Moses’ Youth (Exodus 2:1-25)
Read Exodus 2:11-15
According to Acts 7:23, Moses was not a man of about 40.
– What did Moses do after he saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew man?
– When Moses later tries to break up a fight, what does one of the men say to Moses?
– As Moses’ story later unfolds, what irony are we to find in the man’s words?
– What does Moses do?
Read Exodus 2:15-22
The Midianites were a people with whom Moses sought refuge in the Sinai Peninsula. They were descended from Abraham through Keturah, Abraham’s wife after Sarah died.
– What takes place in these verses?
– What do we learn of Moses’ character?
Read Exodus 2:23-25
These verses help shape our understanding with what will happen next. We are to see God as the primary doer, for in these verses, God is the doer of the verbs.
- God heard their groaning.
- He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- He saw the people of Israel.
- And He knew. (Here, the verb has no object. The object of the verb in Exodus 3:7 could well apply here: God knows their sufferings.)
God Calls Moses (Exodus 3:1-4:31)
Read Exodus 3:1-6
– What does Moses see?
– Who is the one coming to Moses in the flames of the burning bush?
Excursus: Angel of the Lord—Christ in the Old Testament
In Exodus 33:20, the LORD (Yahweh) tells Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.” Scripture makes this point several times. And, yet, those who see God, somehow, still remain alive are surprised by it. After such an experience, Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar, said, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” (Genesis 16:13)
Yet, if someone cannot see the LORD, God, Yahweh and live, and yet people are seeing Yahweh and not dying, then who are they seeing? The Old Testament helps us to understand this phenomenon by often using several distinct titles for the God that people see: the Angel of the LORD (Yahweh), the Name of Yahweh, the Glory of Yahweh, or the Word of Yahweh.
In the New Testament, Jesus lets us know that He was active and working in the Old Testament. He said, speaking to His fellow Jews:
You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. It is these same scriptures that testify about me…. Don’t think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?
Later, the post-resurrected Jesus was speaking to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. This is what Luke tells us of this conversation: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures [the Old Testament] concerning himself.”
In Exodus 23, the LORD (Yahweh) told Moses:
I will send an angel ahead of you to protect you as you journey and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defy him, for my name is in him, and he will not pardon such rebellion. But if you listen to his voice and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.
Note that the angel has the name of Yahweh. One cannot separate the name Yahweh from the reality of Yahweh; thus, he is also Yahweh. We know this to be true because this angel has the power to absolve and retain sin as well as the ability to speak as Yahweh.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul speaks of Christ being present with Israel as they traveled through the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. Paul refers to Christ as the “spiritual Rock”: “They [the Old Testament people of Israel] all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that went with then, and that rock was Christ.”
And so when we read in the Old Testament about “the angel of the LORD,” we should first think of the pre-incarnate Christ, not an angelic being.
Knowing this, we see the pre-incarnate Christ appear to:
- Hagar as a man (Genesis 16:7),
- Abraham, as one of three visitors (18:1-2) or as a voice from heaven (22:11),
- Joshua, as the commander of God’s army (Joshua 5: 13-15), and
- Balaam, as an angel with a drawn sword (Numbers 22:31).
In Exodus 3, Moses uses “angel of the LORD,” “God,” and “Lord” interchangeably. This lets us know that “angel of the LORD” refers to God revealing himself in a special way, not simply an angelic being.
1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” The word “angel” means messenger. In Exodus 3, we find the pre-incarnate Christ mediating between God the Father and Moses, bringing to him God the Father’s message.
– Because God was there in the person of the Pre-incarnate Christ, Moses is instructed to take off his shoes. Why? What was it that made the ground holy?
Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD), when writing about Moses and the burning bush, said this: “Every place where Christ might be is holy.”
Read Exodus 3:7-10
– What does God want to do?
Read Exodus 3:7-12
– How does Moses respond to what God asks of him?
Read Exodus 3:12-15
“I Am”
At its core, “I Am” is a statement of existence. The Septuagint translates “I Am” as “I Am the Existing One.” God is an infinite Being, the One who has always existed outside time, without beginning or end, who is not dependent of anything else that may later exist through His creative Word. We see this revealed, in part, in the burning bush. There, the fire of divine presence burned undiminished without need of created realities to generate or maintain itself.
In verse 15, God, in the person of the pre-Incarnate Christ, referred to Himself as “Yahweh.” Yahweh is equivalent to the divine name revealed in verse 14, but expressed in the third person (“He is” or “He Is the Existing One”) instead of the first person (“I am”).
Moses as a Microcosm of Israel
In Moses, we see a microcosm of Israel. Like the Nation of Israel:
- Moses entered into conflict with the Egyptians.
- He became the subject of a murderous ruling of Pharaoh.
- He has to “flee” from Egypt to the wilderness, where he meets God at Sinai.
- And, like Israel, Moses testifies to having become a sojourner in a foreign land.
And so we find God preparing Moses through his life experiences to lead the people of Israel.
Read Exodus 3:16-22
– What does God want Moses specifically to do in these verses?
– What then is the primary goal of the exodus? (Vs. 18)
Read Exodus 4:1-9
– How does Moses’ respond to what God asks of him?
– What does God say and do?
Read Exodus 4:10-17
– What does Moses continue to do?
– What happens with God in verse 14?
– What are the implications of this?
Moses’ Objections and God’s Responses
3:11: Moses expresses that he is unworthy for such a task
- 3:12: God assures Moses that He will be with him
3:13: Moses asserts that he doesn’t have enough information about God
- 3:14-22: God provides His name to Moses: I AM
4:1: Moses says the people will not listen to him or believe him
- 4:2-9: God will provide signs so they will believe
4:10: Moses says that he is not good with words (He seems to be doing well so far!)
- 4:12: God will be with Moses’ mouth
4:13: Moses asks God to send someone else along
- 4:14-16: God will be with Moses’ mouth and Aaron’s mouth
Next Week: Moses returns to Egypt
