Bible Readings
Reading 40: God sends His deliverer
Read Exodus 4:18–5:23.
How does one go about packing up and moving towards danger? That’s exactly what Yahweh told Moses to do. God reassured Moses that those who had wanted him dead were now gone. But God also told him in advance of Pharaoh’s negative reaction so Moses knew he had a battle ahead.
God said of Pharaoh, “I will harden his heart.” This phrase will be repeated multiple times in the next few chapters. But this does not mean that God forced Pharaoh’s heart to be hard by taking away Pharaoh’s free will.
Pharaoh had free will. Each time Moses presented Pharaoh with a choice to listen to Yahweh or not, Pharaoh could decide what he would do. He was responsible for his choices.
But God was also responsible for hardening Pharaoh’s heart because He would present him with decisions he must make. Because Pharaoh would consistently harden his heart against God by making negative choices, it could be said that God was also responsible for hardening Pharaoh’s heart.
It wouldn’t be easy to convince Pharaoh to let his Jewish slaves go free. Moses didn’t explain the whole situation to his father-in-law, Jethro (his other name was Reuel), but received his blessing before he left with his wife Zipporah and two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.
Note God’s special love for Israel. He called the nation His firstborn son. In the ancient world, the firstborn son in every family had special responsibilities to look after the family. Along with that came special privileges and rights. In referring to Israel as His firstborn son, God was indicating Israel’s special role among the nations. Since Egypt was going after God’s firstborn son, Yahweh would now go after Egypt’s firstborns. God was reminding Moses that he was serving the Creator-God who knew how to resolve Israel’s difficult situation. The key to victory would be faith in God.
But along the journey to Egypt, something strange happened. God struck Moses with a very serious illness. Why? From the Bible’s words, we can deduce that Moses must have circumcised his firstborn son, Gershom, but not Eliezer. This was possibly because Zipporah might have been shocked by the circumcision ceremony. But circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, and if Moses wasn’t fully obedient to God in this matter, how could he lead Israel? Zipporah must have realised this and therefore circumcised the other son, Eliezer as well. Only after this, Moses recovered. God wanted Moses to be fully obedient before he could take on this significant job of leading God’s people.
Yahweh had sent Moses’ elder brother Aaron to meet him at Mount Horeb (another name for Sinai). Once Moses explained everything, the two brothers headed to Egypt. There, they gathered the elders of Israel, showed them the miraculous signs and explained what God was going to do. The elders believed and worshipped God. Worship is the right response of God’s people to His grace.
When the brothers approached Pharaoh, they began by asking for permission for all of Israel to go on a three-day journey to worship their God. Perhaps they were testing Pharaoh to see how far he was willing to negotiate. Pharaoh’s response was not surprising: “Who is Yahweh?” The Egyptians considered Pharaoh himself a god, so why would the god of Egypt listen to the god of mere slaves? What’s more, if Pharaoh agreed to this request, he would be losing the working days of all his slaves. And he would also be acknowledging the request of a powerless god!
Moses also mentioned that the Israelites might be in danger of being killed if they failed to obey Yahweh. By saying this, Moses was hinting to Pharaoh that Yahweh’s demands were not to be taken lightly and that their God was powerful.
But in his pride, Pharaoh responded negatively. He made life harder for the Israelite slaves. Their job was to make clay bricks for his building projects. Clay was mixed with straw (the leftover stalks of the grain harvest) and baked in the sun. Now he denied them their supply of straw but maintained their quotas!
The Israelite foremen went to appeal to Pharaoh. Instead of going to Pharaoh, they should have gone to Moses and Aaron for help. They should have reminded themselves of Yahweh’s promises and appealed to Him. God’s people need to remember that their first source of help is the One who can truly provide help—Yahweh, the Creator-God of the universe. But no, the people complained about God’s will and criticised God’s leaders. This complaining nature would be characteristic of Israelites for the next forty years. Instead of enjoying close fellowship with God and reaping the blessings of that close fellowship, they suffered more instead. Truly, this is a lesson for us—we must not have a complaining attitude but always go to God in humbleness.
Now consider Moses’ response. He said to God, “Why did you send me?” It was a complaint but he was taking his problem straight to God. Yahweh is not afraid of honest conversation and hard talk. And Moses was not afraid to bring his distress and disappointment to God. From this we can learn something about our relationship with God. He is interested in an authentic relationship. He is ready to listen even when we come to Him complaining. Unlike the elders, who went to the wrong authority for resolution, Moses went back to God first. God’s chosen servants must expect opposition and misunderstanding as they go about God’s work. But God’s servants can also rely on God for a solution. The key is to be humble before God and rest on His promises, especially when things seem very wrong.
In our daily challenges, whom do we go to first? Do we prayerfully seek God’s help first? Or are we more attracted to human solutions? Pray and ask God to help us come to Him first in all matters.