Moses’s Call
Moses's Call
Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
The Burning Bush
Meanwhile, Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. As he guided the flock to the far side of the wilderness, he came to Horeb, God’s mountain. Yahweh’s messenger appeared to him there as a flame burning in the middle of a bush. Moses saw the bush was on fire—yet it didn’t burn up! So Moses thought, “I must turn from the path to see this incredible sight. Why isn’t the bush burning?”
When Yahweh saw Moses had turned from the path to look, he called out from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Yes? I’m here.”
“Don’t come any closer. Take off your sandals because you’re standing on holy ground.” Then Yahweh continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” So Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
Like Jacob before him, Moses earned his keep by taking care of his father-in-law’s flock.1 Most scholars believe Jethro is another name for Reuel, the head of the family in Exodus 2:18–22. Reuel could also be Jethro’s father and Zipporah’s grandfather. Either way, Jethro had entrusted his flock to Moses, who wouldn’t endure the bullying Jethro’s daughters suffered.2 Years later, Moses guided the flock across the wilderness of Sinai while looking for pasture. When he came to Horeb, the location of Mount Sinai, he had no idea God waited to meet him in that remote area.
A ways off the path, a solitary bush on fire caught Moses’s attention. While flames normally burn around the edges of the fuel source, Moses noticed the flame burned in the middle of the bush and never consumed it. So he left the path for a closer look, unaware the fire was Yahweh’s messenger in the form of a flame.3 Though most translations say Moses saw Yahweh’s messenger in a flame, the context shows Moses didn’t see anything in the flame, just the flame in the bush.
As Moses approached the bush, Yahweh called out and warned him to stop and remove his sandals. He then introduced himself as the God of Moses’s ancestors. Because of God’s presence, the ground around the bush had become holy. God’s holiness serves as a major theme in Exodus. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never had to remove their sandals in God’s presence. But Moses would oversee the construction of the tabernacle and prepare the Israelites to live with God in their midst. He had to learn how to properly handle the sacred.
Seen and Heard
Yahweh said, “I’ve certainly seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I’ve heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I understand how they suffer. So I’ve come to rescue them from Egypt’s power and to bring them out from that land to a good and spacious land, a land that flows with milk and honey, the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
“Now listen! The Israelites’ cry has reached me, and I’ve also seen how cruelly the Egyptians are oppressing them. Now go! I’m sending you to the pharaoh. Bring my people, the Israelites, out from Egypt.”
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
After establishing his authority as the God of Moses’s ancestors, Yahweh explained the problem he had come to discuss. He had seen the suffering of the Israelites living in Egypt and heard their cries for help. In response, he had come to rescue them. He would bring them out of Egypt and fulfill his promise to return them to Canaan.4
In calling Canaan “a good and spacious land,” God directly contrasted it with Egypt. Except for the area along the Nile, most of Egypt is uninhabitable desert. Even today 95% of the population lives on 5% of the land.5 Because of the fertility of the land of Canaan, the Israelites would have space to spread out. Canaan had open pastures for livestock that produce milk, forests, and land suitable for agriculture. The Hebrew word devash means both honey from bees and sweet syrup made from fruit. Canaan would provide these delights in abundance.
Having explained his intentions, God turned to his reason for appearing to Moses—to formally commission him as his representative. Using two commands beginning with the word “now” (ʿattah), God indicated the urgency of the situation. First, God commanded Moses to listen as he reiterated the reason for his judgment. God heard the Israelites’ accusation against the Egyptians and then witnessed the cruelty himself. God then commanded Moses to go back to Egypt. He would speak to the pharaoh on God’s behalf and then bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Qualifications
But Moses replied to God, “Who am I to go to the pharaoh and bring the Israelites out from Egypt?”
“I am with you,” God answered. “This will be the sign to show you I sent you: when you’ve brought the people out from Egypt, you’ll serve God on this mountain.”
Image by Hunter McGee from Creation Swap
God commanded Moses to return to Egypt and speak to the pharaoh as God’s representative. But instead of obeying, Moses responded with five objections. First, he asked God, “Who am I?” Moses objected to God’s calling because he didn’t feel qualified for the job. Years of exile had humbled his pride. Moses the powerful Egyptian prince had tried to free the Israelites but failed.6 What could Moses the humble Midianite shepherd do? That dream had died long ago.
