Exodus 4:18-31
Moses Goes to Egypt
18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”
And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.” 20 Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”
24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” 26 So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.
27 And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 So Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Moses prepared to go to Egypt to deliver God’s message of deliverance as commanded by the LORD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He first made certain that his father-in-law gave his blessing to him and Aaron for the journey to determine the welfare of his people in bondage there (“see whether they are still alive”). Moses received the blessing and then the LORD also assured him that those who wanted to kill him for murdering the Egyptian beating a Jewish slave (Exodus 2:14-15) were themselves long dead and no longer a threat to him. God reminded his messenger to do all the wonders as signs to bear witness against Pharaoh for enslaving His people, but not to expect the Pharaoh to heed the command of the LORD to comply. God had hardened his heart (Romans 9:17-18) as a vessel of destruction (Romans 9:22-23) in judgment for God’s glory in his refusal to let His people go out of that land as foretold (Genesis 15:13, Acts 7:6-7). God’s sovereignty extends to human destiny because we are all created to glorify Him in whatever way He had predetermined, for destruction or mercy (Romans 9:15-16, 21, 22-23), to do to bring deliverance from sin’s bondage of our will in Christ person and work to come. God told Moses point blank not to expect Pharaoh to heed the warning, therefore, and to deliver the ultimatum that because the king would not release His firstborn, Israel, to serve and worship Him that God would use Moses as an instrument to warn him before He would take the life of Pharaoh’s son in return. The final plague on Egypt to take the firstborn of all (Exodus 11:5, 12:29) was no surprise to anyone because God told it upfront as a consequence of disobedience to His word. Moses encountered his angry wife who did not want him to go and leave her a widow, and reminded him of the covenant of circumcision in the process, showing him the blood of their son. We now find solace in the circumcision of Christ (Romans 2:28-29, Colossians 2:11) who cleanses our hearts with His sacrificial lifeblood in fulfillment of all things which came before such as this. The account continues with Aaron being directed by God to meet Moses on the mountain of God and hear what the LORD had told him to do. They told the leaders of the people these things and demonstrated the signs given by God to show Pharaoh, then they all believed God and worshipped Him for these better things (Hebrews 6:9) speaking of deliverance from the affliction of which spoke of the bondage of sin as well. They were ready at last to begin the journey and deliver the firstborn (Romans 8:9, Hebrews 12:23-24) of the people of God. Are we ready and willing to deliver the ultimate message of the good news of God’s deliverance?
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