Contributor: Peter Folikwe

INTRODUCTION
Our study last week of the first two chapters of Exodus revealed how God fulfilled His promise to bless Abraham’s descendants to become as many people as sand on the seashore Gen 22:17. This development threatened the new Pharaoh in Egypt who enacted cruel laws that will take the lives of every male child born to the Israelites. We see God as a master strategist saved the life of the boy Moses, nursed by his biological mother and went on the live in the king’s palace. God, working behind the scenes, begins to prepare him ahead of His planned deliverance of His people from the land of Egypt. Moses in an identity crisis: nurtured as an Egyptian royal but with an Israeli lineage acted impulsively and fled to Median to escape the wrath of Pharaoh and the disdain of the Israelites.

CHAPTER 3
Verse 1
Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law, Jethro also called Ruel for about 40yrs. Invariably by this time, having fled from Egypt at age 40yrs, so he was 80yrs old then. Mount Horeb - aka Mount Sanai was called Mountain of God, because it is there that God will later reveal His laws, principally His character to the nation of Israel.

Verses 2 -5
The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush, yet the bush was not scorched despite the burning fire. This amazement Moses. It is a miraculous encounter like the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Miraculous encounters often lead to divine promotion and protection as we will see in the life of Moses later.
We see here that the Bible says the angel of the Lord appeared, and afterwards God spoke Himself to Moses asking him not to come close but take of His shoes because he was standing on a Holy ground.
This typified the law which see God an unapproachable because of His Holy natured.

But by contrast the sacrifice of Jesus for all mankind encourages us to have closer relationship with God. Interestingly, God has not changed from the Old Testament God into a New Testament God. ‭He is the same yesterday, today & forever. The differentiator is simply the price paid by our Lord Jesus on the cross. Despite our unworthy state to approach the Holy of Holies, Jesus Christ robed us in His righteousness to give us direct and easy access to God Almighty. It is an irony to see some so-called believers who ignorantly still ‭live according to the law. Incidentally a church still practices the custom of travelling barefooted, without shoes, to their church: as a symbol of reverence to the unapproachable God. This the lie the devil wants people to believe, portraying God as unloving, yet the very nature of God is unconditional love.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Brethren God loves to fellowship with us, but we are often weighed down by our sinful nature, forgetting that the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus is greater than our sins. The devil wants us to focus on our sins instead of looking unto Jesus and what He did for us on the cross of Calvary: Heb. 12:2. Always remember that Jesus made us worthy through His blood.

Verses 7-12
Most times when we pray and don’t get immediate answers, we sometimes conclude that God has forgotten us. At the time of this encounter Moses was over 40yrs of age. Imagine how many Israeli families have been thrown into mourning just because they had a boy child thrown into the Nile on Pharaoh’s orders. God here confirm that he heard their cry and seen their oppression and has decided to deliver His people. In V11 Moses responded based on his past guilt for killing an Egyptian, the basis on which a ransom has been placed over his life by Pharaoh. God responded to Moses when he asked, “who am I?”, saying “I will be with you”. Meaning He God will take care of Moses’ limitations. Most often we limit the work of God in our lives focusing on our limitations rather than depending on the Unlimited God. Our sovereign God who knows the end from the beginning, simply assured Moses that “I will be with you” with the assurance that His people will come out of Egypt to serve/worship Him on the same mountain.

Verses 13-14
Moses hunted by his experience with his fellow Israelites before he fled Egypt was apprehensive going back to meet with the same people and Pharaoh. He then requested God to make a formal introduction of Himself. God responded and introduced Himself as “I Am That I Am”. Meaning He has no beginning and ending. He is Self-existent. To validate His name he asked Moses to tell the Israelites that He is the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. The covenant keeping God. A memorial to all generations, up till today & forever.

Verses 15-22
Moses was mandated by God to first go into the camp of the Israelites to deliver the good news the elders of their deliverance from bondage under their taskmasters in Egypt. God reaffirmed the promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 22:17 saying “in blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.” In V17 God here promises not just delivering the Israelites from Egypt, but they shall take possession of the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites “ivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and and the Perizzites and the HGod simply reeled our events that will follow after Moses meets with Pharaoh:” honey.
Pharaoh’s refusal to let His people go to serve Him on the mountain. How with His outstretched arm He will afflict Egypt with series of plagues after which Pharaoh will yield to pressure and how the Israelites will find favour in the sight of the Egyptians despite their horrific experience then: plundering Egypt as they depart.

