God's Intent to Liberate

Exodus 2:23-25; 3:10-15; 4:10-17 

After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’

 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” ’ God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”:
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.

But Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.’ But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send someone else.’ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.’

You know the phrase, "you can never go home"? Moses has lived a lifetime away from Egypt when God calls him "home." Moses is a completely different person, a family of his own, a fully formed business of his own. He has built a life away from Egypt. He must've been asking, "Can I/ How can I leave this and go back to that place?"

But none of that is in the text, none of the reason why Moses was where he was, none of the background with Pharaoh, none of the dual citizenship that Moses lived with in his heart. If we were to read these sections of the text on their own merit, we would see five characters:

1. God's people crying for liberation
2. God who hears the people
3. Pharaoh who has enslaved God's people
4. Moses whom God is sending to liberate God's people
5. and Aaron, Moses' brother, whom God is also sending to liberate God's people

The bulk of the story is about Moses' reticence to go. I want to focus on this reluctant character, his fear, his backstory, his uncertainty, his inability to do that which God has asked him to do. I want to think about Moses' reunion with his distant brother Pharaoh or focus on Moses' relationship with Aaron, his other brother. It's a rich story made for the big screen, whether the classic "Ten Commandments" or the cartoon version "The Prince of Egypt." I'm drawn to Moses as the hero.

But what of the people? And what of God? It is the people who initiate the story with their cries for liberation. And it is God who sets the story in motion by hearing their cries for liberation. The story is about liberation. The text that we have here is Act One, Scene One - in which God hears the people, calls Moses and employs Aaron to help. 

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I don't need to go onto Scene Two or Three just yet because I wonder if God is seeking to enter other stories of freedom in my world today. Is God hearing cries of others, cries for liberation, for redemption, for freedom? And if so, who is God calling, who is God employing to help those called?

And what is the nature of the people's cries that have risen to God? Where is there slavery? Political? Social? Economical? Emotional? Physical? Financial? Racial? Domestic?

It appears that God's intention is set. Moses does not appear to have the option to pass on his calling. Aaron isn't even in the conversation directly. And although I believe the story is about the people and about God's intent to liberate, I imagine the end of Scene One has Moses clinging heavily on his staff. After all, God has instructed him to bring it with him, this one piece of his current life, his chosen career, the symbol of who he has become.

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