TEXT

INTRODUCTION

Forty years after a personal abortive effort to free Israel, Moses is now being confronted by God and being sent back to the scene of his earlier failure. (Exodus 2:11-15) He is now more mature and sensitive to the limitations of his own efforts. And yet he clearly is not anxious to respond to the divine call--sudden and unexpected as it was, and unprepared as he was.

Such reluctance is not unusual in the Old Testament where more often than not people whom God called were hesitant to respond. Amos, who describes himself as "a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore" states that "the Lord took me" from his flock and ordered him, "Go prophesy to my people Israel." (Amos 7:14-15) Gideon testifies that the Lord commanded him "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel,"--to which he responded, "But, sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family." (Judges 6:14-15) Isaiah sought release from his assignment, stating, "I am a man of unclean lips." (Isaiah 6:5) Jeremiah failed in his attempt to excuse himself by claiming, "Oh, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." (Jeremiah 1:6) To which the Lord responded, "You shall go to all to whom I send you." (Jeremiah 1:7) Later Jeremiah will remonstrate: "O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing stock all day long; everyone mocks me . . . . If I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,' then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary holding it in, and I cannot." (Jeremiah 20:7,9)

Those of us who are confronted with God's call today, also need to be reluctant. A facile response may well indicate ignorance, shallowness, or egotism. To struggle and search is not sin. While God always insisted on obedience, he was nevertheless patient, willing to respond to fears and feelings of inadequacy.

Moses here in our lesson, along with the others who were called by God to do his service, should serve as examples and patterns for us who are sensitive to the divine call.

Let us note the four issues Moses needed addressed before he could respond to God's call.

OUTLINE

 

I. Who Am I?

As we have already observed, Moses has good reason to question God's choice of him. Had he not already failed?

The writer of Hebrews notes that "when he was grown up" (11:24) he identified himself with the people of Israel, throwing in his lot with their suffering. He left the privilege and security of the palace and "went out to his people." (Exodus 2:11) There in the desert he saw (this word means to see with the emotions, either with satisfaction or distress--clearly the latter here) the peoples' forced labor and attempted to effect a release by the killing of a brutal task master.

It was not Moses' impulse to save Israel that was wrong, but the action he took. Actually the text expresses no moral assessment of the deed, the narrator being much more concerned with Moses' good and essential qualities of courage and intolerance of oppression. He had significant potential, having received the conventional education of the privileged in Egypt and having had instilled in him the values and beliefs of his parental home.

But Moses needed time. He needed time to deal with his anger and egotism for the two remaining episodes that are recorded here reveal that he had not yet learned his limitations and weaknesses.

In the second incident (Exodus 2:13-14) which occurred the next day, Moses remonstrated with a bully who was harming a fellow Hebrew. From the assailant's retort, Moses may not simply have been content to express his dissatisfaction verbally, but was about to do so physically when he was reminded that the murder of the previous day was now common knowledge. He had no choice but to flee. His well intentioned efforts had failed.

The third incident (Exodus 2:15-18) reveals Moses' excellent quality of intolerance of injustice. He drove off some rough Midianite shepherds who were pushing aside a group of girls who were first in line to draw water. The text is not explicit, but would seem to imply some bellicose actions on Moses' part.

Moses had significant qualities and potential, but he needed time--time to deal with his anger and egotism. He must not play God, but rather learn to be a servant of the Lord. It took the middle portion of his life for Moses to learn this lesson.

And now at 80 years of age, embarking on the third phase of his life, he is more mature and realistic. He is not certain that he can trust himself, nor should he, nor need he. He is assured of God's presence and given a promise. He would indeed succeed in delivering the Israelites and they would worship after the Exodus at this very spot. A promise--but one that demanded obedience and faith!

This look at Moses reveals that God, in calling us to do his bidding, is sensitive to our good qualities, our potential, while not unconcerned with our weaknesses. The affairs of our lives, as with Moses, which predate our call, contribute to our preparation. But we may well need to spend time in the desert (even Jesus and Paul did) in an honest assessment of who we are before we are ready to respond to God's call. With us, as with Moses, it comes with a promise of his presence.

  

II. Who Are You?

To us located in a time and place of monotheism, this question may seem ridiculous, but we will need to keep in mind the polytheism of Moses' time when the gods were identified by name.

This God did by associating himself with the patriarchs--with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--names of significance to the enslaved Israelites. In fact even before this request of Moses, God had so identified himself when at the burning bush Moses' attention shifted from the visual to the aural (Exodus 3:6). Moses was confronted by the God of his and the Israelites' fathers.

But too much should not be made of identity. While in English Moses' question is rendered "What is your name?" his concern was not so much with identity as with character. What is your nature, character, essence? What kind of God are you? Frequently, in patriarchal times, any new revelation of God would be summed up in a new title for him and this title would indicate what he was and would do.

Here then God characterizes himself as one who is and one who will be. Minimally, this means that in contrast to lifeless idols, God does exist and he does respond and he will respond to the enslavement of Israel. He is to be understood in terms of his actions. In the Old Testament God is normatively identified by his actions. He is the God that causes to be. Here then we have God's self-affirmation and self-giving; here we have more than theology, we have a confrontation that demands response.

