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Moses, the Leader of God’s People
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and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
The answer was, “I AM WHO I AM. ... ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God commanded Moses to first assemble the elders of Israel,
who had been mourning for a long time because of their slavery, and
to declare to them a message from Him. Then he was to go before
the king and say, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us;
and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness,
that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.”
Moses was warned ahead of time that Pharaoh would resist the
appeal, yet the courage of God’s servant must not fail. The Lord
would show His power. “I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt
with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he
will let you go.”
The Lord declared, “It shall be, when you go, that you shall
not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor,
namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles
of gold, and clothing.” The Egyptians had become rich by the labor
unfairly required from the Israelites, and it was right for the Israelites
to claim the reward of their years of work. God would help them as
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they approached the Egyptians for payment, and the requests of the
slaves would be granted.
What proof could Moses give his people that God had indeed
sent him? “But suppose,” he said, “they will not believe me or listen
to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”
He was told to throw his rod on the ground, and as he did so, “it
became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.” He was commanded to
grab it, and in his hand it became a rod. He was told to put his hand
onto his chest. He obeyed, and “when he took it out, behold, his
hand was leprous, like snow.” Being told to put it again onto his
chest, he found when he pulled it out that it had become like the
other. By these signs his own people, as well as Pharaoh, would be
convinced that One mightier than the king of Egypt was certainly
among them.
Moses Is Reluctant
But in his distress and fear the servant of God now pleaded as an
excuse a lack of speaking ability: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent. ...