Chapter 2 Moses - the Deliverer
from "Exodus" by Deoram Bolan
From a sermon delivered in 1978.
Edited by Jon R. Welker

We have been introduced to the person of the Deliverer, Moses.  Exodus 1:11-14 tells us of the bitter persecution of this Pharaoh in Egypt, and how he came against the people of God and sought to kill them by giving them hard labor. But when he saw that they were not killed by the hard labor, he proposed to use the Hebrew midwives to kill the Hebrew males when they were born. The names of the two midwives given in chapter 1 are Shiphrah and Puah; but the name of the Pharaoh is not mentioned. Pharaoh was just a title for the ruler. How significant that God preserved the names of these two midwives who spared the Hebrew males, because they feared God. They preferred to obey God rather than man. They told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were so healthy that they did not need their help when they gave birth. Shiphrah means 'beauty' and Puah means 'splendor.' Those who fear and obey God will shine with the splendor and the glory of God, and have the beauty of God in their lives.

"Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. "

Exodus 1:20

 

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So we see Pharaoh's design to come against the chosen seed. But he ended up a miserable failure.

In Exodus 2, we are shown a Levite family. A man marries a woman in the tribe of Levi, but his name is not mentioned. Moses' mother and father's name are not mentioned in the first few chapters of Exodus, but we will see their names in chapter 6:20. The father's name was Amram and the mother's name was Jochebed. When Moses was born, the edict was passed from the king that all the Hebrew males should be killed. The king urged others in Egypt to kill the Hebrew children. Moses had a brother by the name of Aaron and a sister, Miriam. When they were born, that edict was evidently not established, but when Moses was born, Pharaoh was determined to wipe out the male children. The parents knew that Moses was a child of destiny.

"And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months."

Exodus 2:2

Then she made an ark of bulrushes that grew along the Nile River, and hid Moses in it and put it among the bulrushes. Pharaoh's daughter went to take a bath and saw the baby in the basket and beheld that he was beautiful, so she adopted him. Moses' sister was standing nearby and asked if Pharaoh's daughter wanted a nurse for the child, then called the child's mother. Moses was reared by his own mother, though he was adopted into the family of Pharaoh. Ironically, the deliverer was brought up in Pharaoh's palace at Pharaoh's expense! No doubt, Pharaoh did not take much liking to Moses, but he seems to have indulged his daughter.

Moses was forty years old when he stepped in to deliver the Israelites. No doubt his parents informed him about the fact that he would be the deliverer. But he thought that he

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could deliver them in his own might and using the education he had received in Egypt. So we read of his killing of the Egyptian and burying him in the sand (Ex. 2."12). He thought no one had seen him. How much like Moses we are; we look around us with our natural eyes and not with the eyes of faith. No wonder we end in failure, because we judge things according to the natural appearance. He did not move in faith; he went out on his own. It was not the right time, but he saw how oppressed the Hebrews were and went in his own strength to deliver them, and failed. Then he sought to make peace between two of his own people. And they said, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us ?" Pharaoh heard of the slaying and Moses fled for his life. For slaying the Egyptian, he was punished by being removed from his family for forty years. God does not justify wrongdoing, so he had to be separated from the nation of Israel for forty years.

When Moses flea, he went to the land of Midian (Ex. 2:15), There he saw seven daughters of a priest whose name was Jethro, Jethro. father.

 

"And the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. J5

Moses' wife and sons stayed with her father when Moses went back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites.

could deliver them in his own might and using the education he had received in Egypt. So we read of his killing of the Egyptian and burying him in the sand (Ex. 2:12). He thought no one had seen him. How much like Moses we are; we look around us with our natural eyes and not with the eyes of faith. No wonder we end in failure, because we judge things according to the natural appearance. He did not move in faith; he went out on his own. It was not the right time, but he saw how oppressed the Hebrews were and went in his own strength to deliver them, and failed. Then he sought to make peace between two of his own people. And they said, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" Pharaoh heard of the slaying and Moses fled for his life. For slaying the Egyptian, he was punished by being removed from his family for forty years. God does not justify wrongdoing, so he had to be separated from the nation of Israel for forty years.

