In this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, Pastor Rod explores Exodus chapters 4, 5, and 6, highlighting Moses' reluctance to lead Israel and God's responses to his excuses. Pastor Rod discusses how God equips Moses with support, delves into the episode of Zipporah saving Moses through circumcision, and reflects on the significance of obedience, patience, and divine empowerment. The hardships faced by Israelites under Pharaoh's rule are examined, and the genealogy of Moses and Aaron is introduced. The episode encourages listeners to trust in God’s power and use their gifts for His glory.

00:00 Introduction and Announcements

00:17 Overview of Exodus Chapters 4-6

00:54 Moses' Reluctance and God's Response

05:06 Pharaoh's Defiance and Increased Burdens

07:24 God's Assurance and Moses' Genealogy

10:38 Conclusion and Prayer

12:02 Closing Remarks and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

hello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and

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welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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Yes, it is just I today

and tomorrow as well.

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Pastor PJ is out for just a

brief spell, but he will be

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back, hopefully in short order.

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Nothing's the matter.

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He's doing okay.

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He's just taking care of some

personal business, and we

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trust that he'll be back soon.

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But until then, it's just you and I.

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Today, January 31st, we're going

to tackle chapters four, five,

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and six of the book of Exodus.

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So we're just in this.

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And this is a really exciting

turn for the people of Israel.

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You might recall that we're fast

forwarding several years in the

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narrative here in the book of Genesis.

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We saw the beginning of the primeval

history and the patriarchal history.

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We ended with Joseph being buried.

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And here in the book of Exodus,

we're now finding that the Pharaoh

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doesn't know who these people are.

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And what he sees them as is

a threat and not a blessing.

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In chapter three, what we just left

off on, Moses is called by God at the

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burning bush, and he's commissioned

by God to be the deliverer of Israel.

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In chapter four where we pick

up today, we find out that Moses

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is reluctant to say the least.

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In fact, Moses gives at least

three excuses that I can identify

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in the first half of chapter four.

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One of the excuses he gives is

is that they won't believe him.

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The second excuse he gives

is that he can't speak well.

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And the third excuse, if you can call

it, this is, I just don't want to go.

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Please don't send me.

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So each of these, God slowly

responds to the first one.

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They won't believe him.

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He gives him some credibility.

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He gives him authority

to operate on his behalf.

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The second one saying, I can't speak well.

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God says but there's a problem with that

Moses, because I designed your tongue.

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You're going to be just fine.

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Trust me.

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Finally, he says, but please,

I don't want to do this.

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And then in verse 14, it says,

then the anger of the Lord

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was kindled against Moses.

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Now, what you might expect is for

God to strike him dead immediately.

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But instead, what God does is say,

fine, let me send you and Aaron,

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your brother, so that you can do this

with a little bit more confidence.

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This is amazing because what God

should have done is destroy Moses

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at the very moment of his rebellion.

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It was seemingly impossible.

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Preposterous for anyone to respond

back to God and say, I can't do it.

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That's the point, Moses, because you

can't do it in your own power, but

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with his power, you'll be just fine.

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Finally, God gets Moses to bow the knee

and say, okay, now that you've given

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me these supports and these comforts in

particular, his brother Aaron, who can

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speak well, now he's willing to get up and

go still not without his problems though.

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In verses 18 through 20, Moses gets

the approval from his father in

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law to make his way back to Egypt.

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In verses 21 through 23, this is the

first time that God speaks about Pharaoh

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and says, I am going to harden his heart.

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Verse 21 says it like this, but I will

harden his heart, that is Pharaoh, so

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that he will not let the people go.

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In other words, God is calling

his shots before they happen.

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And then he says, you're going

to say to Pharaoh, thus says the

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Lord, Israel is my firstborn son.

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And I say to you, let my

son go that he may serve me.

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And if you refuse to let him go,

behold, I will kill your firstborn son.

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So it's a firstborn for a firstborn.

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And in this case, God is

already telling Moses, I'm

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going to harden Pharaoh's heart.

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So even though we know Pharaoh is

making a decision on his own, he's

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not having God force him to do this.

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God already knows and is predicting,

if you can call it that, that

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Pharaoh will harden his heart.

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Along the journey, there's a

slight hiccup starting at verse 24.

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What we think is happening here is that

Moses failed to uphold the covenant

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obligations to circumcise his son.

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And so on the way over God made it

aware to Zipporah in some way that

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he was going to slaughter them.

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He's going to kill them.

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But Zipporah being the wise woman that

she is, cuts off her son's foreskin

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and touches Moses feet with it.

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And then she says, surely you

are a bridegroom of blood to me.

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And so God let him alone.

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Now, it's interesting here because

feet could be actual feet, or it

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could be a euphemism for genitalia.

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So Is it one or the other?

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Hard to know for sure, but no matter

what it is, what we do know is

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that Zipporah jumped in, and the

blood of this circumcision is what

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eventually atoned for Moses sin in

not doing it in the first place.

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She saves his life.

