“The Return” Exodus 4:18-26
“Into the Wilderness”
A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus
“The Return”
Exodus 4:18-26
Introduction
“Everyone knows that you don’t eat bananas until they turn yellow. The internal transformation of the fruit inside the peel is what causes the yellowing effect indicating when the fruit is ripe (https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/bananas-change-colour-upon-ripening.html). Because we are God’s people, the work of Jesus changes our lives from the inside out. His grace transforms our hearts and minds, overflowing to our actions.”[1]This morning we will look at how our faith in Jesus should change us from the inside out.
Prayer
Freedom to Serve the Father (vv. 18-23)
18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
In the first five verses of this section the phrase “went back, go back” is repeated. This is the account of Moses leaving Midian and going back to Egypt.
(v. 18) When Moses was forty-years-old Jethro brought him into his family, and he lived with until here where Moses is eighty-years-old. Moses has is grown man, he has a wife and two sons, who themselves could be almost forty years old. He can go and do whatever he wants, but out of respect and honor to his father-in-law he asks permission to go and do what God has told him to do. He wants Jethro’s support.
(v. 19) Again, God comes and speaks to Moses, “And the LORD said to Moses in Midian” He is told that those seeking his life were dead, so it was safer to return, and then God comes to Moses again and speaks to him, “do the miracles, remember pharaoh is not going to listen, and gives him the words to say (that He promised He would earlier). Moses has already been told, and here he is told again, that pharaoh’s heart will be hardened (v.22) “But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” In response to the pharaoh’s hard heart, Moses is to do “all the miracles that I have put in your power.”
Israel is described as God’s firstborn son, (v. 22) “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son” God’s people were described as firstborn sons, and the purpose of the firstborn son was to serve the father, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” By enslaving God’s people, pharaoh demanded that they serve him, and prevented them from serving their father.
This is what sin does to creation. We are made in the image of God, we are designed as God’s creation to serve Him, to have a relationship with Him – but sin enslaves us, it lures us to serve false gods – to live a life that is contrary to our calling and design. In sin, we give our lives in service to that sin. Salvation is a releasing from this enslavement to sin, and it frees us to serve our true heavenly Father and have a relationship with Him.
Also, notice the relationship – God will free his people from slavery, but God is not stealing Pharoah’s slaves to make them his slaves. God frees his people, but as sons – we become the family of God. Yes, the son serves the Father, but it is rooted in a relationship of love, not forced submission. Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” It is right for children to obey and serve their parents; it is right for the children of God to serve their heavenly father.
Our submission to God is voluntary, and together we join the mission of God – we go to what God is doing and willingly join in and seek to serve Him.[2] But these children and the father must be about the same business. In the case of God and His son, the son must follow the clear instructions of the father – the mission of salvation is too important.
We have already seen the God Moses encounters in the wilderness at the burning bush is a holy God. You cannot just enter into His presence, the unholy has to be made holy in order to get close to Him. Exodus 3:5 “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
God has come to Moses multiple times; he is talking with him regularly. But God does not change – He is always holy. We may be set free, we may join Him in mission, and we may become comfortable in His presence, but wisdom should always remind us – God is holy, and He does not change.
(v. 23) In verses 22-23 there are two first-born sons represented. God’s first-born son and Egypt’s first-born son. There is a distinct line between them. “On one side are grace and life. On the other side are judgement and death. There is no middle ground or third option.”[3]
Fear of the Lord In His Service (vv. 24-26)
24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
The family consists of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their two sons. As the family is making their way from Midian to Egypt, they stop at an inn. While they are at the inn, something happens to Moses that the family comes to realize is a life threatening and is directly coming from the Lord. “However, the real question is not how God assaulted Moses but why?”[4]
Those that had wanted to kill Moses in Egypt are dead, but now God is his enemy? God had just given him another round of instructions for what to do when he had gathered the elders of Israel together (vv. 21-23). Moses was the one who God appeared to in the burning bush, and called to lead God’s people out of Egypt – why now, would God seek to kill him?
