Let's start this morning by rereading Exodus 6:1-13. This will help us get sucked back into the story, and I'll teach you a cool little thing about how biblical narratives work.
(1) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh,
because with a strong hand he will send them out,
and with a strong hand he will drive them out from his land.
(2) And God spoke to Moses,
and He said to him,
"I [am] Yahweh,
and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai ("God of Power"),
while my name Yahweh I didn't make known to them,
(4) and, what's more, I established my covenant with them to give to them the land of Canaan-- a land they lived in as foreign aliens,
where they stayed as foreigners in it,
(5) and, what's more, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel who are in Egypt, being made to serve the Egyptians,
and I remembered my covenant.
(6) Therefore, say to the sons of Israel,
"I [am] Yahweh,
and I shall bring you from under the forced labor of Egypt,
and I shall deliver you from your service,
and I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great acts of judgment,
and I shall take you for myself as a people,
and I shall be to you [a] God/Elohim,
and you shall know that I [am] Yahweh your God, The One Bringing You From Under the Forced Labor of Egypt,
(8) and I shall bring you to the land that I swore to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
and I shall give it to you [as a] possession.
I [am] Yahweh,"
(9) and Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel,
and they didn't listen to Moses because of a short spirit and their hard service,
(10) and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
"Go speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and he will send out the sons of Israel from his land,"
(11) and Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying,
"LOOK! The sons of Israel haven't listened to me,
and how will Pharaoh listen,
while I [am] uncircumcised of lips?,
(13) and Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron,
and He commanded them to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt.
At this point in your Bibles, Exodus switches to giving a genealogy, which I don't really want to talk about. But Exodus knows that after this genealogy, you've maybe lost some of the feel of the story. So what it does, in Exodus 6:28-30, is remind you of where we are in the story. It repeats itself, in the same way a TV show might repeat a little bit of last week's episode to help you catch up. But before we read these verses, look at who doesn't listen to Moses. Verse 11. The Israelites didn't listen. And Pharaoh didn't listen.
So, verses 28-30:
(28) And then, when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
(29) Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
"I [am] Yahweh.
Speak to Pharaoh King of Egypt all that I am speaking to you,"
(30) and Moses said before Yahweh,
"LOOK! I [am] uncircumcised of lips,
and how will Pharaoh listen to me?"
Nothing new, right? Just a little help to us, as readers. But what maybe surprises us, is that Moses is still bothered by his inability to speak. God has told Moses that He will be with him, and that He will give him the words to say. And, on top of that, God gave him Aaron to be his prophet. So how can Moses still be worried?
Well, if we are reading carefully, we shouldn't be surprised. God gave him all of those promises, and then sent him to Pharaoh. And what was the result?
Pharaoh didn't listen. And the Israelites didn't listen.
Now, Exodus tells us why the Israelites didn't listen. It had nothing to do with Moses. They didn't listen for two reasons: because they had a short spirit, and because of their hard service.
And Pharaoh didn't listen, I think, because Pharaoh hasn't seen God's power yet. Yahweh gave Pharaoh the chance to do the right thing, by simply asking nicely. And Pharaoh refused.
None of this is Moses' fault, right? None of this can be pinned on Moses' speech problems.
But if you're Moses, what do you tell yourself? How does it look?
God promised you He'd make your speech problem, not a problem. And then it was. No one listened to you.
So I can see why Moses is still anxious about this. What will God do? Let's read Exodus 7:1-2:
(7:1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Look! I have made you [a?] god/God to Pharaoh,
while Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
(2) You shall speak all that I command you,
while Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh,
and he will release the sons of Israel from his land,
What does God do for Moses? When we read verse 1 in the Hebrew, it's one of the most remarkable verses in the entire Bible. So remarkable, in fact, that English Bibles can't make themselves translate it correctly. [Goldingay at one point says something like, "You can often tell the Bible is making an important point when translators find themselves changing it."] They soften it, in one of two ways.