When Moses fled, he went to the land of Midian (Ex. 2:15).

There he saw seven daughters of a priest whose name was Jethro. They had come to water the flocks of their father. The shepherds would drive them away because the water was scarce, but Moses withstood those shepherds and helped the daughters of Jethro so they went home earlier that day than usual. Their father asked them why they had come back so soon, and they said, "An Egyptian helped us to water the flocks." Jethro had Moses brought into the house. Note that they thought Moses was an Egyptian because of his outward appearance and garments. So even in Midian, Moses is not discovered as having a Hebrew identity. But he had a concern for the oppressed (daughters of Jethro), just as he had a concern for his brethren in Egypt. Eventually, he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro. Zipporah means 'a bird.' Out of this marriage came two sons; the first one was named Gershom, for he said, "I have been a stranger in a strange land." His second son was named Eliezer, which means 'my God is my help.' His name is mentioned in Exodus 18:4:

 

"And the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh."

Moses' wife and sons stayed with her father when Moses went back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites.

So Moses spent forty years in the backside of the desert tending flocks (Ex. 7:7, Acts 7:23, 30). Now the Egyptians did not like the Hebrews because they were shepherds. Egypt was a type of the world under the control of Satan. Let us remember that the world does not always symbolize people; it also means the system that is opposed to God. The Scriptures state that the things that are in the world, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," are contrary to God (1 Jn. 2:16). The world's ways are different from God's ways. Egypt speaks of the ways of man under the control of Satan. Why did the Egyptians hate shepherds? From tending the flock, you are exposed to the lambs as well as the sheep. Jesus is called The Lamb of God. The people of this world do not love the people of God because they have taken their stand for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

There is only one way to come to God and that is through the Passover Lamb. It is a straight way and a narrow way. The people of the world do not want to hear that, or hear of redemption by blood or the way of the Cross. To us that are saved it is the power of God's salvation. Any teaching that does away with the blood or the atonement of Christ is of the devil, and those who come preaching any other gospel except Christ and Him crucified come from the enemy, Satan, who is opposed to God (Gal. 1:8-9). How many who claim to be God's chosen do away with the Atonement? You will know them by their fruits. Just ask them if they know Jesus Christ as their Savior - are they washed in His blood, do they accept His sacrifice on the Cross? For us who know Him, we know that in Him is truth. He is the truth, there is no lie in

Him (Jn. 14:6).

In the land of Midian (meaning 'strife'), Moses had to un- learn the ways of Egypt. God intended for the Israelites to go to Canaan (meaning 'lowland'). Blessed are the poor in spirit; theirs is the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3). If you humble yourselves in the sight of God, he will lift you up (Jam. 4:10). The people of Egypt were proud because of their architecture and sciences; the Midianites were a wandering people. So Moses marries Zipporah (meaning 'a bird') which symbolizes the Holy Spirit dealing with us. God isn't through with Moses. Moses doesn't know Him for himself. He is aware of his destiny, but he hasn't come into his role of deliverer until he learns of God for himself. He first has to come to Midian, which speaks of strife, and there he is dealt with in the desert by God.

When Moses was eighty, the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush in the backside of the desert. When you get to the backside of the desert you are free from the din and clamor of the world system; there you have the privilege to be still and know God.

The number eight is a number of a new beginning. Details in the Word of God have much spiritual meaning. It was not by accident that God appeared to Moses when Moses was eighty and commissioned him. Jesus arose from the dead on the eighth day. On the eighth day, a Hebrew male was circumcised, entering a new phase of existence. David was the eighth son of Jesse. Trace the number eight and bear this out.

So Moses was to come into a new beginning at the age of eighty. He was educated in the ways of Egypt, but he could not deliver Israel by the ways of Egypt. That is a lesson for all of us. We are not able to help people because we have had the best schooling and education in the world. It does not necessarily mean we should be ignorant, but education should be seated in its proper place. Moses had relied on his education rather than on God. Education should be in the hands of God, but Moses was dealing without God. At the age of forty, he knew he was the deliverer and wanted the people to take note of him. But you cannot deliver God's people when you are full of "ego-itis." Moses had to die to his own ego and pride. God has to bring us low and show us we are nothing apart from His grace.

