Exodus 4
Bible Passage: Exodus 4
This chapter is a continuation from chapter 3 where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush.
What was going through the mind of Moses when God commanded him to go back to Egypt to face Pharaoh and to ask him to free the Hebrew slaves?
From chapter 3 and 4 we can see what were the fears and concerns Moses had.
The fear to face Pharaoh, king of the mighty Egyptians, the fear of rejection and doubts by his own people if he was truly sent by God, the fear of lack of eloquence to speak authoritatively to Pharaoh and to his own brethren. All these were the fears and concerns that went through the mind of Moses.
The command of God was indeed a heavy one for Moses.
After spending such a long time in Midian leading a comfortable and blissful life, I believe this command from God must have come to Moses as a shock.
Moses was not willing to go as God commanded and asked questions like, “what if the people do not believe that the Almighty God of the Hebrews have sent me?”, and “what is Your name when the people ask for it?”
To quench the fear in Moses, God made used of the insignificant staff in Moses’ hand to turn miraculously into a serpent and back to a lifeless staff again, He even made the arm of Moses to be leprous and then restored it at will, and if these 2 wonders could not convince the people, God told Moses to take water from the Nile river, and He would turn it into blood.
Nothing is impossible for God. From a simple and insignificant staff, God could make use of it to turn it into a live serpent, He could cause and heal diseases instantly, and He has the power to control nature by turning water into the live source of all creatures, blood!
These miracles seen by Moses were like prelude to the mighty acts of God in Egypt later on. But did these miracles manage to quench the fears and concerns in Moses? No they did not. Because he tried his very best to excuse himself from this task God commanded him.
But in the end, Moses obediently went ahead with God’s command and he did great works for the Lord and became very humble in the eyes of God, more than all men who were on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3).
Looking at this episode in Moses’ life, let me share what I have gathered and learnt:
- The staff – no matter how insignificant we may feel we are, as long as God wants to use us, He can turn our timid character into an active and lively faith that is filled with vigor and boldness.
- The arm that turned leprous and was healed – God is the designer of all things, including our bodies. He knows us inside out and He is able to understand our frame and He will give us the helps we need in doing His works. He is able to destroy and to build up according to His will; all things are under His good control.
- Able to turn water into blood – in this context, God told Moses beforehand that He could turn the Nile water into blood. The Nile was a sacred river to the Egyptians; for they worshipped Hapi, god of the Nile. Our True God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, so He has the sovereign power over all things; He is the victor over this world that is under the sway of the evil one.
- Moses’ fear and doubts – we may have similar fears and doubts when we are asked to be involved in certain divine works. Very often we failed to see that we are just God’s co-workers, for all works that we do are for Him, so He is our Leader and He is always going before us. Especially in the work of evangelism, we may not necessary need to always talk or use our mouths to evangelize, sometimes through our actions or behaviors, people can already see Christ in us. Sometimes it could only be as easy as passing a gospel tract to somebody. But whenever there is a need for us to open our mouths to preach, we must always remember,
“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?” – 4:11
In this chapter, while Moses was on his way back to Egypt to fulfill his great commission, something strange happened. God sought to kill him! Why?
Zipporah’s quick action of circumcising their son saved Moses’ life. So there we have the answer, God was against Moses because he did not circumcise his son when he was 8 days old according to the covenant God had with Abraham.
But why would God want to kill Moses for something he was not familiar with since he was being brought up in the Egyptian palace when he was still an infant?
Is there any teaching that we can gather from this incident?
Dear brothers and sisters, do enlighten me on this and share your views with us.
Shalom!
5 Comments
PS
Circumcision is important bec it is the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and his descendants (Gen17:11)
God told Abraham in Gen 17:14, ” And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Moses was going back to Egypt to lead the people out of their slavery at the command of the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob.
Thus all males in the household of Moses must be circumcised, otherwise he shall be cut off bec he had broken the covenant of God.
i believed Moses was circumcised on the 8th day. (This demonstrated the great faith of Moses’ parents too.) Moses knew that he was circumcised and learnt about circucision from his mum.
Just for sharing:
In the chinese bible, Ex 4:20 states that Moses and Zipporah had 2 sons. NKJV states “sons”
In Ex 4:25 Zipporah cut off the foreskin of her son. Why one son only? May be bec one son was already circumcised on the 8th day by Moses. Zipporah might have learnt about circumcision there and then too.
In Ex 4:24…the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Did the LORD meet Moses by chance? No, the LORD sought Moses and wanted to kill him bec Moses did not circumcise every male in his household.
Moses was going back with the rod in his hand with which to do sign. Moses shall be God to Aaron (Ex 4:16).
Ignorance is not a reason. Forgetfulness is not a reason. Busyness is not a reason. The commands of God are to be followed wholeheartedly.
PS
Ex 4:22-23 “The you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”
The LORD God is a good boss bec He always set clear target for Moses, His servant, to follow.
In Ex 3:12 God gave the worship on Mount Sinai as the sign of His commission.
In Ex 4:22-23 God told Moses that he had to persevere through the hard heartedness of Pharaoh till the plague of the death of the firstborn.
Previously i use to think if i have a chance to ask Lord Jesus a question, i would like to ask Him when is He fetching me home to Him. So that i can spread out my strength till that day and not flatten out prematurely.
Now, i no longer ask this question. Each day is a grace and each day is a living.
“Your strength will be as your days are” The Holy Spirit is the sign to live for each day and life beyond.
shalom
Thanks PS for sharing your view and i do agree that what you’ve shared about the importance of circumcision.
The commandments of God to man are very applicable and vital to our spiritual lives. John 12: 50 tells us clearly that the command of God is everlasting life.
Moses, even though he might have learn circumcision from his mother, but he got all too comfortable in Midian with his blissful life-style that he forgot about God’s commands.
This is a lesson to us. If we get too comfortable with our life-style or even our self conceived “principles” about life and perceptions in dealing with matters in our life, we can be blinded from the commandments of God!
The comfort zones that we may be living in could have born our of the influence of the pagan, or atheistic society.
Therefore we must always keep ourselves in check with the Word of God. We are indeed very blessed to have in our possession a copy of the Word of God, and to add on to this, God has even poured His Holy Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truths. So we must not quench the Holy Spirit, let Him be our reminder and guide to all that we have to do and see the righteous ways of our Heavenly Father.
We say that we love God, that is good and right, but only by saying doesn’t make us a lover of God. we must love Him in our deeds/actions. Adhering to His commandments is one of the ways that we show Him that we love Him in action.
InHisTime
God gave Moses not just one but three wonders to show the people that He is the Lord, and they should trust and listen to Him.
God, the almighty one had to go to such lengths in order to convince them.
Today it is the same for us..though we are so undeserving of His grace He showers us with blessings after blessings to show His providence. Yet in times of hardships we think that He has forsaken us.
God doesnt have to prove anything. The very fact that He came in the flesh to die for our sins is already恩上加恩..What more could we ask for?
PS
A brethren said once that主耶稣为我们舍命,我们所做的只能够说是放下( Lord Jesus gave up His life for us, whatever we do can only be called put down).
i remember this for life. Yes, for the life given by Lord Jesus.