October 20, 2024
Exodus 6:28 – 7:7
“Against All Odds”
Service Overview: Moses struggles with doubt as he prepares to confront Pharaoh. Yet, despite his reluctance, God promises to empower both Moses and Aaron to deliver His message. This passage reveals how God uses imperfect, hesitant, and even doubtful people to achieve His purposes, turning doubt into a powerful declaration of His will and sovereignty.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- The seventh chapter begins the second literary division of the book of Exodus. The first six chapters are concerned more particularly with the person of the deliverer, the next six with an account of the work of redemption. (Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, Location 1528)
- Seeking to evade God’s call, Moses once more stresses his limitations at speaking (cf. 4:10). Previously, God responded to Moses’s objection by assigning Aaron to be a spokesman for Moses (4:14–16). For this reason, particular attention is given to Aaron and his descendants in 6:14–25. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 78)
- While Yahweh has made Moses as “God” to Aaron and Aaron in turn as his “prophet” to the people, Moses has also been “ordained, appointed” (nātan) as “God” to Pharaoh in that he will speak and act with authority and power from above as God’s representative. (Walter C. Kaiser, Exodus, Location 3267)
- Whereas initially God had said that Aaron would be as a “mouth” to Moses, and Moses would be “as God for him (Aaron)” (4:16), the relationship here is strengthened and directed outwards. Moses will be “like God” to pharaoh, and Aaron will be “your prophet” (7:1). Actually, there is no “like” in the Hebrew. The remarkable words of Yahweh to Moses are “I have set you ’elohim to pharaoh.” In this case, the generic word ’elohim may mean “a god” (cf. KJV, “I have made thee a god to pharaoh”). (Christopher J.H. Wright, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Exodus, 192)
- What the Hebrew literally says is not “I have made you like God to Pharaoh,” but “I have made you God to Pharaoh.” Moses was God’s representative, his chosen prophet. So when he stood before Pharaoh’s throne, he spoke with real divine authority. God himself was speaking and acting through Moses. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 194)
- The designation of Aaron as a “prophet” underlines that he will act as Moses’s spokesman. While prophets sometimes predict future events, their primary function is to communicate God’s message to others. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 79)
What should grip our attention here as we turn this corner in Exodus?
- The resolve of God to use Moses despite his insecurity.
(vv. 6:28-7:2)
Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court thinking he was somebody, forty years in the desert learning that he was nobody, and forty years showing what God can do with a somebody who found out he was a nobody. (Dwight L. Moody, quoted in Maxie D. Dunnam, Exodus, The Communicator’s Commentary, 105)
To Moses’s feelings of inferiority, ineloquence, and incompetence, God simply says, “It’s not about you, Moses. It’s about me.” (Christopher J.H. Wright, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Exodus, 192)
Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us. (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew, 106)
God should not have had to put up with another speech from Moses about his faltering lips. For one thing, God made those lips in the first place, and he had already promised to teach his prophet whatever he needed to say and how to say it (Exod. 4:11, 12). For another thing, God had guaranteed Moses that he would get help from his brother Aaron, who was a straight-A student in Speech and thus had the rhetorical gifts to compensate for his brother’s speech disability (see Exod. 4:14-16). (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 194)
- The power and paradox by which God would execute his plan.
(vv. 3-5)
God’s absolute sovereignty never excuses or connives at our sin, but neither is he ever knocked off course by our sin but rather works his purpose out, as one year succeeds the next. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 90)
Pharaoh refuses to listen because Pharaoh hardens his heart. But it is also true that Pharaoh refuses to listen because the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart. We have to take both of these perspectives seriously. Pharaoh determines Pharaoh’s actions, and God determines his actions. To put it another way, Pharaoh freely chooses to do what God had freely chosen that he would do. (Tim Chester, Exodus, 70)
Are we to deny it because we cannot explain the way in which God did it? On the same ground we might reject the doctrine of the Trinity. I may be asked how God could in any sense harden a man’s heart without Him being the Author of sin. But the most assured belief of the fact does not require that an answer should be given by me to this question. If God has not explained the matter (and He has not), then it is not for us to feign to be wise above what is written. I believe many things recorded in Scripture not because I can explain their rationale, but because I know that God cannot lie. (Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, Location 1609)
- The surrender and obedience of Moses in the face of what to him seemed impossible.
(v. 6)
By what inward processes of thought and decision Moses reached his crucial transformation we are not told. He entered the presence of the Lord with complaints about his failure (5:22–23); he emerged, as subsequent chapters will prove over and over again, as the man who had no words other than those God had taught him, no acts other than those God had commanded, and no position except that of a man sent from God. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 96)
Love can grow only if it is rooted in the soil of true obedience. (Alexander Strauch, Leading With Love, 184)
Conclusion… How does this text challenge our faith today?
