Knowing God 04: God's Son (Exodus 4:18-5:23)

Last Christmas, someone gifted one of my daughters a pretty over-the-shoulder knitted bag. Its design was somewhat see-through, so it could serve as a nice bag for...stuff. Anyways, we were in a large group when she opened it, and one of her grandfathers mistook it for a skimpy see-through shirt and said, "Nope!" What was the idea there? No granddaughter of mine!

In a similar fashion, God wants us to live up to the new identity he gives us when we trust in Christ. New creatures with new natures who have been rescued from the terrors of sin, we are called to a higher life than before. And God wants us to live in step with that new life.

This is, in a sense, what the exodus was all about. The Hebrew people were God's people but were enslaved in Egypt. The incongruence was startling, and something had to give. Motivated by the sonship of Israel, God was on the move.

1. Yahweh is motivated by sonship (4:18-23)

18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ” (Exodus 4:18-23)

After meeting with God at the burning bush, Moses asked his father-in-law for permission to go back to his brothers in Egypt (18). It was probably wise for him to omit the details about talking to God in a fiery bush on the backside of the wilderness—Homeboy is loco in la cabeza. He instead told Jethro he wanted to see if they were all still alive (18).

Jethro gave Moses his blessing. Then Yahweh-God restated his exhortation to Moses, telling him to "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead" (19). Knowing what we know, this absolutely, positively cannot be God's way of saying, "I could not handle your enemies for you, but now, to quote Scooby Doo, 'the ghost is clear.'" In Exodus, God is presented as being able to handle himself—thank you very much. Instead, this is likely a way of indicating the first big installment of Moses' life is over. God has turned the page and is about to do something new. The process of deliverance is ready to begin.

So Moses headed out with his wife and—now, as his family had grown a little—sons (20). For readers of Genesis, there are major echoes of Jacob in this part of Moses' story. Like Moses, Jacob had to flee to a foreign country under the threat of death. Like Moses, Jacob married a woman he first met at a well. Like Moses, Jacob served his father-in-law, caring for his flocks, for many years. Both men had a promise that God would be with them and return them to where they had come from. Both men had to eventually part from their father-in-law to reunite with their brothers. And, as we will see, both men were saved by the actions of their wives.

There is a contrast between them, however. When Jacob left his father-in-law, a man named Laban, he went out with a huge family and great possessions. When Moses left his father-in-law, he went out with a small family, a donkey, and a shepherd's staff (20). Perhaps this was a hint from God that Moses' family and great possessions lay there in Egypt, and it was time to go get them.

It was here that the LORD reminded Moses that he'd get a chilly reception from Pharaoh (21). God had already told Moses that Pharaoh would not let Israel go unless compelled by a mighty hand (3:19). Now Yahweh tells Moses that even after Moses performed the signs, God would harden Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the people go (21). When this hardness came upon Pharaoh, Moses was instructed to say, on God's behalf, "Let my son go that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son" (22-23).

Many questions abound here—including questions about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and we will get to that in future teachings—but for now, I want you to notice a new development in the text. God refers to the Hebrew people, the still-emerging nation of Israel, as his firstborn son. And since Pharaoh had been persecuting God's firstborn son—even commanding that their sons be thrown into the Nile River—God warned that a refusal to let his firstborn son go would result in the death of Pharaoh's firstborn son (23).

The headline here is that God sees himself in a family relationship with Israel—collectively, the Hebrew men and women were God's firstborn son. This is the first time God is thought of as a Father in Scripture. He did not simply look down from his heavenly perch, see an oppressed people, and decide to move. God is moved by injustices people do to other people, but God is moved here because of the identity of the oppressed. They are his kids! He is their Father!

This concept is meant to present an obvious contradiction or hurdle to the reader—if the Hebrews are God's firstborn son, why are they suffering and enslaved? Why were they serving Pharaoh and not serving God? This is a problem to be fixed, and that's what God is doing in Exodus. He is drawing the people out so they can be who they really are.

