Tanak Foundations- Concepts in Exodus-Chapter 4

Exo 4.1-31 will tell us about some signs that Yehovah will give to Moses to confirm his ministry; Moses says he doesn’t know Hebrew well enough to speak to the people and wants God to send someone else; Moses leaves Midian and goes to Egypt.

v 1…Then Moses answered and said, ‘What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say (this is unbelief because Yehovah had already told him they would in Exo 3.18? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ “

v 2…And the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand (a leading question)?” And he said, “A staff (“matteh” or rod; the staff is a term for the Messiah, and it becomes a a nachash, or bronze, in Num 21, and a picture of the crucifixion of Yeshua in John 3.14).”

v 3…Then he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent (nachash, the royal symbol of Pharaoh) and Moses fled from it (he was startled; and he doesn’t want to confront Pharaoh).

v 4…But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail (usually you would grab a serpent by the head, but he believed God)”-so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand (Pharaoh also will be overcome by the power of God),

v 5…that they may believe that the Lord (Yehovah), the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

v 6…And the Lord furthermore said to him (a second sign), “Now put your hand in your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous (zara’at) like snow (Hebrew “kashaleg” or snow has a small gimel meaning a diminished case of leprosy, temporary).

v 7…Then he said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, it was restored like his flesh )there was a change in status; the sinful heart is too weak to deliver the people, but by God’s mighty power the restoration will come).

v 8…”And it will come about that if they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the second sign (the message of the second sign: that which was clean became unclean, and that which was unclean became clean; these two signs are the work and message of the Messiah).

v 9…But it shall be that if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then (a third sign) you take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground (similar to the first plague and showing how easy it will be for the Lord to destroy Egypt and avenge the blood of the innocent babies drowned by the Egyptians).”

v 10…Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent (in Hebrew), neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue (Jeremiah gave the same excuse in Jer 1.6; he didn’t know the language well enough because he was not an “insider” when it came to customs, language and tradition like Aaron was in v 14; he had been raised as an Egyptian and was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds-Acts 7.22; so he did not have a speech impediment as some believe).”

v 11…And the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth” Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord (Yehovah)?

v 12…Now them go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say (in a fluent word).”

v 13…But he said, “PLease, Lord, send the message by whomever you will (besides me; in other words it was like saying, “Here I am, send Aaron!”).”

v 14…Then the angel of the Lord turned against Moses, and he said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks (Hebrew ) fluently. And moreover,, behold, he is coming out to meet you (this was a new sign; Aaron had the revelation that his brother was the deliverer and showed more faith than Moses did here); and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart (they haven’t seen each other in over 40 years; Moses is now 80 years old here).

v 15…And you are to speak to him and put the words (that I have said) into his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.

v 16…Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and it shall come about that he shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be as God (speaking my words to him) to him.

v 17…And you shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs (plural; the miracles and plagues that are coming on Egypt; only one sign of the three signs given to Moses were done with a staff).”

v 18…Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law (Moses was a shepherd of physical sheep for his “father”) and said to him, “Please, let me that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are alive (Moses does not tell Jethro of his commission).” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace (to shepherd the spiritual sheep for his spiritual Father).”

v 19…Now the Lord said to Moses in MIdian, “Go back to Egypt, for all men who are seeking your life are dead.”

v 20…So Moses took his wife and his sons (Gershom and Eliezar) and mounted them on a donkey and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hands (his shepherd’s staff that God ordered him to take).

v 21…And the Lord said to Moses, , “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders (the plagues, not the three signs from earlier, those were to be done before the elders) which I have put in your power (to perform); but I will harden (“chazak” meaning to strengthen it to be stubborn) his heart (intentions and desires) so that he will not let the people go.

v 22…Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is my son, first-born (the heir).

v 23…So I said to you, “Let my son go (out) that he may serve me; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son (and heir), your first-born (if Pharaoh denied God the right to pass on his values to his children, Egypt will be denied the right to pass on their values to their children).”

v 24…Now it came about at the lodging place (this verse can be translated “tarried in a lodging place”) on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death (for not circumcising his son and to bring him to the knowledge of it, and Moses was ill; and he will eventually send his family back to Midian because it delayed the purpose God sent him to do, and it was dangerous; they will come back once Moses is at Sinai-Exo 18.2; and the youngest son was not circumcised for whatever reason; some say he followed the advice of Jethro and Zipporah who may have wanted it done when the child was thirteen, which was done by the nomadic tribes, or she was againsost it to begin with)

v 25…And Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin (perceiving it was for putting off the circumcision of one her sons) and cast it at his feet (to connect Moses with what she had to do, showing her repugnance for it, as in Isa 25.12), and she said (to Moses), “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me (the child nearly caused the death of her husband because he had neglected doing it, so she had to do it; and he was God’s chosen one to establish his covenant with Israel; she had purchased his life with the blood of her son, and started new again as if he came back from the dead).”

v 26…So he let him alone. At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood-because of the circumcision.”

v 27…Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God (Horeb/Sinai-Exo 3.1), and he kissed him.

v 28…And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

v 29…Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel;

v 30…and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs (of v 1-9 in sight of the people.

v 31…So the people believed (that God had sent Moses); and when they heard that the Lord was concerned (Hebrew “pakad” or visit, take care-Gen 50.24) about the sons of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped (this proved that the promise of the fathers still dwelt in their hearts, but their faith won’t last long as they are tested for the first time in Ch 5).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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