Catholic Commentary on Exodus 4

"Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (Exodus 4:11-12)

The Reluctant Prophet

Moses raises a series of objections to his commission. What if they do not believe me? The LORD gives him three signs: a staff that becomes a snake, a hand that becomes leprous and is restored, and water from the Nile turned to blood. Moses persists: I have never been eloquent; I am slow of speech and tongue. God's response is the most direct answer to the excuse of inadequacy in Scripture: Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. The one who created the mouth can direct what comes from it. The incapacity is not the problem; the unwillingness to trust the one who created the capacity is the problem.

Moses finally asks God simply to send someone else. God is angry but relents: Aaron your brother will speak for you. You will put words in his mouth; I will help both of you. The reluctance of Moses is not celebrated but it is not disqualifying. The Catechism notes that God works through the weakness and resistance of his chosen instruments, not by bypassing human freedom but by working within it (CCC 306). Moses goes back to Jethro, gets his blessing, and sets out for Egypt. On the road the LORD tries to kill him, a strange and abrupt passage, resolved when his wife Zipporah circumcises their son. He reaches Egypt and meets Aaron, and the brothers speak to all the elders of Israel, who bow down and worship when they hear that the LORD has seen their misery.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, who gave human beings their mouths? The God who created your voice, your language, your ability to articulate thought: he is the same God who sends you to speak his word. Your inadequacy is not news to him. He made the mouth and he can direct what comes from it. Now go. He will help you speak. He will teach you what to say.

Prayer

Lord God, you made the mouth and you know its limitations. We are slow of speech and tongue. But you are the one who helps us speak and teaches us what to say. Send us as you sent Moses, with your word in our mouths and your presence at our side. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4
Moses’ Staff
1 Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ”
 
2 And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
 
“A staff,” he replied.
 
3 “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake,* 4:3 Hebrew nachash, in contrast to Aaron’s staff, which became a tannin in Exodus 7:10 and he ran from it.
 
4 “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Moses’ Hand
 
6 Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.† 4:6 Hebrew into your bosom; twice in this verse and twice in verse 7” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous,‡ 4:6 The Hebrew word traditionally translated as leprous was used for various skin diseases; see Leviticus 13. white as snow.
 
7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD.
 
So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.
 
8 And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. 9 But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
The Appointment of Aaron
 
10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
 
11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
 
13 But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
 
14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
Moses Leaves for Egypt
 
18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro § 4:18 Moses’ father-in-law Jethro was also called Reuel; see Exodus 2:18. and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.”
 
“Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
 
19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
 
21 The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden * 4:21 Or stiffen or strengthen his heart so that he will not let the people go.
 
22 Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, 23 and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’ ”
 
24 Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses † 4:24 Hebrew him and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet.‡ 4:25 Hebrew his feet “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
 
26 So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.)
The People Believe Moses and Aaron
 
27 Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform.
 
29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses.
 
And Moses performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

*4:3 4:3 Hebrew nachash, in contrast to Aaron’s staff, which became a tannin in Exodus 7:10

†4:6 4:6 Hebrew into your bosom; twice in this verse and twice in verse 7

‡4:6 4:6 The Hebrew word traditionally translated as leprous was used for various skin diseases; see Leviticus 13.

§4:18 4:18 Moses’ father-in-law Jethro was also called Reuel; see Exodus 2:18.

*4:21 4:21 Or stiffen or strengthen

†4:24 4:24 Hebrew him

‡4:25 4:25 Hebrew his feet

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