The Lord Equips His Servant

Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Exodus 4:1-17 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ³ And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— ⁵ “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” ⁶ Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. ⁷ Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. ⁹ If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, 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.”

¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” ¹³ But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” ¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ 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 both what to do. ¹⁶ He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. ¹⁷ And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

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Before looking more closely at Exodus 4, I want us to pause and consider what God has called you to. I don’t mean this specific moment—but in your day-to-day life. Are you a follower of Christ? Are you a student, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, an older man or woman, an employee, or a manager? God is calling you to responsibility. Are you obeying that call to follow Christ, or are you excusing yourself from duty?

Our last time looking at the book of Exodus, we saw Moses encounter God at the burning bush in the wilderness of Midian, at the mountain of God. God approached Moses in the flame of fire to call Moses to the task of saving the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Hebrews had fallen into slavery and oppression after their fathers sojourned in Egypt during the famine of Genesis 41-47. Moses had sought to save them in chapter 2, but the people rejected him. At the burning bush, Moses asked the Lord, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?’” (3:13) God replied by saying, “I AM WHO I AM.” God then told Moses how he would work to accomplish the salvation of the Hebrews and bring them up into “a land flowing with milk and honey.” (3:17) God told Moses, “Go and gather the elders of Israel together” (3:16) and he assured Moses, “they will listen to your voice.”

This brings us to this morning’s text. Moses is still at the burning bush, listening to the LORD’s instructions. The passage is organized into two main sections: verses 1-9, which I will call the “dialog of unbelief.” The second section, verses 10-17, is the “dialog of eloquence.” In each section, Moses presents an objection to the LORD, and the LORD, in turn, answers him.

I want us all to see how God used Moses despite his objections and weaknesses. The outcome of Moses’ mission was in no way dependent upon him. Moses was God’s servant and was fully equipped to fulfill God’s task. Just as God equipped Moses, so he also equips us today.

The Dialog of Unbelief

The first section, the “dialog of unbelief,” begins with Moses’ statement of disbelief. In chapter 3, God told Moses, “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me… And they will listen to your voice…” (3:16, 18) As we see, though, in chapter four, Moses does not believe God. He says, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’” God had spoken clearly and promised that the elders of Israel would believe him. But Moses did not believe. Yet God was gracious to him and did not reprove him. Moses will later learn that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (34:6). Moses experiences this grace here, though he may not have realized it then.

Rather than reproving Moses, God offers three signs that he is to use to demonstrate his authority as God’s messenger. These signs transformed one thing into something else. The staff in Moses’ hand would become a serpent. His hand, once inside his cloak, would become leprous. The water Moses would take from the Nile would become blood when poured onto the ground.

This three-fold demonstration to Moses would comprise three witnesses to confirm Moses’s divine authority. God asks Moses, “What is that in your hand?” It is an interesting rhetorical question, for God knew what it was, as did Moses. But Moses responds, “A staff.” The LORD commanded it be thrown upon the ground, and Moses did so. He is teaching Moses to obey. The LORD asks, and Moses responds. The LORD commands, and Moses does. The staff, once thrown upon the ground, “became a serpent.” This was no mere likeness of a serpent, for Moses ran from it. It frightened him! The LORD again commands, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail.” Moses again does as commanded: “it became a staff in his hand.” Immediately, the LORD instructs Moses on its meaning, “that they may believe the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” The sign was meant to authenticate the message.

The lesson continues, “Again, the LORD said to him, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak.” Moses again follows orders: “when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.” Snakes are one thing. I hate snakes! I don’t want anything to do with them. But I think I would like this much less! I can almost picture his face full of horror and wonder as he considers what will happen to his hand and who he is talking to?! The LORD doesn’t seem to leave him pondering his condition long. He commands Moses, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” Again, Moses is learning to obey the LORD. He does as commanded, “and when he took it out, behold, ‘it was restored like the rest of his flesh.” This sign also has a purpose— “if they will not…listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.” (4:8) Again, the sign was meant to authenticate the message.

The LORD now offers the third sign, “If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” Notice that this sign may only be performed in Egypt. Moses cannot attempt this one now. He seems to understand that the God who performed the first two signs will not fail to perform the third.

