Exodus 6:28-7:7

I.  Introduction

The difficulties of the call of God often overwhelm us.  The pervasive sense of inability nags us.  We give up.  It was the way of Moses.  But it is different here.  The provisions of God overwhelm him.

II. Moses recapitulates his complaint and God recapitulates his commission.

1.  Our text is a recapitulation of complaint (6:28-30) and commission (7:1-7).  The one thing that is utterly new is the response (7:6).

2.  There is the reminder that God commissions each of us as witnesses in a hostile world.  We all have our excuses, but the commission never changes.  In the case of Moses, he was not skilled in rhetoric.  See 6:30 and 6:12.  The Hebrew is literally uncircumcised of lips.  The NAS translates it as unskilled in speech.  We might add:  I am young, inexperienced, or ill suited. Many say it is not my calling.  See Exodus 19:6.

3.  And the recapitulation of the call is a reminder of our duty, but it is also set within the context of divine provision.  God equips us.  The first provision is the status of Moses.  God says, I will make you as a God to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh was a god (reincarnation of the sun god).  God makes Moses of equal status.  It is an interesting proposition.  It reminds us that we serve as ambassadors and image God.  We reflect him.  But notice that God does not change the appearance of Moses.  He goes as a shepherd to a king.  His provision, then, is that he represents God.  We live in a status oriented culture.  Yet, it is what God makes of us that is essential.  He makes us sons and heirs.  The text concludes in 7:7 with another marker of the divine provision.  Moses and Aaron were brothers with Aaron as the elder.  But God turns custom on end as the elder serves the younger.  See Romans 9:12.  It speaks to the doctrine of election.  When the world’s rejection abounds, it helps to know that God has elected you for no other reason than his sovereign will.  We go into the world chosen of the King.  When we are rejected, it is really a rejection of the King we represent.  The next provision is that Aaron was his prophet or spokesman.  There is the application of companionship.  Pharaoh had a court full of spokesmen.  Perhaps Moses was intimidated.  It is never good to play the loner as a Christian.  It is instructive that Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.  Two are better than one.  And God provides the words.  Vs. 2:  you shall speak all that I command you.  The critical element of any ministry is the word of God.  We err tragically when we deviate from this.  It is the reminder that we are messengers and not the message.  Illus:  carpets (spiritualism), 45 minutes. 

4.  Yet, while Moses will confront Pharaoh as an equal, he is representing the superior.  It is here that we learn that the word of God is effective.  The power of God will be brought to bear on Pharaoh and Egypt.  God will harden the heart of Pharaoh.  It is an act of divine retribution, but it also displays the sovereignty of God over the god of Egypt.  The word “harden” is figurative for stubbornness and resistance.  Some contend that the word comes from an agricultural setting and speaks to the resistance of animals to a yoke.  There is a sad application here.  The irony is that Israel will soon worship a golden calf and become transformed spiritually by the event.  They become hardened too.  See 2 Kings 17:14 and Nehemiah 9:16-17.  By rejecting God’s lawyers and prophets, they become like Pharaoh as a testimony to the power of the word.  We need to know that the word of God is powerful.  It creates salvation or judgment.  As an agent of the divine court, Moses is not engaging a neutral event.  See Isaiah 55:11.  The word of God is powerful and purposeful.  Notice the purpose clause here (3). Pharaoh is hardened that God may multiply his signs and wonders in Egypt.  The resistance of Pharaoh brings an ever increasing intensification of divine judgment to bring destruction.  Through it all, Israel sees God’s signs and wonders as testimony of his power to affect the exodus.  In the OT, the phrase is constantly associated with the exodus.  In Daniel 4:37, its use by the pagan emperor reminds captive Israel that God can cause a second exodus.  I think it is used in the NT in this way as well.  The apostles do signs and wonders in testimony to a new and greater exodus.  It means nothing can stop God from gathering his people.  See Acts 13:49, 16:14.  There is an application here.  When the Church abandons the word it is in retreat from the call of God.  The final result is that the Egyptians will know that Israel’s God is superior.  In the ANE, not unlike today, there were many deities.  Egypt had its national gods.  The display of power will be so complete that Egypt will concede the primacy and superiority of God.

5.  This counter by God to Moses is enough.  In a moment, it is over.  The resistance and complaints that began earlier end here.  God has triumphed over the reluctant shepherd.  All doubt is dissipated.  The contest is framed.  Moses and Aaron obey.  The text reads they did as the Lord commanded them thus they did.  The repetition enforces the proper response to the word of God.  Moses now knows that the divine provision is efficient for the task ahead of him.  Appl:  obedience is the right response to the call of God.

6.  And for our calling as witnesses, God has a provision for today.