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| Exodus 4:18-23 |
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Lesson # Exodus 4:18-23 Study Material - Exodus 4:18-23 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Ex. 4:18-23 18 Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, 'Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.' 19 Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, 'Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.' 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD,' Israel is My son, My first-born. 23 So I said to you, 'Let My son go, that he may serve Me'; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your first-born.' God makes reference to the fact that those who were after Moses' life are now dead. He mentions it to Moses only because it was on Moses' mind. Otherwise, God would not have any reason for mentioning it. God knows our fears and sets our paths accordingly, Psa. 142:3. Moses returns to his father-in-law and notifies him that he is leaving, but he does not tell him all of the story of the encounter with God. Moses is still a little light on his own faith. We'll see in verse 24 that he finally is confronted by God for his noncompliance with Gods commands. Then his turn around in faith begins, and his wishy-washy attitude ceases. Moses tells of his desire to go back to Egypt, to see in his people are still alive. Such is not the case. They are alive and he well knows it. God has spoken to Moses and he is at that point still somewhat embarrassed to share that conversation. And this is a good point that we all need to be aware of in our lives. Christianity is not something that we need to be ashamed of, nor embarrassed over. It is in fact the most prestigious and powerful and blessed club that one can belong to. Though there are other religions and social organizations in the world that will criticize or ridicule Christians, that is merely the worlds attempt to cancel your right to make your own choice. They prefer that you follow their choices in life. That is become a slave to other philosophies. The reality is, that any other belief is a slave camp for destruction. Christianity is the only free thinking, and independent organization that has Gods stamp of approval. Moses has had an experience of a life time. The opportunity to speak with God direct. I wonder, if you had the opportunity to speak with God, then what would you say or ask? You'll probably discover that the answers have already been addressed within the covers of the Bible. Moses is not alone in his conversations with God. True it has been a long time (over four centuries) since there has been some documented conversation with God. Abraham has been even further back in time. But Abraham had the privilege of knowing many of his ancient relatives. Since Jacob's death there has been a generational gap, so to speak, in that Moses generation does not have the privilege of having known those from but one or two generations prior. Adam, Methuselah, Shem, and Jacob all covered 22 generations. These four leaped to cover history from the beginning to Abraham's time. After Jacob's time, this cross over disappeared as the Hebrews went negative and into slavery for the next four centuries. Moses' education was primarily from Egypt. Certainly he was curious enough to learn of the Hebrew ways and history, but that would have been limited to the teaching abilities of his family and perhaps others. There would be no in depth access to knowledge from many generations of older (very old) ancestors. Now, out of the blue, God appears in a bush and commissions Moses to a mission. And not just any old mission, but one of delivering the entire nation of Israel out of Egypt. Moses does not mention this to Jethro. Moses packs his things and heads out. Along the way, God has more conversations with Moses. God instructs Moses in all of the plagues. Here we are told of the final plague where Israel is represented as Gods first born son. Israel is not a slave, not someone else's possession, Jer. 2:14, but the personal possession of God. How? Through faith. What is the real threat intended? That no one messes with that which belongs to God. If they do then the repercussions are their loss of their most prized possessions (their first born) as well as their own very life. In effect, anyone who opposes God will lose all they have. "Thus says the Lord', is a phrase introduced here for the first time. It is an emphatic statement. What is said must be heeded. To disregard anything that God says is a fools decision. God is teaching Moses, and through him, you and I, that reliance on God is the very best thing that we can do in our life. The very worst thing that we can do is to ignore God. God does not just state that He will punish those who oppose Him, but he will in fact 'kill'. That is the total removal of ones life, and not just a quick and painless death, but a miserable and fearful death. Life apart from God is empty. Pharaoh is an empty person. His negative attitude will result in the 'hardness of his heart', his soul is the reference here. No doctrine in ones soul results in an unhealthy soul. An unhealthy soul develops scar tissue over the exterior of the soul. More details on this are covered in Ephesians. This hardness reveals itself in more intensive stubbornness, which results in more intensive hardness until the soul is eventually totally covered over and all light is totally shut out. At this point a person is generally dead. Not so with Pharaoh, and this is the distinction God is going to make here. Through the first few plagues the Bible will state that Pharaoh hardened his heart. That is he will of his own volition, refuse to comply with Gods command. Then the Bible will make a change in the wording, where God will harden Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh has had his chance and by all accounts should be dead, but God will keep him alive through the remainder of the plagues to demonstrate the extremes to which arrogance and its stubbornness will go in any ones life. As well as to demonstrate the futility of mans ways, and the superiority of Gods power. Bible study is not the reading of a child's storybook, but the book of reality and the key to ones present life and future. Moses had some difficulty in learning this. We will see tomorrow that his wife, Zipporah, has even greater difficulty in learning Gods commands and the importance of being obedient. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
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