[From
the author’s book ‘Gleanings in Exodus’, pp. 37-41. Photograph by Clive R. Tindle.]
Our
present lesson deals with the concluding stage of the Lord’s interview with
Moses, and of the deliverer starting forth on his mighty errand. It is important to note that Moses was the first
man that was ever formally called of God to engage in His service, and like the
first notice of anything in Scripture this hints at all that is fundamental in
connection with the subject. First, we
are shown that no training of the natural man is of any avail in the work of
God. Neither the wisdom of
In
the second place, we are shown how the Lord prepared His
servant. God dealt personally and
directly with the one He was going to honour as His ambassador: there was a
manifestation of His holiness, the avowal of His covenant-relationship, an
assurance of His compassion for the suffering Hebrews, and the declaration of
His self-sufficiency as the great “I am”; in short,
there was a full revelation of His person and character. In addition, Moses received a definite call from Jehovah, the
guarantee that God would be with him, an intimation
of the difficulties that lay before him, and the promise that, in the end, God’s purpose should be realized. These have ever been, and still are, the
vital prerequisites for effectiveness in God’s service. There must be a personal knowledge of God for
ourselves: a
knowledge obtained by direct revelation of God to the soul. There must be a definite call from God to
warrant us engaging in His service.
There must be a
recognition of the
difficulties confronting us and a confident resting on God’s promise for
ultimate success.
In
the third place, the Lord endowed His servant for the work
before him. This endowment was the
bestowal upon him of power to work three miracles. The first two of these were designed to teach
important lessons to God’s servant; he was shown the secret of overcoming
Satan, and he was reminded of the corruption of his own heart – things of vital
moment for every servant to understand.
Moreover, these miracles or signs had a voice for the Hebrews; they
showed them their need of being delivered from the dominion of the Devil and the
pollution of sin-things which every servant must continue pressing on those to
whom he ministers. The third miracle or
sign spoke of the judgment awaiting those who received not God’s testimonies –
another thing which the faithful servant must not shun to declare.
In
the fourth place, we are made acquainted with the response which Moses made
to God’s call. Here again we have
something more than what is local and transient. The difficulties felt my Moses and the
objections which he raised are these which have, in principle and essence, been
felt and raised by all God’s servants at some time or other – the perfect
Servant alone excepted. If they have not
been expressed by lip, they have had a place in the heart. The first three objections of Moses we have
noticed in previous papers: they may be summed up as: self-occupation (3: 11), fear (3: 13),
unbelief (4:
1). The fourth, which savoured of pride will now engage our attention.
“And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent,
neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow
of speech, and of a slow tongue” (4: 10). How many of the Lord’s servants (and others
who ought to be engaged in His service) regard this as a fatal defect. They suppose that the gift or oratory is a
prime pre-requisite for effective ministry.
Those who are being “trained for the ministry”
must, forsooth, have a course in rhetoric and elocution: as though men dead in
sins can be quickened by the enticing words of men’s wisdom; as though carnal
weapons could have a place in spiritual warfare. Sad it is that such elementary matters are so
little understood in this twentieth century.
Have we forgotten those words of the apostle Paul, “And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God” (1 Cor. 2: 1)!
“And the Lord said unto him, Who hath
made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the
blind? Have not I the Lord?” (v. 11). This was manifestly a rebuke. Even though he was not “eloquent”, did Moses suppose that the Lord knew not what He was
about in selecting him to act as His mouthpiece in Pharaoh’s court? God was only demonstrating once more how
radically different are His ways from man’s.
The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Cor. 3: 19, and that which is highly esteemed among men, is
abomination in His sight (Luke 16: 15). The instrument through whom God did the most
for Israel, and the one He used in bringing the greatest blessing to the
Gentiles, was each unqualified when
judged by standards of human scholarship! – see 2 Cor. 10: 1 and 11:
6 for the apostle Paul as a speaker.
“And the Lord said unto him, Who hath
made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the
blind? Have not I the Lord?” It seems
evident from this that, in the previous verse, Moses was referring to some
impediment in his speech. In reply the
Lord tells him that He was responsible for that.
The force of what Jehovah said here seems to be this: As all the
physical senses, and the perfection of them, are from the Creator, so are the imperfections of them according
to His sovereign pleasure. Behind
the law of heredity is the Law-giver, regulating it as He deems best.
“Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (v. 12). What a re-assuring word was this! Better
far, infinitely better, is the teaching of the Lord and His control of the tongue than any gift of “eloquence” or any of the artificialities of speech
which human training can bestow. It
is just these substitutes of human art which
has degraded too many of our pupils from places where should be heard the
simple exposition of God’s Word into stages on which men display their
oratorical abilities. Little room
for wonder that God’s blessing has long since departed from the vast majority
of our pulpits when we stop to examine the “training”
which the men who occupy them have received.
