Exodus 3 records an incredible encounter between man and God; the created with the Creator; the finite with infinite. God appears to Moses in a burning bush and talks to him in an audible voice. God calls Moses to a leadership role that will impact the world and all of human history. But Moses is not very enthusiastic about the call. Chapter three ends with a Q and A time between the human potential leader and the eternal sovereign Lord. God has just provided Moses with a marvelous answer to his question about God's name, revealing His eternal nature and powerful promises of deliverance.But chapter four of Exodus begins with a follow-up question from Moses. The human shepherd does not seem satisfied with God’s name as the solution to his acceptance with the people of Israel. After God’s wonderful answer referring to His eternal name that is worthy of worship and His sovereign promise of the plundering of Egypt, Moses continues his hesitancy with these words, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you?’” For the third straight time Moses focuses on man and the fear of rejection. He expresses his doubt and unbelief in the awesome power of God and His divine intervention in the affairs of men. God’s word and future promise does not appear to convince Moses of the authority of God’s plan.
In God’s abundant patience He provides Moses with something much more tangible – a physical sign…no, not just one but two miraculous signs and a promise of a third when he gets to Egypt in order to convey his face-to-face encounter with the living God. The first is found in Exodus 4:2-5:
4:2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 4:3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4:4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 4:5 "This," said the LORD, "is so 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."
What a powerful sign: the staff that turns into a snake. And this was some snake – so intimidating that Moses ran from it. This would have done it for me. I am pretty confident that if I walked into an administrative team meeting with my vision statement and then laid my staff down on the table to demonstrate God’s blessing on my plan, the rest of the administrators would be convinced of God’s stamp of approval.
But God was not finished with the opportunities for show-n-tell. The conversation continues in Exodus 4:6-7 “Then the LORD said, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak.’ So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. ‘Now put it back into your cloak,’ He said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the LORD said, ‘If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second.’”
The passage does not record Moses’ reaction to his leprous hand, but I am sure he breathed a sigh of relief when his hand was restored after tucking it into his cloak the second time. If I were Moses, I would not be too interested in demonstrating this second sign unless it was extremely necessary. How interesting it is to see how God uses disease (something that defines a person as ceremonially unclean in the law) and the healing of that disease as a sign of His encounter with Moses. On the other hand, who can give and heal an incurable illness other than God Himself.
God ends His response to Moses with another promise – this time a promise of yet a third miraculous sign. In Exodus 4:9 God says. “But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground." This shadow of the first plague against Egypt would demonstrate God’s authority over nature and the god of the Nile.
The staff…the hand….the water/blood…three powerful pieces of evidence that Moses was in the presence of God and was on a divine mission to set the Israelites free from the bondage of Egypt. How could Moses have any fear of failure or any apprehension of his confrontations with man? And yet Moses, possibly the greatest leader in Israel’s history was still hesitant.
In God’s abundant patience He provides Moses with something much more tangible – a physical sign…no, not just one but two miraculous signs and a promise of a third when he gets to Egypt in order to convey his face-to-face encounter with the living God. The first is found in Exodus 4:2-5:
4:2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 4:3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4:4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 4:5 "This," said the LORD, "is so 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."
What a powerful sign: the staff that turns into a snake. And this was some snake – so intimidating that Moses ran from it. This would have done it for me. I am pretty confident that if I walked into an administrative team meeting with my vision statement and then laid my staff down on the table to demonstrate God’s blessing on my plan, the rest of the administrators would be convinced of God’s stamp of approval.
But God was not finished with the opportunities for show-n-tell. The conversation continues in Exodus 4:6-7 “Then the LORD said, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak.’ So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. ‘Now put it back into your cloak,’ He said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the LORD said, ‘If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second.’”
The passage does not record Moses’ reaction to his leprous hand, but I am sure he breathed a sigh of relief when his hand was restored after tucking it into his cloak the second time. If I were Moses, I would not be too interested in demonstrating this second sign unless it was extremely necessary. How interesting it is to see how God uses disease (something that defines a person as ceremonially unclean in the law) and the healing of that disease as a sign of His encounter with Moses. On the other hand, who can give and heal an incurable illness other than God Himself.
God ends His response to Moses with another promise – this time a promise of yet a third miraculous sign. In Exodus 4:9 God says. “But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground." This shadow of the first plague against Egypt would demonstrate God’s authority over nature and the god of the Nile.
The staff…the hand….the water/blood…three powerful pieces of evidence that Moses was in the presence of God and was on a divine mission to set the Israelites free from the bondage of Egypt. How could Moses have any fear of failure or any apprehension of his confrontations with man? And yet Moses, possibly the greatest leader in Israel’s history was still hesitant.
Photo found at http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/michelangelo-moses
No comments:
Post a Comment