Chapter 4

Exodus Chapter 4

Commentary:

4:1- We’re quick to be hard on Moses, but consider how you would react if someone told you they had heard from God and had a very specific message for your church. Now imagine that person was a murderer who had lived in the middle of nowhere for 40 years. His fears that the people wouldn’t listen aren’t that unbelievable. And remember that God still has not expressed frustration with Moses’ questions, so perhaps we should be a little slower in passing judgment on Moses.

4:2- See Week 1 of our study for mention of how this narrative parallels the Egyptian myth of the wax crocodile.‌

4:3- This is more than just fear of a snake. Serpent here is the same word (nachash) for the supernatural creature that tempted the first man and woman in the Garden. Yahweh is demonstrating control over the nachash and giving Moses that same authority.‌

4:4- It’s not usually smart to grab a snake by the tail. I think this might be a hint that Moses is not the awaited Messiah. The Messiah would crush the head, but Moses only grabs the tail. Still, no other character in the story of the Tanakh is depicted as even touching the serpent‌, so for all his flaws, Moses got closer than most to being the leader Israel needed.

4:5- Notice how God considered this to be proof that He was the God of the patriarchs. He isn't proving deity by cheap parlor tricks. He's establishing His identity by tying His actions back to previous ones from hundreds of years before. He’s linking where Moses is now to the promise of a nachash-crusher from Genesis 3:15‌.

4:6- This is the first time leprosy shows up in the Bible narrative. It is likely related to the disease we call leprosy today, but it may not be the exact same thing. Why Yahweh presented this sign as something that would convince Israel of His identity is not entirely clear, but it does hyperlink ahead in the story to when Moses would deliver instructions regarding leprosy in Leviticus. Moses also likely remembered this sign when his sister contracted leprosy in Numbers 12, leading him to intercede on her behalf, trusting that God could heal the disease as he had done with Moses here.

4:8- Sometimes, Christians can get caught up in arguments about God’s sovereignty and how much of life is attributable to His control or our free will. While there is some benefit to considering the power of God to direct situations, verses like this suggest that there is no fixed timeline of events. Yahweh specifically told Moses that Israel would believe the second sign if the first one didn’t work. Then He immediately follows that statement up with “And if they don’t believe the second sign, here’s a third one.” Apparently there were multiple possible futures from a human point of view. God knew which one would happen, but He didn’t force it to happen. He gave Israel the chance to accept or reject the first sign on its own merits, then the second, then the third if need be. God allows humans to make choices. He knows how each possible situation will end and has a plan in place for each one, but He ultimately leaves the final choice up to us.

4:9- This sign is major foreshadowing for the first plague. But it’s also an example of de-creation. In Genesis 1-2, Yahweh brought order into chaos through creation. One of the first ways He did that was by pulling dry land up from the midst of the waters. Now, He’s telling Moses to pour water back onto the dry land (same word from Gen 1). Pharoah lived a life of chaos, furthering a spirit of decreation in his actions to the people under his rule. God is giving him the natural result of his choices in a very graphic physical display.

4:10- Nowhere does the Bible say Moses stuttered. Moses literally said, “I am not a man of words, not yesterday or the day before yesterday or since you spoke to your servant because I am weighty of mouth and weighty of tongue.” It’s possible he had a speech impediment, but that could have been any number of specific problems. Brian Godawa offers another option that I think makes a lot of sense:

“Interestingly, these two passages (Exodus 4:10; 6:12) are the only places that refer to Moses’s stuttering. Was it just to make the point that God can overcome our physical defects or personal frailties to show his power? In my research, I found another possible reason why the author draws attention to it.‌ . . . One of the elements of magic is the spoken word of the magicians. . . . The spoken word harnesses that magic to the bidding of the magician or god.‌ In Egyptian mythology it was the spoken words of Ptah that created the heavens and earth as well as the other gods, something also reflected in Moses’s account of creation by Yahweh in Genesis 1. Words, spoken or written, in spells and enchantments could harness that magic to do the god’s or magician’s bidding with well-known phrases such as ‘spellsmagic of your utterances’ or ‘spellsmagic on your mouth.’ Ritner extrapolates:‌ Thus Thoth, the god of writing, is regularly qualified as ‘excellent of magic’ in his capacity as ‘Lord of hieroglyphs.’ Similarly, Heka [god who is magic] may be directly identified with the spoken word. Spells are specifically labeled as ‘god’s words,’ and in the ‘Apophis Book,’ the reciter warns the demon: ‘Retire, turn back at this magic which has come forth from my mouth for Pharaoh!’ Depictions of the god Heka are also instructive…he is described at Dendera as “excellent of words. . . .’

