Moses’ Staff
Moses’ third protest was that he lacked power....
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.
1Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake,† and he ran from it.
4“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Moses’ Hand
6Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”† So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,† white as snow.
7“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.
8And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. 9But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
The Appointment of Aaron
Moses’ fourth and final protest was that he...
Moses’ fourth and final protest was that he could not speak effectively. Moses was apparently grasping at straws in trying to escape this dangerous and unpleasant assignment, and God was becoming angry at Moses’ refusal to grasp the truth. The outcome did not depend on Moses’ ability, but upon his willingness to let God’s power operate through him.
10“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
God would not let Moses evade responsibility, but...
God would not let Moses evade responsibility, but he would accommodate Moses’ concern by allowing Moses’ brother Aaron to become Moses’ mouthpiece (14:16). As the narrative unfolds, the text records fewer and fewer occasions of Aaron serving in this capacity. Moses’ speaking problem was perhaps not as serious as he made it out to be, or the problem began to dissipate as his experience increased.
14Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. 16He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. 17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
Moses Leaves for Egypt
18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro† and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
19Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” 20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
These verses summarize the events of the next...
These verses summarize the events of the next several chapters, beginning with the request to let the people go so that they could worship God (5:3) and concluding with the final plague, the death of the firstborn (11:4–6). God was preparing the rescuer for the difficult task ahead (see 11:9).
21The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden† his heart so that he will not let the people go.
22Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, 23and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”
This incident is shrouded in mystery. That Zipporah...
This incident is shrouded in mystery. That Zipporah responded immediately and circumcised her son suggests that she and Moses had discussed the possibility of doing so previously and had decided it was not necessary. Why would having an uncircumcised son lead to God’s intent to kill the rescuer he had carefully prepared and called? Perhaps if Moses had arrived in Egypt claiming to represent the God of the Israelites’ ancestors and yet had not done the one thing God had commanded of his followers to this point (Gen 17:10), then the people would have been less inclined to follow God in a radically exclusive way.
24Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses† and was about to kill him. 25But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet.† “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
26So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
The People Believe Moses and Aaron
27Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.
In this section, the Lord offered to rescue...
In this section, the Lord offered to rescue the Israelites. The people initially gave a favorable response but ultimately faced a crisis of faith.
29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, 30and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.
And Moses performed the signs before the people, 31and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.