You Ain't Been Nothing Yet (Exodus 3:1-4:17)

 Imagine, if you will, you just lost your job, which for some of you, may be one of the worst thing that could happen to you. You may have been fired, you might have quit (for whatever reason), or quite possibly, the company went bankrupt and had to go out of business. Despite for income to keep your family alive and yourself alive, you march down to your local temp agency and take whatever job they have available. It doesn’t take you too long into your new job to figure out that you’re doing the job nobody wants to do, and you’re getting paid just above minimum wage to do it. Nevertheless, you’re grateful you have a job, and you’re doing the best you can at it. One day, you see a man dressed in a fine Italian suit walking around the workplace. Based on the way he’s dressed, you deduced he must have some important role in the business. After observing you work, he walks up to you and says, “I’m the president and CEO of this company. I like you. I like the work you’re doing. I found out you’re a temp employee. I would like to hire you full-time. I’ll make sure you get a more important role at this company, and of course, that will come with the pay and benefits all our other employees get.” That’s good! You quickly take up the offer. Some time passes, and the president and CEO makes another visit. He watches you work again, and he approaches you again, saying, “I like you, and I like your work. How about we promote you to shift supervisor? You’ll get all the pay and benefits of a supervisor.” That’s great! You accept the offer.” Some more time passes, and the president and CEO visits again. Again, he observes your work, and again he approaches you, “I like you, and I like the work you’re doing. This site needs an assistant manager. Will you take the promotion if I give you a raise?” That’s amazing! Yes, of course, you’ll do it. More time passes, and once again, the president and CEO visits. He watches you work, and he’s impressed. At the end of the day, he says to you, “I like you, and I like the work you’re doing. I’m about to promote the manager here. Would you like to take his place as the new manager? I promise you a manager’s salary and a manager’s benefits.” That’s awesome! Of course, you take the promotion. Little by little, every time you meet, you get a promotion with every meeting. Before you know it, you’re on the board of trustees. You’re a chairman. You’re actively involved in the major business decisions. You got a paycheck the size of a board officer. As a matter of fact, you’re one of the highest paid employees in the entire company! You soon realize, however, something more is happening here. Every time the president and CEO goes somewhere, he seems to invite you, and not just for business. Every time he goes golfing, he calls you up to see if you can join him. Every time he goes to the batting cages, he invites you. If he goes to the movie theatre, he gives you a call to see if you also want to watch the movie. If he plans on going to lunch at a fancy restaurant, he stops by your office to say, “Come with me to lunch. I’m buying.” He’s even inviting you to his family reunions! You finally realize what is happening here: you’re not just the boss’s employee, you’re the boss’s friend!

As odd or strange of an illustration this may seem, I think this is exactly what is happening to Moses in the Scripture we will be looking at right now. Not only if Moses working for God, but he’s also God’s friend. If you don’t mind, please turn to Exodus 3 in your Bibles. While you’re turning to Exodus 2, let me quickly brush everybody up on what has happened in the first two chapters of Exodus.

Exodus 1 begins right where Genesis left our main characters. Jacob, his eleven other sons, and their families go down to Egypt to settle down with Joseph. There they are fruitful and multiply. The chapter shifts, however, when it informs the audience that a new Pharaoh has come to power. Here I emphasize the adjective new, for many scholars believe that this is not merely a new king but also a new dynasty. If scholars have aligned their biblical history with their Egyptian history, Joseph rises to power in Egypt’s ranks during the Hyksos dynasty in Egypt. What separates the Hyksos dynasty from the other Egyptian dynasty is that the Hyksos are not full pure-blood Egyptians, but rather, they are Semite in nature. So when the Hyksos Pharaoh, a Semite, sees Joseph, a fellow Semite, interpret his dreams warning of famine, and Joseph has a plan, the Hyksos Pharaoh is more than glad to listen to Joseph and follow Joseph’s instructions. When this new king of Egypt from a new dynasty comes into power, he does not feel the same way. You can almost paraphrase the words of the Pharaoh in Exodus 1 saying (please stop me if you’ve heard this one before), “Egypt is for Egyptians. You know what’s ruining Egypt? Foreigners. Immigrants. If Egyptians are going to make Egypt great again, we got to stop giving these hand-outs to these minority groups. These foreigners and immigrants are going to serve us, not the other way around, or else they will die.” This Pharaoh’s first attempt to control the Israelites is to enslave them from sunrise to sunset every day of the week. After all, you can’t reproduce if you’re too busy and too tired to reproduce. When that doesn’t stop the Israelites from being fruitful and multiplying, the new Pharaoh takes an active role by decreeing that the baby boys must be killed. At first, he attempts to command the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to do it, but when they make excuses why they can’t do it (ultimately because they fear God), Pharaoh has to instruct his own people to spot out the infant males and throw them into the Nile. Exodus 1 concludes by portraying this Pharaoh as a very evil, sinful and wicked man. He hates foreigners and immigrants so much that he's killing their newborn males as soon as they come out of the womb, which is just as bad as killing the baby while still inside the womb (Happy Sanctity of Life Sunday everybody).

