Eloquent

We'll be starting today where we left off yesterday, at Exodus chapter four. Just a reminder from the first couple posts is some vocabulary I'll probably be using...

I don't generally use the words God or Lord when writing, nor do I use the names of any of the pagan gods mentioned in the Bible. Why? Because it's my belief that to have a closer personal relationship with Him, I need to call Him by His name. Or at least, my understanding of His name. There were no vowels in ancient Hebrew, so it's very difficult to say exactly what His name is. Some call Him Jehovah, others say Yahweh; I say Yahuah because my father has spent a lot of time studying Paleo-Hebrew and he informed me that the first letter of His name, the Hebrew letter Vav, was a Waw originally. No "V" sound. Why don't I say the names of the pagan gods? Because I don't want to have any kind of relationship with them whatsoever. I understand that they existed as false-deities, and they actually influenced a lot of today's culture, but I don't want to know them by name. I use the name Yahuah in place of "The Lord" and Elohim or El (which both mean "God" in Hebrew) in place of God.

Another note: Who decided to call Him "The Lord"? Isn't "King" a step up from "Lord" as far as the hierarchy of a monarchy goes? I just don't think He should be given a name that is subordinate to anyone, especially on our concept of ranks. To bring this closer to home for all my lovely American readers, you wouldn't call Him "Vice President" as opposed to "President," would you?

Shemot (Exodus) 4:1 "Then Moses answered and said, 'But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice, suppose they say, "Yahuah has not appeared to you."

For a man who grew up on the Egyptian court, it would appear that he's not the most confident man. Interesting, I wonder what sort of background brought that on. Was he teased or bullied? Probably not by any commoner, but by the man who is now Pharaoh? They may have grown up together.

Shemot 4:2-5 "So Yahuah said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A rod.' And He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. Then Yahuah said to Moses, 'Reach out your hand and take it by the tail' (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 'that they may believe that Yahuah Elohim of their fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has appeared to you.'"

How about that?? Wanna bet they'll believe now? He doesn't need to worry or be shy, Moses has Yahuah and He'll guide him through. Also, don't the parentheses look like stage directions? Can you imagine being a kid back in Biblical times, sitting around a campfire and listening to a storyteller as he recounts this passage? The Bible is a ridiculously epic volume, it would be fantastic to tell the kids. Way better than silly ghost stories.

Shemot 4:6-9 "Furthermore Yahuah said to him, 'Now put your hand in your bosom.' And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. And He said, 'Put your hand in your bosom again.' So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 'Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.'"

In case you're wondering what was so shocking about Moses putting his hand in his shirt and removing it to find that he temporarily had leprosy... Leprosy is an insane chronic and scary skin disease featuring lesions and shrunken fingers and toes among other scary symptoms. Folklore tells of people with leprosy losing their body parts because they simply fall off, but that's just legend. Limbs do get paralyzed and bad things do happen if left untreated. WebMD says that today there is a cure, but way back when Moses stuck his hand in his shirt and brought it out white and leprous, there was no cure. By the way, that link will take you to their page on leprosy.

Shemot 4:10 "Then Moses said to Yahuah, 'O Yahuah, I am not eloquent, neither before nore since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'"

Still no confidence? Yahuah has Moses in the palm of His hand. He will carry him through, but Moses is worried about getting tongue-tied?

Shemot 4:11-12 "So Yahuah said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, Yahuah? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.'"

This is too true. If He has a purpose for you like He had one for Moses, He will give you whatever tools you need to follow it through. Also, on a side note, this part of the movie, The Prince of Egypt, is absolutely fantastic. It's beautiful and it sends shivers down my spine and the voice-acting was brilliant. Check it out.

Shemot 4:13 "But he said, 'O Yahuah, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.'"

This is a tricky verse... What exactly is he trying to say? Sounds like he wants Yahuah to pick someone else. Want to bet that He has other things in mind? That you can't just get out of being Yahuah's chosen one by whining and asking for a replacement?

Shemot 4:14-17 "So the anger of Yahuah was kindled against Moses, and He said: 'Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as Elohim. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.'"

Sorry Moses, you're not talking your way out of this.

Shemot 4:18-20 "So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, 'Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.' Now Yahuah said to Moses in Midian, 'Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.' Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of Elohim in his hand."

 A fun-fact my dad recently informed me of: You know how I was wondering why Zipporah's father had two names? One being Reuel and the other being Jethro? Turns out Reuel means something along the lines of "Excellency." He was the high priest of Midian, remember? So Reuel would've been his title, while Jethro was his name.

Shemot 4:21-23 "And Yahuah said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says Yahuah: 'Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"'"

That puts it in perspective, doesn't it?

Shemot 4:24-26 "And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that Yahuah met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me!' So He let him go. Then she said, 'You are a husband of blood!' - because of the circumcision."

Honestly, I have no idea where that came from. Weren't they supposed to take care of that when the boy was 8 days old? I don't know why Yahuah wanted to kill him, and was "he" Moses or was "he" Moses' son? I just don't know... So confused. I should probably try and find a literal translation of the text, but until I do... Yeah. That's all I have on this.

Shemot 4:27-31 "And Yahuah said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.' So he went and met him on the mountain of Elohim, and kissed him. So Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahuah who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which Yahuah had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in sight of the people. So the people believed; and when they heard that Yahuah had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped."

All is going well! Sadly, there is much to come. The signs won't work on Pharaoh, but they might just wear him down enough that he'll let them go before worst comes to worst, but there's really no telling.

On another note, I'm currently taking a class on the Old Testament at my college, and one thing that I've learned thus far is that there is a chance that the reason why the new Pharaoh at the beginning of Exodus did not know Joseph may have been because he was one of the first Pharaohs of the second dynasty whereas Joseph may have worked with one of the last Pharaohs of the first dynasty. Maybe. Honestly, the dates of things are by no means set in stone, especially since the writer didn't name the Pharaoh.

An observation: Yahuah chose a man who wasn't particularly eloquent to stand up before Egypt and save the Israelites. He chose two women (consider this was before the feminist movement) to save the Israelite baby boys. He chose the second-youngest of a family of twelve men to save the known world. He blessed the younger of a set of twins with all the perks the elder would have gotten otherwise. He gave a 90 year old woman and her 100 year old husband a son. These are only some of the examples we've read about. We're barely two books into the Bible. Yahuah really looks out for the underdog, the ones that we humans don't look at as being particularly impressive. Keep that in mind if you're feeling not-so-impressive. He's looking out for you.

Check out "Eloquent" by Sanctus Real.