He is "slow of speech and of a slow tongue" (ver. 10), has always been wanting in eloquence, and does not find himself any the more eloquent since God has been speaking with him. In vain does Jehovah promise to "be with his mouth" (ver. 12); Moses" last word indicates all the old feeling of self-distrust. "Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send" (ver. 13). Then at last the anger of the Lord is kindled against Moses, and God inflicts on him a sort of punishment degrades him; as it were deposes him from the position of sole leader, and associates Aaron with him in such sort that Aaron must have appeared, both to the Israelites and to the Pharaoh, as the chief leader rather than Moses. . (see Exo_4:30 Exo_7:2, Exo_7:10, 19 8:6, 17, etc.)
At this point the interview between Moses and Jehovah ends, and the action of the Exodus commences. Moses obtains leave to quit Midian, and quits it retires to Egypt, after escaping from a dangerous sickness on the way (vers. 24-26), is met by Aaron and takes him into his counsels, summons the elders and exhibits before them his miraculous powers, persuades them, and is finally accepted as having, with Aaron, a mission from God, both by the elders and the people.
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Behold, they will not believe. Attempts have been made to soften down this contradiction of God"s words in Exo_3:18, and to represent Moses as merely saying, "What if the people will not hearken, etc. What shall I do then?" (So the LXX, Geddes, Boothroyd, and others.) But the phrase is really emphatic and peremptory. As Rosenmuller says: "Vox est negantis et detrac-tantis officium." The Lord hath not appeared to thee. It is quite probable that the Israelites would have so spoken, if Moses had had no sign to show. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to anyone for above four hundred years. And the Israelites, who had not seen Moses for forty years, would not know whether he was a veracious person or not.
Vers. 1-5. The intent of the first sign.
Primarily, no doubt, the object was to empower Moses to show forth a sign easily, readily, without preparation, and so at any moment. He had come to the time of life at which he naturally carried a staff. That he should be able at his will to transform that dead piece of vegetable matter into an active, living organism, would show him endued with supernatural power over both the vegetable and animal worlds, and give him a means, always ready to his hand, of demonstrating the truth of his mission. This alone was a great matter. But the fact that his rod became a serpent, rather than any other living thing, was specially calculated to impress the Egyptians. In one form, the serpent with them meant "a king," or "a crown;" and the change of a staff into a snake would typify the conversion of a shepherd into a monarch. In another form it was a sign for a "multitude," and the transformation might remind them that the single stock or stem of Jacob was now become "millions." The great serpent, Apap, moreover, held a high position in their mythology, as powerful to destroy and punish, whence they might the more fear one who seemed able to create serpents at his pleasure. The Israelites would perhaps view the staff as a rod to smite with, and connect its change into a serpent with the notion that when reds or whips were not thought severe enough, rulers chastised with "scorpions". (1Ki_12:11) Altogether, the sign, if viewed as a type, was threatening and alarming; perhaps the more so on account of its vagueness. Forms ill-defined, seen through mist, affright men more than those which are clear and definite.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Unbelief.
The objection started by Moses to the mission on which he was sent was a very natural one. The people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice. For
I HE WAS AS YET UNFURNISHED WITH DISTINCT CREDENTIALS. In so grave a matter Moses could not expect the people to believe his bare word. This was a real difficulty. Before committing themselves to his proposals, the Hebrews would be entitled to ask for very distinct proofs that the message brought to them had really come from God that there was no mistake, no deception. God acknowledges the justiceof this plea, by furnishing Moses with the credentials that he needed. From which we gather that it is no part of the business of a preacher of the Gospel to run down "evidences." Evidences are both required and forthcoming. God asks no man to confide in a message as of Divine authority, without furnishing him with sufficient grounds for believing that this character really belongs to it. The reality of revelation, the supernatural mission of Christ, the inspiration of prophets and apostles, the authority of Scripture, all admit of proof; and it is the duty of the preacher to keep this fact in view, and in delivering his message, to exhibit along with the message the evidences of its Divine original.
II MORAL CAUSES, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM MERE DEFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE, WOULD MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO SECURE CREDENCE. Moses anticipated being met, not simply with hesitation and suspense of judgment, which would be all that the mere absence of credentials would warrant, but by positive disbelief. "The Lord hath not appeared to thee." How account for this?
1. The message he had to bring was a very wonderful one. He had to ask the people to believe that, after centuries of silence, God, the God of the patriarchs, had again appeared to him, and had spoken with him. This in itself was not incredible, but it would assume an incredible aspect to those whose faith in a living God had become shadowy and uninfluential who had learned to look on such appearances as connected, not with the present, but with a distant and already faded past. Credulous enough in some things, they would be incredulous as to this; just as a believer in witchcraft or fairies might be the hardest to convince of a case of the supernatural aside from the lines of his ordinary thinking and beliefs. It is a similar difficulty which the preacher of the Gospel has to encounter in the indisposition of the natural mind to believe in anything outside of, or beyond, the sphere in which it ordinarily works and judges, the sphere of things sensible. (Joh_14:17) The supernatural is strange to it. It pushes it aside as inherently incredible, or at least as of no interest to it. From this the advance is easy to that which is so peculiarly a characteristic of our age, the denial of the supernatural as such the fiat assertion that miracle is impossible.
2. The announcement contained in his message was so good as almost to surpass belief. Great good news has often this effect of producing incredulity. Cf. Gen_45:26, heart fainted, and he believed them not," and Psalm 126. And would not the Hebrews require evidence for the great good news that God had visited them, and was about to bring them out of Egypt, and plant them in Caanan! In like manner, is it not vastly wonderful, almost passing belief, that God should have done for man all that the Gospel declares him to have done! Sending his Son, making atonement for sin, etc.
3. The difficulties in the way of the execution of the purpose seemed insuperable. Even with God on their side, it might seem to the Israelites as if the chances of their deliverance from Pharaoh were very small. True, God was omnipotent; but we know little if we have not learned how much easier it is to believe in God"s power in the abstract, than to realise that this power is able to cope successfully with the actual difficulties of our position. The tendency of unbelief is to "limit the Holy One of Israel". (Psa_78:41) And this tendency is nowhere more manifest than in the difficulty men feel in believing that the Gospel of the Cross is indeed the very "power of God unto salvation able to cope with and overcome the moral evil of the world, and of their own hearts.
4. One difficulty Moses would not have to contend with, viz.: aversion to his message in itself. For, after all, the message brought to the Israelites was in the line of their own fondest wishes a fact which ought, if anything could, powerfully to have recommended it. How different with the Gospel, which, with its spiritual salvation, rouses in arms against itself every propensity of a heart at enmity against God! The Israelites must at least have desired that Moses" message would turn out to be true; but not so the mass of the hearers of the Gospel. They desire neither God nor his ways; have no taste for his salvation; are only eager to find excuses for getting rid of the unwelcome truths. To overcome an obstacle of this kind, more is needed than outward credentials even an effectual working of the Holy Ghost.
III INFERENCES FROM THESE CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Preachers of the Gospel must prepare themselves for encountering unbelief. It is the old complaint hath believed our report?". (Isa_53:1)
2. The success of Moses in overcoming the people"s unbelief shows that hemust have possessed decisive credentials of his mission. The complaint of this verse does not tally with what is sometimes alleged as to the unlimited drafts that may be made on human credulity. Moses did not find the people all readiness to believe him. He was bringing them a message in the line of their dearest wishes, yet he anticipated nothing but incredulity. He had never much reason to complain of the over-credulity of the Israelites; his complaint was usually of their unbelief. Even after signs and wonders had been wrought, he had a constant battle to fight with their unbelieving tendencies. How then, unless his credentials had been of the clearest and most decisive kind, could he possibly have succeeded? For, mark
(1) It was not merely a few enthusiasts he had to carry with him, but the whole body of the people.
(2) He was no demagogue, but a man of slow, diffident, self-distrustful nature, the last man who might be expected to play successfully on popular credulity or enthusiasm.
(3) His plans were not to be laid before the multitude at all, but before the "elders the cool, cautious heads of the,nation, who would be sure to ask him for very distinct credentials before committing themselves to a contest with Pharaoh. The inference is that there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Mosaic era; as afterwards there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Christian era. Imposture, credulity, the force of mere ideas, the commanding power of a great personality, are, together or apart, incapable of explaining all the facts. Wonders must have been wrought, alike in the accrediting of the mission of Moses and in the stupendous work of the deliverance itself. J.O.
Vers. 1-10. A trilogy of signs.
In reply to his complaint that the people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice, God gave Moses three signs. These are to be viewed
I AS ATTESTATIONS OF HIS DIVINE COMMISSION (ver. 5, 8). Divine power is supernaturally exercised in proof of Moses" title to speak with Divine authority. This is a clear case of the use of miracles as credentials of a mission, and confutes those who reason that this view of miracles has no basis in Scripture. The character of the signs was not to be disregarded, but the immediate circumstance which gave them evidential value was the fact of supernatural origin. Practically, signs of the kind wrought by Moses would be felt to be incontestable proofs of his Divine commission; and it is difficult to see how otherwise his message could have been authenticated. Why should this be objected to? Why, if the message is worthy of God, and the work of power is also worthy of God, should the work of power not be employed to add authority to the word, as indicating with certainty the source from which it comes?
II AS SIGNIFICANT OR PARABOLIC ACTS. This is implied in their character as "signs." They had had of themselves a "voice." They told over again what Moses had explained in words, while they exhibited in symbol the superiority of Jehovah to the king and gods of Egypt.
1. Sign 1st. The impotence of Pharaoh against Jehovah"s messenger. This seems to be the import of the turning of the rod into the serpent (vers. 2-5). The serpent "was the symbol of the royal and divine power on the diadem of every Pharaoh.
(1) The rod cast to the ground and changing into a serpent symbolised the effect of the challenge to Pharaoh.
(2) Before this terrible apparition, with its gleaming eyes, inflated neck, hissing tongue, and vehemence of assault, Moses fled in natural terror.
(3) But he is instructed not to fear it, but to seize it by the tail; when there is given a representation of Pharaoh"s absolute powerlessness to hurt him in the reconversion of the serpent into the rod. The foe vanishes, and Moses remains master of the situation. The lesson is, that God"s servants, charged with the execution of his mission, are more than a match for all the powers of ill that can be arrayed against them. God will bruise even Satan old serpent under their feet shortly. (Rom_16:20) They wield an authority which gives them for the time a charmed existence, and ensures the defeat of those opposed to them. Cf. with this sign Act_28:5; Rev_12:6; and instance Luther before the Diet of Worms.
2. Sign 2nd. The power of Jehovah to smite and heal. The symbol of this was at the same time an instance of it viz, the sudden smiting of Moses" hand with leprosy, followed by as instantaneous a cure (vers. 6-8). Leprosy was peculiarly the theocratic punishment (Miriam, Uzziah, Gehazi). It was probably a common disease among the Israelites, who figure in Egyptian traditions as a nation of lepers, hateful to the gods on account of their pollutions. The obvious teaching of this sign would therefore be
(1) That Jehovah was able to smite with the most grievous plagues, yet
(2) As able to heal when he had smitten.
This conveyed both threat and promise.
(1) If the people obeyed his voice, as he had healed the leprous hand, so would he heal them of their natural and spiritual disorders, and lift them out of their despised and unclean state in Egypt; while conversely,
(2) If they resisted, great and sore strokes of the Divine anger would fall upon them; or, if Egypt resisted God"s will, it in turn would be smitten by his plagues. The power in both cases was omnipotent and resistless. Thus we are instructed
1. To fear the stroke of the Divine anger.
2. That God who smites can also heal. (Hos_6:1)
3. That God is more willing to remove judgments than to send them.
4. That God can heal the leprous heart.
5. To fear, above all, that most awful fulfilment of the leprosy symbol the adjudging of the soul, under Divine wrath, to the unchecked spread of its own corruptions to the reign of sin within itself. Sign 3rd. The ruin that would descend on Egypt if God"s will continued to be disobeyed.
The sign of the turning of a portion of the water of the Nile the source of Egypt"s beauty, fertility, and prosperity into blood (ver. 9) could only have one meaning. It portended ruin to the state of Egypt. And such would be the inevitable consequence of a contest between Pharaoh and Jehovah, if protracted by the king"s obstinacy. In this case there was no reversal of the sign. The end of strife with God is judgment without mercy utter destruction. Lesson the folly of striving with the Almighty.
III AS A SERIES OF SIGNS ADAPTED TO REMOVE DOUBT AT DIFFERENT STAGES (vers. 8, 9). Though, strictly speaking, one sign was enough to attest the Divine commission of him who wrought it, yet God, who condescends to man"s infirmity, added sign to sign, thus furnishing a superabundance and accumulation of evidences, and rendering unbelief wholly inexcusable. It has often been observed that the strength of the evidence for revelation lies, not in any single line of proof, but in the cumulative force of a great variety of evidences, some of which strike one class of minds as of peculiar cogency, while minds differently constituted are more impressed by others. In the case before us, a certain progression may be noted; each sign, by peculiar marks, carrying us a step further than its predecessor.
1. In the turning of the rod into the serpent, we have a work of Divinepower, but not without a certain resemblance to the feats of the native serpent-charmers. The points of contrast were great, but it might be doubted whether the acts of the magicians were not competent to produce as great a wonder.
2. In the second sign the stroke of leprosy this doubt is eliminated,and the presence of Divine power conclusively demonstrated. But Egypt had her gods also, and the question, as it would present itself to those who believed in them, was not simply, Is Jehovah powerful? but, Is his power greater than theirs?
3. The last sign gives the final proof, by working a miracle on the water ofthe Nile itself one of Egypt"s greater gods. The turning of that sacred water into blood was the death-blow to all hope of help from the Egyptian idols.
Observe
1. The anxiety of God to remove doubt.
2. The ample provision he has made for its removal.
3. The patience with which he bears with man"s dulness and slowness of heart.
4. The inexcusableness of unbelief. J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-9. The third difficulty: how is Moses to deal with an incredulous Israel?
With the mention of this third difficulty, we begin to see how much of doubt, self-distrust, and reluctance disturbed the mind of Moses. And no wonder. This revelation and commandment of God had come very suddenly upon him; and though strong assurances and sufficient information were readily given, yet he could not all at once receive the comforts which flowed from them. Had he attended to what God said by way of removing the difficulties already expressed he would never have given utterance to this third one. His perseverance in suggesting obstacles almost makes us feel that he hoped Somehow to get out of the mission. But God meets him at every point. There is no weak place in the Divine plans. Even a matter which seems so uncertain as the reception of Moses by Israel is confidently taken altogether out of the region of uncertainties. God had already said, (Exo_3:18) "They shall hearken to thy voice," and if Moses had only waited, he would have been made to see how that hearkening would be brought about. The suggestion of this difficulty, therefore, showed how much he was still lacking in calm faith; nevertheless we must bear in mind that the difficulty was a real one. There was only too much reason to apprehend that Israel would receive him in the way he indicated. Consider
I THE POOR EXPECTATIONS MOSES HAD OF A FAVOURABLE RECEPTION FROM ISRAEL. Why should he have these gloomy anticipations? Was the cause of them to be looked for wholly in Israel or wholly in himself. Did he mean to blame his brethren for their unbelief, or did he thus take another way of indicating his own utter distrust of himself?
As he expresses no blame of Israel it is not for us to assume that he intended it. He knew very well that to go to his brethren with such a story, would be the very way to make them reject him and laugh him to scorn. He could not but feel that if he had been in their position, he would probably have behaved in the same way. What could it appear but presumptuous to return after forty years" absence from the distant and half-barbarous Midian, and pretend that he had been chosen to deliver Israel he, a mere weather-beaten shepherd? Truth is stranger than fiction, and for this very reason it is too often believed to be the most improbable of all fictions. Moses thus had every ground to expect that he would be treated either as insane or as the most impudent of impostors. He would have been more easily believed in telling some made-up story than when he told the simple truth. God had looked very kindly and favourably on Moses in all his deeply felt unworthiness; but the very things that commended him to God, hindered him with men. In what a humiliating aspect this word of Moses puts our fallen human nature! When the truth in which we are most of all concerned comes before us, we are tempted to neglect and repudiate it because the messenger does not look sufficiently dignified. Nor is unbelief our only danger. We must labour to have a state of mind in which we shall always not only receive the true but reject the false. We have to do with false apostles as well as true ones. The elders of Israel would have done very wrong if they had rushed into a welcome of Moses on his bare ipse dixit. We must not, in our anxiety to avoid unbelief, deliver ourselves over to credulity. If the world has in it only too many of the unbelieving spirit, so, alas! it has only too many of the deceiving spirit; all the more deceivers because thoroughly deceived themselves. We must try the spirits whether they be of God, and ever live in thankful use of the infallible tests which God has given us.
II GOD GIVES TO MOSES AMPLE EVIDENCES TO PRODUCE FAITH IN ISRAEL. Observe that God does not simply promise these signs. He works them at once, at least the two that were possible, before the very eyes of Moses. Moses has faith enough to be sure that it is indeed God who is with him at the present hour; but what about the future? True, God had said, "Certainly I will be with thee", (Exo_3:12) and he might have repeated these words rebukingly. But he remembered that Moses was as yet very ignorant of the fulness of the Divine nature; and he acted with all his own wisdom and tenderness, to cherish the real but as yet very feeble and struggling faith of his servant. When Moses comes into the presence of his brethren, it is to cast down a rod that has already been a serpent, and to stretch forth a hand that has already been snow-white with leprosy. "What is that in thine hand? as much as to say, "Take note of it, look at it well, make sure that it is the rough, easily replaced instrument of your daily work." Moses is to be taught that things are not what they seem. He who according to his good pleasure took some of the original matter of the universe, and from it made the red-nature, and from other made the serpent-nature, now by the same power changes in a moment the dead rod into the living serpent, and the living serpent into the dead rod. The healthy hand is all at once infected with leprosy, and even while-Moses is shuddering with the terrible experience, the leprosy is as suddenly taken away. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. As to the significance of these miracles, there is doubtless much that lies beyond our power to ascertain. Assuredly they had in them perfect propriety beth as to their order and their nature. What the burning hush became to Moses, these three miracles might become to the Israelites; not only paving the way for Moses to act with full authority in their name, but giving many lessons to such as had eyes to see and hearts to understand. For instance how could they but perceive that when God began his dealings with Pharaoh, he began with two out of the three miracles which Moses had shown to them. Moses turned the rod into a serpent, and the water into blood before Israel, and Israel believed (vers. 28-31). He did the same things before Pharaoh, and he remained unmoved. Who can tell what terrible things Israel escaped by their timely acceptance of the mission of Moses? and yet that acceptance, as we discover by the rebellions in the wilderness, did not amount to very much. The belief that is produced by miracle, if there be not some more penetrating force behind the mere exhibition of the extraordinary, does not go very deep, nor does it last very long. The greatest benefit of these miracles was to such Israelites as could see in them, not only the power of God, but something of the purposes for which that power was used. Pharaoh caused great pain to Israel, but he did nothing else; he sought no blessed end for the people beyond the pain. God, on the other hand, though he turned a rod into a threatening serpent, and a clean and healthy hand into a leprous, loathsome mass, yet very speedily took these signs of destruction away. When God brings threatening and affliction very near to us, it is only to show how quickly and completely they may he removed. All untoward things are in his hands-all serpents, all diseases, all degrading transformations of what is good and beautiful. Y.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1-9. Weakness and strength for God"s service.
I FEAR OF THE REJECTION OF THE MESSAGE WE BEAR FOR GOD MAKES ITS DELIVERANCE IMPOSSIBLE. The tidings he was to bear were so wonderful that he believed his words would be listened to with utter incredulity. Our Gospel is more wonderful still. To speak it, our eye must rest less on the message, and more on God"s power to chastise and to bless. We are not critics of, nor apologists for, the Gospel: we are messengers sent before God"s face. Our Master is behind us.
II MIRACLES BELONG TO THE INFANCY OF FAITH. The signs are given because of unbelief. Elijah and Elisha work miracles among the tribes which had almost wholly forsaken God; Isaiah, Jeremiah, John, work none. The Apostles alone were empowered to bestow miraculous gifts, and these died out with the men who received them from the Apostles" hands. To bring again the age of miracles would be retrogression, not advance.
III THE MIRACLES AS SIGNS.
1. The rod cast upon the ground becomes a serpent; the serpent dealt within obedience to God s command becomes a rod. They who reject God"s guidance will be pursued by his terrors, and if we deal with our foes as God directs us they will help, not harm us.
2. The hand put in the bosom (the attitude of determined indifference)becomes leprous; placed again in obedience to God"s command, it is made whole. God can make the strength of the disobedient a burden and horror; and if we rest in him our loathsomeness and weakness will be changed into health and strength.
3. The sweet Nile waters changed into blood. The delight of the land towhich unbelief will cling will become a loathing and a curse. U.
HOMILIES BY H.T. ROBJOHNS
Vers. 1-17. Divine supplements for human infirmity.
therefore go, and I will be with thee," etc. (ver. 12.) It is not at all clear whether the four objections urged by Moses against receiving the Divine commission were presented at one interview with the manifested God, or whether the controversy recorded Exo_3:1-22; Exo_4:1-17, occupied weeks or months. The probabilities are in favour of some considerable time. See 4:10, and specially in the Hebrews In dealing with this particular plea, viz. the lack of eloquence, we must bear in mind that it is not for every man to be a Moses, or a preacher, or even a worker. True, there is a ministry for each and all; but some are called to, one of patience in suffering. Treat the subject therefore as one of Divine supplementing of human infirmity generally. Comp. 2Co_12:7-10.
I SHRINKING FROM DIVINE SERVICE. Not a doubt of this in the case of Moses. Earlier he was not unwilling to put himself forward as the champion of Israel Act_7:25; but diffidence came with years. So Jeremiah Jer_1:6. So all the prophets their message a "burden something heavy to be carried, to which they braced themselves. So Paul, 1Co_9:16. Nor is the feeling unhealthy or undesirable. Self-confidence looks at first the best preparation for great enterprises. But is it so? Leek at life. In all departments, to estimate aright the greatness of the work, the comparative feebleness of our resources, and yet the weight of our responsibility, is the condition of success; e.g. Lord Clyde in India. The Christian minister. By the reluctance of Moses, measure the irresistible impulse upon his spirit. Nor is consciousness of incapacity always the reality of incapacity.
II THE EXCUSE THAT IS OFFERED. Take ver. 10, translated thus: "And said Moses unto Jehovah, Let it please Thee, O Lord, not a man of words am I, either since yesterday, or since the day before, or since the time Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; for heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue am I
1. The time-hint. An intimation here of a long controversy between Moses and God.
2. The meaning of Moses. He was not a "man of words not eloquent, in the popular sense; he was heavy doubly heavy of lip and tongue. A great writer of poetry and prose, but not a speaker. This self-estimate just. Yet there were compensations. He was "mighty in word." Distinguish between fluency and power. He was, too, a man of thought. A man of action.
3. A lesson in passing: "Take heed how ye hear! heed what ye hear." Compare the massive eloquence of the Puritan age, and the men it made, with what seems to be now the taste of many for the sensational with present impatience of so-called "heavy" preaching. Where would Israel have been, had Israel turned its back on the "heavy" Moses, and followed the lead of the brilliant but perhaps shallow Aaron, who could make molten images under the very shadow of Sinai, the mount of God, ere reverberating thunders had died away in the desolation of the desert.
4. The essence of his excuse. The defect was to the mind of Moses fatal eloquence was the one quality material to his mission. To many missions (e.g. military or administrative) eloquence is not essential. The mission of Moses was diplomatic it needed tongue-power. "Say unto the elders of Israel!" "Say unto Pharaoh." He had to persuade a nation of slaves that he was the heaven-sent deliverer. He had to go into the audience-chamber of the greatest potentate of earth, and speak to him for a nation, and for Jehovah behind the nation. Just the one thing he could not do; and for which he had not the indispensable qualification. So in thousands of other eases, of various forms of duty and responsibility, of sorrow and perplexity. "Tongue" and "lip" and "word" are what the service demands, and all are wanting.
III THE DIVINE DECLINING OF EXCUSE. Notice
1. The changing tone. It is
(1) Encouraging. Vers. 11, 12.
(2) Indignant. Moses said, ver. 13: "Let it please Thee, O Lord, send I pray Thee by a hand Thou wilt send." (See the Hebrews) This sounds submissive, as though Moses meant, "Send me." But from the translation of the LXX the words seem to have carried a disloyal meaning, now lost in the Hebrews: "I pray Thee, O Lord, prepare for Thyself another capable, whom Thou wilt send." And so Jehovah was indignant. Self-diffidence may be carried too far. Yet was not Moses wholly cast away for Jehovah took up again a tone likely to woo him to his duty.
(3) Encouraging again: vers. 14-17.
2. The counter pleas. God allows the truth of all we say, and then comes in with his own Divine counter pleas why he should not accept either our excuses or declining of which the main articles are these: The glory of God will be manifested
(1) In the use of man at all. God might have glorified himself in breaking to pieces the empire of Egypt without the intervention of any human agency. Pietists have sometimes thought that they glorified God by making him everything, man nothing. But God glorifies himself more by using men, for men are such poor tools to work with. E.g. Quentin Matsys making the beautiful covering for the well that stands in front of Antwerp cathedral with only a file and hammer. How? Such work with only file and hammer? So great an overthrow here, and such a creation of nation and church by a man, and such a man? The strength of God is evermore working by our weakness.
(2) By the imperfection of our powers: vers. 11, 12. God the Creator of the imperfection as well as the power the dumbness of the dumb, as well as the eloquence of the eloquent. He does this i.e, supplements our imperfect power, by
1. Other faculties in the man. So here "the rod" of might in deed was to supplement the imperfect speech. See also above, II 2.
2. Other men. Here by Aaron, vers. 14 16.
3. Himself. In the earlier part of this controversy it was, "Certainly I will be with thee a general declaration. Now it is, "I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. " The Almighty power goes along with the imperfect organ of the Divine will. Apply as suggested above to all whether in the activity, or in the patience of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. R.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv1–2But, behold, they will not believe me.
Exo_4:1
But, behold, they will not believe me.
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Moses temptation to shrink from, the contest
Our duty to our Lord in this world requires that we should do somewhat more than live a life of obedience to Him. Our obedience must be acknowledged obedience. We must never be loth to say, Whose we are, and Whom we serve. We may read this lesson writ large in the history of Gods sending Moses to deliver His people. Moses went through a trial on Mount Horeb, the exact opposite of the trial of Christ.
I. Moses was tempted to decline the contest with the world altogether, to shrink from action and from prominence, when God called him. Christ was tempted to take the world by storm, to overwhelm it with conviction.
II. Moses was full of sympathy for the poor, full of a desire to see Gods ancient promises realized; but when the time came, and God said, Now go, then, for the first time, it flashed upon Moses that he was unfit to carry out what he had so aspired to be trusted with. His eighty years of life had been given him that in its vast experience he might learn that God was all, man was nothing. He had very nearly learned it in truth; the crust or chrysalis of self was very nearly ready to drop off; it needed just this interview with God to rid him of it entirely. He had seen the miraculous powers with which he had been endowed, but he had not fully understood them, and therefore his will was pausing still.
III. The voice of God within him and without him waxed more imperious. God sternly pointed out that such eloquence as he longed for was but a secondary qualification. Thy brother, I know that he can speak well; the legislator need not be the orator. There is not one of us who ever complained to God of insufficient strength without finding his complaint answered either by ministration of grace or disappearance of difficulties.
IV. What interests trembled in the balance while Moses was debating! It is not for ourselves only that we shall be responsible if we debate till the time is gone, (Archbishop Benson.)
Gods call and mans duty
I. God proposes great things to men. In proportion as any call in life is great, let the heart pause and consider whether its very greatness is not a proof of its divinity.
II. We are not to look at what we are, but at what God is. When He calls, He qualifies for the work
III. What is right in itself may be perverted and abused. Timidity is right in itself; but when pushed into cowardice, it is wrong. Self-distrust is right in itself; but if it degenerates into atheism, then it is the plague and destruction of the soul.
IV. Gods call to faith is the greatest call to his universe. Our duty is to go forward to the unknown and the invisible, and live by faith. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The mission of Moses
I. The nature of the mission.
1. Its difficulty and danger.
2. It was divinely appointed.
II. Moses was trained specially for it.
1. The school of providence.
2. Our need of discipline.
III. Moses was sufficiently equipped. The rod.
1. The use of little things.
2. The use of present means. Use what is in thy hand.
IV. Moses shrank from his mission. Modesty and self-distrust generally go with true greatness and exalted virtue. (P. S. Henson, D. D.)
The lament of the pulpit
I. The preacher has frequently to lament the scepticism of his congregation. Practical unbelief.
II. The preacher has frequently to lament the inattention of his congregation. Nothing worse than disobedience to the messages of God.
III. the preacher has frequently to lament the querulous spirit of his congregation. They question inspiration, preparation, qualification of teacher. And often in unkind, factious spirit. Should rather welcome him as from God, sent to achieve their moral freedom.
IV. That this conduct on the part of congregations has a most depressing influence on the minds of ministers. He needs the attention, sympathy, prayers, help of those whom he seeks to free from the tyranny of sin. He has enough to contend with external hindrances, with the opposition of Pharaoh, without having added to it that of the slave whose fetter he seeks to break. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Why did Moses imagine that the Israelites would not believe him
1. Because he knew that they were a stiff-necked people.
2. Because he considered himself of insufficient authority to command their respect.
3. Because the power and tyranny of Pharaoh would deter them from believing him.
4. Because they would think it unlikely that God, who had never been seen by man, should appear to him. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Human distrust
Human distrust is a difficulty which every preacher, teacher, and holy labourer has to encounter. All great movements are carried by consent of parties. God Himself cannot re-establish moral order without the concurrence of the powers that have rebelled against His rule. After all, the spiritual labourer has less to do with the unbelief of his hearers than with the instruction and authority of God. We have to ascertain what God the Lord would have us to say, and then to speak it simply and lovingly, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The preacher must prepare himself for having doubts thrown upon his authority; and he must take care that his answer to such doubts be as complete as the authority itself. God alone can give the true answer to human doubt. We are not to encounter scepticism with merely ingenious replies and clever arguments, but in the power and grace of the living God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Ministerial duty in spite of discouragement
Dr. Stevens narrates how an eminent minister was very much depressed by the unbelief of his congregation, and how his spirit of depression was shaken off. He dreamed that he was working with a pick-axe on the top of a basaltic rock, which remained non-riven in spite of repeated strokes of his arm of muscle. When about to give up in despair, a stranger of solemn and dignified demeanour appeared on the scene, who reminded him that as a servant he was bound to go on whether the rock yielded or not. Work is your duty; leave the results to God, were the last words of his strange visitor. The result was that the discouraged pastor resumed his work, and was abundantly rewarded by the shattering of the rock of unbelief and indifference among his flock.
