(Through the Bible) Exodus 1-5 — Chuck Smith

Exodus Continues the Story of Genesis

Exodus chapter 1, as we begin the book of Exodus. The word now could very well read, and, as far as the Hebrew is concerned, for the book of Exodus is just a continuation of Genesis. The last verse of Genesis, so Joseph died being 110 years old, and they embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt.

Now, these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man in his household that came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Eshkar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And all of the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and that generation. So we can see how the first part of chapter 1 of Exodus is really just the continuation of the book of Genesis.

Again, written by Moses. It is interesting that the five books of Moses comprise almost one-seventh of the entire Bible, and that they comprise almost as much as two-thirds of the New Testament. Now, if God devotes one-seventh of the book to one particular period of history and study, it evidently is basic and foundational, and God wants us to really know it and understand it.

Israel Multiplies in Egypt

So, we have now the names of the sons of Jacob who came down with Jacob. They came down with their families into Egypt. Seventy souls, for Joseph was already there with his two sons. And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them.

Probably a misunders it's probably an understatement. Children of Israel, fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied, waxed exceeding mighty, the land was filled with them. In other words, it's trying to tell you there's a population explosion among the Jews at that time.

And indeed there must have been. For the seventy souls that were there, about three hundred years after Joseph's death, when they made the exodus out of Israel, at that time there were six hundred thousand adult males over the age of twenty-one.

So you see when it says multiplied exceedingly and all, that's exactly what they were doing. They were doubling their population about every twenty-five years. Now that's just about what's happening in the world today.

The world's population has begun to double just about every twenty-five years now. So they were at a stage of population explosion about what we're experiencing now, a doubling about every twenty-five years.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it come to pass that when there falls out another war, they will join also unto our enemies and fight against us and then get out of the land.

Now the pharaoh actually was fearful of their leaving the land. And he felt that if another war would take place, that they would take advantage of it, fight with the enemies and then leave the land. And so in order to thwart this, the pharaoh sent over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.

And they built for the pharaoh the treasure cities of Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor.

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar, brick, and all manner of service in the field. All their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. So they really began to afflict them, to oppress them, to lay upon them heavy burdens, to make life rather hard and miserable for them.

By inflicting heavy slave labor upon them. Everything they did, they had to do it with rigor. Now, it is interesting that under these conditions, the children of Israel continued to multiply and grow.

Adversity, Prosperity, and Spiritual Strength

Probably one of the greatest weakening things that can happen to a nation is prosperity. Nations seem to become strong and grow under adversity. The same seems to be true of the church. In the early history of the church, when the church was going through such severe persecution by the Roman government, the church was growing by leaps and bounds.

Tremendous growth in the early church. But when the church began to be prosperous, Christianity began to be an accepted religion, almost a state religion. In fact, in many areas it did become the state religion.

And in all of those areas, the church became weak. Prosperity has a tendency of softening people. Whereas adversity has a tendency of doing the opposite, making a people strong. So the Pharaoh, in his endeavor to weaken them by the heavy labor and the rigorous labor working with bricks and stones and really pushing heavy burdens on them, did not have the desired effect of weakening them, but actually just made them so much stronger.

They really all got in tremendous condition. And the king of Egypt spake with the Hebrew midwives. The name of one was Shephra and the name of the other was Pua. And he said, when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and you see them upon the stools, if it's a son, kill him.

But if it's a daughter, let her live. But the midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive?

And the midwives said unto the Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they're lively and they're delivered before we ever got to them. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.

And it came to pass, because the midwives fears God, that he made them houses and Pharaoh charged all his people saying, every son that is born, ye shall cast him into the river and every daughter ye shall save alive.

So the Pharaoh, first of all, sought to cut off the male children by ordering the midwives to kill them the moment they were born. When that failed, then he gave a general order to just take the boy babies and cast them into the river.

Save the girl babies. That they, of course, might be servants and slaves. There is a problem here of the obvious lie of the midwives. When the Pharaoh called them on the carpet, how come you haven't fulfilled my order?

They said, oh, these women are just so lively before we can get to them. The babies are already born. They're not like these Egyptian women who have a life of ease and leisure. Now this, of course, could be true.