The first way they soften it, is seen in the ESV:
7 And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
But in the Hebrew, "like" isn't there. It's not like Genesis 3:5, where the serpent promises Eve that if they at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that they will be "like" God. There's no "like" here. It simply reads, "I have made you elohim to Pharaoh." So we should really throw out every modern translation of the Bible-- NASB, NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV. All of them cheat. You should "X" out "like."
This leaves us two other options to understand this. Both are grammatically possible [I've abbreviated this, but a longer explanation is below the sermon body].
Option #1 is taken by the KJV and Young's Literal translation. KJV:
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
So when the KJV Bible got to this verse, it correctly understood that elohim can refer either to God or to other divine beings. And whoever translated it decided that Yahweh was making Moses "a" divine being, in some sense. Moses becomes a little "g" god (so also John Durham; Brueggemann; Keil and Delitzsch).
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Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm, pg. 30:
"Elohim" in the OT doesn't just refer to God. It can refer to any divine being:
"The biblical writers refer to a half-dozen different entities with the word elohim. By any religious accounting, the attributes of those entities are not equal.
• Yahweh, the God of Israel (thousands of times—e.g., Gen 2:4–5; Deut 4:35)
• The members of Yahweh’s council (Psa 82:1, 6)
• Gods and goddesses of other nations (Judg 11:24; 1 Kgs 11:33)
• Demons (Hebrew: shedim—Deut 32:17)
• The deceased Samuel (1 Sam 28:13)
• Angels or the Angel of Yahweh (Gen 35:7)."
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Option #2 is taken by most of my commentaries [although some are more brave in how they talk about it than others, and several just pass over this verse completely]. They focus on the whole sentence, and say that Yahweh makes Moses "God-to-Pharaoh" [This is the approach taken by every conservative scholar on my shelf, for what it's worth].
In what sense is Moses "God-to-Pharaoh"?
Well, Exodus tells us, if we read it in the context of Exodus 7:1-7.
There's nothing in the text that says that God metaphysically changed Moses. There's nothing here about giving Moses a new spirit, or making him spirit. There's nothing here that suggests Moses exchanged a human body for a divine form.
Yahweh makes Moses God in a functional sense (H/T Philip Ryken). From this point on, when Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh, it's God speaking through them. When Moses does signs and wonders, it's God doing the signs and wonders through them. When Pharaoh looks at Moses, who will see? When he listens to Moses, who will he hear? God.
If you find yourself uncomfortable with this, or unsure, it might help to think about this from a NT perspective. We use similar language, but we talk about Jesus, instead of God. When people see you, and hear you, who should they see and hear? What do you say? "Jesus."
Or, we say, that you should "be Jesus' hands and feet." Or, we say that you may be the only Jesus that people will ever meet.
All of those are maybe ways of basically saying the same thing. God makes us Jesus to people. God makes Moses God to Pharaoh.
So, going back to Exodus 7:1. On your translation handout, you should cross out the "a" in 7:1. And if you're using a KJV Bible, you should cross it out there as well. Yahweh doesn't make Moses "a" god. Yahweh makes Moses "God-to-Pharaoh."
At this point, let's start from the top, Exodus 7:1. And as we read it, try to answer one question: "What is God's end goal here?" [Now, I'm sort of cheating here a little, translating one weqatal as a "so that"-- as a consecutive modal future. BHRG 21.3.1.1.3. But in doing that, I'm following van der Merwe, who is one of the great Hebrew minds of our generation. And that's a very normal function of weqatals in Hebrew].
(7:1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Look! I have made you God to Pharaoh,
while Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
(2) You shall speak all that I command you,
while Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh,
and he will release the sons of Israel from his land,
(3) while I will stiffen/harden the resolve/mind/heart of Pharaoh,
and I will multiply my sins and wonders in the land of Egypt,
(4) and he will not listen to you-- Pharaoh--,
and I will set/give my hand on/against Egypt,
and I will bring out my army -- my people-- the children of Israel--
from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment/authority,
(5) so the Egyptians know/acknowledge that I [am] Yahweh--
when I stretch out my hand over Egypt,
and I bring out the sons of Israel from their midst,"
(6) and Moses did/acted, with Aaron.
Just as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did/acted.
(7) And Moses [was] 80 years old,
and Aaron [was] 83 years old.
When God talks about his ultimate goal here, He talks in terms of the Egyptians. The focus isn't on freeing Israel from slavery, or bringing them into the land. God has a specific goal in mind for the Egyptians. He wants them to "know," or "acknowledge," that "I am Yahweh."
God's end goal for the Egyptians is not simply punishment. It's not the destruction of its army. They aren't simply the speed bump that God has to run over, as He leads the Israelites to their new home.
What God is seeking for the Egyptians, is "acknowledgement." A recognition of who Yahweh is. Yahweh isn't just "the God of the Hebrews." He's not a regional, marginal deity. He's not tied to one particular land. Yahweh is the God who has authority over Pharaoh, who is the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who no one can stand against.
What God wants from the nations/Gentiles, throughout the OT, and even today, isn't very complicated. Let's turn to Romans 1:18-21 (NRSV):
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.
What we are going to see, in the coming chapters, is that some Egyptians come to honor Yahweh as God. They will acknowledge his power, and they will revere/fear Him. They will do, what God wants them to do. They will become the type of people that God is looking for.
Now, let's turn to Exodus 6:7 (NRSV touched up):
7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know/acknowledge (same word) that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.
By the time Yahweh has freed his people from Egypt, everyone involved should be acknowledging who Yahweh is, and they should be living in light of that.
Let's pause here, and talk about this verb "to know." In my translation, you'll see I kind of cheat. "To know" in Hebrew often includes the idea of "to acknowledge." A really good example of this is found in Deuteronomy 33:8-9 (following DBL). Here, Moses is praising the Israelites for their commitment to God, and He prays for them (NRSV):
8 And of Levi he said:
Give to Levi[f] your Thummim,
and your Urim to your loyal one,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother,
“I regard them not”;
he ignored his kin,
and did not acknowledge his children.
For they observed your word,
and kept your covenant.
"He didn't acknowledge his children." The Levites knew who their children were. The Levite moms could point to their children, and say, "I gave birth to them." From what I hear, that's not something you forget.
But their commitment to God was greater than their commitment to their children. God comes first. Family comes second (Luke 14:26). And so, maybe with a slight bit of exaggeration, Moses says that they didn't "acknowledge" their children [Or, maybe, their acknowledgement of Yahweh came first].
So let's back up, and think about God's goal for Israel and Egypt again. The Egyptians, right now, have lots of gods. And they think that Pharaoh himself is a god. He-- and he alone in Egyptian thought-- is made in the divine image; he images God in the world.
At the risk of giving a spoiler, by the end of this story, that will change. Many Egyptians will acknowledge Yahweh. They will admit that they cannot replicate his deeds. They will find themselves unable to stand before Moses. They will find themselves heeding Aaron's words, out of fear/reverence for Yahweh.
So long as Moses is with them, at least, they will go through life "acknowledging" who Yahweh is. And God's goal is that the same thing would happen for his people as well.
Everyone should go through life, understanding who God really is. Yahweh is God Most High. Yahweh is King of kings, God of gods, Maker of Heaven and Earth. You go through life in constant awareness of all of this. You submit to him. You act in a way that pleases him. You honor him; you give him thanks.
And if you're a world leader, or a CEO, you act in a way that blesses God's people. You understand that "your" people aren't "yours." We are God's people. You let God's people live in a way that pleases God, [giving them religious accommodations and exemptions to do so].
What Yahweh wants for everyone isn't very complicated. Acknowledge God. [And acknowledge that you are not God].
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So what do we learn from this?
Maybe, the first step in truly coming to God involves an acknowledgement of who God really is. You can go through life acting like you're the man. Like you are in control of your own destiny. You can assume that your little world sort of revolves around you.
But what happens for a lot of people, is that God breaks them of all this somehow. Maybe life has fallen apart for them, and they find themselves stripped of everything that mattered to them, and everything that protected them.
They are needy, in every way. They are "poor in spirit." And they find themselves acknowledging God, calling out to him in their need. People find themselves turning to God when their spouse divorces them, when they lose their job, when a loved one dies, or when tragedy strikes.
But there is another way that people come to acknowledge God.
How will the Egyptians come to acknowledge Yahweh as God?
Through Moses. God will work in, and through, Moses. Yahweh makes Moses God to them. When Moses speaks, he speaks God's words. When Moses acts, God acts through him. And when the Egyptians see Moses, who do they see?
They see Moses, for sure. But they also see God.
The Egyptians will come to acknowledge Yahweh as God through Moses.
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At this point, to me, Exodus seems very real, and very practical.
You go through life surrounded by people who don't acknowledge God, as God. They don't revere him. They serve other gods instead. They live for themselves.
How can this be fixed?
God's plan, and God's goal, is that this would be fixed through you. He has made you his ambassadors, offering a message of good news to the world (2 Cor. 5:20). God offers grace and peace to the world, through Jesus' death and resurrection.
And He offers this grace and peace to the world-- through you.
As a rule, non-Christians in the world don't get a burning bush experience. God doesn't seem to directly, openly, call people all the way to Jesus very often. His preference is to use you. God calls you, and sends you, to them.
And when God sends you, He sends you out, in many ways, like Moses. He has given you a specific message (Matt. 10:7). If you find yourself in front of a hostile audience, He's told you that don't have to worry about what you will say. God will give you the words (Matt. 10:19). He has given you authority over unclean spirits (1) to cast them out and (2) to cure every disease and sickness (Matt. 10:1). He has promised you that you will do greater works than Jesus himself did (John 14:12).
He has placed his Spirit inside of you, empowering you (Acts 1:8), and partnering with you (2 Cor. 13:14) for this ministry.
When people see you, they should see God the Father, and his son Jesus Christ. They should find their lies, and defenses, stripped away, until they are naked before God, confronted with the choice of what they will do next (John 3:20-21).
That's our mission, as the church. The only question, is whether or not we obey God in this. Will be obedient, like Moses, and go to Egypt? Or will we be like Jonah, and run the other direction?
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Extra thoughts on Yahweh making Moses "God," or "a god"
Exodus 7:1 (KJV):
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Grammatically speaking, the KJV translation here is a perfectly acceptable choice. It's a legitimate translation.
What's interesting (wrong word) about this, is that I'm guessing it's really important to two very different religious movements.
Mormons think that people become little "g" gods.
And at least some people in the Word of Faith movement also talk about how we become little "g" gods in some sense through Jesus.
And after working in Exodus 7, independently of knowing any of that, and before reading any commentators, I understand why people have wrestled hard with it.
This is especially the case, once we bring in two passages from the NT. Both of these passages are extremely important to charismatics. And both of them are passages I've wrestled with, and been slightly unhappy about how they've been used-- without me ever taking the time to figure out why. [I usually assume in that situation that the Spirit is guiding me away from it, and/or protecting me].
The first passage is 2 Peter 1:2-4 (NRSV-- I think this is very difficult Greek):
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by[d] his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.
If we really know God the Father and Jesus our Lord, and understand the promises He gives, we may become partners/sharers of the divine nature. We will become like God. This isn't automatic. This isn't true, necessarily, for every Christian. It's not something you get at the moment of faith, or baptism. But we can become sharers in the divine nature, becoming like God, in some sense.
The other passage I found myself thinking about was 1 John 4:16-17:
16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
John here says that if we abide in love-- toward God, and toward each other-- then we abide in God, and God abides in us. And if we do this, we become like God. "As He is, so are we in this world." [A key verse for many charismatics, fwiw, including one little small group in particular.]
