1And Moses asked: ‘But, what if they don’t listen to me and do what I tell them to do? Or, what if they say, God hasn’t appeared to you… what should I say then?’ 2And Jehovah asked him: ‘What do you have in your hand?’ He replied: ‘My walking stick.’ 3Then [God] said: ‘Throw it on the ground.’ Well, when he threw it on the ground it became a snake, and Moses ran from it. 4And Jehovah told Moses: ‘Now, reach out and grab it by the tail.’ So [Moses] reached out and grabbed it by the tail, 5and it became a walking stick in his hand again. [And God continued]: ‘That’s why they will believe you when you say that the God of your ancestors has appeared to you… the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ 6Then Jehovah told him: ‘Now, put your hand inside [your robe and touch] your chest.’ So he reached inside and touched his chest; and when he brought his hand out it was [as white] as snow. 7And [God] said, ‘Now, put your hand back in and touch your chest once more.’ So he reached in and touched his chest, and when he brought it out, its color returned to the regular color of his flesh. 8[And God said], ‘So, if the first sign doesn’t make them listen and believe you, the second sign will. 9And if they still won’t listen to you or believe you after these two signs, then draw some water from the river and pour it on the dry ground, and the river water will turn into blood.’ 10Then Moses said to Jehovah: ‘I beg you Lord; I’ve never been good at this in the past, and I’m still no good at it since You started talking to your servant… I’m a poor speaker and I talk slowly!’ 11And Jehovah asked Moses: ‘Who gave man his mouth, and who made both those who can hear and the deaf, and those who can see and the blind? Isn’t it I… God? 12Now, go on and I will open your mouth and tell you what to say!’ 13But Moses said: ‘I beg you Lord, send someone who is more capable!’ 14Well, this made Jehovah very angry with Moses, so He said: ‘Look; isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he will speak for you. Look! He’s coming to meet you, and when he sees you, he will jump for joy. 15Then you must talk to him and put My words in his mouth, and I will open both of your mouths and tell you what to do. 16Then he can speak to the people for you. He will be your mouth and you will be the things of God to him. 17So, take this walking stick that turned into a snake in your hands and work miracles with it!’ 18And thereafter, Moses returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said: ‘I‘m going to return to my brothers in Egypt, to see if any are still living.’ And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in health.’ Well after some time, the king of Egypt died. 19And Jehovah said to Moses (while he was still) in Midian: ‘Go! Leave for Egypt, because those who wanted to kill you are now dead.’ 20So Moses took his wife and children, mounted them on his animals, and returned to Egypt. Moses also carried along his walking stick [with which he had received power] from God. 21And Jehovah said to Moses: ‘When you return to Egypt, look at all the miracles that I’ve given you [the power to perform]. You must do these before Pharaoh. However, I will make him hard hearted and he will refuse to send the people away. 22Then you must tell Pharaoh, This is what Jehovah has said: Israel is My firstborn; 23and I’ve told you to send My people away so they can serve Me. So if you won’t send them away, {Look!} I will kill your firstborn!’ 24Well, [during their journey], a messenger of Jehovah met them along the way at an inn and wanted to kill [his son]. 25But ZipPorah grabbed a [sharp] stone and cut off her son’s foreskin, and she fell at his feet and said, ‘The blood of my son’s circumcision is flowing!’ 26So he left, because she said, ‘The blood of my son’s circumcision is flowing.’ 27Then Jehovah told Aaron: ‘Go into the desert to meet Moses.’ So he went and met him at the Mountain of God, and they kissed each other. 28Then Moses told Aaron everything that Jehovah had said, why he was being sent, and of all the things that he was told to do. 29So Moses and Aaron went and gathered the elders of the children of Israel. 30And Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses, and he performed the miracles before the people. 31And the people believed and were happy, because God was visiting the children of Israel and He had seen how they were being oppressed. Then the people bowed to their faces before [God].
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 MIRACULOUS CHANGE OF THE ROD, &c. (Exo. 4:1-31)
But, behold--Hebrew, "If," "perhaps," "they will not believe me."--What evidence can I produce of my divine mission? There was still a want of full confidence, not in the character and divine power of his employer, but in His presence and power always accompanying him. He insinuated that his communication might be rejected and he himself treated as an impostor.
