Exodus 6:1-7:7 The Success of God

Exodus 6:2-7:7

Introduction

It’s a bit dated now, but Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell as the subtitle suggests, is the ‘story of Success’: It’s a book that seeks to answer the question ‘What makes some people so successful?’ It’s a great read!

In his second chapter called “The 10 000 hours theory”, he argues that to become proficient in your field: music, sport or art or computers, etc. raw talent is not enough.

Those who have scaled the heights [Olympians], in addition to raw talent, have put at least 10 000 hours of work in.

Success in any area of life is a gift from God. But like all gifts from God it can be used for evil. Success can make us arrogant.

In his excellent book on idolatry, Tim Keller says:

More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are god; that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength, and performance.

To be the very best at what you do, to be at the top of the heap, means no one is like you. You are supreme.

I think it almost certainly would have been the case with Pharaoh.

In his society in his time, he was considered a demi-god. He would have been worshiped. He was powerful, educated, rich and confident. He resided over the super-power of the day. His word was rule. He was at the top of his game.

By contrast to pharaoh and his success is Moses and his failure:

Moses’ failure and God’s promise

6:2-6:25

Moses failure

There are three rather embarrassing mentions of Moses’ failure that span this passage: READ 5:22-23; 6:12; 6:30.

Moses’ audience with pharaoh has yielded nothing but bad fruit. Instead of rescue for God’s people who are slaves, pharaoh doubles the workload.

Moses is disappointed in God. God’s plan of rescue looks like it’s not going too well. Even though he had those signs and wonders to show off to pharaoh [staff to snake, hand to leprosy, water to blood], pharaoh is unimpressed and responds by hardening his heart and making life harder for the Israelites [7:13].

God responds in two ways: Notice God’s two responses to Moses’ failure:

First, he reminds Moses of his faithfulness to his promise and secondly he tells Moses to pull himself together and go back again!

God’s faithfulness

So in 1-11, God speaks: And when you think about, you’ll notice that it is marriage language:

It is solemn

4 times he says ‘I am the LORD’ [v2,6,7,8].

Is that because Moses needed reminding? No!

In the marriage ceremony we say “I Grant take you Lillibet to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse . . . .”

Why do we say our names? It’s not that we’ve forgotten! It is because it is solemn. It is the solemn language of oath and promise before making a pronouncement of commitment.

Nothing is so reliable as God’s promise.

God wants Moses to understand that he is the God of commitment and solemn oath. Just like the faithfulness of a husband or wife is expected within marriage, so God is saying that he is a faithful husband.

God takes Moses back over 400 years to the promises made to Abraham, and he says ‘I am faithful to those promises. They still hold. I have not forgotten. I am the God of oath and commitment. I am the LORD.’

That is the equivalent of taking your wife, when she feels insecure about your love, back to the marriage certificate, and showing her the signature on it.

That signature symbolizes something that makes all the difference: it is a symbol of faithfulness. It is a symbol of commitment. It is a reminder of something that took place in the past that changes everything. ‘On such and such a date, I made a solemn vow for the rest of my life to be committed to you, to be united to you, and to you only.’

It’s not warm and romantic – it lacks the intimacy, warmth and romance of a candle lit dinner to show me that you love me!

And so I don’t want you to miss that what God is saying in addition to being historical and factual and contractual he is also intimate:

It is intimate

Verses 6-7 is the key here: hear the husband wooing his wife and lover: READ

It is a picture of wonderful tenderness and love. It’s a picture of protection and security and being swept off your feet.

God will take them from being slaves to being a bride.

What God is saying to Moses in v6-7 is something we need to hear and believe: God is not only going to rescue the Israelites from slavery. God is rescuing Israel for intimate personal relationship with him.

When God affects a rescue, it is double-barrelled: It is rescue from something; and it is rescue for something.

Many people misunderstand this about God: Often we want the one without the other: we want God to deliver us from a particular situation – something unpleasant perhaps; but we’re not actually interested in what we are rescued for – namely a personal relationship with God.

God is interested in more than delivering us from a situation. He wants to know us, and us to know him. He wants marriage! He wants intimacy. He wants us to be his people, and him to be our God.

I wonder if God is your God? I’m not asking if you know about God. I’m asking if you know God.

Nelson Mandela called our home once . . . My brother knows about Nelson Mandela, he even spoke to him once. But it would be a bit of a stretch to say that he knew him. That they were intimate friends.