The privilege, of course, of being considered God's son is no longer reserved for Israel, but through Jesus, it has become the opportunity for every person walking the face of this earth. Because the Son of God (and God the Son) came to live, die, and rise for us, we can become sons of God. Jesus came to "bring many sons to glory" through his suffering (Heb. 2:10). Through Christ, we are adopted into God's family with the standing and position of his only begotten Son. This is one reason why we aren't referred to as God's sons and daughters—we all, male and female, gain the position of God's Son when we trust Christ (translations that use more gender-neutral language when talking about us as God's children really miss the point—we have received Christ the Son's position!).

And, as I said, in Exodus, Father God is going to work to draw his son out of slavery and into a relationship with himself so they can be who they really are. He draws them out of Egypt into himself so they can be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests showing the world what it looks like to know and love God. Just like we are, they were made for freedom from tyrannical slavery to anything and loving service to God and neighbor.

And this is always God's doing. He does what he does in our lives because he is motivated by sonship. He wants to make us sons, but once we are, he works hard to help us live out of that new identity. And when there is an incongruence—and, let's be honest, there usually is—he works to correct it. d

What about us today? What incongruencies is Yahweh seeking to rescue us from? How is he trying to bring us into line with who we truly are in him?

2. Yahweh wants us to be motivated by our sonship (4:24-26)

24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

This is probably an episode we don't teach in Calvary Kids—stop that rogue teacher! It's a true shock and awe moment for us, a bump in the road that gives us pause. The fancy phrase for it is narrative dissonance, a true "what the?" moment of Scripture.

It shocks us on so many levels. God sought to put Moses to death? I mean, by now, we know God and Moses are the ultimate tag team, heading into the ring to bodyslam Pharaoh and all the Egyptians. Moses can't die! God can't want to kill Moses! And don't get me started on all the circumcision, foreskin, and "a bridegroom of blood" talk. When God called me into the ministry, I did not anticipate that I would have to talk about stuff like this to sophisticated people such as yourselves.

In the story, Moses and his little family are rolling along on their carbon-friendly family SUV when something happens that tells them Moses is in danger. Perhaps he was stroking or seizing up, but Zipporah somehow knew the cause— she was not the first woman to save Moses' life. She hastily took a knife, circumcised her son, and threw the foreskin at Moses' feet—and called him her bloody husband because of it.

It is a wild episode in an ancient book, so there have been thousands of takes on it—lots of conjecture. For all we don't know about this episode, we do know that somehow circumcision is at its center. We also know that God gave Moses and Zipporah a chance to correct something that was off—if God truly wanted Moses to die, Moses would have been dead already. It seems that God wanted Moses to circumcise his sons like any good Hebrew parent would and not ignore the outward sign God gave to his ancestor Abraham so many years earlier (Gen. 17:10). God had told Moses a thousand times—OK, four times—that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses should have mimicked their faith and circumcised his own sons as an outward sign of the calling God had put on the Israelite people. In short, it seems God wants Moses to act like a Hebrew, not an Egyptian.

And, in some strange way, doesn't this episode reveal God's heart for us? He wants us to act as we are. He is motivated by our sonship, but he also wants us to be motivated by our sonship. The Hebrew people, after hundreds of years in Egypt, some of them peaceful years, many of them slavery, had forgotten who they were. So God needed his man to live in his calling as a way to help them live in theirs because God hates for us to experience less than his best. He wants us to live up to the heights of sonship he's paid the ultimate price to make possible for us.

But I also want to suggest that this episode might have served as an important lesson for Moses. When God declared that the blood of a spotless lamb was required to survive the night, Moses knew it was not a suggestion, partly because of this episode. And later in Exodus, Moses finds himself on Mt. Sinai, talking with God and receiving the Ten Commandments. While there, the people below will make and worship a golden calf, and God is angered. God offered to destroy them and fulfill his promises through Moses' family instead. But Moses began to intercede for them, and God responded. Was it this episode that instructed Moses to pray like that? Had he learned that when God expresses his anger, he is also providing an offramp that can change the script and bring his people into his new Plan A? Had he discovered that God's revealed anger is God's revealed opportunity? Repentance is possible. Mercy and grace are real. And God wills to extend them!

But, again, God wants us to act as we are. For those of us who know him today, we are his sons, and he wants us to live up to that calling. His heart breaks when we settle for the silly entrapments our world offers or the lesser identities our world tries to pin on us. Don't settle!, he says. Be who you are! Called, chosen, adopted, loved, and new, you are my sons. Live in line with the gospel of grace!

