Exodus 4

This great chapter gives a prophetic summary of the deliverance of Israel before the events actually happened. In Exodus 3, God dealt with two of Moses' objections: (1) Who am I? and (2) What is thy name? And here, three other objections are encountered and dealt with: (3) "They will not believe" (Exodus 4:1); (4) "I am not eloquent" (Exodus 4:10); and (5) "Send ... by the hand of whom thou wilt send" (Exodus 4:13). These latter three objections are topic sentences of the sections where they occur. All objections having been disposed of, Moses asked and received Jethro's permission to return to Egypt; he was assured by the Lord that the enemies who sought his life were dead; he began the journey, taking along his wife Zipporah and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer, the latter of which Moses had neglected to circumcise (Exodus 4:18-23). On the way to Egypt, God taught Moses that His law was not merely for the people, but for their leaders also, smiting him with some kind of a fatal malady, which both Zipporah and Moses recognized as punishment for failure to circumcise Eliezer, whereupon Zipporah circumcised him at once; and God permitted the resumption of the journey (Exodus 4:24-26). However, at this point, Moses decided to send Zipporah and the children back to Midian, and continued the journey alone. God instructed Aaron to go and meet Moses, where Moses gave him a full account of all that had happened; and, together, they went before the elders of Israel, who believed them, and thus the stage was set for the great series of miracles that would result in the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 4:27-31).