This passage has many challenges to interpretation – but there is one big idea that anyone seeking to understand what is going on here sees. Circumcision is important to God at this moment in history.
Genesis 17:9-14 helps us to understand what is happening, “And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Moses had not circumcised his son – he had not kept the covenant. So, Zipporah grabs a stone knife and circumcises the son Gershom, and then places the piece of skin at Moses’ feet. When Moses gives excuse after excuse God patiently gives answers and seeks to reassure Moses, “I will be with you.” But when Moses neglects to circumcise his son, that becomes a matter of life and death. By Moses not following the word of God given to Abraham he “shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Moses almost lost his life because he did not follow the Word of God.
God’s people are identified as His people by the following of His law.
We are Baptists, specifically Southern Baptists – we are described as being “people of the book.” God’s Word is sufficient for every endeavor we set our hand to do, and will not come back void, it will accomplish its’ purpose in our lives. Moses has incurred the wrath of God upon his life because he didn’t pay attention to what was required. What am I supposed to get from this passage? We have to pay attention as we enter into the presence of God (Moses removing his sandals at the burning bush), and we have to pay attention as we enter into service of God (Moses as he travels to Egypt). We ignore God’s Word to our peril.
Zipporah takes the bloody piece of skin and smears it across Moses’ foot. Later, God’s people will take blood from a lamb and smear it across their doorposts. These are blood signs that they are seeking to follow God’s commands (circumcision and lamb’s blood). Jesus’ blood would be smeared across an old rugged cross. What must God’s people do to be saved from the angel of death? What must Moses do to be saved from God’s wrath? Blood has to be shed in a way that God accepts.
“Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with his people. Within the covenant there is grace and life. Outside the covenant are judgement and death. Moses by not circumcising his son is acting like an Egyptian, rather than a member of God’s covenant people.”[5] These two groups go all the way through human history and on which side of the line you are standing on is eternally important – on one side will be eternal grace and life, and on the other will be eternal judgement and death.
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Deuteronomy 10:8 “At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.” The Levites were to carry the ark, there were rings on the side, and long poles slid through the rings, and it was lifted up and carried. Later the ark was stolen and David and his troops recovered the ark, and were celebrating it’s return. But, someone decided to just put the ark in a cart to get it back home.
2 Samuel 2:6 “And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.” God does not change, He is the I AM WHAT I AM, Being in the presence of God is dangerous. He has given us a means to be safe, but His Word have to be followed.
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(v. 26) Moses’ wife says that Moses is “A bridegroom of blood,”— Moses was adopted into pharaoh’s household. He grew up in the Egyptian ways of education and training. Acts 7:22 “And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.”
When his eventual wife first met Moses after his fleeing to the desert, she referred to him as an Egyptian. When does Moses become a Hebrew, one of God’s people? He was more than likely circumcised on the eight day of his life – we are told that his parents were people of faith. But true circumcision is a matter of the heart.
Romans 2:28-29 “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” When did Moses give his heart given to the Lord?
There is a fundamental life lesson that Moses needs to learn before he leads God’s people. God has established a blood covenant with His people. “First, God showed Moses the wages of sin by placing him under the wrath of God. But then God’s deadly wrath was turned aside – or “propitiated,” by the blood of circumcision. Blood is mentioned specifically because of a sacrifice and thereby identified with it. It was not a full sacrifice, but it represented Gershom’s entire person, offered in Moses’ place. Moses was saved from God’s wrath by the shed blood of a substitute.”[6]
Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
God is wanting to show His people how to be saved. This salvation story goes all throughout all of the Bible, but it includes the Abrahamic covenant – which Moses apparently ignored and failed to keep. Every human being is a sinner who stands under the wrath of God. The only way to be saved from eternal death is for God’s wrath to be turned aside, which can only be done through an act of blood.
By Jesus dying in our place, he turned aside the wrath of God against us. For the Israelites their covenant sign was circumcision – this is an act done to associate themselves with God and with His covenant. But what about Christians? How do we (today) show our association with God?
Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” In the OT the covenant of association was circumcision and in the NT the covenant of association is baptism. But just like circumcision doesn’t make you a follower of God, getting wet in baptism doesn’t make you a Christian – it has always been and will always be a matter of the heart.
So, imagine a leader of the church standing up and teaching or leading in some area, but then you discover they have never been baptized. It’s the same as Moses going to lead the Israelites and never circumcising his son.
Moses’ life has to reflect the faith that he is leading the people to toward.
The sign that was given to Moses was that one day, in the future, God’s people will be on the mountain worshiping and serving God, the leader who will lead them back to that mountain was expected to worship and serve along with the people. Exodus 3:12 “He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Matthew 29:19-20 is the great commission – we are to share how a person can come to Know Jesus, and then we teach them how to live a life before God that is pleasing to Him, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” How are you going to teach a disciple how to live a life pleasing to God, if you yourself are not living that same life? How is Moses going to lead God’s covenant people, if he himself was not following the covenant?
James 1:25 “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” And then later in James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” Works don’t save us, but our faith in Christ should become a changed life. We are changed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Have you been washed in the blood, the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
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[1] https://illustrationideas.bible/inside-out-2/
[2] Hebrews 2:11-12 “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
[3] Tim Chester, Exodus For You (India; The Good Book Company, 2021) 49.
[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 117.
[5] Chester, 49.
[6] Ryken, 119.
“Don’t Give Excuses to God’s Calling” Exodus 3:16-4:17
Introduction
At the burning bush God and Moses are discussing Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt. At this command Moses gives five excuses. The first is, Excuse #1 “Someone Else Would Be Better at This Than Me” Who Am I? Moses asks God who he was to do such a difficult thing. God’s response was that it did not matter who he was because God was with him.
Then Moses asks who God was, and Excuse #2 “I Don’t Know God Well Enough” Who Is God? Then God reveals Himself as being the Great I Am. Then God gives Moses detailed information about what he wanted Moses to do.
A Message for the Israelites (vv. 16-17)
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, 17 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.”’
A Message for the Egyptians (vv. 18-22)
18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness[1], that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
God tells them exactly how the Exodus would go, “The people will believe, the king will be hardened, the Egyptians will be plagued, the deliverance will occur, and finally the Egyptians will be despoiled!”[2]
In response to these messages Moses gives his third excuse:
Prayer
Excuse #3 – 3 “No One Will Believe Me”
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.’”
Every prophet is to say exactly the words that were given to him from God – not his interpretation of the burning bush, or his opinion about the words, but the very words themselves and what happened. Then those hearing the words have to determine if these are the words and actions of God or is this man a false prophet. 2 Peter 1:20 “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
In verse 18 God said to Moses, “And they will listen to your voice,” but them Moses says to God, “yeah, but what if they won’t listen.” God has said something to be true, but then Moses says, yes but what if it isn’t true. In spite of this defiance, God gives Moses three signs that will show people that what Moses is saying is true. These are signs will comfort Moses, and give evidence to the elders and the Egyptians that Moses speaks for God.
Sign #1. Staff to Snake – Something ordinary can become something extraordinary.
2 The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 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. 4 But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out 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— 5 “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.”
As a shepherd Moses would have the staff with him. Every shepherd would use a staff to guide the sheep, fight off wild animals, etc. Later in 4:20 Moses’ staff is called “the staff of God.” When it is Moses’ staff it is just a stick, that can be easily thrown down and replaced with another stick. But once God uses it, it becomes the staff of God that does amazing signs. Moses is struggling with self-doubt and he is saying, “who am I to go to the pharaoh?” If God can do this with a stick, imagine what He can do with you.
You are not less than a stick. Jesus says something similar in Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!”
Also, the serpent was a symbol of Egyptian power, “for the Egyptians worshiped the serpent as a source of wisdom and healing.”[3] God can pick up and drop down Egypt whenever he wants – God is more powerful than the gods of Egypt.
Also, the plagues are follow as Moses makes the request before pharaoh to let the people go free. Frogs, gnats, flies are all normal things that God uses in an extraordinary way. An ordinary man, an ordinary stick, an ordinary hand, and ordinary water – in the hands of God become something extraordinary.
