One Year Bible Thursday, January 27th God Gives Moses A Sign and Appoint Aaron to Be His Mouthpiece, Pharaoh Rejects Moses Request, Jesus Teaches on the Kingdom and Defines Church Authority
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Click Here To Read Exodus 4:1-5:21
Sign For Moses
Moses has a lot of doubt about his ability to be the next leader of the Israelites. He asks God, "What if the people don't believe me or think You sent me?" So God is more than willing to give Moses a sign. Essentially God gives Moses three supernatural miracles to authenticate his leadership.
1. Moses threw down his staff and it became a snake. Then, he took the snake by the tail and it became a staff again.
2. Moses puts his hand in his coat and it became withered and white. When he takes it back out, it becomes healthy again.
Finally, the Lord said if they don't believe these two signs ...
3. Moses would take water from the Nile river and pour it out on the land. It would become blood.
You think that would have given Moses some confidence, but then he points to the fact that he is not very eloquent as a speaker. The Lord assures him that he was One who gave him the ability to speak at all, and He would help him to do the job He gave him.
Moses is still so reluctant he says, "Please send someone else!"
Do you sense some resistance here?
God is very angry, but extremely patient, so he agrees that Aaron, his brother, can get the message from Moses and do the speaking. He will be Moses' mouthpiece, speaking the very words God gave to Moses. We don't exactly see giant of faith here in Moses. He is reluctant at best, though God is willing to work with him.
Moses Returns to Egypt
Though Moses was reluctant to accept God's call, he obeys and goes back to Midian to ask Jethro, his father in law, if he can go back to Egypt. It was honorable of Moses to ask his father in law for his permission, even though he knew it was God's will for him to go. Though God may call us to do something or go somewhere, we need to be sensitive to those around us, who may not be ready to process what we have already processed. We need wisdom, sensitivity and discernment as we communicate God's will to others.
God lets Moses know that when he goes to Pharaoh on behalf of God, Pharaoh will resist him, even though Moses will perform miraculous signs in front of him. As Moses refuses God's firstborn son Israel to go and worship Him, so the Lord will take the Pharaoh's firstborn son.
There is a strange story, which is inserted here. God met Moses on the way and wanted to kill him. Obviously there was an issue in Moses' life that caused God's anger. We find out that the sin was that Moses had not circumcised his son according to the Jewish law. This rite was at the center of God's covenant with Abraham, when he circumcised Issac in obedience to God's command. Since Zipporah was not Jewish, she could have convinced him not to do it. Regardless, Zipporah performs the circumcision on her son and blames Abraham for the blood which resulted. But God accepted this and left Moses alone. This is only the beginning of blood being a form of sacrifice, which appeases God's wrath going forward.
Meanwhile God sent Aaron into the wilderness to meet Moses at the mountain of God (Mount Moriah, where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Issac). God had honored his promise to send Aaron to be his mouthpiece. Moses gathered the elders and performed the three signs, and the people accepted Moses as their leader, and Aaron his mouthpiece. Importantly as the Israelites learned that God had heard about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped him.
"Years before when Moses offered himself as a deliverer to Israel, they rejected him. Now the time and the circumstances were right, and God’s destiny for Moses’ life would begin to be fulfilled." (Guzik)
Bricks Without Straw
So Moses and Aaron go back to Pharaoh with the message that he is to let the Israelites go and worship their God in the wilderness. As God had predicted, Pharaoh wasn't buying it. Importantly Pharaoh outright denies God and says he has no reason to obey him. Pharaoh not only says "no", but he increases the workload of the Israelites to spite Aaron and Moses. He also made it harder on them in that they had to go get their own straw for the brickwork.
"Straw has an acidic content that makes the bricks stronger. The use of straw in making bricks in Egypt during this period is confirmed by archaeology. “Bricks of all sorts have been found in Egypt, some with regularly chopped straw, some with rough roots and oddments, some without straw at all.” (Cole)
So he not only gave them more work to do, but also reduced the resources to do it with. He was a cruel dictator and enjoyed making life almost unbearbale for the Israelite slaves. Meanwhile the Israelite overseers were not to happy with Moses and Aaron. After all, Moses and Aaron were supposed to deliver them not make matters worse!
Click Here to Read Matthew 18:1-20
The Greatest in the Kingdom
Jesus continues to teach on his favorite subject, the kingdom of God. Jesus uses children to describe greatness in the kingdom. He tells the adults to "become like children". Jesus is talking about the best attributes of little children. They are trusting of authority and humble enough to obey them. They are not yet "full of themselves". Jesus says this type of childlike humility and faith is a prequisite for entering the kingdom. And since we know Jesus is the way into the kingdom, this will translate into accepting him as if you were a child. To admit you are a sinner is the first step in accepting Christ. And, one needs to be humble like a child to do this. Pride is a great stumbling block for many that prevents them from seeing their need for a Savior.
Jesus also has a stern warning for those who cause these little children to stumble, or fail to welcome them. They will be like those who have a cement block tied to their leg and are thrown into the ocean. Then, he speaks more generally about the nature of temptation. Though no one will be immune to temptation, there is certainly a way to fight it.
Jesus tells them to cut their hand off or gauge their eye out, if they cause them to sin. Now obviously Jesus is not being literal here. By the way, there have been people in history who have taken this statement literally and done what Jesus said here. Jesus is using a form of speech called "hyperbole". This is stating an extreme case to make a point. Jesus is saying that sin is so serious that you should be willing to do anything to get rid of things that tempt you to sin. For instance, if an alcoholic goes to the bars all the time, it is probably not a good idea. They are going to need to be willing to go to any lengths to maintain sobriety. Indeed anyone in a 12 step program knows that the principle of being "willing to go to any length" is the key to long term sobriety. This is essentially what Jesus is saying here.
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Jesus then tells a parable about God's love for ALL people. His love is characterized by the shepherd who leaves the ninety nine sheep to make an all out search for the one sheep that has wandered off. This reminds us that "lost people matter to God" and they, "should matter to us." The church that is overly focused on taking care of "their own" are not reflecting the heart of the Father. As believers, each one of us is called to have a "heart for the lost". Until every person has had a chance to come to Christ, our work is not yet done.
Correcting Another Believer
Until we get to heaven, we will still sin here on earth. When we do sin, we have an obligation to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ to point out the sin to each other. If a person is not willing to accept this, then two or three other witnesses should be brought in. If a person is still unwilling to repent of their sin, they should be removed from the fellowship. The goal of this is that this person might turn from this sin and come back to fellowship with God and other believers. God has given the church the authority to do this, and what is declared on earth is binding in heaven.
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
The psalmist prophetically declares God's desire for all people to turn to him and bow down to him. Paul says in Philippians 2:10-11, "One day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
Our prayer is that this would happen sooner vs. later.
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
If you ever think that the bible doesn't talk about the importance of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife, they haven't read this passage. The writer talks about the wayward woman who tries to entice men, and on the flipside we are given this passage. Makes sense doesn't it?
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