Frailty invested with divinity
If we pause for a moment and consider the almost insurmountable difficulties which stood in the way of Israels redemption from Egypt, we can readily appreciate the hesitation on the part of Moses before undertaking this herculean task. Egypt at that time was one of the most powerful of nations. It was not that Egypt desired simply to hold Israel in subjection, that such a strict and powerful sovereignty was exercised; hut the Israelites had become the servants, the slaves of the Egyptians, and as such were almost necessary to the vigour of the nation. Besides, four centuries of oppression had left their deep and degrading mark upon the children of Israel. They had become in a measure satisfied with their condition. Hope had taken to itself wings. Ambition had died within them. There native fire and energy had wasted away. To redeem a people who do not care to be redeemed, to set free a nation which is content with captivity, is a work well-nigh impossible. And then, to add to the difficulty of the case, supposing even that they were free, where will they go? Their own land, the land promised to their father Abraham, is already occupied. Warlike tribes have come down from the north and strongly entrenched themselves within its borders. Who and what am I, said Moses, that I should go upon this great mission? What proofs can I bring to assure the people that I am come from God? They will not believe my word, and they will ask, Where is the God of our fathers and what is His name? What sign have I to convince them? What power have I to display? At length God answers, What is that in thy hand? And he said a rod. He was told to cast it upon the ground, when all at once it became a writhing serpent. You will notice all through the Scriptures in the dealings of God with His people, that in almost every instance He proceeds upon the principle contained in our text. When any great work is to be done, when any special mission is to be undertaken, God does not bring down to the accomplishment of His purpose strange or wonderful agencies, but He rather takes the simple things that lie about common life, and makes them achieve the Divine will. God seems to take the most exquisite pleasure in clothing human frailty with Divine strength and beauty, and imparting to the most ordinary and trivial things, heavenly meaning and significance. Indeed, Gods constant purpose seems to have been to unite this world with another one, to blend this life with a life infinitely higher and grander. Life is robbed of all its harmony, all its grace, all its impressiveness if we ever allow it to become separated from the Divine and the eternal, and the little boat which is unswung from the davits and carried off by a huge billow from its place on the ocean steamer, is no more helpless as it rolls in the trough of the sea, and is no more pitiable in its desolation, than the life which is adrift from God out upon the great waters of human experience and distress. To many life is a weary drudgery all the way from the cradle to the grave. It is nothing but work and eat and sleep. Once in a great while there is a little change, but not often. The great bulk of life is a sad monotony, and millions look forward to the quiet and rest of the grave. And why are these people in this dismal plight? Simply because their life is not connected with the Divine life, because this world is not made a part of the heavenly world, and like a car which has become detached from the swift express and flung out upon a siding, it stands helpless and forsaken in the dark and dismal night. Suppose that here are three plates of common glass a foot square, an eighth or a quarter of an inch in thickness, and suppose that they are given to three men to dispose of them as they please. One takes his and he covers it with black enamel, and on the ebonized surface he paints a human face, or some lovely flowers. Another takes his and he spreads upon it a solution of quicksilver and it becomes a mirror throwing back to the beholder his own face and expression. But the third takes his to the best room in his house, he inserts it in the window which has the most commanding view, and then carefully removing all the dust and finger-marks, he looks through its open substance and sees the skies in their morning beauty, the fields in living green or glistening white, and thus brings heaven and earth within the circle of that room. Now these are the ways in which most of us live. We take our life and we enamel or ebonize it. We make it opaque. We cannot see through it to anything that lies beyond; and though we paint it, and try to adorn it, yet we in no wise remove the mystery; the darkness in the sad background which even the flowers will not hide away. Some use the coating of mercury, and make their life nothing but a mirror which reflects themselves. Self is the image ever rising before their eyes. But the wise man makes this life simply a transparency through which he can see the life of God. There are three forms of power by which the machinery of clocks is kept in motion. The first and the one of the oldest date is that of the weight suspended upon a chain or rope. The bulk and heaviness of the weight was always in proportion to the size of the clock, and the wheels were literally driven by the sheer force of the big weights as they slowly descended. The second is that of the spring, the band of steel coiled within its cylinder spending its strength in expansion, and forcing the wheels to revolve in its great desire to get free. The third is that of electricity, where the current is carried along the wire from the central battery. Silently, but almost irresistibly, the mysterious force operates upon the machinery, ensuring an accuracy and faithfulness which can be gained in no other way. And in these we have illustrations of how human life is carried on. Many of us go by weight. We are dragged down by heaviness and toil, and compelled by the demands of circumstances to go our weary round. Others go through by the sheer force of their own energy. They have power and strength in themselves to propel them around the dial-plate of common existence, and in this way they fulfil the measure of their days. But some have an electric current. The wires of their thought are in connection with the great battery of God. Life to them is not a mere drag. Life to them is not merely an expenditure of vital force. Life to them means heavenly communion, Divine fellowship, holy enjoyment, and the days of their pilgrimage are accomplished in simple dependence upon the Almighty will. Now, what seems to be the very plain, the very obvious meaning of this rod? Is it not this: that the most common things within our possession, and under our control, can be so wrought upon by Divine influence, and so charged with Divine power, as to accomplish the most strange and glorious results? St. Paul tells us in the Epistle to the Corinthians that God has a strange choice in the selection of His instrumentalities: Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And if you will go down the lines of history you will see that God has carried out this principle in its integrity. And this ought not to strike us as either strange or remarkable, because we do just the same ourselves. We take the most common things that we can find, and we unite them with other things until we finally develop the most potential forces of our time. A few gallons of water, a few pieces of coal are enough to send the mad steam hissing through the pipes, eager to turn yon giant engine, or send the train of cars thundering along the line. A few drops of vitriol, a few pieces of prepared zinc, a single thread of wire, and lo, the electric force flashes as light around our world. A few grains of charcoal and sulphur mixed with nitre are sufficient to give us the dreadful gunpowder which sends iron giants swinging in the air that beat into ruin walls and parapets of stone. We take the most common rods that Nature has in her hand, and we breathe upon them, and they become instinct with life; we give them of our genius and our strength; we lift them up out of their low estate. We take the iron and the coal from the mines, we dig out the metals that are in the hills, we dignify them and ennoble them until at length they become our most valued agents and servants. But we must always remember that the rod of itself will be valueless unless it have with it the presence and favour of God. Of what worth was the mere rod which Moses held in his hand that day as he stood before the burning bush? In all probability it was only the shepherds crook which he used while attending the flocks of Jethro. The rod itself was almost of no value whatever. And so exactly with our life. Before we can be really useful, before we can accomplish any great work, before we can live up to the measure of our power, we must first of all meet with God. We must stand before the burning bush; we must listen to the Divine voice; we must receive the heavenly commission; we must accept the Divine command. Until this is done our life is nothing but a rod--a rod without any special use or intrinsic value, and which will one day break in our hands, and be cast into the fire and be destroyed. Look how this is illustrated: What is that in thy hand? A sling, said David. It is enough; go up against the giant; and the great Goliath fell before the shepherd-boy. What is that in thy hand? A sword, answered Jonathan. It is enough, and the brave youth, followed by his armour-bearer, goes up against an army, and the Philistines are defeated by these twain. What is that in thy hand? A piece of parchment, answered Luther. It is enough, and he proceeds to nail his famous protest upon the doors of the Roman Church and the era of the Reformation broke upon darkened Europe. What is that in thy hand? A pen, said Bunyan, as he spoke from under the arches of Bedford jail. It is enough, and he wrote the story of the Pilgrims Progress, which will live while the world endures. Men and women, with common, simple things about them, have heard the voice of God, and doing just what their hand found to do, they made their life memorable in the history of the Church and accomplished the Divine will. What is that in your hand? Only a rod, answers the mother from beside the cradle, the workman standing at the bench, the clerk behind the counter, the man of business at his desk. Only a rod, and is that all? Oh, there is something of far greater value than you now suppose. Ask that honest farmer in a few weeks from now standing in the open furrows, what is that in his hand, and he will answer, only a few grains of seed. But is that all? Far from it. Those grains of seed contain the germs of the great harvest which will fill our lands with plenty, and crowd the threshing-floors with abundance. Then say not Only a rod. There is no such word as only about human life. Every part of it is invested with mysterious grandeur and possibility. We cannot tell how far the most simple thing will reach. A word dropped from our lips, a hand clasped within ours, something apparently trifling done and then forgotten, will go on long after we have passed away, and a life which throws its shadows all down eternity cannot have anything but which is of value. (J. W. Johnston.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
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CHAPTER IV.
MOSES HESITATES.
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Exo_4:1-17.
Holy Scripture is impartial, even towards its heroes. The sin of David is recorded, and the failure of Peter. And so is the reluctance of Moses to accept his commission, even after a miracle had been vouchsafed to him for encouragement. The absolute sinlessness of Jesus is the more significant because it is found in the records of a creed which knows of no idealised humanity.
In Josephus, the refusal of Moses is softened down. Even the modest words, "Lord, I am still in doubt how I, a private man and of no abilities, should persuade my countrymen or Pharaoh," are not spoken after the sign is given. Nor is there any mention of the transfer to Aaron of a part of his commission, nor of their joint offence at Meribah, nor of its penalty, which in Scripture is bewailed so often. And Josephus is equally tender about the misdeeds of the nation. We hear nothing of their murmurs against Moses and Aaron when their burdens are increased, or of their making the golden calf. Whereas it is remarkable and natural that the fear of Moses is less anxious about his reception by the tyrant than by his own people: "Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." This is very unlike the invention of a later period, glorifying the beginnings of the nation; but it is absolutely true to life. Great men do not fear the wrath of enemies if they can be secured against the indifference and contempt of friends; and Moses in particular was at last persuaded to undertake his mission by the promise of the support of Aaron. His hesitation is therefore the earliest example of what has been so often since observed--the discouragement of heroes, reformers and messengers from God, less by fear of the attacks of the world than of the contemptuous scepticism of the people of God. We often sigh for the appearing, in our degenerate days, of
"A man with heart, head, hand, Like some of the simple great ones gone."
Yet who shall say that the want of them is not our own fault? The critical apathy and incredulity, not of the world but of the Church, is what freezes the fountains of Christian daring and the warmth of Christian zeal.
For the help of the faith of his people, Moses is commissioned to work two miracles; and he is caused to rehearse them, for his own.
Strange tales were told among the later Jews about his wonder-working rod. It was cut by Adam before leaving Paradise, was brought by Noah into the ark, passed into Egypt with Joseph, and was recovered by Moses while he enjoyed the favour of the court. These legends arose from downright moral inability to receive the true lesson of the incident, which is the confronting of the sceptre of Egypt with the simple staff of the shepherd, the choosing of the weak things of earth to confound the strong, the power of God to work His miracles by the most puny and inadequate means. Anything was more credible than that He who led His people like sheep did indeed guide them with a common shepherd's crook. And yet this was precisely the lesson meant for us to learn--the glorification of poor resources in the grasp of faith.
Both miracles were of a menacing kind. First the rod became a serpent, to declare that at God's bidding enemies would rise up against the oppressor, even where all seemed innocuous, as in truth the waters of the river and the dust of the furnace and the winds of heaven conspired against him. Then, in the grasp of Moses, the serpent from which he fled became a rod again, to intimate that these avenging forces were subject to the servant of Jehovah.
Again, his hand became leprous in his bosom, and was presently restored to health again--a declaration that he carried with him the power of death, in its most dreadful form; and perhaps a still more solemn admonition to those who remember what leprosy betokens, and how every approach of God to man brings first the knowledge of sin, to be followed by the assurance that He has cleansed it.[7]
If the people would not hearken to the voice of the first sign, they should believe the second; but at the worst, and if they were still unconvinced, they would believe when they saw the water of the Nile, the pride and glory of their oppressors, turned into blood before their eyes. That was an omen which needs no interpretation. What follows is curious. Moses objects that he has not hitherto been eloquent, nor does he experience any improvement "since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant" (a graphic touch!), and he seems to suppose that the popular choice between liberty and slavery would depend less upon the evidence of a Divine power than upon sleight of tongue, as if he were in modern England.
But let it be observed that the self-consciousness which wears the mask of humility while refusing to submit its judgment to that of God, is a form of selfishness--self-absorption blinding one to other considerations beyond himself--as real, though not as hateful, as greed and avarice and lust.
How can Moses call himself slow of speech and of a slow tongue, when Stephen distinctly declares that he was mighty in word as well as deed? (Act_7:22). Perhaps it is enough to answer that many years of solitude in a strange land had robbed him of his fluency. Perhaps Stephen had in mind the words of the Book of Wisdom, that "Wisdom entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs.... For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent" (Wisdom x. 16, 21).
To his scruple the answer was returned, "Who hath made man's mouth?... Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." The same encouragement belongs to every one who truly executes a mandate from above: "Lo, I am with you alway." For surely this encouragement is the same. Surely Jesus did not mean to offer His own presence as a substitute for that of God, but as being in very truth Divine, when He bade His disciples, in reliance upon Him, to go forth and convert the world.
And this is the true test which divides faith from presumption, and unbelief from prudence: do we go because God is with us in Christ, or because we ourselves are strong and wise? Do we hold back because we are not sure of His commission, or only because we distrust ourselves? "Humility without faith is too timorous; faith without humility is too hasty." The phrase explains the conduct of Moses both now and forty years before.
Moses, however, still entreats that any one may be chosen rather than himself: "Send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send."
And thereupon the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, although at the moment his only visible punishment was the partial granting of his prayer--the association with him in his commission of Aaron, who could speak well, the forfeiting of a certain part of his vocation, and with it of a certain part of its reward. The words, "Is not Aaron thy brother the Levite?" have been used to insinuate that the tribal arrangement was not perfected when they were written, and so to discredit the narrative. But when so interpreted they yield no adequate sense, they do not reinforce the argument; while they are perfectly intelligible as implying that Aaron is already the leader of his tribe, and therefore sure to obtain the hearing of which Moses despaired. But the arrangement involved grave consequences sure to be developed in due time: among others, the reliance of Israel upon a feebler will, which could be forced by their clamour to make them a calf of gold. Moses was yet to learn that lesson which our century knows nothing of,--that a speaker and a leader of nations are not the same. When he cried to Aaron, in the bitterness of his soul, "What did this people to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" did he remember by whose unfaithfulness Aaron had been thrust into the office, the responsibilities of which he had betrayed?
Now, it is the duty of every man, to whom a special vocation presents itself, to set opposite each other two considerations. Dare I undertake this task? is a solemn question, but so is this: Dare I let this task go past me? Am I prepared for the responsibility of allowing it to drift into weaker hands? These are days when the Church of Christ is calling for the help of every one capable of aiding her, and we ought to hear it said more often that one is afraid not to teach in Sunday School, and another dares not refuse a proffered district, and a third fears to leave charitable tasks undone. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin; and we hear too much about the terrible responsibility of working for God, but too little about the still graver responsibility of refusing to work for Him when called.
Moses indeed attained so much that we are scarcely conscious that he might have been greater still. He had once presumed to go unsent, and brought upon himself the exile of half a lifetime. Again he presumed almost to say, I go not, and well-nigh to incur the guilt of Jonah when sent to Nineveh, and in so doing he forfeited the fulness of his vocation. But who reaches the level of his possibilities? Who is not haunted by faces, "each one a murdered self," a nobler self, that might have been, and is now impossible for ever? Only Jesus could say "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." And it is notable that while Jesus deals, in the parable of the labourers, with the problem of equal faithfulness during longer and shorter periods of employment; and in the parable of the pounds with that of equal endowment variously improved; and yet again, in the parable of the talents, with the problem of various endowments all doubled alike, He always draws a veil over the treatment of five talents which earn but two or three besides.
A more cheerful reflection suggested by this narrative is the strange power of human fellowship. Moses knew and was persuaded that God, Whose presence was even then miraculously apparent in the bush, and Who had invested him with superhuman powers, would go with him. There is no trace of incredulity in his behaviour, but only of failure to rely, to cast his shrinking and reluctant will upon the truth he recognised and the God Whose presence he confessed. He held back, as many a one does, who is honest when he repeats the Creed in church, yet fails to submit his life to the easy yoke of Jesus. Nor is it from physical peril that he recoils: at the bidding of God he has just grasped the serpent from which he fled; and in confronting a tyrant with armies at his back, he could hope for small assistance from his brother. But highly strung spirits, in every great crisis, are aware of vague indefinite apprehensions that are not cowardly but imaginative. Thus C¾sar, when defying the hosts of Pompey, is said to have been disturbed by an apparition. It is vain to put these apprehensions into logical form, and argue them down: the slowness of speech of Moses was surely refuted by the presence of God, Who makes the mouth and inspires the utterance; but such fears lie deeper than the reasons they assign, and when argument fails, will yet stubbornly repeat their cry: "Send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send." Now this shrinking, which is not craven, is dispelled by nothing so effectually as by the touch of a human hand. It is like the voice of a friend to one beset by ghostly terrors: he does not expect his comrade to exorcise a spirit, and yet his apprehensions are dispelled. Thus Moses cannot summon up courage from the protection of God, but when assured of the companionship of his brother he will not only venture to return to Egypt, but will bring with him his wife and children. Thus, also, He Who knew what was in men's hearts sent forth His missionaries, both the Twelve and the Seventy (as we have yet to learn the true economy of sending ours), "by two and two" (Mar_6:7; Luk_10:1).
This is the principle which underlies the institution of the Church of Christ, and the conception that Christians are brothers, among whom the strong must help the weak. Such help from their fellow-mortals would perhaps decide the choice of many hesitating souls, upon the verge of the divine life, recoiling from its unknown and dread experiences, but longing for a sympathising comrade. Alas for the unkindly and unsympathetic religion of men whose faith has never warmed a human heart, and of congregations in which emotion is a misdemeanour!
There is no stronger force, among all that make for the abuses of priestcraft, than this same yearning for human help becomes when robbed of its proper nourishment, which is the communion of saints, and the pastoral care of souls. Has it no further nourishment than these? This instinctive craving for a Brother to help as well as a Father to direct and govern,--this social instinct, which banished the fears of Moses and made him set out for Egypt long before Aaron came in sight, content when assured of Aaron's co-operation,--is there nothing in God Himself to respond to it? He Who is not ashamed to call us brethren has profoundly modified the Church's conception of Jehovah, the Eternal, Absolute and Unconditioned. It is because He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, that we are bidden to draw near with boldness unto the Throne of Grace. There is no heart so lonely that it cannot commune with the lofty and kind humanity of Jesus.
There is a homelier lesson to be learned. Moses was not only solaced by human fellowship, but nerved and animated by the thought of his brother, and the mention of his tribe. "Is not Aaron thy brother the Levite?" They had not met for forty years. Vague rumours of deadly persecution were doubtless all that had reached the fugitive, whose heart had burned, in solitary communion with Nature in her sternest forms, as he brooded over the wrongs of his family, of Aaron, and perhaps of Miriam.
And now his brother lived. The call which Moses would have put from him was for the emancipation of his own flesh and blood, and for their greatness. In that great hour, domestic affection did much to turn the scale wherein the destinies of humanity were trembling. And his was affection well returned. It might easily have been otherwise, for Aaron had seen his younger brother called to a dazzling elevation, living in enviable magnificence, and earning fame by "word and deed"; and then, after a momentary fusion of sympathy and of condition, forty years had poured between them a torrent of cares and joys estranging because unshared. But it was promised that Aaron, when he saw him, should be glad at heart; and the words throw a beam of exquisite light into the depths of the mighty soul which God inspired to emancipate Israel and to found His Church, by thoughts of his brother's joy on meeting him.
Let no man dream of attaining real greatness by stifling his affections. The heart is more important than the intellect; and the brief story of the Exodus has room for the yearning of Jochebed over her infant "when she saw him that he was a goodly child," for the bold inspiration of the young poetess, who "stood afar off to know what should be done to him," and now for the love of Aaron. So the Virgin, in the dread hour of her reproach, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth. So Andrew "findeth first his own brother Simon." And so the Divine Sufferer, forsaken of God, did not forsake His mother.
The Bible is full of domestic life. It is the theme of the greater part of Genesis, which makes the family the seed-plot of the Church. It is wisely recognised again at the moment when the larger pulse of the nation begins to beat. For the life-blood in the heart of a nation must be the blood in the hearts of men.
MOSES OBEYS.
Exo_4:18-31.
Moses is now commissioned: he is to go to Egypt, and Aaron is coming thence to meet him. Yet he first returns to Midian, to Jethro, who is both his employer and the head of the family, and prays him to sanction his visit to his own people.
There are duties which no family resistance can possibly cancel, and the direct command of God made it plain that this was one of them. But there are two ways of performing even the most imperative obligation, and religious people have done irreparable mischief before now, by rudeness, disregard to natural feeling and the rights of their fellow-men, under the impression that they showed their allegiance to God by outraging other ties. It is a theory for which no sanction can be found either in Holy Scripture or in common sense.
When he asks permission to visit "his brethren" we cannot say whether he ever had brothers besides Aaron, or uses the word in the same larger national sense as when we read that, forty years before, he went out unto his brethren and saw their burdens. What is to be observed is that he is reticent with respect to his vast expectations and designs.
He does not argue that, because a Divine promise must needs be fulfilled, he need not be discreet, wary and taciturn, any more than St. Paul supposed, because the lives of his shipmates were promised to him, that it mattered nothing whether the sailors remained on board.
The decrees of God have sometimes been used to justify the recklessness of man, but never by His chosen followers. They have worked out their own salvation the more earnestly because God worked in them. And every good cause calls aloud for human energy and wisdom, all the more because its consummation is the will of God, and sooner or later is assured. Moses has unlearned his rashness.
When the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, "Go, return unto Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life," there is an almost verbal resemblance to the words in which the infant Jesus is recalled from exile. We shall have to consider the typical aspect of the whole narrative, when a convenient stage is reached for pausing to survey it in its completeness. But resemblances like this have been treated with so much scorn, they have been so freely perverted into evidence of the mythical nature of the later story, that some passing allusion appears desirable. We must beware equally of both extremes. The Old Testament is tortured, and genuine prophecies are made no better than coincidences, when coincidences are exalted to all the dignity of express predictions. One can scarcely venture to speak of the death of Herod when Jesus was to return from Egypt, as being deliberately typified in the death of those who sought the life of Moses. But it is quite clear that the words in St. Matthew do intentionally point the reader back to this narrative. For, indeed, under both, there are to be recognised the same principles: that God does not thrust His servants into needless or excessive peril; and that when the life of a tyrant has really become not only a trial but a barrier, it will be removed by the King of kings. God is prudent for His heroes.
Moreover, we must recognise the lofty fitness of what is very visible in the Gospels--the coming to a head in Christ of the various experiences of the people of God; and at the recurrence, in His story, of events already known elsewhere, we need not be disquieted, as if the suspicion of a myth were now become difficult to refute; rather should we recognise the fulness of the supreme life, and its points of contact with all lives, which are but portions of its vast completeness. Who does not feel that in the world's greatest events a certain harmony and correspondence are as charming as they are in music? There is a sort of counterpoint in history. And to this answering of deep unto deep, this responsiveness of the story of Jesus to all history, our attention is silently beckoned by St. Matthew, when, without asserting any closer link between the incidents, he borrows this phrase so aptly.
A much deeper meaning underlies the profound expression which God now commands Moses to employ; and although it must await consideration at a future time, the progressive education of Moses himself is meantime to be observed. At first he is taught that the Lord is the God of their fathers, in whose descendants He is therefore interested. Then the present Israel is His people, and valued for its own sake. Now he hears, and is bidden to repeat to Pharaoh, the amazing phrase, "Israel is My son, even My firstborn: let My son go that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Thus it is that infant faith is led from height to height. And assuredly there never was an utterance better fitted than this to prepare human minds, in the fulness of time, for a still clearer revelation of the nearness of God to man, and for the possibility of an absolute union between the Creator and His creature.
It was on his way into Egypt, with his wife and children, that a mysterious interposition forced Zipporah reluctantly and tardily to circumcise her son.
The meaning of this strange episode lies perhaps below the surface, but very near it. Danger in some form, probably that of sickness, pressed Moses hard, and he recognised in it the displeasure of his God. The form of the narrative leads us to suppose that he had no previous consciousness of guilt, and had now to infer the nature of his offence without any explicit announcement, just as we infer it from what follows.
If so, he discerned his transgression when trouble awoke his conscience; and so did his wife Zipporah. Yet her resistance to the circumcision of their younger son was so tenacious, with such difficulty was it overcome by her husband's peril or by his command, that her tardy performance of the rite was accompanied by an insulting action and a bitter taunt. As she submitted, the Lord "let him go"; but we may perhaps conclude that the grievance continued to rankle, from the repetition of her gibe, "So she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou because of the circumcision." The words mean, "We are betrothed again in blood," and might of themselves admit a gentler, and even a tender significance; as if, in the sacrifice of a strong prejudice for her husband's sake, she felt a revival of "the kindness of her youth, the love of her espousals." For nothing removes the film from the surface of a true affection, and makes the heart aware how bright it is, so well as a great sacrifice, frankly offered for the sake of love.
But such a rendering is excluded by the action which went with her words, and they must be explained as meaning, This is the kind of husband I have wedded: these are our espousals. With such an utterance she fades almost entirely out of the story: it does not even tell how she drew back to her father; and thenceforth all we know of her is that she rejoined Moses only when the fame of his victory over Amalek had gone abroad.
Their union seems to have been an ill-assorted or at least an unprosperous one. In the tender hour when their firstborn was to be named, the bitter sense of loneliness had continued to be nearer to the heart of Moses than the glad new consciousness of paternity, and he said, "I am a stranger in a strange land." Different indeed had been the experience of Joseph, who called his "firstborn Manasseh, for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house" (Gen_41:51). The home-life of Moses had not made him forget that he was an exile. Even the removal of imminent death from her husband could not hush these selfish complaints of Zipporah, not because he was a father of blood to her little one, but because he was a bridegroom of blood to her own shrinking sensibilities. It is Miriam the sister, not Zipporah the wife, who gives lyrical and passionate voice to his triumph, and is mourned by the nation when she dies. Both what we read of her and what we do not read goes far to explain the insignificance of their children in history, and the more startling fact that the grandson of Moses became the venal instrument of the Danites in their schismatic worship (Jdg_18:30, R.V.).
Domestic unhappiness is a palliation, but not a justification, for an unserviceable life. It is a great advantage to come into action with the dew and freshness of affection upon the soul. Yet it is not once nor twice that men have carried the message of God back from the barren desert and the lonely ways of their unhappiness to the not too happy race of man.
Now, who can fail to discern real history in all this? Is it in such a way that myth or legend would have dealt with the wife of the great deliverer? Still less conceivable is it that these should have treated Moses himself as the narrative hitherto has consistently done. At every step he is made to stumble. His first attempt was homicidal, and brought upon him forty years of exile. When the Divine commission came he drew back wilfully, as he had formerly pressed forward unsent. There is not even any suggestion offered us of Stephen's apology for his violent deed--namely, that he supposed his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance (Act_7:25). There is nothing that resembles the eulogium of the Epistle to the Hebrews upon the faith which glorified his precipitancy, like the rainbow in a torrent, because that rash blow committed him to share the affliction of the people of God, and renounced the rank of a grand son of the Pharaoh (Heb_11:24-25). All this is very natural, if Moses himself be in any degree responsible for the narrative. It is incredible, if the narrative were put together after the Captivity, to claim the sanction of so great a name for a newly forged hierarchical system. Such a theory could scarcely be refuted more completely, if the narrative before us were invented with the deliberate aim to overthrow it.
But in truth the failures of the good and great are written for our admonition, teaching us how inconsistent are even the best of mortals, and how weak the most resolute. Rather than forfeit his own place among the chosen people, Moses had forsaken a palace and become a proscribed fugitive; yet he had neglected to claim for his child its rightful share in the covenant, its recognition among the sons of Abraham. Perhaps procrastination, perhaps domestic opposition, more potent than a king's wrath to shake his purpose, perhaps the insidious notion that one who had sacrificed so much might be at ease about slight negligences,--some such influence had left the commandment unobserved. And now, when the dream of his life was being realised at last, and he found himself the chosen instrument of God for the rebuke of one nation and the making of another, how pardonable it must have seemed to leave an unpleasant small domestic duty over until a more convenient season! How natural it still seems to merge the petty task in the high vocation, to excuse small lapses in pursuit of lofty aims! But this was the very time when God, hitherto forbearing, took him sternly to task for his neglect, because men who are especially honoured should be more obedient and reverential than their fellows. Let young men who dream of a vast career, and meanwhile indulge themselves in small obliquities, let all who cast out demons in the name of Christ, and yet work iniquity, reflect upon this chosen and long-trained, self-sacrificing and ardent servant of the Lord, whom Jehovah seeks to kill because he wilfully disobeys even a purely ceremonial precept.
Moses was not only religious, but "a man of destiny," one upon whom vast interests depended. Now, such men have often reckoned themselves exempt from the ordinary laws of conduct.[8]
It is not a light thing, therefore, to find God's indignant protest against the faintest shadow of a doctrine so insidious and so deadly, set in the forefront of sacred history, at the very point where national concerns and those of religion begin to touch. If our politics are to be kept pure and clean, we must learn to exact a higher fidelity, and not a relaxed morality, from those who propose to sway the destinies of nations.
And now the brothers meet, embrace, and exchange confidences. As Andrew, the first disciple who brought another to Jesus, found first his own brother Simon, so was Aaron the earliest convert to the mission of Moses. And that happened which so often puts our faithlessness to shame. It had seemed very hard to break his strange tidings to the people: it was in fact very easy to address one whose love had not grown cold during their severance, who probably retained faith in the Divine purpose for which the beautiful child of the family had been so strangely preserved, and who had passed through trial and discipline unknown to us in the stern intervening years.
And when they told their marvellous story to the elders of the people, and displayed the signs, they believed; and when they heard that God had visited them in their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
This was their preparation for the wonders that should follow: it resembled Christ's appeal, "Believest thou that I am able to do this?" or Peter's word to the impotent man, "Look on us."
For the moment the announcement had the desired effect, although too soon the early promise was succeeded by faithlessness and discontent. In this, again, the teaching of the earliest political movement on record is as fresh as if it were a tale of yesterday. The offer of emancipation stirs all hearts; the romance of liberty is beautiful beside the Nile as in the streets of Paris; but the cost has to be gradually learned; the losses displace the gains in the popular attention; the labour, the self-denial and the self-control grow wearisome, and Israel murmurs for the flesh-pots of Egypt, much as the modern revolution reverts to a despotism. It is one thing to admire abstract freedom, but a very different thing to accept the austere conditions of the life of genuine freemen. And surely the same is true of the soul. The gospel gladdens the young convert: he bows his head and worships; but he little dreams of his long discipline, as in the forty desert years, of the solitary places through which his soul must wander, the drought, the Amalekite, the absent leader, and the temptations of the flesh. In mercy, the long future is concealed; it is enough that, like the apostles, we should consent to follow; gradually we shall obtain the courage to which the task may be revealed.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Tertullian appealed to the second of these miracles to illustrate the possibility of the resurrection. "The hand of Moses is changed and becomes like that of the dead, bloodless, colourless, and stiff with cold. But on the recovery of heat and restoration of its natural colour, it is the same flesh and blood.... So will changes, conversions and reformation be needed to bring about the resurrection, yet the substance will be preserved safe." (De Res., lv.) It is far wiser to be content with the declaration of St. Paul that the identity of the body does not depend on that of its corporeal atoms. "Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but a naked grain.... But God giveth ... to every seed his own body" (1Co_15:37-38).
[8] "I am not an ordinary man," Napoleon used to say, "and the laws of morals and of custom were never made for me."--Memoirs of Madame de RŽmusat, i. 91.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Exo_4:1. Kept] Not merely once upon a time; but…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_4:1. Kept] Not merely once upon a time; but statedly, as his usual occupation: lit., “he had come to be shepherding,” the participle denoting continuance. Backside] That is, “to the west:” the east being the quarter towards wh. one is supposed to look (Gesenius, Fürst, Davies).
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Exo_4:2. A bush] Lit., “the thorn-bush.” According to Brugsch, the thorny acacia. The definiteness may be accounted for on the ground of either (a) local notoriety—“the well-known thorn-bush of the neighbourhood;” or (b) historical familiarity—“the particular thorn-bush of wh. M. had so often spoken.” Prob. the humble thorn-bush represented Israel in the fire of affliction. Burned] Render, more vividly: “was burning” Note also the repetition of the noun; who both for this reason, and because of its position in the Hob., is emphatic, as if asking to be reiterated with the tone of surprise: “Behold the THORN-BUSH was burning with fire, and yet the THORN-BUSH was not consumed!”
Exo_4:3. Is not burnt] Better: “does not burn up:” the imperfect tense.
Exo_4:5. Shoes] That is, “sandals.” This command “may be accounted from the custom, in the East, of wearing shoes or sandals merely as protection from dirt. No Brahmin enters a pagoda, no Moslem a mosque, without first taking off at least his overshoes; and even in Grecian temples, the priests and priestesses performed the service barefooted. When entering other holy places also, the Arabs and Samaritans, and even the Yezidis of Mesopotamia take off their shoes, that the place may not be defiled by the dirt or dust upon them.” (Keil).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_4:1-5
THE DEGRADATION OF USEFUL THINGS
Moses held a rod in his hand—useful for support—for help—for advancement—for protection—as a token of office—which, being cast upon the ground, lost all capability for usefulness, became offensive, injurious, poisonous; but the Divine command restored it to its original condition of utility and worth. This incident is typical of much that is going on around us in every-day life, where useful things, intended for the political, social, and moral good of men, are so cast upon the ground and degraded, that they become positively inimicable to the welfare of the race. Also, there is in the world a Divine power whereby all this degradation is divested of moral injury, and restored to its original condition of utility. We wish to regard this incident in a parabolic light:—
I. That man has, to an alarming extent, the ability to degrade useful things. “And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent.”
