"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." This is so that they may believeThe phrase underscores the purpose of the miraculous sign given to Moses. In Hebrew, the word for "believe" is "אמונה" (emunah), which conveys a deep trust and faithfulness. This is not merely intellectual assent but a profound trust in God's promises and His messenger. The context here is the Israelites' need for assurance that Moses is truly sent by God. Historically, signs and wonders were often used to authenticate divine messages, especially in a time when written scriptures were not yet available to the people. the LORD
The term "LORD" in all capital letters represents the tetragrammaton YHWH, the sacred and personal name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). This name signifies God's eternal, self-existent nature and His covenantal faithfulness. In the ancient Near Eastern context, knowing the name of a deity was crucial for understanding their character and authority. For the Israelites, YHWH was not just a god among many but the one true God who had chosen them as His people. the God of their fathers
This phrase connects the present revelation to the patriarchal promises. It emphasizes continuity and faithfulness, reminding the Israelites of the covenant made with their ancestors. The Hebrew word for "fathers" is "אבות" (avot), which can also mean "ancestors." This connection to the patriarchs is foundational for Israel's identity and faith, as it roots their current experience in a historical relationship with God. the God of Abraham
Abraham is the first of the patriarchs, and his relationship with God is marked by faith and covenant. The mention of Abraham recalls the promises of land, descendants, and blessing (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham's faith is a model for the Israelites, and God's faithfulness to him is a reassurance of His ongoing commitment to His people. the God of Isaac
Isaac, the son of promise, represents the continuation of God's covenant. His life is a testament to God's provision and faithfulness, as seen in the miraculous birth and the near-sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Mentioning Isaac reinforces the idea that God's promises are not only made but also fulfilled across generations. and the God of Jacob
Jacob, later named Israel, is the father of the twelve tribes. His life is a account of transformation and wrestling with God, symbolizing the struggles and growth of the nation of Israel. By invoking Jacob, God is reminding the Israelites of their identity as His chosen people, despite their imperfections and struggles. has appeared to you
The appearance of God to Moses is a theophany, a visible manifestation of the divine. In Hebrew, the word "appeared" is "נראה" (nir'ah), which implies a revelation or unveiling. This encounter is not just a personal experience for Moses but a pivotal moment for the entire nation, as it marks the beginning of their deliverance from Egypt. The historical and scriptural context highlights the significance of divine appearances as moments of commissioning and covenant renewal. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesThe central figure in this passage, Moses is called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He is given signs to perform to validate his divine commission. 2. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and self-existent nature. He is the God of the patriarchs and the one who commissions Moses. 3. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and JacobThis phrase emphasizes the continuity of God's covenant promises through the patriarchs, underscoring His faithfulness and the historical roots of Israel's faith. 4. The IsraelitesThe descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are enslaved in Egypt and are the intended audience of the signs given to Moses. 5. EgyptThe place of Israel's bondage, from which God intends to deliver them through Moses. Teaching Points God's FaithfulnessGod identifies Himself as the God of the patriarchs, reminding us of His unchanging nature and faithfulness to His promises. Divine CommissionMoses' calling and the signs he is given underscore the importance of divine authority in ministry and leadership. The Role of SignsSigns are given to confirm God's message and messenger, pointing to the necessity of faith and obedience in response to God's revelation. Continuity of God's PlanThe reference to the patriarchs highlights the continuity of God's redemptive plan throughout history, encouraging believers to trust in His overarching purpose. Trust in God's PresenceJust as God appeared to Moses, believers are reminded of God's presence with them, empowering them to fulfill their calling. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the identification of God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Exodus 4:5 reinforce the continuity of His promises throughout the Bible? 2. In what ways do the signs given to Moses serve as a foundation for understanding the role of miracles in the New Testament? 3. How can we apply the concept of divine commissioning in our own lives and ministries today? 4. What does this passage teach us about the importance of faith in God's promises, even when circumstances seem challenging? 5. How can we draw strength from the assurance of God's presence, as Moses did, in our daily walk with Him? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 15God's covenant with Abraham, promising him descendants and land, which sets the stage for the deliverance from Egypt. Exodus 3The burning bush encounter where God first calls Moses and reveals His name, Yahweh, establishing the divine authority behind Moses' mission. Hebrews 11The faith chapter, which highlights the faith of Moses and the patriarchs, connecting their trust in God's promises to the actions Moses is called to perform. Acts 7Stephen's speech, which recounts the history of Israel and Moses' role, emphasizing God's faithfulness and the continuity of His plan. People Aaron, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Horeb, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Appeared, Believe, Fathers, Isaac, JacobDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 4:5 1245 God of the fathers Exodus 4:1-9 1449 signs, purposes Exodus 4:1-13 7758 preachers, call Exodus 4:2-5 4512 staff Exodus 4:5-9 5104 Moses, foreshadower of Christ Library January 13. "Thou Shalt be to Him Instead of God" (Ex. Iv. 16).
"Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. iv. 16). Such was God's promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. May it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God? What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! How it would lead us to act toward our fellow-men! God can always be depended upon. God is without variableness or shadow of turning. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth May the Eleventh but -- --!
"And Moses answered and said, But----" --EXODUS iv. 1-9. We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record. "Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the "demonstration of power." "And I will teach thee what thou shall say." The Lord will not only be with our mouths, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts.
When the Bride, or rather the lover (for she is not yet a bride), has found her Bridegroom, she is so transported with joy, that she is eager to be instantly united to Him. But the union of perpetual enjoyment is not yet arrived. He is mine, she says, I cannot doubt that He gives Himself to me this moment, since I feel it, but He is to me, as it were, a bundle of myrrh. He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon Preaching (I. ).
Earthen vessels, frail and slight, Yet the golden Lamp we bear; Master, break us, that the light So may fire the murky air; Skill and wisdom none we claim, Only seek to lift Thy Name. I have on purpose reserved the subject of Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching is, from many points of view, the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the Ministry. What we have said already about the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in society, in the parish; what we have said about his …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren To the Saddest of the Sad
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; for if they fail, their failure must be attributed in great measure to their want of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age, and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age. Unless, indeed, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888 The Sweet Uses of Adversity
Now, I propose to address myself to the two classes of persons who are making use of this question. First, I shall speak to the tried saint; and then I shall speak to the seeking sinner, who has been seeking peace and pardon through Christ, but who has not as yet found it, but, on the contrary, has been buffeted by the law, and driven away from the mercy-seat in despair. I. First, then, to THE CHILD OF GOD. I have--I know I have--in this great assembly, some who have come to Job's position. They …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 "For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children.
(Bethlehem and Road Thence to Egypt, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 13-18. ^a 13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy …
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 4:5 NIVExodus 4:5 NLTExodus 4:5 ESVExodus 4:5 NASBExodus 4:5 KJV
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