Moses Returns to Egypt

Story: Moses Returns to Egypt

Passage: Exodus 4:18-31

Characters:  Moses, Zipporah, God, Aaron, Israel’s elders

Summary: Moses asked Jethro to let him return to Egypt and Jethro agreed.  God warned Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but He still wanted Moses to do the signs in front of him. On their way to Egypt, God tried to kill Moses, but his wife circumcised their son and God let him live.  God told Aaron to meet Moses and Moses told Aaron what had happened.  They went before the elders of Israel and Aaron spoke the words God had given Moses and did the signs and the Israelites worshipped God for remembering them in their trouble.

Notes:  At this point, Moses had more than one son.  Moses remembered to take his staff with him to Egypt.  It is called the staff of God because it would be used to do the signs God had given Moses to do.  God’s warning to Moses is interesting.  God knew that His signs and words would be ineffective but He still wanted Moses to obey Him.  Moses was given a task that would not accomplish anything and he was told such up front.  This is the first time God predicts His killing the firstborn children of Egypt.  The reason given here is that Israel is God’s firstborn and since Pharaoh wouldn’t let them go, He would kill all of Egypt’s firstborn.  This implies that there were going to be others born to God.  Even here in Exodus, we can see hints of God’s plan to redeem the entire world.  Israel was not to be the only nation of God, but the firstborn.  I am not really sure why god wanted to put Moses to death, but I imagine it had to do with not circumcising his son.  It is interesting that Zipporah did this.  Moses was apparently incapable of circumcising his son and it was left to his wife, who was not even Hebrew, to keep their covenant of separation with God.  Zipporah seems to have been bitter towards Moses as a result of this incident.  Maybe she was just now realizing the seriousness of God’s call on their family.  Aaron met Moses, just as God had told him he would.  Moses filled Aaron in and they both gathered the leaders of Israel.  Aaron seems to have accepted Moses’ story with no problems.  The people listened and believed Moses and worshipped God.  As God had promised, the people believed Moses. 

Questions:  Why did God want to kill Moses?  Why did his wife have to perform the circumcision?  How old was his son at this point? Why was his wife bitter towards him?  Did Moses’ father-in-law know why Moses was returning to Egypt?  Did the people reject Moses at first?  What was Aaron’s reaction to his brother’s story?

Lessons:  In this passage we see God keeping his promises to Moses.  We also see his justice as he tries to kill Moses for not obeying Him.  He had big plans for Moses and Moses could not afford to stray from God’s plan.  We need to remember that God is Holy and Just.  In the presence of a Holy God, we deserve to die instantly.  We need to keep this in mind constantly rather than take it for granted.  If we keep an accurate perspective of God, it is much easier to walk with Him.

Moses Given Powerful Signs

Story: Moses Given Powerful signs

Passage: Exodus 4:1-17

Characters:  Moses, God, random snake

Summary: Moses questions God’s plan.  Moses wants to know what to do if the people don’t believe him.  God gives him three miraculous signs to use if the people don’t believe Him and promises to be with him.  Moses then complained that he was not a good speaker.  God reminded him that He had created the mouth and Moses would be fine.  Moses then asked God to send someone else and God got angry and told him that Aaron would help him.

Notes:  Moses was a coward.  In the previous chapter, God very clearly stated that the people would listen to him, but Moses didn’t believe it and he wanted a backup plan.  God listened to Moses and gave him three signs.  His staff would become a snake, his hand would become leprous, and water would become blood.  The first two signs involved something being restored which is cool since God is trying to restore His people to their land.  I find it hilarious that God asked Moses what he was holding.  Of course it was a staff!  But God wanted to make sure Moses was fully aware of what God was about to do.  When he sees the snake, he runs from it.  Apparently, Moses had a fear of snakes as well.  God told him to do something that no one with a fear of snakes wants to do.   Grab it by the tail.  If you know much about snakes, you know that grabbing a snake by the tail is a good way to get bit.  To his credit, Moses obeyed and the snake turned back into a staff.  Now that God had covered how to make the people believe, Moses moves to his next excuse.  He is slow of speech and slow of tongue.  In the words of Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, “For a man who was slow of speech and slow of tongue, he talked a lot!”  Anyway, God reminded him that He would be with Moses’ mouth and teach it what to speak.  Now Moses had just been told by a fiery bush that he was supposed to go to Pharaoh and be the leader of God’s restoration and deliverance.  God would work wonders through him and would be in his mouth teaching his mouth what to say.  Moses had to do very little but be in the right place at the right time.  Yet his next question is “Can’t you send someone else?”  At this point God got angry with Moses.  Moses was not being humble here, he was being distrustful of God’s words.  God even obliged Moses here though by supplying Aaron.  I find it cool that the relationship between Moses and Aaron was supposed to be the same as between God and Moses.  Moses would give Aaron the words to say in the same way God was going to give Moses words to say.  God finished the conversation by making sure Moses had his staff.  Overall, this was not a high point in Moses’ life, but it does really encourage me!  I will talk more about that in the lessons though. 

Questions:  Why could Moses not trust God?  Why did God not get impatient with Moses earlier?  Why did God choose these three signs?  Why was Aaron on his way to meet Moses?

Lessons:  This is an encouraging story for me because it shows that as many times as we reject God and try to do things our own way, He is still willing to use us.  Moses obviously did not trust God very much, but God still used him in amazing ways over his life.  I find it interesting as well that Moses was allowed to question why we was chosen for this task.  God had no issue with that.  Moses realized his human flaws.  God wants us to know we are useless.  Moses went wrong when God told him how He would fill Moses’ imperfections and Moses did not believe Him.  It is okay for us to realize we are weak and inadequate, but if we assume that God cannot compensate for our inadequacies, we are very wrong and in a dangerous spot.  Yes we are weak, but in our weakness, He is made strong.