Moses Affirmed - Exodus 4:1 - 6:8

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Bible Stories

Rusty's Notes

Review:

• Exodus 3:16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
• 19 “However, I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, even under force from a strong hand. 20 But when I stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles that I will perform in it, after that, he will let you go. 21 And I will give these people such favor with the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.

 
MIRACULOUS SIGNS FOR MOSES
EXODUS 4
1 Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

• His mind was filled with imaginary scenarios.
• This is a form of doubting God.

2 The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3 “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.

• The snake represents the evil power of Satan
• The Pharaohs wore a religiously symbolic metal cobra around their heads.
• It was a common symbol of Egyptian royal authority.

4 The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

• Who actually has the power?

6 In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow. 7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.

• God would bring him and the Israelites out of their defiling environment—and heal them.

8 “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.

• Moses' leprous hand miracle would also have suggested to Pharaoh that Yahweh could afflict or deliver through His representative at will.

9 And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

• God would humiliate the Egyptians by spoiling what they regarded as a divine source of life.

10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”

• Rather than inspiring confidence in Moses, God's commission frightened him.
• Stephen said Moses was "proficient in speaking" (Acts 7:22).

11 The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”

• God reminded Moses that He was the Creator 

13 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

• "I don't have all the answers" (3:13),
• "I may not have their [the Israelites'] respect" (4:1),
• "I'm slow in my expressions" (4:10),
• "I'm not as qualified as others" (4:13).

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. 15 You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. 17 And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”

• Sometimes, you just need a buddy.
• To challenge you, to encourage you, and to shoulder you.
• Jesus sent the disciples out in twos.
• He regarded himself as a failure, the objects of his ministry as hopeless, and God as unfaithful, uncaring, and unable to deliver His people.
• He had learned his own inability to deliver Israel, but he did not yet believe in God's ability to do so.
• Even the miraculous revelation of God at the burning bush, and the miracles that God enabled Moses to perform, did not convince him of God's purpose and power.
• As time passed, Moses grew more confident and communicative and increasingly took his proper place as Israel's leader.

 
MOSES’S RETURN TO EGYPT
18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

• Midian Map & Modern Google Map

20 So Moses took his wife and sons,

• We learn here for the first time that Moses had sons (plural).

put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand.
21 The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go.

• He was not saying that Pharaoh would be unable to choose whether he would release the Israelites.
• God made Pharaoh's heart progressively harder as the king repeatedly chose to disobey God's will.
• Leviticus 26:23-24 - “If in spite of these things you do not accept my discipline, but act with hostility toward me, 24 then I will act with hostility toward you; I also will strike you seven times for your sins.[1]
•  It is not till after the sixth plague that it is stated that Jehovah made the heart of Pharaoh firm (9:12).
• Even though God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart was only the complement of Pharaoh's hardening his own heart, God revealed only the former action in verse 21.
• God's purpose in this revelation was to prepare Moses for the opposition he would face.
• He also intended to strengthen Moses's faith, by preventing any questions that might arise in his mind—concerning God's omniscience—as his conflict with Pharaoh intensified.

22 And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!”

• This is the first mention in Exodus that Moses was to perform signs before Pharaoh.
• Since Israel is God's firstborn son, the appropriate punishment against Egypt for harming Israel is for God to harm Egypt's firstborn son.

24 On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. 25 So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.

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

 
REUNION OF MOSES AND AARON
27 Now the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30 Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. 31 The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped.[2]
 
MOSES CONFRONTS PHARAOH
EXODUS 5
1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

• By Egyptian law, the Israelites could have worshipped only the gods of Egypt while in the land, but they had to leave Egypt to worship a non-Egyptian God.

2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
3 They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

• Moses is only asking for PTO.

4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”

• Consequently when Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to obey the command of Yahweh, Pharaoh saw this request as a threat to his sovereignty.

 
FURTHER OPPRESSION OF ISRAEL
6 That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen, 7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it.
Verses 9-21 – Israelites were oppressed because of the situation they placed in by Pharaoh through Moses.
 
22 So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me? 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.” [3]
 
EXODUS 6
1 But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”
 
GOD PROMISES FREEDOM
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’

• God proceeded to remind Moses of His promises to the patriarchs, and to reveal more of Himself by expounding another one of His names.
• "During the patriarchal period the characteristic name of God was 'God Almighty' (Gen. 17:1), the usual translation of the Hebrew El Shaddai, which probably literally means 'God, the Mountain One.'
• That phrase could refer to the mountains as God's symbolic home (see Ps. 121:1), but it more likely stresses His invincible power and might. …
• But during the Mosaic period the characteristic name of God was to be 'the LORD,' the meaning of which was first revealed to Moses himself (Exod. 3:13-15).
• Exodus 6:3 is not saying that the patriarchs were totally ignorant of the name Yahweh."

