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Exodus 4 - Signs, Resistance, Zipporah, and Return

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The rod is still in Moses’ hand, but the call has not yet become obedience. After meeting God at the bush, he worries that Israel will reject him, pleads his weakness of speech, and finally asks for someone else to be sent. The Lord answers him with signs, instruction, and a brother’s help. On the road to Egypt, however, the servant himself faces a deadly confrontation. The man sent to demand freedom for God’s people must also submit his own household to the covenant.

Signs for a frightened servant (Exodus 4:1-9; Greek/Brenton 4:1-9)

A note on numbering. This study follows NKJV chapter and verse numbering and prints Brenton’s English Septuagint with its own verse labels. The rod is restored in NKJV 4:4 but at the beginning of Brenton 4:5 because the editions divide that sentence differently. The complete signs passage is therefore read together as 4:1-9 below.

1: And Moses answered and said, If they believe me not, and do not hearken to my voice (for they will say, God has not appeared to thee), what shall I say to them? 2: And the Lord said to him, What is this thing that is in thine hand? and he said, A rod. 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 it. 4: And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth thine hand, and take hold of its tail: so he stretched forth his hand and took hold of the tail, 5: and it became a rod in his hand, - that they may believe thee, that the God of thy fathers has appeared to thee, the God of Abraam, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. 6: And the Lord said again to him, Put thine hand into thy bosom; and he put his hand into his bosom, and brought his hand out of his bosom, and his hand became as snow. 7: And he said again, Put thy hand into thy bosom; and he put his hand into his bosom, and brought his hand out of his bosom, and it was again restored to the complexion of his other flesh. 8: And if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe thee because of the voice of the second sign. 9: And it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee for these two signs, and will not hearken to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou shalt take from the river shall be blood upon the dry land.

Moses’ first objection concerns the people: they may deny that God has appeared to him. The signs answer that precise fear. The rod becomes a serpent, Moses flees, and at God’s command he takes hold of what terrified him. The restored rod teaches him to obey the Lord rather than the first impulse of fear. Ordinary shepherding equipment becomes an instrument of divine testimony; his authority will come from the One who sends him, not from royal weapons.

Brenton describes the second sign by saying that Moses’ hand “became as snow,” then returned “to the complexion of his other flesh.” Hebrew-based English versions identify the condition as leprosy. The displayed translation leaves the disease unnamed and emphasizes the startling change and restoration. Its point is already strong: even Moses’ own body lies within the Creator’s power. We should not build an argument about ritual uncleanness on a word absent from this text.

The water-to-blood sign is announced here and will anticipate the first plague in Exodus 7:14-25. The river on which Egypt depends cannot shelter the empire from judgment. The repeated “voice” of the signs also keeps their purpose clear: they are testimony that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared, not spectacles for Moses to control.

Numbers 21:8-9 and John 3:14-15 give a later biblical use of the serpent as an instrument through which God grants life. John explicitly connects the lifted serpent with Christ’s lifting up on the Cross. That connection belongs first to the wilderness serpent, not directly to this rod; it helps us understand how God can turn an image of danger into a means of deliverance without confusing the two events.

The Creator opens the servant’s mouth (Exodus 4:10-17; Greek/Brenton 4:10-17)

10: And Moses said to the Lord, I pray, Lord, I have not been sufficient in former times, neither from the time that thou hast begun to speak to thy servant: I am weak in speech, and slow-tongued. 11: And the Lord said to Moses, Who has given a mouth to man, and who has made the very hard of hearing, and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? have not I, God? 12: And now go and I will open thy mouth, and will instruct thee in what thou shalt say. 13: And Moses said, I pray thee, Lord, appoint another able person whom thou shalt send. 14: And the Lord was greatly angered against Moses, and said, Lo! is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he will surely speak to thee; and, behold, he will come forth to meet thee, and beholding thee he will rejoice within himself. 15: And thou shalt speak to him; and thou shalt put my words into his mouth, and I will open thy mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what ye shall do. 16: And he shall speak for thee to the people, and he shall be thy mouth, and thou shalt be for him in things pertaining to God. 17: And this rod that was turned into a serpent thou shalt take in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt work miracles.

Moses says, “I am weak in speech, and slow-tongued.” The Lord’s answer begins with creation: who gave human beings a mouth, hearing, and sight? The promise is correspondingly personal: “I will open thy mouth, and will instruct thee in what thou shalt say.” God supplies neither a boast about Moses’ talent nor a command to pretend his difficulty is unreal. He supplies His own presence and instruction. Disability is not evidence of lesser worth, and this account gives no warrant for shaming people who need assistance.

Verse 13 changes the character of the objection. Moses now asks for “another able person.” The Lord’s anger meets this refusal, yet His provision continues: Aaron will rejoice to see his brother and speak with him. Shared service is a gift. Moses remains responsible for receiving God’s word, and Aaron must convey that word rather than invent his own.

