Exodus 3: 1 – 22
Mindfulness
3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” 4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ 18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 but every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
I am sure that you have at one time or another seen a good movie, Broadway show, or TV drama. If we really enjoyed the production when we gather with family or friends we want to encourage others to go see or watch the teleplay or theatre. To share our enjoyment we often share an overview of the whole presentation. The problem we may or not experience from our sharing something that might bless someone else is the person’s mindfulness. Is he or she or in some cases they are really not listening to you on some sound information they will not reap the benefit that you wanted to share.
Mindfulness is the idea of focusing attention on the present and not being distracted by the chaotic environment around us.
Before we share any insight we need to take a quick poll in our thoughts about the individual or group we are talking to. The question to consider about these people is that are they ‘Mindful’ or ‘Mindless’? This concept may sound somewhat mean, but it really isn’t. Our question runs counter to our current culture that is characterized by information overload, time pressure and superficiality. Just think of how social media, email, instant messaging, handheld devices, internet and cable TV have become the norm with people who have been nurtured on television, video games and computers. All of these activities encourage short attention spans, rapidly changing focus and instant gratification.
The opposite, thinking deeply about the subject or task at hand, is a concept that demands greater respect. After all, we are what we think, what we concentrate on and how we direct our minds. Mindfulness argues that focus is in and multitasking is out.
When we are “mindless” and not lending our full concentration to anything, our behavior wanders and we become much less effective in our daily lives. Actively noticing new things, behaviors, and actions in our surroundings and those around us makes us more engaged. Furthermore, being focused is actually less stressful than not being focused. By paying closer attention, your memory will improve, you will be more creative and you may potentially avoid dangerous mishaps. All of these benefits may help you take advantage of opportunities that you might not otherwise observe when you’re distracted by the “noise” around you.
An important point about mindfulness and mindlessness deals with what we bring to a situation. For instance, stress is not so much a function of the events or people involved but rather how we react to events or people. Being mindful, concentrating on the subject at hand, and staying centered and positive is the best way to control one’s own attitude and, ultimately, one’s own future success
In this digital age, we have access to an endless amount of data, which can easily become overwhelming. By being focused on areas where there are opportunities, rather than giving into distraction, we can all be happier and more satisfied with our lives—both personal and professional.
Being focused, mindful and positive allows us to utilize our innate resources more effectively and lead happier, healthier lives. By contrast, mindlessness and constant distraction just make us frantic and frustrated by our lack of progress and satisfaction.
We are going to learn about this condition with Moses’ interaction with Almighty God. Of course he is stressed out when our Holy Creator shows up in a bush that is on fire yet doesn’t burn away. All his senses are on overload. But we are going to see here in this chapter that our Holy King is going to give Moses an entire overview of what will happen as He uses Moses as a ‘Deliverer’ of His people Israel. So, I want you to make a note of this point which you will see will cause various emotional failure on Moses’ part because he wasn’t fully listening and understanding what would occur in the near future.
Now I want you to consider this fact. It was Moses himself who wrote the first five books of our bibles. In hindsight when he sat down to pen this scripture under inspiration of our Precious Holy Spirit he listed perfectly what our Great Holy Adoni Yeshua said. Yet as we will learn in the upcoming chapters he was not mindful of what our Lord’s overview. So, as a result of not fully listing to memory what our Holy Master informed, Moses panicked and just reacted to the situations and thereby suffered undo and unnecessary consequences.
3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Moses was now well settled into the family tribe of Reuel and here are seen fulfilling responsibilities for the care of the flocks.
He seems to have wandered some distance from the normal pasturage, possibly because of shortage of good pasture. This need to travel some distance may explain why he had been put in charge of them at this time. He had to drive the sheep from the Midianite encampment as far as Horeb, so that after first passing through a wilderness he reached the pasture land there. In this, the most elevated ground of the peninsula, fertile valleys could be found in which fruit-trees grew, and water abounded even in the bad times. It is still the resort of the Bedouin when the lower areas dry up. And he had been involved in this and similar wilderness activity for forty years.