4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens. 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore, to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”
 
Names of God in the Bible:

1. Yahweh (LORD): This is the personal name of God revealed to Moses, often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles (Exodus 3:14-15).
2. Elohim: A general term for God, used in the context of His power and might as Creator (Genesis 1:1).
3. El Shaddai: Often translated as "God Almighty," emphasizing God's ultimate power and sovereignty (Genesis 17:1).
4. Adonai: Meaning "Lord" or "Master," highlighting God's authority and lordship (Psalm 8:1).
5. Jehovah Jireh: Meaning "The LORD Will Provide," used by Abraham when God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Genesis 22:14).
6. Jehovah Rapha: Meaning "The LORD Who Heals," reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
7. Jehovah Nissi: Meaning "The LORD Is My Banner," signifying God's protection and leadership in battle (Exodus 17:15).
8. Jehovah Shalom: Meaning "The LORD Is Peace," used by Gideon to describe God's presence and peace (Judges 6:24).
9. Jehovah Tsidkenu: Meaning "The LORD Our Righteousness," pointing to God as the source of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).
10. Jehovah Sabaoth: Meaning "The LORD of Hosts," emphasizing God's command over the armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3).
11. El Elyon: Meaning "God Most High," highlighting God's supremacy over all (Genesis 14:18-20).
12. Abba: An Aramaic term for "Father," used by Jesus to express intimacy with God (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15).
13. Yahweh (LORD): This is the personal name of God revealed to Moses, often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles (Exodus 3:14-15).
14. Elohim: A general term for God, used in the context of His power and might as Creator (Genesis 1:1).
15. El Shaddai: Often translated as "God Almighty," emphasizing God's ultimate power and sovereignty (Genesis 17:1).
16. Adonai: Meaning "Lord" or "Master," highlighting God's authority and lordship (Psalm 8:1).
17. Jehovah Jireh: Meaning "The LORD Will Provide," used by Abraham when God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Genesis 22:14).
18. Jehovah Rapha: Meaning "The LORD Who Heals," reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
19. Jehovah Nissi: Meaning "The LORD Is My Banner," signifying God's protection and leadership in battle (Exodus 17:15).
20. Jehovah Shalom: Meaning "The LORD Is Peace," used by Gideon to describe God's presence and peace (Judges 6:24).
21. Jehovah Tsidkenu: Meaning "The LORD Our Righteousness," pointing to God as the source of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).
22. Jehovah Sabaoth: Meaning "The LORD of Hosts," emphasizing God's command over the armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3).
23. El Elyon: Meaning "God Most High," highlighting God's supremacy over all (Genesis 14:18-20).
24. Abba: An Aramaic term for "Father," used by Jesus to express intimacy with God (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15).
25. The Lord of Hosts: Emphasizing God's command over the heavenly armies and His power in battle (Isaiah 1:24).
26. The Holy One of Israel: Highlighting God's holiness and His special relationship with Israel (Isaiah 1:4).
27. The Redeemer: Signifying God's role in delivering and saving His people (Isaiah 47:4).
28. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Titles that emphasize God's supreme authority over all rulers (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16).
29. The Light of the World: A title for Jesus, illustrating His role in bringing spiritual illumination and truth (John 8:12).
30. The Bread of Life: Another title for Jesus, emphasizing His role in providing spiritual sustenance (John 6:35).
31. The Good Shepherd: Describing Jesus' care and guidance for His followers (John 10:11).
32. The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Titles for Jesus that highlight His role as the path to God, the embodiment of truth, and the source of eternal life (John 14:6).
33. The True Vine: Illustrating the vital connection between Jesus and His followers (John 15:1).
34. The Word: Referring to Jesus as the divine Logos, the ultimate revelation of God (John 1:1).
35. The Almighty: Emphasizing God's omnipotence and supreme power (Revelation 1:8).
36. The Lord Our Banner: Signifying God's protection and victory (Exodus 17:15).
37. The Lord Our Peace: Highlighting God's role in bringing peace to His people (Judges 6:24).
38. The Lord Our Righteousness: Emphasizing God's provision of righteousness for His people (Jeremiah 23:6).
39. The Lord Who Heals: Reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
40. The Lord Who Provides: Illustrating God's provision for His people's needs (Genesis 22:14).
41. The Lord Who Sanctifies: Highlighting God's role in setting His people apart for His purposes (Leviticus 20:8).
42. The Lord Who Sees: Emphasizing God's awareness and care for His people (Genesis 16:13).
43. The Lord Who Is There: Reflecting God's presence with His people (Ezekiel 48:35).
44. The Lord of Peace: Highlighting God's ability to bring peace into the lives of His people (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Le 26:23–24.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 4:1–31.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 5:1–23.