Êxodo 4

Êxodo 4

Spurgeon - Faith's Checkbook “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth,and teach thee what thou shall say.”—Exodus 4:12 MANY a true servant of the Lord is slow of speech, and when called upon to plead for his Lord, he is in great confusion lest he should spoil a good cause by his bad advocacy. In such a case it is well to remember that the Lord made the tongue which is so slow, and we must take care that we do not blame our Maker. It may be that a slow tongue is not so great an evil as a fast one, and fewness of words may be more of a blessing than floods of verbiage. It is also quite certain that real saving power does not lie in human rhetoric with its figures of speech, and pretty phrases, and grand displays. Lack of fluency is not so great a lack as it looks. If God be with our mouths and with our minds, we shall have something better than the sounding brass of eloquence or the tinkling cymbal of persuasion. God’s teaching is wisdom; His presence is power. Pharaoh had more reason to be afraid of stammering Moses than of the most fluent talker in Egypt, for what he said had power in it; he spoke plagues and deaths. If the Lord be with us in our natural weakness, we shall be girt with supernatural power. Therefore, let us speak for Jesus boldly, as we ought to speak. John Henry Jowett MOUTH AND MATTER “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth.” Exodus 4:12 AND what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King’s decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the “demonstration of power.” “And I will teach thee what thou shall say.” The Lord will not only be with our mouths, but with our minds. He will guide our thoughts as well as our words. He will be as sentinel at the lips. He will be our guide in our processes of meditation and judgment, and He will bring us to enlightened ends. All of which is just this: He will give us mouth and matter. This does not put a premium upon idleness. The Lord guides when men are honestly groping. He gives us fire when we have built the altar. He works His miracle when we have provided the five loaves. He sends His light through diligent thinking. The divine power is given through the consecrated strength. Exodus 4:13 But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will." BGT Exodus 4:13 καὶ εἶπεν Μωυσῆς δέομαι κύριε προχείρισαι δυνάμενον ἄλλον ὃν ἀποστελεῖς NET Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, "O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!" LXE Exodus 4:13 And Moses said, I pray thee, Lord, appoint another able person whom thou shalt send. NLT Exodus 4:13 But Moses again pleaded, "Lord, please! Send anyone else." KJV Exodus 4:13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. ESV Exodus 4:13 But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." NIV Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." ASV Exodus 4:13 And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. CSB Exodus 4:13 Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." NKJ Exodus 4:13 But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." NRS Exodus 4:13 But he said, "O my Lord, please send someone else." YLT Exodus 4:13 and he saith, 'O, my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand Thou dost send.' NAB Exodus 4:13 Yet he insisted, "If you please, Lord, send someone else!" NJB Exodus 4:13 'Please, my Lord,' Moses replied, 'send anyone you decide to send!' GWN Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, "Please, Lord, send someone else." send - Ex 4:1 23:20 Ge 24:7 48:16 Jdg 2:1 1Ki 19:4 Jer 1:6 20:9 Eze 3:14,15 Jon 1:3,6 Mt 13:41 Joh 6:29 Exodus 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SEND ANYONE BUT ME! The previous 4 excuses had been addressed by God. The truth of Moses' objections and excuses finally "rises to the top" - he was unwilling to obey! Like the old hymn says "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus then to trust and obey." Moses was essentially rejecting his call from God which accounts for God's vigorous response in the next verse! But - A "dangerous" term of contrast in context! Don't we all too often respond to with the Most High God "Please send the message by somebody else!" He said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will." - At least Moses says Please! This passage is a difficult to translate in the Hebrew but the NET probably picks up the gist of Moses' request - "O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!" The NLT paraphrases it "Send anyone else!" Send anyone but me! What a contrast with Isaiah who declared "Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8+) Moses in effect says "Here I am. Send someone else!" Moses is still resisting God’s call. He had run out of excuses, so he now had to admit the truth: he just did not want to go. Please (0994)(see above on bi) is used by Moses in Ex 4:10; Ex 4:13 appealing to God and is generally considered a polite interjection, and it may carry the nuance of the speaker accepting the consequences which the speech may incur. Baker adds "The particle is intended to express politeness, pardon, deep concern with great respect toward the one spoken to." David Thompson - Moses is saying to God, “I do not want your will for my life.” Moses is standing in front of a burning bush talking to Jesus Christ, who has just done and said all the things we have looked at and Moses says to God, get someone else. He says I am not your guy. You need to find someone else. (Sermon) J Ligon Duncan - Moses does say please. That is usually a key word to indicate Lord, I and I alone, am guilty of what I’m about to say. So, your condemnation fall upon me, the speaker. He knows that what he is saying is out of order, and he says it fairly nicely. And it sounds like he’s being spiritual. "Lord, send whoever you will." Switch to the Isaiah scene in Isaiah 6. "Here I am, Lord, send me." Well, Moses is saying, after God has already told him over and over 'you’re My man,' Moses is saying this: "So be it Lord, please send whoever you will." Well Moses, He’s told you four times 'you’re him.' So send whoever you will is not a spiritual acquiescence to the providence of God, it’s Moses begging again, "Lord, send somebody else." But in choosing an unwilling and doubting deliverer, God is showing Himself to be the true Savior of His people. Against the backdrop of this kind patience of God, God continues to give reasonable and helpful and encouraging answers to Moses; even though you or I would be tiring of this a long time ago, he continues to give reasonable and helpful answers to Moses. And Moses has the audacity to say, "Please send somebody else." (Exodus 4:10-17 A Spokesman for Moses)