Exodus 1-6 Calling And Commissioning Of Moses Series

And so on the way to Egypt Moses was rescued by his wife obeying the covenant by circumcising their son. And then Moses reaches Egypt and talks to the leaders of Israel. At first the Israelites accepted Moses and his message. In fact we read at the end of chapter 4 that they were delighted to hear that God had seen their oppression and was going to deliver them! And so Moses went to see Pharaoh – who wasn’t so receptive. In fact, Pharaoh was so non-receptive, that he retaliated by making the Israelites work harder. And the Israelites’ reaction?

Exodus 521 and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

These same Israelites who had so eagerly welcomed the news that God was going to deliver them, as soon as things got a bit tough – they didn’t stay the course and turned on Moses. And we see this pattern through the Exodus and the rest of Israelite history. The Israelites were all enthusiastic when things were easy and looked good, but as soon as the slightest difficulty came, they grumbled and whinged and we will see this throughout Exodus. But isn’t that so true of us today? We like the easy stuff from God, but we tend to whinge and complain when things get tough. And now – imagine you are Moses. How do you feel – you’ve come to deliver this people from slavery – and they reject you! Well, you may well know how Moses feels. How often when we tell someone about Jesus, do they accept what we have to tell them? When we tell them that they are sinners and they need rescuing, and we try to tell them how to be rescued from their sin. We cop a bit of flack don’t we? Even with other Christians brothers and sisters sometimes – we speak the truth in love, and it’s not always accepted. It’s not easy telling people the truths of the Bible. And so Moses again doubts himself again. God’s response is that God will now send Moses straight to Pharaoh, and God gives Moses all these wonderful promises about delivering Israel and making Israel His people and bringing them to a plentiful and prosperous land. But Moses says.

Exodus 612 But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”

And then follows Moses’ genealogy, which we might think is a bit boring. And the point of it is – Moses’ genealogy is a bit boring. He is not descended from the eldest of Jacob’s 12 sons, or even the favourite son, Joseph. No, he is descended from Levi – one of Jacob’s sons who was cursed for being violent. There are other things in Moses’ genealogy – and it is not the genealogy of a prince or king. It’s a pretty ho-hum genealogy with a few skeletons in the cupboard. Which is just the point. Moses has no strength, no right, nothing in himself to be the deliver of Israel, except one thing: