THE CALL OF MOSES. Part Two.
Exodus 3:7-15.
EXODUS 3:7. The second thing that the LORD said was, I have surely “seen” the affliction of my people which are in Egypt; I have “heard” their cry; for I “know” their sorrows. This echoes the end of the previous chapter: Israel ‘sighed’ by reason of their bondage, and they 'cried,' and their 'cry' came up unto God; and God 'heard' their groaning, and God 'remembered' His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and God 'looked' upon the children of Israel, and God 'had respect' unto them (cf. Exodus 2:23-25).
EXODUS 3:8. It is amazing to recognise that God has such gracious compassion for His covenant people. He sees our afflictions, and genuinely cares for us. He came down “to deliver” the children of Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians. He came down in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ too, to deliver His Christian people out of the clutches of the world, the flesh and the devil; and out of the thraldom of sin, death and hell.
EXODUS 3:9. He 'hears' the cry of His people; He 'sees' the oppression that they face. But why was God telling Moses all this?
EXODUS 3:10. “Come now therefore, and I will send THEE unto Pharaoh, that THOU mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” It was not as if Moses had volunteered like Isaiah, ‘Here am I, send me’ (cf. Isaiah 6:8). Or like Jesus, who said, ‘Lo, I come to do thy will, O God’ (Hebrews 10:7). In fact, Moses wriggled and squirmed to escape this unsolicited commission (cf. Exodus 3:11; Exodus 3:13; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10; Exodus 4:13).
EXODUS 3:11. Moses first complained of his unfitness: “Who am I?” After all, some forty years earlier Moses had ‘looked’ at the burdens of his brethren, and had slain an Egyptian (cf. Exodus 2:12). On account of this, Pharaoh had sought to slay Moses, and Moses had fled (cf. Exodus 2:15).
EXODUS 3:12. But, responded God, “I will be with thee.” Furthermore, God provided Moses with a sign that God had sent him: “When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God on this mountain.” We know that when God calls us to a task, however difficult, He also equips us for it. And what He has promised shall come to pass.
EXODUS 3:13. Moses next complained of his lack of knowledge of who God is. What shall I tell them when they ask, “What is His name?”
EXODUS 3:14. The LORD condescended to reply, “I AM THAT I AM.” In other words, He is the ever-present One. He is even present with His people in the midst of their sufferings. ‘If God be for us who can be against us?’ (cf. Romans 8:31).
Tell them, “I AM” hath sent you. This speaks of God as the self-existent One, who always has been, is now, and ever will be. We also read of ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever’ (cf. Hebrews 13:8). Hereafter our English translations render the name YHWH, translated above as “I AM,” as “the LORD” in capital letters.
EXODUS 3:15. The LORD goes on to instruct Moses to tell the children of Israel that “The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” Jesus also identified Himself with the LORD God when He said, ‘Before Abraham was, I AM’ (cf. John 8:58). Let us go forward in His name.
