Israelites in Egypt were become leprous, polluted by sin, and almost consumed by oppression, (a leper is as one dead, Numb. 12. 12.) by being taken into the bosom of Moses, they should be cleansed and cured, and all their grievances redressed.
(3.) That Moses was not to work miracles by his own power, nor for his own praise, but by the power of God, and for his glory; the leprous hand of Moses does for ever exclude boasting. Now it was supposed that if the former sign did not convince, this latter would. Note, God is willing more abundantly to show the truth of his word, and is not sparing in his proofs; the multitude and variety of the miracles corroborate the evidence.
3. He is directed, when he should come to Egypt, to turn some of the water of the river into blood, v. 9. This was done, at first, as a sign, but not gaining due credit with Pharaoh, the whole river was afterward turned into blood, and then it became a plague. He is ordered to work this miracle, in case they would not be convinced by the other two. Note, Unbelief shall be left inexcusable, and convicted of a wilful obstinacy. As to the people of Israel, God had said, (ch. 3. 18.) They shall hearken; yet he appoints these miracles to be wrought for their conviction, for he that has ordained the end, has ordained the means.
10. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? 12. Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14. And the anger of the Lord 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 cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
Moses still continues backward to the service God had designed him for, even to a fault; for now we can no longer impute it to his humility and modesty, but must own that there was too much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief, in it. Observe here,
I. How Moses endeavours to excuse himself from the work.
1. He pleads that he was no good spokesman; (v. 10.) O my lord! I am not eloquent; he was a great philosopher, statesman, and divine, and yet no orator; a man of a clear head, great thought, and solid judgment, but had not a voluble tongue, or ready utterance, and therefore he thought himself unfit to speak before great men about great affairs, and in danger of being run down by the Egyptians. Observe, (1.) We must not judge of men by the readiness and fluency of their discourse; Moses was mighty in word, (Acts 7. 22.) and yet not eloquent: what he said, was strong and nervous, and to the purpose, and distilled as the dew, (Deut. 32. 2.) though he did not deliver himself with that readiness, ease, and elegance, that some do, who have not the tenth part of his sense; St. Paul's speech was contemptible, 2 Cor. 10. 10. A great deal of wisdom and, true worth is concealed by a slow tongue. (2.) God is pleased sometimes to make choice of those as his messengers, who have least of the advantages of art or nature, that his grace in them may appear the more glorious; Christ's disciples were no orators, till the spirit made them such.
2. When the plea was over-ruled, and all his excuses were answered, he begged that God would send some one else on this errand, and leave him to keep sheep in Midian; (v. 13.) "Send by any hand but mine; thou canst certainly find one much more fit." Note, An unwilling mind will take up with a sorry excuse rather than none, and is willing to devolve those services upon others, that have any thing of difficulty or danger in them.
II. How God condescends to answer all his excuses: though the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, (v. 14.) yet he continued to reason with him, till he had overcome him. Note, 1. Even self-diffidence, when it grows into an extreme, when it either hinders us from duty, or clogs us in duty, or discourages our dependence upon the grace of God, is very displeasing to him. God justly resents our backwardness to serve him, and has reason to take it ill; for he is such a benefactor as is beforehand with us, and such a Rewarder as will not be behindhand with us. 2. God is justly displeased with those whom yet he does not reject: he vouchsafes to reason the case even with his froward children, and overcomes them, as he did Moses here, with grace and kindness.
(1.) To balance the weakness of Moses, he here reminds him of his own power, v. 11. [1.] His power in that, concerning which Moses made the objection, Who has made man's mouth? Have not I the Lord? Moses knew that God made man, but he must be reminded now, that God made man's mouth. An eye to God as Creator would help us over a great many of the difficulties which lie in the way of our duty, Ps. 124. 8. God, as the Author of nature, has given us the power and faculty of speaking; and from him as the fountain of gifts and graces, comes the faculty of speaking well, the mouth and wisdom, (Luke 21. 15.) the tongue of the learned: (Isa. 50. 4.) he pours grace into the lips, Ps. 45. 2. [2.] His power in general over the other faculties, Who but God makes the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? First, The perfections of our faculties are his work, he makes the seeing: he formed the eye, (Ps. 94. 9.) he opens the understanding, the eye of the mind, Luke 24. 45. Secondly, Their imperfections are from him too; he makes the dumb, and deaf, and blind. Is there any evil of this kind, and the Lord has not done it? No doubt, he has, and always in wisdom and righteousness, and for his own glory, John 9. 3. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were made deaf and blind spiritually, as Isa. 6. 9, 10. But God knew how to manage them, and get himself honour upon them.
(2.) To encourage him in this great undertaking, he repeats the promise of his presence, not only in general, I will be with thee, (ch. 3. 12.) but in particular, "I will be with thy mouth; so that the imperfection in thy speech shall be no prejudice to thy message." It does not appear that God did imme-