Exodus 2 starts with the origin story of Moses. A Levite woman, whom the Scriptures will later on call Jochebed, gives birth to a son. Everyone should appreciate here how Jochebed technically follows the Pharaoh’s ordinance. She does indeed throw her son into the Nile, but it just so happens that she throws her son into the Nile in a waterproof basket. Speaking of the phrase “just so happens,” the phrase fits for the remainder of the first half of the chapter. It just so happens that the basket floats down to one of Pharaoh’s daughters bathing. It just so happens Jochebed’s daughter, the baby’s sister, whom the Scriptures will later on call Miriam, who carefully watched over the baby in the basket, suggests getting a nurse for the baby, and it just so happens that the nurse Pharaoh’s daughter selects is the baby’s biological mother. Of course, believers know all this “so just happens” can be credited to God’s providence. Combining Exodus 2:9&10 with Acts 7:20-22, the Bible teaches that Moses grew up, raised as both Hebrew and Egyptian. On one end, Moses knows his heritage, but on the other end, God equips Moses to become a leader through his Egyptian education.

The second half of Exodus 2 jumps ahead to when Moses is 40 years old (again, thanks to Acts 7:23). As an Egyptian prince, he’s overseeing the Egyptian taskmasters, and he notices one Egyptian taskmaster becoming a bit too brutal to a Hebrew slave. At this split second, Moses’s Hebrew side overcomes his Egyptian side, he sides with the Hebrew over the Egyptian, and he kills the Egyptian taskmaster. By the next day, not only does the gossip reach back to Moses, the rumors reach Pharaoh, who know wants Moses dead. Moses has no other choice but to flee from Egypt to Midian, where he becomes a Midianite shepherd. Midian holds significant importance to the story. When it comes to the story of Abraham, everybody remembers Abraham and Sarah, sometimes some people can recall Abraham and Hagar, but rarely do people remember Abraham and Keturah. After Sarah dies, Abraham remarries to a woman named Keturah. They have 6 sons together, one of which has the name Midian. Of course, Midian is the forefather of the Midianites. Therefore, the Midianites, from Abraham, have a somewhat knowledge of the one true God. In fact, Moses’s father-in-law, Reuel or Jethro, serves as a priest of this one true God.

By Exodus 3, Moses has spent the first 40 years of his life as an Egyptian prince, the middle 40 years as an Midianite shepherd, and now God will prepare him to spend the last 40 years of his life as an Israelite leader.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ~Exodus 3:1-6

The Bible tells us that Moses went to the far side of the desert or the west side of wilderness until he came to Horeb, or Sinai. Now at this point, you may be wondering, “Well is it the far side or the west side?” and the answer is yes! Aligning the geography of the area with the Hebrew text, scholars have deduced the last west of Horeb is prime pasturing land for sheep. The only problem is that this piece of land is far away from the center of the Midian territory. Therefore, it is probably land that Midian shepherds only went to if there was nothing for the sheep to graze on locally, but they knew if they made the trek there, it would always be worth it because of the prime pasturing land. Thus, in Moses’s 40 years as a Midian shepherd, Moses did not go there often, but he probably went there enough to become familiar with the land. This time, however, something special would happen. While there, Moses sees a bush, which appears on fire. At such high elevations, since lighting likes the fastest way down, naturally, lighting would strike the plant life, causing fires. Now obviously, at this time, there’s no Smoky the Bear, so Moses does not know only he can prevent forest fires. Instead, the first thought that comes to his mind is “Gee, I wonder how long it will take the bush to burn to the ground into a smoldering pile of ash. When the bush does not burn into that smoldering pile of ash, Moses knows something out of the ordinary occurs here. This is not natural, so it must be supernatural. Moses must take a closer look. When Moses approaches closes enough to hear, God calls out to Moses from the bush, and he makes his presence known and the presence of holy ground known. Again, Moses has come enough to this land. Has Moses been on holy ground all his life and not known? What makes it holy ground? Moses having an encounter with God made it holy ground. That’s what makes any ground holy ground. You may have read your Bible passages and wished to yourself, “Oh, I wish I could be on holy ground!” Guess what? You have! Any time you’ve had an encounter with God, you’ve been on holy ground. Now the question remains “When you have encounter with God, do you recognize it as holy ground, and do you treat it as such?” Moses recognized he stood on holy ground, and he responded accordingly. He takes off his sandals, and he hides his face. By doing show, Moses shows God, respect, humility and servitude. Moses here shows us an example of how to respond to holy ground. You may not need to take off your shoes or cover your face, but whatever you choose to do, it must show God respect, humility and servitude.

⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. ~Exodus 3:7-10

2 key points to look out for right here. First, to quote the closing words of Exodus 2, God knew. God did not forget about the people of Israel suffering. God not ignore the people of Israel crying out because of their oppression.  God simply says, “I know my people are oppressed, and I remembered the Egyptians have enslaved them.” Second, God will take an active role in dealing with Israel’s slavery and oppression. He’s not going to sit around and hope for the best. God is directly intervening.

At this point, the text enters into the main dialogue Moses has with God. Moses will raise 5 objections to God, and God will respond to each objection. At first, Moses will use questions, in the hope that God will realize that Moses can’t, doesn’t or shouldn’t do the job God wants Moses to do. Once Exodus 3 changes over into Exodus 4, Moses will drop the questions format any directly state his objections, possibly because Moses thinks God does not get the hint. The change in format does not shake God, as God still has the perfect retort. Let’s take a look at Moses’s five objections.

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” ~Exodus 3:11&12

With this first question, Moses raises the first objection. Moses lacks self-confidence because he feels inadequate. It is as if Moses is saying, “I’m not sure if you heard, God, I spent the first 40 years of my life as an Egyptian prince. To the people of Israel, as an Egyptian, I was an enemy to them. Now I have spent the past 40 years of my life as a Midian shepherd. To some of the people of Israel, I was just absent, but others, I totally abandoned them. Whether a Egyptian prince or a Midian shepherd, I don’t think I’m a good choice for an Israelite leader. I don’t think any Israelite would want to follow me. You want someone they’ll love and respect, not me. At best, I’m a nobody to them, and at worst, I’m an absent enemy who abandoned them.”

God’s response actually agrees with Moses! Yes, Moses is a nobody. He is nothing. But do you know who is everybody and everything? God is! In the Hebrew language, pronouns are built into the verbs, so pronouns are technically not needed to reveal the subject, so when Hebrew uses the pronouns, it is meant to emphasize the pronouns, whether the subject, direct object or indirect object. Exodus 3:11-12 has both Moses and God using the pronouns. Moses emphasizes the I to downplay himself, while God uses the I to primarily uplift himself and secondarily uplift Moses. With God’s guidance and help, Moses will go from unable to able, from inadequate to adequate and from losing confidence to gaining confidence. Furthermore, the “I will be” of “I will be with you” is the same root as the Lord’s name, which will be revealed in the next part of the dialogue. When God reveals his name, it too will further strengthen the fact that God’s presence with Moses will make Moses complete and will aid Moses in God’s call for his life. For right now, Moses must, in the words of John 3:30, decrease so God can increase. In the same way, when we feel like Moses, when we feel inadequate or not confident in God’s calling for us, while the feelings are negative, it still may be pride. If we have the same respect, humility and servitude in receiving God’s call as when on holy ground, God can take over to empower us. Oh, and for that sign, scholars debate whether the sign refers to the supernatural events that will take place once Moses brings the people of Israel back to Sinai (pillar of cloud, pillar of fire, thunder, lightning, earthquake,  trumpet sound, etc.), the establishment of the Mosaic covenant (sprinkling of blood), the giving of the 10 commandments (both times), or even if the bush will still burn by the times Moses brings the people of Israel back to Sinai (you can almost imagine Moses pointing at the bush and yelling “See? See!”). Either way, God lets Moses know loud and clear that the end goal is to have the Moses return to Sinai with the people of Israel following. If anything, this sign encourages Moses to go back and free Israel sooner, so he can prove himself to them sooner.

