Moses II: Confronting Pharaoh

The commentary continues with Rev. Matt Wolfington.

Exodus 5-7

“This is what the Lord says,” or “Thus saith the Lord,” pretty much gives us the clue that Moses is prophetic. His gifting in this area is strong, but also remember he was reluctant to initially receive the gift. Moses seemingly is still skirting the directive of God to deliver the people of Israel, when Moses only asks for a brief respite from their labors for a festival in the desert. Pay close attention to this because it is going to come back again and again in later negotiations. We are seeing the wisdom of Moses displayed here before most people even realize it. Ironically, Pharaoh says that he does not know this God which Moses is speaking about. Remember, we are too sure how much Moses did either when he had his encounter with God. Moses and Aaron get in trouble with the people of Israel because Pharaoh comes down hard on them. There is hatred among the Israelites now because of the harder labor and Moses and Aaron get blamed. Pharaoh is causing the problems but he is not held responsible. Even by the slaves. Does not seem like a good plan up to this point, now does it? Then God steps in. There is no mentioned of the past, just the promise of the future.

But here God reveals himself in a bit of a new way. Before Moses, God revealed himself as “El Shaddai” (God Almighty) to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; promising a covenant which was never fulfilled. But to Moses, he is revealing himself as “Yahweh.” The time has come to remember and fulfill that covenant. Why is this important? First, it signals that the gift given to Moses of wisdom and knowledge is coming to bear even stronger than before. Secondly, Moses becomes and Encourager. The promises given by God in Ex 6:6-8 starts and ends with “I am the Lord.” The people will hear and be encouraged by these promises and in this instance, they should see that it is not the promise of Moses, but of their God. They know the history of their people and upon hearing this, there would be the bolstering of spirits among them.

A quick note about the genealogy in Chapter 6. Why is it there? The author wanted to make sure the readers (ancient readers) knew that Moses and Aaron were connected to this history of people who had encountered God.

In chapter 7 again Moses is shown his prophetic gift, even though he is still reluctant. Is it his reluctance that causes him difficulties? God was talking to Moses and Moses was to talk to Aaron and Aaron was to talk to Pharaoh. We also have more evidence of the gift of miracles. Get ready for more excitement! Tomorrow, we will hop right along.