Exodus 3:10, commentary and pictures

At Horeb God met Moses after forty years keeping sheep in Midian and sent him to stand before Pharaoh and bring Israel out of Egypt as His chosen human agent. The sending rested on God having seen their affliction under cruel bondage, heard their cry, known their sorrows, and come down to deliver them to a good land flowing with milk and honey. The deliverance was to be accomplished not by warfare or force of arms but by God's own mighty power alone, that the glory might be His and human pride humbled. Moses shrank from the work as unfit, slow of speech and self-distrustful, yet after long discipline as a shepherd to learn humility, patience and tender care he trusted God's promise to be with him and obeyed in the fear of God. The call freed Israel from slavery that they might be God's own people free to serve Him, and it remains an example that God strengthens those who give themselves unreservedly to Him and lays upon His people the work of lifting the oppressed and leading souls out of spiritual darkness.

Setting and Divine Commission

The commission came at Horeb, the mountain of God, where Moses had led the flock of Jethro and saw the burning bush that was not consumed. It came after forty years in Midian in adversity and poverty keeping the flocks of Jethro. In the bush Christ, the Light of the world, was revealed to Moses.

The sending rests on God having surely seen the affliction of His people in Egypt, heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, and known their sorrows. He heard their anguish of spirit under hard servitude and cruel abuse and deprivation that caused them to cry and lament and wail, and He saw the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. He had come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up to a good and large land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Because the cry of the children of Israel had come unto Him, He sends Moses unto Pharaoh to bring forth His people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

God thus makes Moses, with Aaron, the human agent and instrument of that deliverance. Moses is sent to stand before Pharaoh and in God's name demand that he let Israel go. Angels of God are with Moses and Aaron to enable them to execute God's will and to preserve them while bringing plagues upon the Egyptians.

The deliverance was not to be by warfare or force of arms, as Moses expected when he supposed Israel would understand providence had raised him up to deliver them by warfare and to lead the Hebrews against Egypt's armies. God did not design to deliver Israel by warfare but by His own mighty power alone, that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone and human pride humbled. The time had fully come for Moses to exchange the shepherd's staff for the rod of God, which God would make powerful as a sign of divine power in accomplishing signs and wonders in delivering His people from oppression and in preserving them when pursued by their enemies. By those mighty wonders before Pharaoh God would prove He is ruler of the whole earth.

To Moses' question, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring Israel out, God promised, Certainly I will be with thee. The token was that when the people were brought out they would serve God upon that mountain. There He revealed His everlasting name and memorial, I AM THAT I AM, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses consented only after God convinced him that he was the chosen instrument.

Preparation and Obedience of Moses

Moses at first hurried to do the work by force and might, supposing that Israel would understand providence had raised him up to deliver them by warfare and to lead the Hebrews against Egypt's armies. He slew an Egyptian who was fighting with an Israelite and hid him in the sand. God saw he was not ready, and overruled the act to bring about His own purpose.

God proved and tested Moses and sent him away for forty years as a keeper of sheep in the rocks, mountains, and desert, patiently hunting for stray sheep. There he was to learn self-control and humility and tender, patient, loving, faithful care as a shepherd of erring, straying sheep. Though trained in Egypt as a general to head armies, this education humbled and purified him, removed false ideas, and disciplined his mind and character to become a spiritual shepherd and to lead others and do God's will, and his faith grew as he studied God's government.

When called, Moses shrank from the task, feeling unfit, inefficient, hesitating, self-distrustful, slow of speech, timid, and overwhelmed by his incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God and by the greatness of delivering Israel after four hundred years of bondage. He pleaded that the responsibility not be laid on him and asked that another be chosen, while guarding his loyalties so he would be free to obey God.

Moses consented only after God convinced him he was the chosen instrument, accepting the trust in the fear of God and putting all his trust in the Lord. Though the work looked hopeless by human judgment, he obeyed. God blessed his ready obedience so that he became eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, and a man of power whose best mental powers were called into exercise, and he remained faithful to the mission despite its hardships. His manner of dealing in such a calling surprises human reasoning, for God's thoughts are not human thoughts and His ways are higher than human ways.

Purpose and Present Application

The commission broke the yoke of four hundred years of bondage and set Moses at the head of Israel to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. That deliverance made God's holiness, grace, and love known to the idolatrous Egyptians. In the burning bush Christ the Light of the world was revealed to Moses, who was charged to show that Jehovah is superior to every false deity.