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Proverbs 16:18

Moses had to go through schooling in Midian where he was a stranger. So God appeared to him in a burning bush.

God spoke to Moses in the Horeb area. Horeb was a mountain range and Sinai was a peak in that range. The word, Horeb, means a 'desolate place.' He was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, and then God appeared to him. This was the same place God appeared to Elijah (1 Ki. 19:4-11) to recommission him after he had fled from Jezebel.

"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of'the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am 1."

Exodus 3:1-4

Have you noticed that when God calls to someone, He calls them two times - "Moses, Moses"; "Samuel, Samuel" (I Sam. 3:10); "Saul, Saul" (Acts 9,'4). There comes a time when God must reach down and help us and call us. Moses saw and heard. He saw a burning bush and heard the Voice of God. First, the wording says an "angel of the Lord," and then it says "God." Many times the angels mentioned in Scripture could have been God's special angels, but other times the word angel could refer to the form God took to appear to man. The word angel means 'a messenger.' This could have been a temporary manifestation of God in the burning bush as He called out to Moses. Moses was startled to see a thorny bush burning with fire and not being consumed. He did not know what this all meant.

"And He (God) said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet.for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

Exodus 3:5

Shoes protect our feet from the mud and the dust of the earth. To "take off your shoes" means to leave your old walk and your old ways - to come on a new ground to begin a new walk with God. In other words, God was saying, "Moses, you have walked long enough in your way and your thoughts; now I want you to walk in My ways and My thoughts."

Incidentally, with regard to the priesthood, we find how God gave the laws for the priests regarding what garments to wear, and how he gave provision for them. When they came into the presence of God to minister to Him, no mention is made that God ever gave any provision for the feet of the priests (Ex. 28). Priests must not have worn shoes on their feet! They must have ministered barefoot. Why? Because the shoes speak of the old walk and to be barefoot means to stand before God on holy ground, like Moses did. It was when the priests' feet touched the waters of the Jordan that the waters were parted (Josh. 3:13, 15). The description of Jesus Christ in His glorified body in Revelation 1:13-16, de- scribes His head, His face, and parts of His body; but when it mentions His feet, there is no mention of shoes. "His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace to show that His feet - His walk - is pure. There was/is nothing of sin to defile Him. Moses still had to wear shoes, but God was saying, "I want you to begin a new walk with Me."

God had to reveal Himself and this new revelation brought a change - a new beginning.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

II Corinthians 5:17

That is the New Testament experience. Now, we may not see a visible manifestation of God like Moses did. Some people do, but not all of us see in the spiritual realm. God has many ways to reveal Himself to us. And when He does re- veal Himself to you and you have a revelation of the Lord, it transforms you and causes the old to vanish, and you become a new creation in the sight of God. Paul said, "When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Peter confessed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" He had a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. To have a revelation of the Lord means to have the revelation that He is your Savior and you are a sinner. By submitting our lives to Him, He can cleanse us and make us new creations. We must all come to this point as Moses had come. How beautifully the truths of God are veiled the Old Testament!

God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. The burning bush represents the physical body of Jesus Christ. The fire on the bush is a picture of the Holy Spirit. God spoke through the bush. Jesus said, "The words which I speak are not Mine own, they are the Father's Who sent Me." Jesus Christ was that burning bush, because he became flesh and was endued with the Holy Spirit at the age of thirty, and the bush did not bum itself out. There was no sin in the body of Jesus Christ for the Holy Spirit fire to consume, He was one with the fire of God. The Bible says, "Our God is a consuming fire."

This was a thorny bush. Thorns are a symbol of the curse.

In Genesis, God said, "Cursed is the ground for your sake and it will bring forth thorns." Why? Jesus, though He had no sin, had to become sin for us. He had to become a "thorny bush" for us. He faced the fire of the wrath of God and yet He was not devoured by it. He laid down His life for us and He rose again from the dead. So the thorny bush here represents Him Who wore a crown of thorns on His head, bearing the curse for you and me.

In a secondary sense, the burning bush is a symbol of Israel. God said He took them from the furnace of affliction.

"But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day."