It seems that where women are forced into hard labor and all, their body condition becomes such that they can have a baby and go back to work out in New Guinea, where the ladies do so much of the farming and so much of the work.

They'll have their baby and they'll strap it on their back and go back out and work again in the field. And so, I know that some of you women think, oh no, you know. And you remember how it was when you had your baby.

But you're just softies, that's all. And we like you that way. It's nothing against you at all. I wouldn't want you to be muscular and all like those women in New Guinea. And so, it is very possible that this was not a lie, but some look upon it as a lie.

Whether or not it was, I don't know. But if it were a lie that they were telling to the Pharaoh, then indeed, how is it that God blessed them? I don't have any answer. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know everything.

And that's one of those difficult things. I don't understand it. I don't know. All I know is that's what it says. God blessed them. So, God dealt well with them. There went a man of the house of Levi, and he took to wife a daughter of Levi.

Moses Is Preserved from Pharaoh

And the woman conceived and bear a son. And when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. The word goodly is beautiful. So, this woman had a beautiful little boy, and she just couldn't bring herself to throwing him in the river.

Now, that was the order of the Pharaoh. But he was such a beautiful little boy, and of course, what mother could really just throw her son into the river? And so, she hid him for three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch, with tar, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's bank.

So, in other words, she was fulfilling, cast the child in the river, but she just fixed a little basket and waterproofed it so that she put him in the river, but in the basket. And his sister stood afar off to find out what would be done to him.

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the riverside, and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she opened it and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried.

And she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. So, we see the beautiful story of God's preservation. The child was placed in this little waterproof basket there in the river.

His sister stayed back in sort of the bushes to watch the basket to see what happened. Here the Pharaoh's daughter came down to take her bath, and they saw the basket, and she sent one of her maidens out to get the thing and find out, you know, curiosity.

And she opened it up, and just at that time, little Moses started crying, and her heart was touched. She said, oh, it's one of the Hebrews' children. So Moses' sister came running up, Miriam, who we will learn about more later.

And she said to Pharaoh's daughter, you want me to get a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you? Now, that was a very common thing in those days, wet nursing. And so you get a woman to just wet nurse your child for you.

And so that's what Miriam is offering to do, get a woman to nurse the child. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. And so the maid went and called the child's mother, Moses' mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you wages.

And so the woman took the child and nursed it, and the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, which means to be taken out of the water, because I drew him out of the water.

So, interesting way that God has of working. Moses was able to grow up at home during the early years, where he received the strong inculcating of the Hebrew traditions, imbued with the sense of a nation of destiny, and certainly is a tremendous example of what the proverb declares, if you train up a child in the way he shall go, when he is old he will not depart from it.

Because in those early formation years, Moses had received such a strong foundation, that it was strong enough that he was able to withstand all of the pressures of the many years of the education within the Egyptian schools.

Don't underestimate the value of those early years. It is said that the Jewish mothers, from the time the baby was first cradled in their arms, would begin to whisper in their ears, Jehovah is God. I think for some of you mothers, one of the greatest things you can do is just whisper in your children's ears, Jesus loves you.

Early Instruction and Moses' Sense of Calling

Paul wrote to Timothy and spoke of how from a youth, he was taught in the Scriptures by his godly mother and grandmother. What a heritage! I thank God that I had a similar kind of a heritage. From my youth, taught in the Scriptures by my mother.

I didn't have the normal goldilocks and the three pig bedtime stories. I wasn't frightened by those horror tales. Imagine the wolf eating up your grandmother, you know. And the woodsman coming and chopping the wolf.

So go to sleep now, honey. I can't quite understand our mentality, you know. And some of the stories that we call bedtime stories. Even the rock-a-bye baby on the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

And when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Poor child! How are we marking our children? My parents were wiser than to fill me with that garbage. And so I grew up knowing how God would always take care of His children.

How God delivered the giant into the hands of David. I knew all about Moses and the bull rushes and God's delivering power. I knew about God's deliverance from the lion's den. I knew that no matter what would happen, God would be with me and protect me and shelter me.

My mother used to follow me around the yard while I was playing ball or swinging or whatever and just giving me scriptures. Making me repeat them. Helping me to memorize them. Filling me with the knowledge of the Word of God.

