Exodus 4:1-17 Equipped For The Call

To make the fourth chapter of Exodus more understandable, we need to backtrack and understand the backstory. In most great stories, there's a backstory, and once you're clear on that, everything else makes more sense. So, if you would turn with me to Exodus chapter 3, we're going to look at a couple of scriptures there, and then we're going to go to the New Testament for a minute, fill in the gaps, and then we're going to dive deeper into the message today. Let's pray. Father, we come before you today and just say thank you for the opportunity to be in your house and in your word, and Father, to spend time listening to your voice. Father, I pray that you just speak through me today, that the words that need to be communicated would come forth, and that you would be glorified in everything that takes place here today. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

If you don't have a Bible today, certainly turn in your app or your tablet. There are Bibles in the seatbacks in front of you; that's a gift from us to you if you don't have one. So, Exodus chapter 3, starting at verse 16, and what we're going to get are the marching orders for Moses. If you'll remember last week, we talked about Moses' burning bush experience, and we're going to dive into that here. So, starting at verse 16: "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them: 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, 'I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

So, from there, we're going to go to Acts chapter 7. So, if you'll turn in the New Testament to Acts chapter 7, we're going to fill in the rest of the information we need before we continue on here into chapter 4. So, Acts chapter 7, and we're going to start at verse 22: "And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds." Yeah, I want to stop there before we proceed any further because this is part of what's going to set the pace for where we go today. Moses had been educated in Pharaoh's Palace; he had grown up in Pharaoh's Palace. Common sense would tell us if anyone was going to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, it was probably going to be Moses because he understood not only Hebrew culture but he understood Egyptian culture. And so, at age forty, it enters his heart or enters his mind that, you know what, I should go do something for my people. I should go check on them. I should go see how things are going.

And so, at age 40, he proceeds to check on his brothers. Verse 24: "And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand." And you really need to anchor that down because that's going to make today's passage make sense. Moses gets it in his mind, "Hey, I'm the guy to deliver these people. I'm well-educated, I'm well-equipped, I've got Pharaoh's ear, I grew up in his house, and I'm going to go deliver my people." He shows up and says, "Hey, I'm here to rescue you," and they didn't get it. Failure. And so that's the word I want you to hold on to as we look at Moses' story here: failure. So, they did not understand.

Verse 26: "The following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?' But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'" At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

So, with that backdrop of failure, let's now go into Exodus chapter 4, and it's a continuation of the conversation from Exodus 3. God has said, "Moses, you're my guy, and I'm going to send you to your people and then to Pharaoh to lead them out of captivity." So let's look at what Moses has to say in this conversation with God starting in verse 1 of chapter 4: "Then Moses answered, 'But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.' The Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A staff.' And he said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, 'Put your hand and catch it by the tail.' So he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand, 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.' Again, the Lord said to him, 'Put your hand inside your cloak.' And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, 'Put your hand back inside your cloak.' So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 'If they will not believe you,' God said, 'or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.' But Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you've spoken to me, your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.' Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.' But he said, 'Oh my Lord, please send someone else.' Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, 'Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And taking your hand this staff with which you shall do the signs.'"