2. Finding Courage to Stand (Exodus 5-11)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Print this Page
Audio (36:24)
Sign up now for a free
Galatians Bible Study
James J. Tissot, "Moses Speaks to Pharaoh" (1896-1900), watercolor,
Jewish Museum, New York.
Larger image. |
When Moses was ready to pass on his leadership to
Joshua, he commanded him to be strong and courageous. But where did Moses
learn courage? He learned it here in Egypt under the insults and taunts of
both Pharaoh and his own people. Moses learned courage to stand.
He has gone to the elders of Israel to explain his
mission as God had instructed him (Exodus 3:16). Now he goes to Pharaoh
himself.
"Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and
said, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: "Let my people go, so
that they may hold a festival to me in the desert."'" (Exodus 5:1)
Moses begins with the words echoed by nearly every
prophet who followed him throughout the Old Testament.
"Thus saith the LORD" (KJV)
"This is what the LORD says" (NIV)
These words resound century after century with
the power of a mighty hammer (Amos 1:3, 6, etc.)
One of the lessons of Moses' leadership is that he
doesn't come with his own words, but bearing God's words, which will
ultimately prevail!
"… My word that goes out from my mouth:
… will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)
Leaders today are tempted to come with their own words,
their own message, their own spin. They quote Scripture, but that doesn't
mean they are speaking the message of the Lord. Dear friends, we must
listen to God for his direction to make things clear to us, then come obediently speaking
the words, the message that he gives us to say.
A second lesson is patient persistence. The fulfillment
of God's word didn't come immediately for Moses. He came to his adversary
again and again with, "This is what the LORD says."1 Only at the end does God act. But when he acts, he acts with a power that
none can withstand.
A third lesson is courage. The dictionary defines
"courage" as "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand
danger, fear, or difficulty."2
Moses exercises great courage before Pharaoh. An 80-year-old man, who
once had been adopted by one of the many daughters of a pharaoh, an alien
Hebrew at that, has the temerity to tell Pharaoh what he must do. Remember,
Egypt was not a democracy but a totalitarian state where, at Pharaoh’s word,
a man who did not please him could be struck down and killed.
Courage is required of leaders. When Moses commissions
his successor Joshua, he says:
"The LORD himself goes before you
and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." (Deuteronomy 31:8)
I don't know about you, dear friend, but many times I
have been both afraid and discouraged. God help me! As did Moses, we
must find our courage in the Lord's promise that he will go with us and that
he will teach us what to say. Then we must act!
Pharaoh's response to Moses' message is abrupt and
proud:
"Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and
let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go." (Exodus
5:2)
You speak of the LORD, Yahweh, says Pharaoh, but I
don't know him and have no obligation to obey him. These defiant words
against the Lord will come back to bite Pharaoh as Moses' staff and
later the Ten Plagues serve as the powerful proof of Yahweh's presence with
his people. God's words roll like waves to answer Pharaoh's arrogance as
Moses announces the plagues upon Egypt:
-
Plague of Blood: "By this you will know
that I am the LORD." (7:17)
-
Plague of Flies: "… so that you will
know that I, the LORD, am in this land." (8:22)
-
Plague of Hail: "… so you may know that
the earth is the LORD's." (9:14, 29)
-
Plague on the Firstborn: "Then you will
know that the LORD makes a distinction...." (11:7)
Pharaoh says "No," but Moses persists, saying to
Pharaoh what the Lord tells him to say (Exodus 3:18):
"Then they said, 'The God of the Hebrews has
met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey3 into the desert to offer sacrifices4
to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.'" (5:3)
In verse 1, the phrase, "hold a festival" (NIV),
"celebrate a festival" (NRSV), "hold a feast" (KJV) is ḥāgag,5 from which derives Arabic hajj, the word used for
Muslims' pilgrimage
to Mecca.