Sign #2. Leprous Hand Restored
6 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. 7 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. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.
Later when the law is given, leprous skin was considered unclean. In Luke 17 when Jesus comes across a group of lepers, “When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.” In order to be allowed back into society a priest had to look at confirm that the leprous skin was healed. These men cried out from a distance, they were outcasts and ceremonially unclean.
But this Exodus passage was before the law, the temple, priests, etc. But God was going to take an unclean people and restore them to health. They would be freed from slavery and oppression and given a special responsibility among the nations of the earth. God will restore them.
Moses had tried to be the leader on his own and had failed, he had run to the wilderness to live for forty years. He made a mistake, he was a murderer – now God will use him, he will be restored. The God of the Bible is the God of restoration.[4]
Sign #3. Water to Blood – The Source of Life
9 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.”
The third sign for Moses was the first of the plagues to come (the Nile to blood). For the Egyptians the Nile was the source of life. God was showing He had power of life and death for the Egyptian people.
Also, it was the Nile that the blood of many Hebrew infants would have been shed and drowned on account of the Pharaoh’s command (Ex.1:11). This also would be a sign of judgement for the Egyptian people.
These three miracles or signs was to prove that Moses spoke for God. Later Jesus would also perform miracles in order to show that He was God.
Excuse #4 “I’m Not Good At What You Are Asking Me To Do”
10 But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 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? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Moses in his fourth excuse is concerned that he lacks the ability to persuade people when he speaks, for “I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Moses is not saying that he has a speech impediment (such as stuttering), but that he is fearful that when the time comes he won’t be able to persuade with his ability to speak eloquently.
The words he will choose to say will be wrong in getting the pharaoh to do what God wants him to do. God has already told him exactly what to say earlier, (v. 16) “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them,” and then in (v. 18), “you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him . . .”
Moses’ focus is on himself, “I am not eloquent” and “I am slow of speech and of tongue,” God’s response to Moses is to try and get Moses to focus on Him instead. God responds by reminding Moses that it was God who made him the way he was, “Who has made man’s mouth?” and regardless of how God had made his mouth, “I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
This is the second time where God has said, “I will be with you.” If God has called you to do something, he will be with you as you go to do it.
Matthew 25:14-15 is the parable of the talents. Jesus tells the story, “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” Then later the man returns and asks his servants what they did with the money that he had given them, (v. 19) “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”
Two of the servants made even for money for the man, but one of the servants did nothing, His one coin was taken from him, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
This parable shows that it is not about how good you are at something, compared to someone else, but what you do with what you have been entrusted. God gave Moses a mouth, He gave him the words to say, and He promised to be with Him. God never tries to convince Moses that he is more talented than he thought he was, or that he was a better leader than he thought he was – those things don’t matter. God said I will be with you.
Excuse #5 “Just Send Someone Else.”
13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 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. 15 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. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. 17 And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”
God has told Moses to go four times up to this point. “So now, go, I am sending you to Pharoah” (3:10); “Go and gather the elders of Israel” (3:16); “You and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt (3:18), and then again in 4:12 “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to speak.” Go, go, go, go.
And to God’s repeated commands to go Moses offers excuse after excuse, and then finally the truth of Moses heart comes out, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” The real issue was that Moses just did not want to go. “Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses,”
There comes a moment in the dialogue between Moses and God, where the fifth question was too much. Moses was not trusting what God was saying. There is a moment where we can pray, and ask questions, and all the while God is saying, go, go, go, go – and we reply back, “yeah but what about this?” and “what about that?” There comes a time when we are not wanting answers, but we are giving excuses for disobedience, and this kindles God anger toward us.
In response to Moses’ feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, God says, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well.” – Why does God do this? Look at Moses’ excuses 1) “Someone else would be better at this than me” – God responds by saying, “I will be with you” and he gives Moses a sign of one worshiping on that same mountain. 2) “I don’t know God well enough” – God responds by telling Moses His name, I AM WHO I AM. 3) “No one will believe me” so God responds with three more signs, staff to snake, leprous hand, and water to blood 4) “I am not good at what you are asking me to do,” – God says, I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.
