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.”
Moses continued to demur,
pleading that the people wouldn’t believe that he was God’s spokesman, for
God hadn’t spoken to them during the past 430 years of their stay in Egypt;
but clearly he still considered himself unfit for the task, in spite of the
miraculous manner in which God had called him. Before criticizing him
however, we would do well to consider how dilatory we ourselves are relative
to obeying His command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature.” The flimsiest excuse is deemed sufficient to justify our
disobedience.
4:2. “And the
Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.”
4:3. “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 miracle was performed
to convince Moses that the God he was being called upon to serve is the
omnipotent Author of life, to whom nothing is impossible. The Egyptians
believed that snakes represented life and power.
The Lord’s choosing to
transform the rod into a serpent may have been an oblique demonstration of
the fact that “that old serpent the devil” was a mere thing which God had
created, and could also destroy. As the head of all opposition to God,
Satan can do only what his Creator permits; and clearly this knowledge was
meant to imbue Moses with courage as he went forth in God’s service. Moses
fled from before the serpent, but he was about to learn that Satan is
nothing more than an instrument that God uses for the accomplishment of His
own purposes which are inexplicable to man’s finite mind.
4:4. “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:”
Moses thus learned, that
as God’s obedient servant, he was immune to all the evil power of Satan, and
need not therefore fear him; but this doesn’t mean that Satan would be
unable to act against Moses. Far from it. God very often permits Satan to
act in the lives of believers, but for the purpose of disciplining,
teaching, and testing, the arch enemy of God and men being forbidden to go
beyond what God permits, see for example Job 1:12 when Satan sought to
destroy Job, but God in permitting Satan to test His servant, imposed the
condition, “.... upon himself put not forth thine hand,” and again in Job
2:6, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”
4:5. “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.”
Many deceivers go forth
claiming to be God’s servants, but obedient believers can easily detect what
is of God and what is of Satan. They can discern in a man’s ministry what
is of the Holy Spirit, and what isn’t. What the believers of the past two
millennia have believed is what we too are to believe, in spite of the
enemy’s attempt to teach that we live in an enlightened age, and must be
willing to accommodate the views of others, no matter how heretical. It is
this same evil teaching which lends credence to ecumenism, and that is fast
producing the religious travesty, the great harlot world church described
and denounced in Revelation 17-18.
4:6. “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.”
4:7. “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.”
4:8. “And it
shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the
voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter
sign.”
The hand put into the
bosom and then withdrawn in a leprous condition, declares symbolically that
there is nothing good in man, as it is written, “The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,” Matthew 15:19.
The evil of the
unconverted heart is symbolized in the leprous hand. Were there is an evil
heart there will be also evil thoughts, words, and deeds, for what is in the
heart governs the life.
But the leprous hand
returned to the bosom, and then withdrawn again clean, demonstrates the
truth that God can cleanse the sinner from every spot and stain of sin,
making him a new creature in Christ, so that he can stand before God
unafraid, having been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ; and the
purification of the heart produces a pure life, as it is written, “By their
deeds ye shall know them,” and again, “A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things,” Matthew 12:35.
Since the hand is the
symbol of work, the truth being demonstrated in its being folded on the
bosom is that man is healed by the power of God, and not by any work that
man himself can do, as it is written, “For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest
any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9, and again, ”Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5.
Outward transformation of the life should be the evidence of inward
spiritual renewal.
4:9. “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, and
pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river
shall become blood upon the dry land.”
In Scripture land
is used typologically to represent mere profession as opposed to genuine
faith, (see the author’s commentary on
Genesis 1:9 ), so that the water (symbol of the Scriptures) poured on
the land and becoming blood, speaks of the Word foretelling judgment upon
the land of Egypt, which, as already noted, represents the world of business
and pleasure living in defiant independence of God. The judgments of God
that desolated Egypt in the days of Moses, will waste the whole earth in the
impending Great Tribulation.
4:10. “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.”
Moses pleaded his lack of
eloquence as a reason why he should not be the one entrusted with the task
of leading Israel out of Egyptian bondage, forgetting apparently that
enablement to perform a God-given task is not dependent on natural ability.
When God selects a human instrument to do His work He bestows also the
necessary spiritual endowment.
4:11. “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?”
