'Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh,
that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of
Israel, out of Egypt. 11. And Moses said unto God, Who
am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12.
And He said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this
shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When
thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall
serve God upon this mountain. 13. And Moses said unto
God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath
sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His
name? what shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto
Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
15. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for
ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
16. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and
say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me,
saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which
is done to you in Egypt: 17. And I have said, I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the
land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
18. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt
come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of
Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the
Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech
Thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we
may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 19. And I am sure
that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by
a mighty hand. 20. And I will stretch out my hand, and
smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the
midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.'
--EXODUS iii 10-20.
The 'son of Pharaoh's daughter' had been transformed, by nearly forty
years of desert life, into an Arab shepherd. The influences of the
Egyptian court had faded from him, like colour from cloth exposed to
the weather; nor is it probable that, after the failure of his early
attempt to play the deliverer to Israel, he nourished further designs
of that sort. He appears to have settled down quietly to be Jethro's
son-in-law, and to have lived a modest, still life of humble toil. He
had flung away fair prospects,--and what had he made of it? The world
would say 'Nothing,' as it ever does about those who despise material
advantages and covet higher good. Looking after sheep in the desert was
a sad downcome from the possibility of sitting on the throne of Egypt.
Yes, but it was in the desert that the vision of the bush burning, and
not burning out, came; and it would not have come if Moses had been in
a palace.
This passage begins in the midst of the divine communication which
followed and interpreted the vision. We note, first, the divine charge
and the human shrinking from the task. It was a startling transition
from verse 9, which declares God's pitying knowledge of Israel's
oppression, to verse 10, which thrusts Moses forward into the thick of
dangers and difficulties, as God's instrument. 'I will send thee' must
have come like a thunder-clap. The commander's summons which brings a
man from the rear rank and sets him in the van of a storming-party may
well make its receiver shrink. It was not cowardice which prompted
Moses' answer, but lowliness. His former impetuous confidence had all
been beaten out of him. Time was when he was ready to take up the
_rôle_ of deliverer at his own hand; but these hot days were past, and
age and solitude and communion with God had mellowed him into humility.
His recoil was but one instance of the shrinking which all true, devout
men feel when designated for tasks which may probably make life short,
and will certainly make it hard. All prophets and reformers till to-day
have had the same feeling. Men who can do such work as the Jeremiahs,
Pauls, Luthers, Cromwells, can do, are never forward to begin it.
Self-confidence is not the temper which God uses for His instruments.
He works with 'bruised reeds,' and breathes His strength into them. It
is when a man says 'I can do nothing,' that he is fit for God to
employ. 'When I am weak, then I am strong.' Moses remembered enough of
Egypt to know that it was no slight peril to front Pharaoh, and enough
of Israel not to be particularly eager to have the task of leading
them. But mark that there is no refusal of the charge, though there is
profound consciousness of inadequacy. If we have reason to believe that
any duty, great or small, is laid on us by God, it is wholesome that we
should drive home to ourselves our own weakness, but not that we should
try to shuffle out of the duty because we are weak. Moses' answer was
more of a prayer for help than of a remonstrance, and it was answered
accordingly.
God deals very gently with conscious weakness. 'Certainly I will be
with thee.' Moses' estimate of himself is quite correct, and it is the
condition of his obtaining God's help. If he had been self-confident,
he would have had no longing for, and no promise of, God's presence. In
all our little tasks we may have the same assurance, and, whenever we
feel that they are too great for us, the strength of that promise may
be ours. God sends no man on errands which He does not give him power
to do. So Moses had not to calculate the difference between his
feebleness and the strength of a kingdom. Such arithmetic left out one
element, which made all the difference in the sum total. 'Pharaoh
_versus_ Moses' did not look a very hopeful cause, but 'Pharaoh
_versus_ Moses and Another'--that other being God--was a very different
matter. God and I are always stronger than any antagonists. It was
needless to discuss whether Moses was able to cope with the king. That
was not the right way of putting the problem. The right way was, Is God
able to do it?
The sign given to Moses is at first sight singular, inasmuch as it
requires faith, and can only be a confirmation of his mission when that
mission is well accomplished. But there was a help to present faith
even in it, for the very sacredness of the spot hallowed now by the
burning bush was a kind of external sign of the promise.
One difficulty being solved, Moses raised another, but not in the
spirit of captiousness or reluctance. God is very patient with us when
we tell Him the obstacles which we seem to see to our doing His work.
