Exodus 4:1

_AND MOSES ANSWERED AND SAID, BUT, BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME, NOR HEARKEN UNTO MY VOICE: FOR THEY WILL SAY, THE LORD HATH NOT APPEARED UNTO THEE._ But, behold - Hebrew, 'if,' 'perhaps,' 'they will not believe me,' what evidence can I produce of my divine mission? There was still a want of full confidence, not in the character and divine power of his Employer, but in His presence and power always accompanying him. Moses insinuated that his communication might be rejected, and himself treated as an impostor....

1._And Moses answered. _Moses relates in this chapter how hesitatingly he obeyed God, not from stubbornness, but from timidity, for he does not shake off the yoke, as unruly beasts do, but shrinks away from it, that it may not be placed upon him. (50) And hence we may better perceive under what infirmity he labored, so that his faith was almost stifled. On the one side, he was willing and ready to obey; but when the arduous difficulties of his task presented themselves, he could not escape from this conflict until he had exhausted all efforts to escape. Nor indeed can we greatly wonder that he resisted for a time, since he could see scarcely any advantage in his undertaking. I admit that he ought to have proceeded according to God’s command, even with his eyes shut, since on His will alone all believers are bound to depend; he ought not to have judged of a thing (in itself) incredible, f...

1-9 Moses objects, that the people would not take his word, unless he showed them some sign. God gives him power to work miracles. But those who are now employed to deliver God's messages to men, need not the power to work miracles: their character and their doctrines are to be tried by that word of God to which they appeal. These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belonged to Him only, to cast the power of the devil out of the soul, and to heal the soul of the leprosy of sin; and so it was for Him first to cast the devil out of the body, and to heal the leprosy of the body....

CHAPTER IV _Moses continuing to express his fear that the Israelites would not_ _credit his Divine mission_, 1; _God, to strengthen his faith, and to assure him that his countrymen_ _would believe him, changed his rod into a serpent, and the serpent_ _into a rod_, 2-5; _made his hand leprous, and afterwards restored it_, 6, 7; _intimating that he had now endued him with power to work such_ _miracles, and that the Israelites would believe_, 8; _and farther assures him that he should have power to turn the water_ _into blood_,

With this chapter begins the series of miracles which resulted in the deliverance of Israel. The first miracle was performed to remove the first obstacle, namely, the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness, and of the enormous power with which he would have to contend....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 4:1 The reluctance of Moses to undertake the part of leader, indicated by his first reply at his first calling, "Who am I that I should go?" etc. (Exodus 3:11), was not yet overcome. God had promised that he would succeed; but he did not see how he could succeed, either with the people or with Pharaoh. It was not enough for him that God had declared, "They (the people) shall hearken unto thy voice" (Exodus 3:18); he does not, cannot believe this, and replies: "Behold, they will not believe, neither hearken unto my voice" (Exodus 4:1). This was plain want of faith; but

AND MOSES ANSWERED AND SAID,.... In reference to what Jehovah had declared to him in the latter end of the preceding chapter: BUT, BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME, NOR HEARKEN TO MY VOICE; this seems to contradict what God had said to him, Exodus 3:18 that they would hearken to his voice; but it can hardly be thought, that so good a man, and so great a prophet as Moses was, would directly fly in the face of God, and expressly contradict what he had said. To reconcile this it may be observed, that what the Lord says respects only the elders of Israel, this all the people; or Jehovah's meaning may be, and so this of Moses, that neither the one nor the other would regard his bare word, without some sign or miracle being wrought; for as his call was extraordinary, so it required something extraordinary to be done that it might be credited: for they will say, the

CHAPTER 4:1-28 MOSES' OBJECTIONS, JEHOVAH'S ANSWER AND THE RETURN TO EGYPT _ 1. The first objection (Exodus 4:1)_ 2. The two signs and Jehovah's assurance (Exodus 4:2) 3. The second objection (Exodus 4:10) 4. Jehovah's answer (Exodus 4:11) 5. Moses' request (Exodus 4:13) 6. Jehovah's anger and answer (Exodus 4:14) 7. The command to return to Egypt (Exodus 4:18

EXODUS 4:1 J (following Exodus 3:18). MOSES'S THIRD DIFFICULTY Israel's unbelief. To overcome it, he is enabled to authenticate his mission by three signs the rod that became a serpent and again a rod (Exodus 4:2), the leprosy of his hand that came and went (Exodus 4:6), and the turning of water into blood (Exodus 4:9). The first is in P a sign to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8), and the third is in E and P the first plague ...

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ App-6. THEY WILL NOT. suppose they will not. THE LORD (Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4....