Exodus 4-6

God begins by giving Moses some signs to convince the Israelites what is right – that God again is talking to and with them. Moses still has some reservations based on his speech. However, I have a problem with Moses here. He has been trained in Egypt. Perhaps his issues are that he doesn't speak as well as pharaoh – basically that he is putting himself to a much higher standard than he needs to. This is especially true considering Acts 7:22. I think Moses is looking for an out here. Where are you looking to excuses to be your main thing? How often are you trying to pass things off on your inadequacies when they may not really be there? Don't get me wrong, some of us are better at some things and should definitely not really be doing some of the things we are doing. However, have you been trained in something and are still not using that skill? Have you been mentored and are now walking away from this time? God wants you to use it – no matter what! This ends with Aaron being able to do the work of God in Moses' place and I see a story brewing involving the staff of Moses. God tells him to bring it along to do the signs – I bet it does more than that! (sometimes I just laugh and laugh when I write this stuff)

Chapter 4 verses 22 and 23 are telling. God wants Israel to be his firstborn, and if pharaoh will not let Israel go, God will take the firstborn of pharaoh – they were warned right off the bat.

I know that you are going to have questions about verses 24-26, and the answers are varied. We aren't totally sure why God was desiring to kill Moses. Some suggested it was a bad illness (and that this was a way of describing it – God came for him), or that God was upset that Moses had not followed through on circumcision, or that God was upset that Moses was not willingly obedient. We do know that God relented upon the circumcision of his sons. It also seems that they were not originally circumcised because of Zipporah's lack of desire. Perhaps God was upset that Moses was not willing to follow Him but was willing to do what Zipporah said. It is all unclear, so sorry I don't have more. If you want to read more, I would suggest a commentary or two (WBC – Word Biblical Commentary, The Pulpit Commentary) to start. Then follow the trail that they lay down for you to keep following.

The Israelites are very happy to hear that God is going to do something, until pharaoh turns up the heat in chapter 5. Then they don't like God or Moses or Aaron as much and complain to them. Moses goes to God and asks for some reassurance. God gives it to him and tells him what to say. Moses once again tells God he doesn't talk well and God tells Moses that he would be like God and that Aaron would be like a prophet. Then there is a curious genealogy given at the end, showing the legitimacy of Moses and Aaron being leaders of the people – they're descendants from Levi. This doesn't mean much yet, but it will and by the time this was written it was valuable – I will explain later.