Exodus · chapter 4 of 40
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Exodus 4 tells how Moses makes excuses about God's call and the Lord gives him three signs: the staff that becomes a snake, the leprous hand and the water that turns to blood. When Moses says he does not speak well, God appoints his brother Aaron as spokesman. Moses returns to Egypt, Aaron meets him and the people believe.
In Exodus 3 God called Moses from the bush and revealed his name. Exodus 4 records the doubts of the one sent: will the people believe him, and can he speak? The chapter shows God's patience with human weakness, but also his seriousness, because he does not accept refusal of his call. It is the last stage of preparation before the confrontation with Pharaoh.
Moses objected that the people would not believe him. God asked what was in his hand, and it was a staff. When he threw it down, it became a snake, and when he took it by the tail it became a staff again. Then God told him to put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out it was leprous, white as snow; when he did it again, it was healed. If they did not believe those signs, he was to take water from the Nile and pour it on dry ground, and it would become blood.
Moses then said he was not eloquent, but slow of speech and tongue. God replied that he had made human mouths and would be with Moses' mouth. When Moses asked God to send someone else, the Lord's anger burned against him. God said his brother Aaron the Levite was already coming to meet him, would speak for him to the people, and that Moses would be like God to Aaron.
Moses went back to Jethro and asked permission to return to Egypt, and Jethro sent him off in peace. The Lord assured him that all who sought his life were dead. Moses took his wife and sons and set out. God told him to do before Pharaoh all the wonders he had put in his hand, but that he would harden Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the people go. Moses was to say that Israel was the Lord's firstborn son and that Pharaoh must let him go to serve him, or the Lord would kill Pharaoh's firstborn son.
On the way, at a lodging place, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. Zipporah took a flint knife, circumcised her son and touched Moses' feet with the foreskin, and the Lord let him alone. Aaron went to meet Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told him all that God had said and the signs. They came, gathered the elders of Israel, Aaron spoke and Moses performed the signs. The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited them and seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
God asks Moses what is in his hand, and the answer is a shepherd's staff. God uses what is already in Moses' hand, an ordinary object, to show his power.
God asks who made the human mouth, making clear that he is Lord over human abilities and limits. To Moses, who says he is not eloquent, he recalls that his calling does not depend on his skill.
God calls Israel his firstborn son and commands Pharaoh to let him go to serve him. It is the first time Israel receives that title, and it explains why Pharaoh cannot hold a son of God.
The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited them and seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped. Israel's response to the news of deliverance is worship.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A staff, which became a snake when he threw it down. — Exodus 4:2-3
Answer: When he took it out of his cloak it was leprous, white as snow, and when he repeated it, it was healed. — Exodus 4:6-7
Answer: That he was not a man of words, but slow of speech and tongue. — Exodus 4:10
Answer: His brother Aaron the Levite. — Exodus 4:14-16
Answer: His son, his firstborn. — Exodus 4:22
Answer: They believed, and when they heard the Lord had visited them, they bowed down and worshiped. — Exodus 4:30-31
Exodus 4 is a chapter for those who feel unqualified. Moses piles excuse upon excuse, and God answers with patience, signs and a companion. Yet it also shows that the Lord does not take lightly the refusal of his call.
In Sunday school you can ask what excuses we tend to make when God asks something of us, and what resources or people he has already put beside us. The people, for their part, believe and worship when they learn that God has seen them, reminding us that the natural response to grace is worship.
Exodus 4 ends with a people who believe and worship, and with Moses and Aaron ready to stand before Pharaoh. In Exodus 5 the confrontation begins: the first request for freedom only brings more work and discouragement.
The text presents the hardening as God's work and also as Pharaoh's own decision, since later Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Many readers see God's justice and sovereignty working together here: Pharaoh refuses by his own will, and God uses that stubbornness to display his power.
The passage is brief and does not explain everything. Zipporah circumcises her son and the Lord leaves Moses alone. The most common interpretation is that Moses had not circumcised his son according to the covenant of Abraham, and that Israel's leader had to obey that sign before returning to Egypt. The exact details remain debated.
Because after the signs and promises, Moses asked God to send someone else. That request showed a lack of trust in what God had already said. Even so, God did not withdraw the call but gave him Aaron as a helper.