God didn’t debate Moses’s point. Moses wasn’t qualified, neither as a prince nor as a shepherd. He couldn’t succeed alone, and he failed the first time because he acted outside God’s authority. But he would succeed the second time because God was with him. Moses’s qualifications didn’t matter. God’s did.
God gave Moses a sign to reassure him that this time he went with God’s authority. But God wouldn’t fulfill the sign until after Moses obeyed. Moses had to step out in faith first. Then God would affirm his faith by freeing the Israelites and bringing them back to that same mountain. When Moses once again stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, he would know God had sent him to Egypt.
The Name
“Suppose I go to the Israelites,” Moses replied. “I’ll say to them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you.’ Then they’ll ask, ‘What’s his name?’ What would I tell them?”
“I am who I am,” God answered Moses. “Tell the Israelites this: ‘I am sent me to you.’”
God continued, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is how you’re to remember me from generation to generation.’”
Moses’s second objection follows logically from the first. It didn’t matter who Moses was, so Moses asked who God was. The question goes beyond asking God’s name. The Israelites believed a name revealed a person’s character.7 Moses expected the Israelites to ask why they should risk angering the pharaoh in the name of a God who hadn’t stopped Egypt from enslaving them in the first place. How could Moses convince them their God had the power to defy one of the most powerful nations in the world and its gods?
God’s first response to Moses’s question addressed the heart of the matter. “I am who I am” is not a name. It’s the essence of God’s character. In choosing his own name, God didn’t emphasize his holiness, his power, his wisdom, his justice, or his goodness. He emphasized his existence. God is. He exists, and everything else exists through him and because of him. The Israelites could trust him because he is, and the gods of Egypt aren’t.
God then gave Moses two responses to the Israelites’ hypothetical question. “I am sent me to you,” and “Yahweh . . . sent me to you.” In fact, both answer the question about God’s name, but from two difference perspectives. God calls himself “I am” (ʾehyeh). But the Israelites called him Yahweh, which means “he is.”8 God commanded his people to teach the name Yahweh (not “the Lord”) to their children in every generation forever. By remembering God by his chosen name, they would proclaim to the world that Yahweh is the only God who is.
Israel’s Response
“Go gather the elders of Israel and say, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—appeared to me and said, ‘I’ve come to demand an accounting for you and for what’s been done to you in Egypt! I promised to bring you back from affliction in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land that flows with milk and honey.’
“They’ll obey you, so take the elders of Israel with you to the king of Egypt and say to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews met with us. Now, please, we must go a three-day distance into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, our God.’”
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Having answered Moses’s question, Yahweh continued to allay his servant’s fears by describing what would happen in Egypt. He commanded Moses to begin by calling together the elders of Israel. When Moses first tried to free the Israelites, he acted independently not only of God but also of the Israelites themselves. This time, God would not allow him to bypass their legitimate leadership.
Moses would tell the elders Yahweh had come to fulfill his promises to their ancestors.9 He would judge Egypt for their cruel treatment of the Israelites. Then he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt back to the fertile land of Canaan. Yahweh assured Moses the elders would willingly obey him. They would believe him and go with him to the pharaoh. Moses had to go, but he didn’t have to go alone.
Together, Moses and the elders would explain to the pharaoh that their God had appeared to meet with them (meaning he met with Moses on their behalf). He required them to leave Egypt and travel “a three-day distance into the wilderness.” There they would offer sacrifices to him. One of the ways the people of the ancient Near East measured length estimated the average distance a person could travel in a day.10 This inexact measurement likely involved caravans that could travel significantly faster than the Israelites could with their livestock and children in tow.
The three-day journey to Sinai, where they would offer sacrifices to Yahweh, had nothing to do with when or if the Israelites would return. In fact, the Israelites traveled at a leisurely pace, and it took them six weeks to reach Mount Sinai.11 But the request to travel a three-day distance was no ruse, as it’s often misconstrued. It showed the Israelites would leave Egypt completely and contained no promise of return. God didn’t expect the pharaoh to foolishly assume one.