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This is not the first time a woman has

stepped in to save Moses life, and God

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does along the way in the wilderness, God

meets Moses with Aaron, Aaron's briefed

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on the plan, and then they finally meet

the elders of Israel, and the elders of

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Israel, I love this in verse 31, they

believe, and when they heard that the

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Lord had visited the people of Israel and

that he had seen their affliction, they

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bowed their heads and they worshipped.

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What an appropriate response when

you realize God is stepping in to

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do something great in your life.

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This is an appropriate response

for us today when God does,

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even the mundane things.

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Amen.

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That we think is pretty ordinary.

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Again, providing a meal for us

would be one of those things.

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We should give thanks.

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Bowing our heads in worship

when God delivers, when God

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showcases that He is listening.

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That's a good response.

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Chapter 4 is an interesting one

because you find so many interesting

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insights about Moses character

and even how God deals with him.

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I think one of the big takeaways for

you, and for me, is that we never ought

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to downplay God's utility of any person.

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I know most of us feel like who's

worthy to do what God wants us to do?

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And even Paul says, who is

sufficient for these things?

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The ministry itself requires so

much of us, but life requires a

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whole lot of us, and we can often

feel outgunned and outmanned.

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Anyone on the side of God is a majority.

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It doesn't matter who the opposition is.

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If you have God on your side, if you

are on His side more specifically,

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then you have nothing to fear.

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If God calls you to do something,

don't be afraid of that.

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And instead of being fearful, let that

drive you toward obedience and confidence.

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And He's got it all under control.

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Exodus chapter five, things get

worse before they get better.

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In fact, after Moses and Aaron

approached the Pharaoh, they

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find out that the Pharaoh is not

no respecter of the God Yahweh.

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And so he says, who is this Lord?

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Who is this King?

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It sounds a little reminiscent of King

Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter three.

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He says, who is the Lord that I should

obey his voice and let Israel go?

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I do not know the Lord.

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I do not know Yahweh.

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And moreover, I will not let Israel go.

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And they now have a problem.

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Instead of Pharaoh saying, yes,

let's do this, he makes the

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burden of the people heavier.

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He says, instead of us giving

you the bricks, now we're going

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to make you do the manual labor

of collecting all the resources

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that you need to make the bricks.

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Verse 10.

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So the taskmasters in the foreman

of the people went out and said

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to the people, thus says Pharaoh,

I will not give you straw.

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Go and get your straw yourselves,

wherever you can find it, but your work

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will not be reduced even in the least.

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So you're still responsible

for the same level of output.

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Although the input is

going to be far less.

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Obviously the people groan

under the weight of this burden.

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They beg for relief, but they get none.

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They get no sympathy.

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The response is, you guys are lazy, you're

idle, you need to be whipped into shape.

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You can imagine how these people

felt after this took place.

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They turn to Moses and Aaron and say

I hope you're happy with yourselves.

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Look what you did.

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They basically laid on them and

sang, The Lord look on you and judge

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because you have made a stink in the

sight of Pharaoh and his servants.

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And they put a sword on us to kill us.

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Thank you very much guys,

you've helped out quite a bit.

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In verse 22, moses turned to the

Lord and said, Oh, Lord, why have

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you done evil to this people?

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Why did you ever send me?

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For I came to Pharaoh to speak your name

and he has done evil to this people.

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And you have not delivered

your people at all.

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What this reminds us is that obedience

doesn't always result in quick blessing.

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Moses responds with prayer,

which is a good prayer.

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Probably could be better in

terms of not complaining, but

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the right response is there.

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He inclines himself to the Lord and

says, Lord, this is what you're doing.

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Help me.

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Help me figure this out.

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Now you're going to be

in a similar situation.

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I guarantee you, you're going to

find yourself doing what the Lord

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wants and finding yourself on the

other side saying that didn't seem

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to work out the way that I had hoped.

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God didn't bless me immediately.

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And that's okay because God

doesn't operate on our timescale.

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We have to be patient and let the

Lord work things out as he sees fit.

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The posture of the Christian is

one of humility and patience.

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Trusting him, even as we take small steps

of obedience, or in Moses case, large

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steps with unpredictable consequences.

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Chapter six doesn't have a break.

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Now, there's a title break for us,

and there's a chapter break, but it

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looks if you were just to take out

the chapter and title break here,

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you would see an unbroken scenario.

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The Lord said to Moses, Now you

shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.

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For with a strong hand he will send

them out, and with a strong hand

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he will drive them out of his land.

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A strong hand is the Lord's.

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It's the Lord provoking Pharaoh

to do exactly what he wants.

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And he says something

interesting here in verse 3.

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He says, I appeared, this is God

speaking, I appeared to Abraham,

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to Isaac, and to Jacob as God

Almighty, that is, El Shaddai.

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But by my name, the Lord, Yahweh, I

did not make myself known to them.

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That's not technically right in

the sense that God is not trying

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to say something precisely true,

as in I never said the name Yahweh.