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. ¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, ¹⁷ and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ ¹⁸ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. ²¹ And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, ²² but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” ~Exodus 3:13-22

In one regard, Moses asks an absurd question. As Exodus 6:3 will affirm, God had never revealed his name to humanity up this point. If the people of Israel did ask, “What’s God’s name?” and Moses answered, “Yahweh!” the people of Israel had no way to confirm if Moses was correct or telling the truth. In another regard, Moses inquires an excellent question. Hebrew slaves working from sunrise to sunset really don’t have time for religious instruction. They don’t know about God and who he is. At best, the most religious instruction probably came from one Egyptian taskmaster saying to another, “Boy, Ra sure has given us a glorious sunny day, hasn’t he?” Speaking of which, Moses has received a religious education, but he received Egyptian religious instruction. He probably knows the Egyptian pantheon of gods inside and out, right off the top of his head. Therefore, Moses is less likely asking who is this God, and is more likely asking which God is this? Is this Ra? Is this Isis? Is this Osiris? In yet another regard, even this inquiry comes off sounding like an excuse. Pretty much Moses says here, “I don’t know who you are. Do you really want somebody who doesn’t know you are leading your people? Besides, I don’t think the people of Israel know who you are, either. Do you really want to a people following you that don’t know you?”

Now, plenty of academic articles have been published in scholarly journals on the divine name, so much so that these articles alone could compile to form books! Some scholars emphasize the divine finds its root in the verb היה (hayah), meaning “to be,” which emphasizes his existence as the unique, one-and-only God. Whereas all the gods and goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon need names to distinguish one from another, Yahweh really has no need for a name is because he is the one-and-only God, and there is no other. Which God is Yahweh? He is the God. Other scholars will highlight that parsing the Hebrew conjugation will reveal היה (hayah) as a Qal imperfect, which could have either a present or future tense, which could highlight his eternal state. Yahweh was the God of the past, Yahweh is the God of the present, and Yahweh will be the God of the future. Still yet other scholars point out that, back then, with the ancient Hebrews, they did not have A, E, I, O or U, and so Moses had no vowels he could buy – Wheel of Fortune shows were so dry! For a quick crash course in linguistics, vowels control breathing. What consonants in Hebrew control the breathing, making them the closest to vowels? Yod, hey and vav, the Hebrew letters that make up the divine name. Pastor Rob Bell puts in this way, “The atheist make walk up to you and say, ‘There is no god!’ but in between breaths to say those four words, you can hear, ‘Yod hey vav hey.’” Because the Lord gave us his breath to give us life, we say his name every time we breathe. Something not as much stressed about the divine name, yet very important to the question at hand, comes from  the fact that “to be” can also define one’s ability or capabilities, as in “I am smart” or “I am strong.” The significance of this falls back to Moses’s last objection. Whereas Moses thinks he is unable or incapable, Yahweh responds with he is the one who is able and capable. When Moses asks, “Who am I…” God answers, “I AM.” Likewise, when you’re faced with the challenges Yahweh gives us, and you’re not sure how to overcome them, every time you try to say to the Lord, “I am not…” God will simply reply “I AM.” You may want to declare to the Lord, “Lord, I am not smart enough to solve the problem you have allowed in my life!” and God simply reminds you, “I AM.” You may want to state to the Lord, “Lord, you’ve given me too much to do. I cannot be in all these places at all these times!” and God simply replies, “I AM. You may want to cry out to the Lord, “Lord, I am not strong enough to carry this burden you have given me!” and God responds, “I AM.” You may want tell the Lord, “Lord I strive to be the good, moral leader, like the one Paul told Timothy and Titus to look for, but I am not a shining example for your people to follow!” and God retorts, “I AM.” When you have the omnipresent (everywhere at all times), omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omni-benevolent (all-good) Yahweh on your side, you don’t even need to consider any of your shortcomings!