1. He has the ability to degrade Divine Truth. Heavenly truth and doctrine, as made known by God—as enunciated in the Bible—when held as a rod in the hand of man for his moral direction, guidance, and advancement—is most useful and absolutely needful to his salvation; but when, by profanity, by unholy doubt, by wilful rejection, by cold scepticism, it is cast on the ground, it becomes a serpent, the enemy of man, to predict his ruin. Who can look out upon the world without seeing to what an alarming extent the sublime truths, books, people of God, are degraded by the worldly and the sceptical? We wonder that the men who occasion such degradation do not flee from before their own profanity.
2. He has the ability to degrade the pulpit. All must admit the great utility of the pulpit, especially when they consider how it instructs the mind of the nation, how it appeals to the consciences of men, and how it quickens and cultures the spiritual life of the Church. Yet, how frequently is it cast upon the ground, by giving forth uncertain doctrine, by pandering to the sensational requirements of the age, and by ministerial inconsistency. At such times it becomes as a serpent to inflict moral injury upon the weak and scoffing. How many have been brought to reject religion by the unhallowed conduct of its professed teachers. May the Christian Church be delivered from the venom of this serpent!
3. He has the ability to degrade the press. None will deny the utility of the press. It is the great instrument of civilization—has done more than any other agency of human invention to instruct the world in the truth of the Bible, in the mystery of science, in the philosophy of history. If you were to remove the printing press out of the world, men would soon return to the darkness of the middle ages. Yet, how has this valuable instrumentality been degraded. Think of the pernicious literature that it annually circulates, with inaccurate views of life—exciting, false, unhealthy—altogether enervating to the manhood of those who read it. This degradation of the press is one of the most solemn and lamentable facts of the age. It has indeed become a serpent of the most formidable character, and is doing more to injure the mental life of the young than perhaps anything else.
4. That men are often terrified by the degradation they have occasioned. “And Moses fled from before it.” No doubt many an infidel has fled from before the phantoms of his own unbelief, and from before the dark abyss toward which his conscience has pointed him. Many a fallen minister has fled from before the enormity of his own sin and ruin. And who will say that many a novel writer and newspaper contributor has not, in quiet moments of reflection, trembled at the result of his own profanity. All men will one day experience a desire to flee from before their sins, to escape their terrible retribution.
II. That there is in religion a restoring influence, whereby useful things that have been degraded may be uplifted to their proper condition. “And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.”
1. This restoration is exclusive and extensive. It is exclusive in that it can only be accomplished by religion. Nothing can re-change the serpents of daily life into rods but the Word of God, and Divine influence working in the line of human effort. God told Moses to put forth his hand and take it by the tail. Men must do their part, then Heaven will help them in this great work of restoration. Legislation cannot make a sceptic into a believer of Divine truth. It may do much to suppress a pernicious literature, but with great difficulty, as men immediately cry out for the freedom of the press; it will never remove the desire for a mental stimulant in the shape of unreal fiction. Education may do something towards taming the serpents of human life, but it will leave them serpents—it cannot change them into rods. This Christianity alone can do; and happily her influence is co-extensive with the degradation. Not one serpent in the universe is beyond the charm of her voice. She can uplift the press. She has done much already to purify it. Her Bible has already done much to reclaim the literature of our land. It has, in fact, created a heavenly literature of its own, which is exerting a most salutary influence upon thousands of human souls. Thus the restoring influence of Christianity is not only exclusive, but all-extensive in its capability. 2 This restoration is sympathetic and happy. God has great sympathy with the world, afflicted by these degradations, and sends the mitigating influence of a peaceful religion to relieve its woe. And this token of pity and help—this prophecy of hope—is welcome to, and happy in its effect upon, humanity. A mind permeated with Divine truth, a pulpit refulgent with true piety, a press sending forth to the world the messages of Heaven, are happy results, and are the chief outcome of Divine grace as purifying the heart of society. LEARN—
1. That the creation of evil is within the power of man.
2. That our highest gifts may be prostrated to the lowest ends.
3. That it should be the aim of men to elevate everything with which they are brought into contact.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
THE LAMENT OF THE PULPIT
Verse
Exo_4:1.
I. The Preacher has frequently to lament the scepticism of his congregation. “But behold they will not believe me.” Moses feared the Israelites would not credit the probability of the freedom he had to declare unto them. Insuperable difficulties would appear in the way. They would not sufficiently take God into the matter. Ministers have now to complain of this kind of thing. Sinners are told that the intention of Heaven in reference to them is their moral emancipation. They reflect upon their natural wickedness—upon their wilful departure from the law of God—and regard the proclamation as visionary. They despair of freedom from sin, self, and Satan. Ministers frequently carry glorious tidings to their congregations—the willingness of God to save them there and then—the ultimate conquest of goodness; and yet are treated with practical unbelief.
II. The Preacher has frequently to lament the inattention of his congregation. “Nor hearken unto my voice.” Nothing is worse on the part of a congregation than inattention, and disobedience to the messages of God. The Divine claims are of the first importance, and demand immediate attention. They respect our future—they are for our spiritual good—they design our eternal freedom. To such a message all men ought to give the most earnest heed.
III. The Preacher has frequently to lament the querulous spirit of his congregation. “For they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee.” How many congregations practically question the announcements of the pulpit. They challenge the inspiration, the Divine preparation, the Divine qualification, the heavenly visions of their teacher. And often they do this in an unkind, factious spirit. They should rather welcome him as from God, sent and wishful to achieve their moral freedom. This would be more to their credit.
IV. That this conduct on the part of congregations has a most depressing influence on the minds of ministers. How can a man preach to people whom he knows are in the habit of practically denying, or refusing his statements of the Divine willingness to save them. He needs the attention, sympathy, prayers, help of those whom he seeks to free from the tyranny of sin. He has enough to contend with external hindrances, with the opposition of Pharaoh, without having added to it that of the slave whose fetter he seeks to break.
Human distrust is a difficulty which every preacher, teacher, and holy labourer has to encounter. All great movements are carried by consent of parties. God himself cannot re-establish moral order without the concurrence of the powers that have rebelled against His rule.… After all, the spiritual labourer has less to do with the unbelief of his hearers than with the instruction and authority of God. We have to ascertain what God the Lord would have us say, and then to speak it simply and lovingly, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The preacher must prepare himself for having doubts thrown upon his authority; and he must take care that his answer to such doubts be as complete as the authority itself. God alone can give the true answer to human doubt. We are not to encounter scepticism with merely ingenious replies and clever arguments, but in the power and grace of the living God [City Temple].
How indisposed is man to believe the testimony of God! Whether He denounce vengeance upon obstinate offenders, or promise acceptance, assistance, and salvation to the returning sinner, we are ever prone to question His truth. Thus some are hardened in presumption, others sink into despondency, and others are discouraged, and through unbelief continue heartless in all they attempt. But the Lord deals not with us according to our sins; else the strongest believer upon earth, instead of being saved by his faith, might righteously be condemned for his unbelief [Henry and Scott].
Moses objects that in all probability the people would not hearken to his voice; that is, they would not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign, which he had not yet been instructed to do. God empowers him to work miracles. Miracles are the most convincing proof of a Divine mission. But those who are employed now to enforce the authenticated revelation need not such testimonials; both their character and their doctrine are to be tried by the Word of God, to which they appeal [Henry and Scott].
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive titles, the Divine commission, the assurance of the Divine presence—all these things might have quelled any anxious thought, and imparted a settled assurance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises questions, and still God answers them; and each successive question brings out fresh grace [C. H. M.].
1. Present discouragements often arise from former disappointments.
2. Wise and good men have sometimes a worse opinion of people than they deserve. Moses said “they will not believe me,” and yet we find (Exo_4:31) “the people believed.”
Dissatisfaction is incident to good souls in difficulty, even after God has answered all their questions.
Infirmity of faith may make men suggest things contrary to the promise of God.
Men may tax others with unbelief, and yet be unbelievers themselves.
The obstinacy of the human heart often makes God’s ministers despair of success.
It is incident to sinners to deny the appearance of God to His ministers; and God’s ministers are apt to regard such denials as discouragements to their work.
Why did Moses imagine that the Israelites would not believe him?
1. Because he knew that they were a stiff-necked people.
2. Because he considered himself of insufficient authority to command their respect.
3. Because the power and tyranny of Pharaoh would deter them from believing him.
4. Because they would think it unlikely that God, who had never been seen by man, should appear to him.
Exo_4:2. “What is that in thine hand? And he said, a rod.” A staff—a shepherd’s crook—the staff which indicated his return to the pastoral habits of his fathers—the staff on which he leaned amidst his desert wanderings—the staff with which he guided his kinsman’s flocks—the staff like that still borne by Arab chiefs—this was to be the humble instrument of Divine power. “In this”—as afterwards in the yet humbler symbol of the cross—in this, the symbol of his simplicity, of his exile, of his lowliness, the world was to be conquered [The Jewish Church, by Dean Stanley].
“A rod”—probably the shepherd’s crook—among the Arabs; a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.… God followeth expostulations with resolutions to satisfy the troubled souls of His servants.
God sometimes exercises His power in connection with small things—a rod.
A rod:—
1. The subject of Divine inquiry.
2. The token of a shepherd’s office.
3. The symbol of a leader’s power.
4. The prophecy of a nation’s freedom.
A TRIVIAL POSSESSION
I. God frequently makes inquiry about the most trivial possessions of men.
1. Have they been honourably gained?
2. Are they being put to their proper use?
3. Are they in a line with Divine power?
II. God frequently makes the most trivial possessions of men teach great truths.
1. This shews the Divine adaptability to the circumstances of men.
2. This shews the Divine wisdom in making insignificant things teach Divine truth.
3. This shews the Divine simplicity of the plans and purposes of Heaven.
III. That the most trivial possessions are useful to others as well as those to whom they belong. This rod taught the Israelites that God was with Moses. So the smallest treasure possessed by a man may at times be instructive to other lives around him.
IV. That the most trivial possessions of men prove after all the most useful, and ought therefore to awaken human gratitude. We are taught here not to calculate the worth of things by their market price, but according to their adaptation to the circumstances of life in which we may then be placed. At this moment, and throughout the conflict with Egypt, this rod was the most valuable thing that Moses could have possessed. There are times when the smallest things become of the greatest value. This is true when they are used by God for the moral conviction and freedom of others. Moses would, throughout his life journey in the wilderness, be thankful for the rod. So we ought to be grateful to God that, whether we have great possessions or not, yet we have our little treasure which renders happy and effective our entire life mission.
God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish his mightiest ends. “A rod,” “a ram’s horn,” “a cake of barley meal,” “an earthen pitcher,” “a shepherd’s sling,” anything, in short, when used by God, will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid means; but such is not God’s way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun—a gourd as well as a vehement east wind [C. H. M.].
THE MEANING OF THIS MIRACLE
Exo_4:3. Varied suppositions as to the meaning of this miracle:—
1. That hereby Pharaoh is set forth, who, at the first entering of the Hebrews into Egypt, was as a rod, easy to be handled, but afterwards as a serpent; and again, at the time of their going out, he was as a rod, gentle and harmless
2. That hereby the state of the children of Israel was set forth, who at the first, under Joseph, had dominion, signified by a rod, but afterwards were cast down, and hated, as a serpent; but finally, at their going out of Egypt, returned to their power and authority again.
3. That hereby was signified the honour of God’s judgments; till they be brought none fear them; but, being brought; the very best are made to tremble; but, being renewed again, all fear is taken away.
4. That Moses was set forth by this staff: for he in himself, being but a shepherd, obscure and living in exile, was no more to Pharaoh to move him than a staff in a shepherd’s hand; but, going to him at the command of the Lord, he became as the staff at his command cast upon the ground—a terrible serpent to him—he should not need any other armies to terrify Pharaoh; but, going with this staff, by a Divine virtue, he should be made to flee before him. But in that being laid hold upon by Moses again, it is turned into a staff, it was signified that the same which should be terrible to Pharaoh should be a comfort to Moses and to Israel [Calvin].
5. That hereby Christ crucified is set forth, and by his death, subduing the devil that he cannot hold the people of the Lord any more in bondage, as Pharaoh could not hold the Israelites [Augustine].
The serpent is entirely under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in his mad career he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his work for ever [C. H. M.].
From the story of Moses’ rod the poets invented fables of the thyrsus of Bacchus, and the caduceaus of Mercury. Homer represents Mercury as taking his rod to work miracles, precisely in the same way as God commanded Moses to take his.
There are many serpents in the world from which a good man should flee.
When God commandeth small things be worketh miracles to confirm them.
The true transubstantiation of creatures is the alone work of God.
God’s miracles may be terrible to his servants, when intended to be comfortable.
Sense is terrified at the miraculous tokens of God.
Exo_4:4. Faith in God’s word dare meddle with the most terrible signs from God.
God can make staves into serpents, and serpents into staves, terrors to enemies, and supports to His own.
“Take it by the tail.” Which was dreadful to be done, because of the antipathy and likely danger; but faith fortifies the heart against the fear of the creature, and carries a man through the difficulty of duty [Trapp].
I. That men have often to come into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous. Moses is brought into contact with a serpent. Dangerous to him. So good men are frequently obliged to encounter the morally sinful—for commercial—ministerial purposes—they are thus rendered liable to the sting—contagion of sin—and will, unless careful, receive spiritual injury.
II. That good men should not enter into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous, except by the direct permission of God. “And the Lord said unto Moses,” etc. The good are permitted to have intercourse with worldly men, for ministerial and commercial purposes—but they must remember that the Divine sanction does not extend to anything but the furthest point of contact. Moses was only told to take the serpent by the tail. There are many things in the world that the good man is only to touch. They are poisonous.
III. That when good men are brought into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous, they should endeavour to aid its reformation.
“And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.” The good may not take hold of serpents for play, or for imagined gratification, but only that they may co-operate with the Divine power and mercy in the holy work of restoration.
IV. That when good men achieve the reformation of the morally sinful and dangerous, they find ample reward in the result. “And it became a rod in his hand.” How many a good man has found that the sinner converted by his instrumentality has become a help—a stay—a moral power—in the spiritual life and journeyings of his own soul! Especially do ministers find that their converts become instruments in their hands for great good to others.
THINGS THAT FRIGHTEN
“And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail.”—Exo_4:4.
We may learn from the text, and the words immediately preceding, that—
I. In passing through life we must expect to meet with many things that will frighten us.
II. We shall gain nothing by running away.
III. The best thing we can do is to grapple with them.
IV. Acting thus we may always rely upon Divine aid [Christian World Pulpit].
Exo_4:5. Miracles are given by God to turn from unbelief to faith in the Divine word.
True miracles are the only work of the true God, the God of Abraham.
That God does much to render easy and successful the mission of the true preacher.
That the great thing for a preacher to demonstrate to his people is that God has appeared to him.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Exo_4:1-5.—Bible Degraded!—Some men imagine that they could do well enough without the Bible, the Church, the ministry. Conceive a patient with a shattered limb coming to the sage conclusion that the best way to become whole is to thrust the skilled surgeons and their surgical splints out of doors. They did not fracture the limb; they only propose to set it. The Bible did not dislocate the human intellect, it only proposes to restore it to soundness. Far better to have the leg set than to leave the shattered bone to heal unsplintered.
“The Lamp of Revelation not only shows
What human wisdom cannot but oppose,
That man—in nature’s richest mantle clad
And graced with all philosophy can add,
Though fair without, and luminous within,”
cannot heal his own malady—cannot restore his fractured soul, but it offers to effect the cure. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Infidel Terrors!—Paine boastfully vaunted that he had gone up and down through the Christian garden of Eden, and with his simple axe had cut down one after another of its trees, until scarce a sapling remained to weep over the chaos of ruin. He lived to flee from his own guilt, and amid agonies of remorse to exclaim that he would give worlds never to have published his “Age of Reason,” never to have moulded his “simple axe,” never to have lifted its edge upon the Tree of Life. So it was with Bion the atheist philosopher, who on his deathbed offered up prayers to God for mercy and recovery—
“And as he writhed and quivered, scorched within,
The fury round his torrid temples flapped
Her fiery wings, and breathed upon his lips
And parched tongue, the withered blasts of hell.”
—Pollock.
Christianity!—Quaint Thomas Fuller says that Charnock met with a very sad disaster in his efforts to discover the philosopher’s stone; for just as he was on the point of completing the grand operation, his work fell into the fire. As this is a calamity which has happened to all alchymists; so is it always the misfortune of legislators. They are always on the point of discovering the grand panacea for all evils, yet they never succeed. Christianity steps in, and succeeds.
“Religion! Providence! an after state!
Here is firm footing; here is solid rock!
This can support us; all is sea besides:
Sinks under us; bestorms, and then devours.”
—Young.
Christianity Beneficent!—Ancient tradition records a contest said to have taken place at Rome—in the presence of the Emperor Constantine and his mother, the Empress Helena—between the Jewish and Roman philosophers on the one hand, and Sylvester, the Christian patriarch, on the other. The leader of the philosophers showed the superiority of their system over Christianity by miraculously KILLING a fierce bull with uttering in his ear a single word. Sylvester, with a word, not only restored the wild animal to LIFE, but raised it tame and gentle as if it had been in the yoke from birth. Christianity is happy in its effects upon untameable human nature—raising it to life—and making it to sit clothed and in its right mind at the feet of the Founder.—
“As when a wretch, from thick polluted air,
Darkness and stench, and suffocating damps,
And dungeon horrors, by kind fate discharged,
Climbs some fair eminence, where ether pure
Surrounds him, and Elysian prospects rise,
His heart exults, his spirits cast their load,
As if new born, he triumphs in the change.”
Christianity versus Philosophy!—Tillotson says that philosophy has given us several plausible rules for attaining peace and tranquility of mind; but these fall very much short of bringing men to it. They have expanded our ideas of creation; but they neither inspired a love to the moral character of the Creator, nor a well-grounded hope of eternal life.—
“Philosophy did much, refining and exalting man;
But could not nurse a single plant that bore
True happiness. From age to age she toiled;
Shed from her eyes the mist that dimmed them still,
Looked forth on man: and then retired far back
To meditation’s silent, shady rest.
Like Moses who must DIE on Pisgah, philosophy enables us to ascend to the heights of human discovery—there to PERISH. Christianity is the medium, and the only medium, by which “death” can be turned into “life.”
Exo_4:1—Depression!—Dr. Stevens narrates how an eminent minister was very much depressed by the unbelief of his congregation, and how his spirit of depression was shaken off. He dreamed that he was working with a pickaxe on the top of a basaltic rock, which remained non-riven in spite of repeated strokes of his arm of muscle. When about to give up in despair, a stranger of solemn and dignified demeanour appeared on the scene, who reminded him that as a servant he was bound to go on whether the rock yielded or not. “Work is your duty; leave the results to God,” were the last words of his strange visitor. The result was that the discouraged pastor resumed his work, and was abundantly rewarded by “the shattering of the rock of unbelief and indifference” among his flock. For
“Perseverance is a virtue
That wins each Godlike act, and plucks success,
E’en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger.
—Havard.
Exo_4:1—Prayers!—An anecdote is told concerning a popular preacher who gradually lost his influence and congregation. The church officials were authorized to wait on him with the frank avowal that the whole blame was at his door. With still more frankness the condemned pastor acknowledged his failure, adding that in former times his flock had been a praying people, that many had joined in prayer that his preaching might be blessed to the conversion of souls, but that now prayer had been abandoned. The result, he added, of such restraint in prayer was the failure of his church, and he begged them to renew their pleadings in his behalf. For
“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day,
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”
—Tennyson.
Exo_4:2—Miracles!—Fuller calls them, in his quaint method of expression, the swaddling clothes of the infant churches. They are not, says Trench, the garments of the full-grown. They are the bright clouds which gather round and announce the sun at his first appearing; but the midday splendour knows not those bright heralds and harbingers of his rising. Such were miracles at the dawns of the Mosaic. Prophetical, and Christian dispensations; they were like the framework on which the arch is rounded, and which is taken down as soon as it is completed. Beecher thinks that they are mid-wives of young moral truths-like candles lit up till the sun rises, and then blown out, While Macmillan declares that they are not only emblems of power in the spiritual world, but also exponents of the miracles of nature—experiments, as it were, made by the Great Teacher, on a small scale, to illustrate to mankind the phenomena that are taking place over longer periods throughout the universe.
Exo_4:2—Ministerial Difficulties!—Simeon says that he had been used to read the Scriptures, to get from them rich discoveries of the power and grace of Christ, so that he might learn how to minister to a loving and obedient people; but that now he was studying the Word of God in order that he might know how to minister to a conceited, contentious, and rebellious people “Two qualities,” he adds, “I am sure are requisite—meekness and patience; I have been used to sail in the Pacific, but I am now learning to navigate the Red Sea which is full of shoals and rocks, with a very intricate passage.”
“Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray;
Be wise, the erring soul to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Compel the wanderer to come in.
The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure,
Blessed are those who to the end endure.”
—Bonar.
Exo_4:2—Faith!—Faith is the mainspring of a minister.—Cecil.
“Beware of doubt—faith is the subtle chain
Which binds us to the Infinite; the voice
Of a deep life within, that will remain
Until we crowd it thence.”
—Smith.
Exo_4:2—Gifts!—The discussion about gifts, says a glowing divine, amounts very much to a discussion whether the rifle, the carbine, the pistol, or the cannon is the best weapon. Each is best in its place The great point is that every one shall use the weapon best suited to him—that he charge it well—and that he see it is in a condition to strike fire.
“The solemn trifler, with his boasted skill,
Toils much, and is a solemn trifler still;
Blind was he born, and his misguided eyes
Grown dim in trifling studies, blind he dies.”
—Cowper.
Exo_4:3—Serpent-tail!—Bishop Patrick notes that Moses found his rod was a serpent until he took it by the tail, and then it became what it was before; and if we lay hold of things only by their END, we should find many things that seem terrible and noxious to be benign and salutiferous. But the band was that of faith; for
“Never was a marvel done upon the earth,
but it had sprung of faith.”
—Tupper.
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.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1Our duty to our Lord in this world requires…
Exo 4:1
Our duty to our Lord in this world requires that we should do somewhat more than live a life of obedience to Him. Our obedience must be acknowledged obedience. We must never be loth to say, "Whose we are, and Whom we serve." We may read this lesson writ large in the history of God’s sending Moses to deliver His people. Moses went through a trial on Mount Horeb, the exact opposite of the trial of Christ.
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I. Moses was tempted to decline the contest with the world altogether, to shrink from action and from prominence, when God called him. Christ was tempted to take the world by storm, to overwhelm it with conviction.
II. Moses was full of sympathy for the poor, full of a desire to see God’s ancient promises realized; but when the time came, and God said, "Now go," then, for the first time, it flashed upon Moses that he was unfit to carry out what he had so aspired to be trusted with. His eighty years of life had been given him that in its vast experience he might learn that God was all, man was nothing. He had very nearly learned it in truth; the crust or chrysalis of self was very nearly ready to drop off; it needed just this interview with God to rid him of it entirely. He had seen the miraculous powers with which he had been endowed, but he had not fully understood them, and therefore his will was pausing still.
III. The voice of God within him and without him waxed more imperious. God sternly pointed out that such eloquence as he longed for was but a secondary qualification. "Thy brother, I know that he can speak well;" the legislator need not be the orator. There is not one of us who ever complained to God of insufficient strength without finding his complaint answered either by ministration of grace or disappearance of difficulties.
IV. What interests trembled in the balance while Moses was debating! It is not for ourselves only that we shall be responsible if we debate till the time is gone.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 212.
References: Exo 4:2.—J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. i. p. 233; S. Cox, The Bird’s Nest, p. 179; F. Tucker, Rainbow round the Throne, p. 17.
Exo 4:10
(with Jdg 6:15, Jer 1:6, 1Sa 9:21, Luk 14:18)
I. God proposes great things to men. In proportion as any call in life is great, let the heart pause and consider whether its very greatness is not a proof of its divinity.
II. We are not to look at what we are, but at what God is. When He calls He qualifies for the work.
III. What is right in itself may be perverted and abused. Timidity is right in itself, but it may be pushed into cowardice; then it becomes wrong. Self-distrust is right in itself, but if it degenerates into atheism, then it is the plague and destruction of the soul.
IV. God’s call to faith is the greatest call to His universe. Our duty is to go forward to the unknown and the invisible, and live by faith. "We walk by faith, not by sight."
Parker, The City Temple, vol. iii., p. 493.
References: Exo 4:11.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2677. Exo 4:17.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year, Holy Week, p. 463. 4:18-7:7.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 61. Exo 4:20.—J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 388. Exo 4:21.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 44; W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 148. Exo 4:22, Exo 4:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1440.
Exo 4:27
This text shows us—
I. The brotherhood and affection subsisting between the different members of God’s family. And this is twofold. God’s people stand in a twofold relation to one another, as natural and spiritual men. As being creatures of God’s hand, and common descendants of Adam, they are linked together in brotherhood. But the great brotherhood and bond of union between God’s people is their brotherhood in Christ, their affinity to one another as redeemed by the same Blood, sanctified by the same Spirit, and pursuing their pilgrimage towards the same heavenly city.
II. Notice the breaches of intercourse brought about in this world between those members of God’s family who have seen and known one another in the flesh. (1) Many interruptions of intercourse are brought about by providential arrangements. (2) All direct communication between brethren in the Lord is cut off by death.
III. Consider the need of and consequent yearning after each other’s society and assistance which, while parted, the members of God’s family experience. The need is based upon, and flows from, their spiritual constitution in one body. We are, in the design of God, constituent parts of a whole, and we are continually evincing our consciousness of this truth.
IV. Consider the blissful reunion of the sundered members of God’s family in the realms of glory. There shall be a day when all the yearnings of the Christian’s heart after the society of his brethren shall be satisfied to the full, when his joy snail receive its entire complement in his recognition of and intercommunication with those whom he has known and loved in the Lord.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 205.
References: Exo 4:27-31.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 63. 4.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 40.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1Signs Attesting the Commission of Moses. His Return to…
Signs Attesting the Commission of Moses. His Return to Egypt
Moses still hesitates, and now objects that the péople will not believe him when he tells them that Jehovah has sent him. He is granted the power of working three signs by way of substantiating his commission.
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2. A rod] probably his shepherd's staff.
3. Fled from before it] A graphic trait, showing that the change was real, and that Moses was not prepared for it.
4. By the tail] Snake charmers usually take snakes by the neck to prevent them biting. It is much more dangerous to seize them by the tail. When Moses did so with impunity his own faith would be strengthened as well as that of the people: cp. our Lord's promise, Mar_16:18.
6. Leprous as snow] i.e. as white as snow. Leprosy was common in Egypt. The form here meant is that in which the skin becomes glossy, white, and callous. This is the worst form of leprosy and was regarded as incurable. This incident, taken together with the fact that the white leprosy was most common among the Israelites, may have given rise to the tradition, related by the Egyptian priest and historian Manetho, and quoted by Josephus, that Moses was a leper, and that the Israelites were expelled from Egypt because they were afflicted with the same disease.
9. The river] the Nile. This sign is similar to the first of the plagues (see Exo_7:20), with the difference that here only part of the water is changed on being poured out on the dry land.
10. Moses now pleads his want of eloquence. Jewish tradition says that he had an actual impediment in his speech, being unable to pronounce the labials. His words here, however, do not necessarily imply any positive defect of this kind. He wishes to be excused, and urges that a more eloquent man than he is required to persuade the king of Egypt to release Israel, and the Israelites also to trust themselves to the guidance of Jehovah. For this he is rebuked, but not excused. Aaron is given to him as spokesman.
12. Cp. Jer_1:6-9; Luk_21:14, Luk_15:13-14 This request is equivalent to a refusal to go. Moses says, 'send some one else, but not me.' Accordingly 'the anger of Jehovah was kindled against him.' His punishment takes the form of diminished privilege. Aaron henceforth shares in his distinction. The Levite] This means not merely the 'descendant of Levi,' but 'the priest,' as the tribe of Levi was afterwards consecrated to the service of the sanctuary. The title is here used by anticipation.
16. Cp. Exo_7:1. Instead of God] Because Aaron would receive God's message at the mouth of Moses.
17. Signs] RV 'the signs,' i.e. the appointed signs.
18-26. Moses takes leave of Jethro and returns with his wife and children to Egypt.
19. Cp. Mat_2:19.
20. His sons] Only one has been previously mentioned, but a second had been born in Midian: see Exo_2:22.
21. I will harden his heart] God proposes to harden Pharaoh's heart, in order to have the opportunity of displaying His power in the deliverance of His people, and exhibiting His character to the Egyptians. Some take the expression as due to the Eastern and fatalistic way of regarding all that happens in the world as the result of the direct intervention of God. On this interpretation it is simply synonymous with 'Pharaoh's heart was hardened' (Exo_7:22), and 'Pharaoh hardened his heart' (Exo_8:15). Where we speak vaguely of the operation of moral and physical laws and of secondary causes, the Oriental frankly says that 'God did this.' He says 'kismet': 'it was fated to be': see on Exo_4:24. We prefer to say that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was due to his own obstinacy in refusing to yield to the warnings he received; the Eastern moralist means the same when he says that God hardened his heart. The inevitable result is regarded as the divine purpose. It happens in accordance with laws which God Himself has ordained. 'He will not 'leads inevitably to 'he cannot': cp. Rom_1:28. It should be observed that this, however, is not equivalent to a denial of moral responsibility. It is a man's own fault if he allow himself to be entangled in this chain of inevitable consequences. He is, therefore, responsible for the ultimate hardening of his heart through repeated acts of wilful transgression: see on Exo_10:3.
22. Israel is my son, even my firstborn] This expresses God's choice of Israel as His peculiar people: cp. Deu_14:1-2; Hos_11:1; Jer_31:9, and see on Exo_19:5. The term 'firstborn' indicates the high honour conferred upon Israel, and at the same time contains a hint of the ultimate inclusion of the Gentiles also in the covenant.
23. For the fulfilment of this warning see Exo_12:29, Exo_12:30.
24. In the inn] RV 'lodging-place,' not necessarily a building. Sought to kill him] This probably means no more than that Moses was struck with some grievous sickness and was in danger of death. It is another example of the Eastern way of attributing whatever happens to the direct interposition of God, referred to in the note on Exo_4:21. It would appear from this mysterious incident that Moses had neglected to circumcise his youngest son, on account perhaps of the mother's objection to the rite. Circumcision was not peculiar to the Israelites, but they alone circumcised infants. What Zipporah objected to, therefore, may not have been the rite itself, but its performance at such an early age. But now seeing the danger her husband was in, and recognising that his sickness was the chastisement of disobedience, she overcame her reluctance and performed the ceremony herself, with the result that Moses' life was spared (Exo_4:26). The incident is designed to show the importance of circumcision as the sign of the covenant between God and His people and the sin and danger of neglecting it.
25. A sharp stone] Even in later times than this flint knives were employed in circumcision, being regarded as purer than knives of metal: see Jos_5:2, where 'sharp knives' should be 'knives of flint,' as in RV. Flint knives were used by the Egyptians in opening bodies for embalming. They are said to be carried by the Bedouin of the Syrian desert at the present day. A bloody husband art thou to me] RV 'a bridegroom of blood.' As the Jews to this day call a circumcised child a 'bridegroom of the circumcision 'it is possible that Zipporah's exclamation was addressed to the child. It is usually, however, understood as addressed to Moses, whom his wife reproaches as being the cause of bloodshed.
26. He let him go] i.e. God let Moses go, removed his sickness and allowed him to recover. It was probably at this time that Moses sent his wife and children back to the house of his father-in-law. They rejoined him at Sinai after the exodus from Egypt: see Exo_18:2-5.
