Exodus 2:23-4:17

After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery,¹ and cried out.² Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning,³ and God remembered his covenant⁴ with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.⁵⁶

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,⁷ the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.⁹ There the angel of the Lord¹⁰ appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’
And he said, ‘Here I am.’¹¹
Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’¹² He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’¹³ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,¹⁴ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,¹⁵ a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.¹⁶ The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.¹⁷ So come, I will send you¹⁸ to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’
But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I¹⁹ that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’
He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’²⁰
But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’²¹
God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’²² He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.”
’God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”:
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.²³
Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you²⁴ and to what has been done to you in Egypt. I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt,²⁵ to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” They will listen to your voice;²⁶ and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.”²⁷ I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.²⁸ So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go. I will bring this people into such favour with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed; each woman shall ask her neighbour and any woman living in the neighbour’s house for jewelery of silver and of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.'²⁹
Then Moses answered, ‘But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, “The Lord did not appear to you.”³⁰
’The Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’³¹
He said, ‘A staff.’
And he said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail’—so he reached out his hand and grasped it,³² and it became a staff in his hand—‘so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.’³³
Again, the Lord said to him, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak.’ He put his hand into his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. Then God said, ‘Put your hand back into your cloak’—so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body—‘If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.’
But Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant;³⁴ but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’³⁵
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.’³⁶
But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send someone else.’³⁷
Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘What of your brother Aaron the Levite?³⁸ I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall 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 what you shall do.³⁹ He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.⁴⁰ Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.’

1Slavery is once again mentioned, then repeated.

2Cry is not directed to God, but God hears it.

3God responds to the cry of the oppressed.

4Not just oppressed, but also the covenant people. There are many other oppressed people's who are not mentioned here.

5God has taken notice. Things will clearly change.

6This entire section is quite anthropomorphic

7His name was “Raeul” in 2:18, an indication of multiple authors.

9Mountain of God in what way? (This will later be the mountain of God's appearance in Deuteronomy.)

10An interesting character – already showed in Genesis 16, and will show up again.

11The “Here I am” of prophets before and after.

12Why? Because God is there now or was it already holy ground?

13Does Moses know of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

14Misery....cry....sufferings.

15God observes, hears, knows, and delivers in order to bring good.

16It is the land of others...so what of them?

17Again the focus on “cry” and oppression.

18God chooses Moses.

19Humility.

20It is not you, it is I! But such an odd “sign” to show it. The sign almost appears like it is the opposite direction of what is expected.

21Is this doubt or just clarification?

22Honestly, that's a pretty sweet name.

23A second way tot try to explain it.

24God has given heed to them. Once again he emphasizes hearing their cry and responding to their oppression.

25God will bring them out of misery.

26God gives Moses confidence.

27Task #1 to ask of Pharaoh – the chance to leave for three days to worship.

28God knows what will happen, but it is as much an understanding of his character as a prediction.

29Justice via plundering.

30More doubting by Moses. Is he doubting himself or is he doubting the people?

31Pretty funny statement.

32Moses continues to be obedient even in his doubting.

33A miracle is used to prove God's presence – and two others will be tried as well.

34Interesting...in-eloquent even now as he is speaking to God?

35Moses continues to doubt himself! Humility or fear?

36If God, who created his speech, doubts him, he has no reason to doubt himself.

37Now he's just being openly cowardly.

38Knowing that one of the authors is known as the “priestly” author, it would be fascinating to me to know how that strain of authorship affects the portrayal of Aaron.

39God's anger is kindled, but he still stays with Moses, even though part of Moses's task has been taken away.

40Fascinating phrase.


Take-home: God emphasizes that he is responding to the cry of the oppressed and enslaved, that he is revealed his true name and nature to the Israelites and Pharaoh both, and that he will use Moses to do it.  Moses is humble and attempts to deflect the responsibility to the point of fear or cowardice, but God stays with him as his chosen instrument.  A miracle reveals God to Moses, and he shows that he will use more miracles to reveal himself to the Israelis and to Pharaoh.