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 EXODUS 4

Moses, who has been called by God to deliver Israel from Pharaoh, asks, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" (Exodus 4:1 NIV). God gives Moses three signs that he can perform to authenticate his call – the ability to turn Moses' staff into a snake, the ability to make his hand leprous and then well again, and the ability to turn water into blood.

Moses then objects that he is "slow of speech and tongue" (Exodus 4:10 NIV). God says, "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (Exodus 4:12 NIV). But Moses asks that God send someone else to speak for him and God tells him to take his brother Aaron.

In the King James Version there is reference to God moving the lips of Moses, a spiritual possession, and putting words in his mouth so that he may be an avatar, a tele-presence for imparting God's message to the people. Exodus 4 Verse 15 "And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what to do."

Moses leaves Jethro with his wife and sons. God reminds Moses that Pharaoh will refuse to let Israel go and that the firstborn son of every Egyptian will die as a result. God briefly wants to kill Moses, but a bloody foreskin changes his mind. Moses meets Aaron in the desert and they go to speak with the elders of Israel. "And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped." (Exodus 4:31 NIV).

PEOPLE: Moses – YHVH God – Aaron – Jethro – Zipporah – children of Israel

PLACES: Egypt – Midian

RELATED ARTICLES: Shemot (parsha) – circumcision – Zipporah at the inn

ENGLISH TEXT: American Standard – Douay–Rheims – Free – King James – Jewish Publication Society – Tyndale – World English – Wycliffe

The date can be calculated based on a 961BC date for Solomon's Temple, we then add the 480 years which arrives at 1441 BC for the Exodus. The 10 Commandments would have been received some time after that – probably in 1440 or later in 1441, depending on which month the Exodus began in. The verse below indicates it took 3 months to travel from Egypt to Sinai where the commandments were given to Moses.