27. The mount of God] Horeb or Sinai: see on Exo_3:1. The two brothers had not met for forty years previous to this.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn vv1–2borrow The use of little things. Cf. Jdg 3:31;…
borrow The use of little things. Cf. Jdg 3:31; 1Ki 17:12-16; Joh 6:9; 1Co 1:25-31
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1CHAPTER 4:1-28 Moses’ Objections, Jehovah’s Answer and the Return…
CHAPTER 4:1-28 Moses’ Objections, Jehovah’s Answer and the Return to Egypt
1. The first objection (Exo 4:1)
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2. The two signs and Jehovah’s assurance (Exo 4:2-9)
3. The second objection (Exo 4:10)
4. Jehovah’s answer (Exo 4:11-12)
5. Moses’ request (Exo 4:13)
6. Jehovah’s anger and answer (Exo 4:14-17)
7. The command to return to Egypt (Exo 4:18-23)
8. The event by the way in the inn (Exo 4:24-26)
9. The meeting of Moses and Aaron (4:27-28)
The division of chapters at this point is unwarranted. Moses’ objections reveal his unbelief and self-distrust. Jehovah’s patience and condescending grace are blessedly manifested. Moses first expressed his doubt that the people would not believe him and his mission. Though he saw the vision of the burning bush and heard Jehovah’s voice, which assured him of His presence and power, yet did he not believe. His former experience with his people, and the fact that generations had passed since Jehovah had appeared to an Israelite must have led him to express this doubt.
The Lord gave him three signs: the rod cast down, which became a serpent; the leprous hand; and the water turned into blood. The first two signs were carried out in Jehovah’s presence. Moses cast his rod on the ground and it became a serpent, and he fled from it. In obedience to Jehovah’s command, Moses took the serpent by the tail and it became a rod. The rod Moses held was his shepherd’s rod. It is the emblem of government and power. Moses cast it on the ground and out of his hand the rod became a serpent. The serpent stands for the power of Satan. Egypt (the type of the world) is under the control of Satan. The serpent was worshipped in Egypt . It was used as the emblem of the goddess Ranno and also used as a sign of royalty. The serpent, Satan, had usurped the place of government and power. But Jehovah can deal with the serpent and this is seen by Moses’ taking the serpent by its tail so that it became a rod. The sign was to inspire and teach confidence. The sign of the leprous hand teaches another lesson. Sin, typified by leprosy, and cleansing from sin are indicated in this sign. Israel was in a leprous condition, but the power of Jehovah could cleanse his people. When Moses came the first time to deliver his people, they treated him as an outcast; but when he put his hand in his bosom the second time to act the reproach was removed.
The third sign teaches how the blessing, the water of the Nile , is to be changed into a curse. It is the sign of judgment to come upon Egypt . Moses, in receiving these signs and the power to enact them, is a type of Christ. He will take the rod, the government, into His blessed hand, and then Satan’s dominion ends. He will cleanse and restore His people and smite Egypt , the world, with judgment.
Moses’ second objection was his slow speech and slow tongue. The same unbelief is here in evidence. Had he but believed “I will be with thee,” and that the “I AM” would be His tongue and his speech, this objection would never have come from his lips.
How gracious Jehovah’s answer: “Now, therefore, go, I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Every servant of the Lord, who serves under Him, can appropriate this great promise. And still Moses hesitates. What patience from the side of the Lord! He now makes another gracious provision. Aaron is to be his spokesman. This was for Moses’ humiliation. Then Moses’ objections were silenced. Grace is fully illustrated in the call of Moses and how the Lord dealt with him.
Jethro sanctions his return to Egypt . The Lord prepared his way as He always does, when He sends forth His servant. He took his wife and sons, who were still young, for he set them on an ass. This shows that his marriage to Zipporah did not take place immediately after his arrival in Midian. Then he took his rod, which is now called “the rod of God,” and the Lord gave him the solemn message to Pharaoh. Israel is to be nationally God’s firstborn son. Jehovah’s demand is, Let my son go, that he may serve Me. God’s firstborn is to be brought out of Egypt , where service for God was impossible. Then follows the message of death and judgment for Egypt .
What comes next is closely connected with the message to Pharaoh. There was a stumbling block in Moses’ family. Circumcision, which stands for the sentence of death, had not been executed in the case of one of Moses’ sons. No doubt Zipporah made objections to this rite and kept her husband back from doing what he Knew was imperative. This failure of Moses stood in his way to carry out the divine commission. The hand of the Lord was upon Moses, and he was in danger of being cut off for his sin, for he had been disobedient and yielded to his wife. Then Zipporah is forced to do herself what she hated and the reproach was removed. The words “surely a bloody husband art thou to me,” were addressed to Moses. She had been forced, as it were, to purchase him again by the shedding of the blood of her beloved son. She received him back as one who had been in the realm of death and was joined to him anew. It must have been there that Moses brought the sacrifice of separation by sending Zipporah and the sons back to Jethro (chapter 18:2). What a meeting it must have been which took place between Aaron and Moses. They met in the Mount of God and kissed each other. Compare with Num 20:27-28.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1God Gives Moses Miraculous Powers
God Gives Moses Miraculous Powers
v. 1. And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. The fear and anxiety of Moses here discovered another objection, that based upon the fact that the people were no longer accustomed to prophetic voices and would therefore not acknowledge his call.
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v. 2. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. Moses held his shepherd’s staff in his hand.
v. 3. And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. The serpent was no delusion, but a fact, and looked dangerous enough to fill the heart of Moses with fear.
v. 4. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his land;
v. 5. that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. The simple shepherd’s staff, according to the will of God, became the instrument by which Pharaoh and his land were punished, for the miracle showed that God would deliver His people from the hostile power which was holding it captive. Moses received the commission, the power. to overcome the might, the wickedness of Satan, and this fact could not be hidden from the eyes of the children of Israel: they were bound to acknowledge his call.
v. 6. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow, infected with the white leprosy, Lev 13:3.
v. 7. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. Thereby the Lord signified that He intended to cleanse His people, the children of Israel, of the spiritual leprosy of sin by the sacrifices and purifications which typified the cleansing through the redemption of Christ.
v. 8. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, to its unmistakable evidence, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
v. 9. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river (Nile), and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. The Nile was given the veneration of a god in Egypt on account of the fact that the fertility of the entire country depended upon its annual overflow. If Moses, therefore. had the power to turn this water of blessing into blood, he commanded a power which exceeded that of Pharaoh: death and destruction upon the tyrants was in his hand. The same almighty power of God is able to deliver us from every evil work and to give us the possession of the saints in light.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 4if they do not believe
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 34:1-9 Moses’ third protest was that he lacked power.…
4:1-9 Moses’ third protest was that he lacked power. God answered in a very convincing demonstration of divine power by instantaneous creation of a snake and of a severe skin disease.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v1 God beareth with Moses’ doubting, because he was not…
God beareth with Moses’ doubting, because he was not altogether without faith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Exo 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold,…
Exo 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
Ver. 1. They will not believe me.] They had formerly refused him, "and thrust him away." {Exo 2:14 Act 7:27} And so they might again, if he had not somewhat to show for his extraordinary calling. {a} In the year 434, the Jews of Crete were shamefully seduced by a pseudo-Moses, who promised to divide the sea for them to bring them back to their own country. {b} Those that will not receive the love of the truth, are justly given up to the efficacy of error. {2Th 2:10-11}
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{a} Quaeque repulsa gravis. - Hor.
{b} Funccius, in Comm. Chron.
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 vv1, 3, 4 They will not believe me; which he conjectured both…
They will not believe me; which he conjectured both from reason, because the greatness and strangeness of the deliverance made it seem incredible; and their minds were so oppressed with cares and labours, that it was not likely they could raise them up to any such expectation; and from the experience which he had of them forty years before, when their deliverance by his means and interest at court seemed much more credible than now it did.
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 v1 It was a very great honour that Moses was…
It was a very great honour that Moses was called to when God commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt; yet he is with difficulty persuaded to accept the commission, and does it at last with great reluctance, which we should rather impute to a humble diffidence of himself and his own sufficiency than to any unbelieving distrust of God and his word and power. Note, Those whom God designs for preferment he clothes with humility; the most fit for service are the least forward.
I. Moses objects that in all probability the people would not hearken to his voice (Exo 4:1), that is, they would not take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign, which he had not been yet instructed to do. This objection cannot be justified, because it contradicts what God had said (Exo 3:18), They shall hearken to thy voice. If God says, They will, does it become Moses to say, They will not? Surely he means, "Perhaps they will not at first, or some of them will not." If there should be some gainsayers among them who would question his commission, how should he deal with them? And what course should he take to convince them? He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again. Note, 1. Present discouragements often arise from former disappointments. 2. Wise and good men have sometimes a worse opinion of people than they deserve. Moses sad (Exo 4:1), They will not believe me; and yet he was happily mistaken, for it is said (Exo 4:31), The people believed; but then the signs which God appointed in answer to this objection were first wrought in their sight.
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II. God empowers him to work miracles, directs him to three particularly, two of which were now immediately wrought for his own satisfaction. Note, True miracles are the most convincing external proofs of a divine mission attested by them. Therefore our Saviour often appealed to his works (as Joh 5:36), and Nicodemus owns himself convinced by them, Joh 3:2. And here Moses, having a special commission given him as a judge and lawgiver to Israel, has this seal affixed to his commission, and comes supported by these credentials.
1. The rod in his hand is made the subject of a miracle, a double miracle: it is but thrown out of his hand and it becomes a serpent; he resumes it and it becomes a rod again, Exo 4:2-4. Now, (1.) Here was a divine power manifested in the change itself, that a dry stick should be turned into a living serpent, a lively one, so formidable a one that Moses himself, on whom, it should seem, it turned in some threatening manner, fled from before it, though we may suppose, in that desert, serpents were no strange things to him; but what was produced miraculously was always the best and strongest of the kind, as the water turned to wine: and, then, that this living serpent should be turned into a dry stick again, this was the Lord's doing. (2.) Here was an honour put upon Moses, that this change was wrought upon his throwing it down and taking it up, without any spell, or charm, or incantation: his being empowered thus to act under God, out of the common course of nature and providence, was a demonstration of his authority, under God, to settle a new dispensation of the kingdom of grace. We cannot imagine that the God of truth would delegate such a power as this to an impostor. (3.) There was a significancy in the miracle itself. Pharaoh had turned the rod of Israel into a serpent, representing them as dangerous (Exo 1:10), causing their belly to cleave to the dust, and seeking their ruin; but now they should be turned into a rod again: or, thus Pharaoh had turned the rod of government into the serpent of oppression, from which Moses had himself fled into Midian; but by the agency of Moses the scene was altered again. (4.) There was a direct tendency in it to convince the children of Israel that Moses was indeed sent of God to do what he did, Exo 4:5. Miracles were for signs to those that believed not, Co1 14:22.
2. His hand itself is next made the subject of a miracle. He puts it once into his bosom, and takes it out leprous; he puts it again into the same place, and takes it out well, Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7. This signified, (1.) That Moses, by the power of God, should bring sore diseases upon Egypt, and that, at his prayer, they should be removed. (2.) That whereas the Israelites in Egypt had become leprous, polluted by sin, and almost consumed by oppression (a leper is as one dead, Num 12:12), by being taken into the bosom of Moses they should be cleansed and cured, and have all their grievances redressed. (3.) That Moses was not to work miracles by his own power, nor for his own praise, but by the power of God and for his glory; the leprous hand of Moses does for ever exclude boasting. Now it was supposed that, if the former sign did not convince, this latter would. Note, God is willing more abundantly to show the truth of his word, and is not sparing in his proofs; the multitude and variety of the miracles corroborate the evidence.
3. He is directed, when he shall come to Egypt, to turn some of the water of the river into blood, Exo 4:9. This was done, at first, as a sign, but, not gaining due credit with Pharaoh, the whole river was afterwards turned into blood, and then it became a plague. He is ordered to work this miracle in case they would not be convinced by the other two. Note, Unbelief shall be left inexcusable, and convicted of a wilful obstinacy. As to the people of Israel, God had said (Exo 3:18), They shall hearken; yet he appoints these miracles to be wrought for their conviction, for he that has ordained the end has ordained the means.
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 vv1–4 And Moses answered and said,.... In reference to what…
And Moses answered and said,.... In reference to what Jehovah had declared to him in the latter end of the preceding chapter:
but, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice; this seems to contradict what God had said to him, Exo 3:18 that they would hearken to his voice; but it can hardly be thought, that so good a man, and so great a prophet as Moses was, would directly fly in the face of God, and expressly contradict what he had said. To reconcile this it may be observed, that what the Lord says respects only the elders of Israel, this all the people; or Jehovah's meaning may be, and so this of Moses, that neither the one nor the other would regard his bare word, without some sign or miracle being wrought; for as his call was extraordinary, so it required something extraordinary to be done that it might be credited:
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for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto me: in the bush, as he would affirm he did, and might do it with the greatest assurance; yet the thing being so marvellous, and they not eyewitnesses of it, might distrust the truth of it, or be backward to receive it on his bare word; and this Moses might rather fear would be the case, from the experience he had had of them forty years ago, when it was more likely for him to have been a deliverer of them.
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 vv1–2 This chapter,
This chapter,
I. Continues and concludes God's discourse with Moses, concerning bringing Israel out of Egypt. [1.] Moses objects the peoples unbelief, ver. 1. and God answers that objection by giving him a power to work miracles: (1.) To turn his rod into a serpent, and then into a rod again, ver. 2-5. (2.) To make his hand leprous, and then whole again, ver. 6-8. (3.) To turn the water into blood, ver. 9. [2.]Moses objects his own slowness of speech, ver. 10. and begs to be excused, ver. 13. But God answers this objection, (1.) By promising him his presence, ver. 11, 12. (2.) By joining Aaron in commission with him, ver. 14-16. (3.) By putting an honour upon the very staff in his hand, ver. 17.
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II. Moses's execution of his commission. (1.) He obtains leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt, ver. 18. (2.) He receives further instructions from God, ver. 19, 21-23. (3.) He hastens his departure, and takes his family with him, ver. 20. (4.) He meets with some difficulty about the circumcising of his son, ver. 24. 26. (5.) He has the satisfaction of meeting his brother Aaron, ver. 27, 28. (6.) He produceth his commission before the elders of Israel, to their great joy, ver. 29-31.
They will not hearken to my voice-That is, they would not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign. He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites…
CHAPTER IV
Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites would not
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credit his Divine mission, 1;
God, to strengthen his faith, and to assure him that his countrymen
would believe him, changed his rod into a serpent, and the serpent
into a rod, 2-5;
made his hand leprous, and afterwards restored it, 6, 7;
intimating that he had now endued him with power to work such
miracles, and that the Israelites would believe, 8;
and farther assures him that he should have power to turn the water
into blood, 9.
Moses excuses himself on the ground of his not being eloquent, 10,
and God reproves him for his unbelief, and promises to give him
supernatural assistance, 11, 12.
Moses expressing his utter unwillingness to go on any account, God
is angry, and then promises to give him his brother Aaron to be his
spokesman, 13-16,
and appoints his rod to be the instrument of working miracles, 17.
Moses returns to his relative Jethro, and requests liberty to visit
his brethren in Egypt, and is permitted, 18.
God appears to him in Midian, and assures him that the Egyptians who
sought his life were dead, 19.
Moses, with his wife and children, set out on their journey to
Egypt, 20.
God instructs him what he shall say to Pharaoh, 21-23.
He is in danger of losing his life, because he had not circumcised
his son, 24.
Zipporah immediately circumcising the child, Moses escapes
unhurt, 25, 26.
Aaron is commanded to go and meet his brother Moses; he goes and
meets him at Horeb, 27.
Moses informs him of the commission he had received from God, 28.
They both go to their brethren, deliver their message, and work
miracles, 29, 30.
The people believe and adore God, 31.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV
Verse 1. They will not believe me] As if he had said, Unless I be enabled to work miracles, and give them proofs by extraordinary works as well as by words, they will not believe that thou hast sent me.
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 vv1–3 Exo 4:1. They will not believe me — He…
Exo 4:1. They will not believe me — He means, they would not take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign. He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.
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 vv1–3 With this chapter begins the series of miracles which…
With this chapter begins the series of miracles which resulted in the deliverance of Israel. The first miracle was performed to remove the first obstacle, namely, the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness, and of the enormous power with which he would have to contend.
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 vv1, 4 They, &c. Many of the common people, not of…
They, &c. Many of the common people, not of the ancients, chap. iii. 18. (Menochius) --- He knew that all ought to bring credentials from God, when they come in his name to institute a new order of things. This Moses, Jesus Christ, and the apostles did. Nothing less than a miracle can suffice to guard against imposters, who will never be able to stand this test throughout, in such a manner, but that God will evidently confound their delusive designs, if they should even attempt to work miracles. (Haydock) --- Believe the works. (St. John, x. 15; Mark xvi.) (Worthington)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Exo_4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they…
Exo_4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto 2thee. And Jehovah said unto him, What is that [this] in thine [thy] hand? And he said, A rod. 3And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, 4and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5That they may believe that Jehovah, God [the God] of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 6the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And Jehovah said furthermore unto him, Put now thine [thy] hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7And he said, Put thine [thy] hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked [took] it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither [nor] hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also [even] these two signs, neither [nor] hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10And Moses said unto Jehovah, O my Lord, [O Lord], I am not eloquent [lit. a man of words], neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but [for] I am slow of speech [mouth] 11and of a slow [slow of] tongue. And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the [maketh] dumb, or deaf, or the seeing [or seeing], or the blind? [or blind?] Have [Do] not I, Jehovah? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13And he said, O my Lord [O Lord], send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron, the Levite, thy brother? I know [Do I not know Aaron, thy brother, the Levite,] that he can speak well?5 And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words [the words] in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16And he shall be thy spokesman [shall speak for thee] unto the people, and he [it] shall be, even [that] he shall be to thee instead of 17[for] a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of [for a] God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine [thy] hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs [the signs]. 18And Moses went, and returned to Jethro [Jether] his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee,6 and return unto my brethren which [who] are in Egypt, and see whether they be [are] yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19And Jehovah said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead which [who] sought thy life. 20And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them [made them ride] upon an [the] ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. 21And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And Jehovah said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thy hand [consider all the wonders which I have put in thy hand, and do them before Pharaoh]; but I will harden his heart that he shall [and he will] not let the people go. 22And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, even my first-born. 23And I say [said]7 unto thee, Let my son go that he may serve me; and if thou refuse [and thou didst refuse]6 to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born. 24And it came 25to pass by the way in the inn, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. Then [And] Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [a bridegroom of blood] 26 art thou to me. So [And] lie [i.e., Jehovah] let him go [desisted from him]; then she 27said, A bloody husband [A bridegroom of blood] thou art, because of the circumcision. And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into [to] the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 28And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah who had sent him [with which he had charged him]8, and all the signs which he had commanded him. 29And Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30And Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31And the people believed, and when they heard9 that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads [bowed down], and worshipped.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
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[Exo_4:14. We have ventured to follow the Vulg., Luther, Cranmer, the Geneva Version, De Wette, Glaire, and Kalisch, in this rendering; for, though grammatically the reading of the A. V. in more natural, yet it is difficult to see the force of the question, “Is not Aaron thy brother?” Fürst, Arnheim, and Murphy, try to avoid the difficulty by rendering, “Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite?” etc. This, however, is putting in what is not in the original. Bush, following Rashi, translates, “Is not Aaron thy brother, the Levite?” and understands the question to intimate that, in consequence of Moses’ reluctance to obey the divine commission, the priesthood, which otherwise would have been conferred on him, will be given to Aaron. As nothing is said about the priesthood, it is hard to see how the phrase “the Levite,” at this time, before any priesthood bad been established, could have been understood in this way. Knobel, translating in the same way, understands it as pointing forward to the duty of the priests to give public instruction. But the same objection lies against this, as against the previous explanation; Moses was a Levite as much as Aaron was. Lange, translating also the same way, understands the meaning to be: Aaron is a more genuine Levite than Moses. But in this case the definite article is quite out of place; and even without it such a thought would be very obscurely expressed. Keil, following Baumgarten, finds the significance of the question in the etymological meaning of לֵוִי, viz., to join, associate one’s-self to. This certainly has the advantage of suggesting a reason for the use of the phrase “the Levite,” which on other theories seems to be superfluous. But the definite article is out of place on this hypothesis also. Besides, as the special point here is Aaron’s ability to talk, the notion of association is not just the one needed to be suggested by the term, to say nothing of the subtlety of the mode of conveying either conception.—Tr.].
[Exo_4:18. אֵלְכָה־נָא is not to be understood as a request, as the A. V. seems to imply, especially by the phrase, “I pray thee,” which corresponds to נָא. We have exactly the same form in Exo_3:3, where Moses said אָסֻרָה־נָא “I will turn aside,” or, “Let me turn aside.”—Tr.].
[Exo_4:23. וָאֹמַר and וַתְּמָאֵן are most naturally to be rendered as preterites. It is very doubtful whether וַתְּמָאֵן can be taken as protasis to the following clause. The translation of the A. V. and of others, seems to have been prompted by the idea that this is the opening message to Pharaoh. But the threat to kill the first-born was in reality the last one made. The declaration, Exo_4:21, covers all the first part of the efforts of Moses to secure the deliverance of the people. In spite of all the plagues and signs, Pharaoh “will not let the people go.” Therefore (Exo_4:22) Moses is to make his final appearance, and threaten the death of the first-born because of Pharaoh’s past refusal to obey.—Tr.].
[Exo_4:28. שָׁלַח may take a double accusative, as e.g. in 2Sa_11:22; 1Ki_14:6. As Kalisch observes, “the usual translation, who had sent him, is languid in the extreme.”—Tr.].
[Exo_4:31. Knobel, following the reading ἐχάρη, of the LXX., would change וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ into וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ. There seems to be strong reason for the change. The people, according to the present text, seem to believe, before hearing. Moreover, we have, as Knobel points out, another almost unmistakable instance of the same error. The narrative in 2Ki_20:13 is identical with that in Isa_39:2, with the exception that the first passage has וַיִּשְׁמַע where the second has וַיִּשְׂמַח. The LXX. has here, too ἐχάρη in both cases. In reference to 2Ki_20:13, Keil says that “וַיִּשְׁמַע seems to be an error of transcription for וַיִּשְׂמַח,” though he says of Knobel’s conjecture concerning the verse before us, that it is “without ground.” If we adopt the amended reading, we translate, “and they rejoiced because Jehovah had visited,” etc.—Tr.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Chap. Exo_4:1. Four hundred years of natural development had succeeded the era of patriarchal revelations, and the people were no longer accustomed to prophetic voices. The more ground therefore did Moses seem to have for his anxiety lest the people would not believe him. Jehovah, moreover, does not blame him for his doubts, but gives him three marks of authentication. The symbolical nature of these miraculous signs is noticed also by Keil.
Exo_4:2-5. The casting down of the shepherd’s rod may signify the giving up of his previous pastoral occupation. As a seemingly impotent shepherd’s rod he becomes a serpent, he excites all the hostile craft and power of the Egyptians. Pharaoh especially appears in the whole process also as a serpent-like liar. But as to the serpent, it is enough to understand by it the dark, hostile power of the Egyptians which now at first frightened him. It is true, the enemy of the woman’s seed, the old serpent, constitutes the background of the Egyptian hostility; but here the symbol of the Egyptian snake kind is sufficient. When Moses, however, seizes the serpent by the tail, by its weaponless natural part, as is illustrated in the Egyptian plagues, it becomes a rod again, and now a divine rod of the shepherd of the people.
Exo_4:6-8. The white leprosy is here meant. Comp. Lev_13:3. “As to the significance of this sign, it is quite arbitrary, with Theodoret and others, down to Kurtz, to understand the hand to represent the people of Israel; and still more arbitrary, with Kurtz, to make the bosom represent first Egypt, and then Canaan, as the hiding-place of Israel. If the shepherd’s rod symbolizes Moses’ vocation, it is the hand which bears the rod, and governs. In his bosom the attendant carries the babe,” etc. (Keil). The leprosy has been explained, now as signifying the miserable condition of the Jews, now as the contagious influence upon them of Egyptian impurity. Through the sympathy of his bosom with the leprosy of his people Moses’ hand itself becomes in his bosom leprous; but through the same sympathy his hand becomes clean again. The actions of his sympathy cause him to appear as an accomplice in the guilt of Israel; and he really is not free from guilt; but the same actions have a sort of propitiatory power, which also inures to the benefit of the people. Jehohovah raises the voice of this second, sacerdotal sign above the voice of the first.
Exo_4:9. As the first miraculous sign symbolized a predominantly prophetic action, the second a sacerdotal, so the third a kingly kind. It gives him the power to turn into blood the water of the Nile, which is for Egypt a source of life, a sort of deity; i.e., out of the very life-force to evoke the doom of death. Let us not forget that a whole succession of Egyptian plagues proceeds from the first one, the corruption of the Nile water.
As these miraculous signs are throughout symbolical, so, in their first application, they are probably conditioned by a state of ecstasy. Yet the first miracle is also literally performed before Pharaoh, and in its natural basis is allied with the Egyptian serpent charming. Vid. Hengst. [Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 100 sqq.].
The third sign, however, is expanded in the result into the transformation of the water of the Nile into blood. This, too, has its connection with Egypt; therefore there must doubtless have been some mysterious fact involved in the second sign, inasmuch moreover as the text reports that Moses did the signs before the people, and thus authenticated his mission before them (Exo_4:30-31), although indeed in Exo_4:17 the signs seem to be reduced to signs done with the staff.
Exo_4:10-12. There were wanted no more signs, but, as Moses’ modesty led him to feel, more oratorical ability. How could Moses have exercised his slow tongue in his long isolation in the desert, associating with few men, and those who could but little understand him? This difficulty Jehovah also regards. He will impart to him the divine eloquence, which from that time through the history of the whole kingdom of God remains different from that of the natural man. He ordained for him his peculiar organs, and the organic defect of a heavy tongue, as all organs and organic defects in general, and will know how to make of his tongue his divine organ, as the history of the kingdom of God has so richly proved.
Exo_4:13-14. It cannot be said (with Keil) that now the secret depth of his heart becomes open, in the sense that he will not undertake the mission. If this were the case, Jehovah would no longer deal with him. But the last sigh of his ill-humor, of his despondency, finds vent in these words, which are indeed sinful enough to excite the anger of Jehovah, and so also to make him feel as if death were about to overtake him. We are reminded here of similar utterances of Isaiah (Exodus 6), of Jeremiah, (Exodus 1), of the detention of Calvin in Geneva by the adjurations of Farel, and similar scenes. The anger of Jehovah is not of a sort which leads him to break with Moses; and in the further expression of it it appears that the hesitation on account of the slow tongue is still not yet overcome.—Is not Aaron thy brother?—“The Levite” means probably a genuine Levite, a model of a Levite, more than Moses.1 With the cautious genius a more lively talent was to be associated. Also he seems, in reference to the affairs of the Israelites, to be more prompt than Moses; for he is already on the way to look for Moses (doubtless in consequence of divine instigation). Vid. Exo_4:27, where the sense is pluperfect. Moses, then, has two things to encourage him: he is to have a spokesman, and the spokesman is already coming in the form of his own brother. For a similar mysterious connection of spirits, vid. Acts 10.
Exo_4:15-16. The fixing of the relation between Moses and God, and between Moses and Aaron, must have entirely quieted the doubter. The relation between Moses and Aaron is to be analogous to that between God and his prophet. This assignment does not favor the notion of a literal verbal inspiration, but all the more decidedly that of a real one. It accords with the spirit of Judaistic caution, when the Targums tone down לֵאלֹהִים into לְיַב “for a master or teacher.”2
Exo_4:17. And this staff.—Out of the rustic shepherd’s staff was to be made a divine shepherd’s staff, the symbolic organ of the divine signs. This ordinance, too, must have elevated his soul. Here there was to be no occasion to say, “ gentle staff, would I had ne’er exchanged thee for the sword!”
Exo_4:18. This request for a leave of absence is truthful, but does not express the whole truth. This Jethro could not have borne. His brethren are the Israelites, and his investigating whether they are yet alive has a higher significance.
Exo_4:19. All the men are dead.—This disclosure is introduced with eminent fitness. Among the motives which made Moses willing to undertake the mission, this assurance should not be one. He had first to form his resolution at the risk of finding them still living. Moreover, he has on account of these men at least expressed no hesitation.
Exo_4:20-26. What is here related belongs to Moses’ journey from Jethro’s residence to the Mount Horeb, i.e., from the south-eastern part of the desert.
Exo_4:20. His sons.—Only the one, Gershom, has been named, and that because his name served to express Moses’ feeling of expatriation in Midian. The other, Eliezer, is named afterwards (Exo_18:3-4). But his name is introduced here by the Vulgate (according to some MSS., by the LXX.), and by Luther. Moses went on foot by the side of those riding on asses, but bears the staff of God in his hand. “Poor as his outward appearance is, yet he has in his hand the staff before which Pharaoh’s pride and all his power must bow” [Keil].
Exo_4:21. On the way from Midian to Horeb, towards Egypt, Jehovah repeats and expands the first commission, as it was in accordance with Moses’ disposition to become absorbed in meditations on his vocation. All the wonders.—כָּל־הַמֹּפְתִים. The τέρατα, or the terrible signs which are committed to him constitute a whole; and accordingly he is to unfold the whole series in order (on miracles vid. the Comm. on Matt., p. 153). And why? Because this is made necessary in order to meet the successive displays of obduracy with which Pharaoh is to resist these terrific signs. But, that he may not on this account become discouraged in his work, he is told thus early that God himself will harden the heart of Pharaoh with his judgments, for the purpose of bringing about the final glorious issue (Vid. the Comm. on Rom., Exodus 9). The three terms expressive of hardening, חזק, to make firm (Exo_4:21), קשה, to make hard (Exo_7:3), and כבּד, to make heavy or blunt (Exo_10:1), denote a gradual progress. The first term occurs, it is true, as the designation of the fundamental notion, when the hardening has an entirely new beginning, and a new scope (Exo_14:4; Exo_14:17). It is rightly brought forward as a significant circumstance by Hengstenberg, Keil, and others, that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ten times ascribed to God, and ten times to himself. Pharaoh’s self-determination has the priority throughout. The hardening influence of God presupposes the self-obduration of the sinner. But God hardens him who thus hardens himself, by furthering the process of self-obduration through the same influences which would awaken a pious spirit. This he does as an act not merely of permission, but of judicial sovereignty. Vid. Keil, p. 453 sqq.
Exo_4:23. Israel is my son, my first-born. Comp. Deu_14:1-2; Hos_11:1. The doctrine of the Son of God here first appears in its typical germinal form. Keil makes the choosing of Israel begin with Abraham, and excludes from it the fact of creation,3 as well as the spiritual generation, so that there remains only an election of unconditional adoption and of subsequent education, or ethical creation. But the application of these abstractions to the Christology of the N. T. would perhaps be difficult. Vid. Com. on Romans 8. The expression, first-born son, suggests the future adoption of other nations. I will slay thy son.—This threat looks forward to the close of the Egyptian plagues.
Exo_4:24. Seemingly sudden turn of affairs. Yet it is occasioned by a previous moral inconsistency, which now for the first time is brought close to the prophet’s conscience. He who is on his way to liberate the people of the circumcision, has in Midian even neglected to circumcise his second son Eliezer. The wrath of God comes upon him in an attack of mortal weakness, in a distressing deathly feeling (Psalms 90). Probably Zipporah had opposed the circumcision of Eliezer; hence she now interposes to save her husband. She circumcises the child with a stone-knife (more sacred than a metallic knife, on account of tradition); but she is still unable to conceal her ill-humor, and lays the foreskin at his feet with the words: “A bridegroom of blood art thou to me.”4
Exo_4:26. Zipporah seems to be surly about the whole train of circumcisions. Probably Moses is thereby led to send her with the children back to her father to remain during the remainder of his undertaking. For not until his return to the peninsula of Sinai does his father-in-law bring his family to him.
Exo_4:27. On the one hand, Moses is freed from a hindrance, which is only obscurely hinted at, by the return of Zipporah; on the other hand, a great comfort awaits him in the coming of his brother Aaron to meet him.