This “dialog of unbelief” ends with growing belief. Moses seemingly believes the LORD will ensure that the elders of Israel in Egypt will believe him, accepting the final sign in faith. Yet not all is well. In verse ten, we begin the second main section of the passage—the “dialog of eloquence.” The LORD has diffused Moses’s disbelief, but he has another excuse prepared. Do you know someone like this? Maybe you are like this yourself?

It is so easy for us to sneer at people in the Bible. God just performed two incredible signs after appearing in a burning bush—and Moses makes up excuses to disobey? The reality is that we’re not all that different than Moses, or almost anyone else in the Bible, for that matter.

The Dialog of Eloquence

Well, Moses has another excuse handy. “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” The second half of our passage is the “dialog of eloquence.” For someone claiming he is “not eloquent,” Moses sure does a lot of talking. His voice is the primary human voice in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy! So why does Moses use this excuse? Some commentators argue that Moses suffers from “some kind of speech defect, such as stammering.”¹ Others say Moses is following the “Ancient Near Eastern” custom of “exaggerated humility.”² One or both of those may be true, but I don’t think either theory really explains what is happening in this scene. Moses does not want to go and do what God is commanding; he is stalling, hoping to evade his responsibility.

The LORD continues to be gracious to Moses, not rebuking him for his reluctance and excuse-making. Instead, he asks Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” The LORD is disarming this excuse and insisting that Moses go and act as God’s messenger in Egypt. He tells Moses, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” The LORD is sending Moses to Egypt with a mission, and Moses need not worry that he is the wrong man for the job. He need not worry about his qualifications or his eloquence. Yahweh, the Great I AM, “will be with [his] mouth and teach [him] what to speak.” This is quite a promise; again, it should supply confidence to Moses. But it is here that Moses’ heart is clearly revealed.

Moses now gives his final excuse, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” (4:14) Moses simply does not want to go. Again, it is easy for us to look down on him. After all, he’s being commanded by the Creator of the world, the God of his fathers. But aren’t we all slow to obey and comfortable with things as they are? Consider Moses’ situation. He’s been living in Moab with his wife and two sons for forty years. He’s become accustomed to the life of a shepherd. He left Egypt under the threat of death. What is left in Egypt for him? Everything he has is there, in Moab. What have you been unwilling to forsake to obey the LORD? Again, we shouldn’t make excuses for Moses but rather recognize how we are like him and unwilling to surrender our situations to obey our Lord.

This clear and final excuse, revealing Moses’s heart, kindles the anger of the LORD against Moses. The LORD is “slow to anger,” but he does get angry. Yet his anger is always, and only, a righteous anger. His anger is unlike ours because it is provoked by a jealous protection for his holiness and hatred of sin. The text says nothing of Moses’s response to God’s anger—but Moses, as the author of the book, recognized the LORD was angry and related this to his readers. One can hardly imagine what this would have looked like. Recall that Moses is hearing a voice come from a burning bush. Perhaps the flames became higher and brighter, and the heat became hotter. Whatever it was, the only conclusion from the scene was that Moses finally obeyed.

But the scene is not over yet. God, in his anger, continues speaking to Moses, disarming him of his final objection concerning his eloquence. The LORD offers Moses’s brother Aaron as his voice or representative. This is the first time Aaron is named in the book and the first time the label “the Levite” is used. In chapter 2, Moses is described as a son of “the house of Levi” (2:1). So readers would know that Aaron, too, would be of the house of Levi. The term “the Levite” will become important throughout the rest of the Pentateuch as it becomes associated with the priestly duties assigned to the tribe of Levi. Aaron, as the head of the Levitical order, is thus described as “the Levite.”

The LORD shares some news with Moses concerning his brother Aaron. He “can speak well” and “he is coming out to meet you.” (4:14) Moses, who asked that the LORD send someone else, will get a helper, but he won’t escape his responsibility. The LORD describes how Moses is to use Aaron. God will be with both of them, Moses will speak God’s words, and Aaron will speak Moses’s. The LORD will be with both mouths and teach them both “what to do.” (v. 16)

When the LORD says, in verse 16, “He [meaning Aaron] shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him”—he is creating a mediatorial order. That is, a way in which God’s Word will be communicated to the people of Israel. If Moses does not want to be the one speaking to the people, God has given him a way to communicate his own words to the people. God will give his words to Moses, who will act “as God” to Aaron. The words of the LORD will come directly from Moses to Aaron, who will then speak them to Israel.