The few families that went down into Egypt had grown into a great multitude, many with confused ideas of God's law from witnessing so much idolatry, degraded by associating with a nation of idolaters and corrupted by practicing idolatry, their minds beclouded in faith and almost destitute of a knowledge of God, though many among the downtrodden were righteous and steadfast. Those who feared God cried to Him in anguish of spirit to break their yoke of grievous bondage and bring them from captivity that they might be free to serve Him. Their bondage had prevented Sabbath observance, and their deliverance was to free them to keep God's Sabbath. God heard their cries and raised up Moses as His instrument to accomplish the deliverance, directing him to give the children of Israel a message from Himself that He is the Lord who will bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, rid them out of bondage, redeem them with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments, and take them to Himself for a people to whom He would be God, so they would know He is the Lord their God who brings them out. He worked mighty wonders before Pharaoh to prove He is ruler of the whole earth, sending Moses to bring Israel out by mighty power and deliver them out of the hand of Pharaoh because He designed His church to be composed of those very bondmen, making delivered Israel His church as a representation of His church in all ages, a people Christ had purchased as His own property holding all things in trust as the Lord's, yet misappropriating their entrusted talents so others could not be benefited by the riches and grace of God.

The divine command laid a burden on Moses that made him a man of power. The call found him inefficient, hesitating, self-distrustful, slow of speech, timid, and overwhelmed with a sense of his incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God even after his years keeping flocks had taught him true humility, and the deliverance after long bondage seemed overwhelming. He did not bring the work down to his deficiency but in the fear of God accepted the trust and put all his trust in the Lord, putting forth earnest efforts to elevate and sanctify himself for his sacred mission. The greatness of his mission called the best powers of his mind into exercise, and God blessed his ready obedience so that he became eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, and well fitted for the greatest work ever given to man. His experience is an example of what God does to strengthen the character of those who trust Him implicitly and give themselves unreservedly to His commands, showing that preparation requires the severest mental and moral discipline, much prayer and vigorous exercise of mind, and exerting to the utmost the powers God has given instead of waiting in inactivity for God to do what He has given power to do, with light from heaven coming to those who feel their need and seek as for hidden treasures as God combines divine power with human effort.

God directed Moses to obtain experience as a shepherd in caretaking, thoughtfulness, and tender solicitude for his flock, so that as a faithful shepherd he would be ready to take charge of His people. A similar experience is essential for those who preach the truth, that to lead souls to the life-giving fountain the preacher must first drink at the fountain himself, see the infinite sacrifice made by the Son of God to save fallen men, and be imbued with undying love. It means accepting hard labor appointed by God without murmuring, following a difficult and dangerous path in meekness while crying to God for strength, accepting with thankfulness the way of God's choosing, and pursuing the sacred work with earnestness, energy, and zeal far greater than business because the labor is more sacred and the result more momentous. It means finishing each day's work as well done as if no other day would be given, with preparation fitting for the society of pure angels and Heaven enshrined in the heart here in order to be at home in Heaven.

The same pity that pitied Israel in slavery means He is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in America, who though in one sense freed from slavery still live in sin, degradation, and the slavery of ignorance at the doors of Christians. Because He cared for an oppressed people He cares no less for the souls of the African race who may be won to serve Him. He calls upon those who name His name to take up the long-neglected work of putting the whole soul into saving sinners and lifting them from degradation. Because white people held them in servitude, kept them in ignorance, debased and brutalized them, broke marriage and family, and degraded their habits and manners, much is due to them, and a divine commission to go and deliver now lays a missionary obligation to labor for Black people in the South of all classes, and especially the colored race, even greater than for those more highly favored, with earnest effort to lift them up, carry the truth to them, and save their souls as well as white souls.

The calling to lead Israel out of Egypt is a figure of leading people out of spiritual darkness by proclaiming the truth, as in the preacher who would lead his hearers from error to light. The sending proves the Lord God of heaven in communication with the fallen inhabitants of this world, bending toward earth and its inhabitants who are deceived and deluded by satanic agencies and listening to every word that is uttered. He has surely seen affliction, heard the cry by reason of taskmasters, known sorrows, come down to deliver out of the hand of oppressors and to bring up to a good and large land flowing with milk and honey, and seen the oppression wherewith oppressors oppress them. He hears every groan, listens to every prayer, observes the movements of every one, approves or condemns every action, raises up the fallen, is the friend of all who love and fear Him, and will punish and reprove every one who oppresses them or dares to lead them astray from safe paths into distress as they conscientiously endeavor to keep the way of the Lord and reach the abodes of the righteous. Angels were with Moses and Aaron to enable them to execute God's will and to preserve them while bringing plagues upon the Egyptians, contrary to the later falsehood that it was well with Israel in Egypt, for in truth they suffered hard servitude and oppression with cruel abuse and deprivation that caused them to cry unto God and lament and wail over their anguish.