1ENTONCES respondió Moisés y dijo: Mas, he aquí, ellos no me creerán ni escucharán mi voz; porque dirán: No te ha aparecido Jehová. 2Y Jehová le dijo: ¿Qué es eso que tienes en tu mano? Y él respondió: Una vara. 3Y le dijo: Échala en tierra. Y él la echó en tierra; y convirtióse en una serpiente; y huyó Moisés de delante de ella. 4Entonces dijo Jehová a Moisés: Extiende tu mano y tómala por la cola (y él extendiendo la mano, asió de ella, y volvió otra vez a ser vara en su mano), 5para que así crean ellos que te ha aparecido Jehová, el Dios de sus padres, el Dios de Abraham, el Dios de Isaac y el Dios de Jacob. 6Jehová entonces volvió a decirle: Mete la mano en tu seno. Y metiendo él la mano en su seno, la volvió a sacar; y he aquí que su mano estaba leprosa, blanca como la nieve. 7En seguida le dijo: Vuelve a meter la mano en tu seno. Él pues volvió a meter la mano en su seno; y al sacarla, hela aquí vuelta como lo demás de su carne. 8Así será, continuó Dios diciendo, que si no te oyeren, ni dieren oídos a la voz de la primera señal, creerán a la voz de la postrera señal. 9Y será que si no quisieren creer tampoco a estas dos señales, y no escucharen tu voz, tomarás de las aguas del río, y las derramarás en tierra seca; y serán agua al tomarlas del río, mas vendrán a ser sangre en tierra seca. 10¶Entonces dijo Moisés a Jehová: ¡Ah Señor! nunca he sido hombre elocuente, ni en tiempo pasado, ni desde que hablaste con tu siervo; sino que soy torpe de boca y torpe de lengua. 11A lo cual le dijo Jehová: ¿Quién dió boca al hombre? ¿o quién le hace mudo o sordo, dotado de vista o ciego? ¿acaso no soy yo, Jehová? 12Ahora pues, vé, que yo estaré con tu boca, y te enseñaré lo que has de decir. 13Mas él respondió: ¡Ah Señor! envía, te ruego, por mano de aquel que has de enviar. 14Entonces se encendió la ira de Jehová contra Moisés, y le dijo: ¿No es Aarón levita, hermano tuyo? Yo sé que él puede hablar bien; además, he aquí que sale a recibirte, y al verte, se regocijará en su corazón. 15Tú pues le hablarás a él, y pondrás las palabras en su boca; y yo estaré con tu boca y con su boca, y os enseñaré lo que habéis de hacer. 16De manera que él hablará por ti al pueblo; y sucederá que él te será a ti en lugar de boca, y tú le serás la él en lugar de Dios. 17También tomarás esta vara en tu mano, porque con ella has de hacer las señales. 18¶Moisés entonces fué, y volvió a Jetro su suegro, y le dijo: Iré, si te parece, y volveré a mis hermanos que están en Egipto, y veré si viven todavía. Y dijo Jetro a Moisés: Véte en paz. 19Jehová también había dicho a Moisés en Madián: Anda, vuelve a Egipto; que ya han muerto todos los hombres que buscaban tu vida. 20Tomó pues Moisés a su mujer y a sus hijos, y los hizo cabalgar sobre asno, y volvióse a la tierra de Egipto. Tomó también Moisés la vara de Dios en su mano. 21Y dijo Jehová a Moisés: Cuando hubieres vuelto a Egipto, mira que hagas delante de Faraón todas estas maravillas que he puesto en tu mano: yo empero endureceré su corazón, y él no dejará ir al pueblo. 22Y dirás a Faraón: Así dice Jehová: Israel es mi hijo, mi primogénito; 23y ya te he dicho: Deja ir a mi hijo para que me sirva; y tú rehusas dejarle ir: he aquí que voy a matar a tu hijo, tu primogénito. 24¶Y aconteció en el camino, en una posada, que Jehová le salió al encuentro, y procuró matarle. 25Tomando entonces Zípora un pedernal afilado, cortó el prepucio a su hijo, y lo arrojó a sus pies, diciendo: Ciertamente me eres un esposo sangriento. 26Y Jehová le soltó: entonces fué cuando ella dijo: Esposo sangriento; con motivo de la circuncisión. 27¶Y Jehová dijo a Aarón: Vé al desierto al encuentro de Moisés. Y él fué, y encontróle en el Monte de Dios, y le besó. 28Y Moisés hizo presente a Aarón todas las palabras que Jehová le había enviado a decir, y todas las señales que le había mandado hacer. 29Entonces fueron Moisés y Aarón, y reunieron a todos los ancianos de los hijos de Israel; 30y les refirió Aarón todas las palabras que había dicho Jehová a Moisés, e hizo las señales a vista del pueblo. 31Y creyó el pueblo; y oyendo que Jehová había visitado a los hijos de Israel, y que había mirado su aflicción, inclinaron la cabeza y adoraron.
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.