This phrase, “as God to him,” has nothing to do with worshipping the man but reverencing his authority and words as coming from God himself. The words that the LORD will communicate to Moses will be communicated to Aaron and, ultimately, the people of Israel. Israel is to receive the words as coming from the LORD. This is what it means to be a prophet—one who speaks the very words of God. God was instructing Israel to hear his voice through his messengers. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God spoke through the mediatorial offices of prophets, priests, and kings. Today, we hear God’s voice through the Scriptures and the faithfully preached Word.

I love how this passage ends—with the LORD’s command to “take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs” (4:17). God gave Moses a visible, physical reminder that he has equipped him for the task, that he is going with him, and that his purposes will not be thwarted. Notice the power isn’t in the staff itself, but it is the object God has chosen to use to “do the signs.”

A New Testament Parallel

I want to make some specific applications for us from the text. The outcome of Moses’ mission was in no way dependent upon Moses, for it was God who equipped him for the task. Throughout the burning bush scene, Moses objected to the LORD’s demands and excused himself by declaring he could not do what the LORD commanded. But God met each objection by supplying what Moses lacked. What we are unwilling and unable to do ourselves, God will do on our behalf.

Moses’s unbelief and unwillingness are met by God’s faithfulness, which is fulfilled for us in Christ. Moses was to act as the savior of Israel, whom Pharaoh had enslaved, but he was unwilling and unable to do this, so God worked through Moses, his mediator. Israel, at the time of Jesus, also proved unable to follow the law and find salvation. God sent a new mediator—his Son, Jesus—to save Israel and men from all nations. This is the message of Christmas. Where men failed to live up to God’s standard of righteousness, God provided a Savior who made no excuses and showed no reluctance to obey his Father.

When Moses objected that the elders of Israel would not believe that he’d seen and was sent by the LORD, God gave him three signs to perform. When Moses excused himself because of his lack of eloquence, God assured Moses he would “be with [his] mouth” and he even gave Moses another man to do most of the speaking. God demonstrated to Moses that God himself would be doing the work. But Moses would have to obey. He would be God’s messenger. God was going to perform remarkable signs using a mere piece of wood. If God could use a wooden staff, how much more would he do with one bearing his image?

Let us now consider what this means for us today. You may be thinking, how does Moses’s mission to the elders of Israel concern me? First, I want us to consider what this means to all Christians. Let’s look at a similar passage in the Gospels. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 10. I will read verses 5-24:

“These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.”

Jesus speaks these words to the twelve apostles, sending them to “the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). The twelve are going out as a type of what all Christians are commanded to do in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18). I want to highlight a few similarities between the two passages to help us see how we are like Moses in Exodus chapter 4. First, notice what Jesus commissions his apostles to do in verse 8. They are to “go…to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In other words, they were to tell Israel of God’s coming to them and to believe his twelve messengers. The authority of their message was to be authenticated through their miraculous signs: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.”

The apostles had no power to perform any of those signs. They would have to be equipped by the Spirit to do those works. In verses 9 and 10, we see they were not to take anything with them that would allow them to take care of themselves—they would have to rely upon the LORD to care for them. They could bring no money, luggage, sandals, or staff. The LORD would provide for their needs.

Jumping down to verses 16-20, notice they would be put in vulnerable positions—“as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Kind of like a man wanted for murder in Egypt going to meet Pharaoh. The apostles would go before “governors and kings to witness before them” (Matt 16:18). But, like Moses, they were not to worry about what to say, “for what [they] were to say [would be] given to [them] in that hour. For it is not [they] who speak, but the Spirit of [their] Father speaking through [them]” (Matt 10:19-20).

This application is a little closer to home for us. As Jesus commands all his followers in the Great Commission, we are God’s messengers, bearing the image of Jesus Christ to all the world, bringing God’s Word to “all nations”—sometimes even rulers. This is a prophetic office—much like Moses’s. We are to “be as God” to the nations. We bring news of the King of Kings, who has already accomplished a new exodus—delivering God’s covenant people from the bondage, not of physical slavery, but of spiritual slavery. He is preparing a place for his people—not a physical location in this present age, but the whole world in the age to come. Our message today is authenticated by the miraculous resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:30-31) and Bible—containing the full revelation of God’s Word.