All these things is God working through something, God’s power changing something. Then we move to Moses’ fifth excuse 5) “I don’t want to do this” – so God sends Aaron to stand beside Moses, but the relationship is described as “you will be as God to him.” This is about Moses’ giving God full control of his life and trusting God with everything.
When you limit what you allow God to fully control,
you lose the blessing that goes along with His control over that area of your life.
Moses is out in the desert, defeated, wounded, old and just wants to disappear. God says, no, you are going to speak for me. I will tell you what to say, I will be with you, but you will go and lead my people. Moses goes on to be one of the greatest leaders who has ever walked the planet. There is power in the word, yes, I will go. Moses goes, but not fully as God intended, it was an altered plan – changed by Moses’ untrusting heart. The plan goes forward but altered by man’s hardened heart.
God’s last words to Moses in this exchange “Moses don’t forget your staff.”
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[1] Was God being dishonest? Only three days with the real intention of never returning. Ruse de guerre – a justifiable stratagem in time of war.
[2] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 93.
[3] Ryken, 97.
[4] Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary, Exodus (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 2000) 110.
“To Know Oneself and To Know God” Exodus 3
“A Change of Heart” Exodus 2
“Into the Wilderness”
A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus
“A Change of Heart”
Exodus 2
Introduction
- Lincoln, Proclamation of a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, 1863.
“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”[1]
When all is said and done, it is not our abilities, or talents, or skill, that we will make a difference for the Lord in this world, but it the condition of our heart – are we humble enough to cry out to God and plead for His help and guidance?
Prayer
The Hebrew Child Becomes an Egyptian Child (Exodus 2:1-10)
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes1 and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
This man and his wife, from the house of Levi, as an act of faith had a child in this horrible time. God’s Word to them was, Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” They were seeking to obey and have faith in God, in spite of all the world’s darkness and despair.
God commends them later in Hebrews 11:23 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
(v. 3) “she took for him a basket,” – the author is very specific with the word that is used for basket, literally, “ark.” The only other place that it is used is in the story of Noah (Genesis 6:14-9:18). God saved Moses in the same way that he saved Noah – a savior is rescued from drowning. The ark was a vessel of salvation for them.
(v.3) “she took for him a basket made of bulrushes1 and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.” The salvation of God’s people was tucked away in tiny basket and gently placed amongst the bulrushes. The child was exposed, delicate, fragile, but he was never in any real danger – God was with him, and it was God’s plan. The baby Moses was never safer than when he was in that basket. Moses was far safer when mom pushed him into the water, than had she kept him close to her. She had to let him go, for him to be safe. Why weren’t the parents afraid to do this dangerous thing? “they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” It was God’s plan to save their son, but also to save the nation.
The Pharoah’s daughter ignores her father’s order to kill all Hebrew males, she even acknowledges that he is Hebrew, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children,” And eventually adopts the boy, and names him Moses as her own son. This reminds us that the salvation that was to come was for not only God’s people but for the world, all those who put their faith in the one true God. When it was time to finally exodus there were many Egyptians who went with them, Exodus 12:38, “And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them,”
God had given Moses’ mother a plan, she told his sister to stay close by, and when the infant was discovered to ask the pharoah’s daughter to help her find a nurse maid – which, by design was his own mother, and then was even paid to take care of her own son. Moses’ mother was able to freely take care of and teach her son the ways of God’s people. She had three years to teach all she could about God to her son.
Moses was a type of redeemer, he was one that pointed God’s people forward to a future true and ultimate redeemer. Jesus’ birth was similar to Moses’ birth. A Deliverer, as a child his life is threatened by a king. All the males are killed in order to try and prevent him from becoming the Savior (Matthew 2:16).
At the end of this sections we see, “and he became her son. She named him Moses,” – the Hebrew infant boy, now becomes the adopted child of the Pharoah’s daughter – at three years old he becomes an Egyptian. Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s palace and would have the best food, clothing, education, housing – everything would have been “the best.”