Harrison notes:
"Work-journals belonging to the New Kingdom
period have furnished, among other reasons for absenteeism, the offering of
sacrifices by workmen to their gods, and in view of the widespread nature of
animal cult-worship in the eastern Delta region it is not in the least
unrealistic to suppose that the Hebrews could request, and expect to
receive, a three-day absence from work in order to celebrate their own
religious feast in the Wilderness without at the same time provoking
Egyptian religious antagonism."6
But for the Hebrew slaves to ask to leave their
jobs for a three-day feast was unacceptable to Pharaoh. God had hardened his
hard heart.
 |
Mud brick and wooden frame for making bricks. Oriental Institute
Museum, University of Chicago. Photos: Ralph F. Wilson. |
Pharaoh blames Moses and Aaron for threatening a work stoppage. He
retaliates "that same day" (5:6) by requiring the Israelites to work even harder.
The sun-dried mud bricks the Israelites were making
were commonly used to build houses, palaces, and temples. Bricks were made
of soil and water mixed with chopped straw that gave the bricks additional
strength. The mud mixture was poured into a frame-like mold. The rectangular
mud brick was then tapped from the frame and left to dry in the sun.7
Pharaoh commands:
"You are no longer to supply the people with
straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require
them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota." (5:8)
In the process, Pharaoh turns the Israelite foremen8 ,
who are employed by the Egyptian slave-masters, against Moses. If the
Israelites don't meet the daily quota of bricks, the foremen are beaten. Now
they come accusing Moses:
"When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and
Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, 'May the LORD look upon you and
judge you! You have made us a stench9
to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill
us.'" (5:20-21)
This is so typical of what leaders face. When something
goes wrong, blame the leader, especially when the leader took an action that
precipitated the calamity. Of course, Pharaoh is at fault, not Moses, but
Moses takes the heat.
Perhaps you've seen this at work. When a pastor has to
rebuke a person in the church, the retaliation is to blame the leader for
something -- whether it is legitimate or not doesn't matter. Now, the leader
is so busy trying defend himself that he loses sight of the mission and the
opponent wins. The blame game is a diversion tactic.
And Moses falls for this tactic, at least initially.
Moses follows the same pattern as the people and blames God himself.
"Moses returned to the LORD and said, 'O Lord,
why have you brought trouble10
upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to
speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have
not rescued11
your people at all.'" (5:22-23)
According to Moses, "You [Yahweh] have brought
trouble upon this people." This sounds so like us! If I hadn't done what you
told me, Lord, none of this would have happened. It's your fault, God!
What we forget is that the job of a leader is not to be
liked or even to be understood. The job of a leader is to act for God to
accomplish God's will on earth. It is often a thankless job fraught with
brutal criticism.
If we quit when the going gets rough, if we don't
persist in faith, we won't see what God will do to resolve the issue. We
begin in obedience to God, and we must not falter along the way. As Moses
quieted the people on the edge of the Red Sea:
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will
see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today…. The LORD
will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14)
"We want each of you to show this same
diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want
you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience
inherit what has been promised." (Hebrews 6:11-12)
But Moses is not yet ready to quiet the people; God
must quiet him. What follows is a passage where God reminds Moses of what he
had already said: that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened and that "because
of my mighty hand he will let them go" (Exodus 6:1). God reminds Moses of
his covenant with the patriarchs.
"I have remembered my covenant," he says. "I
will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of
judgment" (6:6b)12
The word "redeem" here is gāʾal,
"redeem, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman." It refers to
the responsibilities of a next of kin to rescue family members from
difficulty, redeem them from slavery, avenge them when they have been
mistreated, etc.13 Thus Abraham raises a private army to rescue his nephew Lot who had been
kidnapped (Genesis 14) and Boaz acts as kinsman-redeemer for Ruth and Naomi,
the widows of his kinsman (Ruth 2:20). Yahweh is the kinsman-redeemer to
Israel, fulfilling his covenant obligations made to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob centuries before.
"Moses reported this to the Israelites, but
they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel
bondage." (Exodus 6:9)
Even Moses' own people won't listen to him! Moses is
moping. But God doesn't quit talking to Moses. He commands him to act!
Observe the dialog:
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Go, tell
Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.'
But Moses said to the LORD, 'If the Israelites
will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with
faltering lips14 ?'
Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron about
the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to
bring the Israelites out of Egypt." (6:10-13)
Notice: God won't take "no" for an answer. The Lord
says, "Go tell Pharaoh." Moses says, "He won't listen to me." Now the Lord
commands Moses and Aaron. "Commanded" (NIV), "gave them a charge" (KJV, cf. NRSV) is ṣāwâ, "command, charge," used of instruction of a
father to a son, a farmer to his laborers, and of a king to his servants.
