Esodo 4:10 Commento

This chapter, I. Continues and concludes God's discourse with Moses at the bush concerning this great affair of bringing Israel out of Egypt. 1. Moses objects the people's unbelief (Exo 4:1), and God answers that objection by giving him a power to work miracles, (1.) To turn his rod into a serpent, and then into a rod again (Exo 4:2-5). (2.) To make his hand leprous, and then whole again (Exo 4:6-8). (3.) To turn the water into blood (Exo 4:9). 2. Moses objects his own slowness of speech (Exo 4:10), and begs to be excused (Exo 4:13); but God answers this objection, (1.) By promising him his presence (Exo 4:11, Exo 4:12). (2.) By joining Aaron in commission with him (Exo 4:14-16). (3.) By putting an honour upon the very staff in his hand (Exo 4:17). II. It begins Moses's execution of his commission. 1. He obtains leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt (Exo 4:18). 2. He receives further instructions and encouragements from God (Exo 4:19, Exo 4:21-23). 3. He hastens his departure, and takes his family with him (Exo 4:20). 4. He meets with some difficulty in the way about the circumcising of his son (Exo 4:24-26). 5. He has the satisfaction of meeting his brother Aaron (Exo 4:27, Exo 4:28). 6. He produces his commission before the elders of Israel, to their great joy (Exo 4:29-31). And thus the wheels were set a going towards that great deliverance.

Moses still continues backward to the service for which God had designed him, even to a fault; for now we can no longer impute it to his humility and modesty, but must own that here was too much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief in it. Observe here, I. How Moses endeavours to excuse himself from the work. 1. He pleads that he was no good spokesman: O my Lord! I am not eloquent, Exo 4:10. He was a great philosopher, statesman, and divine, and yet no orator; a man of a clear head, great thought, and solid judgment, but had not a voluble tongue, or ready utterance, and therefore he thought himself unfit to speak before great men about great affairs, and in danger of being run down by the Egyptians. Observe, (1.) We must not judge of men by the readiness and fluency of their discourse. Moses was mighty in word (Act 7:22), and yet not eloquent: what he said was strong and nervous, and to the purpose, and distilled as the dew (Deu 32:2), though he did not deliver himself with that readiness, ease, and elegance, that some do, who have not the tenth part of his sense. St. Paul's speech was contemptible, Co2 10:10. A great deal of wisdom and true worth is concealed by a slow tongue. (2.) God is pleased sometimes to make choice of those as his messengers who have fewest of the advantages of art or nature, that his grace in them may appear the more glorious. Christ's disciples were no orators, till the Spirit made them such. 2. When this plea was overruled, and all his excuses were answered, he begged that God would send somebody else on this errand and leave him to keep sheep in Midian (Exo 4:13): "Send by any hand but mine; thou canst certainly find one much more fit." Note, An unwilling mind will take up with a sorry excuse rather than none, and is willing to devolve those services upon others that have any thing of difficulty or danger in them. II. How God condescends to answer all his excuses. Though the anger of the Lord was kindled against him (Exo 4:14), yet he continued to reason with him, till he had overcome him. Note, Even self-diffidence, when it grows into an extreme - when it either hinders us from duty or clogs us in duty, or when it discourages our dependence upon the grace of God - is very displeasing to him. God justly resents our backwardness to serve him, and has reason to take it ill; for he is such a benefactor as is before-hand with us, and such a rewarder as will not be behind-hand with us. Note further, God is justly displeased with those whom yet he does not reject: he vouchsafes to reason the case even with his froward children, and overcomes them, as he did Moses here, with grace and kindness. 1. To balance the weakness of Moses, he here reminds him of his own power, Exo 4:11. (1.) His power in that concerning which Moses made the objection: Who has made man's mouth? Have not I the Lord? Moses knew that God made man, but he must be reminded now that God made man's mouth. An eye to God as Creator would help us over a great many of the difficulties which lie in the way of our duty, Psa 124:8. God, as the author of nature, has given us the power and faculty of speaking; and from him, as the fountain of gifts and graces, comes the faculty of speaking well, the mouth and wisdom (Luk 21:15), the tongue of the learned (Isa 50:4); he pours grace into the lips, Psa 45:2. (2.) His power in general over the other faculties. Who but God makes the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? [1.] The perfections of our faculties are his work, he makes the seeing; he formed the eye (Psa 94:9); he opens the understanding, the eye of the mind, Luk 24:45. [2.] Their imperfections are from him too; he make the dumb, and deaf, and blind. Is there any evil of this kind, and the Lord has not done it? No doubt he has, and always in wisdom and righteousness, and for his own glory, Joh 9:3. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were made deaf and blind spiritually, as Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10. But God knew how to manage them, and get himself honour upon them. 2. To encourage him in this great undertaking, he repeats the promise of his presence, not only in general, I will be with thee (Isa 3:12), but in particular, "I will be with thy mouth, so that the imperfection in thy speech shall be no prejudice to thy message." It does not appear that God did immediately remove the infirmity, whatever it was; but he did that which was equivalent, he taught him what to say, and then let the matter recommend itself: if others spoke more gracefully, none spoke more powerfully. Note, Those whom God employs to speak for him ought to depend upon him for instructions, and it shall be given them what they shall speak, Mat 10:19. 3. He joins Aaron in commission with him. He promises that Aaron shall meet him opportunely, and that he will be glad to see him, they having not seen one another (it is likely) for many years, Exo 4:14. He directs him to make use of Aaron as his spokesman, Exo 4:16. God might have laid Moses wholly aside, for his backwardness to be employed; but he considered his frame, and ordered him an assistant. Observe, (1.) Two are better than one, Ecc 4:9. God will have his two witnesses (Rev 11:3), that out of their mouths every word may be established. (2.) Aaron was the brother of Moses, divine wisdom so ordering it, that their natural affection one to another might strengthen their union in the joint execution of their commission. Christ sent his disciples two and two, and some of the couples were brothers. (3.) Aaron was the elder brother, and yet he was willing to be employed under Moses in this affair, because God would have it so. (4.) Aaron could speak well, and yet was far inferior to Moses in wisdom. God dispenses his gifts variously to the children of men, that we may see our need one of another, and each may contribute something to the good of the body, Co1 12:21. The tongue of Aaron, with the head and heart of Moses, would make one completely fit for this embassy. (5.) God promises, I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth. Even Aaron, that could speak well, yet could not speak to purpose unless God was with his mouth; without the constant aids of divine grace the best gifts will fail. 4. He bids him take the rod with him in his hand (Exo 4:17), to intimate that he must bring about his undertaking rather by acting than by speaking; the signs he should work with this rod might abundantly supply the want of eloquence; one miracle would do him better service than all the rhetoric in the world. Take this rod, the rod he carried as a shepherd, that he might not be ashamed of that mean condition out of which God called him. This rod must be his staff of authority, and must be to him instead both of sword and sceptre.