Deuteronomy 4:20

The fire of Egypt did not wipe them out; God caused them to live. God showed us that Israel would be fruitless by the symbology of the thorns. They rebelled against the ways of God, but God was with them, as He still is this day. One day God is going to take away their unbelief. Hitler could not wipe out the Jews. He tried to divide the Jewish people, but you don't come against Abraham's seed and get off lightly. God said, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee " (Gen. 12:3). How true are the ways of God! God was in that bush (Israel) and the bush did not burn. God has been with Israel, and still is; and one day their unbelief will be healed.

"In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them: and He bare them; and carried them all the days of old."

Isaiah 63:9

It is His grace that keeps us from falling.

Then God commissioned Moses from the bush to go and help deliver His people. God said four things about Himself:

He had seen; He had heard; He knew their sorrows; and He had come down to deliver them. In Exodus 3:7-8, God said He would bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Milk and honey are symbolic of fertility and abundance. Moses, not willing to accept the commission of God, makes four excuses: "I am unable to do the work"; "I do not know Your (God's) Name"; "The people will not believe"; and "I cannot speak eloquently." God showed him that these excuses were feeble. When he protested that he could not speak, God said he would give him Aaron to be his spokesman. God was patient with Moses, because Moses at the age of eighty was not the same man as at the age of forty. At forty - "Look who I am." At eighty - "Who am I?” The self in him had been brought to naught, and he felt useless. But God, in mercy, raised him up, even as God raised up others who were feeble such as Gideon, Samson, and Jonah. Moses was a vessel prepared of God to be used. God gets more glory by filling us with Him than just by using us. God wants us first to be a vessel, then an instrument. And He will bring us to our Midian so He can prepare us for the work that needs to be done when we respond to Him.

God was merciful to Moses even though he protested. He gave him three supernatural signs, so that Pharaoh would know that this was the hand of God. What were the three signs?

Moses had his shepherd's rod. God said, "Take the

"In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: ill His love and in His pity He redeemed them: and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old."

Isaiah 63:9

It is His grace that keeps us from falling.

Then God commissioned Moses from the bush to go and help deliver His people. God said four things about Himself:

He had seen; He had heard; He knew their sorrows; and He had come down to deliver them. In Exodus 3:7-8, God said He would bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Milk and honey are symbolic of fertility and abundance. Moses, not willing to accept the commission of God, makes four excuses: "I am unable to do the work"; "I do not know Your (God's) Name"; "The people will not believe"; and "I cannot speak eloquently." God showed him that these excuses were feeble. When he protested that he could not speak, God said he would give him Aaron to be his spokesman. God was patient with Moses, because Moses at the age of eighty was not the same man as at the age of forty. At forty - "Look who I am." At eighty - "Who am IT' The self in him had been brought to naught, and he felt useless. But God, in mercy, raised him up, even as God raised up others who were feeble such as Gideon, Samson, and Jonah. Moses was a vessel prepared of God to be used. God gets more glory by filling us with Him than just by using us. God wants us first to be a vessel, then an instrument. And He will bring us to our Midian so He can prepare us for the work that needs to be done when we respond to Him.

God was merciful to Moses even though he protested. He gave him three supernatural signs, so that Pharaoh would know that this was the hand of God. What were the three signs?

Moses had his shepherd's rod. God said, "Take the

rod and cast it to the ground." When he did it became a serpent. Moses fled from it. God said, "Pick it up by the tail." So Moses picked it up by the tail and when he did, it became a rod again. There is a spiritual meaning to this. A sign must have a meaning. This act was a miracle but also a sign with a meaning behind it. What is the meaning of this rod's becoming a snake and the snake's becoming a rod? The rod was a stick - what Moses leaned on when he became weary. It speaks of the power and grace of God to sustain us. When we don't rely on the grace of God and the strength of God, when we throw the rod on the ground, we try to live apart from the grace and power of God and then we are faced with the serpent. Satan begins to take hold of our life and we have to flee from the enemy. Man is powerless to resist the devil, but when Moses leans on the rod, he has strength again. But before he can lean on the rod, he has to face that serpent. Man cannot face the serpent, but the Greater Than Moses came, and He dealt with the serpent. All man has to do is accept Him and then man will be raised up from the realm of fear and death and come into Life, and rejoice in the Lord, his God. The serpent is connected with sin and Satan. The rod is connected with the power of God, and is a symbol of Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah 11, He is called "the rod of the stem of Jesse."