Egypt’s Response
“But I know the king of Egypt won’t allow you to go. No strong power will convince him. So with my power I’ll strike Egypt by performing all my wonders in their midst. After that, he’ll send you away. I’ll cause the Egyptians to deal generously with this people so you won’t leave empty-handed. Every woman will ask her neighbor and any woman living in her home for clothing and objects of silver and gold. You’ll clothe your sons and daughters with them. In this way, you’ll plunder the Egyptians.”
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
The Israelite elders would respond to Moses with obedience, but the pharaoh would not obey. Yahweh warned Moses that the pharaoh would refuse the request to leave Egypt. The Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a demigod, the son of the sun-god Re (or Ra).12 Therefore, he ruled with the authority of the highest of all gods. World History Encyclopedia describes Re as “the unseen power behind all other powers,” including other gods.13 The “son of Re” had no reason to submit to anyone.
Yahweh knew the pharaoh’s pride wouldn’t allow him to admit the existence of a power stronger than himself. But Yahweh had promised to return his people to Canaan. This would result in a power struggle during which Yahweh would strike Egypt with a series of “wonders.” These would prove his power over the pharaoh and give the pharaoh every chance to obey willingly. His refusal would lead to his defeat and the defeat of Egypt’s gods. After Yahweh’s complete victory in this struggle, the pharaoh would send the Israelites away.
Witnessing this power struggle would cause the Egyptian people to respect the Israelites’ God and give the Israelites gifts, serving as compensation for their years of unpaid labor. To receive these gifts, the Israelites just had to ask their neighbors for gold, silver, and clothing. They would then clothe their children in these gifts as they left. To underscore the humiliation of Egypt’s false gods, even the women of Israel would plunder the wealth of Egypt.
The Signs
Moses replied, “Look! They won’t believe me or obey me! They’ll say, ‘Yahweh didn’t appear to you.’”
“What’s that in your hand?” Yahweh asked him.
“A staff.”
“Throw it on the ground,” Yahweh said.
So Moses threw it on the ground. It changed into a snake, and Moses drew back from it.
Then Yahweh told Moses, “Reach out and grab its tail”—he reached out and grabbed it, and it changed back into a staff in his hand—“so they’ll believe Yahweh, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—appeared to you.”
Yahweh continued, “Please put your hand in your cloak.”
Moses put his hand in his cloak. When he took it out, his skin was diseased! It looked like snow!
“Put your hand back in your cloak.”
So he put his hand back in his cloak. When he took it out, his flesh had been restored!
Then Yahweh said, “If they don’t believe you or obey the first sign, they’ll believe the second sign. But if they don’t believe either of these two signs and they still won’t obey you, take some water from the Nile and pour it out on dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
After Yahweh answered Moses’s two questions, Moses’s next two objections took the form of statements. First, he directly contradicted Yahweh’s promise that the Israelites would believe and obey him. Though God rewards trusting obedience, our honest doubts and fears don’t anger him. Instead of punishing Moses for doubting his promise, Yahweh provided him with three signs to prove to the Israelites that their God had indeed appeared to him.
For the first sign, Moses’s shepherd staff turned into a snake when he threw it on the ground. Moses initially drew back in fear, but he showed a degree of faith by immediately obeying Yahweh’s command to grab the snake by the tail. He certainly knew the risk of grabbing a snake’s tail without first securing its head. Yet Moses obeyed before Yahweh could even finish his sentence. As soon as his hand touched the snake’s tail, the snake turned back into a staff. Moses trusted God to protect him from the snake, but he still didn’t trust God to protect him from the pharaoh.
For the second sign, Yahweh inflicted Moses with a skin disease that caused his hand to resemble snow, possibly referring to it becoming either white or flaky.14 He then healed Moses’s hand just as easily. Yahweh assured Moses the Israelites would believe the two signs, but just in case Moses still doubted, he provided a third sign. Moses would take water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. The water would become blood on the ground. This last sign for the Israelites resembled the first wonder God performed against Egypt.15
Eloquence
Moses responded, “Forgive me, my Lord! I’m not an eloquent man. I never have been, and I’m still not since you’ve spoken to your servant. My speech is difficult and my language foreign.”
