LESSON 4
OVERCOMING MOSES’ OBJECTIONS
—Outline by E. L. Bynum; Revison by Art Davison
—Outline by E. L. Bynum; Revison by Art Davison
Exodus 4:1-31
Memory Verse: Exodus 4:12, “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”
Introduction:
This chapter is a continuation of the discourse that passed between God and Moses; and here Moses makes other objections to his mission. We will hear his arguments and see how God’s patience is tried as well as how the Lord convinces Moses.
I. MOSES’ OBJECTION AND GOD’S ANSWER vv. 1-17
A. UNBELIEF is Overcome by SIGNS, vv. 1-9.
1. Moses PREDICTS the UNBELIEF of Israel, v. 1.
a. In reality Moses speaks from the standpoint of his OWN UNBELIEF and that the people might not believe his own bare word as he had experienced, Exodus 2:14, “And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.”
b. The Jews require A SIGN, 1 Corinthians 1:22, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.”
2. The ROD SIGN revealed, vv. 2-4.
3. The PURPOSE of the sign that they may BELIEVE, v. 5; Mark 16:20, “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
4. The MEANING of the sign, vv. 2-5.
a. It shows that God CAN USE ANYTHING He pleases, even a common shepherd’s rod.
b. The ROD was a SYMBOL of GOD’S GRACE as a SUPPORT, Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Lean upon it for support is fine, but cast it down and it becomes a serpent, which is a type of Satan.
c. The rod is a SYMBOL OF GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY and REIGN.
1) Thus it showed God’s APPROVAL of MOSES and ULTIMATELY of Christ, Psalm 2:9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
2) It shows the POWER to RULE, Revelation 2:27, “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.”
d. It shows that ONLY DEVINE POWER can control Satan, 2 Timothy 2:26, “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
Sign: Egypt (a type of the world) cannot defeat God. The serpent was worshipped in Egypt and was an emblem of the goddess Ranno.
5. The LEPROUS HAND SIGN, and its MEANING, vv. 6-8.
a. The HAND represents the POWER OF MAN, and is shown to be HELPLESS WITHOUT THE POWER OF GOD.
b. The HAND speaks of ENERGY and WORKS. The LEPROUS HAND is INCAPABLE of working for God UNTIL it is CLEANSED.
c. Moses is here REPRESENTATIVE of the WHOLE HEBREW NATION. They are all DEFILED and IN NEED of CLEANSING.
d. Moses prefigures Christ…
1) Who was WITHOUT SIN, Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
2) Who DID NO SIN, 1 Peter 2:22, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He bare our sins and became sin for us.”
3) Who KNEW NO SIN, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
e. The HAND that holds the ROD of God’s POWER…
1) Must be CLEANSED, Isaiah 52:11, Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
2) And must be CONTROLLED by a NEW HEART, Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
6. The sign and meaning of the water turning to blood. v. 9.
a. It reveals the CONSEQUENCES of REJECTING the first two signs.
b. Blood here speaks of JUDGMENT UPON SIN.
c. Since the Egyptians WORSHIPED the NILE RIVER; it was a SYMBOL OF JUDGMENT upon their GODS and worship.
B. Unbelief Overcome By the Giving a Spokesman, vv. 10-17.
1. Moses pleads LACK OF ELOQUENCE as an excuse, v. 10.
a. This does NOT agree with Acts 7:22, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was MIGHTY IN WORDS and in deeds.”
b. While it is GOOD to be humble and to KNOW ones limitations, it BECOMES A SIN, if we use that excuse in RESISTING God’s call.
1) Paul seemed to feel LIMITED in speaking ABILITY, 2 Corinthians 10:10, “For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and HIS SPEECH CONTEMPTIBLE.”
2) He showed his HUMILITY, 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:”
2. God KNEW Moses’ NEED, BEFORE He called him, v. 11; 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
3. God offers to MEET HIS NEED, v. 12; Matthew 10:19, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.”
4. Our SUFFICIENCY is of God, 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
5. Moses’ DANGEROUS ATTITUDE, v. 13.
a. Evidently Moses had MISSED God’s STATEMTNT OF POWER.
b. Moses said, “I am not” (v. 10), but God had already said, “I AM.”
c. Moses was looking at SELF when he should have been LOOKING at God, Philippians 2:21, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.”
d. Moses called Him “LORD,” but he was NOT READY TO OBEY His orders, Luke 6:46, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” God is EITHER Lord of all, OR He is NOT LORD AT ALL.
6. The ANGER of the Lord, v. 14. God does exercise anger WITHOUT violating His righteousness.
a. We are commanded to be angry and sin not, Ephesians 4:26, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
b. The Lord showed His anger at the HARDNESS of the hearts of the Jews, Mark 3:5, “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
7. Aaron given to Moses as a spokesman, vv. 14-16.
a. Of course Aaron became a hindrance to Moses in a number of ways.
1) Aaron made the Golden Calf for the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, Exodus 32:1-6.
2) Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, Numbers 12:1, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.”
b. When we INSIST on asking for things we should not have, God sometimes gives them to us, and they turn out NOT to be a blessing:
1) God gave Israel quails for meat, Numbers 11:33, “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.”