God has not left us unequipped for any task He has called us to do. We have been entrusted with the Holy Spirit, that we may be God’s “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit helps us to live in accordance with the world as God made it, and not as the world perceives it. We “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18) The Holy Spirit gives us confidence to believe God’s promises and is one of the primary ways by which we are equipped to obey God, even, and especially to do things the world would tell us are impossible.

He has also left us the Scriptures, “that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17). God’s complete Word sits there in your lap or on your phone and is there for each of us to learn how to speak God’s Word. Do you believe that? Do you obey what the Scriptures tell us about money, debt, sexuality, how you talk, how you dress, relationships, government, responsibility, ethnicity, life, death, marriage, divorce, property, theft, desire, truth, worship, movies, family, singleness, abortion, wealth, poverty, art, and music? And that’s only a sampling.

The Bible addresses many things specifically but addresses everything by applying biblical wisdom and principles to every situation. For example, consider Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” That one verse alone instructs us how to orient ourselves in nearly every aspect of our lives.

Conclusion

As we conclude, I want you to also consider a more personal application of this text. What has God called you to do individually: sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, employees, managers, business owners, government officials, deacons, older men, and women?

There is no aspect of what God has commanded in which God has not also equipped us. Each of us has different duties which we have been assigned by the LORD. Consider well to what the LORD has called you. Are you God’s obedient servant, or are you reluctant—making excuses for yourself at every turn? Are you faithfully fulfilling your duties in your current situation? Children—do you obey your parents? Do you honor the LORD as a student? Husbands, do you faithfully love and lead your wife? (Eph. 5:25) Wives, do you respect and submit to your husband? (Eph 5:22,33) Fathers, do you love your children and instruct them in the faith? Mothers, do you lovingly nurture your children? Employees, do you diligently labor as unto the LORD? Managers, do you humbly lead your staff and steward your company’s resources? Government officials—do you faithfully execute your office as God’s servant? (Rom. 13) Elders, do you know, lead, feed, and protect God’s sheep? Deacons, do you faithfully minister to the saints and steward the LORD’s resources? Older men and women, do you model the faith to and disciple the younger generations? (Titus 2)

God apportions his tasks “to each according to his ability” (Matt. 25:14) God has equipped “each one of us” with gifts “according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph. 4:7-8). Use those gifts in the station to which the Lord has assigned you. Be ready to obey when he calls you to another task or place. God has and will equip you for whatever he has called you to do.

God indeed calls some to do more—but to such, he gives more (Matt 25:14-30). But he has called every one of us to give an account of what we have accomplished with what he has equipped us and called us to do. We are to make a return on that which he has entrusted to us. (Matt. 25:19-27) So let us “walk by faith, not by sight” seeking to “please him.” Knowing “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:7-10)

Finally, I want to address unbelievers in the room. The New Testament, in Hebrews 3, speaks of Jesus and compares him to Moses. “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself… Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Heb. 3:1-3,5-6)

Despite Moses’s shortcomings, his reluctance, disbelief, and excuses, he has been declared “faithful” by God—even favorably compared to Jesus. How can this be? How can a just God declare someone like Moses, someone like you or me, faithful? This is the good news we call ‘the gospel.’ The message of Christmas is that God did not leave us to die in our sins without hope of being forgiven and reconciled to Him. God sent His Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins that we might be forgiven and restored to fellowship with the God who created us for His glory.

Christmas marks the birth of Jesus the Messiah, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, laid in a lowly manger, and visited by humble shepherds. Yes, it was a humble birth without human pomp or celebration. But his birth was announced by a heavenly celebration: a choir of angels declaring, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” And together they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” (Luke 2:11-13)

As Moses long ago announced to his people the good news that God would deliver Israel from slavery, Christians today proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ has delivered sinners from the slavery of sin. “Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15) Obey your Lord and follow Him wherever He leads you. Merry Christmas!

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¹ T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, Apollos Old Testament Commentary P. 96
² Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus, The New American Commentary, p. 134