Exodus 3

Exodus 3:1-4

Section 3. (Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 4:1-17.)God’s revelation of Himself. The glory of the gospel is that God is revealed in it. He is making known for all eternity, and to all His creatures, “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7.) For us also “all things that pertain to life and godliness are given in the knowledge of Him who hath called us.” (2 Peter 1:3.) We had lost such knowledge as we had, or as creation would have afforded us. Now both we and principalities and powers in heavenly places are to learn what puts into our mouths a “new song.” In the section now before us, God, in calling Moses to the work for which He has been preparing him, reveals to him Himself.

1. The shepherd is the fitting type of the divine Deliverer and King. So, afterward, God “chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes great with young He brought him, to feed Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance.” (Psalms 78:70-71.) So the beautiful expression in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, which speaks of Christ as the Governor who shall “rule” God’s people Israel, is literally “shall be a Shepherd” to them. This is God’s thought. Thus He trains up Moses, after all that he had learned in the palace in Egypt, forty years in the desert in simple shepherd work, until he is fit for the power to be entrusted to him -the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3). And such is the Shepherd God has appointed us (Matthew 11:29). We find, then, Moses, in the course of his service, now at Horeb, the mount of God. Here the angel of Jehovah appears to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And the bush burns with fire, yet is not consumed. There from the bush the Lord addresses him, and, as the angel of the bush, gives him, his commission. God had before, and in reference to this very captivity in Egypt, revealed Himself under the similitude of fire. The “smoking furnace” had been His symbol when in covenanting with Abraham He passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. It is to the deep sleep which overpowers him there, and the horror of great darkness which falls upon him, that the vision which follows addresses itself. The smoking furnace and the burning lamp are what the deep sleep and the darkness respectively demand; and these the sacrifice secures and the faithfulness of God supplies to His people. If the activity and vigilance of faith fail, the furnace will not fail as the appointed means of purification; while for the darkness the burning lamp is equally provided. Thus the fiery trial which was trying them in Egypt was in reality God’s remembrance of His covenant with Abraham; and if we look at this thorn-bush, for such it is, it is a very striking picture of the people. The thorns and briars are a figure of those “sons of Belial” of whom David speaks as to be “all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands.” Thorns were a sign of the curse at the beginning; and are, in fact, abortive leaves or branches, easily read as this, -parts of a plant incapable of fulfilling their original purpose. Sinners are thus, in this symbol, naturally connected with the curse upon sin. But the thorn-bush here is not consumed, for the angel of Jehovah, the covenant-God, is in the fire. The tribulation is the means ordained of God in grace to work repentance; and so the grace that takes us up ordains for us all necessary discipline. The wonder attracts Moses, and he turns aside to see. This is the first design of a miracle -to force men, by the mystery in it, to attention. And those who draw nigh with unshod feet, as Moses did, find in it a “sign” -a thing significant of divine “power” working in man’s behalf. These are the three Scripture terms for miracles: “wonders,” “signs,” “powers.” How many of these offer themselves still in nature and in Scripture, and in what we call “providence,” to engage our interest, if we have but hearts to ponder them! For the Scripture miracles have thus still their evidences, and are proofs still of what they are attached to, -not burdens upon the evidence, as men say. Here, then, out of this bush God declares Himself to Moses, and to us, the triune God of revelation, God of his fathers, -the self-same God all through.
2. This God is to be known as the God of salvation, for only thus can He be the object of love or worship (John 4:22). And for this, it is not enough that He speak the word from heaven: He must “come down to deliver;” words which necessarily carry us on beyond the pillar of cloud in which His presence was manifested then to Israel, to the incarnation and the cross. In this “coming down” of God all the sweetness and power of salvation are. God is declared in it, and the manifestation abides for us in the perpetual humanity of the Lord Jesus. “Christ come in flesh” is thus the test, with the apostle, of the utterance of the Spirit of God. (1 John 4:2-3.) Salvation by such an one must be a complete salvation; and it is not complete until the land of promise is their own. Six nations are specified here as to be overthrown, -the full power of evil, and the land is a good land and a large, flowing with milk and honey. It is not a land of straitness, as Egypt is, -and heaven is not conditioned by the needs and struggles of earth. The “river” is not at strife with the desert there. There is all “fatness,” which the word for milk literally means, and all sweetness, as the honey implies. Salvation for us must issue in satisfaction, or it is not salvation. Our Canaan, as we shall later learn, is to be entered upon now by faith. Moses objects his personal unfitness, but this only brings the assurance that God is with him, so that self-distrust need not be discouragement. Nay, the more complete it is, the more will God’s all-sufficiency be realized. He is solemnly assured, for his encouragement, that the people brought forth by him shall serve God upon that mount; and this is what is the fruit of salvation, and the sign of who hath wrought in it, that it thus brings back to Him in obedience the former slaves of sin.
3. And now we come to what is of the deepest importance -the name of God according to which He takes up, and can alone take up, the people. The question as to this is clearly not of His historical name simply. Names have in the present day so little significance, -stand so much as mere algebraical symbols for unknown quantities, -that we have need to be reminded of the different manner in which Scripture uses them, and indeed in which people of old regarded them. In Scripture, all names appear to have -often a prophetic -significance, of which those who gave them were in general profoundly unconscious, while guided thus by a wisdom quite beyond their own. The names of God especially express what He is Himself, -are a revelation of His attributes; and the question Moses puts in the mouth of the people, “What is His name?” implies, “In what way are we to interpret His present actings?

