2016 4 24
2. The Commissioning of Moses
(3:1-7:7) continued (again, I am drawing on Waldemar Janzen's
Genesis in The Believer's Bible Commentary, subsequently referred to in the instalment
below with the appropriate page reference as, e.g., Janzen 82 ff.)
Exodus 4:18-20
Moses gains his father-in-law's permission to return to Egypt. Interestingly,
there is no record of Moses telling Jethro about his most important encounter
with God in the desert. This would appear to be particularly worth paying
attention to as we have read that his father-in-law was a priest, so it would
seem reasonable for his son-in-law to consult with him to discern about matters
such as this. Furthermore, we read that Jethro did provide some help in terms
of leadership to Moses later on when they met in the desert after the Children
of Israel left Egypt, so we know that Moses did value his wisdom. Indeed, one
wonders whether the preparation that perhaps Moses had spiritually doing his
years with Jethro and his family had something to do with God's choosing Moses'
tribe as the priests for The Children of Israel, although it was Moses' brother
Aaron who was given the leadership here. Perhaps the writers simply thought we
would understand that this was discussed as the reason for Moses leaving,
although what the text says is that Moses asked to be allowed to go back to his
relatives in Egypt and see whether they were still living (4:18).
Here we again have the Lord
repeating to Moses, "Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your
life are dead." Supposedly this should reassure Moses and remove one of
his fears about returning to Egypt on this mission God is sending him on. Does
this saying also sound familiar to something that was said about someone else
in the Bible? Look in the New Testament at Matthew 2: 19-21. You will remember
that when the wise men came from the East and told King Herod they were looking
for a new king that was born he, in his jealousy, had ordered all the baby boys
in the area to be killed to preserve his own line. Jesus' parents had fled with
him to Egypt to save his life. In these verses in Matthew, Jesus' father Joseph
is told to return to Egypt for those who sought his life are dead. Now he was
going to be free to grow up to do his task.
Moses, like other Old Testament
characters, as we have said before, is often seen again as a type of Jesus, and
this is one of those parallels in their lives. He is now free to go back to
Egypt to do his task.
4:27-31
Moses had complained to God in 4:10-17 that he was not a good speaker so how
could he persuade Pharaoh to let his people go. God had said he could use his
brother Aaron as his mouthpiece. Here we read of Moses meeting Aaron and
telling him everything. Then they meet with the "elders of the
Israelites" and "Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken
to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people. The people
believed; and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites
and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped." It
seemed that Moses and Aaron had gained the trust of the leaders of the children
of Israel so they were on side with the plans to leave Egypt. Now they just had
to convince the king.
6:2-9 Janzen 97 ff. - In
the preceding passages, Moses and Aaron had gone to Pharaoh to ask for the
release of the Hebrews. All that had done was make their work harder, which had
cause the people to turn against Moses. When Moses complains to God about all
of this, this is the answer he gets:
"I
am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as ‘God Almighty,’ ‘El
Shaddai,’ but by my name ‘THE LORD,’ ‘YAHWEH,’ I did not make myself known to
them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of
Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the
groaning of the Israelites who the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have
remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the Israelites,' I am the Lord, and I
will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to
them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of
judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know
that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the
Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.' Moses
told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of
their broken spirit and their cruel slavery."
So,
here we read of God again identifying himself as the God of his ancestors who
had “established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the
land in which they resided as aliens.” (verse 4) He tells Moses to tell the
children of Israel that “I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of
the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm in his mighty acts of judgment. I will take you my people, and
I will be your God… I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the
Lord." (verses 7-8) God is now making it clear that all of this action is
because he is continuing to honor his covenant commitment with Moses'
ancestors. They had become a numerous people, which begins to fulfill one of
the promises, but they were still up in their own land. Furthermore, we are not
sure that they were existing in much of a relationship at this time with the
God who held his covenant with them. Just the same, God is promising to do was
responsible party to a covenant would do when the other party is in trouble,
which Israel is. He has not forgotten them and his covenant with them, although
they may have. Now he is stepping up to take the next step in what this
covenant relationship is going to be. He will free them, deliver them, redeem
them, take them as his people and be their God. When Moses conveys this message
to the children of Israel though, unlike the first reception Moses and Aaron
had when they met with the Hebrew elders, this time they cannot hear the
message "because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery."
(Verse nine)
So
here, for the first time in Exodus, the language of the covenant reappears. The
same promises that we have seen given to the ancestors named here, are now
repeated to Moses to be passed on to those descendants. However, just as The Pharaoh's
heart has been hardened and he is not inclined to let the people go, the
Israelites themselves now are no longer able to believe that Moses can do
anything for them. Moses’ task is getting harder.
We
have spoken of Moses as a type of Jesus. Do you see further parallels here
between the story of Moses and the story of Jesus? We mentioned one of those parallels
right at the beginning of the stories of these two individuals, referring to
both King Herod and the Pharaoh wanting to kill baby boys.
Remember
that Jesus also was not received by the leaders of his day. Indeed, he was
rejected by his own people overall for the most part. He did indeed do a great
saving work for us, just as Moses was to help God perform for the Children of
Israel. However, perhaps like with Moses and Aaron, it was not until another
spokesperson, Aaron, was identified, who became the Chief Priest and therefore
the ancestor of all the subsequent Jewish priests, that God's plans were able
to be accomplished. Jesus himself is referred to in the New Testament as a High
Priest, and we as believers, Christians, are referred to as his children and
also as priests. It is through his descendants that the church has grown to
become what it is today. Just as Moses needed a spokesperson to accomplish
God's tasks, Jesus needs us as his spokespersons in the world to carry on his
mission.
Janzen 40
Another
way in which Moses and Jesus are similar in that both were used by God to carry
out missions of salvation through liberation from enslavement. As recorded in
Luke chapter four, where Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61, he states that his
mission was to free the prisoners and liberate the captives etc. That is what
God is doing with his people here in Egypt under Moses as well. The difference
here in Exodus is that the liberation, salvation, consist of one people whereas
under Jesus liberation and freedom from oppression is available to all. Thus,
the book of Exodus has been held up by the oppressed such as black slaves, or
poor laborers in Third World countries, to show that God is on the side of the
poor and oppressed and resists oppressors like Pharaoh. Here, all of this is
included in the language of covenant faithfulness though, but that is something
we have come to understand also applies to the church. Thus, Exodus also
contains "a specific message regarding election, covenant, obedience and
service."
Going
back to the story and the resistance Moses was running into both with the
Pharaoh and his own people, we read that in spite of all that, and God's
bringing 10 plagues on Egypt until they were finally at a point where the Children
of Israel were allowed to go free, they were delivered. The actual story of the
beginning of that begins in Chapter 11 through 12. This included the
institution of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well as a return
to the consecration of the firstborn, as described in chapters 12 and 13.
Chapter 14 – 15:21 is a story of their ultimate delivery from Egypt with the
crossing of the Red Sea - for God had miraculously opened up the waters for
them to pass - and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army by the returning
waters when they tried to pursue the children of Israel into the sea.
Chapters 15:22 to 19
tell the story of the beginning of their travels towards the promised land and
their arrival at Mount Horeb for worship, now referred to as Mount Sinai,
which, you will remember, God had promised Moses was the sign by which he would
know that God was really calling him and empowering him to do this. Chapter 18
is a different part of the story, describing how Moses is reunited with his
family and also gets some advice from his father-in-law, whom you will remember
was a priest, about who how to delegate the work of being a judge in Israel.
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