Exodus 1:1-4:17

(it is believed that 300-400 years passed between Joseph's death and the enslavement of the Israelites)

A new king came to power who didn't know about Joseph.  He was intimidated by the Israelites.  Hmmm...he should have listened to the history a bit better.  That's ok. The midwives ignored his command to kill all the boy Hebrew babies.  They feared God more than the king and rightly so!  God blessed them with their own families and blessed the Hebrews as well.  Then the king told the people to throw every boy born in the Nile. 

I love this story.  It shows God's sense of irony.  A boy babe was born, could no longer be kept hidden, was placed in a basket in the reeds of the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter found the basket, the baby's sister offered to find 'someone' to nurse him.  So - Moses mom was paid to continue to care for her own son and the payment came from the Pharaoh's coffers.  Then Moses went to live in the house of Pharaoh. 

But, being human, Moses messed up and murdered a man.  Even when we think no one sees our sin, it will be found out.  Moses ran away and eventually married in the foreign land.  Meanwhile, the Israelites were still in slavery and crying out to God.  God heard this and remembered his covenant.  2:25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. 

Imagine being in the desert watching a bunch of sheep and seeing a bush on fire, but not burning up. Not being consumed.  You'd go check it out as well.  Then the bush starts talking.  I would have turned and run. Thinking the heat had gotten to me.  Moses? Well, he said, Here I am.  He was either a little crazy or had an inkling of who was talking to him. Would we?

The  Lord told him to take off his shoes "for this is holy ground" and then introduced himself.  Now Moses was afraid and hid his face.  Maybe he was in shock before and couldn't really react.  One of my favorite bands, Waterdeep, has a song that addresses holy ground. Here are the lyrics:

If You Want To Get Free
In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine
I heard the word of the Lord
He said "Take off your shoes,
This is holy ground too
You know I came for the sick and the bored."

Beneath the selling of beers
And the welling up of tears
Out beyond the beam of the remote control
There's a whispering voice
That the humble ear ears
That says "I am still waiting
For you to ask just to be made whole."

And the bush it was burning on the mountain top
And though the leaves never blackened, the fire didn't stop
That's the way that it works in this old life of sin
You gotta let the fire burn you just to get clean within

 

God lays out his plan, Moses questions it. God reassures him. Moses questions again.  God tell him to tell the people, 3:14-15 "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."

 

God promises to make the Egyptian help Moses.  Moses still questions him.  God gives Moses some signs to use.  God knows how hard headed humans are!  Moses continues to question and doubt God.  God finally says, 4:12 "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

 

Moses STILL questioned God - who got angry. frustrated. Wouldn't you??  So he offered Aaron as an assistant to help with the speaking parts.  Moses still had to show the signs.