2) God gave Israel a king, Hosea 13:11, “I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took [him] away in my wrath.”
c. Moses turned out to be ELOQUENT, when in Deuteronomy, he DELIVERED GREAT MESSAGES to the people under the power of God.
d. We NEED NOT TELL God we are weak, He already knows it:
1) Gideon, Judges 6:15, “And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
2) Saul, 1 Samuel 9:21, “And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?”
3) Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:6, “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
8. Moses commanded to take the rod [his shepherd’s staff], v. 17; 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;”
a. The things ESTEEMED FOOLISH in the eyes of men, 1 Corinthians 1:29, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
b. The things that CONFOUND or SHAME men, i.e., to HUMBLE them by showing them how little God regarded their wisdom.
II. MOSES’ PREPARATION AND RETURN TO EGYPT vv. 18-31
A. Moses’ Obedience to God’s Command, vv. 18-23.
1. Moses asks and receives permission from his father-in-law to return to Egypt, v. 18; 1 Timothy 6:1, “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.”
Note: “As Jethro had been kind and beneficent to him, he did not choose to leave him without his knowledge and consent, and especially to take away his wife and children without it.” —John Gill’s Expositor.
2. God reassures Moses and commands him to go, v. 19.
a. Moses had returned to Midian.
Note: This place is still called by the Arabs the Land of Midian, or of Jethro. Abulfeda, speaking of Midian, says, “Madyan is a city, in ruins, on the shore of the Red Sea, on the opposite side to Tabuc, from which it is distant about six days’ journey. At Midian may be seen the famous well at which Moses watered the flocks of Shoâib, ( Jethro.) This city was the capital of the tribe of Midian in the days of the Israelites.” —Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge.
b. Now God gives Moses his COMMISSION at large to go to Egypt, Exodus 2:23, “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”
c. Those that sought Moses’ life were dead,
3. The journey begun, v. 20.
a. Moses moves immediately with his family as God commanded.
b. The rod that once belonged to Moses, is now the “ROD OF GOD.
1) The rod with which he would do signs, Exodus 4:17, “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.”
2) The rod with which God would part the Red Sea, Exodus 14:21-22, “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.”
3) The rod with which God would draw water from the Rock, Exodus 17:6, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” Compare v. 2. How we need to give to God what we have!
3. Moses commanded TO DO THE WONDERS before Pharaoh, v. 21; 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”
Note: God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in no way makes God responsible for Pharaoh’s sin. Remember that the same sun that melts the wax, also hardens the clay.
4. Israel, the firstborn son, v. 22.
John Gill says that Israel was “as dear to him as a man’s firstborn is, or as his only son: adoption is one of the privileges peculiar to Israel after the flesh, even national adoption, with all the external privileges appertaining to it, Romans 9:4-5, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the ADOPTION, and the GLORY, and the COVENANTS, and the GIVING OF THE LAW, and the SERVICE OF GOD, and the PROMISES; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”
a. What a blessing! 1 John 3:1, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
b. I am a father to Israel, Jeremiah 31:9, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”
c. I called Israel my son out of Egypt, Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
7. The firstborn of the world under condemnation, v. 23.
a. Let my son go that he may serve me, John 12:26, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”
b. Refusal would be the death of the firstborn of Egypt, Psalms 105:36, “He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.”
B. The Lord’s Meeting With Moses, vv. 24-26.
1. Moses in DANGER of judgment, v. 24.
a. Moses had NOT BEEN OBEDIENT to the covenant of CIRCUMCISION, Genesis 17:9-14. V. 11, “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.”
b. He had to set his own house in order, before taking charge of the house of Israel.
2. The covenant KEPT, vv. 25-26. The servant of the Lord must take care of his own family before he can take of others, 1 Timothy 3:4-5, “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)”
3. It appears that Zipporah may have GONE BACK to her father for the time being, Exodus 18:1-6.
C. The Meeting of Moses and Aaron, v. 27-28.
1. Aaron commanded to meet Moses, v. 27.
a. God often sends his servants in PAIRS, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”
b. He sent the Apostles TWO BY TWO, Mark 6:7, “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits.”
c. Barnabas and Saul (Paul), Acts 13:2, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
2. Moses TELLS “all the words of God.” v. 28; Exodus 4:15-16, “And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.”
D. Their Meeting With The Elders, vv. 29-31.
1. The elders gathered. v. 29; Exodus 3:16, “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:”
2. ]Aaron speaks and does the signs as Moses had told him, v. 30.
3. The people believe and worship. v. 31; Psalms 106:12, “Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.”
This is a testimony of the power and faithfulness of God.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Why did Moses say that Israel would not hearken unto him? v. 1
2. What did Moses have in his hand?
3. What happened when he cast it on the ground?
4. What was the purpose of this sign?
5. What was the typical meaning?
6. What was the second sign or miracle?
7. What is the typical meaning of this sign?
8. What was the meaning of the water turning to blood?
10. What was Moses’ second objection to leading Israel?
11. Who did God give to Moses as a spokesman?
12. How did he later on prove to be an hindrance?
13. Who did Moses ask permission for going back to Egypt?
14. What did Moses take in his hand for the journey?
15. Why did God seek to kill Moses? Explain.
16. What did the people of Israel do when they heard what Aaron said and did?