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What he's saying is that I revealed

myself as El Shaddai, God Almighty,

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to the ancestors, your patriarchs,

but I'm going to display a new

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facet of my character by my name.

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That correspondence to my name, that is

my covenant, keeping faithfulness to you.

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You're going to see a

larger expression of this.

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Now, remember the book of

Exodus is all about the Exodus.

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God delivering his people out of Egypt.

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And this is the paradigm of salvation

that orients the entire old Testament

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narrative, everything about the old

Testament looks backward to this event of

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God's salvation, God's deliverance of the

people of Israel through Egypt, and then

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looks forward to the ultimate deliverance

that will come through Jesus Christ.

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And God says this is going

to be a cornerstone event.

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This is going to be the kind of

event that cannot be ignored.

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It's going to define and shape my

relationship with you going forward.

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And so he talks about his covenant.

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He says, I'm going to redeem

you with an outstretched arm

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and with great acts of judgment.

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And then verse nine, Moses spoke

thus to the people of Israel.

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But get this, they did not

listen to Moses because of their

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broken spirit and harsh slavery.

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And there is such a thing as being

too low to even hear the truth.

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Being so discouraged, so depressed

that you can't respond to what's there.

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What do you do with something like this?

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Yet again, Moses going to the Lord

and the Lord tells him, I want you

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to go to Pharaoh and get to work.

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Moses is reluctant yet again.

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How can I do this?

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I am of uncircumcised lips.

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I don't have the right words to speak.

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I'm not eloquent.

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There's better people, Lord.

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Please send them.

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Oh, the humility and patience of

the Lord, the condescension, because

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again, he doesn't destroy Moses.

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Verse 13, But the Lord spoke to Moses

and Aaron, and gave them to him.

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A charge about the people of Israel and

about Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the

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people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

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Okay, so Moses makes excuses, God

rejects them, he enlists the help

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of Aaron yet again, and a mercy to

Moses and gets them on their way.

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Now what we have next is an odd placement,

you have the genealogy of Moses and Aaron.

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Here's why I think this genealogy

is here and not at the beginning

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of the book or some other place.

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I think it goes down to verse 26.

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These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the

Lord said, bring out the people of Israel.

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And this is meant to highlight just

exactly who we're talking about here.

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God's going to use him in such

a profound way that Moses, who I

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believe is the one writing the book

of Exodus, now inserts their pedigree,

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their lineage, to say these are the

Moses and Aaron, the one and the same

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Moses, who come from this lineage.

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This is who God used to

deliver the people of Israel.

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A couple things you might notice

here, verse 20, his parents

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names are Amram and Jacobet.

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That's something you'll

want to keep in mind.

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Amram and Jacobed, that's the

name of his mother and father,

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and they're from the line of Levi.

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They're Levites, which, of course, God's

going to use in a very special way, and

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we're going to get to that very soon

when we get to the book of Leviticus.

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Okay, that's chapters 4, Tomorrow,

we're going to jump into the

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plagues, and we're going to cover

the first, I believe, seven plagues?

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In these few chapters

that we covered today.

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There's just three.

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I would love to remind

you, God can use you.

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God wants to use you and you may feel

inadequate, ill suited for the task.

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But if God calls you, God will equip you.

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Trust him to do that.

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Just like he used Moses.

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Now, ultimately, Moses is not the hero.

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It's because Moses is weak that

God is demonstrated to be strong.

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This is something very similar

to what Paul says in second

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Corinthians chapter 12.

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It is because he's weak.

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Paul's weakness highlights,

demonstrates Christ's weakness.

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Worthiness, Christ's strength and

ability to use even the weakest among

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us to accomplish His glory's purposes.

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And hey, that's you and me.

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Okay, let's pray.

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God, I thank you so much for using weak

people like ourselves to exalt you.

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That's what we want.

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We don't want to be self sufficient,

self sustaining creatures.

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We want to be the kind of people who.

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Out of drawing from your resources

do great and remarkable things

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for your sake, for your glory.

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And for your honor, please

help us to do that today.

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And as we go about our day, Lord,

help us not to look down on the

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gifts that you've given to us.

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Paul talks about the way that

we should think about ourselves.

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He says, let each person think

of himself with sober judgment.

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That is that we don't think too

highly of ourselves, but that we don't

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even think too lowly of ourselves.

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Let us not neglect the gifts that

you've given us because we're

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afraid or because we're unsure.

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Help us to trust you and to use

the gifts that you've given us

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for your glory and your purposes.

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We ask this all in Jesus name, amen.

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All right, folks, thank you

so much for joining me today

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for the daily Bible podcast.

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I'll be back with you tomorrow for

chapters seven, eight, and nine.

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Until then, keep at it and I look

forward to seeing you tomorrow.

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Speaker: Hey, thanks for

joining us for another episode

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of the daily Bible podcast.

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If you need more information about

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Texas, you can go to compassntx.

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org.

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Again, that's compassntx.

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org.

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And we'll be back with you

tomorrow for another episode

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of the daily Bible podcast.