Rightly or wrongly, there's a certain type of image that pops into your head when you hear about a guy whose on the run, being hunted down for killing a man as vengeance for an injustice.
Being so shy that you become a distinct irritant to the Creator of patience Himself usually doesn't fit in to this picture...
At the end of chapter 3, God basically outlines what's going to happen. Moses is going to be sent back to Egypt, seek (and get) an audience with the Pharaoh, demand the sons of Israel be released from bondage, Pharaoh will refuse, God will show him who's boss, Pharaoh will relent under compulsion.
Now, some guy stopping you by a bus stop telling you this is about to happen might be somewhat incredible, and would elicit a much different response than if you heard it from a bush. That was on fire. But wasn't actually burning.
Did I mention the bush could talk? Once you've got a talking bush that's on fire but not on fire, I'd say it's pretty safe to say that your former "knowledge" about what was plausibly realistic was... off. A bit.
However, Moses listens to God (well... first an angel, but maybe God Himself... there's that thing again...) and hears the whole story, but then gets hopelessly hung up on the fact that he couldn't possibly do it because nobody would believe him and because people will laugh and because who's he anyway it's not like he's got a gift of gab or a silver tongue or the ability to talk in a persuasive way at all and he can't do it so God better find someone else...
Moses?
I'm having a hard time imagining what a burning-but-not bush would look like trying to rub its temples, sighing and trying to keep its cool while dealing with a snivelling whiner, but I sort of get the impression that's what happened. Or something very much like it.
Fine, says God. You want me to show you how they'll believe you? Throw your staff on the ground!
Maybe not Moses...
The staff turns to a snake, and then back again. Moses's hand gets leprosy, and then gets better. Oh yeah, and God'll turn water into blood right in front of everyone.
Yeah... says Moses... I still think you should find someone else...
I'm God, says God, I've got this. I made My choice, and it's you. Don't worry about it. I think I can handle it. I gave your hand leprosy and then made it better. I think I can feed you lines...
Moses in this passage is just about as far from a heroic character as you could possible get. Not just in the "morally suspect" way that the Genesis patriarchs were, but in a general, and surprisingly jarring, lack-of-faith kind of way.
This is also a new thing to Exodus. First we've got an (apparent) abandonment of the important of lineage and God-directed succession to the covenant, and now we've got a guy who doesn't want to talk when God asks him to...
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Exodus 4:21-23 is another one of these distinctly problematic passages for me... I don't like it at all, and I have yet to hear a really compelling reason why it shouldn't be distressing.
21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaohall the wonders which I have put in your power ; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let thepeople go. 22 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, Myfirstborn. 23 "So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he may serve Me'; but you have refused to lethim go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.""'
I've heard postulation that the "I will harden his heart..." part is there as an attribution to God by the author because of the ultimate nature of his faith that says nothing happens without God's will and intent, so that's that. I've heard that God had to harden Pharaoh's heart for one reason or another in the grand scheme of things (IE because if He hadn't, then Pharaoh would have agreed and then changed his mind, so he really needed to be convinced...)
What's actually there is God saying, as I see it, "I'm going to make Pharaoh say no, and then I'm going to tell him that since he said no I'm going to kill his firstborn."
That doesn't sit right with me. Not even a little.
I don't get it, and I don't like it.
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Anyway, in a fit of exasperation with Moses's constant whining, God tells him that his brother Aaron will go with him, and Aaron will do the talking so Moses doesn't have to.
What happens over the next few chapters is an interesting foreshadowing of what will become the amazing powers of fickleness possessed by the people of Israel. Moses and Aaron show up, state their business, and perform miracles to prove that they're legit. They're going to free them from Pharaoh and Egypt and slavery, and everyone's happy.
Then they meet Pharaoh, Pharaoh tells them no they may not go free, and adds a hearty "get back to work" to the end of it. And just to show he means business, he heaps loads more work on to the Hebrews, who then turn around and blame Moses for messing around and giving them more work.
Moses takes the Hebrews' rebuke and goes back to God the next time he's called and starts right back at the "I can't do this!" stage, which he repeats once more before chapter 6 finally ends.
The problem with looking down on Moses for his (seemingly utter) lack of faith, or on the Hebrews for much the same reason, is that they're really just us with different clothes and cooler names...
dang.
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