The Bible Recap - Day 031 (Exodus 4-6) - Year 6
Episode Date: January 31, 2024SHOW NOTES: - Head to our Start Page for all you need to begin! - Join the RECAPtains - Check out the TBR Store - Show credits - Find music to encourage you! FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Rate and Review!... SOCIALS: The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok D-Group: Instagram | Facebook TLC: Instagram | Facebook D-GROUP: D-Group is brought to you by the same team that brings you The Bible Recap. TBR is where we read the Bible, and D-Group is where we study the Bible. D-Group is an international network of Bible study groups that meet weekly in homes, churches, and online. Find or start one near you today! DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.
Yesterday we ended our reading halfway through God's conversation with Moses and Moses had
given two reasons why God shouldn't or couldn't use him to rescue the Israelites from slavery
in Egypt.
Today we pick up the back half of that conversation.
God gives Moses some signs to use to prove himself,
and Moses gives God three more excuses or rebuttals
to his call.
Honestly, Moses seems kind of right, but God is unmoved.
God patiently responds to each of his concerns,
never hedging on his plan, despite the fact
that Moses is completely ill-fitted for this calling.
I mean, even in verse three, Moses throws the staff on the ground,
and when it becomes a snake, he runs from it.
The guy who's afraid of a snake probably shouldn't go toe-to-toe with a dictator.
But God reassures him, not with a promise that everything will go perfectly,
but with words like these,
I will be with your mouth and teach you what to speak.
I will send a helper.
Moses doubts himself,
but God, his maker, reminds him who he's talking to.
Questioning God's calling is an insult
to the God who made him.
All five of Moses' excuses are identity issues.
Growing up in the environment he grew in,
it would be shocking if he didn't have identity issues.
At this point, it doesn't seem like he really knows
or believes God,
which means he can't really know who he is either. At the last excuse, God gets angry.
It seems like Moses' hesitation was an affront to God's wisdom in calling him, as though
Moses believed God wouldn't be sufficient. Moses' fears and insecurities are an attack
on God's character, but God does not lean into this offense. He leans into patience and compassion.
He provides Aaron, Moses' older brother, to go with him.
So Moses gets permission from his father Jethro,
packs up the family, and heads to Egypt.
But God does not promise an easy journey.
He basically tells Moses,
you're gonna ask Pharaoh for something
and I'm going to harden his heart
so that he says no to you.
That's a tough assignment.
But in the part of this conversation we read yesterday,
God said that with a mighty hand,
He would compel Pharaoh to yield.
So at least Moses has that to hold on to.
One thing I want to point out,
God called Israel His firstborn son
and promises to kill the firstborn of Egypt
if they don't let His son go.
This is foreshadowing not just of the Passover,
which we'll get to in a few days,
but also of the inclusion of the Gentiles into God's family.
Remember how the firstborn gets the blessing, but Jesus, our older brother, shares his inheritance
with us as co-heirs? We see this with the Israelites too. They're God's firstborn. But in God's great
generosity, he also adopted Gentiles, non-Jews, into his family as a part
of his promise to bless all the nations of the world through this one family.
And because of that, we Gentiles share in their inheritance, just like with Jesus.
Something puzzling happens on the way to Egypt where God gets angry and seeks to kill someone,
but it's unclear who or why.
Most scholars believe the reasons for God's anger is that Moses' son, Gershom, hasn't been circumcised,
and most think that God's anger was directed toward Moses.
To not circumcise his son was a violation of the covenant,
and this was especially important
given that Gershom was about to be
in the midst of a powerful enemy culture.
He must be set apart.
So, Zipporah to the rescue.
She circumcises Gershom,
then touches the foreskin to Moses' feet.
But one caveat here is that the Hebrew word for feet is occasionally used as a euphemism
for genitals.
So this whole passage is filled with mystery.
Don't get too hung up on it.
Remember what we talked about in the prep episodes.
We don't want to build our theology on obscure, unclear passages.
By the way, if it was Moses that God sought to kill, then this is the second
time his life has been saved through the help of a woman. If it was Gershom that God sought
to kill, then this is an interesting foreshadowing of killing the firstborn son of those who
don't live under God's protective covering. More on that in the days ahead.
In the next scene, God himself has sent Aaron, Moses' older brother, to help him. They
go to Egypt, Aaron gives a speech to the Israelites, Moses demonstrates the sign from God,
and the people are thrilled.
But when Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh,
he denies their request.
So they ask again.
This time, he not only says no,
but cracks down even harder on the Israelite slaves
who blame Moses for it.
Moses obeyed God's commands, and things got worse.
God tells Moses to go back to the Israelites and remind them what he's promised,
but they don't believe him.
They were excited when Moses first showed up on the scene,
but their enthusiasm got crushed by the extra workload.
Life has been too hard for them to be hopeful.
Then God sent Moses back to Pharaoh to try again.
We ended with a genealogy connecting these two messengers
with the lineage of people
they were coming to rescue and a reminder that Moses feels inadequate.
But this marks the turning point.
After Scripture makes this connection, we don't see Moses doubting God's power anymore.
He's finding confidence and freedom in God despite his own shortcomings.
Where did you see God at work today?
Here was my God shot.
I saw so much of God's compassion in his response
to all the hesitation Moses displayed.
God knew his story.
God knew his brokenness.
He was patient toward Moses and his self-doubt.
Later, I saw God's compassion again
when Moses went back to the Israelites a second time.
After their workload had been increased
and their former excitement had turned to despair,
they couldn't muster any kind of faith on their own.
Heartache and oppression can steal your ability
to hope and trust in the words of God.
God knew they had no strength to fight,
so he sent someone to fight for them.
He sent someone who had received his compassion
to demonstrate it to them.
He sent a conduit of hope and freedom
to the people who were hopeless and who had never
known freedom.
He's compassionate, he's attentive, and he's where the joy is.
If you've got three seconds to spare, we'd love for you to rate this podcast on the platform
where you listen.
That really helps others to find us and we want to help as many people dig into Scripture
as possible.
Five star ratings are our favorite
and if you wanna leave a review as well,
we'd love that too.
And if your platform doesn't allow you to rate and review,
feel free to leave those ratings and reviews
on Apple podcasts.
It always encourages me to go read through these
and see how much God is using this in your lives.
If music encourages you in your faith,
I wanna help you find the perfect station for you.
Click the link in the show notes
to check out some great Christian radio stations
and music streams from Hope Nation.