The Story of How The Story of The  Bible Became The Story of The People Of God  

       V. The People’s Delivery from Egypt (Moses)

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.

Living the Dream

Many of you will have heard this expression. In our North American context, I understand it to refer to having reached the goals of having found a good spouse, perhaps also including reference to already beginning a family, having a job with a good income, earning enough to have your own home and car, with enough left over to take good vacations.

As a human who tries to follow Jesus of Nazareth as Lord in the Anabaptist way, I have to say that this is a saying that I do not really like. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I have a rather strong aversion to it and what it means, at least as I understand it. I have heard it used in Anabaptist circles though. I have to admit to that there was a time in my life when I had similar sentiment to what the statement expresses too. I had successfully established myself in a career that I strongly believed God had called me too. We already had a small home that we had put considerable expense into in terms of improving it. We even also already had two cars. We were debt-free, and I was only 33. However, when I really felt that, in terms of this "living the dream" I had arrived was when our family of four (myself, wife, son and daughter) moved into a well-built bungalow with attached garage on a fenced corner lot in a good residential area of a small Canadian Prairie city in 1985. The home, built in 1961, had molded plaster ceilings, hardwood floors and pink sandstone around the main entrance and street-facing picture window, as we learned to call these in the 50s.

There were times when we considered buying a lot in that city, and even when we visited my parents in the Okanagon area of British Columbia, and building a house to suit our dreams. At one point, we did even briefly consider buying a lot on a lake an hour’s drive from home and building a cottage. Earlier, we could have purchased a lot with a home on it in a nearby National Park, but we did not follow through with that. 

Ultimately, in our Christian pilgrimage, we decided against these things because our understanding of being a Christian called us to turn down some of these possibilities. We were already living in a situation where we had more than enough. We could afford to take good vacations. Sometimes, I even felt a little guilty about that, particularly when we took the step of investing in a timeshare. We did enjoy the 25 years of the occasions that allowed us. However, one has to draw the line somewhere.

Now, we have downsized to a nice but not luxurious condominium. We got rid of the timeshare. We have long disposed of our second car. In fact, we often consider going automobile free. Indeed, even though we could have afforded it, and there were some who probably expected that someone in my station would drive a more luxurious car, we have never moved in that direction. Our current 13-yr old Honda Accord [2^ndlongest we’ve had a car] is the ‘fanciest’ car we’ve ever had. By that I mean the first one with power windows and door locks, trunk release; I won’t mention the 2 ‘extras’ I afforded myself - steel wheels and sunroof – still cloth seats.

These are the choices my wife and I have made. We fully recognize they still don’t come close to the self-denial our Lord disciplined himself to in his short life on earth. Jesus said of himself, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58) The Apostle Paul wrote: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). We know our choices represent more of a limitation than what some live under. But compared to what Jesus gave up and suffered, it is nothing. I say that not in pride but simply as an observation consistent with the fact that we can never earn God’s approval, nor can we tell others how to live. We each make our own decisions before our Creator, Lord and Saviour. We continue to work at doing justice, loving kindness, being simpler and humbler, which is what our God asks of us (Micah 6:8). However, ultimately, we know that all we are, all we have and all we will be comes through the grace of God, it is a gift, as the Apostle Paul again so succinctly put it: “…by grace [we] have been saved through faith, and this is not [our] own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no man may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) And, on this Thanksgiving Day in 2018, we are very grateful for all we have.