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T
hings didn't go well from the
beginning of Moses' grea t com–
mission . Before Moses even got
to Egypt. God nearly killed him be–
cause he had neglected to ci rcum–
cise his son-after all. God couldn't
afford to have the leade r of Israel
have a son who was not bound to
the covenant He had made with
Abraham ! (Exodus 4:24-26.) This
si tua tion upset his wife Zipporah
greatly; she called him a "bloody
husband" because of circumcision.
not rea lizing il was God who re–
quired il. not Moses. her husba nd.
So upse1 was she 1hat she 1urned
right arou nd a nd took her children
with her. rcturning to her father's
house, leaving Moses a lone lo go to
Egypt.
First Crisis
Now Moses had becn forewarned
by God that the Pharaoh would nol
ta ke too kindly to 1he idea of releas–
ing all his Israelite slaves. but he
was still not prepared for the first
crisis. When Moses gave his now
famou s " Let-my-people-go" speech
lo Pharaoh, all the king did was
laugh at him and punish the lsrael–
ites with heavier demands! To say
lhe least. Moses' popularily. gained
with lhe lsraelites lhrough miracles
and promises, suffered a great set–
back al thi s point: "AII you 've done
is to make us stink in Pharaoh 's
nose. a nd g iven him a good excuse
to work us a ll to dea lh!' ' lhey com–
plained .
Moses had nowhere to turn ex–
cepl to lhe God who had sent him.
He knew
YHVH
was merciful and
he knew God's trulh- and knowing
these things. he wenl
BOLDLY
again
to God's throne: " Lo rd." he
pro–
tested,
" how can you mistreat your
own people like this? Why did you
ever send me. if you were going to
do 1his to lhem? [This is as close as
anyone can dare come 10 saying
" 1
told you so" to God!] Ever since
1
gave Pharaoh
your
message, he has
only been more and more brutal to
them. and
you
havc not delivered
them a t a ll! " (Ex. 5:22-23.
The Liv–
ing Bible.)
1
am no t mature enough spirilu–
ally, and
1
am sure you feel lhe
same way. to lalk to God like that!
So, it ecms we. as Ch ri slia ns of
today. mus1 admil th a t Moses un-
24
Moses, the reluctant prophet,
patiently blessed and pre–
pared by God for a special
job, tried every way he could
think of to convince God that
He was wrong in choosing
Moses. " l 'm not the man for
the job. " " 1 don ' t even know
what ·name to use for you
when the people ask me
which God sent me!" " They
won ' t believe me!"
" / 'm
not a
good speaker. " And final/y,
" Piease send someone else!"
But God ignored al/ of Moses '
excuses . However much
Moses wanted to avoid being
the chief executive in the " ad–
ministration of death," God
was more determined to use
him in that job. God intended
to free and create the nation
of Israel, to give that nation
His law-and He had hand–
picked Moses for the job, to
be the human instrument
through whom the law would
come! Moses did the job. But
he didn't give up reasoning
with his Maker. Moses
pleaded, argued, begged -was
more bold before the throne of
grace than any other man re–
corded in the Bible.
A
TALE
OF
TWO
PROPHETS
byJon
Hilf
derstood more about "grace" {han
most would givc h im credit for- a nd
used
that knowledge to thc fullesl
extent!
Well. God's answer to Moses was
to give him more promises. 1cll him
to be patient. But when Moses
passed on
Y
/-1
VH's
words to the
lsraelites. lhey didn't see i1 1he same
way he did: " ... They wouldn't lis–
te n any more because 1hey were loo
dispirited a ft er the tragic con–
sequence of what he had sa id be–
fo re" (Ex. 6:9).
Moses had tremendous rcservoirs
of strength. 10 be ure. bul he was
a lso human. just like you and
l.
and
so he a lso had doubts, an inferiority
complex. discouragement- and in
addi tion 10 1ha t. remember. he was
carrying on a running
argument
with God abou1 having 10 do 1his
job in the first place!
"Now thc Lo rd spoke
10
Moses
again and to ld him. ' Go back
again
to Pharaoh and tell him lhat he
MUST
let the people of Israel go· ··
(verses
10-11 ).
Summing up hi s main a rguments
he had used a t lhe burning bush.
Moses
retorted:.''But
look. my own
people won'l even
li~ten
to me a ny
more: how can
1
expec1 Pharaoh to?
l 'm no oratOr!"
God ignored lhese repeated a rgu–
me nts and simply
COMMANDED
Moses to ge t the job done!
Back to Square One
Bo lstered by promises and miracles
from God, Moses and Aaron. both
octogenarians. went before Ph a raoh
again. Sure enough he wa stub–
born. j ust as God had prcdic1ed and
Moses had known he would be.
Moses and Aa ron pulled 1h e trick
with the stick a nd turned il into a
sna ke-but Pharaoh was no t im–
pressed. as the lsraelites had been.
because his own magicians did the
same trick wilh their sticks!
Moses. frustrated and dcjccted ,
was back to square one! Bul God
had not ye t begun to fight!
God. in His patience and deter–
mination to make a name for Him–
self in the events of the Exodus, had
ten plagues a lready planned lo use
against Egypt a nd do remember
that this was the
same
One who be–
ca rne the "li ttle Lo rd Jesus." born in
Be thlehem so many cenluries la ter!
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1977