Moses states that he came ‘to the mountain of God.’ This is probably the writer’s description in the light of what he knew was to come, both in this chapter and later. In the analysis above the parallel is that it is holy ground. It may suggest that it was already looked on as a sacred mountain, but this is not evidenced elsewhere. That God would choose it for a revelation of Himself is sufficient to justify the description. The mountain of God was Mount Sinai (Exodus 24.13) which is in the wilderness of Sinai.
2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
So now, in this time of crisis, Father God Yahweh Is revealing Himself in a direct way to Moses. Here we have the first use of Yahweh in Exodus. This is because as their covenant God He Is now stepping into their situation to act in accordance with His covenant.
The description of His manifestation ‘Appeared in a flame of fire’ has created many attempts to explain this naturally. Bushes do sometimes burst into flame in hot countries, and Moses may well at first have thought that that was what was happening here. But the point that is made, and presumably impressed Moses, was that it went on burning without consuming the bush and did not die out. It was not the natural phenomenon that he was used to.
God appearing in fire is common in both Old and New Testaments. To the ancients such a manifestation was a combination of the inexplicable and beneficial, dangerous and yet vital. It had no form and yet could be seen even in the darkness. It benefited man and yet could consume him. It was glorious and awe-inspiring and then in a moment it could be gone. In its use by our Holy Creator it brought home something of the significance of the divine.
It may well have been God’s intention that Moses was to see in the sparse desert bush a picture of afflicted Israel. The idea would then be that God was among His people in an undying flame, just as the lamp stand in the Tabernacle would later represent the same. It may be of some significance in regard to this that the lamp stand later represented a tree, with the burning flames at the tips. By then the thorn bush had potentially become a fruit tree (25.31-40).
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 6 we read, “44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. Yet, with our Holy God all things are possible. He can change the bramble bush into a fruit bearing plant. Can’t He?
3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
Moses had seen many bushes burn briefly but not one that went on and on burning. So he decided that he must take a closer look. Out in the middle of nowhere it is kind of boring. So, when something out of the ordinary occurs you got to go and investigate.
4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Please take note that it was ‘Yahweh’ Who saw that he turned aside to see, but ‘God’ Who called to him from the bush. It was important to link this visit of the Angel of Yahweh (verse 2) with the God Who was so concerned about Israel. This use of ‘God’ very much emphasizes His oneness. The introduction of the name Yahweh signaled the commencement of new covenant activity. We can compare how in Genesis, when Ishmael was to be restored to the covenant community it was ‘the Angel of Yahweh’ Who met him (Genesis 16), but when he was leaving the covenant community forever he was helped by ‘the Angel of God’ (Genesis 21.17). This is a reversal of that situation. Now it was Moses, who had been so long away from the covenant community and covenant matters, and had lived among strangers under the hand of ‘God’, who was being reintroduced into the covenant community. Thus the reintroduction of the name of ‘Yahweh’ Who was thus making His name known once again.
God called Moses twice by name. Thus did Moses know that this was personal. Therefore it was something for him and for him alone. The repetition of the name always stresses urgency.
It is difficult for us to appreciate the significance of this moment. Moses had often wandered in the wilderness. He had possibly often approached this mountain. He had fairly regularly seen bushes burning spontaneously, although never one that continued to do so like this without apparently being affected by it. But a voice was something different, especially a voice that revealed its divine source in what it commanded. We can only imagine the stunned shock, the incredulity of what was happening and the fear.
Moses was warned- ‘Do not draw near.’ The Majestic Magnificent God Was there and it would have been dangerous to come too close, for God was revealed as a consuming fire.
The ground that Moses now approached was set apart at that time as uniquely untouchable and holy except by God’s grace, because God was there. His presence made all He came in contact with holy and exclusive. No man could be allowed to approach such things lightly. So, he was instructed to ‘Take off your sandals.’ The point here was that the dirt on men’s sandals must not defile the place where God Is. It is a symbol of the otherness of God.
In his youth he had possibly known what it was to come into the presence of Pharaoh, the necessary preparation, the washing, the grooming, and then the solemn approach into the inner throne room. That preparation had been awesome. But he recognized that this was something even more traumatic. For this was unearthly, terrifying, in a way that Pharaoh had never been. Here was an unearthly presence. And he would divest himself of his sandals, and sink to his knees and wonder what was to happen to him.
