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Exodus 6:10–13
“The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt” (v. 13).
Demoralized after generations of bondage in Egypt, the Israelites did not respond well to Moses when he brought them God’s promise of liberation once again after the pharaoh’s charge that they make bricks without straw (Ex. 5:1–6:9). Their lack of faith affected Moses and led him to doubt the Lord as well, as we see in today’s passage.
Exodus 6:10–11 tells us that after Pharaoh failed to grant Moses’ request that the Israelites be allowed to go celebrate a feast to the Lord (5:1–9), God spoke to Moses and told him to return to the Egyptian court and call once more for the king to free Israel. This time, after seeing the Israelites’ disbelief, Moses responded in the negative. Essentially, he told the Lord that He was asking for the impossible. In 6:12, Moses points out that since the people of Israel would not listen to him, how could he ever expect Pharaoh to do what he said? This response is eminently logical from a human perspective, for his kinsmen were slaves who had no power, and their failure to believe Moses meant that the most powerful king on earth at the time certainly would not take him seriously.
Moses makes an argument from the lesser to the greater in order to point out the hopelessness of the task, but he adds another reason that he should not go to Pharaoh—namely, that he is a man “of uncircumcised lips” (6:12). To be circumcised truly is to be set apart to God and empowered to accomplish a divinely appointed task (see Deut. 30:6; Rom. 2:25–29). In calling his lips uncircumcised, Moses means that the Lord has not empowered him for the job at hand. The prophet here does not doubt his calling so much as he doubts whether God will give him what is needed to find success.
Such an accusation comes perilously close to blasphemy, for the Lord never fails to equip those whom He calls to service. If He equipped the pagan king Cyrus to serve Him (Isa. 45:1–5), He certainly will put His own people in a vocation for which He has prepared them. But we see the Lord’s patience with Moses in Exodus 6:13, which tells us that God does not rebuke His servant for doubting His promise. Instead, He repeats the charge to Moses and to Aaron that they will take the Israelites out of Egypt. This is good news for us as we seek to serve the Lord today. At times we may complain that God has not readied us for our particular vocation, but the Lord is patient and frequently sends us back to do the work to which He has called us.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Moses no doubt felt unprepared for his vocation because he initially found little success in calling for the release of Israel (see Ex. 5). Often, we too may feel as if the Lord has not readied us for service when we do not seem to be meeting our goals. Yet that is not evidence that the Lord has not equipped us. Therefore, like Moses, we must continue working, trusting the Lord to bring fruit at His appointed time.
For Further Study
- Psalm 18:31–33
- 2 Peter 1:3–4