Exodus 4-6
This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey! Please, if you have questions or comments... let me know!
Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 4: Signs Unto Moses
Moses tells God that the people will not listen to/nor believe him. So the Lord give Moses a few signs that he can use to prove to the people that he was sent from God.
1. The Rod: Moses has a rod and when he throws it on the ground it turns into a serpent.
2. Leprous Hand: God gives Moses the ability to change his had from a non-leprous hand, to a Leprous hand and then back to a non-leprous hand by placing his hand in his "bosom"
God tells Moses that if they do not believe the first sign, show them the second and if they do not believe the second sign, show them the third sign; Moses is commanded to then take some water from the river and pour it onto dry land, when he does this the water will turn to blood.
Moses, even after seeing all these wonderful things/signs, asks God how he is supposed to do these things, seeing that he is "...slow of speech, and of tongue." (Exodus 4:10).
God responds with a question to Moses; "...who hath made man's mouth?" (Exodus 4:11).
This to me is very inspiring, sometimes we feel like we are unable to do something... ESPECIALLY when it is a commandment of God. We make excuses and say that we are weak or unable to do something that God has commanded us to do/or not to do. But really we must understand, who made us? God. So if God says we can do something, we CAN do it!
God tells Moses that he can do it, and that he will be with him as he does it, God calls Aaron to be the spokesman for the Hebrew people. Moses returns to his father-in-law and asks him to let him go to Egypt to complete what the Lord has commanded. Jethro agrees and sends him off in "peace", Moses gathers his wife and sons and return to the land of Egypt, with the rod that God had given to him in his hands.
God tells Moses to do all these wonders/signs before Pharaoh, but that he will harden his heart so that he will not let his people go.
Now here is where the story gets a little weird; Exodus 4:24-26 was what I considered a "What!?!" section of the Bible. I have shared other "What!?!" sections in the past. I even did some research on these verses and found that the general Bible scholars do not understand these verses:
"And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision." (Exodus 4:24-26)
| "And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision." (Exodus 4:24-26) | "And it came to pass, that the Lord appeared unto him (Moses) as he was in the way, by the inn. The Lord was angry with Moses and his hand was about to fall upon him, to kill him; for he had not circumcised his son. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and circumcised her son, and cast the stone at his feet, and said, Surely thou art a bloody husband to me. And the Lord spared Moses and let him go, because Zipporah, his wife, circumcised the child. And she said, Thou art a bloody husband. And Moses was ashamed, and hid his face from the Lord, and said, I have sinned before the Lord." (Exodus 4:24-26 Joseph Smith Translation) |
Now we can clearly see why the Lord was angry with Moses and why Zipporah circumcised her son. The above scripture helps me and everyone to understand the importance of scripture and modern prophets. We can see that plain a precious things have been taken from the Bible, whether intentional or not. Think about it, do you think that the people translating the Bible or making copies of the Bible in the times that they were originally written had a copy machine or scanner?!?! NO. All of the copies had to be made by hand. So one example would be the game of telephone... over time the message gets distorted by intent or by accident. The same with manuscripts, they got altered and changed through translations, copies and mischief.
Moses and Aaron meet up in the wilderness, and Moses shares all that God had told him to do with Aaron. Moses and Aaron gather together all of the elders of Israel and Aaron shared what Moses had told him about the Lord. The people of Israel rejoice and worship God because he remembered their affliction.
Chapter 5: Free Israel!
Aaron and Moses go into see the Pharaoh and bring him this message; "...Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness." (Exodus 5:1). Pharaoh tells them that he does not know who the "Lord" is and that he will not let his people go for three days when they have work to be done. Pharaoh gets upset and tells the taskmasters to no longer give straw to the Hebrews to make bricks, but instead they had to find their own straw. So the Hebrews were scattered throughout the land of Egypt looking for straw, but instead used stubble.
Moses is upset because since he came, he has only brought more evil to come among the children of Israel, he prays to God and asks him why he has not delivered the people.
Chapter 6: Jehova = Jesus Christ
The Lord tells Moses that "...with a strong hand shall he(referring to Pharaoh) let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land" (Exodus 6:1)
He tells Moses that when he appeared unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob they knew him by "God Almighty", but they did not know him by his real name; "Jehovah" - remember yesterday's post?
Who is "I AM"? Some people say that this is God or "Heavenly Father", but in the Spanish scriptures (La Reina Valera) where it says "...The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob..." (Genesis 3:15) - the Spanish version says "Jehovah" instead of "The Lord God".
So who is Jehovah? - Well if we read WAY AHEAD in the Bible in the New Testament- John 8:58; "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." . So we learn that Jehovah is Jesus Christ.
God reminds Moses that he had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they land would be theirs, he commands Moses to remind his people of this, but they do not listen because of their pain in bondage.
God then commands Moses and Aaron to go into Pharaoh again and tell him to let his people go. God gives them his blessing that they will be able to do as he has commanded them.
The genealogy of Reuben, Simeon and Levi:
· Reuben:
o Hanoch
o Pallu
o Hezron
o Carmi
· Simeon:
o Jemuel
o Jamin
o Ohad
o Jachin
o Zohar
o Shaul
o
· Levi: (dies at the age of 137)
o Gershon
§ Libni
§ Shimi
o Kohath (dies at the age of 133)
§ Amram (dies at the age of 137)
· Amram marries Jochebed his father's sister and bares:
o Aaron (takes Elisheba daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon to wife; and bares:
§ Nadab
§ Abihu
§ Eleazar (takes one of the daughters of Putiel to wife and bares;
· Phinehas
§ Ithamar
o Moses
§ Izhar
· Korah
o Assir
o Elkanah
o Abiasaph
· Nepheg
· Zichiri
§ Hebron
§ Uzziel
· Mishael
· Elzaphan
· Zithri
o Merari
§ Mahali
§ Mushi
Moses is again commanded to go in unto Pharaoh and tell him all that the Lord has told him.
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