Those early years are important years. Even before you think your child can understand, begin its education and training. In the very first few months, it is so important that their brain be stimulated.

Because all of these little neuron connections are being made back there. And they are being made according to the stimulus that the child receives. So that's why they say have mobiles in the crib and colors that will move and all kinds of action to stimulate the development of the connections there during that crucial time.

Because their future mental capacities will be directly proportionate to the number of connections that are made in those early months. And so Moses' mother did an excellent job but God even saw she got paid for it.

I like the way the Lord operates. And so rather than losing a son, she gained a son. And also had wages as she nursed him. And then she brought him into the Pharaoh's court and presented him. And then he was schooled in Egypt.

Now Hebrews tells us it was by faith that she put that little ark in the river. By faith she refused to obey the Pharaoh's order but built a little ark and placed the child in it. And by faith Moses, when he came to age, refused to be called the son of the Pharaoh's daughter or to identify himself with the Egyptians.

But he identified himself with the people of God. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter in order that he might enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. For he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

That shows you that there was such a strong background in Moses. Now, not only a strong background but a sense of destiny and God's purpose for these people was instilled into Moses. So that Moses, when he went out in the field, which we'll be studying in just a moment, and found an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite, killed the Egyptian.

And the next day when he saw two Israelites driving together and he went to break them up, when they said, Who made you a judge over us? Are you going to kill us like you did that Egyptian yesterday? We are told in Stephen's oration in the Acts of the Apostles that Moses thought that they understood that God had destined him to be the leader to lead them out of their bondage.

Moses Acts Ahead of God's Timing

Moses thought they'd understand that. He had such a sense of destiny in those early years. Let's move on. And it came to pass, verse 11, chapter 2, in those days when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brothers and he looked on their burdens and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

So he had this identity with the Hebrew people rather than with the Egyptians. And it had to come in those early years. And he looked this way and that way. And when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Now, someone said his mistake was he looked this way and that way, but he didn't look up. We make that mistake so often. We look this way and that way and then we act, not realizing that God sees us. He tried to hide his deed by burying the Egyptian in the sand.

No. As I said, Moses had a sense of destiny. Somehow he felt, and perhaps because of the position, somehow he felt that he was destined to lead these people out of their bondage. He seemed to have this awareness and consciousness.

He was surprised that they didn't recognize it. The problem with Moses was that he just got ahead of God. He tried to do what God wanted done in the ability and in the power of his own flesh. Knowing what God wanted, aware of the purposes of God, his big mistake was getting ahead of God.

Now, this is a mistake that we often make. We know what God wants to do. We don't wait for God or His empowering to do it. We get out and we try to do in the energy of our own flesh what we realize God desires to be done.

But I want you to notice how unsuccessful he was in trying in the ability of his own flesh to do what God wanted done. He was not even successful in burying one Egyptian. Now, when God was going to do it, He wanted to bury the whole army, which He did later in the Red Sea.

We must be careful about this zeal that we oftentimes feel for the work of God where we start off without the anointing and the direction of the Holy Spirit to in the ability and the energies of our flesh accomplish the work and the purposes of God.

We, like Moses, will end up in failure. The work of the Spirit can never be accomplished in the abilities of our flesh. To do the work of the Spirit, I must be anointed, empowered, and directed by the Spirit of God.

And so many of my problems have arisen from this same mistake that Moses made. Having a consciousness of what God wants to do, having an awareness of the purposes of God, I try to fulfill the purposes of God without the leading and the direction and the help of the Holy Spirit.

I get ahead of God. And every time I do, I botch things up just as Moses did. He tried to hide the Egyptians. Now when he went out the next day, two men who were Hebrews were fighting together. And he said unto them that did the wrong, why did you smite this fellow?

And he said, who made you a prince and a judge over us? You intend to kill me like you killed the Egyptians? And Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from the face of the Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well. So, when the Pharaoh discovered that Moses had taken the side of a Hebrew over an Egyptian, he had determined to kill Moses.

But Moses fled and went out to the area of Sinai, the Sinai Peninsula. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came to draw water and they filled the troughs to water their father's flocks.