- As it challenges us to surrender our own insecurities to God.
(Psalm 55:22; Prov. 3:26; Is. 41:10; Rom. 8:31; 2 Cor. 3:5; 2 Tim. 1:7; Heb. 13:6; 1 Pet. 5:7)
If we are afraid that we have nothing left to offer, we only need to ask God to show what he can do with somebody who is a nobody. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 197)
Doubt discovers difficulties which it never solves; it creates hesitancy, despondency, despair. Its progress is the decay of comfort, the death of peace. “Believe!” is the word which speaks life into a man, but doubt nails down his coffin. (C. H. Spurgeon, Sermons, 35.455)
- As it stirs us to ask if we love and know God in a way that spurs our own obedience.
(Isaiah 1:19; Luke 6:46; 11:28; John 14:15, 23; James 1:22-25; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 John 5:3)
Confidence in the purposes of God enables us to be courageous in obeying God. (Tim Chester, Exodus for You, 16)
If you and I are to follow God—whether that takes us to the Middle East, mainland Europe, or to a nearby school, coffee shop, factory or office—then we must know who he is. And when we know who he is, then we see that we must follow him. Every new day is a day when you can live trusting God and obeying God. You will only do that if you know he is the Lord; and if you know he is the Lord, then you will do that. (Tim Chester, Exodus for You, 63)
[God’s] commands are not invitations to dialogue but orders to obey. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 194)
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. (Augustine)
Gospel Connection…
In Christ, we’re not only redeemed, but commissioned to declare with confidence the freedom all can have who turn to and trust in Him.
(Matthew 9:37-38; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 15:8; Acts 13:47; Romans 1:16; 15:13; Hebrews 10:35-36; 13:6; 1 Peter 3:15)
As Christians we carry Christ into the world. We may be the only genuine Christians that some of our friends and family members know. Their whole understanding of Christianity depends on our testimony. Therefore, we are Christ to them in the same way that Moses was God to Pharaoh. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 197)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- How do you relate to Moses’ initial doubts and hesitations in this passage? Can you share a time when you felt God was calling you to do something, but you struggled with doubt or fear?
- In what areas of your life do you need to embrace God’s empowerment and strength? How can you rely on His power in those situations?
- Is there a Christian you know who is slumped in discouragement? How could you remind them who God is, in a way that might both comfort them and challenge them?
- Can you identify recent instances where you witnessed God’s power in your life or the lives of others? How did these experiences impact your faith and understanding of God’s work?
Quotes to note…
God’s servants are not called to be successful but to be faithful. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 200)
None of us wants failure, and few find failure easy to admit. The easy course is for us to retire into a corner and tell ourselves what a misery life is, how unfair it all is after we have done our best, a let-down, nothing ever comes right – and so forth. Furthermore, since the most prominent ingredient in our failure is so often guilt over ‘letting the Lord down’, the easy course, again, is to shun his presence. Moses is our example in not taking this easy way but in getting himself promptly back to the Lord. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 89)
Cowardice asks the question: “Is it safe?” Consensus asks the question: “Is it popular?” Courage asks the question: “Is it right?” (Rod Rogers, Pastor Driven Stewardship, 11)
If you’re struggling to obey God, you don’t need more willpower. You need to know God more. (Tim Chester, Exodus for You, 64)
That Pharaoh did harden his own heart the Scriptures expressly affirm, but they also declare that THE LORD hardened his heart too, and clearly this is not one and the same thing, or the two different ‘expressions would not have been employed. Our duty is to believe both statements, but to attempt to show the philosophy of their reconciliation is probably, as another has said, “to attempt to fathom infinity”. (Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, Location 1596)
Today God’s message is communicated through the church. The words of the prophets, the apostles, and Christ himself are recorded in the pages of Scripture, but it is our responsibility to announce them to the world. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 196)
Where love is the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart. (F.F. Bruce, Paul – Apostle of the Heart Set Free, 21)
The further you go in obedience, the more you see of God’s plan. God doesn’t often tell us the end from the beginning. He prefers to lead us on step-by-step in dependence upon Him. (Iain Duguid, Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality, 55-56)
The theme of knowing the Lord recurs frequently in the “signs and wonders” episodes (7:17; 8:10, 22; 9:14; 10:2; 14:4, 18). God intends that these supernatural events will cause the Egyptians and the Israelites to gain a better understanding of who he is. Ultimately, God’s intention is that people everywhere should not just know about him but know him personally through an intimate relationship with him. Through the covenant at Mount Sinai, God establishes a special relationship with the Israelites, preparing the way for him to come and dwell in their midst. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 80)