What do they mean? Why is it that He does this?” The answer, therefore, must answer questions such as these, and it should be evident that this will not be given best by God declaring Himself under some new name, but rather by flashing some new significance out of an old one. Thus His present acts will be made only to bring out in fresh glory attributes that were but dimly seen before, and He will be seen to be consistent with Himself all through, while yet more and more revealing Himself. Thus the difficulty is cleared up where God says afterwards, speaking of the patriarchs, “By My name,” or “According to My name ‘Jehovah’ was I not known unto them.” This is not in the least a denial of the fact that even before the flood “men began to call on the name of Jehovah,” or that Abraham also built his altars to Jehovah, and called upon His name. It means, rather, that the significance of that name had not yet been properly told out. Now it was to be. Israel’s deliverance was to illustrate Jehovah’s name so as to make it His memorial name for all generations; and in it Israel should find their abiding ground of confidence.*
“I am” is the Living, Unchanging, Self-existent One, necessarily independent of all others. As such, He acts from Himself in necessary independence also; and here is the ground of redemption, God acting from Himself, and, therefore, according to what He is Himself. God is showing forth Himself, showing forth the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, glorifying Himself, letting the light of His glory shine. Is it not worthy of Him? We reason from ourselves to God, and can make nothing of it. We are sinners, and can merit nothing: why should not He punish, how can He do aught but punish, sin? How blessed, then, to hear Him say, “I, even I, am He who blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake.” (Isaiah 43:25.) Who can deny His right in this, if He chooses to do it, and declares that He has done it? Jehovah, then, is the living, unchangeable God, acting from Himself, finding in Himself the argument for what He does. How suitable a name for the God of redemption - the covenant-name! And this is closely connected with what He at the same time declares Himself to be - the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; for as this He fulfils an absolute promise which He had given, and by which He stood pledged, apart from all question of what they were. He was thus plainly acting from Himself, and for His own sake. But this is not all: in connecting Himself with these three men He was surely telling out Himself in a peculiar way. Why just these three? To us now it should be plain at least. Who can read the twenty-second of Genesis without finding in the offerer and the offered there another Father than Abraham, another Son than Isaac?