Of course, Yahweh gives his name in two verses, yet the Lord’s response goes on for another 6 verses! On one hand, this may be God simply trying to get his plan into action, as if he is saying to Moses, “Alright, Moses, I answered your two question, so here’s the plan, and now let’s get a move on right now.” On the other hand, Yahweh revealing his plans may further answer Moses’s question. By revealing his name, the Lord has revealed who he is, as in his attributes, his character, and/or his personality. Now, God wants to reveal himself in Moses in what he does. Look at some of his plan, and how the plan reveals him. Yahweh is a promise keeper, as he will give the people of Israel the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as he promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Lord is a defender of the small and weak. When the mighty Egypt will not let the people of Israel go, the mightier Lord will force them to release the people of Israel with his own strong outstretched hand. God is fair and just in doling out his blessings. It was not morally right for the Egyptians to get rich off of the Hebrews’ free slave labor. Therefore, when the people of Israel leave, they will receive their wages in gold, silver and clothing. While having an audible conversation with God might seem cool, and indeed is, sometimes the Lord revealing himself to you may come in the form of how he moves around in your life.

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” ⁶ Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. ⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. ⁹ If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” ~Exodus 4:1-7

At this point, Moses stops asking questions, and he starts making statements. Perhaps he thought that God did not know how to take a hint, so he has to plainly speak his mind.  Now this objection sounds less like an excuse and more like a legitimate objection. Again, Moses has spent the first 40 years as an Egyptian prince, an enemy of Israel, and the middle 40 years as a Midian prince, an absentee who abandoned the people of Israel. Surely the people of Israel will not trust that kind of person. Even if they did listen, would they really believe that a man, who has been out in the hot Midian, who had no witnesses around but the sheep, heard a burning bush tell him to free the people of Israel from slavery? Surely they will say to him, “Moses, I think you got too much sun in Midian, and I think you’ve spent too much time with nobody but sheep. Bushes, whether burning or not, do not talk.”

Again, the Lord concurs with Moses that this objection might present a problem, so he supplies a solution within three signs. First, when Moses throws his staff on the ground, it becomes a serpent, or a snake. Throughout the Ancient Near East, people worshipped snakes, either a god of wisdom, a good of fertility or a god of healing. Snakes probably had such high-held esteem due to the fact the most snakes in the Middle East are venomous. With that in mind, consider how much faith Moses needed when God instructed him, “Catch it by the tail.” If grabbing a snake by its neck, at worst, it will whip you with its tail, and it can do no more. If grabbing a snake by the tail, that snake can whip around, snag a man in the arm with its fangs, resulting in a dead man. Moses must have felt nervous picking up the snake, and he must have felt equally relieved when the snake turned back into a staff. Second, when Moses puts his hand in his cloak, it becomes covered in leprosy, but when he puts it back in, it becomes clean. Leprosy back then was highly contagious and very uncurable. Combine the two, societies quickly ostracized lepers from the community. Here, Moses can put on and take off leprosy like a glove! Again, the anxiety Moses must have felt taking his hand out the first time and seeing leprosy, and the calmness Moses felt after taking his hand out again to see clear skin. Now Yahweh provides Moses with a third sign of pouring Nile water on the dry ground to make blood, which Moses cannot practice here due to his far distance from the Nile. The sign ends up previewing, and possibly even warning, of the first of ten plagues to come. Going back to the first two signs, Moses had to show bravery in order perform these signs.  Not only would these signs demonstrate God appeared to Moses, but they also displayed Moses as a courageous leader. If Moses could pick up a venomous snake by the tail without hesitating, if Moses could put on and take off leprosy without flinching, he could surely stand in front of mighty Pharoah of the strongest Empire, Egypt, and demand for the release of the people of Israel. Likewise, the Lord has equipped you with everything you need for your calling, including the bravery you need. Will you courageously accept it?

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” ~Exodus 4:10-12

According to Stephen in Acts 7:22b, Moses “was mighty in words,” but in both Exodus 6:12 and 6:30, Moses complains he has uncircumcised lips, which many scholars have interpreted as a strutter. What seems like a contradiction, after thinking about it, makes sense. Historians sometimes call Helen Keller one of the greatest speakers of her time. Such a statement contains a grammatical irony. Because of blindness and deafness, Helen Keller could not speak, yet when she had somebody to interpret her thoughts and words, she “spoke well” in the sense that she had good rhetoric and good logical and reasonable arguments, free of any fallacies. Moses here has a similar problem. Thanks to his Egyptian education, he too probably had enough information and knowledge of the working world to create an argument with good rhetoric. Due to his stuttering problem, when he attempted to vocalize his thoughts, his stutter could make him sound like he lacks confidence. As established already, Moses did lack confidence, which would have made his stuttering worse. Anyone familiar with stuttering (even if from just watching the movie The King’s Speech) will know that stuttering comes from psychological issues, as no baby comes out of the womb stuttering. Perhaps Moses struggling with his ethical identity (is he Hebrew? Is he Egyptian? Is he Midian?).