The word reflects a society where a leader is in a position to command the
people and to expect their obedience.15
Sometimes, dear friends, we get stubborn and God needs
to tell us, in no uncertain terms, what we must do. There is no argument
that we can win against God. If you are a leader for God, then he expects
you to follow his instructions, no matter how hard. It's not a good sign
when he needs to tell you the equivalent of, "Because I'm the mother, that's
why!"
God has taken Moses and Aaron to the "woodshed" for a
whipping. But finally, to their credit, they obey.
"Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD
commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when
they spoke to Pharaoh." (7:6-7)
How does God deal with his reluctant leader Moses? By command, but also
by reasoning with him, encouraging him, and helping him to see the vision
ahead of time of what God will do. When Moses can see it with
his eye of faith, then he can act on God's behalf and be a leader.
Following a genealogical insertion in 6:14-25 (see
Appendix 3), the narrative continues:
"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not
listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of
judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites." (Exodus
7:3-4)
Theologians have spent lots of time discussing Pharaoh's hard heart. Was
it hard initially? If God hardened it, is Pharaoh really responsible for his
actions? The word "hardened" (ḥāzaq16)
appears 12 times in Exodus 4-14. Notice three different statements:
- Yahweh hardens Pharaoh's heart (active) -- Exodus 4:21; 7:3,
13; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10, 14:4, 8, (17)
- Pharaoh's heart is hardened (passive) -- Exodus 7:13, 14, 22;
8:19; 9:7, 35
- Pharaoh hardens his own heart (reflexive) -- Exodus 8:15, 32;
9:34
In fact, Pharaoh is an unrepentant sinner from
the start. Harris observes,
"All of God's hardening of an obstinate sinner
was judicial and done that God's deliverance should be the more memorable."17
Certainly, Pharaoh is guilty of sin and rebellion
against God. This instance is similar to how God treats hardened sinners elsewhere. In
Romans 1, for example, Paul notes that it is because of their gross sins,
"God gave them over" to even greater sin (Romans 1:24, 26).
Now come the Ten Plagues against Egypt. The word
"plague" is maggēpâ, "blow, pestilence," from nāgap, "to
strike."18 God himself is striking Egypt with his own hand. Of course, since our study
is primarily on Moses the leader, we can't analyze each plague in detail.
There have been various attempts to explain these plagues as
naturally occurring phenomena, either seasonal or cyclical events occurring
in nature. Unfortunately, any explanation we might offer is mere
speculation, not scientific fact. Of course, God may have used nature
to bring these judgments. But they are presented as miracles, so, unless we
believe that miracles are impossible, or that these are merely natural
phenomena that seemed like miracles to primitive, unsophisticated
minds, we'll refrain. However, observe three things:
- The Egyptians saw the God of the Israelites as the cause of the
judgments.
- The plagues did not fall on the Israelites, only on the Egyptians.
- The timing was exquisite.
James J. Tissot, "The Plague of Locusts" (1896-1900), watercolor,
Jewish Museum, New York.
Larger
image. The pyramids in the background aren't
accurate, however, since the largest were at Giza, far south of
Pi-Rameses. |
The plagues may have occurred over a period as
long as six months.19 These are the plagues:
- Blood (7:14-24).20
The blood of the plague makes the Nile's water undrinkable and kills the
fish (7:21) -- a major industry along the Nile.
- Frogs (8:1-15). Frogs in Egypt were associated with the god
Hopi and the goddess Heqt, who assisted at childbirth, and were thus a
fertility symbol.21 For all the frogs to die and rot must have been seen as a defeat of the
Egyptian gods.
- Gnats (8:16-19). "Gnats" (NIV, NRSV), "lice" (KJV) is Hebrew
kēn. We don't really know what kind of insect is intended by the
word. "Fleas" or "sandflies" have been suggested, but more likely it refers
to "mosquitoes."22
- Flies (8:20-32). "Swarm [of flies]" in verse 20 is literally
ʿārōb,
"swarm" ("mixture," from incessant involved motion).23
We're not told what kind of flies they were, but perhaps flies attracted by
the decaying frogs. The Septuagint translates the word as kynomuia,
"dog-fly," perhaps our modern gadfly or Monarch fly, with a painful bite.24
This plague it is described as a "severe25
swarm." Whatever it was, it must have been pretty awful, since Pharaoh is
induced to send the Israelites away, though he relents.
