Excuses Anger God Series

GOD HAS A PLAN, PART 1--EXCUSES ANGER GOD

In this chapter we have God’s first appearance to him in the bush and the conference between God and Moses in that vision. Here is,

I. God was pleased to show his glory to Moses at the bush, and to which Moses was forbidden to approach too near Exo 3:1 And Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Sometimes God has to get our attention by using a burning bush. It is not unusual for bushes to combust on Mount Horeb since they produce an oil with a low flash point.

II. A general declaration of God’s grace and good-will to his people, who were beloved for their fathers’ sakes (Exo_3:6).

III. A particular notification of God’s purpose concerning the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt.

1. He assures Moses it should now be done (Exo_3:7-9).

2. He gives him a commission to act in it as his ambassador both to Pharaoh (Exo_3:10) and to Israel (Exo_3:16).

3. He answers the objection Moses made of his own unworthiness (Exo_3:11, Exo_3:12).

4. He gives him full instructions what to say both to Pharaoh and to Israel (Exo_3:13-18).

5. He tells him beforehand what the issue would be (Exo_3:19, etc.).

Exodus Chapter 4:This chapter,

I. Continues and concludes God’s discussion with Moses at the bush concerning bringing Israel out of Egypt.

1. Moses objects to the people’s unbelief (Exo_4:1) And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me nor listen to my voice. For they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to you. , and God answers that objection by giving him a power to work miracles,

(1.) To turn his rod into a serpent, and then into a rod again (Exo_4:2- 5)And Jehovah said to him, What is this in your hand? And he said, A staff. 3 And He said, Throw it on the ground. And he threw it on the ground. And it became a serpent. And Moses ran from it. This was probably a cobra which was one of the gods of the pharoah. 4 And Jehovah said to Moses, Put forth your hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand, -- 5 so that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.

(2.) To make his hand leprous, and then whole again (Exo_4:6-8)And Jehovah said to him again, Now put your hand in your bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was as leprous as snow. To be a leper was to be chedel--the living dead. He would have to give up all he had including family and become chadel--one of the rejected ones.7 And He said, Put your hand into your bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again. And he brought it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again like his other flesh. 8 And it will be, if they will not believe you, neither listen to the voice of the first sign, then they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

(3.) To turn the water into blood (Exo_4:9)And also it will be, if they will not believe these two signs, neither listen to your voice, then you shall take from the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which you take out of the river shall become blood on the dry land. Blood was considered to be one of the most impure of all unclean things. Blood was considered to contain life and therefore could not be touched. Since the water became blood, they would shortly die of thirst.

2. Moses objects his own slowness of speech (Exo_4:10), and begs to be excused (Exo_4:13); but God answers this objection,