God is the Father of Israel Exodus 4 Coronovirus Break from Rev June 2020

Application: Understand who God the Father is by what he says, and what he does. Then respond accordingly. * How does God use different personalities to serve his purposes? * How do you feel when leaders don't do the basic tasks for the job? * How can family relationships help serve God better? How can family relationships get in the way? * How are the AZ brushfires doing? Is it hard to control the forces of nature? * Do you have an example where a wife/mother saved or helped a father/husband after he made a mistake? Exodus Chapter 4 MIRACULOUS SIGNS FOR MOSES 4 Moses answered, "What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" 2 The Lord asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 3 "Throw it on the ground," he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 The Lord told Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail." So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 "This will take place," he continued, "so that they will 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." 6 In addition the Lord said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow. 7 "Put your hand back inside your cloak," he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin. 8 "If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. 9 And if they don't believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground." 10 But Moses replied to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent-either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant-because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish." 11 The Lord said to him, "Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will help you speakliteraly, I will be in your mouth and I will teach you what to say." 13 Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." 14 Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, and he said, "Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. 15 You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. 17 And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with." * Moses is scared someone won't believe him in v. 1. Who? * What kinds of things does a snake represent? o Why did Moses run from the snake? * Why does God say, "so that they will 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."? o Jesus references the earlier statement in Ex. 3:6 to prove that God is the God of the living. Matt. 22:23 o How would you feel to be reassured that the God of your ancestors was alive and on your side? * The second sign was disease. Do you know people scared of disease? Why are we scared of disease? God has the power over all disease, and he will save Israel. * The third sign is the water turning to blood. It is not performed before Moses here like the other two. Like the burning bush, God will control (or ruin) the forces of nature. * How does God respond when Moses says he cannot speak well? * How does God respond when Moses asks to send someone else? * How does God reveal himself in this passage? How does Moses respond overall? * Moses' stubbornness is emphasized to show that Moses is not the deliverer, God is. "Don't forget your staff, Moses." * God repeatedly uses mundane things (shepherd's staff, tree/bush, hand, water) rather than magical or spectacular things. The power doesn't rest in magic or flying carpets. The power is in God. * As Christians we are called by God in two ways: salvation and vocation. God saves us despite our rebellion. God calls us to serve him in different ways (Moses was different than Aaron, who was different than unnamed farmer) but unlike salvation, we struggle with and sometimes against God. God could have saved Israel through Aaron, or anybody. Like Moses, we must give up our stubbornness. MOSES'S RETURN TO EGYPT 18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, "Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." 19 Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, "Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God's staff in his hand. 21 The Lord instructed Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he won't let the people go. 22 And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!" 24 On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. 25 So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, threw it at Moses's feet, and said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me!" 26 So he let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," referring to the circumcision. REUNION OF MOSES AND AARON 27 Now the Lord had said to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30 Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. 31 The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped. 1 * Why do you think that Moses lied to his father-in-law? * In v.24, they are about to enter Egypt. This is the last moment before he begins his new job as leader of Israel. BUT HE HASN'T EVEN DONE THE MOST BASIC COVENANT ACT! How can he represent the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when he hasn't done the sign of God's covenant with Abraham? God doesn't think that he can. Here, a Gentile woman saves Moses, and by extension, all of Israel. * These verses hint at the two great conflicts in the book of Exodus: the fight against Pharaoh and the fight against unbelief (disobedience) of Israel. 1 Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ex 4:1-31). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------