Responding Faithfully

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting

Exodus 4:18-23 (NET Bible) 18 So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 The LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 Then Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and headed back to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 4:18-23 (NET Bible) 21 The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!”’”

Responding Faithfully God could have made it easy for Moses and Israel—if “easy” was His primary objective.

Responding Faithfully God will harden Pharaoh’s heart.

22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD…’ Exodus 4:18-23 (NET Bible) 22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD…’

Responding Faithfully YHWH

Responding Faithfully YHWH Yahweh

Responding Faithfully YHWH Yahweh Jehovah

Responding Faithfully YHWH Yahweh Jehovah LORD

Responding Faithfully “I will be whoever I will be.” Maybe “I am that I am” is better translated “I will be whoever I will be.”

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting We respond faithfully by obeying

Exodus 4:24-26 (NET Bible) 24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the LORD met Moses and sought to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.)

Responding Faithfully Moses failed to properly circumcise his son, and this warranted death by God.

Responding Faithfully The Abrahamic Covenant is God’s promise to give Abraham: countless descendants land

Genesis 17:1-11 (NET Bible) 1 When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless. 2 Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” 3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 17:1-11 (NET Bible) 5 No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 17:1-11 (NET Bible) 9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.

Genesis 17:1-11 (NET Bible) 9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.

Responding Faithfully Circumcision is the sign of the Covenant.

Responding Faithfully Moses was God’s instrument to bring the Abrahamic Covenant to its final conclusion, and Moses had failed to subject his own son to the sign of that Covenant.

Responding Faithfully “This is therefore one of several stories Moses told about himself in the Pentateuch that demonstrates his less than perfect obedience to God’s commands at various times.” –NAC

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting We respond faithfully by obeying

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting We respond faithfully by obeying We respond faithfully by worshipping

Exodus 4:27-31 (NET Bible) 27 The LORD said to Aaron, “Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and greeted him with a kiss. 28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people, 31 and the people believed. When they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.

Responding Faithfully Aaron provided Moses with immediate credibility.

Responding Faithfully “In response the people believed that Moses was sent by God (thus allaying Moses’ fears; cf. 4:1) and they worshiped God for His merciful care.” –BKC

Responding Faithfully We respond faithfully by trusting We respond faithfully by obeying We respond faithfully by worshipping