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 4 This chapter is a continuation of the discourse that passed between God and Moses; and here Moses makes other objections to his mission; one is taken from the unbelief of the people of Israel, which is removed by giving him power to work miracles, by turning the rod in his hand into a serpent, and then into a rod again; and by putting his hand into his bosom at one time, when it became leprous, and again into the same place, when it became sound and whole, and by turning the water of the river into blood, Exo 4:1, another objection is formed from his want of eloquence, which is answered with an assurance, that God, that made man's mouth, would be with his mouth, and teach him what to say; and besides, Aaron his brother, who was an eloquent man, should be his spokesman, Exo 4:10 upon which he returned to Midian, and having obtained leave of his father-in-law to depart from thence, he took his wife and his sons, and returned to Egypt, Exo 4:18 at which time he received some fresh instructions from the Lord what he should do before Pharaoh, and what he should say unto him, Exo 4:21 then follows an account of what befell him by the way, because of the circumcision of his son, Exo 4:24 and the chapter is closed with an account of the meeting of Moses and Aaron, and of their gathering the elders of Israel together, to whom the commission of Moses was opened, and signs done before them, to which they gave credit, and expressed their joy and thankfulness, Exo 4:27.

And Moses said unto the Lord,.... Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered: I am not eloquent; or "a man of words" (s), that has words at command, that can speak well readily, and gracefully; such an one, he intimates, was proper to be sent to a king's court, that was an orator, that could make fine speeches, and handsome addresses, for which he was not qualified: neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant; neither in his younger years had he ever been an eloquent man, nor was there any alteration in him in that respect, since God had given him this call: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; had some impediment in his speech, could not freely and easily bring out his words, or rightly pronounce them; so Lucian (t) the Heathen calls Moses slow tongued, or one slow of speech, and uses the same word the Septuagint does here, which version perhaps he had seen, and from thence took it. (s) "vir verborum", Paguinus, Montanus, Piscator, Ainsworth. (t) In Philopatride.

Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins [Hebrews 11:37] went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, "I am but dust and ashes." [Genesis 18:27] Moreover, it is thus written of Job, "Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." [Job 1:1] But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day." [Job 14:4-5] Moses was called faithful in all God's house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures. Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, "Who am I, that You send me? I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue." [Exodus 4:10] And again he said, "I am but as the smoke of a pot."