Again too in the epistle to the Galatians, Isaac, the child of the free-woman, is shown to typify those who have now received the adoption - the free-born sons of God, and Abraham here again is the shadow of Him who is our God and Father. The God of Jacob once more declares the divine power which takes up the most intractable material to fashion it into a vessel for the Master’s use: and this is the office of the Holy Ghost. Thus Father, Son, and Spirit are really in some true sense shown in the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and these are but Jehovah, the God of redemption, fully manifested. How clearly can we understand Him, then, when He says, “This is My name forever; and this is My memorial to all generations.” Here, then, is the ground of redemption - that upon which a soul can surely rest, revealed in God’s covenant-name. He is the Self-existent One, who acts necessarily from Himself and according to His own nature: “all things were created by Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16.) That this is said of Christ shows at once who Christ is, and how truly He is the full expression of the divine mind. God is revealing Himself, acting for the display of Himself, -the joy and blessing of His creatures. And this is the true thought of His glorifying Himself, not as if glory could be conferred upon Him, or as if He craved or had need of something from His creatures. “Love seeketh not her own “(1 Corinthians 13:5), and “God is love.” If He seek His own glory, it is to fill as the sun the heavens with His brightness. This is grace, and the theme of His people’s praise forever. 4. In the accomplishment of His purpose, the Lord reveals the state of the world, -its opposition to Himself, its false trusts, its pride and feebleness. This is the meaning of all this parleying with Pharaoh, and the measured succession of judgments upon the land. His people needed the lesson, and, given in a manner so public, all who would might learn it. God foretells the result, that they may not be discouraged or disappointed. We may learn before experience, if we will, by the Word of God, all that we are and all the world is. How much would we be spared if we would learn thus! 5. As the result of all this, moreover, the wealth of the world passes into the hands of the people of God. “All things are yours,” says the apostle; “whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, -all are yours.” (1 Corinthians 3:22.) Men out of Christ, as they have right to nothing, so indeed they possess nothing. In the end, it will be found so. “Godliness” it is that “hath promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8.) They who go as pilgrims out of the world yet carry with them all the good of the world, and the world that would enjoy it must yield it up to them. To him who belongs to the world the world cannot belong. 6. Moses is still unready. He objects the unbelief of the people, and is hindered by his own. The Lord gives him three signs, witnessing of the power at work in behalf of the people -signs which are to witness for him as the deliverer raised up of God for them. They must have faith in the deliverer in order to find the deliverance; and so it is today: faith in Christ Himself is the first and absolutely necessary thing upon which all else depends. (1.) The sign of the rod comes first. The rod is the sign of power -“the rod of Thy power” (Psalms 110:2) -here, as we know, in the shepherd’s hands, who, as we have seen, is the very type of royalty according to God. Even the iron rod with which Christ will smite His enemies is still represented as in a shepherd’s hands. In all passages, it reads really, “He shall shepherd them with an iron rod.” (Revelation 2:27.) Severely as it may smite, love guides it. Woe indeed to those whom everlasting love has thus to smite! The rod in Moses’ hand is, then, the type of power -divine, and characterized by tenderness and care, as a shepherd’s rod. But Moses is told to cast it on the ground; and out of his hand the rod changes its character -it becomes a serpent. Plainly enough the type can be read here. Who that looks round upon the earth with the thought in his mind of power being in the hands of eternal love but must own to strange bewilderment at finding every where what seems so completely to negative the supposition? Scripture itself puts the question in its full strength: “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with Thee, which frameth mischief by a law?” (Psalms 94:20.) The rod is to all appearance out of the Shepherd’s hand, and “the prince of this world” is now not Christ, but Satan. The claim he once made to universal empire, before the Son of God Himself, has but too much truth in it: and so the dragon is pictured in Revelation with the heads and horns of the imperial beast. (Revelation 12:3.) There is no doubt that there is a special reference to Egypt here, which Moses and the Israelites would readily understand. “The asp played a conspicuous part in Egyptian mythology. It was the emblem of the goddess Ranno, the snake of Neph, the hieroglyphic of ‘goddess,’ and the sign of royalty. From this last use it was called ‘Uraeus,’ from ouro, king, and basiliskos, royal. Egypt was, therefore, not obscurely pointed out as the adversary of God and His people at this time.” -(Murphy’s Exodus.) But Egypt itself is a type of the world at large, as we have seen; and the meaning, while it includes this, is much broader. Every where, we find the apparent contradiction which sin has wrought. The rod seems not in His hand to whom it belongs, but on the ground, and satanic. But observe the beautiful accuracy of the type, and the comfort prepared for us in it. The rod was cast out of Moses’ hand -did not slip out. God has not lost control of the world after all: of His own will, and for purposes of highest wisdom, He has permitted man’s self-chosen subjection to demon rule.