- Livestock (9:1-7). Since many varieties of "livestock" (NIV),
"cattle" (KJV)26
were considered sacred animals by the Egyptians, this plague "on your horses
and donkeys and camels and on your cattle and sheep and goats" (9:3), was a
direct blow against Egypt's gods. The statement that "all the cattle of
Egypt died" (9:6) is sometimes contrasted with the fact that the Egyptians
still had livestock prior to the plague of hail (9:19). Childs comments,
"The discrepancy is not a serious one, since the narrative style should not
be overtaxed."27
- Boils (9:8-12). "Ashes of the furnace" that Moses and Aaron
threw into the air would be black and fine like soot. "Festering boils" (NIV, NRSV) consists of two words, translated by Childs as "boils breaking
out into pustules."28
It sounds pretty ugly.
- Hail (9:13-35). Hailstones have been measured as large as 8
inches in diameter29 and can be terribly destructive. I once had a rental car pockmarked by hail
in an intense storm near St. Cloud, Minnesota. The storm that devastated
Egypt was much more severe, destroying crops in the fields and trees, as
well as livestock left in the open.
- Locusts (10:1-20). Locusts are still a dreaded pest in areas
bordering the desert. In Amos 7:1-3 and Joel 1:1-7 they are seen a terrible
figure of God's judgment. Our text reads, "They covered all the ground until
it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail" (10:15a).
- Darkness (10:21-29). This darkness is so intense that it can
be "felt."30 There is speculation that this must have been a sandstorm, but if this were
the case, I think the narrator would have said so. Instead of the whirling
sand, it is the darkness that is so awful.
- Firstborn (11:1-10; 12:29-32). The final plague is the death of the
firstborn son as well as the firstborn of livestock throughout Egypt. We
will examine this plague further in
Lesson 3.
At God's direction, Moses and Aaron use their staffs to
work miracles, both before the Israelites and before Pharaoh. Sometimes it
is Moses' staff that is employed; other times it is Aaron's. They seem
interchangeable, since Aaron is acting as Moses' spokesman.
"Staff" (NIV, NRSV), "rod" (KJV) is maṭṭeh,
"staff, rod, shaft" from the verb nāṭâ, "extend, stretch out." The
staff is closely associated with the hand31 in Exodus, and was used as a support when travelling, a common walking stick
that was probably carried by every man. The staff could be used as a weapon,
probably much like the medieval quarter-staff (Psalm 2:9; 23; 4; 89:32;
Isaiah 10:24; 11:4), and was used for such everyday tasks as to thresh herbs
(Isaiah 28:27) and count sheep (Ezekiel 20:37). A staff carried some value
(Genesis 38:18), probably since suitable trees were somewhat scarce. It
could also represent the authority of a leader (Numbers 17:1-11) as a kind
of scepter (Psalm 110:2; Jeremiah 48:17).32
At the conclusion of Yahweh's first revelation to Moses
at the burning bush, God says:
"But take this staff in your hand so you can
perform miraculous signs with it.... 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." (Exodus 4:17, 20)
This "staff of God" (Exodus 4:20; 17:9) figures
in miracles both in Egypt and during their sojourn in the wilderness.
I've wondered, though, if the "staff of God" is used in
Moses' ministry as a kind of magical object -- an ancient magic wand. Some
Christians are troubled by concepts of the miraculous efficacy of objects,
such as the bones of saints (relics), anointing oil for healing (Mark 6:13;
James 5:14), and "prayer cloths" (Acts 19:12). How do we understand Moses' rod?
Magic was widespread in the ancient near east as an
attempt to understand, control, or manipulate the divine realm.33 But rather than seeking to manipulate God to their own ends, Moses and Aaron
use their rods at God's explicit direction, as their obedient response to a
specific situation, perhaps as a visible symbol of God's authority.
Why does Jesus sometimes lay on hands for healing, and
at other times speak a word or use spittle? We don't know. We do know,
however, that sometimes God directs us to use specific physical objects in
the pursuit of his purposes. This understanding seems to characterize the
biblical description of Moses' rod better than assigning it to the category
of magic.