6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Up to this point Moses was very uncertain as to Who it was Who was speaking to him from the bush. But the voice now revealed Himself as the God of his father’s. And Moses hid his face in awe and fear. The sense of terror increased. He dared not look at God face to face for he knew that no man could see this God and live. Special men may have partial experiences of God in His partial revelation but not in His revealed glory. And he was afraid.
Moses was clearly expected to know about the patriarchs and their special covenant relationship with God. His mother would have educated him in the history of his people, and especially in their sacred stories. Once he considered it this would explain to him Who this God was and why He was about to act. But at this point he was simply stunned.
7 And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
He learned that ‘Yahweh’ their God had taken knowledge of His people. He ‘knows’ their sorrow, that is He has entered into their sorrows, and shares them with them. He has seen the affliction, He has heard the cries, He has entered their experience of misery, and now He has ‘come down’ as their covenant God for the express purpose of delivering them. That is why He Is here. Not just to call Moses but to actively deliver His people.
The Holy One from the heavens has come down to take an active interest in covenant activity on earth. The idea is that He has come down to spend some time there so as to bring about their deliverance because of that covenant. The time for inaction is past. The covenant is again coming to the fore.
Please note our Holy Lord’s description of Canaan. The Israelites had been moved out of Canaan due to the famine. This is all they have heard about from the elders as they revealed the tribes history. Now Moses hears a complete majorly different description of the land that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt - ‘To a good land, and a large land, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
We learn a really important fact about our Holy God. He hates oppression - ‘The cry of the children of Israel has reached me.’ They will now receive an effective response, because Yahweh was very much aware of the oppression they faced.
10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
By now Moses’ fear had been lessening as He had learned that this visitation was to inform him of a covenant deliverance of his people, but these words that he was to be the one who was to bring it about must have come as a jolt to Moses. He had been listening and content that Yahweh had come down to do the delivering. But he had not thought that he was to be involved in it. Now he discovered that he was to be the human used by God to accomplish this deliverance and would have to face up to Pharaoh himself.
Moses did not like the thought of the task at all. Once it might have been vaguely possible when he had been a prince in Egypt and had seemed invulnerable. But now he was simply the son-in-law of a Midianite priest, a desert tribesman, just one who would be despised by all of the Egyptians. And no one was more aware of the high opinion that the Pharaohs had of themselves than Moses.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
The brash young man no longer exists. Now Moses understood his inadequacy for the task in hand. I love Clint Eastwood’s comment as ‘Dirty Harry’ said, ‘A man got to know his limitations.’
After all what was he? A desert nobody in comparison with Pharaoh. And had God forgotten that he was a fugitive? He knew only too well the power of Pharaoh, and his arrogance, and how a Midianite priest’s son dressed for the desert would appear to him. He spoke of what he knew. And would the children of Israel think any better of him? Their deliver is a man from the desert? It was hardly likely.
He was yet to recognize that while God could not use a proud son of Pharaoh at the height of his powers who could not control himself, he could use someone who was obedient to him, and had been prepared by Him in His own way, even though in his appearance and standing he was not promising material.
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
So God thrust aside his excuses. He would Himself go with him. ‘Certainly I will be with you,’ He declared. That was why He had ‘come down’. There was One Who would go with Moses, Yahweh their covenant God, Who was more powerful than Pharaoh and all his armies. He was to see that as a guaranteed certainty. He need not therefore be afraid. And this mountain itself was a guarantee, for it was at this very place that there would be blessing.
The ‘sign’ was the pledge of God of what was to be. It was a pledge and promise, a sign to be fulfilled after the event. It called for faith. But, if he would, Moses could look around him even now and visualize the millions of the children of Israel with him while he worshipped God here. Then would he know that he was being sent by God. So what he had to do was to take a step of faith and accept God’s word, believing that the promise of God was as good as a certainty, and see it as though it were already happening. He had to trust God ‘in the dark’. The mountain was even now there as evidence before him. It was a tangible place to which he would bring the children of Israel. God had made a promise, God could not break His word, therefore the event was sure. And here they would all worship Him. So the sign consisted of God’s pledge of what was to happen, and the mountain on which it was to happen. It was an indication that He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11.6). This was Moses’ first major test.
