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| 1 And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to thee. |
Will not believe me – Moses was distrustful of his ability and was fearful and reluctant. R5419:1
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| 2 And Jehovah said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A staff. |
What Is that in thine hand? – God can use our humblest talent to his praise. If, then, we would serve, we should look to see what we have in our hands. R5419:2
A rod – Signifying divine authority. R4058:4
A special manifestation of divine power and rule. R5419:5
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| 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. |
Became a serpent – Symbolizing that all the evil there is in the world is the result of God's having let go of his rod of authority temporarily. R4058:4
Those things closest to us might become injurious except for God's power to overrule. R5419:2
Antitype may be that the power of God may appear to be evil. Evil has seemed to triumph for these 6000 years. R5419:5
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| 4 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand and take it by the tail--and he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- |
Put forth his hand – Typifying God's purpose to lay hold upon present evil conditions. R4058:4
It became a rod – Typifying the re-establishment of divine authority. R4058:4
Representing God's power to turn evil things into good things through the operation of faith. R2910:4, R5419:3
From this we should realize that of ourselves we could accomplish nothing. R5419:2
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| 5 that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. |
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| 6 And Jehovah said moreover to him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and took it out, and behold, his hand was leprous, as snow. |
He put his hand – Leprosy is a symbol of sin. Divine power was first manifested without sin or imperfection or blemish (in Jesus Christ); secondly, that the same divine power, hidden for a time, was afterward manifest in sin and imperfection (in his Body members); and thirdly, that the same divine power, hidden again for a time, will subsequently be manifest without sin (in the glorified Christ). R4059:2
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| 7 And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and took it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his flesh. |
Was turned again – By and by the Church is to be received into his bosom and "changed" in the first resurrection. R4059:3
As his other flesh – Be used again of the Lord as his agent in stretching forth his rod and bringing forth the plagues, and delivering the residue of God's people. R4059:3
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| 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the other sign. |
Voice of the first sign – Literature on the subject of "Why evil was permitted" has been circulated to the extent of millions of copies throughout the world ever since the year 1879. R4058:6
Voice of the latter sign – The sign of the leprous hand-the "Millennial Dawn" series of volumes (later called "Studies in the Scriptures"), the first of which was published in 1886. In these books the relationship between justification, sanctification and deliverance is distinctly shown. R4059:4
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| 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also those two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land; and the water that thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land2. |
Water of the river – The truth, as contained in millions of pages of tracts, poured upon the symbolic earth, society, liberally on many lands and in many languages. R4059:6
Upon the dry land – Typifying society. R4059:5
Shall become blood – To society the truth seems repulsive, undesirable, bloody. They not only view the typical sacrifices as bloody but they resent the thought that the antitypical sacrifice for sins was the death (blood) of Christ. R4060:1
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| 10 And Moses said to Jehovah, Ah Lord! I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant, for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. |
I am not eloquent – Moses was so meek that he could not realize that with divine help he would be successful. R5262:2
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| 11 And Jehovah said to him, Who gave man a mouth? or who maketh dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? have not I, Jehovah? |
Have not I – He is the author of all life and indirectly our Creator. R2902:2
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| 12 And now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say. |
I will be with thy mouth – So God declares to the humble ones now; that having no confidence in ourselves, we should have every confidence in God. R5262:4
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| 13 And he said, Ah Lord! send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. |
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| 14 Then the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he goeth out to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. |
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| 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. |
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| 16 And he shall speak for thee unto the people; and it shall come to pass that he shall be to thee for a mouth, and thou shalt be to him for God. |
And he – Aaron represents the Royal Priesthood still in the flesh, still sacrificing. R4058:3
Be thy spokesman – The Lord Jesus does not address himself to the true Israelites in person now, but through a mouthpiece. R4058:3
Unto the people – All true Israelites. R4058:3
Be to him instead of God – Moses was to be like God unto Aaron in that he would tell Aaron what he should say and do. Q498:5
Moses, not Aaron, was the one competent for the great work because of his schooling. Aaron was his servant, or mouthpiece, speaking only as authorized by Moses in whom, because of his meekness, God was reposing the responsibility. R5262:4, R4537:1; PD32/44
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| 17 And thou shalt take this staff in thy hand, with which thou shalt do the signs. |
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| 18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, that I may see whether they are yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. |
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| 19 And Jehovah said to Moses in Midian, Go, return to Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought thy life. |
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| 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them riding upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. |
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| 21 And Jehovah said to Moses, When thou goest to return to Egypt, see that thou do all the wonders before Pharaoh that I have put in thy hand. And I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. |
Harden his heart – It was God's goodness that hardened Pharaoh. When the Lord relieved the people and the land from one plague, Pharaoh concluded that it was past and that perhaps no more would come; and so, step by step, God's mercy led him further and further in his hostility. F176; PD33/44; R2911:2, R4703:1
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| 22 And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah: Israel is my son, my firstborn. |
Israel is my son – "Out of Egypt have I called my son." (Matt. 2:15) R1681:6
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| 23 And I say to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill thy son, thy firstborn. |
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| 24 And it came to pass on the way, in the inn, that Jehovah came upon him, and sought to slay him. |
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| 25 Then Zipporah took a stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, A bloody husband indeed art thou to me! |
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| 26 And he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband--because of the circumcision. |
The circumcision – Symbolizing a cutting off, a separation from the flesh, its aims, hopes and desires. R3022:3
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| 27 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. |
Said to Aaron – Representing the sacrificial work of Christ as the Priest. The sons of Aaron represented the Church. R4011:3
Into the wilderness – The meeting of Moses and Aaron seems to symbolize the beginning of the Gospel age. R4011:3
To meet Moses – Moses represented the future work of Christ as the leader and commander of the people. The Church was also typically represented in the body of Moses. R4011:3
Met him – Aaron meeting Moses represents a company meeting Christ in the Kingdom. R82:2*
The mount of God – Mount Horeb, one of the peaks of Mt. Sinai. R4011:3
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| 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah who had sent him, and all the signs that he had commanded him. |
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| 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the children of Israel; |
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| 30 and Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. |
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| 31 And the people believed. And when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. |
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