The Lord says to Pharaoh through Moses,
"I will make
a distinction between my people and your people." (Exodus 8:23)
The plagues which fall on the Egyptians don't
directly affect the Israelites, who live in a particular part of Egypt, the
land of Goshen. This distinction appears explicitly in the:
- Plague of Flies (Exodus 8:22-23)
- Plague on Livestock (Exodus 9:4-6)
- Plague of Hail (Exodus 9:26)
- Plague of Darkness (Exodus 10:23)
- Plague on the Firstborn (Exodus 11:7)
But this selectivity of the effects of the plagues may have occurred in
the other plagues, too, since the narrator emphasizes the effect on the
Egyptians and doesn't mention any effects on the
Israelites whatsoever. God doesn't punish his people with the punishments of
their oppressors.34
As I reflect on Moses' leadership during these plagues,
several leadership lessons occur to me.
Moses is asked -- no, commanded -- to confront the most
powerful person on the face of the earth: Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
I don't know about you, but I don't like
confrontations. I've learned, however, that leaders must confront when
necessary, or their organization will lose its sense of direction and unity.
Not confronting, when one needs to, hardly ever makes the situation
better. And putting it off only makes the situation worse.
Good parents confront their children when they're
behaving badly in order to correct them. Undisciplined children are the
result of parents who refuse to confront, rebuke, and correct.
Do you have a situation that you need to confront to be
a good leader under God? Ask God to give you wisdom and courage. Then do
what you need to do. That's the job of a leader.
If you've read the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus did a
lot of confronting -- of the people he healed, of the people who opposed him,
and of his errant disciples. Jesus was not a laissez-faire leader, but one
who lovingly, but firmly confronted. So did the Apostle Paul. These are examples
for us.
I've tried to imagine the kind of pressure Moses was
under. After Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh, the Israelites were
punished by being required to find their own straw without any reduction in
their quota of bricks. Now Moses' own people accuse him of upsetting the
status quo for something new and negative.
Then Moses stands before Pharaoh who heaps abuse on him
and his God. It's surprising that Pharaoh doesn't just kill Moses at the
outset, but to do so would probably have caused riots among the Hebrews and
threatened the stability of Pharaoh's oppressive regime.
How well did Moses sleep during this period? How many
emissaries did he receive from the Israelites pleading with him to cease and
desist and go back where he came from? How many representatives of Pharaoh
did he entertain who were trying to find a compromise solution so that Egypt
would not be destroyed? How many threats against his life did he have to
deal with?
The period of the Ten Plagues took place over months
and months. In hindsight, we know that there were ten plagues, but neither
Moses nor the Egyptians knew how long the plagues would last.
So how did Moses sustain himself? Through faith in the
word that the Lord had given him that Yahweh would deliver Israel from
Egypt. Through all the ups and downs of this period, Moses remains steady,
trusting in the word of the Lord. So must we.
As I read these chapters, I see Pharaoh trying to
negotiate a settlement for less than Moses has demanded. That Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, feels he must negotiate at all, demonstrates the threat he feels.
See his tactics:
- During the Plague of Flies, Pharaoh offers to allow sacrifice
to God "within the land" or "in the wilderness, provided you do not go very
far away," but Moses does not compromise. (8:25-27, 32).35
- Prior to the Plague of Locusts, Pharaoh seems to be willing to
let the men sacrifice, but not the women and children. Moses does not
compromise (10:10).
- During the Plague of Darkness, Pharaoh seems willing to allow
all the people to go and worship, but they must leave their flocks and herds
behind. Moses does not compromise (10:24-26).
A lesser leader than Moses would have been tempted to
accept a compromise. After all, leaders, both in churches and in statehouses,
use compromise as a way to keep from stalemate and to accomplish the
business that must be accomplished. You don't always get everything you
want. "Half a loaf is better than none," goes the saying. Politics is the
art of compromise.
Of course, we church leaders must learn to
compromise if we want to move the church forward. If you don't have leaders who meet
Scriptural qualifications, for example, you work with the leaders you do
have, hoping for a better day. You "make do" the best you can. Many a leader
has cleaned the church restrooms and mopped the church kitchen when someone
else should have done it. Leaders must do what needs to be done to achieve
the greater purpose.