Brenton’s “thou shalt be for him in things pertaining to God” describes this representative responsibility. Hebrews 5:1 uses the same English phrase for the high priest appointed on behalf of human beings. The comparison clarifies mediation: a servant handles what belongs to God for the good of others. It does not make Moses divine or establish a Greek verbal allusion from English wording alone.

Gems from the Fathers : Speech given for service

St. John Chrysostom, preaching on Pentecost, contrasts Moses’ objection with the apostles’ readiness to receive their mission. Their courage is the work of grace, but Moses’ earlier hesitation also becomes instruction for later servants. Chrysostom writes: “But the wonder is this, that when sent they made no objections; they said not, they were ‘weak in voice, and of a slow tongue.’ For Moses had taught them better.”1 The comparison leads beyond self-confidence. We receive help, learn from Scripture, and offer our weakness to the Spirit who equips the Church.

Return, hardening, and the firstborn (Exodus 4:18-23; Greek/Brenton 4:18-23)

18: And Moses went and returned to Jothor his father-in-law, and says, I will go and return to my brethren in Egypt, and will see if they are yet living. And Jothor said to Moses, Go in health. And in those days after some time, the king of Egypt died. 19: And the Lord said to Moses in Madiam, Go, depart into Egypt, for all that sought thy life are dead. 20: And Moses took his wife and his children, and mounted them on the beasts, and returned to Egypt; and Moses took the rod which he had from God in his hand. 21: And the Lord said to Moses, When thou goest and returnest to Egypt, see - all the miracles I have charged thee with, thou shalt work before Pharao: and I will harden his heart, and he shall certainly not send away the people. 22: And thou shalt say to Pharao, These things saith the Lord, Israel is my first-born. 23: And I said to thee, Send away my people, that they may serve me: now if thou wilt not send them away, see, I will slay thy first-born son.

Moses takes leave of Jothor and returns with his wife and children. The assurance that “all that sought thy life are dead” has a close Gospel counterpart in Matthew 2:20, when the angel tells Joseph that those seeking the Child’s life are dead. Moses returns to Egypt; the Holy Family returns from Egypt. The directions differ, but Matthew lets the earlier deliverance story sound within the life of Jesus. For Coptic Christians, the Holy Family’s refuge in Egypt makes this connection especially dear: the land of Israel’s bondage also received the Savior in His vulnerability.

Verse 21 introduces God’s declaration, “I will harden his heart.” Moses is warned that signs will not immediately win Pharaoh’s consent. The later narrative will speak both of Pharaoh’s own hardening and of God’s action. Romans 9:17-18 takes up this difficulty to proclaim that God’s purpose and mercy cannot be overruled by the king. It must remain a question we follow through the plagues, not a phrase we erase because it troubles us.

Gems from the Fathers : Mercy and a resisting heart

Origen addresses Pharaoh’s hardening in On First Principles III.1.7-10, defending God’s goodness and human responsibility together. He compares the divine signs to rain that falls on both cultivated and neglected soil. The same gift can meet readiness for repentance or a will that grows more obstinate. His conclusion is pointed: “Let us therefore view those signs and miracles which were done by God, as the showers furnished by Him from above; and the purpose and desires of men, as the cultivated and uncultivated soil …”2 This is a particular early Christian explanation, not a complete account of the mystery. Its spiritual warning is useful: receiving another mercy does not automatically soften a heart determined to resist.

The Lord calls Israel “my first-born.” Pharaoh’s claim over the slaves therefore collides with their belonging to God. “Send away my people, that they may serve me” joins sonship to worship, and the threatened death of Pharaoh’s firstborn gives the conflict its terrible seriousness. Matthew 2:15 quotes Hosea 11:1 as “Out of Egypt I called My Son” and reads Israel’s history in Christ. Brenton’s Hosea 11:1 instead has “out of Egypt have I called his children.” The Gospel’s singular wording controls this particular connection with Jesus; it should not silently replace the plural in Brenton’s Hosea. Israel receives sonship as God’s people. Christ is the eternal Son, through whom all things were created, and the “firstborn among many brethren” who brings us into life with Him (Colossians 1:15-18; Romans 8:29). These titles do not reduce Him to one created son among others.

Sepphora and the blood of circumcision (Exodus 4:24-26; Greek/Brenton 4:24-26)

24: And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord met him by the way in the inn, and sought to slay him. 25: And Sepphora having taken a stone cut off the foreskin of her son, and fell at his feet and said, The blood of the circumcision of my son is staunched: 26: and he departed from him, because she said, The blood of the circumcision of my son is staunched.

Here Brenton names “the angel of the Lord,” not simply the Lord, as the one who meets the traveler and seeks to slay him. Sepphora, the form used here for Moses’ wife commonly called Zipporah, is distinct from the midwife of the same name in Exodus 1:15. We will call her Sepphora in this passage. She cuts off her son’s foreskin, falls at his feet, and says, “The blood of the circumcision of my son is staunched.” Verse 26 repeats her words as the confrontation ends. “Staunched” means stopped: the wording directs attention to the blood of the performed circumcision. It is materially different from the “bridegroom of blood” wording familiar from Hebrew-based versions.

