Meeting God’s Standard

Since he was unwilling to trust God to enable him, agreed to send Aaron to speak for him.  With that assurance, Moses headed toward Egypt as Exodus 4:18-23 describes.  “And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.

And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.  And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”

When Moses told what he wanted, his father in law encouraged him.  Once he began, to go, God revealed that there were no longer any threats to his life and began to show him what he would need to do when he arrived.  Until Moses himself was committed to going, there was no point in giving him the details.  While God knows what is going to happen he rarely tells us much in advance, probably to keep us from getting distracted and getting ahead of ourselves. 

Six hundred years before, God had made a covenant with Abraham, in Genesis 17:9-14.  “And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.”

Living among the Midianites, Moses had not bothered to circumcise his son, breaking Israel’s covenant with God.  God was not willing to ignore that, as Exodus 4:24-26 tells us.  “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.”

Moses would be responsible for guiding Israel in fulfilling part of the covenant with Israel, as well as establishing an additional covenant.  As the leader, it was critical he meet the standards he would be setting before the people.  It is impossible to effectively teach people to follow standards you do not follow yourself.  This is why, in Paul’s listing of the requirements for pastors and church leaders is so important.   As I Timothy 3:5 asks, “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” 

If Moses would not set the example by circumcise his own children, he would be teaching the people that God’s laws didn’t matte and they did not really need to follow them.  God was willing to kill Moses to prevent that.  Moses’ wife was not happy but she went along with the demand.  We must understand that fulfilling God’s calling requires obeying his commands even when our mate or others oppose it.   If their opinion is more important than God’s command, we cannot serve him, as Luke 14:26-27 says.  “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”  Even those who God calls must meet his standards.