But there are times when we leaders must not
compromise. That is when God has clearly told us what we must do -- no matter
what. Moses has been charged with obedience to God, and only through his
obedience will God bring about the truly impossible -- the deliverance of the
Israelites from Egypt through the Red Sea as well as the destruction of
the Egyptian army. To Moses' credit, he continues to be faithful to the
word, the vision that God has given him. And since he is faithful, he
receives the promised reward (Hebrews 10:35).
"By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the
king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible." (Hebrews
11:27, NRSV)
Leader, don't abandon the vision God has given
you!
Finally, the leader must know the real protagonists in
the battle. This is not really a battle between Moses and Pharaoh at all.
The Apostle Paul reminds us:
"For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces
of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the
heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12, NASB)
But it is very easy for us leaders to think that
this is a battle of wills between us and a human opponent. When we leaders
confront evil people, we sometimes end up demonizing our opponents in what
may appear to be a personal battle of wills. But Jesus tells us to love our
enemies!
So it is important to recognize that this is a contest not between Moses
and Pharaoh. Rather, it is a contest between the God of the Hebrews and the
gods of Egypt – including Pharaoh himself. If Rameses II was the pharaoh during the Exodus, it is
interesting to observe that he had been deified, declared a god, when he was
30 years old, only half-way through his long 66-year reign. He was one of
the false gods of Egypt.
Moses does not speak to Pharaoh as he might as a former prince of
Egypt. Moses speaks for Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews. And as God's
spokesman, his words are powerful. A mere human would quail to say such
things to the most powerful monarch on earth, but as fearful Moses may have
felt on the inside, he speaks God's words with clarity. For example:
"This is what the LORD, the God of the
Hebrews, says: Let my people go ... or this time I will send the full force
of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people,
so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.... You
still set yourself against my people and will not let them go." (9:13b-14, 17)
"This is what the LORD, the God of the
Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Let my people go, so that they may worship me.'" (10:3)
Finally, after the Ninth Plague, Pharaoh in his
anger makes a personal threat against Moses.
"'Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not
appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.'
'Just as you say,' Moses replied, 'I will never
appear before you again.'" (10:28-29)
But the threat against Moses is a threat against Moses' God, since Moses speaks for God. Now God brings the tenth and final
devastating plague against Egypt, and it is Pharaoh's own son who dies.
It seems that leaders from generation to generation
must relearn this lesson: the battle is the Lord's!
- Moses: "The LORD will fight for you." (Exodus 14:14)
- David to Goliath and the Philistines: "All those gathered here
will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the
battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands." (1 Samuel
17:47)
- Jahaziel: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah
and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or
discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but
God's." (2 Chronicles 20:14)
- Zechariah: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not
by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6)
My dear friend, it may seem trite to say, "Let the Lord
fight your battles," but you must! If you make the battles your own, you'll
destroy yourself and your family. These must be battles of faith and of
prayer, not mere human strategy and clever words. If you want to be a leader
like Moses, then you must learn to listen like Moses, trust like Moses, and
lead like Moses. You need to learn to pick only the battles that God wants
you to engage on his behalf, and then fight with his strength. We are
not our own. We have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). We are
his men and women. And he will defend us if we represent him
clearly and forthrightly as we lead.
We began this lesson with Moses and Aaron explaining to
the people of Israel how Yahweh had revealed himself and promised
deliverance. The people rejoice. But when Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh,
things get much worse. Yet Yahweh has shown himself strong against Pharaoh
and has promised deliverance and Moses has learned courage. Moses now looks
forward to the deliverance of the Lord.
Prayer
Lord, keep me steady when things are difficult. Give me
courage. Help me to listen for your voice, be strong in your word, and not
waver with compromises that are not mine to make, as your servant. Forgive
me where I have failed to lead well on your behalf. Continue to teach me
your ways. Let your Spirit in me prevail. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Moses Bible Study - Discipleship and Leadership Lessons
Copyright © 1985-2012, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
joyfulheart.com> All rights reserved. A single copy of this article is free. Do not put this on a website. See legal, copyright, and reprint information.
Christmas Incarnation