The account’s pronouns are compressed. It does not name the son here, identify every “him” and “his,” or explain precisely why the attack began. The traditional reading that Moses’ life is threatened because of an uncircumcised son fits the action and the covenant given in Genesis 17:9-14, but we should distinguish that interpretation from what the verses explicitly state. Sepphora’s decisive obedience stands clearly in the text. She acts where the mission narrative suddenly stops, and the danger passes.

The episode follows the warning about the firstborn and precedes the Passover. Circumcision, blood, and threatened death will meet again in Exodus 12:43-48, where circumcision is required for a male member of the household to eat the Passover. Joshua 5:2-10 similarly places circumcision before Israel’s celebration of Passover in the land. These are concrete covenant connections. The present scene is not yet the doorpost rite, and we need not turn every detail into a prediction to see that the deliverer’s household belongs within the same covenant he proclaims.

For Christians, Colossians 2:11-12 joins the circumcision made without hands to burial and resurrection with Christ in baptism. The answer is not to impose the old circumcision law, but to receive the holiness of belonging to Christ. Baptism, confession, Eucharistic preparation, marriage, and responsibility for those in our care cannot become secondary matters while public service absorbs us.

This is especially relevant for deacons, teachers, and ministry leaders. Public religious visibility can hide private disorder. A servant may speak, organize, chant, lead, or teach while neglecting repentance at home. The holy mission does not excuse that neglect. Sepphora also humbles the self-sufficiency of the public servant: his life may be preserved through the faithfulness of someone whose work receives much less notice. This must never become a license to accuse a spouse or child whenever illness or misfortune strikes a household.

Visitation received in worship (Exodus 4:27-31; Greek/Brenton 4:27-31)

27: And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses; and he went and met him in the mount of God, and they kissed each other. 28: And Moses reported to Aaron all the words of the Lord, which he sent, and all the things which he charged him. 29: And Moses and Aaron went and gathered the elders of the children of Israel. 30: And Aaron spoke all these words, which God spoke to Moses, and wrought the miracles before the people. 31: And the people believed and rejoiced, because God visited the children of Israel, and because he saw their affliction: and the people bowed and worshipped.

The help promised at the bush now takes bodily form: Aaron meets Moses, they kiss, and Moses entrusts him with the Lord’s words. Before confronting the king, they gather Israel’s elders. Aaron speaks and performs the signs, and the people believe. Moses’ first fear in verse 1 has not had the last word.

The people rejoice “because God visited the children of Israel” and saw their affliction. Joseph’s dying assurance was that God would visit them and lead them from Egypt (Genesis 50:24-25). The promised visitation has begun, though the chains have not yet fallen. Luke 1:68 carries the same theme into the coming of Christ: God has visited and redeemed His people. Divine visitation is God acting for those He has remembered, not a passing moment of religious excitement.

The chapter ends with bowed heads and worship. Deliverance begins to be recognized before it is completed. The next chapter will test this belief severely, but their worship already names their true Lord.

The Church’s Voice in Worship: Visitation received in worship

On Wednesday of the Third Week of the Great Fast, the Matins prophecies include the continuous reading Exodus 4:19-6:13.3 The Church hears the return, the first confession of hope, Pharaoh’s resistance, and God’s renewed promise together. During repentance, early consolation and subsequent struggle both belong within our dependence on God. The reading teaches us to worship without making immediate relief the condition of our trust.

Spiritual Fruit

Name the obedience hidden beneath the excuse. Moses receives answers before he asks for someone else. When we repeatedly postpone a known duty, such as an apology, a neglected visit, or reconciliation, we can pray for help and then take the first honest step. Real limitations may require shared service, as Moses needed Aaron; they need not become a permanent refusal.

Bring public service and private repentance back together. Before adding another ministry task, examine the promises already entrusted to you. A deacon or teacher who has time to prepare a lesson but no time to ask forgiveness at home needs more than better scheduling. Confess the contradiction and repair one concrete neglect. The covenant belongs to the whole life.

Receive help without guarding importance. Moses is helped by Aaron and preserved through Sepphora’s action. Thank the person whose quiet faithfulness supports your service. Listen when that person names something you would rather leave unexamined.

Let mercy soften the heart. The same signs that lead Israel to worship will meet Pharaoh’s resistance. Recall one mercy received this week and answer it with thanksgiving and amendment, rather than using God’s patience as permission to delay repentance.

Footnotes

  1. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts, Homily IV, on Acts 2:1-13; NPNF, first series, volume 11. 🔗 Primary text. ↩

  2. Origen, On First Principles, III.1.10, Latin version of Rufinus; translated by Frederick Crombie, ANF, volume 4. 🔗 Primary text. ↩

  3. Coptic Reader, Coptic Orthodox Metropolis of the Southern United States, Wednesday of the Third Week of the Great Fast, Matins, Prophecies, printed reference Exodus 4:19-6:13, including the complete text of chapter 5. Verified with March 4, 2026 (Meshir 25, 1742) selected. In the 🔗 official app, select that date, then Readings > Matins > Prophecies. The document URL is stateful and does not itself select the date. ↩

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