CHAPTER 4
Verses 1-9
Moses once again out of apprehension wanted a reassurance from God so that the Israelites could believe his story. God therefore gave Moses three signs to beef up his encourage/confidence: His staff tuned into a serpent & back to a rod. Secondly, his hand became leprous and restored. Thirdly, God assured him that if the two signs fail to convince them, he should take water from the Nile which will turn into blood on touching the dry ground.

Verses 10-12
Moses once again objected to his calling by reminding God of His limitation regarding eloquence in speech, as if God was unaware. Many today give excuses why they refuse to heed the call of God upon their lives. Excuses such as “no time”, fear of the unknown and like the case of Moses, personal limitations. In V11 God responded by asking Moses a rhetorical question “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?”
This suggests that, as humans, we question God when we suffer misfortunes or judge people or write them off without having the whole story, because of our limited understanding of their circumstances.
Brethren, rather than judge others or question God, our resolve should be “God gives, God takes, blessed be the name of the Lord”. I will not let my hurt hold me back from worshipping you as the God who rules in the affairs of men.
In V12 God promised Moses that despite his speech limitations, He will practically speak through Moses mouth. May God count us worthy to speak through us in Jesus’ name.

Verses 13-17
At this point Moses could no longer hide his fears about going back to Egypt, despite all the assurances God has given him. He finally requested God to send someone else.
There is a common saying that the evil men do live after them. They become haunted by their own shadows. Moses could not take his mind away from his crime before fleeing from Egypt. Although Moses was referred to as a meek and humble man, his actions at this point is more of refusal/rebellion.
God went further to suggest Aaron, Moses’ brother to be his spokesman, as Moses continued to doubts God’s capability to speak through him.

Verses 18 - 22
In V19 God finally allays Moses fears by informing him that those who accused him of murder have all died and that it is safe for him to return. As a good son-in-law though, he informed his father-in-law of his planned rerun to Egypt without giving details. While on the way God reminded Moses to go to the King to perform the miracles He has shown Moses. God gave Moses a glimpse of the outcome of his meeting with the Pharaoh whose heart will the hardened refusing to allow the children of Israel go.
God referred to Israel as His first born and that Pharaoh stubbornness will result in the death of all first born in Egypt including Pharaoh’s. God revealed to Moses how it will all end in the final plague of Passover when the angel of death will pass over Egypt.

Verses 24-26
The study of these three verses is puzzling and could be regarded as an interlude.
The information available to us are as follows:
- Moses and his family decided to take a break on their way from Median to Egypt.
- While in the camp God intended to kill Moses. Reason not stated.
- Zipporah, Moses’ wife at this point circumcised their son and used the blood from the foreskin to touch Moses’ leg saying he was a bloody bridegroom.
- God then restrained from killing Moses.
Very little context was deductible from the short story; however we can state the following:
- Circumcision of a male child was a convent from the time of Abraham instructed by God.
- We could infer from the passage that Moses had not circumcised his son then.
- We could also infer that Zipporah may have objected to the circumcision in the past, and Moses must have informed her of the implications/consequences.
- We can deduce that Zipporah was aware of the threat to her husband’s life and the possible reason why she resentfully circumcised the son and there and then. Thereafter, the Bible records that God dropped his decision to kill Moses.

Verses 27-31
Aaron met Moses in the mountain of the Lord and as instructed by God, Moses recounted his encounter with God. Moses and Aaron gathered the elders and Aaron gave an account of what Moses told him that God had in stock for His people. This was followed by Moses demonstration of the signs and the people believed.

CONCLUSION
Chapters 3 and 4 of Exodus clearly reveals to us that God keeps His covenant. We also noted that He hears the cry of His people: a prayer answering God. Furthermore, His step-by-step plans to deliver His “first born” the Israelites from their taskmasters were revealed to Moses ahead of their fulfilment. Although Moses tried all he could to wriggle out of God’s call upon His life, God who knows the frame of every man got Moses to do His bidding.
My major takeaway from the two chapters, is for us to recognise the call of God upon our lives and wilfully yield to His call unconditionally, knowing that “He who orders the meal is capable of paying for it” I foresee that the study of the chapters ahead will be excitingly interesting.