Exo_4:29. They went.—This is the journey from Horeb to Egypt.
Exo_4:30-31. The elders of the people, after hearing Aaron’s message, and seeing his signs, believingly accept the fact of Jehovah’s commission, and bow adoringly before His messengers. Thereby the people organized themselves. They accepted the vocation of being the people of Jehovah.
Footnotes:
[1][On this point comp. under “Textual and Grammatical.”—Tr.].
[2][The A. V. also softens the expression by using the phrase “instead of,” whereas the Hebrew would more exactly be rendered, “He shall be a mouth to thee, and thou shalt be a God to him.” We have here language similar to, and illustrated by, that in Exo_7:1, “See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” As the prophet (προφήτης one who speaks for another) is the spokesman (mouth) of God, so Aaron is to receive and communicate messages from Moses.—Tr.].
[3][Lange’s language is: “Keil lässt die Erwählung Israels mit Abraham anfangen, und schliesst von ihr aus auf die Thatsache der Schöpfung,” etc. In translating we have ignored the preposition “auf,” which, if recognized, would require the sentence to read: “Keil … infers from it [the choosing of Israel] the fact of creation,” etc. But this would certainly be a misrepresentation of Keil, even if it would convey any clear sense in itself. We conclude that “auf” is inserted by a typographical error.—Tr.].
[4][The text and the commentary both leave it somewhat doubtful whether these words are addressed to Moses or the child; but there can be little doubt that Moses is the one. The meaning is that Moses had been well-nigh lost to her by disease. She regains him by circumcising the son; but the bloody effect excites her displeasure, and by the saying, “A bridegroom of blood art thou to me,” she means that she has, as it were, regained him as a husband by the blood of her child.—Tr.].
[5][Chap.4. Exo_4:14. We have ventured to follow the Vulg., Luther, Cranmer, the Geneva Version, De Wette, Glaire, and Kalisch, in this rendering; for, though grammatically the reading of the A. V. in more natural, yet it is difficult to see the force of the question, “Is not Aaron thy brother?” Fürst, Arnheim, and Murphy, try to avoid the difficulty by rendering, “Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite?” etc. This, however, is putting in what is not in the original. Bush, following Rashi, translates, “Is not Aaron thy brother, the Levite?” and understands the question to intimate that, in consequence of Moses’ reluctance to obey the divine commission, the priesthood, which otherwise would have been conferred on him, will be given to Aaron. As nothing is said about the priesthood, it is hard to see how the phrase “the Levite,” at this time, before any priesthood bad been established, could have been understood in this way. Knobel, translating in the same way, understands it as pointing forward to the duty of the priests to give public instruction. But the same objection lies against this, as against the previous explanation; Moses was a Levite as much as Aaron was. Lange, translating also the same way, understands the meaning to be: Aaron is a more genuine Levite than Moses. But in this case the definite article is quite out of place; and even without it such a thought would be very obscurely expressed. Keil, following Baumgarten, finds the significance of the question in the etymological meaning of לֵוִי, viz., to join, associate one’s-self to. This certainly has the advantage of suggesting a reason for the use of the phrase “the Levite,” which on other theories seems to be superfluous. But the definite article is out of place on this hypothesis also. Besides, as the special point here is Aaron’s ability to talk, the notion of association is not just the one needed to be suggested by the term, to say nothing of the subtlety of the mode of conveying either conception.—Tr.].
[6][Exo_4:18. אֵלְכָה־נָא is not to be understood as a request, as the A. V. seems to imply, especially by the phrase, “I pray thee,” which corresponds to נָא. We have exactly the same form in Exo_3:3, where Moses said אָסֻרָה־נָא “I will turn aside,” or, “Let me turn aside.”—Tr.].
[7][Exo_4:23. וָאֹמַר and וַתְּמָאֵן are most naturally to be rendered as preterites. It is very doubtful whether וַתְּמָאֵן can be taken as protasis to the following clause. The translation of the A. V. and of others, seems to have been prompted by the idea that this is the opening message to Pharaoh. But the threat to kill the first-born was in reality the last one made. The declaration, Exo_4:21, covers all the first part of the efforts of Moses to secure the deliverance of the people. In spite of all the plagues and signs, Pharaoh “will not let the people go.” Therefore (Exo_4:22) Moses is to make his final appearance, and threaten the death of the first-born because of Pharaoh’s past refusal to obey.—Tr.].
[8][Exo_4:28. שָׁלַח may take a double accusative, as e.g. in 2Sa_11:22; 1Ki_14:6. As Kalisch observes, “the usual translation, who had sent him, is languid in the extreme.”—Tr.].
[9][Exo_4:31. Knobel, following the reading ἐχάρη, of the LXX., would change וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ into וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ. There seems to be strong reason for the change. The people, according to the present text, seem to believe, before hearing. Moreover, we have, as Knobel points out, another almost unmistakable instance of the same error. The narrative in 2Ki_20:13 is identical with that in Isa_39:2, with the exception that the first passage has וַיִּשְׁמַע where the second has וַיִּשְׂמַח. The LXX. has here, too ἐχάρη in both cases. In reference to 2Ki_20:13, Keil says that “וַיִּשְׁמַע seems to be an error of transcription for וַיִּשְׂמַח,” though he says of Knobel’s conjecture concerning the verse before us, that it is “without ground.” If we adopt the amended reading, we translate, “and they rejoiced because Jehovah had visited,” etc.—Tr.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 the Lord said, . . . What is that…
the Lord said, . . . What is that in thine hand?--The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses.
A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
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 vv1–2 MOSES RECEIVES THE THREE SIGNS, Exo_4:1-9.
MOSES RECEIVES THE THREE SIGNS, Exo_4:1-9.
1. They will not believe me — Moses pleads that Israel will not accept him as a divinely-commissioned leader, and Jehovah gives him three signs to demonstrate to himself, to Israel, and to the Egyptians, that he is sent of God. Egypt was a land of symbols, and these are symbolic miracles, divine hieroglyphs. Three is the complete or perfect number, and the three signs give to each of the three parties involved complete proof of his mission.
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 vv1–3 1. they (twice)] not the Egyptians (Exo_3:22), but the…
1. they (twice)] not the Egyptians (Exo_3:22), but the Israelites, as v. 30 shews. The verse is the sequel in J to Exo_3:18.
1–9. Moses’ third difficulty: in spite of the assurance of Exo_3:18 a, the Israelites will perhaps not listen to him, or believe in his divine commission. To enable him to meet this contingency, he is endowed with the power of performing three signs, which may serve as credentials of his commission.
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 vv1–4 (1) Behold.—Some render the word here used by “perhaps”…
IV.
(1) Behold.—Some render the word here used by “perhaps” (LXX., Aben-Ezra, Saadia, &c); but it does not appear to have anywhere this meaning. Moses meant to express a positive conviction that he would not be listened to. His faith was weak.
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They will say, The Lord hath not appeared.—It is very probable that the people would have said this if Moses had not had any credentials to produce. It is even possible that they did say it. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to any one for above four hundred years, and they might well think that the age of miracles was past. Miracles cluster around certain crises in God’s dealings with man, ceasing alto gether between one crisis and another. They were suspended for above 500 years between the time of Daniel and the appearance of the angel to Zacharias.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 4
Exodus 4
We are still called to linger at the foot of Mount Horeb, at "the backside of the desert;" and, truly, the air of this place is most healthful for the spiritual constitution. Man’s unbelief and God’s boundless grace are here made manifest in a striking way.
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"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of the human heart! How difficult man ever finds it to trust God! How slow he is to venture forth upon the naked promise of Jehovah. Anything, for nature, but that. The most slender reed that the human eye can see is counted more substantial, by far, as a basis for nature’s confidence, than the unseen "Rock of ages." Nature will rush, with avidity, to any creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide by the unseen "Fountain of living waters.
"We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive titles, the divine commission, the assurance of the divine presence, - all these things might have quelled every anxious thought, and imparted a settled assurance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises questions, and still God answers them; and, as we have remarked, each successive question brings out fresh grace. "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod." The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in his hand. The rod with which he had tended Jethro’s sheep was about to be used to deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of Egypt, to make a way through the deep, for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over, and to bring forth water from the flinty rock to refresh Israel’s thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram’s horn," "a cake of barley meal," "an earthern pitcher," "a shepherds sling," anything, in short, when used of God, will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid means; but such is not God’s way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east wind. (See Jonah.)
But Moses had to learn a deep lesson, both as to the rod and the hand that was to use it. and the people had to be convinced. Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." This is a deeply significant sign. The rod became a serpent, so that Moses fled from it; but, being commissioned by Jehovah, he took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod. Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan’s power being turned against himself. This is largely exemplified in the ways of God. Moses himself was a striking example. The serpent is entirely under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in his mad career, he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his work throughout eternity’s countless ages. "That old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall be eternally crushed beneath the rod of God’s Anointed.
"Then the end - beneath His rod,
Man’s last enemy shall fall;
Hallelujah! Christ in God,
God in Christ, is all in all."
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom; and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh." The leprous hand and the cleansing thereof present to us the moral effect of sin, as also the way in which sin has been met in the perfect work of Christ. The clean hand, placed in the bosom, becomes leprous; and the leprous hand placed there becomes clean. Leprosy is the well-known type of sin; and sin came in by the first man and was put sway by the second. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15: 21) Man brought in ruin, man brought in redemption; man brought in guilt, man brought in pardon; man brought in sin, man brought in righteousness; man filled the scene with death, man abolished death and filled the scene with life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall the serpent himself be eternally defeated and confounded, but every trace of his abominable work shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning sacrifice of Him who "was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil."
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land." This was a solemn and most expressive figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to the divine testimony. This sign was only to be wrought in the event of their refusing the other two. It was, first, to be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague upon Egypt. (Comp. Ex. 7: 17)
All this, however, fails to satisfy the heart of Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Terrible backwardness! Nought save Jehovah’s infinite patience could have endured it. Surely when God Himself had said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible security. in reference to everything which could possibly be needed. If an eloquent tongue were necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over against "I AM?" Eloquence, wisdom, might, energy, everything was contained in that exhaustless treasury. "And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Profound, adorable, matchless grace! worthy of God! There is none like unto the Lord our God, whose patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, and proves itself amply sufficient for our manifold need and weakness. "I THE LORD" Ought to silence for ever the reasonings of our carnal hearts. But, alas! these reasonings are hard to be put down. Again and again they rise to the surface, to the disturbance of our peace, and the dishonour of that blessed One, who sets Himself before our souls, in all His own essential fullness, to be used according to our need.
It is well to bear in mind that when we have the Lord with us, our very deficiencies and infirmities become an occasion for the display of His all-sufficient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses remembered this, his want of eloquence need not have troubled him. The Apostle Paul learnt to say, "most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak then am I strong." (2 Cor. 12: 9, 10) This is, assuredly, the utterance of one who had reached an advanced form in the school of Christ. It is the experience of one who would not have been much troubled because of not possessing an eloquent tongue, inasmuch as he had found an answer to every description of need in the precious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of this truth ought to have delivered Moses from his diffidence and inordinate timidity. When the Lord had so graciously assured him that He would be with his mouth, it should have set his mind at rest as to the question of eloquence. The Maker of man’s mouth could fill that mouth with the most commanding eloquence, if such were needed. This, in the judgement of faith, is most simple; but, alas! the poor doubting heart would place far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than in the One who created it. This would seem most unaccountable, did we not know the materials of which the natural heart is composed. That heart cannot trust God; and hence it is that even the people of God, when they suffer themselves to be, in any measure, governed by nature; exhibit such a humiliating lack of confidence in the living God. Thus, in the scene before us, we find Moses still demurring. "And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." This was, in reality, casting from him the high honour of being Jehovah’s sole messenger to Egypt and to Israel.
It were needless to say that divinely-wrought humility is an inestimable grace. To "be clothed with humility" is a divine precept; and humility is, unquestionably, the most becoming dress in which a worthless sinner can appear. But, it cannot be called humility to refuse to take the place which God assigns, or to tread the path which His hand marks out for us. That it was not true humility in Moses is obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against him." So far from its being humility, it had actually passed the limit of mere weakness. So long as it wore the aspect of an excessive timidity, however reprehensible, God’s boundless grace bore with it, and met it with renewed assurances; but when it assumed the character of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew down Jehovah’s just displeasure; and Moses, instead of being the sole, is made a joint, instrument in the work of testimony and deliverance.
Nothing is more dishonouring to God or more dangerous for us than a mock humility. When we refuse to occupy a position which the grace of God assigns us, because of our not possessing certain virtues and qualifications, this is not humility, inasmuch as if we could but satisfy our own consciences in reference to such virtues and qualifications, We should then deem ourselves entitled to assume the position. If, for instance, Moses had possessed such a measure of eloquence as he deemed needful, we may suppose he would have been ready to go. Now the question is, how much eloquence would he have needed, to furnish him for his mission? The answer is, without God no amount of human eloquence would have availed; but, with God, the merest stammerer would have proved an efficient minister.
This is a real practical truth. Unbelief is not humility, but thorough pride. It refuses to believe God because it does not find, in self, a reason for believing. This is the very height of presumption. If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the ground of something in myself, I make Him a liar. (1 John 5: 10) When God declares His love, and I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar and exhibit the inherent pride of my heart. The bare supposition that I could ever be worthy of ought save the lowest pit of hell, can only be regarded as the most profound ignorance of my own condition and of God’s requirements. And the refusal to take the place which the redeeming love of God assigns me, on the ground of the finished atonement of Christ, is to make God a liar, and cast gross dishonour upon the sacrifice of the cross. God’s love flows forth spontaneously. It is not drawn forth by my deserts, but by my misery. Nor is it a question as to the place which I deserve, but which Christ deserves. Christ took the sinner’s place, on the cross, that the sinner might take His place in the glory. Christ got what the sinner deserved, that the sinner might get what Christ deserves. Thus, self is totally set aside, and this is true humility. No one can be truly humble until he has reached heaven’s side of the cross; but there he finds divine life, divine righteousness, and divine favour. He is done with himself for ever, as regards any expectation of goodness or righteousness, and he feeds upon the princely wealth of another. He is morally prepared to join in that cry which shall echo through the spacious vault of heaven, throughout the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." (Ps. 115: 1)
It would ill become us to dwell upon the mistakes or infirmities of so honoured a Servant as Moses, of whom we read that he "was verily faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after." (Heb. 3: 5) But, though we should not dwell upon them, in a spirit of self-complacency, as if we would have acted differently, in his circumstances, we should, nevertheless, learn from such things those holy and seasonable lessons which they are manifestly designed to teach. We should learn to judge ourselves and to place more implicit confidence in God - to set self aside, that He might act in us, through us, and for us. This is the true secret of power.
We have remarked that Moses forfeited the dignity of being Jehovah’s sole instrument in that glorious work which He was about to accomplish. But this was not all. "The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well: and, also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs." (Ex. 4: 14-17) This passage contains a mine of most precious practical instruction. We have noted the timidity and hesitation of Moses, notwithstanding the varied promises and assurances with which divine grace had furnished him. And, nom, although there was nothing gained in the way of real power, although there was no more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another, although it was Moses after all who was to speak unto Aaron; yet was Moses quite ready to go when assured of the presence and co-operation of a poor feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would be with him.
Oh! my reader, does not all this hold up before us a faithful mirror in which you and I can see our hearts reflected? Truly it does. We are more ready to trust anything than the living God. We move along, with bold decision, when we possess the countenance and support of a poor frail mortal like ourselves; but we falter, hesitate, and demur, when we have the light of the Master’s countenance to cheer us, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to support us. This should humble us deeply before the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance with Him, so that we might trust Him with a more unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step, as having Him alone for our resource and portion.
No doubt, the fellowship of a brother is most valuable - "Two are better than one" - whether in labour, rest, or conflict. The Lord Jesus, in sending forth His disciples, "sent them two by two," - for unity is ever better than isolation - still, if our personal acquaintance with God, and our experience of His presence, be not such as to enable us, if needful, to walk alone, we shall find the presence of a brother of very little use. It is not a little remarkable, that Aaron, whose companionship seemed to satisfy Moses, was the man who afterwards made the golden calf. (Ex. 32: 21) Thus it frequently happens, that the very person whose presence we deem essential to our progress and success, afterwards proves a source of deepest sorrow to our hearts. May we ever remember this!
However, Moses, at length, consents to go; but ere he is fully equipped for his work, he must pass through another deep exercise; yea, he must have the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God upon his very nature. He had learnt deep lessons at "the backside of the desert;" he is called to learn something deeper still, "by the way in the inn." It is no light matter to be the Lord’s servant. No ordinary education will qualify a man for such a position. Nature must be put in the place of death and kept there. " We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. (2 Cor. 1: 9) Every successful servant will need to know something of this. Moses was called to enter into it, in his own experience, ere he was morally qualified. He was about to sound in the ears of Pharaoh the following deeply-solemn message, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Such was to be his message to Pharaoh; a message of death, a message of judgement; and, at the same time, his message to Israel was a message of life and salvation. But, be it remembered, that the man who will speak, on God’s behalf, of death and judgement, life and salvation, must, ere he does so, enter into the practical power of these things in his own soul. Thus it was with Moses. We have seen him, at the very outset, in the place of death, typically; but this was a different thing from entering into the experience of death in his own person. Hence we read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision." This passage lets us into a deep secret, in the personal and domestic history of Moses. It is very evident that Zipporah’s heart had, up to this point, shrunk from the application of the knife to that around which the affections of nature were entwined. She had avoided that mark which had to be set in the flesh of every member of the Israel of God. She was not aware that her relationship with Moses was one involving death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This was natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the matter; and this explains to us the mysterious scene "in the inn." If Zipporah refuses to circumcise her son, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her husband; and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah will "seek to kill him." The sentence of death must be written on nature; and if we seek to avoid it in one way, we shall have to encounter it in another.
It has been already remarked, that Zipporah furnishes an instructive and interesting type of the Church. She was united to Moses, during the period of his rejection; and from the passage just quoted, we learn that the Church is called to know Christ, as the One related to her "by blood." It is her privilege to drink of his cup, and be baptised with His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to be conformed to His death; to mortify her members which are on the earth; to take up the cross daily, and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is founded upon blood, and the manifestation of the power of that relationship will, necessarily, involve death to nature. "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, mho hath raised him from the dead." (Col. 2: 10-12)
Such is the doctrine as to the Church’s place with Christ - a doctrine replete with the richest privileges for the Church, and each member thereof. Everything, in short, is involved: the perfect remission of sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance, everlasting security, full fellowship with Christ in all His glory. "Ye are complete in him." This, surely, comprehends everything. What could be added to one who is "complete" Could "philosophy, "the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons," "Sabbaths" "Touch not" this, "taste not that, "handle not" the other, "the commandments and doctrines of men," "days and months, and times, and years," could any of these things, or all of them put together, add a single jot or tittle to one whom God has pronounced "complete?" We might just as well enquire, if man could have gone forth upon the fair creation of God, at the close of the six days’ work, to give the finishing touch to that which God had pronounced "very good?"
Nor is this completeness to be, by any means, viewed as a matter of attainment, some point which we have not yet reached, but after which we must: diligently strive, and of the possession of which we cannot be sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or stand before a throne of judgement. It is the portion of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most unlettered child of God. The very weakest saint is included in the apostolic "ye." All the people of God "are complete in Christ." The apostle does not say, "ye will be," "ye may be," "hope that ye may be," "pray that ye may be:" no; he, by the Holy Ghost, states, in the most absolute and unqualified manner, that "ye are complete." This is the true Christian starting-post: and for man to make a goal of what God makes a starting-post, is to upset everything.
But, then, some will say, "have we no sin, no failure, no imperfection?" Assuredly we have. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1: 8) We have sin in us, but no sin on us. Moreover, our standing is not in self, but in Christ. It is "in him" we "are complete." God says the believer in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ. This is his changeless condition, his everlasting standing. "The body of the sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of Christ." The believer is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power of a new and an endless life, and that life is inseparably connected with divine righteousness in which the believer stands before God. The Lord Jesus has put away everything that was against the believer, and He has brought him nigh to God, in the self-same favour as that which He Himself enjoys. In a word, Christ is his righteousness. This settles every question, answers every objection, silences every doubt. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one." (Heb. 2: 11)
The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the deeply-interesting type presented to us in the relationship between Moses and Zipporah. We must, now, hasten to close this section, and take our leave, for the present, of "the backside of the desert," though not of its deep lessons and holy impressions, so essential to every servant of Christ, and every messenger of the living God. All who would serve effectually, either in the important work of evangelization, or in the varied ministries of the house of God - which is the Church - will need to imbibe the precious instructions which Moses received at the foot of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn."
Were these things properly attended to, we should not have so many running unsent - so many rushing into spheres of ministry for which they were never designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, or teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously enquire if, indeed, he be fitted, and taught, and sent of God. If not, his work will neither be owned of God nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases, the better for himself and for those upon whom he has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening to him. Neither a humanly-appointed, nor a self-appointed ministry, will ever suit within the hallowed precincts of the Church of God. All must be divinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent.
"And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him." This was a fair and beauteous scene - a scene of sweet brotherly love and union - a scene which stands in marked contrast with many of those scenes which were afterwards enacted in the wilderness-career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness life are sure to make great changes in men and things. Yet it is sweet to dwell upon those early days of one’s Christian course, before the stern realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked the gush of warm and generous affections - before deceit, and corruption, and hypocrisy had well-nigh dried up the springs of the heart’s confidence, and placed the whole moral being beneath the chilling influences of a suspicious disposition.
That such results have been produced, in many cases, by years of experience, is, alas! too true. Happy is he who, though his eyes have been opened to see nature in a clearer light than that which this world supplies, can, nevertheless, Serve his generation by the energy of that grace which flows forth from the bosom of God. Who ever knew the depths and windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them? "He knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." (John 2: 24, 25) So well did He know man that He could not commit Himself unto him. He could not accredit man’s professions, or endorse his pretensions. And yet, who so gracious as He? Who so loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathising? With a heart that understood all, He could feel for all. He did not suffer His perfect knowledge of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from human need. "He went about doing good." Why? Was it because He imagined that all those who flocked around Him were real? No; but because God was with him." (Acts 10: 38) This is our example. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we shall have to trample on self and all its interests, at every step of the way.
Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of nature, that experience, which only lead men to ensconce themselves within the enclosures of a hard-hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody? Surely such a result could never follow from ought of a heavenly or excellent nature. God gives wisdom; but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives a knowledge of nature; but it is not a knowledge which causes us to grasp with a selfish eagerness that which we, falsely, call " our own." He gives experience; but it is not an experience which results in suspecting everybody except myself. If I am walking in the footprints of Jesus, if I am imbibing, and therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if, in short, I can say, "to me to live is Christ;" then, would I walk through the world, with a knowledge of what the world is; while I come in contact with man, with a knowledge of what I am to expect from him; I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ in the midst of it all. The springs which move me, and the objects which animate me, are all above, where He is, who if "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Heb. 13: 8) It was this which sustained the heart of that beloved and honoured servant, whose history, even so far, has furnished us with such deep and solid instruction. It was this which carried him through the trying and varied scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely assert that, at the close of all, notwithstanding the trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could embrace his brother, when he stood on Mount Hor, with the same warmth as he had when first he met him, "in the mount of God." True, the two occasions were very different. At "the mount of God" they met, and embraced, and started together on their divinely-appointed mission. Upon "Mount Hor" they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly robes, and see him gathered to his fathers, because of an error in which he himself had participated. (How solemn! How touching!) Circumstances vary: men may turn away from one; but with God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1: 17)
"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." (Ver. 29-31) When God works, every barrier must give way. Moses had said, "the people will not believe me." But the question was not, as to whether they would believe him, but whether they would believe God. When a man is enabled to view himself simply as the messenger of God. he may feel quite at ease as to the reception of his message. It does not detract, in the smallest degree, from his tender and affectionate solicitude, in reference to those whom he addresses. Quite the contrary; but it preserves him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can only tend to unfit him for calm, elevated, steady testimony. The messenger of God should ever remember whose message he bears. When Zacharias said to the angel, "Whereby shall I know this?" was the latter perturbed by the question? Not in the least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee: these glad tidings." (Luke 1: 18, 19) The angel rises before the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he would say, "How can you doubt, when a messenger has actually been dispatched from the very Presence-chamber of the Majesty of heaven?" Thus should every messenger of God, in his measure, go forth, and, in this spirit, deliver his message.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Vers. 1-17. The reluctance of Moses to undertake the…
Vers. 1-17. The reluctance of Moses to undertake the part of leader, indicated by his first reply at his first calling, "Who am I that I should go?", (Exo_3:11) was not yet overcome. God had promised that he would succeed; but he did not see how he could succeed, either with the people or with Pharaoh. It was not enough for him that God had declared, "They (the people) shall hearken unto thy voice" (ib. 18); he does not, cannot believe this, and replies: "Behold, they will not believe, neither hearken unto my voice". (Exo_4:1) This was plain want of faith; but not unnatural, and not, in God"s sight, inexcusable. God therefore condescended to the human weakness of his servant, and proceeded to show him how he intended that he should persuade the people of his mission. He should persuade them by producing the credentials of miracles (vers. 2-9). But the laggard heart finds yet a further objection. Moses feels that he labours under a personal defect, which (he thinks) is an absolute disqualification. He is "slow of speech and of a slow tongue" (ver. 10), has always been wanting in eloquence, and does not find himself any the more eloquent since God has been speaking with him. In vain does Jehovah promise to "be with his mouth" (ver. 12); Moses" last word indicates all the old feeling of self-distrust. "Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send" (ver. 13). Then at last the anger of the Lord is kindled against Moses, and God inflicts on him a sort of punishment degrades him; as it were deposes him from the position of sole leader, and associates Aaron with him in such sort that Aaron must have appeared, both to the Israelites and to the Pharaoh, as the chief leader rather than Moses. . (see Exo_4:30 Exo_7:2, Exo_7:10, 19 8:6, 17, etc.)
At this point the interview between Moses and Jehovah ends, and the action of the Exodus commences. Moses obtains leave to quit Midian, and quits it retires to Egypt, after escaping from a dangerous sickness on the way (vers. 24-26), is met by Aaron and takes him into his counsels, summons the elders and exhibits before them his miraculous powers, persuades them, and is finally accepted as having, with Aaron, a mission from God, both by the elders and the people.
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Behold, they will not believe. Attempts have been made to soften down this contradiction of God"s words in Exo_3:18, and to represent Moses as merely saying, "What if the people will not hearken, etc. What shall I do then?" (So the LXX, Geddes, Boothroyd, and others.) But the phrase is really emphatic and peremptory. As Rosenmuller says: "Vox est negantis et detrac-tantis officium." The Lord hath not appeared to thee. It is quite probable that the Israelites would have so spoken, if Moses had had no sign to show. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to anyone for above four hundred years. And the Israelites, who had not seen Moses for forty years, would not know whether he was a veracious person or not.
Vers. 1-5. The intent of the first sign.
Primarily, no doubt, the object was to empower Moses to show forth a sign easily, readily, without preparation, and so at any moment. He had come to the time of life at which he naturally carried a staff. That he should be able at his will to transform that dead piece of vegetable matter into an active, living organism, would show him endued with supernatural power over both the vegetable and animal worlds, and give him a means, always ready to his hand, of demonstrating the truth of his mission. This alone was a great matter. But the fact that his rod became a serpent, rather than any other living thing, was specially calculated to impress the Egyptians. In one form, the serpent with them meant "a king," or "a crown;" and the change of a staff into a snake would typify the conversion of a shepherd into a monarch. In another form it was a sign for a "multitude," and the transformation might remind them that the single stock or stem of Jacob was now become "millions." The great serpent, Apap, moreover, held a high position in their mythology, as powerful to destroy and punish, whence they might the more fear one who seemed able to create serpents at his pleasure. The Israelites would perhaps view the staff as a rod to smite with, and connect its change into a serpent with the notion that when reds or whips were not thought severe enough, rulers chastised with "scorpions". (1Ki_12:11) Altogether, the sign, if viewed as a type, was threatening and alarming; perhaps the more so on account of its vagueness. Forms ill-defined, seen through mist, affright men more than those which are clear and definite.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Unbelief.
The objection started by Moses to the mission on which he was sent was a very natural one. The people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice. For
I HE WAS AS YET UNFURNISHED WITH DISTINCT CREDENTIALS. In so grave a matter Moses could not expect the people to believe his bare word. This was a real difficulty. Before committing themselves to his proposals, the Hebrews would be entitled to ask for very distinct proofs that the message brought to them had really come from God that there was no mistake, no deception. God acknowledges the justiceof this plea, by furnishing Moses with the credentials that he needed. From which we gather that it is no part of the business of a preacher of the Gospel to run down "evidences." Evidences are both required and forthcoming. God asks no man to confide in a message as of Divine authority, without furnishing him with sufficient grounds for believing that this character really belongs to it. The reality of revelation, the supernatural mission of Christ, the inspiration of prophets and apostles, the authority of Scripture, all admit of proof; and it is the duty of the preacher to keep this fact in view, and in delivering his message, to exhibit along with the message the evidences of its Divine original.
II MORAL CAUSES, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM MERE DEFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE, WOULD MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO SECURE CREDENCE. Moses anticipated being met, not simply with hesitation and suspense of judgment, which would be all that the mere absence of credentials would warrant, but by positive disbelief. "The Lord hath not appeared to thee." How account for this?
1. The message he had to bring was a very wonderful one. He had to ask the people to believe that, after centuries of silence, God, the God of the patriarchs, had again appeared to him, and had spoken with him. This in itself was not incredible, but it would assume an incredible aspect to those whose faith in a living God had become shadowy and uninfluential who had learned to look on such appearances as connected, not with the present, but with a distant and already faded past. Credulous enough in some things, they would be incredulous as to this; just as a believer in witchcraft or fairies might be the hardest to convince of a case of the supernatural aside from the lines of his ordinary thinking and beliefs. It is a similar difficulty which the preacher of the Gospel has to encounter in the indisposition of the natural mind to believe in anything outside of, or beyond, the sphere in which it ordinarily works and judges, the sphere of things sensible. (Joh_14:17) The supernatural is strange to it. It pushes it aside as inherently incredible, or at least as of no interest to it. From this the advance is easy to that which is so peculiarly a characteristic of our age, the denial of the supernatural as such the fiat assertion that miracle is impossible.
2. The announcement contained in his message was so good as almost to surpass belief. Great good news has often this effect of producing incredulity. Cf. Gen_45:26, heart fainted, and he believed them not," and Psalm 126. And would not the Hebrews require evidence for the great good news that God had visited them, and was about to bring them out of Egypt, and plant them in Caanan! In like manner, is it not vastly wonderful, almost passing belief, that God should have done for man all that the Gospel declares him to have done! Sending his Son, making atonement for sin, etc.
3. The difficulties in the way of the execution of the purpose seemed insuperable. Even with God on their side, it might seem to the Israelites as if the chances of their deliverance from Pharaoh were very small. True, God was omnipotent; but we know little if we have not learned how much easier it is to believe in God"s power in the abstract, than to realise that this power is able to cope successfully with the actual difficulties of our position. The tendency of unbelief is to "limit the Holy One of Israel". (Psa_78:41) And this tendency is nowhere more manifest than in the difficulty men feel in believing that the Gospel of the Cross is indeed the very "power of God unto salvation able to cope with and overcome the moral evil of the world, and of their own hearts.
4. One difficulty Moses would not have to contend with, viz.: aversion to his message in itself. For, after all, the message brought to the Israelites was in the line of their own fondest wishes a fact which ought, if anything could, powerfully to have recommended it. How different with the Gospel, which, with its spiritual salvation, rouses in arms against itself every propensity of a heart at enmity against God! The Israelites must at least have desired that Moses" message would turn out to be true; but not so the mass of the hearers of the Gospel. They desire neither God nor his ways; have no taste for his salvation; are only eager to find excuses for getting rid of the unwelcome truths. To overcome an obstacle of this kind, more is needed than outward credentials even an effectual working of the Holy Ghost.