Moses could not respond to God's call, nor could the Israelites respond to Moses' assignment until they knew God. While the name, I Am Who I Am, is unfathomable and will never be fully understood, yet it is inconceivable that one could respond to God's call without some understanding of his being, without some confrontation with God when he becomes real. Not only is it critical for the person responding to the divine call to know themselves; they must know God!

  

III. Will The People Receive Me?

Moses now raised a new issue--the people, his congregation. Recollecting the earlier retort of the Hebrew he attempted to help--"Who made you ruler and judge over us?"--he anticipated that the Hebrew people would not believe him. They would claim that his experience at the burning bush was an illusion, that God had not spoken to him, nor called him.

Moses not only struggled with his ability and the nature of God, but now with the response of his people. He wanted to be believed and received. The promise of worship on God's mountain that God gave Moses demanded initial faith and Moses did not expect this of the people. What could be done to make the people believe?

If Moses expected God to care for this, bypassing him, he was disappointed. First, God used what was in Moses' hand--a shepherd's crook. Significantly this was the very instrument of temptation for Moses would have preferred to remain a shepherd in Midian. Now that instrument would be displayed in a new way, to serve his people--the sheep of God's pasture. Not only did God use what was at hand, he utilized a common act that could and would be reproduced by the Egyptian magicians. But here-in is a subtle difference. The rod in Moses' hand was a simple shepherd's crook, not a magic wand. There was no inherent power in it. Further, Moses in picking up the serpent by its tail, did something no snake handler would do. Snakes are to be grasped at the back of the neck. But God's command to seize it by the tail must be followed even if it is unusual and frightening.

Second, God brought the issue even closer to home. He employed not only what was in Moses' hand, but his very physical being. His body was smitten with the dread disease of leprosy. Nothing could have been more distressing. If in the case of the rod he could not expect divine intervention without his mediation, he now discovered that he could not expect to be detached and unaffected by God's call. His very body would be involved. Never again could he claim "my body is my own."

Moses is thus made to see that the way to handle the incredulity of the people is not so much to change them as it is to change himself. He must be willing to believe that God can effect belief in people through the common and the physical if they are devoted to him.

Moses' concern here and God's response establish a pattern that is critical to effective ministry. In weighing the call of God, servants must not only contemplate God and assess themselves, but they must also consider the people to whom they will be ministering. They must be believed and received to be effective. Surely God will care for this--but no!--there is no magic wand, no effortless results, no costless accomplishments. As frightening and costly as they are, snakes and leprosy must be confronted and as ordinary as they are, that which is in our hands and even our very bodies must be given. Faith cannot be generated in the hearts of people to whom the servants minister until it is first of all found in them and expressed in obedience to God's will.

  

IV. What Is My Message?

Moses now raised his final concern. He has already addressed his concerns about God, himself, and the people. The matter of the message itself must now be faced.

Moses' statement, "I am slow of speech and slow of tongue," is generally understood to mean that he had a speech defect, that he possibly stuttered or stammered. While this may well be, there is no subsequent evidence of it as Moses again and again addressed the multitudes of Israel without any means of sound amplification. However, should one insist on this meaning, God's response is that he would be Moses' speech therapist since after all he had made Moses' mouth.

Others have seen in these words of Moses a claim that since he had been away from Egypt for many years his fluency in the language of the land had deteriorated. Perhaps Moses' words should be understood to mean that he is an inexperienced public speaker and that he is frightened by the art of public speaking. Again no problem since God promised to be "with his mouth."

There may be a deeper meaning here. Perhaps it is more likely that Moses realized that he had no message, nothing to command the attention of the people or Pharaoh. Such a reaction would be in keeping with the prophetic reaction of the Old Testament. When called to the prophetic office, Jeremiah demurred: "I do not know how to speak." (Jeremiah 1:6) At his call it was the lips of Isaiah that were touched by a live coal from the altar. (Isaiah 6:6,7)

Such a confession and concession by Moses is significant for the prophets were called not to deliver their own ideas, but those of God. When there was no message from God, they remained silent. When "the word of the Lord came to them" they spoke.

Moses would not need to generate his own message. He was to "tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you." (Exodus 6:30) This provision is made even more emphatic in the call of Jeremiah: "You shall go to all whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, . . . . Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, 'Now I have put my words in your mouth.'" (Jeremiah 1:7,9)

The prophetic unwillingness to speak without a message from the Lord is a significant lesson to be noted. Nothing should give aspiring ministers more occasion for pause than this. What will they say? More important than the rod, than the person, than the audience, is the Word. Ministers have no greater responsibility than the proclamation of God's Word.

 

Conclusion

Even after Moses' four concerns were addressed he was still reluctant, urging God to send someone else. The answers provided to his questions only intensified his reluctance to respond.

At this point the gentleness of God gave way to anger. The limits of divine tolerance had been reached. Whether gladly or hesitatingly, Moses was to go to Egypt.

The call to ministry is understandably one that is feared and one that is to be avoided. However, when the call becomes so clear and the conviction so firm that it cannot be ignored, the ones called must place aside their reluctance and respond with staff in hand. If the call can be put aside and forgotten it is not likely a divine one, but when the called ones sense that God will be angry if they do not respond, then respond they must!

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