God’s Unswerving Call

God’s Unswerving Call Exodus 4:1-12 Review • Moses in Midian. • 3:1-10 – Personal Commission. • 3:11-22 – Moses Objects (series of 5 in total): 1. Who am I? 2. If they ask for your name, what shall I tell them? [How does your name apply to our situation?] • Today, we’re going to cover Moses’s 3rd and 4th objections. What About the People? (4:1-10) 1. Triple Negative (4:1): • The structure of the original places an emphasis on “Not” • The word “believe” in preceded with “in,” meaning, they will have no faith in me. 2. God’s Signs (4:2-9) • All three signs are transformational – God changes one thing into another • All three signs make use of regular, everyday items • All three signs are highly symbolic What About the People? (4:1-10) 3. Symbolism • • • • Staff: became a symbol of Moses’s power and commission (Exodus 8:5 – plagues; 14:16 – Red Sea Crossing, 17:6 – Striking the Rock) Serpent: frequent symbol in the Egyptian Pantheon; Pharaoh’s headdress was a coiled serpent Leprous: general term for a skin disease; sudden leprosy symbolic of divine judgment (Numbers 12:10) Nile: The Nile (Hapi) was itself a male/female god/goddess; the blood, not converted back to water, symbolic of the Hebrew youths massacred in its depths (see Genesis 4:10) What About My Speech? (4:10-12) 1. Moses’s Objection (4:9) • Commentators debate on the nature of the objection (false humility, speech impediment, poor language abilities, rusty Egyptian, slow of wit, etc.) • In my opinion, God’s reassurances offer a clue 2. God’s Response (4:10-11) • First Answer: Rhetorical question, “I know … I made it.” • Second Answer: “I myself will be with your mouth.” • Third Answer: “I will teach you what you shall say” Words of “Weakness” (2 Corinthians 10:10) 1. Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards … but God chose what is weak to shame the strong … so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Corinthians 1:26-29) 2. Our sufficiency is from God (2 Corinthians 3:5) 3. We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7) 4. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9)