III INFERENCES FROM THESE CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Preachers of the Gospel must prepare themselves for encountering unbelief. It is the old complaint hath believed our report?". (Isa_53:1)
2. The success of Moses in overcoming the people"s unbelief shows that hemust have possessed decisive credentials of his mission. The complaint of this verse does not tally with what is sometimes alleged as to the unlimited drafts that may be made on human credulity. Moses did not find the people all readiness to believe him. He was bringing them a message in the line of their dearest wishes, yet he anticipated nothing but incredulity. He had never much reason to complain of the over-credulity of the Israelites; his complaint was usually of their unbelief. Even after signs and wonders had been wrought, he had a constant battle to fight with their unbelieving tendencies. How then, unless his credentials had been of the clearest and most decisive kind, could he possibly have succeeded? For, mark
(1) It was not merely a few enthusiasts he had to carry with him, but the whole body of the people.
(2) He was no demagogue, but a man of slow, diffident, self-distrustful nature, the last man who might be expected to play successfully on popular credulity or enthusiasm.
(3) His plans were not to be laid before the multitude at all, but before the "elders the cool, cautious heads of the,nation, who would be sure to ask him for very distinct credentials before committing themselves to a contest with Pharaoh. The inference is that there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Mosaic era; as afterwards there must have been a true supernatural in the founding of the Christian era. Imposture, credulity, the force of mere ideas, the commanding power of a great personality, are, together or apart, incapable of explaining all the facts. Wonders must have been wrought, alike in the accrediting of the mission of Moses and in the stupendous work of the deliverance itself. J.O.
Vers. 1-10. A trilogy of signs.
In reply to his complaint that the people would not believe him, nor hearken to his voice, God gave Moses three signs. These are to be viewed
I AS ATTESTATIONS OF HIS DIVINE COMMISSION (ver. 5, 8). Divine power is supernaturally exercised in proof of Moses" title to speak with Divine authority. This is a clear case of the use of miracles as credentials of a mission, and confutes those who reason that this view of miracles has no basis in Scripture. The character of the signs was not to be disregarded, but the immediate circumstance which gave them evidential value was the fact of supernatural origin. Practically, signs of the kind wrought by Moses would be felt to be incontestable proofs of his Divine commission; and it is difficult to see how otherwise his message could have been authenticated. Why should this be objected to? Why, if the message is worthy of God, and the work of power is also worthy of God, should the work of power not be employed to add authority to the word, as indicating with certainty the source from which it comes?
II AS SIGNIFICANT OR PARABOLIC ACTS. This is implied in their character as "signs." They had had of themselves a "voice." They told over again what Moses had explained in words, while they exhibited in symbol the superiority of Jehovah to the king and gods of Egypt.
1. Sign 1st. The impotence of Pharaoh against Jehovah"s messenger. This seems to be the import of the turning of the rod into the serpent (vers. 2-5). The serpent "was the symbol of the royal and divine power on the diadem of every Pharaoh.
(1) The rod cast to the ground and changing into a serpent symbolised the effect of the challenge to Pharaoh.
(2) Before this terrible apparition, with its gleaming eyes, inflated neck, hissing tongue, and vehemence of assault, Moses fled in natural terror.
(3) But he is instructed not to fear it, but to seize it by the tail; when there is given a representation of Pharaoh"s absolute powerlessness to hurt him in the reconversion of the serpent into the rod. The foe vanishes, and Moses remains master of the situation. The lesson is, that God"s servants, charged with the execution of his mission, are more than a match for all the powers of ill that can be arrayed against them. God will bruise even Satan old serpent under their feet shortly. (Rom_16:20) They wield an authority which gives them for the time a charmed existence, and ensures the defeat of those opposed to them. Cf. with this sign Act_28:5; Rev_12:6; and instance Luther before the Diet of Worms.
2. Sign 2nd. The power of Jehovah to smite and heal. The symbol of this was at the same time an instance of it viz, the sudden smiting of Moses" hand with leprosy, followed by as instantaneous a cure (vers. 6-8). Leprosy was peculiarly the theocratic punishment (Miriam, Uzziah, Gehazi). It was probably a common disease among the Israelites, who figure in Egyptian traditions as a nation of lepers, hateful to the gods on account of their pollutions. The obvious teaching of this sign would therefore be
(1) That Jehovah was able to smite with the most grievous plagues, yet
(2) As able to heal when he had smitten.
This conveyed both threat and promise.
(1) If the people obeyed his voice, as he had healed the leprous hand, so would he heal them of their natural and spiritual disorders, and lift them out of their despised and unclean state in Egypt; while conversely,
(2) If they resisted, great and sore strokes of the Divine anger would fall upon them; or, if Egypt resisted God"s will, it in turn would be smitten by his plagues. The power in both cases was omnipotent and resistless. Thus we are instructed
1. To fear the stroke of the Divine anger.
2. That God who smites can also heal. (Hos_6:1)
3. That God is more willing to remove judgments than to send them.
4. That God can heal the leprous heart.
5. To fear, above all, that most awful fulfilment of the leprosy symbol the adjudging of the soul, under Divine wrath, to the unchecked spread of its own corruptions to the reign of sin within itself. Sign 3rd. The ruin that would descend on Egypt if God"s will continued to be disobeyed.
The sign of the turning of a portion of the water of the Nile the source of Egypt"s beauty, fertility, and prosperity into blood (ver. 9) could only have one meaning. It portended ruin to the state of Egypt. And such would be the inevitable consequence of a contest between Pharaoh and Jehovah, if protracted by the king"s obstinacy. In this case there was no reversal of the sign. The end of strife with God is judgment without mercy utter destruction. Lesson the folly of striving with the Almighty.
III AS A SERIES OF SIGNS ADAPTED TO REMOVE DOUBT AT DIFFERENT STAGES (vers. 8, 9). Though, strictly speaking, one sign was enough to attest the Divine commission of him who wrought it, yet God, who condescends to man"s infirmity, added sign to sign, thus furnishing a superabundance and accumulation of evidences, and rendering unbelief wholly inexcusable. It has often been observed that the strength of the evidence for revelation lies, not in any single line of proof, but in the cumulative force of a great variety of evidences, some of which strike one class of minds as of peculiar cogency, while minds differently constituted are more impressed by others. In the case before us, a certain progression may be noted; each sign, by peculiar marks, carrying us a step further than its predecessor.
1. In the turning of the rod into the serpent, we have a work of Divinepower, but not without a certain resemblance to the feats of the native serpent-charmers. The points of contrast were great, but it might be doubted whether the acts of the magicians were not competent to produce as great a wonder.
2. In the second sign the stroke of leprosy this doubt is eliminated,and the presence of Divine power conclusively demonstrated. But Egypt had her gods also, and the question, as it would present itself to those who believed in them, was not simply, Is Jehovah powerful? but, Is his power greater than theirs?
3. The last sign gives the final proof, by working a miracle on the water ofthe Nile itself one of Egypt"s greater gods. The turning of that sacred water into blood was the death-blow to all hope of help from the Egyptian idols.
Observe
1. The anxiety of God to remove doubt.
2. The ample provision he has made for its removal.
3. The patience with which he bears with man"s dulness and slowness of heart.
4. The inexcusableness of unbelief. J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-9. The third difficulty: how is Moses to deal with an incredulous Israel?
With the mention of this third difficulty, we begin to see how much of doubt, self-distrust, and reluctance disturbed the mind of Moses. And no wonder. This revelation and commandment of God had come very suddenly upon him; and though strong assurances and sufficient information were readily given, yet he could not all at once receive the comforts which flowed from them. Had he attended to what God said by way of removing the difficulties already expressed he would never have given utterance to this third one. His perseverance in suggesting obstacles almost makes us feel that he hoped Somehow to get out of the mission. But God meets him at every point. There is no weak place in the Divine plans. Even a matter which seems so uncertain as the reception of Moses by Israel is confidently taken altogether out of the region of uncertainties. God had already said, (Exo_3:18) "They shall hearken to thy voice," and if Moses had only waited, he would have been made to see how that hearkening would be brought about. The suggestion of this difficulty, therefore, showed how much he was still lacking in calm faith; nevertheless we must bear in mind that the difficulty was a real one. There was only too much reason to apprehend that Israel would receive him in the way he indicated. Consider
I THE POOR EXPECTATIONS MOSES HAD OF A FAVOURABLE RECEPTION FROM ISRAEL. Why should he have these gloomy anticipations? Was the cause of them to be looked for wholly in Israel or wholly in himself. Did he mean to blame his brethren for their unbelief, or did he thus take another way of indicating his own utter distrust of himself?
As he expresses no blame of Israel it is not for us to assume that he intended it. He knew very well that to go to his brethren with such a story, would be the very way to make them reject him and laugh him to scorn. He could not but feel that if he had been in their position, he would probably have behaved in the same way. What could it appear but presumptuous to return after forty years" absence from the distant and half-barbarous Midian, and pretend that he had been chosen to deliver Israel he, a mere weather-beaten shepherd? Truth is stranger than fiction, and for this very reason it is too often believed to be the most improbable of all fictions. Moses thus had every ground to expect that he would be treated either as insane or as the most impudent of impostors. He would have been more easily believed in telling some made-up story than when he told the simple truth. God had looked very kindly and favourably on Moses in all his deeply felt unworthiness; but the very things that commended him to God, hindered him with men. In what a humiliating aspect this word of Moses puts our fallen human nature! When the truth in which we are most of all concerned comes before us, we are tempted to neglect and repudiate it because the messenger does not look sufficiently dignified. Nor is unbelief our only danger. We must labour to have a state of mind in which we shall always not only receive the true but reject the false. We have to do with false apostles as well as true ones. The elders of Israel would have done very wrong if they had rushed into a welcome of Moses on his bare ipse dixit. We must not, in our anxiety to avoid unbelief, deliver ourselves over to credulity. If the world has in it only too many of the unbelieving spirit, so, alas! it has only too many of the deceiving spirit; all the more deceivers because thoroughly deceived themselves. We must try the spirits whether they be of God, and ever live in thankful use of the infallible tests which God has given us.
II GOD GIVES TO MOSES AMPLE EVIDENCES TO PRODUCE FAITH IN ISRAEL. Observe that God does not simply promise these signs. He works them at once, at least the two that were possible, before the very eyes of Moses. Moses has faith enough to be sure that it is indeed God who is with him at the present hour; but what about the future? True, God had said, "Certainly I will be with thee", (Exo_3:12) and he might have repeated these words rebukingly. But he remembered that Moses was as yet very ignorant of the fulness of the Divine nature; and he acted with all his own wisdom and tenderness, to cherish the real but as yet very feeble and struggling faith of his servant. When Moses comes into the presence of his brethren, it is to cast down a rod that has already been a serpent, and to stretch forth a hand that has already been snow-white with leprosy. "What is that in thine hand? as much as to say, "Take note of it, look at it well, make sure that it is the rough, easily replaced instrument of your daily work." Moses is to be taught that things are not what they seem. He who according to his good pleasure took some of the original matter of the universe, and from it made the red-nature, and from other made the serpent-nature, now by the same power changes in a moment the dead rod into the living serpent, and the living serpent into the dead rod. The healthy hand is all at once infected with leprosy, and even while-Moses is shuddering with the terrible experience, the leprosy is as suddenly taken away. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. As to the significance of these miracles, there is doubtless much that lies beyond our power to ascertain. Assuredly they had in them perfect propriety beth as to their order and their nature. What the burning hush became to Moses, these three miracles might become to the Israelites; not only paving the way for Moses to act with full authority in their name, but giving many lessons to such as had eyes to see and hearts to understand. For instance how could they but perceive that when God began his dealings with Pharaoh, he began with two out of the three miracles which Moses had shown to them. Moses turned the rod into a serpent, and the water into blood before Israel, and Israel believed (vers. 28-31). He did the same things before Pharaoh, and he remained unmoved. Who can tell what terrible things Israel escaped by their timely acceptance of the mission of Moses? and yet that acceptance, as we discover by the rebellions in the wilderness, did not amount to very much. The belief that is produced by miracle, if there be not some more penetrating force behind the mere exhibition of the extraordinary, does not go very deep, nor does it last very long. The greatest benefit of these miracles was to such Israelites as could see in them, not only the power of God, but something of the purposes for which that power was used. Pharaoh caused great pain to Israel, but he did nothing else; he sought no blessed end for the people beyond the pain. God, on the other hand, though he turned a rod into a threatening serpent, and a clean and healthy hand into a leprous, loathsome mass, yet very speedily took these signs of destruction away. When God brings threatening and affliction very near to us, it is only to show how quickly and completely they may he removed. All untoward things are in his hands-all serpents, all diseases, all degrading transformations of what is good and beautiful. Y.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1-9. Weakness and strength for God"s service.
I FEAR OF THE REJECTION OF THE MESSAGE WE BEAR FOR GOD MAKES ITS DELIVERANCE IMPOSSIBLE. The tidings he was to bear were so wonderful that he believed his words would be listened to with utter incredulity. Our Gospel is more wonderful still. To speak it, our eye must rest less on the message, and more on God"s power to chastise and to bless. We are not critics of, nor apologists for, the Gospel: we are messengers sent before God"s face. Our Master is behind us.
II MIRACLES BELONG TO THE INFANCY OF FAITH. The signs are given because of unbelief. Elijah and Elisha work miracles among the tribes which had almost wholly forsaken God; Isaiah, Jeremiah, John, work none. The Apostles alone were empowered to bestow miraculous gifts, and these died out with the men who received them from the Apostles" hands. To bring again the age of miracles would be retrogression, not advance.
III THE MIRACLES AS SIGNS.
1. The rod cast upon the ground becomes a serpent; the serpent dealt within obedience to God s command becomes a rod. They who reject God"s guidance will be pursued by his terrors, and if we deal with our foes as God directs us they will help, not harm us.
2. The hand put in the bosom (the attitude of determined indifference)becomes leprous; placed again in obedience to God"s command, it is made whole. God can make the strength of the disobedient a burden and horror; and if we rest in him our loathsomeness and weakness will be changed into health and strength.
3. The sweet Nile waters changed into blood. The delight of the land towhich unbelief will cling will become a loathing and a curse. U.
HOMILIES BY H.T. ROBJOHNS
Vers. 1-17. Divine supplements for human infirmity.
therefore go, and I will be with thee," etc. (ver. 12.) It is not at all clear whether the four objections urged by Moses against receiving the Divine commission were presented at one interview with the manifested God, or whether the controversy recorded Exo_3:1-22; Exo_4:1-17, occupied weeks or months. The probabilities are in favour of some considerable time. See 4:10, and specially in the Hebrews In dealing with this particular plea, viz. the lack of eloquence, we must bear in mind that it is not for every man to be a Moses, or a preacher, or even a worker. True, there is a ministry for each and all; but some are called to, one of patience in suffering. Treat the subject therefore as one of Divine supplementing of human infirmity generally. Comp. 2Co_12:7-10.
I SHRINKING FROM DIVINE SERVICE. Not a doubt of this in the case of Moses. Earlier he was not unwilling to put himself forward as the champion of Israel Act_7:25; but diffidence came with years. So Jeremiah Jer_1:6. So all the prophets their message a "burden something heavy to be carried, to which they braced themselves. So Paul, 1Co_9:16. Nor is the feeling unhealthy or undesirable. Self-confidence looks at first the best preparation for great enterprises. But is it so? Leek at life. In all departments, to estimate aright the greatness of the work, the comparative feebleness of our resources, and yet the weight of our responsibility, is the condition of success; e.g. Lord Clyde in India. The Christian minister. By the reluctance of Moses, measure the irresistible impulse upon his spirit. Nor is consciousness of incapacity always the reality of incapacity.
II THE EXCUSE THAT IS OFFERED. Take ver. 10, translated thus: "And said Moses unto Jehovah, Let it please Thee, O Lord, not a man of words am I, either since yesterday, or since the day before, or since the time Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; for heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue am I
1. The time-hint. An intimation here of a long controversy between Moses and God.
2. The meaning of Moses. He was not a "man of words not eloquent, in the popular sense; he was heavy doubly heavy of lip and tongue. A great writer of poetry and prose, but not a speaker. This self-estimate just. Yet there were compensations. He was "mighty in word." Distinguish between fluency and power. He was, too, a man of thought. A man of action.
3. A lesson in passing: "Take heed how ye hear! heed what ye hear." Compare the massive eloquence of the Puritan age, and the men it made, with what seems to be now the taste of many for the sensational with present impatience of so-called "heavy" preaching. Where would Israel have been, had Israel turned its back on the "heavy" Moses, and followed the lead of the brilliant but perhaps shallow Aaron, who could make molten images under the very shadow of Sinai, the mount of God, ere reverberating thunders had died away in the desolation of the desert.
4. The essence of his excuse. The defect was to the mind of Moses fatal eloquence was the one quality material to his mission. To many missions (e.g. military or administrative) eloquence is not essential. The mission of Moses was diplomatic it needed tongue-power. "Say unto the elders of Israel!" "Say unto Pharaoh." He had to persuade a nation of slaves that he was the heaven-sent deliverer. He had to go into the audience-chamber of the greatest potentate of earth, and speak to him for a nation, and for Jehovah behind the nation. Just the one thing he could not do; and for which he had not the indispensable qualification. So in thousands of other eases, of various forms of duty and responsibility, of sorrow and perplexity. "Tongue" and "lip" and "word" are what the service demands, and all are wanting.
III THE DIVINE DECLINING OF EXCUSE. Notice
1. The changing tone. It is
(1) Encouraging. Vers. 11, 12.
(2) Indignant. Moses said, ver. 13: "Let it please Thee, O Lord, send I pray Thee by a hand Thou wilt send." (See the Hebrews) This sounds submissive, as though Moses meant, "Send me." But from the translation of the LXX the words seem to have carried a disloyal meaning, now lost in the Hebrews: "I pray Thee, O Lord, prepare for Thyself another capable, whom Thou wilt send." And so Jehovah was indignant. Self-diffidence may be carried too far. Yet was not Moses wholly cast away for Jehovah took up again a tone likely to woo him to his duty.
(3) Encouraging again: vers. 14-17.
2. The counter pleas. God allows the truth of all we say, and then comes in with his own Divine counter pleas why he should not accept either our excuses or declining of which the main articles are these: The glory of God will be manifested
(1) In the use of man at all. God might have glorified himself in breaking to pieces the empire of Egypt without the intervention of any human agency. Pietists have sometimes thought that they glorified God by making him everything, man nothing. But God glorifies himself more by using men, for men are such poor tools to work with. E.g. Quentin Matsys making the beautiful covering for the well that stands in front of Antwerp cathedral with only a file and hammer. How? Such work with only file and hammer? So great an overthrow here, and such a creation of nation and church by a man, and such a man? The strength of God is evermore working by our weakness.
(2) By the imperfection of our powers: vers. 11, 12. God the Creator of the imperfection as well as the power the dumbness of the dumb, as well as the eloquence of the eloquent. He does this i.e, supplements our imperfect power, by
1. Other faculties in the man. So here "the rod" of might in deed was to supplement the imperfect speech. See also above, II 2.
2. Other men. Here by Aaron, vers. 14 16.
3. Himself. In the earlier part of this controversy it was, "Certainly I will be with thee a general declaration. Now it is, "I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. " The Almighty power goes along with the imperfect organ of the Divine will. Apply as suggested above to all whether in the activity, or in the patience of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. R.
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 vv1–2 But, behold, they will not believe me.
Exo_4:1
But, behold, they will not believe me.
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Moses temptation to shrink from, the contest
Our duty to our Lord in this world requires that we should do somewhat more than live a life of obedience to Him. Our obedience must be acknowledged obedience. We must never be loth to say, Whose we are, and Whom we serve. We may read this lesson writ large in the history of Gods sending Moses to deliver His people. Moses went through a trial on Mount Horeb, the exact opposite of the trial of Christ.
I. Moses was tempted to decline the contest with the world altogether, to shrink from action and from prominence, when God called him. Christ was tempted to take the world by storm, to overwhelm it with conviction.
II. Moses was full of sympathy for the poor, full of a desire to see Gods ancient promises realized; but when the time came, and God said, Now go, then, for the first time, it flashed upon Moses that he was unfit to carry out what he had so aspired to be trusted with. His eighty years of life had been given him that in its vast experience he might learn that God was all, man was nothing. He had very nearly learned it in truth; the crust or chrysalis of self was very nearly ready to drop off; it needed just this interview with God to rid him of it entirely. He had seen the miraculous powers with which he had been endowed, but he had not fully understood them, and therefore his will was pausing still.
III. The voice of God within him and without him waxed more imperious. God sternly pointed out that such eloquence as he longed for was but a secondary qualification. Thy brother, I know that he can speak well; the legislator need not be the orator. There is not one of us who ever complained to God of insufficient strength without finding his complaint answered either by ministration of grace or disappearance of difficulties.
IV. What interests trembled in the balance while Moses was debating! It is not for ourselves only that we shall be responsible if we debate till the time is gone, (Archbishop Benson.)
Gods call and mans duty
I. God proposes great things to men. In proportion as any call in life is great, let the heart pause and consider whether its very greatness is not a proof of its divinity.
II. We are not to look at what we are, but at what God is. When He calls, He qualifies for the work
III. What is right in itself may be perverted and abused. Timidity is right in itself; but when pushed into cowardice, it is wrong. Self-distrust is right in itself; but if it degenerates into atheism, then it is the plague and destruction of the soul.
IV. Gods call to faith is the greatest call to his universe. Our duty is to go forward to the unknown and the invisible, and live by faith. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The mission of Moses
I. The nature of the mission.
1. Its difficulty and danger.
2. It was divinely appointed.
II. Moses was trained specially for it.
1. The school of providence.
2. Our need of discipline.
III. Moses was sufficiently equipped. The rod.
1. The use of little things.
2. The use of present means. Use what is in thy hand.
IV. Moses shrank from his mission. Modesty and self-distrust generally go with true greatness and exalted virtue. (P. S. Henson, D. D.)
The lament of the pulpit
I. The preacher has frequently to lament the scepticism of his congregation. Practical unbelief.
II. The preacher has frequently to lament the inattention of his congregation. Nothing worse than disobedience to the messages of God.
III. the preacher has frequently to lament the querulous spirit of his congregation. They question inspiration, preparation, qualification of teacher. And often in unkind, factious spirit. Should rather welcome him as from God, sent to achieve their moral freedom.
IV. That this conduct on the part of congregations has a most depressing influence on the minds of ministers. He needs the attention, sympathy, prayers, help of those whom he seeks to free from the tyranny of sin. He has enough to contend with external hindrances, with the opposition of Pharaoh, without having added to it that of the slave whose fetter he seeks to break. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Why did Moses imagine that the Israelites would not believe him
1. Because he knew that they were a stiff-necked people.
2. Because he considered himself of insufficient authority to command their respect.
3. Because the power and tyranny of Pharaoh would deter them from believing him.
4. Because they would think it unlikely that God, who had never been seen by man, should appear to him. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Human distrust
Human distrust is a difficulty which every preacher, teacher, and holy labourer has to encounter. All great movements are carried by consent of parties. God Himself cannot re-establish moral order without the concurrence of the powers that have rebelled against His rule. After all, the spiritual labourer has less to do with the unbelief of his hearers than with the instruction and authority of God. We have to ascertain what God the Lord would have us to say, and then to speak it simply and lovingly, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The preacher must prepare himself for having doubts thrown upon his authority; and he must take care that his answer to such doubts be as complete as the authority itself. God alone can give the true answer to human doubt. We are not to encounter scepticism with merely ingenious replies and clever arguments, but in the power and grace of the living God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Ministerial duty in spite of discouragement
Dr. Stevens narrates how an eminent minister was very much depressed by the unbelief of his congregation, and how his spirit of depression was shaken off. He dreamed that he was working with a pick-axe on the top of a basaltic rock, which remained non-riven in spite of repeated strokes of his arm of muscle. When about to give up in despair, a stranger of solemn and dignified demeanour appeared on the scene, who reminded him that as a servant he was bound to go on whether the rock yielded or not. Work is your duty; leave the results to God, were the last words of his strange visitor. The result was that the discouraged pastor resumed his work, and was abundantly rewarded by the shattering of the rock of unbelief and indifference among his flock.
Frailty invested with divinity
If we pause for a moment and consider the almost insurmountable difficulties which stood in the way of Israels redemption from Egypt, we can readily appreciate the hesitation on the part of Moses before undertaking this herculean task. Egypt at that time was one of the most powerful of nations. It was not that Egypt desired simply to hold Israel in subjection, that such a strict and powerful sovereignty was exercised; hut the Israelites had become the servants, the slaves of the Egyptians, and as such were almost necessary to the vigour of the nation. Besides, four centuries of oppression had left their deep and degrading mark upon the children of Israel. They had become in a measure satisfied with their condition. Hope had taken to itself wings. Ambition had died within them. There native fire and energy had wasted away. To redeem a people who do not care to be redeemed, to set free a nation which is content with captivity, is a work well-nigh impossible. And then, to add to the difficulty of the case, supposing even that they were free, where will they go? Their own land, the land promised to their father Abraham, is already occupied. Warlike tribes have come down from the north and strongly entrenched themselves within its borders. Who and what am I, said Moses, that I should go upon this great mission? What proofs can I bring to assure the people that I am come from God? They will not believe my word, and they will ask, Where is the God of our fathers and what is His name? What sign have I to convince them? What power have I to display? At length God answers, What is that in thy hand? And he said a rod. He was told to cast it upon the ground, when all at once it became a writhing serpent. You will notice all through the Scriptures in the dealings of God with His people, that in almost every instance He proceeds upon the principle contained in our text. When any great work is to be done, when any special mission is to be undertaken, God does not bring down to the accomplishment of His purpose strange or wonderful agencies, but He rather takes the simple things that lie about common life, and makes them achieve the Divine will. God seems to take the most exquisite pleasure in clothing human frailty with Divine strength and beauty, and imparting to the most ordinary and trivial things, heavenly meaning and significance. Indeed, Gods constant purpose seems to have been to unite this world with another one, to blend this life with a life infinitely higher and grander. Life is robbed of all its harmony, all its grace, all its impressiveness if we ever allow it to become separated from the Divine and the eternal, and the little boat which is unswung from the davits and carried off by a huge billow from its place on the ocean steamer, is no more helpless as it rolls in the trough of the sea, and is no more pitiable in its desolation, than the life which is adrift from God out upon the great waters of human experience and distress. To many life is a weary drudgery all the way from the cradle to the grave. It is nothing but work and eat and sleep. Once in a great while there is a little change, but not often. The great bulk of life is a sad monotony, and millions look forward to the quiet and rest of the grave. And why are these people in this dismal plight? Simply because their life is not connected with the Divine life, because this world is not made a part of the heavenly world, and like a car which has become detached from the swift express and flung out upon a siding, it stands helpless and forsaken in the dark and dismal night. Suppose that here are three plates of common glass a foot square, an eighth or a quarter of an inch in thickness, and suppose that they are given to three men to dispose of them as they please. One takes his and he covers it with black enamel, and on the ebonized surface he paints a human face, or some lovely flowers. Another takes his and he spreads upon it a solution of quicksilver and it becomes a mirror throwing back to the beholder his own face and expression. But the third takes his to the best room in his house, he inserts it in the window which has the most commanding view, and then carefully removing all the dust and finger-marks, he looks through its open substance and sees the skies in their morning beauty, the fields in living green or glistening white, and thus brings heaven and earth within the circle of that room. Now these are the ways in which most of us live. We take our life and we enamel or ebonize it. We make it opaque. We cannot see through it to anything that lies beyond; and though we paint it, and try to adorn it, yet we in no wise remove the mystery; the darkness in the sad background which even the flowers will not hide away. Some use the coating of mercury, and make their life nothing but a mirror which reflects themselves. Self is the image ever rising before their eyes. But the wise man makes this life simply a transparency through which he can see the life of God. There are three forms of power by which the machinery of clocks is kept in motion. The first and the one of the oldest date is that of the weight suspended upon a chain or rope. The bulk and heaviness of the weight was always in proportion to the size of the clock, and the wheels were literally driven by the sheer force of the big weights as they slowly descended. The second is that of the spring, the band of steel coiled within its cylinder spending its strength in expansion, and forcing the wheels to revolve in its great desire to get free. The third is that of electricity, where the current is carried along the wire from the central battery. Silently, but almost irresistibly, the mysterious force operates upon the machinery, ensuring an accuracy and faithfulness which can be gained in no other way. And in these we have illustrations of how human life is carried on. Many of us go by weight. We are dragged down by heaviness and toil, and compelled by the demands of circumstances to go our weary round. Others go through by the sheer force of their own energy. They have power and strength in themselves to propel them around the dial-plate of common existence, and in this way they fulfil the measure of their days. But some have an electric current. The wires of their thought are in connection with the great battery of God. Life to them is not a mere drag. Life to them is not merely an expenditure of vital force. Life to them means heavenly communion, Divine fellowship, holy enjoyment, and the days of their pilgrimage are accomplished in simple dependence upon the Almighty will. Now, what seems to be the very plain, the very obvious meaning of this rod? Is it not this: that the most common things within our possession, and under our control, can be so wrought upon by Divine influence, and so charged with Divine power, as to accomplish the most strange and glorious results? St. Paul tells us in the Epistle to the Corinthians that God has a strange choice in the selection of His instrumentalities: Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And if you will go down the lines of history you will see that God has carried out this principle in its integrity. And this ought not to strike us as either strange or remarkable, because we do just the same ourselves. We take the most common things that we can find, and we unite them with other things until we finally develop the most potential forces of our time. A few gallons of water, a few pieces of coal are enough to send the mad steam hissing through the pipes, eager to turn yon giant engine, or send the train of cars thundering along the line. A few drops of vitriol, a few pieces of prepared zinc, a single thread of wire, and lo, the electric force flashes as light around our world. A few grains of charcoal and sulphur mixed with nitre are sufficient to give us the dreadful gunpowder which sends iron giants swinging in the air that beat into ruin walls and parapets of stone. We take the most common rods that Nature has in her hand, and we breathe upon them, and they become instinct with life; we give them of our genius and our strength; we lift them up out of their low estate. We take the iron and the coal from the mines, we dig out the metals that are in the hills, we dignify them and ennoble them until at length they become our most valued agents and servants. But we must always remember that the rod of itself will be valueless unless it have with it the presence and favour of God. Of what worth was the mere rod which Moses held in his hand that day as he stood before the burning bush? In all probability it was only the shepherds crook which he used while attending the flocks of Jethro. The rod itself was almost of no value whatever. And so exactly with our life. Before we can be really useful, before we can accomplish any great work, before we can live up to the measure of our power, we must first of all meet with God. We must stand before the burning bush; we must listen to the Divine voice; we must receive the heavenly commission; we must accept the Divine command. Until this is done our life is nothing but a rod--a rod without any special use or intrinsic value, and which will one day break in our hands, and be cast into the fire and be destroyed. Look how this is illustrated: What is that in thy hand? A sling, said David. It is enough; go up against the giant; and the great Goliath fell before the shepherd-boy. What is that in thy hand? A sword, answered Jonathan. It is enough, and the brave youth, followed by his armour-bearer, goes up against an army, and the Philistines are defeated by these twain. What is that in thy hand? A piece of parchment, answered Luther. It is enough, and he proceeds to nail his famous protest upon the doors of the Roman Church and the era of the Reformation broke upon darkened Europe. What is that in thy hand? A pen, said Bunyan, as he spoke from under the arches of Bedford jail. It is enough, and he wrote the story of the Pilgrims Progress, which will live while the world endures. Men and women, with common, simple things about them, have heard the voice of God, and doing just what their hand found to do, they made their life memorable in the history of the Church and accomplished the Divine will. What is that in your hand? Only a rod, answers the mother from beside the cradle, the workman standing at the bench, the clerk behind the counter, the man of business at his desk. Only a rod, and is that all? Oh, there is something of far greater value than you now suppose. Ask that honest farmer in a few weeks from now standing in the open furrows, what is that in his hand, and he will answer, only a few grains of seed. But is that all? Far from it. Those grains of seed contain the germs of the great harvest which will fill our lands with plenty, and crowd the threshing-floors with abundance. Then say not Only a rod. There is no such word as only about human life. Every part of it is invested with mysterious grandeur and possibility. We cannot tell how far the most simple thing will reach. A word dropped from our lips, a hand clasped within ours, something apparently trifling done and then forgotten, will go on long after we have passed away, and a life which throws its shadows all down eternity cannot have anything but which is of value. (J. W. Johnston.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER IV.
