Moses asks to be excused (4:10-12)

It seems that Moses’ excuse was not justified. Some 40 years before this, Moses was not slow of speech and slow of tongue. In Acts 7:22, it says Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. It had been 40 years of speaking to sheep, so he had likely lost confidence!

Moses would rather God send someone else, but God had prepared Moses for this and would not take any excuses.

God replies and gives help to Moses (4:13-16)

God is telling Moses to speak as his spokesman and the right to be a representative of Him. Moses says he is unable to speak and so God is going to set up an intermediary structure between Himself and the world. God is angry with Moses but doesn’t give up! In the story of King David the Israelites ask for a king and God is angry and, in some ways, doesn’t want to give them a king but then ultimately relents. The King becomes the tool of God in the world, the one who builds the Temple – the house for God.

God gives Moses an extension of himself. God says to Moses that Aaron will be your mouth and then you will be my mouth (in some ways) and you will be as God to Aaron. Aaron’s God will be you and I will be your God in this context in this fractal relationship going down. It is Aaron who will speak to the people, so Moses appears as hidden behind a veil (Aaron) He is hiding himself from the people and also from God. When Moses comes down from the mountain, he puts a veil on his face.

Aaron as the Helper (4:14-16)

Aaron is Moses’ helper, and he can either bring him up or bring him down. When you create mediating levels then they are always the danger that people we will see them as having a being in themselves and attach to them too much and they will appear as an illusion, mistake, or error. God says to Moses, Aaron will be the one doing the signs and manifesting you in the world. He is one step down in the mediation. It is Aaron who makes the Golden Calf and that is the problem with mediation and having these levels coming down. It is inevitable at the same time. The Tabernacle will be how the presence of God is mediated in the world through ritual, space, layers, veils, sacrifice, etc The Tabernacle is an image of reality.

Categories: Exodus

Tags: bible, Exodus, faith, god, moses