As long as these are presented in good faith, and with the wish to have
them cleared up, He listens and answers. The second question asked by
Moses was eminently reasonable. He pictures to himself his addressing
the Israelites, and their question, What is the name of this God who
has sent you? Apparently the children of Israel had lost much of their
ancestral faith, and probably had in many instances fallen into
idolatry. We do not know enough to pronounce with confidence on that
point, nor how far the great name of Jehovah had been used before the
time of Moses, or had been forgotten in Egypt.
The questions connected with these points and with the history of the
name do not enter into our present purpose. My task is rather to point
out the religious significance of the self-revelation of God contained
in the name, and how it becomes the foundation of Israel's deliverance,
existence, and prerogatives. Whatever opinions are adopted as to the
correct form of the name and other grammatical and philological
questions, there is no doubt that it mainly reveals God as
self-existent and unchangeable. He draws His being from no external
source, nor 'borrows leave to be.' Creatures are what they are made or
grow to be; they are what they were not; they are what they will some
time not any more be. But He is what He is. Lifted above time and
change, self-existing and self-determined, He is the fountain of life,
the same for ever.
This underived, independent, immutable being is a Person who can speak
to men, and can say 'I am.' Being such, He has entered into close
covenant relations with men, and has permitted Himself to be called
'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' The name Jehovah lifts Him high
above all creatures; the name 'the God of your fathers' brings Him into
tender proximity with men, and, in combination with the former
designation, guarantees that He will forever be what He has been, even
to all generations of children's children. That mighty name is, indeed,
His 'memorial to all generations,' and is as fresh and full of
blessedness to us as to the patriarchs. Christ has made us understand
more of the treasures for heart and mind and life which are stored in
it. 'Our Father which art in heaven' is the unfolding of its inmost
meaning.
We may note that the bush burning but not consumed expressed in symbol
the same truth which the name reveals. It seems a mistake to take the
bush as the emblem of Israel surviving persecution. Rather the
revelation to the eye says the same thing as that to the ear, as is
generally the case. As the desert shrub flamed, and yet did not burn
away, so that divine nature is not wearied by action nor exhausted by
bestowing, nor has its life any tendency towards ending or extinction,
as all creatural life has.
The closing verses of this passage (vs. 16-20) are a programme of
Moses' mission, in which one or two points deserve notice. First, the
general course of it is made known from the beginning. Therein Moses
was blessed beyond most of God's servants, who have to risk much and to
labour on, not knowing which shall prosper. If we could see, as he did,
the lie of the country beforehand, our journeys would be easier. So we
often think, but we know enough of what shall be to enable us to have
quiet hearts; and it is best for us not to see what is to fail and what
to succeed. Our ignorance stimulates effort, and drives to clinging to
God's hand.
Then we may note the full assurances to be given to the 'elders of
Israel.' Apparently some kind of civic organisation had been kept up,
and there were principal people among the slaves who had to be
galvanised first into enthusiasm. So they are to be told two
things,--that Jehovah has appeared to Moses, and that He, not Moses
only, will deliver them and plant them in the land. The enumeration of
the many tribes (v. 17) might discourage, but it is intended to fire by
the thought of the breadth of the land, which is further described as
fertile. The more exalted our conceptions of the inheritance, the more
willing shall we be to enter on the pilgrimage towards it. The more we
realise that Jehovah has promised to lead us thither, the more willing
shall we be to face difficulties and dangers.
The directions as to the opening of communications with Pharaoh have
often been made a difficulty, as if there was trickery in the modest
request for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness.
But that request was to be made, knowing that it would not be granted.
It was to be a test of Pharaoh's willingness to submit to Jehovah. Its
very smallness made it so more effectually. If he had any disposition
to listen to the voice speaking through Moses, he would yield that
small point. It is useless to speculate on what would have happened if
he had done so. But probably the Israelites would have come back from
their sacrificing.
Of more importance is it to note that the failure of the request was
foreseen, and yet the effort was to be made. Is not that the same
paradox which meets us in all the divine efforts to win over
hard-hearted men to His service? Is it not exactly what our Lord did
when He appealed to Judas, while knowing that all would be vain?
The expression in verse 19, 'not by a mighty hand,' is very obscure. It
may possibly mean that Pharaoh was so obstinate that no human power was
strong enough to bend his will. Therefore, in contrast to the 'mighty
hand' of man, which was not mighty enough for this work, God will
stretch out His hand, and that will suffice to compel obedience from
the proudest. God can force men by His might to comply with His will,
so far as external acts go; but He does not regard that as obedience,
nor delight in it. We can steel ourselves against men's power, but
God's hand can crush and break the strongest will. 'It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' It is a blessed thing
to put ourselves into them, in order to be moulded by their loving
touch. The alternative is laid before every soul of man.