Moses himself once said: “I am alogos”(“wordless”). The Latin version uses a different expression, but we can translate the word alogos exactly as “without words and reason.” After he said this, he received reason and speech, which he admitted that he did not have before. When the people of Israel were in Egypt, before they had received the law, they too were without words and reason and thus in a sense mute. Then they received the Word; Moses was the image of it. So these people do not admit now what Moses had once admitted—that they are mute and wordless—but show by signs and silence that they have neither words nor reason. Do you not realize that the Jews are confessing their folly when none of them can give a reasonable explanation of the precepts of their law and of the predictions of their prophets?

But I shall also bring forth still another passage for you which you cannot contradict. In Exodus where we have written in the codices of the church Moses responding to the Lord and saying, “Provide, Lord, another whom you will send. For I am feeble in voice and slow in tongue,” you have in the Hebrew copies, “But I am uncircumcised in lips.” Behold, you have a circumcision of lips according to your copies, which you say to be more accurate. If therefore according to you Moses still says that he is unworthy because he has not been circumcised in his lips, he certainly indicates this, that he would be worthier and holier who is circumcised in his lips. Therefore apply the pruning hook also to your lips and cut off the covering of your mouth since indeed such an understanding pleases you in the divine letters. But if you refer circumcision of lips to allegory and say no less that circumcision of ears is allegorical and figurative, why do you not also inquire after allegory in circumcision of the foreskin?

[Moses] believes that by God’s will he can suddenly become eloquent when he says, “or since the time you began to speak to your servant.” He shows that it could happen that one who was not eloquent the day before, or the day before that, could suddenly become eloquent, from the time when the Lord began to speak to him.

Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites would not credit his Divine mission, Exo 4:1; God, to strengthen his faith, and to assure him that his countrymen would believe him, changed his rod into a serpent, and the serpent into a rod, Exo 4:2-5; made his hand leprous, and afterwards restored it, Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7; intimating that he had now endued him with power to work such miracles, and that the Israelites would believe, Exo 4:8; and farther assures him that he should have power to turn the water into blood, Exo 4:9. Moses excuses himself on the ground of his not being eloquent, Exo 4:10, and God reproves him for his unbelief, and promises to give him supernatural assistance, Exo 4:11, Exo 4:12. Moses expressing his utter unwillingness to go on any account, God is angry, and then promises to give him his brother Aaron to be his spokesman, Exo 4:13-16, and appoints his rod to be the instrument of working miracles, Exo 4:17. Moses returns to his relative Jethro, and requests liberty to visit his brethren in Egypt, and is permitted, Exo 4:18. God appears to him in Midian, and assures him that the Egyptians who sought his life were dead, Exo 4:19. Moses, with his wife and children, set out on their journey to Egypt, Exo 4:20. God instructs him what he shall say to Pharaoh, Exo 4:21-23. He is in danger of losing his life, because he had not circumcised his son, Exo 4:24. Zipporah immediately circumcising the child, Moses escapes unhurt, Exo 4:25, Exo 4:26. Aaron is commanded to go and meet his brother Moses; he goes and meets him at Horeb, Exo 4:27. Moses informs him of the commission he had received from God, Exo 4:28. They both go to their brethren, deliver their message, and work miracles, Exo 4:29, Exo 4:30. The people believe and adore God, Exo 4:31.

I am not eloquent - לא איש דברים lo ish debarim, I am not a man of words; a periphrasis common in the Scriptures. So Job 11:2, איש שפתים ish sephathayim, a man of lips, signifies one that is talkative. Psa 140:11, איש לשון ish lashon, a man of tongue, signifies a prattler. But how could it be said that Moses was not eloquent, when St. Stephen asserts, Act 7:22, that he was mighty in words as well as in deeds? There are three ways of solving this difficulty: 1. Moses might have had some natural infirmity, of a late standing, which at that time rendered it impossible for him to speak readily, and which he afterwards overcame; so that though he was not then a man of words, yet he might afterwards have been mighty in words as well as deeds. 2. It is possible he was not intimately acquainted with the Hebrew tongue, so as to speak clearly and distinctly in it. The first forty years of his life he had spent in Egypt, chiefly at court; and though it is very probable there was an affinity between the two languages, yet they certainly were not the same. The last forty he had spent in Midian, and it is not likely that the pure Hebrew tongue prevailed there, though it is probable that a dialect of it was there spoken. On these accounts Moses might find it difficult to express himself with that readiness and persuasive flow of language, which he might deem essentially necessary on such a momentous occasion; as he would frequently be obliged to consult his memory for proper expressions, which would necessarily produce frequent hesitation, and general slowness of utterance, which he might think would ill suit an ambassador of God. 3. Though Moses was slow of speech, yet when acting as the messenger of God his word was with power, for at his command the plagues came and the plagues were stayed; thus was he mighty in words as well as in deeds: and this is probably the meaning of St. Stephen. By the expression, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, he might possibly mean that the natural inaptitude to speak readily, which he had felt, he continued to feel, even since God had begun to discover himself; for though he had wrought several miracles for him, yet he had not healed this infirmity. See Clarke on Exo 6:12 (note).