“Who gave humanity a mouth?” Yahweh asked. “Who makes a person mute or deaf? Seeing or blind? Don’t I, Yahweh? Now go! I’ll be with your mouth and teach you what to say.”
Moses’s fourth objection involved his lack of eloquence. He even pointed out that God hadn’t fixed the problem since the conversation started, suggesting God couldn’t fix it. Many have misinterpreted Moses’s inability to speak skillfully as a speech impediment, but the idea that Moses stuttered is a myth. He could speak normally, but he feared he lacked the eloquence necessary to communicate God’s message and convince the Israelites to follow him.
In Hebrew, kevad lashon (literally “heavy of tongue/language”) refers to someone who speaks a foreign language, not to someone who speaks slowly.16 Moses’s native language was Egyptian. He likely spoke Hebrew as a second language, but not fluently. He would struggle to communicate with his own people, so he feared they would refuse to listen to him as a result.
Yahweh responded by pointing out he had created the human mouth. He controls all the senses, whether a person can speak or see or hear. He could and would give Moses the right words to say at the right time. With that, Yahweh once again commanded Moses, “Now go!”17 Moses had received all the assurances he should need, and the time had come for him to obey.
Moses’s Prophet
But Moses said, “Forgive me, my Lord! Please send the one you’re going to send!”
So Yahweh grew angry with Moses. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak. Look! He’s even coming to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will rejoice. You’ll tell him what to say, and I’ll be with your mouth and his. I’ll teach you what to do. He’ll speak to the people for you. He’ll be like a mouth to you, and you’ll be like a god to him. Also take this staff in your hand with which you will perform the signs.”
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Finally out of excuses, Moses objected a fifth time by asking Yahweh to “send the one you’re going to send.” In other words, Moses wanted Yahweh to give up on him and choose the real emissary. While God allowed Moses to express his doubts and fears, he wouldn’t tolerate rebellion. Moses’s refusal to obey crossed the line and angered God. God had chosen Moses to teach the Israelites who he is and how to serve him. But first, Moses had learn the hard way that God is sovereign.
Despite his anger, God did choose someone else to send. Moses’s brother, Aaron, spoke eloquently. A native speaker of Hebrew, he likely also spoke Egyptian fluently. Aaron would soon come to visit Moses, and God would send him to the pharaoh. But instead of sending him in place of Moses, God would send him with Moses. Moses still had to obey.
Aaron would speak to the Israelites on Moses’s behalf as a prophet speaks to the people on behalf of a god. Yahweh would teach his words to Moses, and Moses would teach them to Aaron. Then Yahweh would be with both Moses and Aaron as they spoke to the Israelites and to the pharaoh.
- Genesis 30:31–32.
- See Midian.
- See Yahweh’s Messenger.
- See The Exodus Foretold.
- The World Factbook, “Egypt,” last modified March 19, 2024, https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/egypt/#people-and-society.
- See Moses’s Crime; Running Away.
- Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Exodus 3:13.
- The name Yahweh is based on an archaic form of the verb hayah (“to be”). By the time of Moses, “he is” was pronounced yihyeh, which is why God had to explain his name to the Israelites. See Osborn and Howard, Handbook on Exodus, 68.
- See The Exodus Foretold.
- Schmidt, Biblical Measures, 1.3 “A day’s journey.”
- Exodus 12:2–6; 19:1.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, “Pharaoh,” last modified February 26, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/pharaoh; Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, “Re: Egyptian God,” last modified February 26, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Re.
- World History Encyclopedia, “Ra (Egyptian God),” by Joshua J. Mark, May 20, 2021, https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_(Egyptian_God)/.
- Though the Hebrew word tsaraʿath is usually translated “leprosy,” it refers to a variety of skin diseases. The comparison with snow makes leprosy unlikely here. Harris et al., Wordbook, “צָרַע.”
- Exodus 7:14–21.
- See Ezekiel 3:5–6.
- See Seen and Heard.