"What if they don't believe me?" asked Moses.
This question really surprised God, so He left and said, "I'll have to get back to you on that one, Moe."
Not exactly. God was ready for the question. He asked Moses, "What's that in your hand?" For the Lord had never seen one of those before (oops, again, another fallacy). "A staff," he replied. "Throw it on the ground." He did and the staff turned into a snake. That makes the previous question like a trick question: "What's that?" He asks. "Oh, a staff," Moses replies. "No it's not," the Lord says, "it's a snake." What a funny conversation, huh?
God showed him this magic trick, as well as the "stick your hand in your cloak and out it comes leprous; in again and it's not" trick. "If these two don't work, pour some Nile water on the ground and it'll turn into blood." Moses said to the Lord, "Pardon Your servant, 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." He was so focused on his own inabilities that he was missing the point that God was showing -- that He'd equip Moses for the job. The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
But Moses said, "Pardon Your servant, Lord. Please send someone else." Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses (hmm, you can't imagine why!) 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 the signs with it."
Wow, God met Moses at his weakness and provided yet again. It's like He provided everything he needed and answered all of his questions and doubts. That's pretty gracious.
I think our generations have been ripped off. Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandmants, with Charlton Heston as Moses certainly didn't put a stuttering, stammering, quiet old goon in my mind when I think of this biblical character. I think of the bronzed skin, broad shoulders and commanding voice of Charlton Heston.
It is odd, though, that at a lodging place on the way back to Egypt, that God was about to kill Moses. Maybe He was having second thoughts? That is very strange. Zipporah took a flint knife and 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. The Lord told Aaron to go meet Moses in the wilderness. Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
How much do you wanna bet that Moses had practiced some of these tricks on his own as he was waiting out there?
Moses and Aaron gathered the elders of Israel and Aaron spoke to them, explaining the situation. Moses did the sign tricks and they all believed. When they heard that God had heard their cries, something in their hearts broke and they bowed down and worshiped in gratitude. That is so cool.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 9, 2007 11:50 AM