This was the reminder that
nothing is impossible to the Creator. He can bypass whatever physical or
mental limitations He may have imposed upon the creature, and use that man
or woman to accomplish His purposes. He who has ordained each man’s state
can, by His own miraculous power, use even the weakest instrument to fulfill
His will, as it is written in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might, nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
4:12. “Now
therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt
say.”
Clearly it was Moses’ lack
of faith, not God’s lack of power that impelled his protest against the
assignment being given him; and surely honesty will compel us to confess
that all too often we have robbed ourselves of eternal reward and glory by
similar faithlessness relative to work He has asked us to do.
4:13. “And he
said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.”
Still Moses pleaded that
God might assign the task to another, failing to understand that no man is
capable of doing God’s work apart from divine enablement. God never assigns
a man a task without bestowing also the ability to complete it.
Unfortunately there are many today who are the antithesis of Moses: they
thrust themselves forward to do work for which God hasn’t fitted them,
seeking glory for themselves, not Him, and accomplishing nothing having
eternal value.
4:14. “And 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.”
Moses, honestly believing
that his lack of fluency was an impediment to his doing the Lord’s work,
angered God. How much greater cause of provocation is presented when we
refuse to do His work, not because of consciousness of inability, but
because we prefer the distractions of this godless world! Only at the Bema
will the full extent of our folly be revealed.
What Moses refused to do,
his brother Aaron would do willingly. God is never without a workman: what
we refuse to do another will do gladly and receive the reward that we
forfeit by our disobedience. By refusing to serve Him we rob only
ourselves.
4:15. “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.”
The glory that could have
been his alone Moses now must share with Aaron. The words that God would
have had him speak to the whole nation he would now be permitted to speak
only to Aaron, who then in turn would transmit them to the people. This is
recorded for our instruction. May it preserve us from duplicating Moses’
folly.
4:16. “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.”
What complications are
generated by our disobedience! But for Moses’ refusal to be God’s
spokesman, the service of Aaron would have been unnecessary.
4:17. “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou
shalt do signs.”
There can be little
question that Moses’ rod is a symbol of the Scriptures; and as that rod was
the instrument used by Moses to do signs, i.e., perform miracles, so is the
written Word the means by which God works miracles today, e.g., it is by
means of the Word that sinners become saints; and it is in the Word that
believers hear God’s voice through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit,
both of these being miracles of grace.
4:18.
“And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him,
Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and
Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.”
Moses had kept the flock
of Jehtro, but now he was being called to a higher and larger sphere of
service: his care of literal sheep was to be replaced with that of care for
God’s spiritual sheep: His people Israel languishing in Egyptian bondage.
Jethro manifested the same
generous spirit as was demonstrated by the first converts of this present
age. They were Jews, but when God made it clear that He wished to have the
Gentiles also hear the gospel “... they (the believing Jews) held their
peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted
repentance unto life,” Acts 11:18.
4:19.
“And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the
men are dead which sought thy life.”
Moses’ precipitous act in
slaying the Egyptian forty years earlier was done in the energy of the
flesh, not of the Spirit, and the result was that he himself had to flee
Egypt, leaving the Israelites to languish there for a further forty years.
But now God’s time had come, and an older and wiser and less impetuous
Moses, compliant to the divine will, was being directed as to his part in
leading Israel out of bondage, and into the enjoyment of Canaan’s riches,
God having removed by death all the men who had sought to kill him.
4:20. “And
Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned
to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.”
The wife, as noted
already, symbolizes the expression of a man’s spiritual life, while sons
represent the activity of his life. His setting them upon an ass is
generally taken to mean that each of them rode upon an ass. But as
discussed in earlier studies, the tame ass represents the natural body under
the control of the Holy Spirit, while the wild ass portrays the body in
rebellion against Him. Moses and his wife and two sons therefore, each
riding on an ass, speak of their having their bodies under the Spirit’s
control, and the lesson being taught in this is that he who would serve God
acceptably must also have his body under control, Paul declaring, “But I
keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means,
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway,” 1
Corinthians 9:27.
The rod of God, as also
discussed earlier, represents the written Word, so that Moses’ taking with
him also the rod of God, declares the absolute necessity of our being guided
by Scripture in all things if we would render God acceptable service.