He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth. So the rod of His mouth speaks of His Word. Jesus, the Rod, the Living Word, was cast down to the earth, laid down His Life for us, and became, as it were, a serpent. When He died on the cross, He did not die as a righteous man; He died as a sinful man. He took your sins and my sins upon himself. He had no sin, He knew no sin, He committed no sin, but He was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21). Praise the Lord!

"And as Moses lifted' up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

John 3:14

This Scripture refers to the serpent of brass on the pole.

This is a picture of Jesus becoming sin for us. Man must do the same thing Moses had to do, reach out and take the ser- pent by the tail. Why the tail? The head speaks of the beginning, the tail of the ending. Jesus Christ bruised the serpent's head on Calvary. His victory is our victory! He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

The rod of Moses also speaks of authority. Kings carried rods or scepters as the symbol of their authority. The Bible speaks of the "rod of His mouth" and the "rod of iron." The rod that was cast to the ground was also a type of Israel that God wanted to be the leading nation. In the time of Joseph, they were prominent in Egypt, because Joseph was on the throne, but in the time of the Exodus, they lost this power. Another came to contest their authority. And the rod which became a serpent becoming a rod again is a picture that though they were cast down, God was going to lift them up out of bondage and make them the rod in His hand. As long as God was with them, the rod was in His hand, but in Egypt they did not rely on God, but copied the ways of the Egyptians and so they were cast down. But now, they cried unto God, and He told them He would lift them up from their bondage and make them a rod in his hand. He said he would make them the head and not the tail.

"And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them."

Deuteronomy 28:13

Incidentally, they rejected the rod, Jesus Christ, and by rejecting the rod, had to face the wrath of the serpent. Israel has been doing so for a long time. But the day is coming when our heavenly "Moses" will appear to them, and their unbelief will be healed. Many of them are awakening to the need for the Messiah and are turning to Him; and the time is coming when they will become the rod in the hands of God and He will make them the leader of the nations. The Bible says in Zechariah that all nations will flow to Jerusalem to receive their instructions from God in the Kingdom Age.

The second sign was the leprous hand. Moses was told to put his hand in his bosom. When he did, the hand became leprous. God told him to put it back in his bosom, and when he brought it out again it became whole. What is the meaning of this? God wants us to see that leprosy is connected with sin and with the works of man. God cannot use man for His service until man's hands are cleansed. Man's problem is not in his hand; it is in his heart. "The heart of man is desperately wicked above all things" (Jer.17:9). The leprous hand is only an outward manifestation of the leprous heart. It isn't the hand that makes the heart sick; it's the heart that makes the hand sick. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."

So God has to cleanse man's heart before he can use man's hand. Man's heart speaks of what man is in himself, and his hand speaks of his work. The only way God could use Moses was to clean him up inside. Now Moses, remember, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, Moses is one of the greatest figures in the Bible and his hand is a picture of the hand of the Lord. When Jesus was here on earth, He came in contact with lepers and touched them. A leper said to Him one day, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Jesus said, "I will, be thou clean." He had no sin and He touched the leper with His hand and He did not receive the leprosy. But He had to be- come leprous for us. Jesus bore the leprosy of sin upon Himself.

So the serpent is a type of Satan and leprosy a type of sin.

Satan and sin are closely allied one with the other. "The devil sinneth from the beginning" (I In. 3:8). The first two signs are to show us that God had made provision for man to be delivered from the serpent, Satan, and to be cleansed from sin. By Adam's nature we are in bondage to Satan and in bondage to sin. Jesus Christ came to deliver us, as Moses came to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.

God gave Moses a third sign: "If they will not listen to you, take some water out of Egypt and pour it on the land and the water will become blood." God is telling man, "If you do not accept the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, if you do not lay hold on Him by faith, you will be in bondage to Satan. If you do not lay hold of the cleansing power of the blood, you will be in bondage to the leprosy of sin. If you neglect His work on Calvary which dealt with freedom from the power of Sa- tan and sin, then this third sign will happen, water will turn into blood." That speaks of life - "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11).

