Exodus 4, Preparation

YHWH has appeared to Moses in the desert.  He has an assignment for Moses.  Moses raised two objections to YHWH's plan in the previous chapter; more objections are coming.

Exodus 4: 1-5, Moses is timid

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, `The LORD did not appear to you'?"

    

Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" 

    

"A staff," he replied.

    

The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." 

    

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

    

Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." 

    

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

    

"This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you."

YHWH demonstrates his control over nature by performing a supernatural trick.  The serpent is significant in the culture of Egypt and appears in myriads of Egyptian artwork of that age.

Exodus 4: 6-9, One more sign

Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." 

    

So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

    

"Now put it back into your cloak," he said. 

    

So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

    

Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

Moses is given three signs, one of a serpent, one of a skin disease (translated "leprous" here) and finally a river turned to blood.

(In verse 6, the Hebrew word translated here as "leprous" was used for various diseases affecting the skin--not necessarily leprosy.)

Exodus 4: 10-12, "But I am not eloquent!"

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

    

The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Now God does not appear to be quite as “human” – he reminds Moses that He is the Creator. Of all things, Moses should not worry the Creator about the mouth Moses has!

Exodus 4: 13-17, Desperation

But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

    

Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

    

But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

The debate is coming to an end.  YHWH has already anticipated Moses's objection and has Aaron on his way.

Exodus 4: 18-23, Moses to return to Egypt

Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive." 

    

Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."

    

Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

    

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

    

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, `This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"

Moses clearly sees himself as part of the Hebrew people.

YHWH's instructions include the eventual death of the first-born son and, eventually, the Passover (Pesach.) The statement about the death of the firstborn prepares us for the event that follows.

Exodus 4: 24-26, Circumcision of Moses's son

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it."Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said.

    

So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

This is a strange passage!  Moses must circumcise his (firstborn) son. This description is both brutal and, in the text, confusing and unmotivated.  A Hebrew pronoun "him" in verses 24 and 25 is translated as "Moses" but it is possible that in one or both incidences, it refers to Moses's son.  If it is the son of Moses, not Moses, that is threatened, then we see a need for the protection of Moses's firstborn. 

Imes, in her class on Exodus, also suggests the word "foot" is sometimes a Hebrew euphemism for penis.  Replacing the word "feet" by "penis" seems to fit better in this context, for it is possible that by circumcising her son, Zipporah is putting herself, and her son, under the Covenant. (See this note on feet and erotica in the Bible.) The Midianite, Zipporah, by saying "you are a bridegroom of blood to me", is saying, "This bloody circumcision makes you and your son parts of the covenant -- and I am also part of that covenant since you are my husband."

Imes argues that this entire chapter is a tightly constructed literary unit, preparing Moses and his family for the confrontations to occur in the next chapters.

Exodus 4: 27-31, Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt

The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." 

    

So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

    

Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

The Israelites are awed, and enthusiastic – at the moment.  They worship the God of their forefathers.

This image of seeing signs and then worshiping will appear later in various ways, including in the New Testament.