Now, just as the knowledge of his unique Sonship controlled Jesus’ living of his own life on earth, so he insists that the knowledge of our adoptive sonship must control our lives too. — J.I. Packer, Knowing God

Packer goes on to explain that this life as sons is most clearly declared in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 5-7). Put it in your queue—it is our royal family code; it shows us the life we can now live by the power of the Spirit as the adopted sons of God.

3. Yahweh's sons must be redeemed (4:27-5:23)

27 The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.”

20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” (Exodus 4:27-5:23)

In this long passage, Moses and Aaron finally meet with Pharaoh. It was a dramatic meeting, just as we would expect. Pharaoh was considered the ultimate god in Egypt. He was not like an elected official with polling data that revealed his popularity—he was the god of Egypt, a child of the sun! There is an ancient inscription attributed to Pharaoh that reads, "I am that which was, and is, and shall be, and no man has lifted my veil."[^1]That's the guy Moses commanded to set Israel free.

Moses spoke on behalf of the LORD when he said, "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness" (1). The request was not yet for full-scale freedom, just a week or so away for a religious festival, a thing every Egyptian was familiar with. But Pharaoh had acquired a new attitude about the Hebrews. No longer did he see them as a threat to downsize but an asset to manage. They had advanced his society through brickmaking technology, and he wasn't about to slow down. All their stocks were moving up and to the right. It was not the time to take a break for worship.

So Pharaoh sarcastically replied, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?" (2). As a side note, when our English Bibles put the word "LORD" in all/small caps, it means they are translating the name Yahweh, which is related to the I AM statement of God in Exodus 3. When God said he is I AM, he used Hebrew phrasing connected to the name Yahweh (Ex. 3:15). And the rest of the book is going to reveal who Yahweh is, what it means that he keeps the promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and what he longs for his people. So Pharaoh asks, "Who is Yahweh?" You about to find out, bruh.

This is where we should highlight that this has now become a battle between gods. Who is the true God? Pharaoh or Yahweh? We know the outcome of the book, so we know the answer, but even at this point in the narrative, there is a clue. It's funny, but we never get the name of this Pharaoh. From history, we know the names of many Pharaohs, but scholars cannot be sure which Pharaoh squares off with God in the pages to follow. As hard as we try—and as much as nearly every scholarly commentary on Exodus tries to figure it out—we cannot know with certainty who this Pharaoh was. God does give us the names of other people, heroes he uses like the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, but no name for Pharaoh. It's like God—and every generation of Bible readers and scholars—are asking the same question. Pharaoh asked, "Who is Yahweh?" But God asked, "Who is Pharaoh? He is so bad he is not worth naming or remembering. He is nothing compared to me. He thinks he's divine—his name won't even make it in my book."

But Pharaoh's initial strategy was to make the people's work more intense so that Moses and Aaron would become despised among them. He stopped providing them straw, a key component in brickmaking, while simultaneously holding them to the same quota of bricks they'd always made. If your boss has ever scheduled you in so many meetings you have no idea when to get your real work done, you have experienced a small taste of the Hebrews' predicament—If we have to produce our own straw, when will we produce bricks?

That this is a battle between God and Pharaoh is clear when the taskmasters and the foremen say to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you straw'" (10). It is a deliberate echo of Exodus 5:1 and 4:22—Thus says the LORD! Pharaoh is saying, "I don't care what your God says. This is what I say!"

And Pharaoh would not be the last biblical figure to take this posture against God. Later, a king named Sennacherib of Assyria will boast that God is as powerless as every other god of every other nation he's defeated (2 Ki. 18:19-22). Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar will wonder aloud how God could deliver three Hebrew rebels from his fires (Dan. 3:13-15). The King of Tyre will be rebuked by Ezekiel for feelings of deity (Ezek. 28:1-10). Pontius Pilate claimed the power of life and death over our Lord (John 19:11). Herod died a gruesome death for receiving worship (Acts 12:21-23). And Revelation details the catastrophic end in cataclysmic chaos of kings and rulers who position themselves against Yahweh. And that's just in the Bible. Outside of Scripture, history is littered with stories of pompous leaders who elevated themselves before caving into terrible ruin. It's—as they say—a tale as old as time.

