The Bible Recap - Day 031 (Exodus 4-6) - Year 5

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. If you've ever wanted to go to Israel and you want to go with me, or free, stick around after today's episode for more info on how you can win a trip. Yesterday we ended our reading halfway through God's conversation with Moses and Moses had given two reasons why God shouldn't or couldn 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

Starting point is 00:00:37 or a buttolls 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 3, 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 the promise that everything will go perfectly, but with

Starting point is 00:01:06 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. Going up in the environment, he grew in it would be shocking if he' excuses are identity issues. Going up in the environment, he grew in it would be shocking if he didn't have identity issues. At this point, it doesn't

Starting point is 00:01:30 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 in a front 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,

Starting point is 00:01:59 packs up the family and heads to Egypt. But God does not promise an easy journey. He basically tells Moses, you're going to ask Pharaoh for something and I'm going to harden his heart so that he says no to Egypt. But God does not promise an easy journey. He basically tells Moses, you're going to 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 that they don't let his son go. This is foreshadowing not just of the

Starting point is 00:02:30 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-airs? 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,

Starting point is 00:03:01 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, Gershim, 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,

Starting point is 00:03:20 and this was especially important given that Gershim was about to be in the midst of a powerful enemy culture. He must be set apart. So Zipporah to the rescue. She circumsizes 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,

Starting point is 00:03:52 then this is the second time his life has been saved through the help of a woman. If it was Gershim 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 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.

Starting point is 00:04:16 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 Israelites' 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.

Starting point is 00:04:43 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 a 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

Starting point is 00:05:26 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 condom 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.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Are you a note taker? Some of you have tagged us in pictures on social media where your journal is crammed with notes. We love that, but if you find yourself having to rewind and pause and listen back at half speed, then I have some great news for you. For just $7 a month, you can join our Patreon family and receive transcripts of every episode. No more hand cramps.

Starting point is 00:06:24 You can put your pen down and exchange it for a nice warm cup of coffee. Preferably the one from the recap store, but no pressure. Check out today's show notes for a link or visit the Patreon link on our website, thebipelrecap.com. One of my favorite things to do is leave teaching tours of Israel.

Starting point is 00:06:41 And it's about to get even better, because now I'm partnering with Hope Media Group and its ministries, including WayNation.com, to give you a chance to join me on one of these trips for free. To find out more, click the link in today's show notes or text the word trip to 67101. you

The Bible Recap - Day 031 (Exodus 4-6) - Year 5

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