To ‘serve God’ was a phrase which meant among other things to lead men in worship and sacrifice. And the need to serve Him would be the basis for the request to leave Egypt. Whenever he later began to doubt whether Pharaoh would ever release the people he could remember this promise. ‘You SHALL serve God on this mountain.’
But the next question that occurred to Moses was, would the children of Israel be willing to follow a stranger from Midian? He should of course have gone forward unquestioningly, but God was graciously willing to lead His servant step by step, as He always Is.
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
The question seems naive. Surely the statement ‘the God of your fathers’ will be quite clear. Will they not immediately think of Whoever their fathers had worshipped, the God Whom their fathers had served. So we can be sure of one thing and that is that when Moses says “they will ask ‘What is his name?’ ” he is not thinking that they will mean that as a question spoken by them as indicating that they do not know His name. Rather the question is designed to bring His name to the fore. Does this stranger from Midian even know His name, but even more, does he know Who He Is? Does he know Whose people they are? So Moses is saying, ‘make Yourself known to me in greater depth so that I will know what to say to them’.
For to the ancient mind the name indicated the person and personality, it indicated the attributes and abilities; it spoke of what someone was. Thus their real question included the thought, ‘Do you know what power and attributes the God of our fathers has that we should believe that He will be able to act through you on our behalf? How can we know that He will, and that He can do what He promises through you? He has not acted for us in the past. He has allowed us to be oppressed and caused to suffer. What new revelation has He given that we should believe Him through you?’ And Moses will then have an answer for them.
This is confirmed by the way the question is put. Had it meant, ‘what is his name?’ literally the question would begin with ‘mi’. But it does in fact begin with ‘mah’ asking about the meaning of the name. So God took the name that they knew so well, but had probably half forgotten the meaning of, (consider how easily men today can speak of ‘the Almighty’ without even thinking what it means) so that some had even turned to the gods of Egypt (Joshua 24.14), and He expounded to Moses its significance, so that he could take it to them, and so that they would recognize Him again for what He was. It was the Yahweh Who had brought Joseph to Egypt (Genesis 39.2-3) Who would lead them out again. So they were to fix their thoughts again on the true God.
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
To suggest that the children of Israel would have accepted a new name in the place of the old name is frankly incredible. It was rather the old name expanded and fully revealed through this stranger that would speak to their hearts and give them the confidence He was seeking to impart to them. That was why God put His name Yahweh into the first person ‘Ehyeh’. It was to Yahweh the God of their fathers He wanted them to look, but as a Yahweh Who had become personal and present. He wanted them to know the full significance of His name. (In Hebrew Yahweh is ‘He is’ in the third person, Ehyeh is ‘I am’ in the first person. Both come from the same verbal stem, although the ‘w’ in Yahweh is an ancient form). He was saying, ‘tell them to recall My name. Then they will recognize what I can do! I can do all things’
For us that name comes with even greater significance. He is the God of the present (I am), the God of the past, the Creator (I cause to be), and the God of the future (I will be), the One Who Is, the One Who Was and the One Who Is to come (Revelation 1.4), the Almighty (Revelation 1.8), the One Who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. The all present and all powerful God – our God.
15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’
So the name of the One on Whom they must set all their trust was to be declared to them. Here the name Yahweh is specifically linked to the ‘I am.’ It is represented as the covenant name. He Is the One Who guarantees and brings about the covenant promises.
The link with the past is emphasized - ‘The God of your fathers’ Here Is the One Who acted for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the One Who made His covenants with them, the One they now worshipped as a nation, even though He might be being sidelined, and to Whom in their despair they had cried out to, the One Who had previously brought Joseph to Egypt for the saving of His people and Who could equally well take them out again.
Moses therefore must reveal himself as one sent by Yahweh to bring about Yahweh’s will as He acts through him. He was to come to them as a messenger from God.
