1Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3“Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it.
4“Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
5“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.
7“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.
8And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.
9But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
10“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
12Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
13But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
14Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
15You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.
16He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.
17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
19Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.”
20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
22Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
23and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’”
24Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
25But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
26So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
27Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.
28And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.
29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,
30and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people,
31and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
Exodus 4 Verse Notes
Exod 4:1
Prophetic Authorization Signs
Prophets performed signs to validate their divine authority and confirm the truth of their messages. Examples include Moses' staff turning into a snake or his hand becoming leprous, and Elijah calling down fire from heaven. Isaiah's prophecy of a child's birth also served as a sign to assure the king of military success, demonstrating that these acts were meant to authorize the prophet's words.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Why Were the Hebrew Prophets So Weird? · watch the clip
Exod 4:10-12
Moses' Speech Impediment and God's Power
The biblical account of Moses having a speech impediment, and God choosing him despite or because of it, serves as a demonstration of God's power. Similar to the barren matriarchs in Genesis, God works through human weakness to highlight divine strength. This narrative element emphasizes that God's choice and intervention are paramount, not human ability.
Summarized by AI · The Hebrew Bible: Exploring the Literature of Ancient Israel · Lecture 7: The Exodus, or Not · watch the clip
Exod 4:21-23
God's Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart and the Death of the Firstborn
A disturbing passage reveals God's explicit plan to harden Pharaoh's heart, knowing it will lead to Pharaoh's refusal to release Israel. This refusal then becomes the justification for God to kill Pharaoh's firstborn son, presenting a theological challenge regarding divine justice and human free will.
Summarized by AI · Finding Moses: What Scholars Know About the Exodus and the Jewish Law · Lecture 3: The Exodus · watch the clip
Exod 4:21
Divine and Human Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart
The biblical text presents a dual perspective on Pharaoh's obstinacy: God explicitly states His intention to harden Pharaoh's heart to demonstrate His power, while Pharaoh is also depicted as hardening his own heart. This interplay serves God's purpose of displaying His wonders and gaining glory over Pharaoh.
Summarized by AI · Finding Moses: What Scholars Know About the Exodus and the Jewish Law · Lecture 3: The Exodus · watch the clip
Exod 4:22-23
Jesus Recapitulates Israel's Story
Matthew 2:15 states that Jesus' return from Egypt 'fulfilled' Hosea 11:1, 'Out of Egypt I called my son.' However, Hosea 11:1 is a retrospective statement about Israel's Exodus, not a prediction. Matthew uses this to show that Jesus embodies Israel's story, recapitulating the nation's journey and fulfilling its role as God's true son, doing what Israel failed to do.
Summarized by AI · Jesus and the Old Testament · Lecture 5: Angle 3 | New Testament Authors Reshaping Israel's Story Around Jesus · watch the clip
Exod 4:22
Forty days in the wilderness: Jesus succeeds where Israel failed
Israel is called God's son, brought through the water of the exodus and then tested in the wilderness forty years, where it failed again and again. Jesus, the newly declared Son of God, passes through the water of baptism and is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested forty days, and he holds firm. Mark stages it as a cosmic battle, with Satan, wild beasts, and ministering angels, and the faithful Son comes through it unbroken.
Summarized by AI · The Genius of Mark: Jesus the Secret Messiah · Lecture 1: The Beginning of the Gospel · watch the clip
Gentile Adoption into Abraham's Family
Paul taught that Gentiles could be brought into God's family, not through circumcision and the Law, but through spiritual adoption via the spirit of Christ. This infusion of spirit enabled ex-pagan Gentiles to fulfill the Law and become 'brothers' (adelphoi) through Christ, the firstborn of many brothers, thereby receiving a new lineage.
Summarized by AI · Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years · Lecture 4: Beginnings | Paul, the Pagan's Apostle · watch the clip
Jesus' Use of 'Father' for God
Jesus frequently referred to God as 'Father,' and in one instance, used the intimate Aramaic term 'Abba' (daddy/papa). This suggests a close relationship with God, implying he saw himself as a 'Son of God.' However, in ancient Judaism, 'Son of God' did not denote divinity but a special relationship with God, as seen with the King of Israel or the nation of Israel.
Summarized by AI · Paul and Jesus: The Great Divide · Lecture 1: Who Was Jesus According to Jesus? · watch the clip