Again, Yahweh provides a simple response. The Lord leads with rhetorical questions to get Moses thinking, and if Moses for some reason cannot answer those questions, God also provides the answer. Yahweh has created all humans, including Moses. If the Lord created Moses to speak, surely the Lord can fix what the sinful world did to Moses to make him stutter. Once again, the “I will be” in the “I will be your mouth” is that root היה (hayah), the same root of the divine name. Again, the answer lies within the fact God’s omnipotent and omniscient attributes makes up for the inabilities, the incapabilities and the shortcomings of humanity. This paragraph should give comfort to those with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, emotional disabilities and social disabilities. Physical, mental, emotional and social disabilities do not disqualify anyone from service in the kingdom. The Lord can use anybody to serve him, even those with disability. If the disability really gets in the way of God’s call, then God will bring healing or equip the person to overcome it.

¹³ But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” ¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. ¹⁶ He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. ¹⁷ And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.” ~Exodus 4:13-17

Later on, the book of Exodus will reveal that Yahweh is slow to anger, yet here Moses kindles Yahweh’s anger. If the Lord speaks to Moses from a burning bush, I imagine that the bush flamed up, like pouring gasoline on fire. Surely God has emphasized that his omnipotence and omniscience will make up for Moses’s inadequacies. Yahweh has even directly provided a solution to Moses’s speech problem. Indeed the Lord must feel frustrated at Moses when the Lord offers his unlimited knowledge and power to Moses, yet Moses still refuses the call. At this point, Moses seems more disobedient and less afraid. Nevertheless, God answers the problem again. Just like with Moses, Yahweh will call Aaron to speak. In fact, it works out well. Just as Moses will act as an intermediate between the Lord and Pharaoh, to physically represent this, Aaron will look like an intermediate between Moses and Pharaoh. Furthermore, this plan works because of the brotherhood between Moses and Aaron. During the Christmas season, some people ponder how much Jesus’s first cousins James and John or Jesus’s second cousin John the Baptist understood Jesus’s role as the Christ. Similarly, Aaron always knew Moses as his brother, but he probably never suspected Moses as God’s chosen one to lead the people of Israel into freedom. Still, Yahweh choosing Aaron only makes sense. Aaron knew Moses, and Aaron understood Moses. The Lord’s awesome plan included using those close to Moses to aid Moses. Likewise, sometimes God equipping of a person can include equipping the called person with those close to him or here. This type of equipping could involve family or friends. Most likely and most importantly, this type of equipping involves brothers in Christ, especially those within the church. While Yahweh does not call everybody into leadership, but the Lord does call everyone, and some people’s calling might involve equipping the leader.

To conclude the calling of Moses, as found in Exodus 3:1-4:17, Pastor Rob Bell (early Pastor Rob Bell for those who do not like the current path Bell has chosen) puts it best when he says, “The more Moses tries to convince God he’s not the one, the more God is convinced he is the one.” Once again, such a statement may sound absurd, but upon careful consideration, it does indeed make sense. To kind of sort of turn this conclusion to point back to the introduction, if going in for a job interview, a good interviewee always should ask. By asking questions, the interviewee shows that he or she takes interest in the company, and thus more likely cares about the company. By asking questions, the interviewee demonstrates to the interviewer that he or she wants to know what exactly he or she will do for the job, meaning he or she will less likely flake and quit, resulting in having to undergo the hiring process again. Asking questions displays a candidate who did research before coming in the interviews, thus preparing for the interview, instead of winging it. Whether Moses intended it or not, by asking questions, Moses makes sure God has indeed equipped and prepared Moses for his calling. Moses knows what to expect, and Moses has the answers and the tools. Therefore, the more questions Moses asks, the more God and Moses can work out answers and solutions, and thus, God knows that Moses can do the job.

Finally, the introductions proposed that Yahweh and Moses became friends, even suggesting that the friendship began as early as the calling of Moses. If the body has not made it evident by now, then this conclusion will look toward John 15:15 for more clarification. In John 15:15, Jesus says to his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Similarly, Yahweh would not merely call Moses a servant, for if he did, he would not have revealed his plan to Moses. Indeed, the Lord would call Moses a friend, for the Lord lays out his entire plan to Moses. Likewise, whatever God chooses to reveal, whether big or small, whether a lot or a little, he has done to show that his servants are also his friends.