All the schooling in the world is
of no avail whatever unless the Lord is “with the mouth” of the
preacher, teaching him what
he shall say; and if the Lord is with him, then, “eloquence” and thetorical
devices are needless and useless. Note
it is “what” the preacher has to say, not how he says it, which
matters most. God has used the simple
language of unlettered Bunyan far more than He has the polished writings of
thousands of University graduates!
“And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him
whom Thou wilt send” (v. 13). That is, Send
any one, but mot me! Moses was still
unwilling to act as the Lord’s ambassador, in fact he now asked God to select
another in his place. How fearful are
the lengths to which the desperately-wicked heart of man may go! Not only distrustful, but
rebellious. The faithfulness of
Moses in recording his own sins, and the “anger” of the
Lord against him, is a striking proof of the Divine veracity of the Scriptures:
an un-inspired writer would have omitted such serious reflections upon himself
as these.
“And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him
whom Thou wilt send. And the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said, Is
not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know
that he can speak well. And also,
behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he
seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be
with thy mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the
people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou
shalt be to him instead of God. And thou
shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs” (vv. 13-17). “Although there was
nothing gained in the way of power, although there was no more virtue or
efficacy in one mouth than in another, although it was Moses after all who was
to speak unto Aaron, yet was Moses quite ready to go when assured of the
presence and co-operation of a poor feeble mortal like himself; whereas he
could not go when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would be with
him.
“Oh! my reader, does not all this
hold up before us a faithful mirror in which you and I can see our hearts
reflected? Truly it does. We are more ready to trust anything than the
living God. We move along with bold
decision when we possess the countenance and support of a poor frail mortal
like ourselves; but we falter, hesitate, and demur when we have the light of
the Master’s countenance to cheer us, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to
support us. This should humble us deeply
before the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance with Him, so that we
might trust Him with a more unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step,
as having Him alone for our resource and portion” (C.H.M.)
Though
God’s anger was kindled against Moses, His wrath was tempered by mercy. To strengthen his weak faith, the Lord grants
him still another sign that He would give him success. As Moses turned to
“And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and
said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in
Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.
And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace” (v.
18). This act of Moses was very commendable. Jethro had taken him in while a fugitive from
“And Moses went and returned to Jethro hjis
father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto by
brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive”. We are sorry
that we cannot speak so favourably of Moses’ words on this occasion. His utterance here was quite Jacob-like. Moses says nothing about the Lord’s appearing
to him, of the communication he had received, nor of
the positive assurance from God that He would bring His people out of
“And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an
ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his
hand … and it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met
him, and sought to kill him” (vv. 20, 24). At last Moses
starts out on his epoch-making mission.
In obedience to God’s command he goes forth rod in hand, and accompanied
by his wife and his sons, returns to the
“And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met
him, and sought to kill him. Then
Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it
at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art
thou to me. So he let him go: then she
said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision” (vv. 24-26). Whether it was the Lord Himself in theophanic
manifestation who now appeared to Moses, or whether it was an angel of the Lord
with sword in hand, as he later stood before Balaam, we are not told. Nor do we know in what way the Lord sought to
kill Moses. It seemed clear that he was
stricken down and rendered helpless, for his wife was the one who performed the
act of circumcision on their son. This
is all the more striking because the inference seems un-escapable that Zipporah
was the one who resisted the ordinance of God – only thus can we explain her
words to Moses, and only thus can we account for Moses sending her back to her
father (cf. 18: 2).
Nevertheless, it was Moses, the head of the house (the one God ever
holds primarily responsible for the training and conduct of the children), and
not Zipporah, whom the Lord sought to kill.
This points a most solemn warning to Christian fathers today. A man
may be united to a woman who opposes him at every step as he desires to
maintain a scriptural discipline in his home, but this does not absolve him
from doing his duty.
Let
us observe how the above incident teaches us another most important lesson in
connection with service. Before God suffered Moses to go and
minister to
“And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into
the wilderness to meet Moss. And he went
and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the
Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him” (vv. 27, 28). This is another example of how when God
works, He works at both ends of the line: Moses was advancing toward
It
is a point of interest and importance to note the meeting-place of these
brothers: it was “in the mount of God”. There it was that Jehovah had first appeared
to Moses (3:
1), and from it Moses and Aaron
now set forth on their momentous errand.
The “mount” speaks, of course, of elevation, elevation of spirit
through communion with the Most High. An
essential prerequisite is this for all effective ministry. It is only as the servant has been in “the mount” with God that he is ready to go forth and present Him
in the plains! Again and again was this
illustrated in the life of the perfect Servant. Turn to the four Gospels, and note how
frequently we are told there of Christ retiring to “the mount”, from which He came forth later to minister to the
needy. This is indeed a lesson which
every servant needs to learn. I must
first commune with God, before I am fitted to work for Him. Note this order in Mark 3: 14 in connection with the apostles: “He ordered twelve that they should be with Him, and that He
might send them forth to preach”! “And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders
of the children of
In
the favourable response which Moses received from the elders of
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