God can use Anyone (4:1)

God uses our abilities to His glory. He takes the Shepherd’s rod that Moses used as a Shepherd and made it a tool for another purpose. The Apostle Paul was a scribe and God used his pen to write most of the Epistles of the New Testament. Peter was a fisherman who used a net to haul in fish but now he will be a fisher of men to haul people into the Kingdom. If you throw your occupation down and pick it up by the tail, then now you understand its proper priority in your life and God will be your head and it is not in control. If you pick it up by the head you will get bitten and it is poisonous.

The Rod that turns into a Snake (4:1-5)

God is saying in a simple way that you are holding a rod and this rod is an image of the vertical (The image of the mountain, of identity, that which is straight) and he is to let go of it and then it changes into a serpent (That which moves from left to right without a direction, missing the mark, waters) and it is thrown on the ground to become something shifty. Moses is to grab it again by the tail and this potential turns back  (recovers its identity) into a rod. When say we grasp something like a glass, we have to grasp it but not too tightly or loosely. We have to find the optimal way we can hold onto it. This is true physically and in terms of categories and identities. We have to find the balance between the unity and the multiplicity, between that which is stable and that which is fluid. This is how reality works.

The Leprous Hand (4:6-8)

The first miracle is an image from the vertical on the horizonal – a rod to a snake on the ground. Now it is the centre to the periphery – when you bring it out it becomes leprous when you bring it back it becomes healed. It is a similar image to the Rod and Snake. There may be a hint also in the use of leprosy of too much purity as it is used as such in the story of Miriam and Moses’s Ethiopian Cushite wife where Miriam criticises Moses for a dark wife, and she becomes as white as snow. (too white) which suggests an excess of purity. It could be seen as Moses’ hand turned to leprosy and clean that man’s heart is also deceitful, and God only can make it clean. There also an application to Christ in that He who knew no sin could take on the sins of the world and heal it. God’s healing can be a wonderous testimony in many ways.

Water into Blood – The Plagues (4:9)

Moses is given authority over the “lifeblood” of the land of Egypt – the Nile. The plagues are an exploded version of what is going on with the rod/snake and leprous hand. The plagues are all leading up to final plague which is the death of the firstborn of Egypt. The changing of water into blood ultimately leads to the death of the firstborn. The Wedding at Cana is referring to the plagues of Egypt. The turning of the water into blood leads to the death of the firstborn. Jesus turning water into wine starts Jesus talking about how He is going to die. This symbolises the death of God’s “firstborn” leading to salvation as He is resurrected from death.

Categories: Exodus

Tags: bible, Exodus, god, moses, pharaoh