The Egyptian Man Acts Like An Egyptian (2:11-22)
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.3 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
In Acts 7:20-22 Stephen the martyr describes what Moses was like before Ex. 2:14-15 “At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.”
A running theme throughout the book of Exodus is the comparison of two ways, two gods, two cultures competing to see who is truly the most powerful, which way is the best way – the one true way. For three months the baby Moses was hidden by his mother, then for about three to four years his mother raised him, and way able to teach him the ways of the Hebrew people and their God. But then, for the rest of his life (by Ex. v. 11 he is 40 years old), as an adopted child of the Pharoah’s daughter Moses grew up in the Egyptian culture.
Look again at Acts 7:23-24 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.”
Moses at 40 years old wanted his people to be free, he wanted them to follow him – but he made one huge mistake. He was trusting in his “mighty words and deeds.” Instead of following him, they say, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian.”
Moses is using Egyptian strength, Egyptian words, Egyptian deeds “he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” – The way of salvation for God’s people is not to trust in the Egyptian ways. God never told Moses to do anything; Moses took action and then wanted God to bless his action; he never even took God into account at all. Egyptians don’t ask what the One True God wants. Moses thought like an Egyptian, he acted like an Egyptian, and he thought that the people would follow Egyptian ways (even though it was the Egyptians that had enslaved them!)
We go through life, and let’s face it – often times it is very difficult. We get sick, we lose our job, we don’t get the promotion, we struggle with debt, on and on – so how do we engage the struggle? Moses thinks that you should engage with Egyptian strength, words, and deeds? But that is not engaging the world as God would have us engage the struggle.
In the conflict between the two fighting Hebrew men Moses steps ins and seeks to mediate. “The use of the technical legal term for the offending party expresses succinctly that Moses’ concern is with the issue of justice.”[2] The Hebrew man says, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” – No one did, He took it upon himself to lead. Even later when God approaches Moses from the burning bush, when told to go back to God’s people in Egypt Moses gives the excuse, Ex. 4:1 “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice,” I tried to lead them, and they wouldn’t listen.
The Hebrew man used Moses’ decision to kill a man, as a threat against him, “Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” His ill planned attempt at a rebellion collapsed.
This failure and bad decision rocked Moses to the core, be became afraid, it filled him with self-doubt, and he abandoned any thoughts of leadership, rebelling against Egypt, and even being apart of the liberation of his people. He runs into the wilderness and hides. We wants to disappear. Later, when God goes to Moses and tells him that He wants to use him, Moses gives excuse after excuse and in Exodus 4:10 he says, “But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past (40 years ago when I tried to lead a rebellion) or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
If Moses was ever to lead God’s people, then he would have to stop being Egyptian and start being Hebrew. This is not a racial thing, it is a mindset thing. Also, God allowed Moses to try it Moses’ way – and it took 40 years to get him to understand that Moses had to completely depend upon God. You can’t be Egyptian and lead God’s people. You can’t be lost and point people to Jesus.
One may even ask, “If Moses had not killed the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand – he seemed to be destined to greatness.” Was it this one mistake that took him out of the picture of leadership for so long? No, Moses’ whole mindset had to change, he had to learn what it means to be a follower of God, before he could ever lead God’s people. With Moses we see that leadership is not about eloquence, physical strength, wealth, or power – it all comes to an identity (whose are you?) and the heart. So what does God do, to get Moses ready for leadership?
Hebrews 11:24-27 “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” “By faith,” From this passage we see that Moses wanted to please the God of his people, “by faith,” he rejected all the wealth and power that came with being Egyptian, and slowly became a Hebrew.
The Egyptian Man Becomes a Hebrew Man (vv. 16-22)
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
It will take another 40 years before God goes to Moses in the burning bush (the first 40 years was in Egypt as the son the Pharoah’s daughter, the second 40 years was as a shepherd in the wilderness). God sends Moses to and places him in a family that will help him remove the Egyptian way of thinking. He would grow to think like a Hebrew shepherd and not like an Egyptian warrior. God puts us in a church family, and over time we become more like Christ. This is why being a part of a church family is so important, we must chip away at wrong thinking and sin in our lives.