And the mean shepherd boys came and drove them away. They stand back and watch the girls draw all the water out. And then they come and chase the girls off and water their own flocks. And Moses saw what was going on and so Moses stood up and he helped them and he watered their flock.

And when they came to Reuel, their father, he said, how come you're home so early? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and he also drew water enough for us and he watered the flock.

And he said to his daughters, where is he? Why did you leave the man? Call him that he may eat bread. Typical kind of Bedouin hospitality. And Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter and she bare him a son and called his name Gershon, which means stranger.

For he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage and they cried and their cry came unto God by reason of the bondage and God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the children of Israel and God had respect unto them.

Now between verses 22 and 23, a period of about 40 years. And so it isn't really short in the text but it is there. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God even to Mount Horeb.

Now no doubt Moses' experiences there in the wilderness were going to be necessary experiences. Number one, while he was there he was learning the lay of the land. As he was out there as a shepherd following the flock through the Sinai desert and around Mount Horeb he became very well acquainted with the area.

He knew where all of the wells were. He began to know a little bit about the weather conditions and really beginning to get a lot of good practical savvy on survival in the wilderness. These things were all to be helpful for him in the big project that God had for him in leading the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land.

So he was out there now learning in this school of experience the wilderness or desert survival which would prove to be very handy later. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

And he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I'm going to take a look at this and see why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and he said, Moses, Moses.

And he said, here am I. And he said, don't draw near but put off your shoes from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

God Sees, Hears, Knows, and Delivers

So God began to speak to Moses out of the midst of the burning bush. First of all, warning him against approaching any closer. Telling him to remove his shoes. He was on holy ground. Declaring himself who he is.

I am the God of thy father, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And then God declares, I have surely seen. I have surely heard. For I surely know. In the Hebrew it is, seeing I have certainly seen. Knowing I have certainly known.

Hearing I have certainly heard. It's an emphatic in the Hebrew. God declares the fact that he has seen. He has heard. He knows. These are the characteristics of God emphasized by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Your father sees. Your father hears. Your father knows. These are characteristics of God that are always challenged by the unbeliever. Is there any knowledge in the Most High? How does God know? They feel that they can hide from God.

They scoff at the idea of prayer. And yet, these characteristics of God are emphasized over and over by Jesus Christ. How your father loves you. And his ear is open to your cry. And how he sees. How he hears.

How he knows. But more than that, I have come to deliver. God just doesn't see and say, Oh my, isn't that terrible? He doesn't hear the cry and say, Oh, what a shame. But he does something about it. Sometimes our friends offer us great sympathy.

They see, they hear. They say, Oh my, what a shame. That's so bad. That's just terrible. Oh my, thanks. But the Lord said, I have come to deliver out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good land.

Unto a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and the PLO. These glasses.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me. I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Some of you have been very oppressed by people. You've been lied against.

You've been rejected. You've been hurt. You think, Oh, nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody knows what I'm feeling. Oh yes, someone knows. I have seen also the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them.

Come now therefore, and I will send you unto Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Now 40 years earlier, Moses was gung-ho for the job. He started out to do it on his own, thinking surely they will understand. But his experience brought him such disappointment and now the 40 years in the wilderness had an extremely mellowing effect upon the guy.

Moses, you remember, was of the tribe of Levi. And we remember concerning the Levites the prophecy of Jacob for Levi, cruel and treacherous, cursed be your anger, hot-tempered tribe. Moses had that hot Levite blood coursing through his system.

That short, fiery temper turned on the Egyptian and killed him. And now after 40 years, the fire is gone. He's not that short-tempered, ready to go to battle anymore. In fact, he has become very meek when God said, I want you to go to the Pharaoh to bring my people out of the land.

He said, Hey, who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I? An interesting question. I think that everyone who is called of God probably asks that question.

Who am I, Lord, that I should be the one to do this? I think that it is always valuable that we have a sense of our unworthiness as being an instrument through which God might do His work. I think that God had to bring Moses to this place, but Moses carried it a little far.

Who am I? God said, Well, I'll be with you. Certainly, I will be with you. And this will be the token unto you that I have sent you. When you have brought forth the people of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain.

Now, he was at Mount Horeb. And when you bring them out of the land, you're going to worship me right here on this mountain. This will be the proof. It was here at Mount Horeb that he received the commandments.

Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you. And they will say unto me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?

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. And God said, And moreover unto Moses, Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.

This is My name forever and ever. This is My memorial unto all generations. Now, Moses said, Who shall I say sent me? God said to Moses, I am that I am. Now, this really is to Moses. God is declaring to Moses that relationship.

I am. I am what? I am whatever you're going to need. The name of God. A verb. To be. I am. Because God always wants to be to you whatever your particular need might be. I am your peace. I am your strength.

I am your help. I am your guide. I am your righteousness. I am your salvation. I am your hope. Whatever you might be. God will become to you whatever is the need in your life. How beautiful that is. The becoming one.

His name. Yahweh. The becoming one. As God becomes to you whatever your need might be. Now, to the children of Israel. Verse 25. God said, moreover, unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel.

Now, they're going to say, Who sent me? To the children of Israel. You say, the Lord God of your fathers. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever.

And this is my memorial to all generations. So this is by which God identified Himself to the nation. The God of your fathers or the Jehovah God of your fathers. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob.

Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, The Jehovah 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.

And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites and the Hivites and Jebusites into a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

And they shall hearken to your voice and you shall come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the King of Egypt and you shall say unto Him, Jehovah God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Now let us go we beseech the three days journey in the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.

So to the Hebrews He was Jehovah God. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob. To Pharaoh He was to be Jehovah God of the Hebrews. And I am sure that the King of Egypt will not let you go.

Not by a mighty hand. 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. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass that when ye go, ye shall not go out empty.

But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor and of her that sojourneth in her house jewels of silver, jewels of gold, raiment. And ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

So God is teaching them how to rip off the Egyptians. But in reality what they were taking was really the wages that were due to them through the several years of slavery and servitude in which they were not paid.

And so it was just really collecting back wages for all of the years that they had been slaves to the Egyptians. And Moses answered and said but behold, they'll not believe Me. Now he's not convinced.

They're going to say who sent you? Alright, God said tell them, you know Jehovah God, God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Moses objects. They'll not believe me nor hearken unto my voice.

For they will say, oh Jehovah didn't appear to you. And the Lord said what have you got in your hand? And he said a rod, a walking stick. God said throw it on the ground. And he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it.

The Lord said to Moses grab it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod again in his hand. God said that they may believe that the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee.

The Lord said furthermore unto him put now your hand into your bosom. So he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous as snow. And he said put your hand into your bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and he plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was white again like the other, it had turned again rather like the other flesh.

So it shall come to pass the Lord said if they will not believe thee nor hearken to the voice of the first sign they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass that they will not believe these two signs neither hearken unto your voice that you shall take of the water of the river and pour it on the dry land and the water which you take of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

So you want signs? All right. You think they won't believe you? You know. When you get there and they say oh, the Lord has the urge you just throw your stick down. When it becomes a snake and starts chasing they'll believe.

And if they don't believe that just put your hand in your side and pull it out and it'll be leprous. And they'll all start to flee from you and all you know and then just put it back in and pull it out again and it'll be whole.

Moses' Reluctance and God's Provision

So armed with these signs Moses said unto the Lord Oh my Lord, I'm not eloquent neither heretofore nor since you have spoken unto your servant I'm slow of speech and of a slow tongue. Lord, I can't speak.

You know. The Lord said unto him and this to me is very interesting very interesting. God said who made man's mouth or who makes wait a minute who makes the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord you mean God made blind people and God made deaf and dumb people that's what God is saying he's taking the responsibility for it now to me that's quite a responsibility to take because immediately it puts my heart at odds with God because I don't understand why why would God allow a child to be born blind or create a blind child as he declares here why would God create a deaf and dumb child you see immediately my whole concept of God is challenged and yet God has declared that in certain cases he has created certain physical infirmities and notice he doesn't even offer us an explanation why he just declares the fact.

This becomes one of the greatest challenges of my faith. But if I can overcome this hurdle I will have a greater faith in God in fact an unshakable faith in God that nothing will be able to shake if I only believe what I can understand that doesn't take faith that only takes intellect believing what I can't understand is that step of faith which honors God and without faith it's impossible to please God.