#31 4:22-31 Clear Redemptive Focus early in Years of Divine Power

Then, in verses 22 and 23, God identifies the redemptive purpose that Moses is to declare unto Pharaoh. He tells Moses to specifically 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.”

God is using an analogy that Pharaoh could personally understand. But, implicit within this demand is a clear allusion to God seeing His own true Son, the God-ordained Redeemer, the LORD Jesus Christ, in the loins of Israel.[1]It was imperative that Israel come out of Egyptian slavery and into the land in which this Messiah would be born.

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, 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 his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

In verses 24 through 26 we encounter what the casual Bible student may take as a very “odd” passage. In it, God is ready to set Moses entirely aside (to slay him) because he has not aligned with the need to be circumcised. This had been a matter of serious concern to Abraham, and had never been set aside.[2] Prior to traveling all the way to Egypt, it was necessary for Moses’ son to be circumcised.

27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

Then, in verses 27 and 28, we see God sending Aaron to meet Moses. After their reunion Moses showed unto Aaron all of the signs that God had revealed to him, thus arming Aaron with the understanding that God’s full authority was to be invoked in their dealings with Pharaoh. They were not commencing this great task on their own authority.

29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:

30 And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Finally, in verses 29 through 31 Moses and Aaron come into Egypt. They meet with the elders and apparently show at least some of the signs that the LORD had given them unto some of the people. It was enough that the people understood that God had sent them and that He was now intervening on their behalf. We are told that “they bowed their heads and worshipped.”

We have moved from God's clear redemptive focus in sending Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh in verses 22-23 all the way to the elders of enslaved Israel bowing their heads and worshipping in verse 31. This is the entire panorama of God's redemptive purposes in His Son in a single short Old Testament passage! God redeems men that they may worship Him!

For those who have been delivered from the slavery of sin today, it is well if this sense of worship is sustained at all costs. We must never “take for granted” the grace of God in looking upon our affliction and delivering us.

[1] Consider the clear statement regarding Christ being the True Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7- “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” [2] Carefully read Genesis 17:9-14. Although Genesis had not yet been written, it is clear that God expected Moses to be cognizant of this Divine requirement. It had been practiced for many generations of the descendants of Abraham.