Exodus 4:10-23
We are happy to be here with you today, welcome and thank you for joining us. We are Heralds of Hope, and our goal is to use media, like radio, internet, and books, to make disciples of Jesus Christ to accomplish the great commission in our lifetime. Think about that, do you think it is possible to accomplish the great commission? Can we go everywhere and teach all nations? Do you think we have the resources necessary to accomplish this? Yes, absolutely, planes make it possible to travel anywhere in 1 day, our communication is instant, and it’s possible to have a conversation with anyone in the world, no matter where they are. Do we have the funds to accomplish this? If God’s people will align our hearts with His heart, funding will not be a problem. The hard part is keeping our hearts in line. As followers of Jesus, we must focus on going and teaching. Here at Heralds of Hope, we believe it is possible, and we plan to do our part as God leads us.
This belief leads us to teach the Bible via radio, like this. If you can, turn with us now to Exodus. We will continue our journey through this Old Testament book with our Bible Teacher, J. Mark Horst, and here he is to teach us today’s lesson.
Many religions of the world think the gods are always angry and must be appeased. They are seen as being present, waiting to make life miserable. In the history of religion, I have read about these gods and how they are worshipped.
The Bible tells us that while the true God, Jehovah, does get angry, He is merciful. He extends His hand of mercy to us. He wants us to have the best in life, not the worst. If we insist on going our own way, we will stir up the anger of God.
The grave condition which stirs up God’s anger is continual disobedience. That will do it. The disobedient are subject to God’s anger. So, I ask you, IS GOD ANGRY WITH YOU?
Exodus 4:10-23 informs us that God became angry with Moses because he did not want to do what the LORD asked him to do. Listen to the conversation from Exodus 4:10-23.
10. And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
11. And the LORD said unto him, who hath made man’s mouth? or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
12. Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13. And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
14. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he sees thee, he will be glad in his heart.
15. And thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
16. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
17. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
18. And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
19. And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
20. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21. And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
22. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
23. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Even though God was angry with Moses, yet He proved His goodness by providing Moses with three definite HELPS to do the will of God.
The First was,
I. God Gave Moses His Mouth.
Notice Moses’ complaint. When the LORD spoke to him about going, he kept on arguing with the LORD. He complained like this: “Well, LORD, I’m not eloquent. I can’t speak well. I am slow of speech. I just don’t have good speaking ability, LORD.” Really? Think of how Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s court, trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
It is strange, isn’t it, that he would come with this word to the LORD that he is not an eloquent speaker when he had all that training in Pharaoh’s palace? Was this a false humility that Moses was expressing? But he complained to the LORD and said, “No, I can’t do it. I can’t do it, LORD. I am not eloquent; I am slow of speech.”
Notice God’s reply. The LORD said, “I made your mouth. I can control your mouth. I will teach you.” The LORD really answered him by questions: “Who made man’s mouth, or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?” “You are fashioned by me, Moses,” God was telling him, “I have made you just like you are.”
But Moses would not listen, even though God said, “I will control your mouth, I will be your mouth, I will teach you what you shall say.” What more could he ask? This was a tremendous help to Moses.
But Moses refused. “He said, O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” Send someone else. Don’t send me.
Now, look how God responded: “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses,” Moses needed to learn that God has the right to lay His hand on anyone whom He chooses. Moses had not learned that yet. Even though God gave Moses his mouth and promised to go with him and promised to teach him, Moses had to learn that God will lay His hand on whomever He chooses to use in His work.
The next help was,
II. God Gave Moses His Brother
God rebuked Moses for not responding to the promise that He would go with him and teach him and guide his mouth. God said, “Aaron, your brother, is coming. I know your brother, Aaron. I know that he can speak. So, I am going to provide him for you, and he will be for you what you are supposed to be for me. I will put words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you should say.”
God’s order was: Moses will speak to Aaron, and Aaron will speak to the people. Aaron was to be Moses’ spokesman. God had it all arranged that Moses would not need to speak if, indeed, he was slow of speech, not eloquent.
God had Aaron, Moses’ brother, to do His work when Moses refused. I want to ask you a very personal question: Have you refused to do what God wants you to do? Moses provoked God to anger because he wouldn’t do what God asked him to do even though God had said, “I gave you your mouth.” So, the second help God gave to Moses was his brother.
The final help was,
III. God Gave Moses His Rod
Something very interesting is found here. The LORD said to him, “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.” The rod of God was what Moses needed, and God provided this for him. It was the same rod God had used to confirm his call. Now it was to be his help and symbol of authority from God.
Upon the assurance of the rod of God, Moses went to Jethro, his father-in-law, with the request to return to Egypt and see how his brothers were faring. His father-in-law granted him the request and said, “Go in peace.” At last, Moses was moving as God wished him to move. At last, Moses was doing what God wanted him to do.
An added assurance came to Moses after God had given him his rod. God reassured him with these words, “All the men are dead who sought your life.”
Then Moses picked up the rod of God and started for Egypt. He was going to do wonders with that rod in Egypt and before Pharaoh. It was God’s command. But God said, “I will harden his heart because I am going to bring out My firstborn, and he is not going to let you bring them out. Before I get finished with him, I will need to slay his firstborn because he is not going to let My firstborn come out”.
God gave Moses his rod to do the wonders which would deliver His people. You see the beautiful way in which God provided for Moses even though Moses made God angry? God gave him his mouth. God gave him his brother. God gave him his rod.
Uncontrolled anger is awful. God’s anger is to be feared, for He can do what He must do. But I am pleased to tell you that God has provided helps so you need not suffer God’s anger. God made Himself available to Moses. He, in fact, went with Moses as his personal companion. Do you know God in such a personal way? Have you had any communication with God at all? He is a personal God, and He wants a relationship with you. You don’t need to make God angry if you’ll just listen and do what He’s asking you to do.
Thanks, J Mark, for teaching us more from Exodus, and thank you for being there. If you would like this teaching or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us; I’ll give you our contact information shortly.
I love how Exodus teaches us that God is in control and He’s at work, He always has been, and He always will be. We can trust Him right now, no matter what we are experiencing. We won’t always understand Him, but we can trust Him. His timing might be different than ours; think about Moses. And He may not do what we think He should be doing; remember what happened to Joseph. However, we have the benefit of looking back at many years of history, and we can see God is Sovereign: His purposes will be accomplished. This is His story, and He is the author.
If you are interested, we have a study guide for Exodus available. It is a small booklet designed to help you learn more from each of these lessons. We call it the Hope Herald, and if you would like one, all you have to do is ask.
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Thanks again for joining us for today’s program. I encourage you to join us again next week as we continue our study in Exodus. We look forward to being with you then and will leave you with a verse from I Corinthians 10, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do it all for the glory of God!” Blessings to you as you glorify Him.
This episode is an exposition of Exodus 4:10-23 by J. Otis Yoder, re-recorded by J. Mark Horst, with an opening and closing by Arlin Horst.