Read with Me
Exodus 6:28-7:7 (HCSB)
On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, He said to him, “I am Yahweh; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”
But Moses replied in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”
The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put My hand on Egypt and bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out My hand against Egypt, and bring out the Israelites from among them.”
So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the LORD commanded them. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Listen with Me
Moses took the opportunity afforded by paused formed by the genealogy he had just written to do a quick recap before he launched into the description of the battle between Pharaoh and God. As usual in the biographical sections, Moses was narrating events as they unfolded. That doesn’t mean that God was not involved in those sections and that those sections are not inspired. God was guiding Moses’ mind as he wrote, ensuring that he not only included every important detail, but also that he remembered correctly and wrote accurately, using the best possible words and sentence structure in order to communicate throughout the generations.
Moses refreshed the memory of his readers that he had initially resisted God’s call to be the sole deliverer of Israel, and that God had capitulated by bringing his brother Aaron to speak for him. It set up a kind of hierarchy: God would speak to Moses, Moses would tell Aaron what God said, and Aaron would then deliver God’s words to Pharaoh.
But God also had Moses include the fact that He knew in advance that Pharaoh would not comply with God’s command to release the Israelites until his hand was forced by the signs and wonders He was going to perform in Egypt. Then Pharaoh would release them.
Moses then recorded the fact that he was 80 years old at the time he was recording these events, and that Aaron, his older brother, was 83. That means that at the time God selected them for this important task, they were at an age at which men were usually expected to pull back from leadership, allowing the younger men to step forward.
Pray with Me
Father, it is easy to see Your hand, to hear Your voice in places in Moses’ record, such as when he directly records Your words, Your commandments. But it makes sense that You would be involved even in the biographical records he includes to ensure that all the facts are correct, and that even his recollections aren’t misremembered or slanted in a more favorable direction. Thank You, Lord, for Your attention to even the smallest detail of Your word. Amen.