Exoduschapter 4

A.The Rod, the Hand, the Watervv. 1-9

1 Then 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.’” 2 And 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.” 6 Furthermore, 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. 8 And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. 9 But 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.”

B.Slow of Speech; Aaron Will Speakvv. 10-17

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.” 11 And 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? 12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.” 13 But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” 14 Then 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. 15 You 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. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

C.Israel Is My Firstborn Sonvv. 18-23

18 Then 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. 19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” 20 So 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. 21 The 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. 22 Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, 23 and 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!’”

D.Danger at the Lodging Placevv. 24-31

24 Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But 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. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) 27 Meanwhile, 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. 28 And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

Moses' objections and signs.

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Moses' objections and signs. The rod that becomes a serpent; the hand leprous and restored; water becoming blood. ‘Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf?’ Moses pleads his slowness of speech; Aaron is appointed as his mouthpiece. He returns to Egypt. On the way God meets him to kill him. Zipporah circumcises their son and throws the foreskin at Moses' feet. The covenant sign cannot be neglected even by the deliverer. Aaron meets him at the mount of God; together they declare the words to the elders; the people believe, bow their heads, and worship.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · Moses — Exodus overview

A. 1–9 The Rod, the Hand, the Water
B. 10–17 Slow of Speech; Aaron Will Speak
C. 18–23 Israel Is My Firstborn Son
D. 24–31 Danger at the Lodging Place

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Exodus 410 verses
- Exodus 4:1Then 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.’”
- Exodus 4:2And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
- Exodus 4:8And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.
- Exodus 4:15You 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.
- Exodus 4:16He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.
- Exodus 4:17But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
- Read Exodus 4: 4 more there →
Exodus 34 verses
- Exodus 3:1Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Exodus 3:15God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
- Exodus 3:16Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
- Exodus 3:18The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
- Read Exodus 3 →
Exodus 74 verses
- Exodus 7:1The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
- Exodus 7:9“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”
- Exodus 7:10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
- Exodus 7:19And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”
- Read Exodus 7 →
Exodus 23 verses
- Exodus 2:15When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.
- Exodus 2:23After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Exodus 2:25God saw the Israelites and took notice.
- Read Exodus 2 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Exodus 243 verses
- Exodus 24:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.
- Exodus 24:11But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.
- Exodus 24:15When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,
- Read Exodus 24 →
2 Kings 52 verses
- 2 Kings 5:14So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.
- 2 Kings 5:27Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.
- Read 2 Kings 5 →
Jeremiah 12 verses
- Jeremiah 1:6“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”
- Jeremiah 1:9Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
- Read Jeremiah 1 →
Jonah 12 verses
- Jonah 1:3Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
- Jonah 1:6The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
- Read Jonah 1 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.