Those who reject the first two signs will have to face the aftermath of the third; that is, those who neglect the sacrifice of Christ in freeing us from Satan and sin are going to pay the price of their own life. "For what should it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mk. 8:36). "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek: 18:4,20). The water becoming blood is a picture of death coming on man for rejecting the plan and purposes of God. It is not God's will that man should perish, but that man should have everlasting life. It is His will that all should come to repentance.

Isn't it beautiful how God put the gospel back there in Exodus? Think of how rich the Old Testament is. We have read these things, but barely understood them. There are surely even deeper depths of meaning than this. But we can understand a measure of these things

God gave Jesus Christ, our heavenly "Moses," had to do signs and wonders. Did He? The signs that Moses did represent the signs and wonders that Jesus did. There are at least one hundred similarities between Moses and Jesus. Moses was, of course, not perfect, but he was one of the meekest men that walked on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3).

Later on in chapter 4 Moses is going to deliver Israel. He asked permission of his father-in-law to leave. He did not tell Jethro that God had met with him. He took his wife and two sons. There is a mystery part here - when Moses was going on his way and came to an inn, God sought to kill him (Ex. 4:24). Maybe an angel of the Lord came to afflict Moses because he did not circumcise his son. Perhaps the reason for this is that Zipporah refused to submit to the rite of circumcision. The sign that God gave Abraham that he was in covenant relation with him depicted the circumcision of the heart Moses could not deliver Israel if he was not obeying the covenant law. Perhaps Zipporah was not willing for him to use the knife. But then she had to perform the rite of circumcision on one of her sons and she called Moses a bloody husband. No doubt, Moses, after this, sent her back with the two sons to stay with Jethro.

Later on, they were joined to him after the exodus. But the wife had to come to the point of submitting to the knife and to apply it on both sons. There is a deep spiritual meaning involved here. Moses must be faithful to the covenant of circumcision of the sons. God wants us to understand that physical circumcision as circumcision of the heart. A man's wife represents his soul, the man represents the spirit and the children represent those good virtues in him. For us to be used of God, our wife (soul) has to submit to the knife (the word of God). We cannot be used of God in our natural good- ness; we have to submit to the word of God, so God can cut

away the bad things in our life and bring forth fruit within us .. Many times God leads us to do His will, but we are kicking against "circumcision." We have to submit to the knife, the Word of God which exposes and cuts out the areas in our life that need to be severed, so we can be pure in heart and pure in motives.

Moses, at the age of eighty, had now been brought into full obedience to the Lord by submitting to the circumcision of his sons. That shows that our house must be set in order. God did not hold Zipporah accountable, but Moses. The man was made to be the head of the house. When the man is not doing what the Lord wants him to do, then he will have to face the discipline of God. He was made whole after his wife obeyed this law of circumcision.

Now Moses went to meet his brother, Aaron, and they had a joyful reconciliation. God gave Moses favor with Israel and they accepted his leadership. In chapter 5, we read how Moses confronted Pharaoh and Pharaoh scorned Moses' appeal. The people's work was increased and they blamed Moses and Aaron. Moses then complained to God and God assured him of the victory that He had planned.

As Moses complains to God when the things become harder, he gives God two more complaints. He tells God he is not able to face up to the situation. He makes five com- plaints in Midian and two more in Egypt – seven in all and seven is the number of completeness. So Moses, in one sense, was completely weak and a failure. He could not deliver Israel in himself, but God wanted him to know that his ness was indication that the strength of God would be manifested. Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong." When you say, "I have done all that I can," then rest in Him. God wants you to know that your extremity is His opportunity to intervene. Psalms 107:27-28 says,

 

"They are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. "

When you come to your wit's end, God is on the other end waiting to help you. When Moses came to the end of him- self, God said, "I will make you a god to Pharaoh and make Aaron your spokesman, your prophet, and give you authority to function before this man." God said, "Go tell Pharaoh to let you go into the wilderness," but they said, "I pray thee, let us go," wanting to soften the words. No wonder Pharaoh got after them! You have to deal with Pharaoh with the authority of the Word of God. Jesus confronted Satan in the wilderness with, "It is written; it is written; it is written." Use this sword against the enemy. We need to get back into the Word of God and believe His promises.