The greatest and most powerful person in the entire universe is committed to entering into faithful, solemn and intimate relationship with people like us!

You can leave today in personal relationship with God.

I said earlier that God responds to Moses’ failure in two ways – the first was that he reminds Moses of his faithfulness to his oath. The second is that he tells Moses to get up again and put his head down and do what he told him to back in 4:22-23 READ. He says it again in 6:11.

Isn’t it kind of God? “Moses, in the flow of time, I have sovereignly and graciously appointed you – in your 80’s[!] – to do a job that is so important that it will be remembered for all of time – in spite of your failure”

And then we get the genealogy in 6:14-25:

Genealogy 14-25

What is it there for?

The genealogy gives us Moses and Aaron's pedigree, it authenticates that it was this Moses and Aaron that did these things – verse 26 ‘These are . . .’ READ

But secondly, it underscores for us just how unimportant Moses himself was. He is not special at all. He does not come from a famous or particularly influential family. He is not a descendent of Jacob’s first son Reuben [v14] – he comes from Jacob’s third son Levi. And he doesn’t come from Levi’s first-born son. Moses wasn’t even the firstborn son in his family – he was the last-born.

That is significant because in the ancient world, your placement in the birth order was held to be much more significant than it is in our world. The point being, that Moses was in fact insignificant. We would never have noticed him or entrusted such an important task.

“. . . and in spite of your insignificance” : The genealogy shows us just how insignificant Moses and Aaron were.

God’s ways are not ours! We’re impressed by success: money, education and breeding. But not God. There is nothing in the story of the Exodus to make you think that anything happened as a result of Moses and his skills, influence or learning.

There is no doubt about who the hero in the story really is: It is not Moses. If anything is going to happen it will have to be by the invention of the LORD: which leads me to my next point:

Moses’ weakness and God’s power

6:26-7:7

One of the things we’re learning through Exodus is that God really does rule over every power in the world.

This is not conventional wisdom. Instead we live in a culture where God is a personal opinion best kept to ourselves. And we can be lulled into thinking that God is not in control and if he exists at all, he is asleep, unwilling or unaware.

It’s not a new way of thinking. It really does suit the human race to deny that God is the rightful ruler of the universe, because then I can essentially live the way I want to live, without reference to God, or acknowledgment of his claim on my life. This is the default setting of the human heart.

And we saw it in 5:2 with Pharaoh for whom the rule of God is hidden - “who is the Lord”.

The rule of God is hidden to those without faith in him. And because of his contempt for the God of Israel, he had contempt for God’s people, and treated them abominably.

As we edge towards chapter 7 - which is when the plagues begin, we are entering a period in Exodus where even those who don’t believe in God will be convinced that the God of Israel – the God of the nation of weak and oppressed slaves – is the ruler of the world.

Quite suddenly God’s power will be displayed to the nations – such that the news of it will carry to the ends of the earth.

Even for people who don’t believe in God, it will be unmistakable that God is the ruler of the world. The book of Exodus will remove the veil to reveal for us God’s mighty, unopposed and inevitable rule.

In 6:28-30, Moses says, my speech is uncircumcised. That is, I have failed to convince Pharaoh. My speech is weak, unconvincing and without effect.

And God replies that at a time when no earthly power could challenge pharaoh, God says the most extraordinary thing to Moses in 7:1-2. READ. God will overrule that – 7:1. In fact, Moses will have God-like authority over pharaoh!

In 7:6 Moses and Aaron respond in obedience to God – in spite of being 80!

Do you know that at this point Moses – who really has been a failure up to this point, obeys God?

Here is true success. It’s not power, wealth, cleverness, or even super-spirituality. To succeed in God’s economy you don’t need to be beautiful, clever, talented or successful. You need to be obedient.

The New Testament calls us to obey the gospel. EXPAND

Conclusion

It is easy to rejoice in success. Pharaoh – who is rich, educated, successful and so powerful that he and his subjects thought he was a demi-god – will be shown for the failure he is.

God’s power and rule are shown as he puts his hand on pharaoh’s heart – 7v3. God’s power will be seen as he gives pharaoh over to his hard heart.

God’s power and rule are shown as he puts his hand on pharaoh’s kingdom – 7v4-5 READ.

God’s word can lead to the hardening of hearts. Even believers are called upon to not harden their hearts

Hebrews 3:7 ESV

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.