Moses as God to Pharaoh Part 1
God said to Moses, “You shall be as God to [Pharaoh]” (Ex. 4:16). What did God mean by that statement? Moses was like God to Pharaoh in the sense that God appointed Moses to speak to Pharaoh in the place of God. Pharaoh was to receive Moses’ word as nothing less than God’s word. When Moses said, “Let my people go” he was not speaking for himself saying “let my fellow Hebrew people go.” It was no one less than God Himself speaking to Pharaoh through Moses saying, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:1).
Furthermore Moses said, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex. 7:17). Moses spoke to Pharaoh saying, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord” yet we know that Moses did not mean that he was “the LORD.” Moses spoke in the first person because he spoke as God’s appointed representative, but never at anytime did Moses think he was literally “a god.” The verse says, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex. 7:17). Notice that Moses says in his next breath, “behold, with the staff that is in my hand.” Clearly this is a reference to Moses’ literal staff. The LORD was communicating in the strongest of terms that to reject Moses was to reject the LORD. Moses held a unique position and relationship with the LORD that no one else shared and The LORD reinforced this reality in Numbers 12. After the Exodus Miriam and Aaron became disgruntled with Moses because of his marriage to a “Cushite woman” (Num. 12:1) and they sought to undermine Moses and blur the God appointed distinction. They grumbled saying “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” (Number 12:2). The Bible says, “And the LORD heard it” (Vs. 2b). The LORD became angry and called out Miriam and Aaron to account for their speech,
to be continued...
Furthermore Moses said, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex. 7:17). Moses spoke to Pharaoh saying, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord” yet we know that Moses did not mean that he was “the LORD.” Moses spoke in the first person because he spoke as God’s appointed representative, but never at anytime did Moses think he was literally “a god.” The verse says, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex. 7:17). Notice that Moses says in his next breath, “behold, with the staff that is in my hand.” Clearly this is a reference to Moses’ literal staff. The LORD was communicating in the strongest of terms that to reject Moses was to reject the LORD. Moses held a unique position and relationship with the LORD that no one else shared and The LORD reinforced this reality in Numbers 12. After the Exodus Miriam and Aaron became disgruntled with Moses because of his marriage to a “Cushite woman” (Num. 12:1) and they sought to undermine Moses and blur the God appointed distinction. They grumbled saying “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” (Number 12:2). The Bible says, “And the LORD heard it” (Vs. 2b). The LORD became angry and called out Miriam and Aaron to account for their speech,
“Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed” (Number 12:6-9).The LORD judged Miriam by giving her leprosy yet even then Moses interceded on her behalf and the LORD eventually healed her, but not before she was shamed by a seven day expulsion from the Israelite camp (Num. 12:14-15). Moses was initially called to save the Hebrews from their enslavement to Egypt. He was their God appointed savior. But Moses eventually served as their judge. He was Israel’s first judge. Exodus 18 recounts how Moses “judged the people…from morning till evening” (Ex. 18:13).
to be continued...
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