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| 1 And Moses answereth and saith, 'And, if they do not give credence to me, nor hearken to my voice, and say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto 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 saith unto him, 'What [is] this in thy hand ' and he saith, 'A rod;' |
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 saith, 'Cast it to the earth;' and he casteth it to the earth, and it becometh a serpent and Moses fleeth from its presence. |
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 saith unto Moses, 'Put forth thy hand, and lay hold on the tail of it;' and he putteth forth his hand, and layeth hold on it, and it becometh a rod 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 ' so that they believe that Jehovah, God of their fathers, hath appeared unto thee, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.' |
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| 6 And Jehovah saith to him again, 'Put in, I pray thee, thy hand into thy bosom;' and he putteth in his hand into his bosom, and he bringeth it out, and lo, his hand [is] 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 saith, 'Put back thy hand unto thy bosom;' and he putteth back his hand unto his bosom, and he bringeth it out from his bosom, and lo, it hath turned back 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 hath come to pass, if they do not give credence to thee, and hearken not to the voice of the first sign, that they have given credence to the voice of the latter 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 hath come to pass, if they do not give credence even to these two signs, nor hearken to thy voice, that thou hast taken of the waters of the River, and hast poured on the dry land, and the waters which thou takest from the River have been, yea, they have become blood on the dry land.' |
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 saith unto Jehovah, 'O, my Lord, I [am] not a man of words, either yesterday, or before, or since Thy speaking unto Thy servant, for I [am] slow of mouth, and slow of 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 saith unto him, 'Who appointed a mouth for man or who appointeth the dumb, or deaf, or open, or blind is it 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 I am with thy mouth, and have directed thee that which thou speakest;' |
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 saith, 'O, my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand Thou dost send.' |
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| 14 And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Moses, and He saith, 'Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother I have known that he speaketh well, and also, lo, he is coming out to meet thee; when he hath seen thee, then he hath rejoiced in his heart, |
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| 15 and thou hast spoken unto him, and hast set the words in his mouth, and I I am with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and have directed you that which ye do; |
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| 16 and he, he hath spoken for thee unto the people, and it hath come to pass, he he is to thee for a mouth, and thou thou art 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 this rod thou dost take in thy hand, with which thou doest the signs.' |
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| 18 And Moses goeth and turneth back unto Jethro his father-in-law, and saith to him, 'Let me go, I pray thee, and I turn back unto my brethren who [are] in Egypt, and I see whether they are yet alive.' And Jethro saith to Moses, 'Go in peace.' |
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| 19 And Jehovah saith unto Moses in Midian, 'Go, turn back to Egypt, for all the men have died who seek thy life;' |
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| 20 and Moses taketh his wife, and his sons, and causeth them to ride on the ass, and turneth back to the land of Egypt, and Moses taketh the rod of God in his hand. |
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| 21 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'In thy going to turn back to Egypt, see all the wonders which I have put in thy hand that thou hast done them before Pharaoh, and I I strengthen his heart, and he doth not send the people away; |
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 hast said unto Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah, My son, My first-born [is] Israel, |
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 unto thee, Send away My son, and he doth serve Me; and thou dost refuse to send him away lo, I am slaying thy son, thy first-born.' |
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| 24 And it cometh to pass in the way, in a lodging place, that Jehovah meeteth him, and seeketh to put him to death; |
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| 25 and Zipporah taketh a flint, and cutteth off the foreskin of her son, and causeth [it] to touch his feet, and saith, 'Surely a bridegroom of blood [art] thou to me;' |
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| 26 and He desisteth from him: then she said, 'A bridegroom of blood,' in reference to 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 saith unto Aaron, 'Go to meet Moses into the wilderness;' and he goeth, and meeteth him in the mount of God, and kisseth 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 declareth to Aaron all the words of Jehovah with which He hath sent him, and all the signs with which He hath charged him. |
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| 29 And Moses goeth Aaron also and they gather all the elders of the sons of Israel, |
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| 30 and Aaron speaketh all the words which Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses, and doth the signs before the eyes of the people; |
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| 31 and the people believe when they hear that Jehovah hath looked after the sons of Israel, and that He hath seen their affliction; and they bow and do obeisance. |
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