God told Moses in chapter 4 that He was going to harden Pharaoh's heart. Eighteen times a hardening of heart is mentioned. Sometimes it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart; sometimes that his heart was hardened; and sometimes that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Eighteen is a product of three and six. What is the number of the Antichrist? 666 i That is the number of man's rebellion against God. Why three sixes? To show us that this is man's rebellion in three categories. Man is a threefold being - spirit, soul, and body (I Thess. 5:23). The three sixes shows opposition in three realms. Eighteen is three sixes (6+6+6= 18). " .. .In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (II Cor. 13:1). The Scriptures also state that a threefold cord is not easily broken (Eccles. 4:12). The eighteen references are as follows: "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" - Exodus 4:21; 7:3,13; 9:12; 10:1,20,27; 11:10; 14:4,8; "Pharaoh hardened his (own) heart" - Exodus 8:15,32; 9:34; "Pharaoh's heart was hardened" Exodus 7:14,22; 8:19; 9:7,35. There are three words for hardened. One means to be 'strong or stubborn'; one means to be 'heavy, dull, or unresponsive'; and the third means to be 'hard, severe, or obstinate.'

Many people use the hardening of Pharaoh's heart by God to say that God is not fair, i.e., God already hardened Pharaoh's heart, so Pharaoh had no choice in the matter. But is that really true? Remember that in Romans 9:13, God said, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have 1 hated." Did God say that arbitrarily or did He say it because of His foreknowledge? God being God foreknows what is going to happen, but God does not infringe on the human will. On the basis of His foreknowledge, He saw what Jacob would be and what Esau would be. God did not arbitrarily hate Esau; He hated him because Esau despised the birthright. But Jacob loved the birthright; he appreciated the things of God.

There are some basic principles in God's dealing with men.

The same fire that can melt rocks can harden clay. The same word of God that can bring blessing to some brings judgment to others. It is true that it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart, but when you look into the actual narrative, it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

In the Bible, the human heart is likened unto soil (Lk. 8:15).

In the parable, there are four kinds of soil that the seed fell into. The soil represents the human heart in the interpretation that Jesus gave. There are the hard soil, wayside ground, thorny ground, rocky ground, and good ground. The good ground would speak of the good soil of the heart that has been plowed up. It is only those in good ground that bear fruit. Man's problem is in the heart. Does God harden it or does man?

There is one difference between soil and the human heart.

The ground cannot decide to change itself; it depends on man to cultivate it. The soil has no will, but man has a will. In Hebrews 3 and 4, there are three Scriptures which say one

thing - "stop, look, listen." "To day if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Heb. 3:15). We harden our own hearts by refusing to hear the Voice of God. The Psalmist said, "A broken and a contrite heart, Oil God, Thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). A hardened heart is destined for judgment, but a heart that is broken and will face the convicting work of the Spirit, the plowing up of the soil by the Spirit and the Word of God, will receive good from God. That is the kind of heart God wants us to have. Pharaoh was an instrument in the hand of God. God used Pharaoh to bring glory to the nations, but He used Moses to bring greater glory, because Moses was a vessel and instrument, whereas Pharaoh was just an instrument.

"What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It is not of him that willetb or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."

Romans 9:14~16

Again you come back to the grace of God.

"For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have [ raised thee up, that [ might show My power in thee, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the earth."

Verse 17

That is the judgment of God. The governmental workings of God are seen in the fact that those who will humble them- selves will receive mercy. Those who harden their hearts, God hardens only in the sense that He delivers them to the fruit of their choice. Pharaoh was an instrument that caused the fame of God's power to be made known. But he was an evil instrument because he was not a vessel unto honor.

"What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long- suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. ,.

Romans 9:22

God endured Pharaoh's stubbornness for a long time, but there came a time when God held him to an accounting and he became a vessel of wrath.

"And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory."

Verse 23

Moses was a vessel of mercy.