Genesis 46:34 “for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
By the time he has a son, he says, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” Or “I am a stranger in a strange land.” Moses is lost – he’s not Egyptian and he’s not accepted as a Hebrew. He has the best education, training, and he thought he would be a great leader, and those who knew him said that he was “mighty in words and deeds.” but he has been moving sheep around for forty years – that all seems like another life, long long ago.
By the time God speaks to Moses in chapter 3, his heart as been humbled. Numbers 12:3 says, “Now the man Moses was very meek (humble), more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Before you can be used by God, you must humble yourself. Moses not only is humble, but he is racked with self-doubt, and he doesn’t think he will ever be of any use for God (because he made a really big mistake, many years ago.)
In some parts of India the locals have a technique for catching monkeys, which they then sell in the market place. The technique is very simply and it works like this: First of all, they put some tempting tit-bits of food, maybe some fruit and nuts, into a heavy glass bottle which has a narrow mouth. They then secure the bottle to the ground or to the base of a tree, sprinkle a few more tit-bits around it, and leave it alone for a while. The monkey comes along, puts his hand through the narrow mouth of the bottle and grabs a fistful of goodies. – This is the monkey’s mistake! – You see, the monkey can’t get its clenched fist back out of the bottle, and it doesn’t have the sense to simply let go of its treasure! It becomes trapped in a blunder of its own doing.[3] Mistakes from our past are like those nuts in the jar, if you don’t let them go you are trapped.
Will Moses let go of his past? we will see next week in chapter 3.
Toward the end of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones is hanging perilously over a cliff, with his dad holding on to one hand. With the other hand, Indiana is trying desperately to grasp the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail has been the subject of his dad’s research, and most of his life has been spent searching for it. Now, it is within their reach. Indiana’s dad recognizes, however, that he can’t save him and get the cup, and so he tells Indiana Jones to let it go. Indiana ignores him, and his dad tells him, tenderly, again to let it go. It is a touching moment when Indiana’s dad is willing to let his life’s work go to save the life of his son. So often we give so much of our time—indeed, our entire life— over to something other than Jesus. But we only truly find life when we surrender our lives to Christ.
God Responds to the Hebrew People (2:23-25)
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
While Moses was in the wilderness, hiding from his mistakes, and learning to be a follower of the One True God – God was preparing the day for him to return to Egypt. The king who wanted Moses dead or brought to justice is dead.
God’s name is repeated four times – all relating to the people coming liberation. Moses was saved from death, he was raised and trained with the best, and now his time of humbling is almost over. But when we see, “God heard, God remembered, God saw, and God knew.” It is clear that it is God who will save his people.
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Appendix – Things important to the text, but I don’t have time to get to in the sermon.
What do we do with the fact this account is very similar to other historical accounts? “The world of the ancient East provides the legend of the birth of King Sargon of Akkad who was an important ruler in Mesopotamia in the second half of the third millennium BC. According to this, when Sargon was born, he was put by his unnamed mother in a little box, made of reeds and sealed with pitch, and was then set afloat on the Euphrates. A peasant saw him and adopted him, and finally the goddess Ishtar grew fond of him and made him a great and powerful king.”[4]
“He (the author) may have been consciously employing this echo (the similarity between the Egyptian myth and the Moses birth narrative) from a well-known Egyptian myth for polemical reasons. What was no more than a myth in Egypt truly came to pass for Israel in Egypt. In other words, the author takes a famous pagan myth and turns it on its head in order to ridicule and taunt Egypt and then to highlight the truth of the biblical story.”[5]
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[1] https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/pride.htm
[2] Brevard S. Childs, The Old Testament Library, The Book of Exodus (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Westminster Press, 1974) 30.
[3] https://accessinspiration.org/topic/mistakes/
[4] Martin Noth, The Old Testament Library, Exodus (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Westminster Press, 1962) 27.
[5] John D. Currid, A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2016) 76.