We join today’s reading midway through the conversation between Moses and God at the burning bush. Moses is insisting that no one will believe a shepherd wandering into Pharaoh’s court demanding release of the Israelites from slavery. God gives him some up close magic to perform, turning his walking staff into a snake and back, and making his hand covered in leprosy and clean again. Those are pretty threatening tricks because most snakes in North Africa are venomous and leprosy was both incurable and contagious.
If that message isn’t strong enough, Moses is to tell Pharaoh that Israel is his first born son. If he doesn’t let God’s people go, he will kill Pharaoh’s first born son. God is not coming to play.
Moses’s second objection is that he’s not eloquent and talks slow. God responds, “Who made the mouth?” Apparently, insulting yourself is actually denying God’s design. Something to consider, if God is calling you, he’s already preparing you.
Despite these hard words, God has clocked Moses’s anxiety and is providing him a spokesperson, his brother Aaron. Not only is he capable, but already on his way out to the desert to visit Moses. They meet up and Moses prepares to leave with him. God tells him that those who were looking to kill him are dead, a reference to the Egyptian he killed before he ran away years earlier.
High priest and father-in-law Jethro sends off Moses, his daughter and his two grandsons with a blessing. Zipporah circumcises her son and calls Moses her bridegroom of blood. That may seem strange until you understand that it means that they are entering into Abraham’s covenant. (Genesis 17:11) It’s her act of faith to identify with the Hebrew religious practice. They are no longer Midianite or Egyptian, but Israelites representing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They enter Egypt riding a donkey, foreshadowing another family centuries later that will do the same, on their way to free people from their bondage.
When they arrive, Aaron speaks to the slaves and Moses shows the signs that God gave him. The people believe that their suffering had been seen and worship God. Pharaoh will take a bit more effort to convince.
