Chapter 4

Exodus 4 - GENERAL REMARKS - Before this chapter, there was never displays of God's power through a human agent. Until now, they were all accomplished through angelic or divine agency. It is significant that the roots of Jewish religion should have their beginning in the human agency of the miraculous. From now on, it is not so uncommon. In fact, when Jesus came, people demanded a miraculous sign to prove He was from God. Signs became expected of the servants of God. Those who say there are no miraculous signs anymore (they died with the Apostles) are not considering the continuity of God. We can now understand Moses' reluctance to accept the mission. When the Lord showed him all the miracles He would do through him, realize that this was all new to Moses and the people of God. It was not new, however, to the powers of darkness. Pharaoh's magicians had no trouble replicating some of the miracles that Moses performed, which shows the dark arts in force before the Lord gave such power to His own people.

Exodus 4:1ff - Moses, in effect, asks the question, "What if they don't believe that I have really seen you?" Then the Lord proceeds to give him miraculous power. This is a characteristic of those who have seen the Lord. It is repeated literally with the original Apostles (Peter, James, John, etc.). It is repeated meta-physically with Paul (Saul), who saw not a physical manifestation of the Lord but a spiritual one. This power is passed on today thru seeing spiritual manifestations of the Lord.

Exodus 4:3 - This transformation was real. Moses was scared of it and ran away!

Exodus 4:6 - According to Levitical law (Leviticus 13:13), if a person was completely covered by leprosy and it was completely white (implying that there was no raw flesh), that person was actually considered clean. Here Moses' hand is completely white, so even with this miraculous sign, the Lord would not make him unclean just to prove a point.

Exodus 4:10 - Moses starts getting scared of the task the Lord is putting before him. All the signs and wonders are too much for him. What if he gets something wrong, and he turns all the Nile into blood? What if his hand doesn't get restored from leprosy?

Exodus 4:13 - Though the English rendering is ambiguous, Moses is clearly asking the Lord to send someone else, which explains why the Lord became angry in vs. 14.

Exodus 4:14 - GENERAL REMARKS - Aaron was not originally a part of God's plan. When you get to the book of Leviticus, Aaron has a major part to play in the priestly duties. Did the Lord intend that Moses should be both Prophet and Priest, while the Lord was King (Israel was a theocratic society at this time)? Ultimately Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King. Moses, whose name is very similar to Messiah, was perhaps to be Prophet and Priest. The Lord became angry with Moses not so much because he didn't "believe in himself", but because he threatened God's intended order. Moses could not be King, as God was. But he could be prophet and priest. The roles would not join again until after the exile. The blending of the role of King and priest (note that prophet is left out) is seen in the book of Zechariah in the person of Joshua. He was the high priest of Israel, and the Lord was calling for him to be made King as well (6:11). When Jesus was on earth, He was "Prophet." He was not of a priestly line, so in the natural realm, He could not be. He was nearly forced to become king, but it was not His time yet (John 6:15). He became priest when He became the mediator of the new covenant in His blood. He will be installed as King at His second coming.
Note on Hebrew Grammar - This has an interesting case of an adjectival intensifier for the Hebrew, "Davar." The rendering, instead of the normal "greatly", is to "speak fluently."

Exodus 4:18 - In this verse, Moses asks his father-in-law to let him go back to Egypt. In the Hebrew, Moses uses a particle of entreaty ("Let me go please..."). In the first verse of chapter 5, Moses asks the same question to Pharaoh, "Let my people go...", but the answer was not the same. Pharaoh did not agree. The wording was different between the two. In the first case, Moses is speaking to Jethro asking permission to leave and using language of entreaty. In the second case, it is actually God that is speaking through Moses, but the language is more of a command. In the first case, Jethro granted Moses' wish. In the second, Pharaoh refused to obey the Lord's command.

Exodus 4:20 - There is something about a staff (the limb of a tree to walk with) in the human psyche. We see it here in this passage, but all throughout modern folk-lore you see the presence of a staff: Wizards often carried staffs that were endued with power, wizard wands are a version of the staff, travelers carried staffs for a functional purpose. I think that there is a sense of comfort and power that comes from holding a staff. I wonder if Moses didn't feel some reassurance having one in his hand.

Exodus 4:24-26 - This is a very interesting passage, and I have not read a satisfactory explanation of why the Lord wanted to put Moses to death. I have two questions:
1. Why didn't the Lord say something to him during one of the times of their fellowship that he needed to circumcise his son?
2. Why would the Lord all of a sudden (seemingly) want to kill the very man that He was sending to Egypt and was apparently happy with all along?
I think the answer to this lies in a principle of how God works. We tend to assume that the Lord is quite indulgent of us, and that He does not mind our slowness to comply with His requirements (law). Moses knew the law of circumcision, because even Zipporah (his wife) knew about it. But Moses was slow about being obedient. I'm sure he intended to do so, but procrastinated.
But, Moses misjudged the Lord's character in two ways:
1. God requires obedience of all known laws. He is not required to warn us or reiterate the law's importance before executing punishment for breaking His law. In Genesis 17:14, the Lord says that anyone who is not circumcised has broken His covenant - not just the law, which is given as covenant stipulations, but they have broken His covenant, which is much more serious.
2. We are not an indispensible commodity. The Lord can get rid of us and raise up someone else as easily as He raised us up. We may be special, but not irreplaceable. Moses was on the way to Egypt to do the Lord's work, but his time for compliance was up. God called him to account.
Another principle, the Lord must have complete and thorough obedience before sending you into the battlefield. In every particular, you must be compliant and prayed up before going to represent the Lord and engage in the battle for souls.