MOSES HESITATES.
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Exo_4:1-17.
Holy Scripture is impartial, even towards its heroes. The sin of David is recorded, and the failure of Peter. And so is the reluctance of Moses to accept his commission, even after a miracle had been vouchsafed to him for encouragement. The absolute sinlessness of Jesus is the more significant because it is found in the records of a creed which knows of no idealised humanity.
In Josephus, the refusal of Moses is softened down. Even the modest words, "Lord, I am still in doubt how I, a private man and of no abilities, should persuade my countrymen or Pharaoh," are not spoken after the sign is given. Nor is there any mention of the transfer to Aaron of a part of his commission, nor of their joint offence at Meribah, nor of its penalty, which in Scripture is bewailed so often. And Josephus is equally tender about the misdeeds of the nation. We hear nothing of their murmurs against Moses and Aaron when their burdens are increased, or of their making the golden calf. Whereas it is remarkable and natural that the fear of Moses is less anxious about his reception by the tyrant than by his own people: "Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." This is very unlike the invention of a later period, glorifying the beginnings of the nation; but it is absolutely true to life. Great men do not fear the wrath of enemies if they can be secured against the indifference and contempt of friends; and Moses in particular was at last persuaded to undertake his mission by the promise of the support of Aaron. His hesitation is therefore the earliest example of what has been so often since observed--the discouragement of heroes, reformers and messengers from God, less by fear of the attacks of the world than of the contemptuous scepticism of the people of God. We often sigh for the appearing, in our degenerate days, of
"A man with heart, head, hand, Like some of the simple great ones gone."
Yet who shall say that the want of them is not our own fault? The critical apathy and incredulity, not of the world but of the Church, is what freezes the fountains of Christian daring and the warmth of Christian zeal.
For the help of the faith of his people, Moses is commissioned to work two miracles; and he is caused to rehearse them, for his own.
Strange tales were told among the later Jews about his wonder-working rod. It was cut by Adam before leaving Paradise, was brought by Noah into the ark, passed into Egypt with Joseph, and was recovered by Moses while he enjoyed the favour of the court. These legends arose from downright moral inability to receive the true lesson of the incident, which is the confronting of the sceptre of Egypt with the simple staff of the shepherd, the choosing of the weak things of earth to confound the strong, the power of God to work His miracles by the most puny and inadequate means. Anything was more credible than that He who led His people like sheep did indeed guide them with a common shepherd's crook. And yet this was precisely the lesson meant for us to learn--the glorification of poor resources in the grasp of faith.
Both miracles were of a menacing kind. First the rod became a serpent, to declare that at God's bidding enemies would rise up against the oppressor, even where all seemed innocuous, as in truth the waters of the river and the dust of the furnace and the winds of heaven conspired against him. Then, in the grasp of Moses, the serpent from which he fled became a rod again, to intimate that these avenging forces were subject to the servant of Jehovah.
Again, his hand became leprous in his bosom, and was presently restored to health again--a declaration that he carried with him the power of death, in its most dreadful form; and perhaps a still more solemn admonition to those who remember what leprosy betokens, and how every approach of God to man brings first the knowledge of sin, to be followed by the assurance that He has cleansed it.[7]
If the people would not hearken to the voice of the first sign, they should believe the second; but at the worst, and if they were still unconvinced, they would believe when they saw the water of the Nile, the pride and glory of their oppressors, turned into blood before their eyes. That was an omen which needs no interpretation. What follows is curious. Moses objects that he has not hitherto been eloquent, nor does he experience any improvement "since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant" (a graphic touch!), and he seems to suppose that the popular choice between liberty and slavery would depend less upon the evidence of a Divine power than upon sleight of tongue, as if he were in modern England.
But let it be observed that the self-consciousness which wears the mask of humility while refusing to submit its judgment to that of God, is a form of selfishness--self-absorption blinding one to other considerations beyond himself--as real, though not as hateful, as greed and avarice and lust.
How can Moses call himself slow of speech and of a slow tongue, when Stephen distinctly declares that he was mighty in word as well as deed? (Act_7:22). Perhaps it is enough to answer that many years of solitude in a strange land had robbed him of his fluency. Perhaps Stephen had in mind the words of the Book of Wisdom, that "Wisdom entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs.... For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent" (Wisdom x. 16, 21).
To his scruple the answer was returned, "Who hath made man's mouth?... Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." The same encouragement belongs to every one who truly executes a mandate from above: "Lo, I am with you alway." For surely this encouragement is the same. Surely Jesus did not mean to offer His own presence as a substitute for that of God, but as being in very truth Divine, when He bade His disciples, in reliance upon Him, to go forth and convert the world.
And this is the true test which divides faith from presumption, and unbelief from prudence: do we go because God is with us in Christ, or because we ourselves are strong and wise? Do we hold back because we are not sure of His commission, or only because we distrust ourselves? "Humility without faith is too timorous; faith without humility is too hasty." The phrase explains the conduct of Moses both now and forty years before.
Moses, however, still entreats that any one may be chosen rather than himself: "Send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send."
And thereupon the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, although at the moment his only visible punishment was the partial granting of his prayer--the association with him in his commission of Aaron, who could speak well, the forfeiting of a certain part of his vocation, and with it of a certain part of its reward. The words, "Is not Aaron thy brother the Levite?" have been used to insinuate that the tribal arrangement was not perfected when they were written, and so to discredit the narrative. But when so interpreted they yield no adequate sense, they do not reinforce the argument; while they are perfectly intelligible as implying that Aaron is already the leader of his tribe, and therefore sure to obtain the hearing of which Moses despaired. But the arrangement involved grave consequences sure to be developed in due time: among others, the reliance of Israel upon a feebler will, which could be forced by their clamour to make them a calf of gold. Moses was yet to learn that lesson which our century knows nothing of,--that a speaker and a leader of nations are not the same. When he cried to Aaron, in the bitterness of his soul, "What did this people to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" did he remember by whose unfaithfulness Aaron had been thrust into the office, the responsibilities of which he had betrayed?
Now, it is the duty of every man, to whom a special vocation presents itself, to set opposite each other two considerations. Dare I undertake this task? is a solemn question, but so is this: Dare I let this task go past me? Am I prepared for the responsibility of allowing it to drift into weaker hands? These are days when the Church of Christ is calling for the help of every one capable of aiding her, and we ought to hear it said more often that one is afraid not to teach in Sunday School, and another dares not refuse a proffered district, and a third fears to leave charitable tasks undone. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin; and we hear too much about the terrible responsibility of working for God, but too little about the still graver responsibility of refusing to work for Him when called.
Moses indeed attained so much that we are scarcely conscious that he might have been greater still. He had once presumed to go unsent, and brought upon himself the exile of half a lifetime. Again he presumed almost to say, I go not, and well-nigh to incur the guilt of Jonah when sent to Nineveh, and in so doing he forfeited the fulness of his vocation. But who reaches the level of his possibilities? Who is not haunted by faces, "each one a murdered self," a nobler self, that might have been, and is now impossible for ever? Only Jesus could say "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." And it is notable that while Jesus deals, in the parable of the labourers, with the problem of equal faithfulness during longer and shorter periods of employment; and in the parable of the pounds with that of equal endowment variously improved; and yet again, in the parable of the talents, with the problem of various endowments all doubled alike, He always draws a veil over the treatment of five talents which earn but two or three besides.
A more cheerful reflection suggested by this narrative is the strange power of human fellowship. Moses knew and was persuaded that God, Whose presence was even then miraculously apparent in the bush, and Who had invested him with superhuman powers, would go with him. There is no trace of incredulity in his behaviour, but only of failure to rely, to cast his shrinking and reluctant will upon the truth he recognised and the God Whose presence he confessed. He held back, as many a one does, who is honest when he repeats the Creed in church, yet fails to submit his life to the easy yoke of Jesus. Nor is it from physical peril that he recoils: at the bidding of God he has just grasped the serpent from which he fled; and in confronting a tyrant with armies at his back, he could hope for small assistance from his brother. But highly strung spirits, in every great crisis, are aware of vague indefinite apprehensions that are not cowardly but imaginative. Thus C¾sar, when defying the hosts of Pompey, is said to have been disturbed by an apparition. It is vain to put these apprehensions into logical form, and argue them down: the slowness of speech of Moses was surely refuted by the presence of God, Who makes the mouth and inspires the utterance; but such fears lie deeper than the reasons they assign, and when argument fails, will yet stubbornly repeat their cry: "Send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send." Now this shrinking, which is not craven, is dispelled by nothing so effectually as by the touch of a human hand. It is like the voice of a friend to one beset by ghostly terrors: he does not expect his comrade to exorcise a spirit, and yet his apprehensions are dispelled. Thus Moses cannot summon up courage from the protection of God, but when assured of the companionship of his brother he will not only venture to return to Egypt, but will bring with him his wife and children. Thus, also, He Who knew what was in men's hearts sent forth His missionaries, both the Twelve and the Seventy (as we have yet to learn the true economy of sending ours), "by two and two" (Mar_6:7; Luk_10:1).
This is the principle which underlies the institution of the Church of Christ, and the conception that Christians are brothers, among whom the strong must help the weak. Such help from their fellow-mortals would perhaps decide the choice of many hesitating souls, upon the verge of the divine life, recoiling from its unknown and dread experiences, but longing for a sympathising comrade. Alas for the unkindly and unsympathetic religion of men whose faith has never warmed a human heart, and of congregations in which emotion is a misdemeanour!
There is no stronger force, among all that make for the abuses of priestcraft, than this same yearning for human help becomes when robbed of its proper nourishment, which is the communion of saints, and the pastoral care of souls. Has it no further nourishment than these? This instinctive craving for a Brother to help as well as a Father to direct and govern,--this social instinct, which banished the fears of Moses and made him set out for Egypt long before Aaron came in sight, content when assured of Aaron's co-operation,--is there nothing in God Himself to respond to it? He Who is not ashamed to call us brethren has profoundly modified the Church's conception of Jehovah, the Eternal, Absolute and Unconditioned. It is because He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, that we are bidden to draw near with boldness unto the Throne of Grace. There is no heart so lonely that it cannot commune with the lofty and kind humanity of Jesus.
There is a homelier lesson to be learned. Moses was not only solaced by human fellowship, but nerved and animated by the thought of his brother, and the mention of his tribe. "Is not Aaron thy brother the Levite?" They had not met for forty years. Vague rumours of deadly persecution were doubtless all that had reached the fugitive, whose heart had burned, in solitary communion with Nature in her sternest forms, as he brooded over the wrongs of his family, of Aaron, and perhaps of Miriam.
And now his brother lived. The call which Moses would have put from him was for the emancipation of his own flesh and blood, and for their greatness. In that great hour, domestic affection did much to turn the scale wherein the destinies of humanity were trembling. And his was affection well returned. It might easily have been otherwise, for Aaron had seen his younger brother called to a dazzling elevation, living in enviable magnificence, and earning fame by "word and deed"; and then, after a momentary fusion of sympathy and of condition, forty years had poured between them a torrent of cares and joys estranging because unshared. But it was promised that Aaron, when he saw him, should be glad at heart; and the words throw a beam of exquisite light into the depths of the mighty soul which God inspired to emancipate Israel and to found His Church, by thoughts of his brother's joy on meeting him.
Let no man dream of attaining real greatness by stifling his affections. The heart is more important than the intellect; and the brief story of the Exodus has room for the yearning of Jochebed over her infant "when she saw him that he was a goodly child," for the bold inspiration of the young poetess, who "stood afar off to know what should be done to him," and now for the love of Aaron. So the Virgin, in the dread hour of her reproach, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth. So Andrew "findeth first his own brother Simon." And so the Divine Sufferer, forsaken of God, did not forsake His mother.
The Bible is full of domestic life. It is the theme of the greater part of Genesis, which makes the family the seed-plot of the Church. It is wisely recognised again at the moment when the larger pulse of the nation begins to beat. For the life-blood in the heart of a nation must be the blood in the hearts of men.
MOSES OBEYS.
Exo_4:18-31.
Moses is now commissioned: he is to go to Egypt, and Aaron is coming thence to meet him. Yet he first returns to Midian, to Jethro, who is both his employer and the head of the family, and prays him to sanction his visit to his own people.
There are duties which no family resistance can possibly cancel, and the direct command of God made it plain that this was one of them. But there are two ways of performing even the most imperative obligation, and religious people have done irreparable mischief before now, by rudeness, disregard to natural feeling and the rights of their fellow-men, under the impression that they showed their allegiance to God by outraging other ties. It is a theory for which no sanction can be found either in Holy Scripture or in common sense.
When he asks permission to visit "his brethren" we cannot say whether he ever had brothers besides Aaron, or uses the word in the same larger national sense as when we read that, forty years before, he went out unto his brethren and saw their burdens. What is to be observed is that he is reticent with respect to his vast expectations and designs.
He does not argue that, because a Divine promise must needs be fulfilled, he need not be discreet, wary and taciturn, any more than St. Paul supposed, because the lives of his shipmates were promised to him, that it mattered nothing whether the sailors remained on board.
The decrees of God have sometimes been used to justify the recklessness of man, but never by His chosen followers. They have worked out their own salvation the more earnestly because God worked in them. And every good cause calls aloud for human energy and wisdom, all the more because its consummation is the will of God, and sooner or later is assured. Moses has unlearned his rashness.
When the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, "Go, return unto Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life," there is an almost verbal resemblance to the words in which the infant Jesus is recalled from exile. We shall have to consider the typical aspect of the whole narrative, when a convenient stage is reached for pausing to survey it in its completeness. But resemblances like this have been treated with so much scorn, they have been so freely perverted into evidence of the mythical nature of the later story, that some passing allusion appears desirable. We must beware equally of both extremes. The Old Testament is tortured, and genuine prophecies are made no better than coincidences, when coincidences are exalted to all the dignity of express predictions. One can scarcely venture to speak of the death of Herod when Jesus was to return from Egypt, as being deliberately typified in the death of those who sought the life of Moses. But it is quite clear that the words in St. Matthew do intentionally point the reader back to this narrative. For, indeed, under both, there are to be recognised the same principles: that God does not thrust His servants into needless or excessive peril; and that when the life of a tyrant has really become not only a trial but a barrier, it will be removed by the King of kings. God is prudent for His heroes.
Moreover, we must recognise the lofty fitness of what is very visible in the Gospels--the coming to a head in Christ of the various experiences of the people of God; and at the recurrence, in His story, of events already known elsewhere, we need not be disquieted, as if the suspicion of a myth were now become difficult to refute; rather should we recognise the fulness of the supreme life, and its points of contact with all lives, which are but portions of its vast completeness. Who does not feel that in the world's greatest events a certain harmony and correspondence are as charming as they are in music? There is a sort of counterpoint in history. And to this answering of deep unto deep, this responsiveness of the story of Jesus to all history, our attention is silently beckoned by St. Matthew, when, without asserting any closer link between the incidents, he borrows this phrase so aptly.
A much deeper meaning underlies the profound expression which God now commands Moses to employ; and although it must await consideration at a future time, the progressive education of Moses himself is meantime to be observed. At first he is taught that the Lord is the God of their fathers, in whose descendants He is therefore interested. Then the present Israel is His people, and valued for its own sake. Now he hears, and is bidden to repeat to Pharaoh, the amazing phrase, "Israel is My son, even My firstborn: let My son go that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Thus it is that infant faith is led from height to height. And assuredly there never was an utterance better fitted than this to prepare human minds, in the fulness of time, for a still clearer revelation of the nearness of God to man, and for the possibility of an absolute union between the Creator and His creature.
It was on his way into Egypt, with his wife and children, that a mysterious interposition forced Zipporah reluctantly and tardily to circumcise her son.
The meaning of this strange episode lies perhaps below the surface, but very near it. Danger in some form, probably that of sickness, pressed Moses hard, and he recognised in it the displeasure of his God. The form of the narrative leads us to suppose that he had no previous consciousness of guilt, and had now to infer the nature of his offence without any explicit announcement, just as we infer it from what follows.
If so, he discerned his transgression when trouble awoke his conscience; and so did his wife Zipporah. Yet her resistance to the circumcision of their younger son was so tenacious, with such difficulty was it overcome by her husband's peril or by his command, that her tardy performance of the rite was accompanied by an insulting action and a bitter taunt. As she submitted, the Lord "let him go"; but we may perhaps conclude that the grievance continued to rankle, from the repetition of her gibe, "So she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou because of the circumcision." The words mean, "We are betrothed again in blood," and might of themselves admit a gentler, and even a tender significance; as if, in the sacrifice of a strong prejudice for her husband's sake, she felt a revival of "the kindness of her youth, the love of her espousals." For nothing removes the film from the surface of a true affection, and makes the heart aware how bright it is, so well as a great sacrifice, frankly offered for the sake of love.
But such a rendering is excluded by the action which went with her words, and they must be explained as meaning, This is the kind of husband I have wedded: these are our espousals. With such an utterance she fades almost entirely out of the story: it does not even tell how she drew back to her father; and thenceforth all we know of her is that she rejoined Moses only when the fame of his victory over Amalek had gone abroad.
Their union seems to have been an ill-assorted or at least an unprosperous one. In the tender hour when their firstborn was to be named, the bitter sense of loneliness had continued to be nearer to the heart of Moses than the glad new consciousness of paternity, and he said, "I am a stranger in a strange land." Different indeed had been the experience of Joseph, who called his "firstborn Manasseh, for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house" (Gen_41:51). The home-life of Moses had not made him forget that he was an exile. Even the removal of imminent death from her husband could not hush these selfish complaints of Zipporah, not because he was a father of blood to her little one, but because he was a bridegroom of blood to her own shrinking sensibilities. It is Miriam the sister, not Zipporah the wife, who gives lyrical and passionate voice to his triumph, and is mourned by the nation when she dies. Both what we read of her and what we do not read goes far to explain the insignificance of their children in history, and the more startling fact that the grandson of Moses became the venal instrument of the Danites in their schismatic worship (Jdg_18:30, R.V.).
Domestic unhappiness is a palliation, but not a justification, for an unserviceable life. It is a great advantage to come into action with the dew and freshness of affection upon the soul. Yet it is not once nor twice that men have carried the message of God back from the barren desert and the lonely ways of their unhappiness to the not too happy race of man.
Now, who can fail to discern real history in all this? Is it in such a way that myth or legend would have dealt with the wife of the great deliverer? Still less conceivable is it that these should have treated Moses himself as the narrative hitherto has consistently done. At every step he is made to stumble. His first attempt was homicidal, and brought upon him forty years of exile. When the Divine commission came he drew back wilfully, as he had formerly pressed forward unsent. There is not even any suggestion offered us of Stephen's apology for his violent deed--namely, that he supposed his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance (Act_7:25). There is nothing that resembles the eulogium of the Epistle to the Hebrews upon the faith which glorified his precipitancy, like the rainbow in a torrent, because that rash blow committed him to share the affliction of the people of God, and renounced the rank of a grand son of the Pharaoh (Heb_11:24-25). All this is very natural, if Moses himself be in any degree responsible for the narrative. It is incredible, if the narrative were put together after the Captivity, to claim the sanction of so great a name for a newly forged hierarchical system. Such a theory could scarcely be refuted more completely, if the narrative before us were invented with the deliberate aim to overthrow it.
But in truth the failures of the good and great are written for our admonition, teaching us how inconsistent are even the best of mortals, and how weak the most resolute. Rather than forfeit his own place among the chosen people, Moses had forsaken a palace and become a proscribed fugitive; yet he had neglected to claim for his child its rightful share in the covenant, its recognition among the sons of Abraham. Perhaps procrastination, perhaps domestic opposition, more potent than a king's wrath to shake his purpose, perhaps the insidious notion that one who had sacrificed so much might be at ease about slight negligences,--some such influence had left the commandment unobserved. And now, when the dream of his life was being realised at last, and he found himself the chosen instrument of God for the rebuke of one nation and the making of another, how pardonable it must have seemed to leave an unpleasant small domestic duty over until a more convenient season! How natural it still seems to merge the petty task in the high vocation, to excuse small lapses in pursuit of lofty aims! But this was the very time when God, hitherto forbearing, took him sternly to task for his neglect, because men who are especially honoured should be more obedient and reverential than their fellows. Let young men who dream of a vast career, and meanwhile indulge themselves in small obliquities, let all who cast out demons in the name of Christ, and yet work iniquity, reflect upon this chosen and long-trained, self-sacrificing and ardent servant of the Lord, whom Jehovah seeks to kill because he wilfully disobeys even a purely ceremonial precept.
Moses was not only religious, but "a man of destiny," one upon whom vast interests depended. Now, such men have often reckoned themselves exempt from the ordinary laws of conduct.[8]
It is not a light thing, therefore, to find God's indignant protest against the faintest shadow of a doctrine so insidious and so deadly, set in the forefront of sacred history, at the very point where national concerns and those of religion begin to touch. If our politics are to be kept pure and clean, we must learn to exact a higher fidelity, and not a relaxed morality, from those who propose to sway the destinies of nations.
And now the brothers meet, embrace, and exchange confidences. As Andrew, the first disciple who brought another to Jesus, found first his own brother Simon, so was Aaron the earliest convert to the mission of Moses. And that happened which so often puts our faithlessness to shame. It had seemed very hard to break his strange tidings to the people: it was in fact very easy to address one whose love had not grown cold during their severance, who probably retained faith in the Divine purpose for which the beautiful child of the family had been so strangely preserved, and who had passed through trial and discipline unknown to us in the stern intervening years.
And when they told their marvellous story to the elders of the people, and displayed the signs, they believed; and when they heard that God had visited them in their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
This was their preparation for the wonders that should follow: it resembled Christ's appeal, "Believest thou that I am able to do this?" or Peter's word to the impotent man, "Look on us."
For the moment the announcement had the desired effect, although too soon the early promise was succeeded by faithlessness and discontent. In this, again, the teaching of the earliest political movement on record is as fresh as if it were a tale of yesterday. The offer of emancipation stirs all hearts; the romance of liberty is beautiful beside the Nile as in the streets of Paris; but the cost has to be gradually learned; the losses displace the gains in the popular attention; the labour, the self-denial and the self-control grow wearisome, and Israel murmurs for the flesh-pots of Egypt, much as the modern revolution reverts to a despotism. It is one thing to admire abstract freedom, but a very different thing to accept the austere conditions of the life of genuine freemen. And surely the same is true of the soul. The gospel gladdens the young convert: he bows his head and worships; but he little dreams of his long discipline, as in the forty desert years, of the solitary places through which his soul must wander, the drought, the Amalekite, the absent leader, and the temptations of the flesh. In mercy, the long future is concealed; it is enough that, like the apostles, we should consent to follow; gradually we shall obtain the courage to which the task may be revealed.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Tertullian appealed to the second of these miracles to illustrate the possibility of the resurrection. "The hand of Moses is changed and becomes like that of the dead, bloodless, colourless, and stiff with cold. But on the recovery of heat and restoration of its natural colour, it is the same flesh and blood.... So will changes, conversions and reformation be needed to bring about the resurrection, yet the substance will be preserved safe." (De Res., lv.) It is far wiser to be content with the declaration of St. Paul that the identity of the body does not depend on that of its corporeal atoms. "Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but a naked grain.... But God giveth ... to every seed his own body" (1Co_15:37-38).
[8] "I am not an ordinary man," Napoleon used to say, "and the laws of morals and of custom were never made for me."--Memoirs of Madame de RŽmusat, i. 91.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Exo_4:1. Kept] Not merely once upon a time; but…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_4:1. Kept] Not merely once upon a time; but statedly, as his usual occupation: lit., “he had come to be shepherding,” the participle denoting continuance. Backside] That is, “to the west:” the east being the quarter towards wh. one is supposed to look (Gesenius, Fürst, Davies).
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Exo_4:2. A bush] Lit., “the thorn-bush.” According to Brugsch, the thorny acacia. The definiteness may be accounted for on the ground of either (a) local notoriety—“the well-known thorn-bush of the neighbourhood;” or (b) historical familiarity—“the particular thorn-bush of wh. M. had so often spoken.” Prob. the humble thorn-bush represented Israel in the fire of affliction. Burned] Render, more vividly: “was burning” Note also the repetition of the noun; who both for this reason, and because of its position in the Hob., is emphatic, as if asking to be reiterated with the tone of surprise: “Behold the THORN-BUSH was burning with fire, and yet the THORN-BUSH was not consumed!”
Exo_4:3. Is not burnt] Better: “does not burn up:” the imperfect tense.
Exo_4:5. Shoes] That is, “sandals.” This command “may be accounted from the custom, in the East, of wearing shoes or sandals merely as protection from dirt. No Brahmin enters a pagoda, no Moslem a mosque, without first taking off at least his overshoes; and even in Grecian temples, the priests and priestesses performed the service barefooted. When entering other holy places also, the Arabs and Samaritans, and even the Yezidis of Mesopotamia take off their shoes, that the place may not be defiled by the dirt or dust upon them.” (Keil).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_4:1-5
THE DEGRADATION OF USEFUL THINGS
Moses held a rod in his hand—useful for support—for help—for advancement—for protection—as a token of office—which, being cast upon the ground, lost all capability for usefulness, became offensive, injurious, poisonous; but the Divine command restored it to its original condition of utility and worth. This incident is typical of much that is going on around us in every-day life, where useful things, intended for the political, social, and moral good of men, are so cast upon the ground and degraded, that they become positively inimicable to the welfare of the race. Also, there is in the world a Divine power whereby all this degradation is divested of moral injury, and restored to its original condition of utility. We wish to regard this incident in a parabolic light:—
I. That man has, to an alarming extent, the ability to degrade useful things. “And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent.”
1. He has the ability to degrade Divine Truth. Heavenly truth and doctrine, as made known by God—as enunciated in the Bible—when held as a rod in the hand of man for his moral direction, guidance, and advancement—is most useful and absolutely needful to his salvation; but when, by profanity, by unholy doubt, by wilful rejection, by cold scepticism, it is cast on the ground, it becomes a serpent, the enemy of man, to predict his ruin. Who can look out upon the world without seeing to what an alarming extent the sublime truths, books, people of God, are degraded by the worldly and the sceptical? We wonder that the men who occasion such degradation do not flee from before their own profanity.
2. He has the ability to degrade the pulpit. All must admit the great utility of the pulpit, especially when they consider how it instructs the mind of the nation, how it appeals to the consciences of men, and how it quickens and cultures the spiritual life of the Church. Yet, how frequently is it cast upon the ground, by giving forth uncertain doctrine, by pandering to the sensational requirements of the age, and by ministerial inconsistency. At such times it becomes as a serpent to inflict moral injury upon the weak and scoffing. How many have been brought to reject religion by the unhallowed conduct of its professed teachers. May the Christian Church be delivered from the venom of this serpent!
3. He has the ability to degrade the press. None will deny the utility of the press. It is the great instrument of civilization—has done more than any other agency of human invention to instruct the world in the truth of the Bible, in the mystery of science, in the philosophy of history. If you were to remove the printing press out of the world, men would soon return to the darkness of the middle ages. Yet, how has this valuable instrumentality been degraded. Think of the pernicious literature that it annually circulates, with inaccurate views of life—exciting, false, unhealthy—altogether enervating to the manhood of those who read it. This degradation of the press is one of the most solemn and lamentable facts of the age. It has indeed become a serpent of the most formidable character, and is doing more to injure the mental life of the young than perhaps anything else.
4. That men are often terrified by the degradation they have occasioned. “And Moses fled from before it.” No doubt many an infidel has fled from before the phantoms of his own unbelief, and from before the dark abyss toward which his conscience has pointed him. Many a fallen minister has fled from before the enormity of his own sin and ruin. And who will say that many a novel writer and newspaper contributor has not, in quiet moments of reflection, trembled at the result of his own profanity. All men will one day experience a desire to flee from before their sins, to escape their terrible retribution.
II. That there is in religion a restoring influence, whereby useful things that have been degraded may be uplifted to their proper condition. “And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.”
1. This restoration is exclusive and extensive. It is exclusive in that it can only be accomplished by religion. Nothing can re-change the serpents of daily life into rods but the Word of God, and Divine influence working in the line of human effort. God told Moses to put forth his hand and take it by the tail. Men must do their part, then Heaven will help them in this great work of restoration. Legislation cannot make a sceptic into a believer of Divine truth. It may do much to suppress a pernicious literature, but with great difficulty, as men immediately cry out for the freedom of the press; it will never remove the desire for a mental stimulant in the shape of unreal fiction. Education may do something towards taming the serpents of human life, but it will leave them serpents—it cannot change them into rods. This Christianity alone can do; and happily her influence is co-extensive with the degradation. Not one serpent in the universe is beyond the charm of her voice. She can uplift the press. She has done much already to purify it. Her Bible has already done much to reclaim the literature of our land. It has, in fact, created a heavenly literature of its own, which is exerting a most salutary influence upon thousands of human souls. Thus the restoring influence of Christianity is not only exclusive, but all-extensive in its capability. 2 This restoration is sympathetic and happy. God has great sympathy with the world, afflicted by these degradations, and sends the mitigating influence of a peaceful religion to relieve its woe. And this token of pity and help—this prophecy of hope—is welcome to, and happy in its effect upon, humanity. A mind permeated with Divine truth, a pulpit refulgent with true piety, a press sending forth to the world the messages of Heaven, are happy results, and are the chief outcome of Divine grace as purifying the heart of society. LEARN—
1. That the creation of evil is within the power of man.
2. That our highest gifts may be prostrated to the lowest ends.
3. That it should be the aim of men to elevate everything with which they are brought into contact.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
THE LAMENT OF THE PULPIT
Verse
Exo_4:1.
I. The Preacher has frequently to lament the scepticism of his congregation. “But behold they will not believe me.” Moses feared the Israelites would not credit the probability of the freedom he had to declare unto them. Insuperable difficulties would appear in the way. They would not sufficiently take God into the matter. Ministers have now to complain of this kind of thing. Sinners are told that the intention of Heaven in reference to them is their moral emancipation. They reflect upon their natural wickedness—upon their wilful departure from the law of God—and regard the proclamation as visionary. They despair of freedom from sin, self, and Satan. Ministers frequently carry glorious tidings to their congregations—the willingness of God to save them there and then—the ultimate conquest of goodness; and yet are treated with practical unbelief.
II. The Preacher has frequently to lament the inattention of his congregation. “Nor hearken unto my voice.” Nothing is worse on the part of a congregation than inattention, and disobedience to the messages of God. The Divine claims are of the first importance, and demand immediate attention. They respect our future—they are for our spiritual good—they design our eternal freedom. To such a message all men ought to give the most earnest heed.
III. The Preacher has frequently to lament the querulous spirit of his congregation. “For they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee.” How many congregations practically question the announcements of the pulpit. They challenge the inspiration, the Divine preparation, the Divine qualification, the heavenly visions of their teacher. And often they do this in an unkind, factious spirit. They should rather welcome him as from God, sent and wishful to achieve their moral freedom. This would be more to their credit.
IV. That this conduct on the part of congregations has a most depressing influence on the minds of ministers. How can a man preach to people whom he knows are in the habit of practically denying, or refusing his statements of the Divine willingness to save them. He needs the attention, sympathy, prayers, help of those whom he seeks to free from the tyranny of sin. He has enough to contend with external hindrances, with the opposition of Pharaoh, without having added to it that of the slave whose fetter he seeks to break.
Human distrust is a difficulty which every preacher, teacher, and holy labourer has to encounter. All great movements are carried by consent of parties. God himself cannot re-establish moral order without the concurrence of the powers that have rebelled against His rule.… After all, the spiritual labourer has less to do with the unbelief of his hearers than with the instruction and authority of God. We have to ascertain what God the Lord would have us say, and then to speak it simply and lovingly, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The preacher must prepare himself for having doubts thrown upon his authority; and he must take care that his answer to such doubts be as complete as the authority itself. God alone can give the true answer to human doubt. We are not to encounter scepticism with merely ingenious replies and clever arguments, but in the power and grace of the living God [City Temple].