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.

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.

Moses raised another difficulty. "I am not a man of words," he said (i.e., I do not possess the gift of speech), "but am heavy in mouth and heavy in tongue" (i.e., I find a difficulty in the use of mouth and tongue, not exactly "stammering"); and that "both of yesterday and the day before" (i.e., from the very first, Gen 31:2), "and also since Thy speaking to Thy servant." Moses meant to say, "I neither possess the gift of speech by nature, nor have I received it since Thou hast spoken to me." Exo 4:11-12 Jehovah both could and would provide for this defect. He had made man's mouth, and He made dumb or deaf, seeing or blind. He possessed unlimited power over all the senses, could give them or take them away; and He would be with Moses' mouth, and teach him what he was to say, i.e., impart to him the necessary qualification both as to matter and mode. - Moses' difficulties were now all exhausted, and removed by the assurances of God. But this only brought to light the secret reason in his heart. He did not wish to undertake the divine mission. Exo 4:13 "Send, I pray Thee," he says, "by whom Thou wilt send;" i.e., carry out Thy mission by whomsoever Thou wilt. בּיד שׁלח: to carry out a mission through any one, originally with accus. rei (Sa1 16:20; Sa2 11:14), then without the object, as here, "to send a person" (cf. Sa2 12:25; Kg1 2:25). Before תּשׁלח the word אשׁר is omitted, which stands with בּיד in the construct state (vid., Ges. 123, 3). The anger of God was now excited by this groundless opposition. But as this unwillingness also arose from weakness of the flesh, the mercy of God came to the help of his weakness, and He referred Moses to his brother Aaron, who could speak well, and would address the people for him (Exo 4:14-17). Aaron is called הלּוי, the Levite, from his lineage, possibly with reference to the primary signification of לוה "to connect one's self" (Baumgarten), but not with any allusion to the future calling of the tribe of Levi (Rashi and Calvin). הוּא ידבּר דּבּר speak will he. The inf. abs. gives emphasis to the verb, and the position of הוּא to the subject. He both can and will speak, if thou dost not know it. Exo 4:14-17 And Aaron is quite ready to do so. He is already coming to meet thee, and is glad to see thee. The statement in Exo 4:27, where Jehovah directs Aaron to go and meet Moses, is not at variance with this. They can both be reconciled in the following simple manner: "As soon as Aaron heard that his brother had left Midian, he went to meet him of his own accord, and then God showed him by what road he must go to find him, viz., towards the desert" (R. Mose ben Nachman). - "Put the words" (sc., which I have told thee) "into his mouth;" and I will support both thee and him in speaking. "He will be mouth to thee, and thou shalt be God to him." Cf. Exo 7:1, "Thy brother Aaron shall be thy prophet." Aaron would stand in the same relation to Moses, as a prophet to God: the prophet only spoke what God inspired him with, and Moses should be the inspiring God to him. The Targum softens down the word "God" into "master, teacher." Moses was called God, as being the possessor and medium of the divine word. As Luther explains it, "Whoever possesses and believes the word of God, possesses the Spirit and power of God, and also the divine wisdom, truth, heart, mind, and everything that belongs to God." In Exo 4:17, the plural "signs" points to the penal wonders that followed; for only one of the three signs given to Moses was performed with the rod. Exo 4:18 In consequence of this appearance of God, Moses took leave of his father-in-law to return to his brethren in Egypt, though without telling him the real object of his journey, no doubt because Jethro had not the mind to understand such a divine revelation, though he subsequently recognised the miracles that God wrought for Israel (Exo 18). By the "brethren" we are to understand not merely the nearer relatives of Moses, or the family of Amram, but the Israelites generally. Considering the oppression under which they were suffering at the time of Moses' flight, the question might naturally arise, whether they were still living, and had not been altogether exterminated.