4:21. “And the
Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do
all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will
harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”
“... those wonders” mean
signs: miracles: marvels: portents; and “which I have put in thine
hand” means which I have placed in your power: which I have enabled you
to perform.
“... but I will harden his
heart,” is generally understood to mean, not that God would make his heart
hard, but that he would permit Pharaoh himself to harden his own heart. God
will neither compel a man to remain a sinner nor to become a believer. Each
one is left to choose heaven or hell as his own eternal dwelling place.
4:22. “And
thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my
firstborn:”
4:23. “And I
say unto thee, Let my son go, and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I
will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
The value God sets upon
Israel is declared not only in His calling that nation His firstborn son,
but in the fact that He was willing to give His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to die for the remission of the sins of those of them who would trust Him as
Savior, those believers being the only ones He really counted as His.
Pharaoh’s refusal to obey
resulted in the fulfillment of God’s threat, so that the king’s disobedience
brought his own destruction, for the death of his firstborn resulted in the
cutting off of his line, his death being figurative of the eternal
destruction of all who refuse to trust in Christ as Savior.
4:24. “And it
came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to
kill him.”
4:25. “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.”
The Lord’s anger was
provoked by Moses’ failure to circumcise his son, for circumcision
symbolized the cutting off of the deeds of the flesh, so that Moses’ failure
was the typological equivalent of his refusal to eliminate as far as
possible the activity of the flesh in the life of his son. This may not be
taken to imply that it was in his power to cut off that evil activity, but
rather that it signified his refusal, through neglect, to instruct his son
to walk in obedience before God. The lesson God would teach in this is that
He is likewise angered by our neglect to teach our children the necessity of
being born again, and of living obedient lives.
What Moses had failed to
do, his wife did. She circumcised their son, and how often is the type
reenacted in our own lives! It is all too often left to the mother to
instruct the children relative to the things of God.
Her calling Moses “a
bloody husband” is simply another way of saying that by his neglect to
circumcise their son he had endangered the child’s life, for the implication
appears to have been that God would have slain the child had not Moses
circumcised him. This translates into tragic truth relative to the vast
majority of parents today. Their failure to instruct their children in the
things of God results in those children growing up to live godless lives,
and to die unsaved.
4:26. “So he
let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the
circumcision.”
Zipporah’s circumcising
their son led God to spare Moses’ life, and surely it isn’t difficult to see
in this a foreshadowing of what happened at Calvary. By the shedding of the
blood of God’s Son, the cutting off of His human life there, salvation is
made available to all who will trust in Him as Savior.
4:27. “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.”
Moses, the law-giver,
represents God’s Law; and Aaron, meaning light-bringer, represents the
written Word, of which it is written, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and
a light unto my path,” Psalm 119:105, and again, “The entrance of thy words
giveth light,” Psalm 119:130. The coming together of Moses and Aaron is the
symbolic declaration of the truth that God’s Word obeyed, sheds light on the
believer’s path way; their meeting in the wilderness being the symbolic
assurance that an understanding of Scripture is possible only in the quiet
place of separation from the distracting clamor of the busy godless world.
The mount of God was Horeb,
for the significance of which see comments on
3:1.
4:28. “And
Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the
signs which he had commanded him.”
“... the signs which he
had commanded him” were the miracles which they were to perform in the
presence of Pharaoh.
4:29. “And
Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of
Israel:”
As those elders were to
receive instruction from Moses and Aaron, so are the elders of each local
church to be instructed by Scripture, and are to exercise their oversight
according to the teaching of that same Word.
4:30. “And
Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the
signs in the sight of the people.”
Aaron repeated to the
people everything that God had commanded Moses, his performing the enjoined
miracles lending credence to his words. If men are to heed our words it is
imperative that they see in our transformed personal lives the evidence of
God’s control.
4:31. “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, they bowed their
heads and worshipped.”
There is no greater
evidence of love for God, no higher form of worship, than the presentation
of an obedient life, the Lord himself declaring, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments,” John 14:15; and again, “He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me,” John 14:21, that same truth being
declared also in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
It is also instructive to
note that they worshipped while they were still in Egypt, while deliverance
was anticipated, but not yet experienced. We too are to worship while still
here in the world as represented by Egypt, but in anticipation of our
leaving it by way of the valley, or by the Lord’s coming to rapture us to
heaven.
[Exodus
5]