January 19 A READ EXODUS 3–6
Confrontation with Pharaoh
OVERVIEW
After forty years of reflection, Moses concludes that he is permanently disqualified from God’s service. In a remarkable debate with the living God, Moses offers four excuses and begs God to send someone else as his spokesman. Finally, when God provides Aaron as a mouthpiece, Moses confronts Pharaoh with God’s message. As predicted, Pharaoh not only denies God’s demand but increases the miseries of the Hebrews. Moses’ popularity with his people plummets, but God assures Moses that he will keep his promise of deliverance.
MY DAILY WALK
The church has been likened to a football game in which thousands of spectators in need of exercise are watching a handful of players in need of rest.
Are you a spectator or a player?
Before you pull out your list of reasons excusing you from active duty in your church, eavesdrop on an eighty-year-old shepherd as he argues with a burning bush. With good reason Moses anticipated resistance from his own people—to say nothing of Pharaoh. Besides, he had a speech impediment! Surely, Moses thought, God was showing poor judgment in his choice of a deliverer for his people.
Patiently, God gave his rebuttal: I can use this bush, that staff in your hand, or even your stammering lips to accomplish my plan. For all that you lack and are not, I AM.
God probably isn’t recruiting you to lead a nation out of bondage. But he definitely wants to show what he can accomplish through you. In response to his promise that “I AM all you need,” will you answer, “I am available”?
IN GOD’S STRATEGY FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING, CHARACTER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN INTELLIGENCE.
INSIGHT
Who? | Exod. 3:14
I AM WHO I AM, or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE (3:14), the name by which God revealed himself, is the name by which he would be known and worshiped. It reveals his unchanging nature, his eternal attributes, and his total faithfulness toward his people. Jesus, in his revelation from heaven to the apostle John, alludes to this holy name when he refers to himself as “the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One” (Revelation 1:8).
INSIGHT
No Stubble, Big Trouble | Exod. 5:10-12
Bricks made with straw are stronger than those without it, because chemicals released by the decomposing straw make the clay more pliable and homogeneous (5:10-12). The straw also provides a fibrous material to hold the more brittle clay in a structurally stable block. Archaeologists report that numerous structures built in biblical times with sun-dried bricks are still standing today.
INSIGHT
I Will Bring You Out | Col. 1:13-14
In Colossians 1:13-14 the apostle Paul describes our redemption from sin in language that harkens back to God’s deliverance of his people from oppressive bondage to Pharaoh (see Exodus 6:6-8).
Moses and the Burning Bush
1One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,* the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,* the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3“This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”
4When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!” Moses replied.
5“Do not come any closer,” the LORD warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6I am the God of your father*—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.
7Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”
11But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”
12God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”
13But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
14God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.* Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.” 15God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh,* 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 eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.
16“Now go and call together all the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, “I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you. 17I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.”’
18“The elders of Israel will accept your message. Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD, our God.’
19“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.* 20So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go. 21And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. 22Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”