WEDNESDAY 29 September 2021 “Moses & Aaron” (Ex. 4:18-28)

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

I wonder what these three phrases stir up inside you when you hear them: “A Fresh Start”, “A New Beginning”, “A Project Launch”? In almost every society of our world there are multiple and frequent such experiences in almost every segment of our lives. New school years, new business launches, new marriages, new babies born, new jobs etc. In our journey with Moses, today let’s look at his first steps away from the burning bush encounter and into this new endeavor God has commissioned him into.

Sometimes in the Bible several things are happening simultaneously and we need to take a section of the narrative to put it all together. Let’s try to do that today in Exodus 4:18-29. We’ve spent several days with Moses at this remarkable, almost unexplainable burning bush encounter with a voice that identified itself as the voice of God! Finally the voice stopped speaking, having commissioned Moses to return to Egypt and gather the Hebrew elders together and tell them the story of this amazing burning bush encounter. I presume as the voice silenced, the fire also went out and the bush looked totally normal, as though nothing had happened there! Moses had removed his sandals, you may remember, as the voice had instructed him to do, since he was having an encounter with holy God. So I imagine Moses put his sandals back on his feet, turned away from that bush, probably rubbing his chin, and began his hike down the hillside, gathering his sheep along the way.

I assume Moses was putting together a step by step plan in his mind. First he would return to his home and explain to his wife and his father-in-law Jethro what had happened and that it would now require him going to Egypt. Can you imagine Moses working that conversation over and over in his mind? How could he possibly explain to them what he had experienced and the total, dramatic change God was asking him to make in his life. He would never be the same man after this encounter, IF he accepted God’s invitation. I also wonder if, as Moses walked along, he also contemplated just forgetting the whole thing. Just going home and when asked how his day was, simply saying, as many men do after their day at work, ‘Oh, alright I guess. Kind of a normal day, nothing really new or exciting, just another day…’!

But the Exodus record says that before Moses got very far from that bush, he saw a man in the far distance walking toward him. Do you remember the voice of God, in the burning bush, had said to Moses, when he asked God to please find someone else for this job,: “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you and his heart will be glad when he sees you…” (Ex. 4:14) Now ponder this a moment friends. As far as we know, the last time Moses and his older brother Aaron had seen each other would have been the day their mother took little Moses to the Pharaoh’s daughter and left him with her to be adopted by her into the royal Egyptian family!! Moses would have been perhaps age 3 or so, on that day! If you turn the page to Exodus 7:6 the record says: “Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.”

Oh my friends, let’s just stand over here and watch this remarkable rendezvous for a moment. Two brothers who have not seen each other in more than 75 years! They know virtually nothing about each other. Both have evidently had encounters with God which are bringing them together. Can you imagine what happened as they got close enough to see each other’s face clearly, and speak. I’m sure a first question they asked each other was… ‘who are you and what are you doing out here’? Aaron likely answered the question, ‘My name is Aaron, the son of Amram and Jochebed, of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. I’ve lived in Egypt all my life. God told me to come to this mountain and meet a man here. Are you that man and do you know why God sent me to you?’

I can imagine Moses saying, ‘My name is Moses. I was born into a Hebrew slave family in Egypt 80 years ago, but adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter, as my parents set me afloat in the Nile river shortly after my birth. I came to the defense of a Hebrew slave one day and killed the slavemaster who was beating him. The Pharaoh stripped me of my royal position and exiled me from Egypt. For the past many years I’ve been living out here with my family, tending sheep. I’ve just had an unexplainable encounter with God through a talking, burning bush, which was not consumed as it burned. This God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and has told me He is concerned about the suffering of His people in Egypt and He has a plan to deliver them from their slavery.’ I wonder if Moses stopped right there, watching this other man who has walked from the far horizon right to him and identified himself as Aaron?

Look at them… like two normal guys who are meeting for the first time. They look up and down. They look at each other’s sandals, hands, clothes, walking sticks, and faces. They are each asking themselves the same questions: ‘who is this guy…really? Can I trust him? Will he be honest with me? Why did God send me to meet with him?’ I wonder who spoke first after that initial few sentences? I wonder how long it took them to discover they had the same parents, they were from the same family? Older brothers have a certain rank in every family, in every society, and Aaron was three years older than Moses, but Moses was the one who’d had the burning bush encounter with God, so I wonder how they worked through that?

The Exodus record tells us this: “The LORD said to Aaron, ‘Go into the desert to meet Moses.’ So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about the miraculous signs…” (Ex. 4:27,28) My guess is this was not a 5 minute conversation! Can you imagine my friends, all that these two men had to share with each other, to bring each other up to speed with what had happened in their lives over the past 75+ years? Of course they couldn’t cover that much time in just one conversation. I presume they sat under a tree for a while and at least gave each other an overview of their lives since their childhood, and then spent some time talking specifically about this burning bush experience and God’s plan for Moses to confront Pharaoh! Eventually I presume it was finally Moses who said something like this: “Ok Aaron, let’s head back to my house and family with these sheep. I’m anxious for you to meet my wife and son, and my father-in-law who has taught me so much, and after we have some food and rest, we’ll begin making a plan for what we do next.’

The Exodus record says: “Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, ‘Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.’ (Ex. 4:18) Now friends, we understand the Bible can’t give us EVERY detail of EVERY conversation, so I’m assuming there was a LOT MORE in this conversation between Moses and Jethro as Moses explained the burning bush encounter and God’s instructions for him to return to Egypt. I’m also assuming there were several long conversations between Moses and his wife Zipporah about this radical plan to move, at least temporarily, to Egypt and be part of God’s promise that He was going to rescue 1 million Hebrew slaves out of Egypt!!

Finally the record says: “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. 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…” (Exodus 4:20,21) I notice two important things today in closing. The word “sons” is plural, yet I see only one son named in Ex. 2:22, ‘Gershom’. I presume this means Moses and Zipporah had at least one other son, but he is simply not identified in the story. Also, Moses is no longer at the burning bush, but is now back home with his family and beginning the journey toward Egypt, and yet he hears the voice of God instructing him about what he will do when he arrives in Egypt. That tells me God is developing a relationship with Moses that is NOT dependent on a burning bush for Moses to discern that God is speaking to him and what God is saying! Oh my, have you and I developed that relationship with God, my friends?

Let’s pause right here and envision the scene as Moses, his wife Zipporah and I presume their two sons, bid farewell to Jethro and begin the journey to what none of them can imagine is awaiting them in Egypt!! Tomorrow is the last day of September 2021. As you look ahead, neither you nor I can imagine what God sees is in our future next month or the remaining days of 2021. Do you have a strong enough relationship with Jesus Christ that you can trust HIM with whatever God sees out there ahead of you? Here’s a song I’ve found to help us move ahead, with Jesus, as we ponder that. . .

Today’s Scripture is Exodus 4:18-28.

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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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