But if the Lord come in, as in the scene at Gadara, Satan is displaced at once: the victim is delivered without an effort. Alas! this only brings out the real foundation of satanic empire, in man’s rejection of the Deliverer. The people pray Him to depart out of their coasts! “Judgment shall” yet “return unto righteousness” (Psalms 94:15), and Satan be vanquished, and cast out of his usurped dominion. Meanwhile, the rod of power is found on the side of love with Him who is the Deliverer from Satan’s tyranny. “He is gone up on high; He has led captivity captive,” and having spoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Psalms 68:18; Colossians 2:15.) Here is man’s first need met. (2) The second sign is that of sin and its cleansing; for that is, above all, what marks the condition of man. Leprosy is the Old Testament type of sin in its loathsomeness and malignity, and power to spread. It is shown us in it as no mere accident, or local thing, but a virulent, growing, contagious evil, deeper than the surface, not to be measured by the outward appearance, and absolutely fatal, unless God come in to save. In Moses’ case it is strikingly pictured as that which from the heart affects the hand, not from the hand the heart. The clean hand placed in the bosom is drawn out leprous -white as death. “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Be sure, if the hand be leprous, the heart is not better, but worse: it is the seat of the whole disease. And cleansing must begin accordingly, not with the hand, but with the heart. So with the type here. Moses’ hand thrust into the bosom becomes leprous; thrust into his bosom again, it is restored. Defilement and cleansing both begin at the heart. What has cleansed the heart? No remedial process is seen in this case, but the way to cleansing is very simply shown. For leprosy in the heart is sin hidden, but leprosy on the hand is sin exposed.

The hand plucked out of the bosom makes manifest what is there. And “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9.) Here, it is leprosy in the hand that is manifested; not the mere confession of sin being in our hearts or in our natures, but of sin actually committed -a very different thing. We can own easily, and without any conscience, that we are all sinners, but it is for the sins actually committed we feel we are responsible before God. Repentance and remission of sins God has joined together. (Luke 24:47.) Faith owns the righteous judgment of God, according to His Word, and finds remission of sins preached through Christ by the same infallible Word. Forgiveness it is that purifies the heart, faith working by love (Luke 7:47); and thus the blessedness becomes ours of “the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Psalms 32:1.) (3) The third sign predicts judgment for obstinate unbelief. The stream of life and blessing which is ministered to us here from God becomes wrath and judgment if, after all, His goodness lead not to repentance, -every blessing becoming in the end but judgment if a Saviour’s voice be disregarded. Here, that is given as a sign to Israel which is given as a testimony to Pharaoh afterward. God’s principles are unchanging, and unbelief, even in a believer, will find its judgment, while, by the same Word, as a believer, he is, as to eternal condemnation, free forever. Thus, as there is salvation for sin, so on the other hand there must be faith in order to salvation. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36.) 7. But Moses still objects; and evil as is this slowness of heart to respond to the grace of God, that grace nevertheless, still sovereign over it, makes it the occasion of the more perfect display of what is in His heart. Moses cannot yet speak, and God provides now for him one who is to be his mouth-piece to the people. This is Aaron, in God’s mind the designed high-priest of Israel, though not yet revealed as that. It is as Moses’ “prophet” that he is here announced, -his associate and complement in the great work which God had committed to them. Provision is now completely made. Taking in, however, what in the purpose of God he was, Aaron as the priest is indeed the complement of Moses, and together they are the double type of Christ. In Him, king and priest are united, -redemption by power and by blood: without the latter, there could not be the former. Priesthood alone can interpret the Deliverer: sacrifice alone account for salvation. This, in its true import, Israel has not yet learned: there, Moses is delayed by his need of Aaron; when they look upon Him, they shall not only see One whom they have pierced, but know why He had to stoop to that unequaled humiliation.