Stubborn Moses

The next logical section of the Book of Exodus is 4:18-7:7. This block of material contains six scenes:
1. Moses and his family leave Midian on the way toward Egypt, and the Lord seeks to kill Moses at a lodging place on the journey. 4:18-26.
2. Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt, tell the Israelites God's words and signs Moses had revealed to God in Midian, and the Israelites believe God. 4:27-31.
3. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and ask Pharaoh allow the Israelites to sacrifice to Yahweh in the wilderness for three day; Pharaoh denies this reject and increases the laborious work of the Israelites; Moses complains to God that this is happening. 5:1-23.
4. God assures Moses that God will deliver the Israelites from Egypt, but Moses excuses himself from accepting God's responsibility because Moses is not a good speaker. 6:1-13.
5. The biblical narrator gives the genealogy from the sons of Jacob to the grandson of Aaron. 6:14-25.
6. Yahweh commands Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the wilderness for three days, but Moses excuses himself from accepting Yahweh's responsibility because Moses is not a good speaker. 6:26-7:7.

Several important ideas appear in this portion of the Book of Exodus. One recurring theme here is that Moses continues to be stubborn. His stubbornness appears three times in this account.

1. After Yahweh finally "forces" Moses to leave Midian toward Egypt at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-4:17), when Moses and his family are traveling and stop at a lodging place for the night, Yahweh seeks to kill Moses, and Zipporah quickly circumcises their son and delivers Moses. Exodus 4:24-26. Obviously, Moses should have circumcised his son, but did not do so. The ongoing flow of the narrative indicates that Moses' REAL problem is that he still did not want to go back to Egypt and guide the Israelites out of bondage. He still held on to the same thinking he repeatedly declared at the burning bush. Moses was ENDURING his journey which Yahweh was forcing him to do, but he did not REALLY want to do what Yahweh commanded him.

2. When Pharaoh rejected Moses' and Aaron's request that the Israelites spend three days in the wilderness, Moses complained to Yahweh: "O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people." (Exodus
5:22-23). Moses still does not believe Yahweh is actually going to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses complains that Yahweh is not doing what Yahweh promised--and Moses thought in advance that Yahweh would behave in just this way.

3. Yahweh tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh that Yahweh instructs Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the wilderness for three days, but Moses replies: "Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" (Exodus 6:30).

Like all of us human beings, for a long time Moses did not believe that Yahweh would deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses was very stubborn. He was far from being convinced that Yahweh would do what Yahweh promised. We are so slow to change and do what God commands and influences us to do. We should be exceedingly thankful that our God is VERY PATIENT and FORGIVING. Otherwise, we would never carry out his purposes. Praise God for his marvelous grace.

John Willis