So when I first wrestled with Exodus 7:1, and thought about these other two NT passages, I thought, maybe the KJV is right. But it didn't sit well. I mentioned part of it to my family, and they freaked out. Heidi's like, "You need to explain that better, because it came out sounding really bad."
So Thursday morning I sat down, and just thought about these verses, and what they actually teach. When John and Peter talk about becoming like God, or sharing in his nature, they are both talking about moral and spiritual purity. Peter talks specifically about escaping the lust of the world, and about what you need for a life of godliness. John talks specifically about having boldness of the day of judgment, because there's nothing in us that we will be condemned for. We are living rightly toward God, and each other, and have nothing to fear.
Neither passage has anything to do with healings, and signs, and wonders. Neither passage has anything to do with our power in Christ. Both passages are about becoming more like God in holiness, and purity. It's about reaching a point where go through life clean, and pure. Not that you never sin. But you walk rightly through life. And when you sin, you quickly confess, and quickly repent, and move on, once again clean.
What about the Exodus passage?
When Yahweh says that He will make Moses, either, "God," or "a god," the context makes it really obvious what He means.
(1) What Moses says, will be God's words. God will tell him what to say.
(2) What Moses does, will be God's actions. God will tell him what to do.
(3) And Aaron will be Moses' prophet. The idea isn't that Moses and Yahweh are two independent gods/elohim. And that Moses has a prophet, like Yahweh has prophets.
There's nothing in the passage about a metaphysical change. Moses functions as God('s representative). When Pharaoh deals with Moses, he is actually dealing with God. In some ways, it's like Moses is God's diplomat/ambassador. Moses is "God-to-Pharaoh."
Assuming I'm right, why does this matter?
The main difference between the two translations has to do with your ongoing relationship with God. We, along with Moses, are not independent of God. We can't do anything apart from God. When we speak, we speak God's words. When we act-- even if it's big, powerful healings and signs and wonders-- we act as God works through us, partnering with us. If we (partially or fully) lose our connection to God/Jesus, or stop abiding, we will find that we have nothing. We have nothing, independently of God/Jesus. John 15:7-8 (NIV no reason):
7 If you remain (=abide) in me and my words remain (=abide) in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So at the end of the day, I don't think we can say, "God has made us little gods in Jesus." I think this misunderstands the nature of our relationship. And it misunderstands what God has done for us, in Christ.
I don't know that I would call people who teach that "heretics," on that basis alone. I don't think the KJV translators are going to hell, for thinking that's what God did for Moses.
But it's dangerous. And I think people who get sucked into it, have less of a connection to Christ, and far less power in Christ, than they otherwise would [Anecdotally, the two days I wrestled hardest with this, I felt like God was a million miles away. And I think He was]. What we have, we have "in Christ."
Translation:
(28) And then, when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
(29) Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
"I [am] Yahweh.
Speak to Pharaoh King of Egypt all that I am speaking to you,"
(30) and Moses said before Yahweh,
"LOOK! I [am] uncircumcised of lips,
and how will Pharaoh listen to me?"
(7:1) And Yahweh said to Moses,
"Look! I have made you God to Pharaoh,
while Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
(2) You shall speak all that I command you,
while Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh,
and he will release the sons of Israel from his land,
(3) while I will harden the heart/mind of Pharaoh,
and I will multiply my sins and wonders in the land of Egypt,
(4) and he will not listen to you-- Pharaoh--,
and I will set/give my hand on/against Egypt,
and I will bring out my army -- my people-- the children of Israel--
from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment/authority,
(5) so the Egyptians know/acknowledge that I [am] Yahweh--
when I stretch out my hand over Egypt,
and I bring out the sons of Israel from their midst,"
(6) and Moses did, with Aaron, just as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did.
(7) And Moses [was] 80 years old,
and Aaron [was] 83 years old.
