Coromandel Baptist Church

Sunday 8 February 2009 Exodus 3:1-22; John 8:48-59

Moses Meets God (Part 1)

Last week, in Exodus chapter 2, we met Moses. This week, as we turn to Exodus chapter 3, Moses meets God. This chapter tells us of Moses' encounter with the Lord—the God of his fathers—and of the Lord's call of Moses to be the one through whom God would deliver his flock. We hear of Moses doubt (indeed unbelief, as amplified further in chapter 4), but even more of God's commissioning of Moses for his (i.e. the Lord's) task. This calling is accompanied with the Lord's promises—particularly of his promise to be present with Moses—and with the revelation of the Lord's name. While we often use 'Yahweh' to express that name, the significant matter is the meaning of the name more than its form. The meaning of the name is opened up for us through God's actions and words in the book of Exodus, but with even more clarity and glory in the sending of Jesus, Yahweh's son.

The chapter opens with Moses shepherding the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, and the whole encounter (which continues into chapter 4) ends with Moses effectively having been commissioned to shepherd the flock of God. The burning bush (a theophany) is the means by which God draws Moses aside, but the weight of the encounter lies with the words that the Lord speaks to Moses. The Lord's presence makes the ground on which Moses stands holy (hence, by virtue of his presence later in the narrative, the whole camp of Israel is holy to the Lord), and the one who appears in holiness to make his people holy identifies himself as the God of Moses' ancestors. Significantly, this identification spans the generations from Moses' father (singular, verse 6) through the generations of those who had lived in Egypt, back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This historical continuity with the covenant community is emphasized throughout the call and commissioning passages (e.g. Ex. 3:6, 15, 16; 4:15). Covenant is the primary way of understanding God's being present to his people. Covenant, not law, is the overarching heading under which the exodus (and the books that relate to it) should be understood.

The name we commonly pronounce as Yahweh (a probable best guess), is a repeated form of the Hebrew verb 'to be'. The meaning of the name as explained in Ex. 3:14 may be variously expressed as 'I am who I am', 'I am he who is', or possibly 'I will be who I am/I am who I will be'. The stress falls on both the perpetuity of God (the living God, eternally with his people) and on the nature of God's action towards his people. Israel 'need not be concerned about divine arbitrariness or capriciousness. God can be counted on to be who he is' (Fretheim). The NT expression 'he who was and is and is to come' carries similar weight, and expresses the dynamic nature of the God who 'is'…always being and doing according to his own nature for his people. On first appearance it seems that Exodus 3:6 and 6:3 are contradictory, but in reality the name (Yahweh) was known in antiquity (cf. Gen. 14:22), albeit not in the full dynamic expression now about to be revealed through the exodus.

God's words to Moses—particularly those of his commissioning in Ex. 3:10—­are met by a mixed response. On the one hand, the presence of the holy God exposes the utter impurity and inadequacy of our own so-called holiness. Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, Peter, John, Thomas and Paul are among some of the biblical examples we may think of. No human being may simply choose to stand in the presence of God or swagger into that presence on the basis of their own abilities, powers or status. However—particularly as Moses' encounter with God continues in the narrative of chapter 4—it becomes clear that Moses' reaction is not simply that of a sinner in the presence of the holy God. Moses at 80 is a far cry from relying on the self-initiating power evident in his attempt to precipitate the deliverance of Israel in Exodus 2, but he is also a far cry from trust in the Lord's provision for his needs. The Lord graciously persists in bringing Moses to faith and trust, which portrays a consistent biblical reality: God's call creates faith and contains the power for its fulfillment.

Moses own self-referential question (Ex. 3:11) is perhaps natural enough, but the focus of it was entirely misplaced. God does not answer the question…since it is irrelevant! The only thing that matters is God's promise and his actual and active presence (Ex. 3:12). Significantly, the 'sign' that God would be with him is the outcome! While there will be many 'signs and wonders' along the way, the great sign of the Lord's presence is that his people would, in the end, be assembled in his presence for worship. Likewise, the great sign that the Lord has been with us is that on the last day, we will stand in his presence in worship, in his Son—doubts, murmurings and distractions along the way notwithstanding.

In Exodus 3:8 God declares that he has 'come down' (cf. the tower of Babel) to deliver his people, such deliverance only being possible because of his interventions in judgment. He promises not only to free Israel from Egypt, but to bring them to the land he promised to Abraham (lit. 'oozing', 'engorged') with good things, the idealized picture here being redolent of Eden (Ex. 3:8, 17) He promises to be with Israel and Moses, and he specifically identifies himself with them (My people). He forewarns Moses that Pharaoh will not be amenable to letting Israel go (Ex. 3:20), a thread that runs throughout the first fourteen chapters of the book, in which on the one hand Pharaoh hardens his heart, and on the other God (judicially) hardens Pharaoh's heart. God also promises that Israel will be richly blessed in their leaving (with the land's gold and silver being given to them, in fulfillment of the promise to Abraham Gen. 15:14 cf. Ex. 3:21-22). In this Yahweh is the warrior for his people (Ex. 15:3 cf. 14:14) who plunders Pharaoh (the god-king of Egypt, in whose kingdom gold was especially sacred).