Exodus 4

Exodus 4:1 Then Moses answered, “But notice,[1] they will not believe me or listen to my voice, because they will say, ‘Yahveh did not appear to you.'”

Exodus 4:2 Yahveh said to him, “What is this in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

Exodus 4:3 And he said, “Throw it to the ground.” So, he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake,[2] and Moses ran from it.

Exodus 4:4 But Yahveh said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail” – so he put out his hand and held it strongly,[3] and it became a staff in his hand-

Exodus 4:5 “that they may believe that Yahveh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Exodus 4:6 Again, Yahveh said to him, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” And he put his hand inside his shirt, and when he took it out, he noticed his hand was leprous like snow.

Exodus 4:7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your shirt.” So, he put his hand back inside his shirt, and when he took it out, he noticed it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

Exodus 4:8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.

Exodus 4:9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you will take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you will take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

Exodus 4:10 But Moses said to Yahveh, “Oh, my Lord, I am not articulate, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your slave,[4] but I am heavy of speech and of tongue.”

Exodus 4:11 Then Yahveh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Yahveh?

Exodus 4:12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you will speak.”

Exodus 4:13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

Exodus 4:14 Then the anger of Yahveh was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Notice, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Exodus 4:15 You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do.

Exodus 4:16 He will speak for you to the people, and he will be your mouth, and you will be as God to him.

Exodus 4:17 And take into your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.”

Exodus 4:18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and asked him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro told Moses, “Go in peace.”

Exodus 4:19 And Yahveh had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your throat are dead.”

Exodus 4:20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 4:21 And Yahveh said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see to all the miracles before Pharaoh that I have put in your power. But I will make his heart strong, so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 4:22 Then you will say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what Yahveh says, Israel is my firstborn son,

Exodus 4:23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, notice, I will kill your firstborn son.'”

Exodus 4:24 At a lodging place on the way Yahveh met him and sought to put him to death.

Exodus 4:25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

Exodus 4:26 So he let him alone. It was at that time that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

Exodus 4:27 Yahveh had told Aaron, “Go into the open country to meet Moses.” So, he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

Exodus 4:28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahveh with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

Exodus 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.

Exodus 4:30 Aaron spoke all the words that Yahveh had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.

Exodus 4:31 And the people believed; and when they heard that Yahveh had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

[1] הֵן = notice. Exodus 4:1; 5:5; 6:12, 30; 8:26.

[2] נָחָשׁ = snake. Exodus 4:3; 7:15.

[3]חָזַק = be strong, strongly. Exodus 4:4, 21; 7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:2, 12, 35; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 12:33; 14:4, 8, 17; 19:19.

[4] עֶבֶד = slave. Exodus 4:10; 5:15, 16, 21; 7:10, 20; 8:3, 4, 9, 11, 21, 24, 29, 31; 9:14, 20, 21, 30, 34; 10:1, 6, 7; 11:3, 8; 12:30, 44; 13:3, 14; 14:5, 31; 20:2, 10, 17; 21:2, 5, 7, 20, 26, 27, 32; 32:13.

Exodus 4 quotes:

“What has God put in your hand? It might be a gift or a talent or a resource that you don’t think very much of. Moses didn’t walk around admiring the rod he carried in his hand. But God used it for great glory. You may think God has to put something new or different in your hand before He can use you. But right now, God has put something in your hand that He can use. You have some gift, some interest, some ability that marks your life. God wants to ask you the same question He asked Moses: “What is that in your hand?” The answer may reveal how God wants to use you today.”

Guzik, David. Free and Clear. Enduring Word Media, 2004. p. 25.

“In Exodus 4:16 God tells Moses that when Aaron speaks for him he shall be to Aaron as God. This is a remarkable assertion. It reveals in part the process of divine revelation. God will be with the mouth of Moses so that Moses will speak God’s Word; Aaron will hear the Word from Moses and speak it to the Israelites and Egyptians. Aaron can only speak what Moses says, and only Aaron will speak what Moses says. As the mouthpiece of -Moses, Aaron is acting as if Moses were God to him. Revelation is God speaking through the mouth of one man to another.”

Ramm, Bernard L. God’s Way out : Finding the Road to Personal Freedom through Exodus. Regal Books, 1987. p. 35.

“Although it is impossible to know exactly what Moses was thinking here, it seems likely there were at least two dynamics at work here. First, his words in Exodus 4:13 may have been a last ditch plea based on Moses’ sense of his insufficiency for the task set before him. But I think there is something else going on here. Moses’ words also display fear, stubbornness, recalcitrance, lack of faithfulness, and his self-centeredness. After all of God’s promises, Moses is still focusing on himself and his insufficiencies. God was not pleased. In Exodus 4:14 we learn that “the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.” In the verses that follow, God graciously offers Aaron to serve as Moses” mouthpiece, once again displaying to Moses that God’s ‘power is sufficient. But while God was gracious to Moses,”

Selvaggio, Anthony T. From Bondage to Liberty : The Gospel according to Moses. P&R Publishing, 2014. p. 65.