The Hebrew foremen, beleaguered by the punishing nature of their work, cried to Pharaoh and then to Moses and Aaron (15, 20). They said, The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us" (21). God had warned Moses this would happen. Had Moses not warned them this would happen?

Despised and rejected, Moses ran to God. His prayers throughout Exodus have the mark of candid truth and brutal honesty. It's like he gets in front of God and can't help himself—the truth comes rushing out!

But this entire episode is predictable—not just because of God's warning that it would happen this way, but because of all we know about God. God is a redeeming God. And for us to know and experience him, we must undergo redemption! And when God judged the Egyptians and their gods through the plagues and brought the Israelites through the water, full redemption happened. God gave full deliverance to the Hebrews. God gave full separation from idolatry to everyone. And God gave full judgment to the false gods of Egypt.

It is tempting to look at a passage like this one and conclude that it must get worse before it gets better. And, in our dealings with Yahweh, that is often right. But it's right because there are things we need to be redeemed from, and God will go to war to make that redemption happen for his sons. So the question is, what is God warring to redeem you from today? He sent his Son to rescue you and adopt you as his son. And from the central power of the cross, Yahweh is working to continue his redemptive work in us. What things distract us from him? What things cloud our minds and overrun our habits? What things do we worship other than him? And, like the Hebrew slavery, what identities have paralyzed us from running in the sonship he has destined us to enjoy? God is at war with all those things so that he might bring us more fully into himself. Will we join him?

Conclusion

In Psalm 17, David prayed, "Keep me as the apple of your eye" (Ps. 17:8). He wanted God to treat him like David's body treated his pupils. His body's design—eye sockets, eyebrows, eyelashes—and his body's reflexes worked together to protect his eyesight, his pupils. And David wanted God to preserve him in the same way. Do everything you can to guard me, O God.

And, just as we've seen in our passage today, God is willing to do that work. He sees his people as he sees his only begotten Son, so he is motivated to deliver us. Though the situations God's children find themselves in often worsen before the deliverance, God's ultimate deliverance is decided and guaranteed. Just as Pharaoh was a toy in his hand, so the powers of this world and world system are destined to a bitter end. God has plans for his kids, and he is playing the long game to produce those plans.

In the meantime, let's take advantage of this brief moment in history. This life is our only and momentary chance to walk by faith. Once we receive God's final exodus and are brought home forever to him, faith will be unnecessary, so let's lean into God today, trusting him to work out his will for our lives and his kingdom.

Study Questions

Head

1. How does God revealing himself as Israel's Father demonstrate his heart for his people? What does this teach us about God's attributes?
2. How does Exodus present the conflict between Yahweh and Pharaoh as a clash between gods? What do the exchanges between them reveal?

Heart

3. Before full redemption, the Hebrews turned on Moses. In his disappointment, Moses prayed to God. When have you wrestled with disappointment or anger towards God during a difficult season of life? What helped you process these emotions?
4. The Hebrews were Egyptian slaves, but God saw them as his firstborn son. When have you been tempted to cling to a false identity instead of embracing your identity in Christ? What was that internal struggle like?
5. How does it encourage you to know that God is motivated to deliver you because of your identity as his child? How should this shape your view of yourself?

Hands

5. What tangible actions can you take this week to reject false identities and live into your new identity as God's adopted child?
6. How can your small group pray for you as you seek freedom from old habits or mindsets that conflict with who God says you are?
7. What spiritual disciplines can you lean into to renew your mind to how God sees you and shape your identity in Him?

Resources

Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage.

Christopher J. H. Wright, Exodus, ed. Tremper Longman III, The Story of God Bible Commentary.

John D. Hannah, “Exodus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures.

John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary.

Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III, Expositor’s Bible Commentary.

Kevin D. Zuber, “Exodus,” in The Moody Bible Commentary.

Michael L. Morales and Benjamin L. Gladd, Exodus Old and New – A Biblical Theology of Redemption.

T. Desmond Alexander, “Exodus,” New Bible Commentary.

[^1]: The Veil of Isis