In the light of this Yahweh declares Himself to be the unchanging One. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let them therefore remember what He has done in the past in speaking to their fathers, and recognize that He can speak again today, and bring all that was then promised into fulfillment. Yahweh’s activity might have seemed to be in abeyance, but He has remained the same. He is the same Yahweh Who had spoken to their forefathers giving them promises of what would be. They had not then known His delivering power, for they had waited in hope of it in the future. They had the promise in His name, but they had not seen that promise fulfilled. While experiencing Yahweh, they had not experienced all that that name meant. They had not ‘known His name’. His ‘name’ as representing all that He was and could do, was not yet fully known to them, for His doing was yet in the future. Indeed the revelation of all that that name meant would take forever, and affect all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
So Moses must approach ‘the elders of Israel’ with a message from Yahweh, and bring them together to hear it.
Yahweh, the one to Whom they had cried as their God, now informs them that He has not in fact forgotten them. Indeed He wants them to know that He has already visited them and entered into the experience of what had been done to them. And during that visitation He has declared to Himself that He will bring them out from their affliction to a land flowing with milk and honey, the land of their forefathers, just as He long ago promised to their forefathers. For the time has now come for the fulfilling of those promises.
18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
Moses was assured that the elders would listen to him. They were then to go together to Pharaoh with a request. The first request was to be a reasonable one. That because of a visit from their God Yahweh they be allowed to make a short journey to the place where He had appeared (the wilderness, not necessarily the exact site) in order to offer sacrifices to Him.
The statement of going on a ‘Three days journey’ means a relatively short journey of a few days, well within range of Egypt and in land under Egypt’s ‘protection’.
As the God of a stateless and landless people this should be seen by the Egyptians as a suitable venue for such worship, a venue off the soil of Egypt where, in the view of the Egyptians, the gods of Egypt held sway. And there they could offer sacrifices without offending the Egyptians. Furthermore it was where the theophany with Moses had taken place and therefore a suitable place for response in worship. As their God was clearly a God of the wilderness, and had appeared there, that was clearly where He should be worshipped.
This was not an unreasonable request. Religion was recognized to be central to the lives of all people. Even slaves were thus seen as entitled to worship their gods in accordance with that god’s requirements, and would expect to be given time off for the purpose. It was recognized that their gods had to be respected. Who knew otherwise what might happen? In view of the outstanding nature of the theophany many a king would happily have agreed to this request. But the people were many and this Pharaoh felt superior to their God, and he did not want to lose them. The request, while therefore not totally unreasonable, was yet unlikely to be agreed to.
19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.
But our Holy Lord Yahweh was aware that Pharaoh would refuse. He knew Pharaoh’s heart only too well. Pharaoh would thus himself be made to recognize that he was setting himself up against Yahweh, but would foolishly feel that he could do so with impunity. If the consequences were detrimental therefore he would have only himself to blame.
Even though the One Who seeks their worship Is strong and mighty [Omnipotent] it would make no difference. Pharaoh will see himself as mightier. He will consider that his hand is mightier than the hand of Yahweh.
20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.
But though Pharaoh may have begun the battle it will be Yahweh Who will be victorious and finish it. It will be a matter of the god Pharaoh, and all the gods of Egypt, against Yahweh but He will totally defeat them by His wonders. And defeated and humbled, Pharaoh, representative of all those gods, will therefore eventually submit and let them go. At this stage Moses could not even begin to conceive of those wonders, nor of how long it would be before Pharaoh was persuaded. But he had to accept by faith that God would do as He had said, and persevere. We should note, however, in saying this that the gods of Egypt are rarely mentioned in the narrative and are kept continually in the background. God will not give them recognition even for a moment, until His final judgment when their total inability to prevent Yahweh’s activity will be revealed in the smiting of all the firstborn in Egypt, including the firstborn in the house of Pharaoh, with his false claim to godhood.
But in saying this let not Moses think that His people will leave Egypt as an impoverished riffraff. Rather they will leave with pride and loaded with spoils taken from their very captors.
21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
For their Egyptian neighbors will be so pleased and relieved to see them go to worship their God that they will give them anything that they ask for. They will pile jewels and clothing on them so as to satisfy their God. And thus will His people receive the spoils of what will be Yahweh’s great victory. It is after all the victor who receives the spoils. Note that they were to ‘ask’, possibly as a contribution to the worship of Yahweh. They had no power to demand. It would be up to the Egyptians what they gave. But the situation will be such that they will give gladly and bountifully. So will God be honored in the eyes of the Egyptians?
