Exodus 4 Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive." Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."
19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.' "
24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} [b] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. [c] "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)
27 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform.
29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
Moses receives the blessing from his father-in-law to go back to Egypt with his daughter and grandsons. God even reassures Moses that all who wanted to kill him have died. God does tell Moses that He will harden Pharoah's heart and he will not let the people go immediately.
It appears that in vs. 24 the Lord was about to kill Moses until Zipporah his wife circumcise his son. It says in my notes that Zipporah sensed divine displeasure so she took matters into her own hands. Moses seems to really be walking a thin line with God. He questions him over and over and now this. This passage ends with Moses meeting Aaron and then go tell the people all the miraculous signs I've given you. They bowed down and worshipped.
For ME: How many times have we skirted God's wrath? If Zipporah hadn't intervened would God really have killed Moses. Was he REALLY going to kill Moses and Zipporah's actions changed God's mind? When I lost my friend this summer in an accident involving an intoxicated driver was this a consequence of this friend being so far outside the will of God and being unusable? If God can't use me anymore will he take me? I pray that I am still reaching people for Christ through my actions, friendships and future teachings.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Exodus 4 Signs for Moses
1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"
2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied.
3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the LORD, "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."
6 Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.
7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."
10 Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
14 Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."
Here we see the 3rd, 4th and 5th moment of reluctance for Moses to go back to Egypt even though God had shown him miraculous signs. We know Moses was a humble man and has leadership qualities, yet he tries to pass on this task. His excuses ranged from "what it they don't believe me" to "I am poor in speaking." Finally he asks God to send someone else to do it. God, in anger, gives Moses one more assurance that his brother Aaron will do all the speaking. He finishes up by telling him to take the staff so he can perform miracles with it.
For me: How do we know when God is telling us to do something today? I know through teaching and being in bible classes that God speaks to us through: friends, the bible, stillness, situations in our lives, the Holy Spirit and such. Is it as obivous as a burning bush? I knowpeople misinterpret God's call in life at times as well. How do we know? Recently when my wife and I decided with much respected spiritual counsel, consideration and prayer to leave a local church we were told by the pastor of that church that Satan's hand was all over it. Looking back I feel that suggestion was so far off because we feel that we've had many assurances that we did the right thing.
Another thing I get out of this is in Vs. 14 it states that the LORD'S anger burned against Moses. Having God angry at you usually spells disaster for YOU. I wonder how many bonehead things I do on a daily basis that angers God?
1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"
2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied.
3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the LORD, "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."
6 Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.
7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."
10 Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
14 Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."
Here we see the 3rd, 4th and 5th moment of reluctance for Moses to go back to Egypt even though God had shown him miraculous signs. We know Moses was a humble man and has leadership qualities, yet he tries to pass on this task. His excuses ranged from "what it they don't believe me" to "I am poor in speaking." Finally he asks God to send someone else to do it. God, in anger, gives Moses one more assurance that his brother Aaron will do all the speaking. He finishes up by telling him to take the staff so he can perform miracles with it.
For me: How do we know when God is telling us to do something today? I know through teaching and being in bible classes that God speaks to us through: friends, the bible, stillness, situations in our lives, the Holy Spirit and such. Is it as obivous as a burning bush? I knowpeople misinterpret God's call in life at times as well. How do we know? Recently when my wife and I decided with much respected spiritual counsel, consideration and prayer to leave a local church we were told by the pastor of that church that Satan's hand was all over it. Looking back I feel that suggestion was so far off because we feel that we've had many assurances that we did the right thing.
Another thing I get out of this is in Vs. 14 it states that the LORD'S anger burned against Moses. Having God angry at you usually spells disaster for YOU. I wonder how many bonehead things I do on a daily basis that angers God?
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