By pronouncing certain words or names of power in the proper manner and in the proper tone of voice [the priest/magician] could heal the sick, and cast out the evil spirits which caused pain and suffering in those who were diseased, and restore the dead to life, and bestow upon the dead man the power to transform the corruptible into an incorruptible body…and in obedience to his commands, inanimate figures and pictures became living beings and things which hastened to perform his behests. The powers of nature acknowledged his might, and wind and rain, storm and tempest, river and sea, and

disease and death worked evil and ruin upon his foes. The claims of the power of words used by magician-priests are all things which Yahweh would ultimately perform in the story of Moses’s confrontation with Pharaoh and his magicians. It was to be miracle vs. magic. Moses was raised in the court of Pharaoh and knew the magicians and their power. Regardless of how real or unreal the modern reader may think of that power, Moses thought he didn’t have what it took to face them. His stuttering would be impotent words compared to their eloquent and powerful words of magic. But

Yahweh’s response, ‘I will be with your mouth’ (Exodus 4:12), confirms that what Moses was about to say and do was not magic, but rather the words and power of God himself. A power that would eat the magician snakes for lunch.”‌ -Brian Godawa‌‌

It’s also humorous that God is the one who keeps stammering in this passage, not Moses. While Moses brings up new arguments to counter each of Yahweh’s statements, Yahweh’s answers are pretty consistent. He keeps repeating Himself, "You don’t have to worry because I’m the one who’s going to take care of it for you.”‌

4:11- This is pretty solid evidence that spiritual gift tests are not necessary. God will gift you appropriately for whatever task He has for you, even if you don’t think you naturally have the needed skillset. There is some value in knowing what you are naturally good at, but any personality or gifting test is just a tool, not infallible Scripture. If God wants you to do something, you’ll have the skills you need.

4:13- Moses literally said, “By your leave, my Lord, please send by the hand you sent.” Some English translations almost make Moses sound humble here, but in reality, he's trying to pass off the responsibility to someone else. “You sent me. Send someone else.”

‌4:14- This is the first time in Scripture where God is said to be angry at someone. Though His anger is often a point of concern for many Christians today, it was never unpredictable like that of a petulant child. His anger is always the last resort against a person or people who have consistently shown direct disregard for His gracious offer to them.‌ Notice too that while God is said to be angry, His anger appears to have dissipated after just two sentences. Try to read the second half of verse 14 in an angry tone. It’s pretty hard. Perhaps this verse is setting up a bit sibling rivalry, riffing off the Cain and Abel story.

4:16- This verse begins a minor theme in Exodus of Moses being compared to Yahweh. God Himself says that Moses will be to Aaron in the place of God. In Exodus 7:1, Moses is again said to be like God, this time to Pharaoh. While Scripture is not elevating Moses to the level of godhood, I believe it is giving us a glimpse of someone who lived a life so united with the purposes of Yahweh that they could be referred to as one. Over a thousand years later, that same God would send His Son and His Spirit to unite all of humanity with Him in a way even Moses never achieved.

‌4:18- Moses’ request to Jethro foreshadows his upcoming demand of Pharaoh.

4:20- The mention of Moses’ family riding a donkey seems an odd inclusion until you realize the last time a Bible character was said to be riding a donkey was in Abraham’s test at Moriah. The narrator is conditioning us to expect another test since Moses didn’t do so great on the last one.

4:21- The text later says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart against Yahweh, but we do have to wrestle with the fact that Yahweh first said that He Himself would harden Pharaoh’s heart. I do believe there is a comfortable balance between God’s sovereignty and humanity’s free will that can be found for passages like this. But this verse is a problem passage for a lot of people, and we have to give each person time and space to work it out in their own heart and mind without demanding an easy answer be accepted immediately.

4:22- The firstborn language will become significant later in the story.

4:23- The second half of this verse could be a part of Yahweh’s message to Pharaoh, or it could be a direct message to Moses (played out in the next verses.)

4:24- The last time characters stopped by an inn in the Biblical narrative was when Joseph’s brothers found the gold cup in their sack on their way back from Egypt. That was also the last story where a donkey showed up. In that passage, Joseph’s brothers had to decide if they would continue living in the selfish manner they had been before or if they would change and live in step with the covenant of their father Jacob. Moses is faced with that same decision here. There’s a lot of intentional ambiguity in these verses. Whom did Yahweh try to kill, Moses or Moses’ son? At first, it seems like the answer is Moses, but Zipporah thought the solution was to circumcise their son. And apparently she was right. It seems that neither Moses nor his sons were circumcised. Since God’s message was to Israelites who were a part of His covenant, it would not look good if Israel’s leader or his son had not partaken in the sign of the covenant. So Zipporah performs a circumcision by proxy. She cuts off her firstborn’s foreskin and then strikes Moses’ genitals with it. (Feet is a common euphemism in the Tanakh for male genitals.) Much like her father, Zipporah was acting as a priest before Yahweh. She interceded between God and

Moses and resolved the conflict.

4:27- Biblical stories aren’t always presented in a fully linear fashion. Verse 20 said Moses returned to Egypt. Then verse 21 included God’s saying, “When you return to Egypt.” Now, verse 27 has Moses back in the wilderness of Sinai. Near Eastern storytelling is often more theme-based than time-based. It’s kind of like watching a Christopher Nolan movie.

4:31- So far so good. The people are actually believing and worshipping, getting ready for the

freedom they now believe is coming.‌

Suggested Meditation:

God is a lot more patient than we often give Him credit for. If you find yourself frequently worried if His anger is directed at you, revisit His interactions with Moses and the Israelites in this book. Time and again the very people He chose to invest in and link His identity to either fall short of all they could be or outright go in the opposite direction of what He said to do. Yet God is not presented as being angry nearly as often as we think, even in the Old Testament. The first step to freedom is believing that God loves you and has already moved toward you, absent of any anger, frustration, or disappointment. He meets you in your imperfection in order to help you become all you can be for Him.

Next Week:

We’ll discuss a glitch in the plan for freedom as presented in chapter 5. This chapter will be a bit shorter than our last couple, so if you have any questions related to our study so far, we can take some time to address them in class.