2 the Lord said, . . . What is that in thine hand?--The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses.
A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
6 Put now thine hand into thy bosom--the open part of his outer robe, worn about the girdle.
9 take of the water of the river--Nile. Those miracles, two of which were wrought then, and the third to be performed on his arrival in Goshen, were at first designed to encourage him as satisfactory proofs of his divine mission, and to be repeated for the special confirmation of his embassy before the Israelites.
10 I am not eloquent--It is supposed that Moses labored under a natural defect of utterance or had a difficulty in the free and fluent expression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, which he had long disused. This new objection was also overruled, but still Moses, who foresaw the manifold difficulties of the undertaking, was anxious to be freed from the responsibility.
14 the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses--The Divine Being is not subject to ebullitions of passion; but His displeasure was manifested by transferring the honor of the priesthood, which would otherwise have been bestowed on Moses, to Aaron, who was from this time destined to be the head of the house of Levi (
1Chr 23:13). Marvellous had been His condescension and patience in dealing with Moses; and now every remaining scruple was removed by the unexpected and welcome intelligence that his brother Aaron was to be his colleague. God knew from the beginning what Moses would do, but He reserves this motive to the last as the strongest to rouse his languid heart, and Moses now fully and cordially complied with the call. If we are surprised at his backwardness amidst all the signs and promises that were given him, we must admire his candor and honesty in recording it.
18 Moses . . . returned to Jethro--Being in his service, it was right to obtain his consent, but Moses evinced piety, humility, and prudence, in not divulging the special object of his journey.
19 all the men are dead which sought thy life--The death of the Egyptian monarch took place in the four hundred and twenty-ninth year of the Hebrew sojourn in that land, and that event, according to the law of Egypt, took off his proscription of Moses, if it had been publicly issued.
20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass--Septuagint, "asses." Those animals are not now used in the desert of Sinai except by the Arabs for short distances.
returned--entered on his journey towards Egypt.
he took the rod of God--so called from its being appropriated to His service, and because whatever miracles it might be employed in performing would be wrought not by its inherent properties, but by a divine power following on its use. (Compare
Acts 3:12).
24 inn--Hebrew, "a halting place for the night."
the Lord met him, and sought to kill him--that is, he was either overwhelmed with mental distress or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous malady. The narrative is obscure, but the meaning seems to be, that, led during his illness to a strict self-examination, he was deeply pained and grieved at the thought of having, to please his wife, postponed or neglected the circumcision of one of his sons, probably the younger. To dishonor that sign and seal of the covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as a merited chastisement for his sinful omission. Concerned for her husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of aversion to the painful rite, performs herself, by means of one of the sharp flints with which that part of the desert abounds, an operation which her husband, on whom the duty devolved, was unable to do, and having brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed in the painful excitement of her feelings that from love to him she had risked the life of her child [CALVIN, BULLINGER, ROSENMULLER].
26 So he let him go--Moses recovered; but the remembrance of this critical period in his life would stimulate the Hebrew legislator to enforce a faithful attention to the rite of circumcision when it was established as a divine ordinance in Israel, and made their peculiar distinction as a people.
27 Aaron met him in the mount of God, and kissed him--After a separation of forty years, their meeting would be mutually happy. Similar are the salutations of Arab friends when they meet in the desert still; conspicuous is the kiss on each side of the head.
29 Moses and Aaron went--towards Egypt, Zipporah and her sons having been sent back. (Compare
Exod 18:2).
gathered . . . all the elders--Aaron was spokesman, and Moses performed the appointed miracles--through which "the people" (that is, the elders) believed (
1Kgs 17:24;
Josh 3:2) and received the joyful tidings of the errand on which Moses had come with devout thanksgiving. Formerly they had slighted the message and rejected the messenger. Formerly Moses had gone in his own strength; now he goes leaning on God, and strong only through faith in Him who had sent him. Israel also had been taught a useful lesson, and it was good for both that they had been afflicted.