HARD HEART, HARD QUESTIONS
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Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, speak to me through the Scriptures today. Use it, not only to give me greater understanding of God’s love for me, but to inspire me to serve him with deeper purpose and greater zeal.
Read EXODUS 4:18–31
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Moses Returns to Egypt
18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”
Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”
19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses[a] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.[b] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)
27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.
29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
Footnotes
- Exodus 4:24 Hebrew him
- Exodus 4:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Meditate on these words: ‘Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble’ (Proverbs 28:14).Some Bible passages present challenges to the interpreter. This has at least two! First, after all the Lord has done to prepare Moses for a confrontation with Pharaoh, he says that he is going to make it more difficult by ‘hardening Pharaoh’s heart’ so that he will not agree to Moses’ demands (v. 21). At other times Pharaoh hardens his own heart (7:13; 8:15).
We will see that, as successive plagues come, Pharaoh becomes more and more stubborn, until the death of Egypt’s firstborn causes him to relent and allow God’s ‘firstborn’ to escape (12:29–32). Our attempts to find simple solutions to the problem of God’s sovereignty and human free will are doomed to oversimplification. We can only hold the two in tension: God is sovereign and he allows us our choices.
What are we to make of the revelation that the Lord, who has chosen and prepared Moses for this great task, is ‘about to kill him’ (v. 24)? Gershom, Moses’ firstborn son, has not been circumcised as required of Jewish males (vv. 24–26; see Genesis 17:14). The situation is rectified and the ritual performed. It’s a reminder that the leaders of God’s people need to observe the same rules as the rest of God’s people to maintain fellowship.
Apply
Are there any areas where you feel God is challenging you, but you are resisting his will?
Closing prayer
Father, thank you for your call on my life that brings salvation and safety. Help me respond to you with obedience and trust.
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