How indisposed is man to believe the testimony of God! Whether He denounce vengeance upon obstinate offenders, or promise acceptance, assistance, and salvation to the returning sinner, we are ever prone to question His truth. Thus some are hardened in presumption, others sink into despondency, and others are discouraged, and through unbelief continue heartless in all they attempt. But the Lord deals not with us according to our sins; else the strongest believer upon earth, instead of being saved by his faith, might righteously be condemned for his unbelief [Henry and Scott].
Moses objects that in all probability the people would not hearken to his voice; that is, they would not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign, which he had not yet been instructed to do. God empowers him to work miracles. Miracles are the most convincing proof of a Divine mission. But those who are employed now to enforce the authenticated revelation need not such testimonials; both their character and their doctrine are to be tried by the Word of God, to which they appeal [Henry and Scott].
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive titles, the Divine commission, the assurance of the Divine presence—all these things might have quelled any anxious thought, and imparted a settled assurance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises questions, and still God answers them; and each successive question brings out fresh grace [C. H. M.].
1. Present discouragements often arise from former disappointments.
2. Wise and good men have sometimes a worse opinion of people than they deserve. Moses said “they will not believe me,” and yet we find (Exo_4:31) “the people believed.”
Dissatisfaction is incident to good souls in difficulty, even after God has answered all their questions.
Infirmity of faith may make men suggest things contrary to the promise of God.
Men may tax others with unbelief, and yet be unbelievers themselves.
The obstinacy of the human heart often makes God’s ministers despair of success.
It is incident to sinners to deny the appearance of God to His ministers; and God’s ministers are apt to regard such denials as discouragements to their work.
Why did Moses imagine that the Israelites would not believe him?
1. Because he knew that they were a stiff-necked people.
2. Because he considered himself of insufficient authority to command their respect.
3. Because the power and tyranny of Pharaoh would deter them from believing him.
4. Because they would think it unlikely that God, who had never been seen by man, should appear to him.
Exo_4:2. “What is that in thine hand? And he said, a rod.” A staff—a shepherd’s crook—the staff which indicated his return to the pastoral habits of his fathers—the staff on which he leaned amidst his desert wanderings—the staff with which he guided his kinsman’s flocks—the staff like that still borne by Arab chiefs—this was to be the humble instrument of Divine power. “In this”—as afterwards in the yet humbler symbol of the cross—in this, the symbol of his simplicity, of his exile, of his lowliness, the world was to be conquered [The Jewish Church, by Dean Stanley].
“A rod”—probably the shepherd’s crook—among the Arabs; a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.… God followeth expostulations with resolutions to satisfy the troubled souls of His servants.
God sometimes exercises His power in connection with small things—a rod.
A rod:—
1. The subject of Divine inquiry.
2. The token of a shepherd’s office.
3. The symbol of a leader’s power.
4. The prophecy of a nation’s freedom.
A TRIVIAL POSSESSION
I. God frequently makes inquiry about the most trivial possessions of men.
1. Have they been honourably gained?
2. Are they being put to their proper use?
3. Are they in a line with Divine power?
II. God frequently makes the most trivial possessions of men teach great truths.
1. This shews the Divine adaptability to the circumstances of men.
2. This shews the Divine wisdom in making insignificant things teach Divine truth.
3. This shews the Divine simplicity of the plans and purposes of Heaven.
III. That the most trivial possessions are useful to others as well as those to whom they belong. This rod taught the Israelites that God was with Moses. So the smallest treasure possessed by a man may at times be instructive to other lives around him.
IV. That the most trivial possessions of men prove after all the most useful, and ought therefore to awaken human gratitude. We are taught here not to calculate the worth of things by their market price, but according to their adaptation to the circumstances of life in which we may then be placed. At this moment, and throughout the conflict with Egypt, this rod was the most valuable thing that Moses could have possessed. There are times when the smallest things become of the greatest value. This is true when they are used by God for the moral conviction and freedom of others. Moses would, throughout his life journey in the wilderness, be thankful for the rod. So we ought to be grateful to God that, whether we have great possessions or not, yet we have our little treasure which renders happy and effective our entire life mission.
God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish his mightiest ends. “A rod,” “a ram’s horn,” “a cake of barley meal,” “an earthen pitcher,” “a shepherd’s sling,” anything, in short, when used by God, will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid means; but such is not God’s way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun—a gourd as well as a vehement east wind [C. H. M.].
THE MEANING OF THIS MIRACLE
Exo_4:3. Varied suppositions as to the meaning of this miracle:—
1. That hereby Pharaoh is set forth, who, at the first entering of the Hebrews into Egypt, was as a rod, easy to be handled, but afterwards as a serpent; and again, at the time of their going out, he was as a rod, gentle and harmless
2. That hereby the state of the children of Israel was set forth, who at the first, under Joseph, had dominion, signified by a rod, but afterwards were cast down, and hated, as a serpent; but finally, at their going out of Egypt, returned to their power and authority again.
3. That hereby was signified the honour of God’s judgments; till they be brought none fear them; but, being brought; the very best are made to tremble; but, being renewed again, all fear is taken away.
4. That Moses was set forth by this staff: for he in himself, being but a shepherd, obscure and living in exile, was no more to Pharaoh to move him than a staff in a shepherd’s hand; but, going to him at the command of the Lord, he became as the staff at his command cast upon the ground—a terrible serpent to him—he should not need any other armies to terrify Pharaoh; but, going with this staff, by a Divine virtue, he should be made to flee before him. But in that being laid hold upon by Moses again, it is turned into a staff, it was signified that the same which should be terrible to Pharaoh should be a comfort to Moses and to Israel [Calvin].
5. That hereby Christ crucified is set forth, and by his death, subduing the devil that he cannot hold the people of the Lord any more in bondage, as Pharaoh could not hold the Israelites [Augustine].
The serpent is entirely under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in his mad career he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his work for ever [C. H. M.].
From the story of Moses’ rod the poets invented fables of the thyrsus of Bacchus, and the caduceaus of Mercury. Homer represents Mercury as taking his rod to work miracles, precisely in the same way as God commanded Moses to take his.
There are many serpents in the world from which a good man should flee.
When God commandeth small things be worketh miracles to confirm them.
The true transubstantiation of creatures is the alone work of God.
God’s miracles may be terrible to his servants, when intended to be comfortable.
Sense is terrified at the miraculous tokens of God.
Exo_4:4. Faith in God’s word dare meddle with the most terrible signs from God.
God can make staves into serpents, and serpents into staves, terrors to enemies, and supports to His own.
“Take it by the tail.” Which was dreadful to be done, because of the antipathy and likely danger; but faith fortifies the heart against the fear of the creature, and carries a man through the difficulty of duty [Trapp].
I. That men have often to come into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous. Moses is brought into contact with a serpent. Dangerous to him. So good men are frequently obliged to encounter the morally sinful—for commercial—ministerial purposes—they are thus rendered liable to the sting—contagion of sin—and will, unless careful, receive spiritual injury.
II. That good men should not enter into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous, except by the direct permission of God. “And the Lord said unto Moses,” etc. The good are permitted to have intercourse with worldly men, for ministerial and commercial purposes—but they must remember that the Divine sanction does not extend to anything but the furthest point of contact. Moses was only told to take the serpent by the tail. There are many things in the world that the good man is only to touch. They are poisonous.
III. That when good men are brought into contact with the morally sinful and dangerous, they should endeavour to aid its reformation.
“And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand.” The good may not take hold of serpents for play, or for imagined gratification, but only that they may co-operate with the Divine power and mercy in the holy work of restoration.
IV. That when good men achieve the reformation of the morally sinful and dangerous, they find ample reward in the result. “And it became a rod in his hand.” How many a good man has found that the sinner converted by his instrumentality has become a help—a stay—a moral power—in the spiritual life and journeyings of his own soul! Especially do ministers find that their converts become instruments in their hands for great good to others.
THINGS THAT FRIGHTEN
“And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail.”—Exo_4:4.
We may learn from the text, and the words immediately preceding, that—
I. In passing through life we must expect to meet with many things that will frighten us.
II. We shall gain nothing by running away.
III. The best thing we can do is to grapple with them.
IV. Acting thus we may always rely upon Divine aid [Christian World Pulpit].
Exo_4:5. Miracles are given by God to turn from unbelief to faith in the Divine word.
True miracles are the only work of the true God, the God of Abraham.
That God does much to render easy and successful the mission of the true preacher.
That the great thing for a preacher to demonstrate to his people is that God has appeared to him.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Exo_4:1-5.—Bible Degraded!—Some men imagine that they could do well enough without the Bible, the Church, the ministry. Conceive a patient with a shattered limb coming to the sage conclusion that the best way to become whole is to thrust the skilled surgeons and their surgical splints out of doors. They did not fracture the limb; they only propose to set it. The Bible did not dislocate the human intellect, it only proposes to restore it to soundness. Far better to have the leg set than to leave the shattered bone to heal unsplintered.
“The Lamp of Revelation not only shows
What human wisdom cannot but oppose,
That man—in nature’s richest mantle clad
And graced with all philosophy can add,
Though fair without, and luminous within,”
cannot heal his own malady—cannot restore his fractured soul, but it offers to effect the cure. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Infidel Terrors!—Paine boastfully vaunted that he had gone up and down through the Christian garden of Eden, and with his simple axe had cut down one after another of its trees, until scarce a sapling remained to weep over the chaos of ruin. He lived to flee from his own guilt, and amid agonies of remorse to exclaim that he would give worlds never to have published his “Age of Reason,” never to have moulded his “simple axe,” never to have lifted its edge upon the Tree of Life. So it was with Bion the atheist philosopher, who on his deathbed offered up prayers to God for mercy and recovery—
“And as he writhed and quivered, scorched within,
The fury round his torrid temples flapped
Her fiery wings, and breathed upon his lips
And parched tongue, the withered blasts of hell.”
—Pollock.
Christianity!—Quaint Thomas Fuller says that Charnock met with a very sad disaster in his efforts to discover the philosopher’s stone; for just as he was on the point of completing the grand operation, his work fell into the fire. As this is a calamity which has happened to all alchymists; so is it always the misfortune of legislators. They are always on the point of discovering the grand panacea for all evils, yet they never succeed. Christianity steps in, and succeeds.
“Religion! Providence! an after state!
Here is firm footing; here is solid rock!
This can support us; all is sea besides:
Sinks under us; bestorms, and then devours.”
—Young.
Christianity Beneficent!—Ancient tradition records a contest said to have taken place at Rome—in the presence of the Emperor Constantine and his mother, the Empress Helena—between the Jewish and Roman philosophers on the one hand, and Sylvester, the Christian patriarch, on the other. The leader of the philosophers showed the superiority of their system over Christianity by miraculously KILLING a fierce bull with uttering in his ear a single word. Sylvester, with a word, not only restored the wild animal to LIFE, but raised it tame and gentle as if it had been in the yoke from birth. Christianity is happy in its effects upon untameable human nature—raising it to life—and making it to sit clothed and in its right mind at the feet of the Founder.—
“As when a wretch, from thick polluted air,
Darkness and stench, and suffocating damps,
And dungeon horrors, by kind fate discharged,
Climbs some fair eminence, where ether pure
Surrounds him, and Elysian prospects rise,
His heart exults, his spirits cast their load,
As if new born, he triumphs in the change.”
Christianity versus Philosophy!—Tillotson says that philosophy has given us several plausible rules for attaining peace and tranquility of mind; but these fall very much short of bringing men to it. They have expanded our ideas of creation; but they neither inspired a love to the moral character of the Creator, nor a well-grounded hope of eternal life.—
“Philosophy did much, refining and exalting man;
But could not nurse a single plant that bore
True happiness. From age to age she toiled;
Shed from her eyes the mist that dimmed them still,
Looked forth on man: and then retired far back
To meditation’s silent, shady rest.
Like Moses who must DIE on Pisgah, philosophy enables us to ascend to the heights of human discovery—there to PERISH. Christianity is the medium, and the only medium, by which “death” can be turned into “life.”
Exo_4:1—Depression!—Dr. Stevens narrates how an eminent minister was very much depressed by the unbelief of his congregation, and how his spirit of depression was shaken off. He dreamed that he was working with a pickaxe on the top of a basaltic rock, which remained non-riven in spite of repeated strokes of his arm of muscle. When about to give up in despair, a stranger of solemn and dignified demeanour appeared on the scene, who reminded him that as a servant he was bound to go on whether the rock yielded or not. “Work is your duty; leave the results to God,” were the last words of his strange visitor. The result was that the discouraged pastor resumed his work, and was abundantly rewarded by “the shattering of the rock of unbelief and indifference” among his flock. For
“Perseverance is a virtue
That wins each Godlike act, and plucks success,
E’en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger.
—Havard.
Exo_4:1—Prayers!—An anecdote is told concerning a popular preacher who gradually lost his influence and congregation. The church officials were authorized to wait on him with the frank avowal that the whole blame was at his door. With still more frankness the condemned pastor acknowledged his failure, adding that in former times his flock had been a praying people, that many had joined in prayer that his preaching might be blessed to the conversion of souls, but that now prayer had been abandoned. The result, he added, of such restraint in prayer was the failure of his church, and he begged them to renew their pleadings in his behalf. For
“More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day,
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”
—Tennyson.
Exo_4:2—Miracles!—Fuller calls them, in his quaint method of expression, the swaddling clothes of the infant churches. They are not, says Trench, the garments of the full-grown. They are the bright clouds which gather round and announce the sun at his first appearing; but the midday splendour knows not those bright heralds and harbingers of his rising. Such were miracles at the dawns of the Mosaic. Prophetical, and Christian dispensations; they were like the framework on which the arch is rounded, and which is taken down as soon as it is completed. Beecher thinks that they are mid-wives of young moral truths-like candles lit up till the sun rises, and then blown out, While Macmillan declares that they are not only emblems of power in the spiritual world, but also exponents of the miracles of nature—experiments, as it were, made by the Great Teacher, on a small scale, to illustrate to mankind the phenomena that are taking place over longer periods throughout the universe.
Exo_4:2—Ministerial Difficulties!—Simeon says that he had been used to read the Scriptures, to get from them rich discoveries of the power and grace of Christ, so that he might learn how to minister to a loving and obedient people; but that now he was studying the Word of God in order that he might know how to minister to a conceited, contentious, and rebellious people “Two qualities,” he adds, “I am sure are requisite—meekness and patience; I have been used to sail in the Pacific, but I am now learning to navigate the Red Sea which is full of shoals and rocks, with a very intricate passage.”
“Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray;
Be wise, the erring soul to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Compel the wanderer to come in.
The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure,
Blessed are those who to the end endure.”
—Bonar.
Exo_4:2—Faith!—Faith is the mainspring of a minister.—Cecil.
“Beware of doubt—faith is the subtle chain
Which binds us to the Infinite; the voice
Of a deep life within, that will remain
Until we crowd it thence.”
—Smith.
Exo_4:2—Gifts!—The discussion about gifts, says a glowing divine, amounts very much to a discussion whether the rifle, the carbine, the pistol, or the cannon is the best weapon. Each is best in its place The great point is that every one shall use the weapon best suited to him—that he charge it well—and that he see it is in a condition to strike fire.
“The solemn trifler, with his boasted skill,
Toils much, and is a solemn trifler still;
Blind was he born, and his misguided eyes
Grown dim in trifling studies, blind he dies.”
—Cowper.
Exo_4:3—Serpent-tail!—Bishop Patrick notes that Moses found his rod was a serpent until he took it by the tail, and then it became what it was before; and if we lay hold of things only by their END, we should find many things that seem terrible and noxious to be benign and salutiferous. But the band was that of faith; for
“Never was a marvel done upon the earth,
but it had sprung of faith.”
—Tupper.
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Our duty to our Lord in this world requires…
Exo 4:1
Our duty to our Lord in this world requires that we should do somewhat more than live a life of obedience to Him. Our obedience must be acknowledged obedience. We must never be loth to say, "Whose we are, and Whom we serve." We may read this lesson writ large in the history of God’s sending Moses to deliver His people. Moses went through a trial on Mount Horeb, the exact opposite of the trial of Christ.
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I. Moses was tempted to decline the contest with the world altogether, to shrink from action and from prominence, when God called him. Christ was tempted to take the world by storm, to overwhelm it with conviction.
II. Moses was full of sympathy for the poor, full of a desire to see God’s ancient promises realized; but when the time came, and God said, "Now go," then, for the first time, it flashed upon Moses that he was unfit to carry out what he had so aspired to be trusted with. His eighty years of life had been given him that in its vast experience he might learn that God was all, man was nothing. He had very nearly learned it in truth; the crust or chrysalis of self was very nearly ready to drop off; it needed just this interview with God to rid him of it entirely. He had seen the miraculous powers with which he had been endowed, but he had not fully understood them, and therefore his will was pausing still.
III. The voice of God within him and without him waxed more imperious. God sternly pointed out that such eloquence as he longed for was but a secondary qualification. "Thy brother, I know that he can speak well;" the legislator need not be the orator. There is not one of us who ever complained to God of insufficient strength without finding his complaint answered either by ministration of grace or disappearance of difficulties.
IV. What interests trembled in the balance while Moses was debating! It is not for ourselves only that we shall be responsible if we debate till the time is gone.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 212.
References: Exo 4:2.—J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. i. p. 233; S. Cox, The Bird’s Nest, p. 179; F. Tucker, Rainbow round the Throne, p. 17.
Exo 4:10
(with Jdg 6:15, Jer 1:6, 1Sa 9:21, Luk 14:18)
I. God proposes great things to men. In proportion as any call in life is great, let the heart pause and consider whether its very greatness is not a proof of its divinity.
II. We are not to look at what we are, but at what God is. When He calls He qualifies for the work.
III. What is right in itself may be perverted and abused. Timidity is right in itself, but it may be pushed into cowardice; then it becomes wrong. Self-distrust is right in itself, but if it degenerates into atheism, then it is the plague and destruction of the soul.
IV. God’s call to faith is the greatest call to His universe. Our duty is to go forward to the unknown and the invisible, and live by faith. "We walk by faith, not by sight."
Parker, The City Temple, vol. iii., p. 493.
References: Exo 4:11.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2677. Exo 4:17.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year, Holy Week, p. 463. 4:18-7:7.—W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, p. 61. Exo 4:20.—J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 388. Exo 4:21.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 44; W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 148. Exo 4:22, Exo 4:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1440.
Exo 4:27
This text shows us—
I. The brotherhood and affection subsisting between the different members of God’s family. And this is twofold. God’s people stand in a twofold relation to one another, as natural and spiritual men. As being creatures of God’s hand, and common descendants of Adam, they are linked together in brotherhood. But the great brotherhood and bond of union between God’s people is their brotherhood in Christ, their affinity to one another as redeemed by the same Blood, sanctified by the same Spirit, and pursuing their pilgrimage towards the same heavenly city.
II. Notice the breaches of intercourse brought about in this world between those members of God’s family who have seen and known one another in the flesh. (1) Many interruptions of intercourse are brought about by providential arrangements. (2) All direct communication between brethren in the Lord is cut off by death.
III. Consider the need of and consequent yearning after each other’s society and assistance which, while parted, the members of God’s family experience. The need is based upon, and flows from, their spiritual constitution in one body. We are, in the design of God, constituent parts of a whole, and we are continually evincing our consciousness of this truth.
IV. Consider the blissful reunion of the sundered members of God’s family in the realms of glory. There shall be a day when all the yearnings of the Christian’s heart after the society of his brethren shall be satisfied to the full, when his joy snail receive its entire complement in his recognition of and intercommunication with those whom he has known and loved in the Lord.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 205.
References: Exo 4:27-31.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 63. 4.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 40.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Signs Attesting the Commission of Moses. His Return to…
Signs Attesting the Commission of Moses. His Return to Egypt
Moses still hesitates, and now objects that the péople will not believe him when he tells them that Jehovah has sent him. He is granted the power of working three signs by way of substantiating his commission.
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2. A rod] probably his shepherd's staff.
3. Fled from before it] A graphic trait, showing that the change was real, and that Moses was not prepared for it.
4. By the tail] Snake charmers usually take snakes by the neck to prevent them biting. It is much more dangerous to seize them by the tail. When Moses did so with impunity his own faith would be strengthened as well as that of the people: cp. our Lord's promise, Mar_16:18.
6. Leprous as snow] i.e. as white as snow. Leprosy was common in Egypt. The form here meant is that in which the skin becomes glossy, white, and callous. This is the worst form of leprosy and was regarded as incurable. This incident, taken together with the fact that the white leprosy was most common among the Israelites, may have given rise to the tradition, related by the Egyptian priest and historian Manetho, and quoted by Josephus, that Moses was a leper, and that the Israelites were expelled from Egypt because they were afflicted with the same disease.
9. The river] the Nile. This sign is similar to the first of the plagues (see Exo_7:20), with the difference that here only part of the water is changed on being poured out on the dry land.
10. Moses now pleads his want of eloquence. Jewish tradition says that he had an actual impediment in his speech, being unable to pronounce the labials. His words here, however, do not necessarily imply any positive defect of this kind. He wishes to be excused, and urges that a more eloquent man than he is required to persuade the king of Egypt to release Israel, and the Israelites also to trust themselves to the guidance of Jehovah. For this he is rebuked, but not excused. Aaron is given to him as spokesman.
12. Cp. Jer_1:6-9; Luk_21:14, Luk_15:13-14 This request is equivalent to a refusal to go. Moses says, 'send some one else, but not me.' Accordingly 'the anger of Jehovah was kindled against him.' His punishment takes the form of diminished privilege. Aaron henceforth shares in his distinction. The Levite] This means not merely the 'descendant of Levi,' but 'the priest,' as the tribe of Levi was afterwards consecrated to the service of the sanctuary. The title is here used by anticipation.
16. Cp. Exo_7:1. Instead of God] Because Aaron would receive God's message at the mouth of Moses.
17. Signs] RV 'the signs,' i.e. the appointed signs.
18-26. Moses takes leave of Jethro and returns with his wife and children to Egypt.
19. Cp. Mat_2:19.
20. His sons] Only one has been previously mentioned, but a second had been born in Midian: see Exo_2:22.
21. I will harden his heart] God proposes to harden Pharaoh's heart, in order to have the opportunity of displaying His power in the deliverance of His people, and exhibiting His character to the Egyptians. Some take the expression as due to the Eastern and fatalistic way of regarding all that happens in the world as the result of the direct intervention of God. On this interpretation it is simply synonymous with 'Pharaoh's heart was hardened' (Exo_7:22), and 'Pharaoh hardened his heart' (Exo_8:15). Where we speak vaguely of the operation of moral and physical laws and of secondary causes, the Oriental frankly says that 'God did this.' He says 'kismet': 'it was fated to be': see on Exo_4:24. We prefer to say that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was due to his own obstinacy in refusing to yield to the warnings he received; the Eastern moralist means the same when he says that God hardened his heart. The inevitable result is regarded as the divine purpose. It happens in accordance with laws which God Himself has ordained. 'He will not 'leads inevitably to 'he cannot': cp. Rom_1:28. It should be observed that this, however, is not equivalent to a denial of moral responsibility. It is a man's own fault if he allow himself to be entangled in this chain of inevitable consequences. He is, therefore, responsible for the ultimate hardening of his heart through repeated acts of wilful transgression: see on Exo_10:3.
22. Israel is my son, even my firstborn] This expresses God's choice of Israel as His peculiar people: cp. Deu_14:1-2; Hos_11:1; Jer_31:9, and see on Exo_19:5. The term 'firstborn' indicates the high honour conferred upon Israel, and at the same time contains a hint of the ultimate inclusion of the Gentiles also in the covenant.
23. For the fulfilment of this warning see Exo_12:29, Exo_12:30.
24. In the inn] RV 'lodging-place,' not necessarily a building. Sought to kill him] This probably means no more than that Moses was struck with some grievous sickness and was in danger of death. It is another example of the Eastern way of attributing whatever happens to the direct interposition of God, referred to in the note on Exo_4:21. It would appear from this mysterious incident that Moses had neglected to circumcise his youngest son, on account perhaps of the mother's objection to the rite. Circumcision was not peculiar to the Israelites, but they alone circumcised infants. What Zipporah objected to, therefore, may not have been the rite itself, but its performance at such an early age. But now seeing the danger her husband was in, and recognising that his sickness was the chastisement of disobedience, she overcame her reluctance and performed the ceremony herself, with the result that Moses' life was spared (Exo_4:26). The incident is designed to show the importance of circumcision as the sign of the covenant between God and His people and the sin and danger of neglecting it.
25. A sharp stone] Even in later times than this flint knives were employed in circumcision, being regarded as purer than knives of metal: see Jos_5:2, where 'sharp knives' should be 'knives of flint,' as in RV. Flint knives were used by the Egyptians in opening bodies for embalming. They are said to be carried by the Bedouin of the Syrian desert at the present day. A bloody husband art thou to me] RV 'a bridegroom of blood.' As the Jews to this day call a circumcised child a 'bridegroom of the circumcision 'it is possible that Zipporah's exclamation was addressed to the child. It is usually, however, understood as addressed to Moses, whom his wife reproaches as being the cause of bloodshed.
26. He let him go] i.e. God let Moses go, removed his sickness and allowed him to recover. It was probably at this time that Moses sent his wife and children back to the house of his father-in-law. They rejoined him at Sinai after the exodus from Egypt: see Exo_18:2-5.
27. The mount of God] Horeb or Sinai: see on Exo_3:1. The two brothers had not met for forty years previous to this.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1–2 borrow The use of little things. Cf. Jdg 3:31;…
borrow The use of little things. Cf. Jdg 3:31; 1Ki 17:12-16; Joh 6:9; 1Co 1:25-31
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 4:1-28 Moses’ Objections, Jehovah’s Answer and the Return…
CHAPTER 4:1-28 Moses’ Objections, Jehovah’s Answer and the Return to Egypt
1. The first objection (Exo 4:1)
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2. The two signs and Jehovah’s assurance (Exo 4:2-9)
3. The second objection (Exo 4:10)
4. Jehovah’s answer (Exo 4:11-12)
5. Moses’ request (Exo 4:13)
6. Jehovah’s anger and answer (Exo 4:14-17)
7. The command to return to Egypt (Exo 4:18-23)
8. The event by the way in the inn (Exo 4:24-26)
9. The meeting of Moses and Aaron (4:27-28)
The division of chapters at this point is unwarranted. Moses’ objections reveal his unbelief and self-distrust. Jehovah’s patience and condescending grace are blessedly manifested. Moses first expressed his doubt that the people would not believe him and his mission. Though he saw the vision of the burning bush and heard Jehovah’s voice, which assured him of His presence and power, yet did he not believe. His former experience with his people, and the fact that generations had passed since Jehovah had appeared to an Israelite must have led him to express this doubt.
The Lord gave him three signs: the rod cast down, which became a serpent; the leprous hand; and the water turned into blood. The first two signs were carried out in Jehovah’s presence. Moses cast his rod on the ground and it became a serpent, and he fled from it. In obedience to Jehovah’s command, Moses took the serpent by the tail and it became a rod. The rod Moses held was his shepherd’s rod. It is the emblem of government and power. Moses cast it on the ground and out of his hand the rod became a serpent. The serpent stands for the power of Satan. Egypt (the type of the world) is under the control of Satan. The serpent was worshipped in Egypt . It was used as the emblem of the goddess Ranno and also used as a sign of royalty. The serpent, Satan, had usurped the place of government and power. But Jehovah can deal with the serpent and this is seen by Moses’ taking the serpent by its tail so that it became a rod. The sign was to inspire and teach confidence. The sign of the leprous hand teaches another lesson. Sin, typified by leprosy, and cleansing from sin are indicated in this sign. Israel was in a leprous condition, but the power of Jehovah could cleanse his people. When Moses came the first time to deliver his people, they treated him as an outcast; but when he put his hand in his bosom the second time to act the reproach was removed.
The third sign teaches how the blessing, the water of the Nile , is to be changed into a curse. It is the sign of judgment to come upon Egypt . Moses, in receiving these signs and the power to enact them, is a type of Christ. He will take the rod, the government, into His blessed hand, and then Satan’s dominion ends. He will cleanse and restore His people and smite Egypt , the world, with judgment.
Moses’ second objection was his slow speech and slow tongue. The same unbelief is here in evidence. Had he but believed “I will be with thee,” and that the “I AM” would be His tongue and his speech, this objection would never have come from his lips.
How gracious Jehovah’s answer: “Now, therefore, go, I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Every servant of the Lord, who serves under Him, can appropriate this great promise. And still Moses hesitates. What patience from the side of the Lord! He now makes another gracious provision. Aaron is to be his spokesman. This was for Moses’ humiliation. Then Moses’ objections were silenced. Grace is fully illustrated in the call of Moses and how the Lord dealt with him.
Jethro sanctions his return to Egypt . The Lord prepared his way as He always does, when He sends forth His servant. He took his wife and sons, who were still young, for he set them on an ass. This shows that his marriage to Zipporah did not take place immediately after his arrival in Midian. Then he took his rod, which is now called “the rod of God,” and the Lord gave him the solemn message to Pharaoh. Israel is to be nationally God’s firstborn son. Jehovah’s demand is, Let my son go, that he may serve Me. God’s firstborn is to be brought out of Egypt , where service for God was impossible. Then follows the message of death and judgment for Egypt .
What comes next is closely connected with the message to Pharaoh. There was a stumbling block in Moses’ family. Circumcision, which stands for the sentence of death, had not been executed in the case of one of Moses’ sons. No doubt Zipporah made objections to this rite and kept her husband back from doing what he Knew was imperative. This failure of Moses stood in his way to carry out the divine commission. The hand of the Lord was upon Moses, and he was in danger of being cut off for his sin, for he had been disobedient and yielded to his wife. Then Zipporah is forced to do herself what she hated and the reproach was removed. The words “surely a bloody husband art thou to me,” were addressed to Moses. She had been forced, as it were, to purchase him again by the shedding of the blood of her beloved son. She received him back as one who had been in the realm of death and was joined to him anew. It must have been there that Moses brought the sacrifice of separation by sending Zipporah and the sons back to Jethro (chapter 18:2). What a meeting it must have been which took place between Aaron and Moses. They met in the Mount of God and kissed each other. Compare with Num 20:27-28.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 God Gives Moses Miraculous Powers
God Gives Moses Miraculous Powers
v. 1. And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. The fear and anxiety of Moses here discovered another objection, that based upon the fact that the people were no longer accustomed to prophetic voices and would therefore not acknowledge his call.
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v. 2. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. Moses held his shepherd’s staff in his hand.
v. 3. And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. The serpent was no delusion, but a fact, and looked dangerous enough to fill the heart of Moses with fear.
v. 4. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his land;
v. 5. that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. The simple shepherd’s staff, according to the will of God, became the instrument by which Pharaoh and his land were punished, for the miracle showed that God would deliver His people from the hostile power which was holding it captive. Moses received the commission, the power. to overcome the might, the wickedness of Satan, and this fact could not be hidden from the eyes of the children of Israel: they were bound to acknowledge his call.
v. 6. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow, infected with the white leprosy, Lev 13:3.
v. 7. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. Thereby the Lord signified that He intended to cleanse His people, the children of Israel, of the spiritual leprosy of sin by the sacrifices and purifications which typified the cleansing through the redemption of Christ.
v. 8. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, to its unmistakable evidence, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
v. 9. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river (Nile), and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. The Nile was given the veneration of a god in Egypt on account of the fact that the fertility of the entire country depended upon its annual overflow. If Moses, therefore. had the power to turn this water of blessing into blood, he commanded a power which exceeded that of Pharaoh: death and destruction upon the tyrants was in his hand. The same almighty power of God is able to deliver us from every evil work and to give us the possession of the saints in light.
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 vv1, 4 if they do not believe
if they do not believe
"if the Israelites do not believe"
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translationWords
Moses
believe
Yahweh
staff
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 vv1, 3 4:1-9 Moses’ third protest was that he lacked power.…
4:1-9 Moses’ third protest was that he lacked power. God answered in a very convincing demonstration of divine power by instantaneous creation of a snake and of a severe skin disease.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.