◄ Exodus 4:16 ►
He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him.
Study Bible
He will speak to the people for you.
This phrase refers to Aaron, Moses' brother, who is appointed by God to be Moses' spokesperson. In the context of Exodus, Moses expresses his insecurity about his speaking abilities, and God provides Aaron as a solution. This arrangement highlights the importance of teamwork and delegation in leadership. Aaron's role as a spokesperson is significant in the cultural context of ancient Egypt, where eloquence and the ability to communicate effectively were highly valued. This also prefigures the role of prophets in Israel, who would speak on behalf of God to the people.

He will be your spokesman,
Aaron's role as a spokesman is crucial in the unfolding narrative of the Exodus. In the ancient Near Eastern context, a spokesman or mediator was often necessary to communicate between parties of different statuses. This arrangement underscores the hierarchical structure of communication, where Aaron acts as an intermediary between Moses and the people, and ultimately between God and the people. This foreshadows the role of Christ as the ultimate mediator between God and humanity, as seen in 1 Timothy 2:5.

and it will be as if you were God to him.
This phrase indicates the authority Moses holds in this relationship. Moses is given a God-like status in his relationship with Aaron, symbolizing the divine authority bestowed upon him. This reflects the theocratic leadership model where God communicates His will through chosen leaders. The phrase also points to the concept of divine representation, where Moses acts as God's representative on earth. This prefigures the role of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate representation of God to humanity, as stated in John 1:14 and Colossians 1:15.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
Chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Despite his initial reluctance and self-doubt, God reassures him of his role and provides support through Aaron.

2. Aaron
Moses' brother, appointed by God to be Moses' spokesman. Aaron's role is crucial in communicating God's message to the people and Pharaoh.

3. God
The ultimate authority and source of power, who commissions Moses and Aaron for the task of liberating the Israelites.

4. Israelites
The people of God, enslaved in Egypt, whom Moses and Aaron are tasked to lead to freedom.

5. Egypt
The land of bondage for the Israelites, representing oppression and the need for divine intervention.
Teaching Points
Divine Appointment and Authority
God equips those He calls. Moses' perceived inadequacies are met with divine provision through Aaron, showing that God’s call comes with His empowerment.

The Role of a Spokesman
Aaron’s role as a spokesman underscores the importance of clear communication in leadership. In our lives, we should seek to be effective communicators of God’s truth.

Partnership in Ministry
The partnership between Moses and Aaron highlights the value of teamwork in fulfilling God’s purposes. We are reminded to support and collaborate with others in ministry.

Trust in God’s Plan
Despite Moses’ initial hesitations, God’s plan prevails. Trusting in God’s plan, even when we feel inadequate, is crucial for spiritual growth and effectiveness.

Representation of God’s Authority
Moses being "as God" to Aaron signifies the weight of representing God’s authority. As believers, we are called to reflect God’s character and authority in our interactions.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the relationship between Moses and Aaron illustrate the importance of teamwork in fulfilling God’s mission?

2. In what ways can we be effective spokespeople for God in our daily lives, similar to Aaron’s role for Moses?

3. Reflect on a time when you felt inadequate for a task God called you to. How did God provide support or resources to help you?

4. How can we ensure that we are accurately representing God’s authority and character in our interactions with others?

5. What lessons can we learn from Moses’ initial reluctance and eventual obedience that can be applied to our own spiritual journey?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 7:1-2
Reinforces the roles of Moses and Aaron, with God making Moses "like God to Pharaoh" and Aaron as his prophet, emphasizing the divine authority behind their mission.

1 Samuel 9:16-17
Illustrates God’s pattern of appointing leaders and spokesmen, as seen in the anointing of Saul as king through Samuel.

Acts 7:35
Stephen’s speech highlights Moses’ leadership and God’s appointment, affirming the divine calling and authority given to Moses.
Sermons
Divine Supplements for Human InfirmityH.T. Robjohns Exodus 4:1-17
God's Wrath Will Fall Where His Service is DeclinedJ. Urquhart Exodus 4:10-17
Slow of SpeechJ. Orr Exodus 4:10-17
Moses, Taking a Step Too Far, is Suddenly ArrestedD. Young Exodus 4:13-16
Christian Workers More Ready to Rely on Man than on GodA. Nevin, D. D.Exodus 4:14-17
I Know that He Can Speak WellJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 4:14-17
Life and Service InterdependentH. O. Mackey.Exodus 4:14-17
Moses and AaronJ. C. Gray.Exodus 4:14-17
Mutual Aid in Religious WorkJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 4:14-17
Mutual ServiceW. L. Watkinson.Exodus 4:14-17
The Divine AngerJ. S. Exell, M. A.Exodus 4:14-17
People
Aaron, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, Zipporah
Places
Egypt, Horeb, Midian, Nile River
Topics
God's, Instead, Moreover, Mouth, Pass, Speak, Spoken, Spokesman, Stead, Talking
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 4:16

     5102   Moses, life of

Exodus 4:14-16

     5072   Aaron, spokesman

Exodus 4:15-16

     5842   eloquence

Exodus 4:15-17

     4512   staff

Library
January 13. "Thou Shalt be to Him Instead of God" (Ex. Iv. 16).
"Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. iv. 16). Such was God's promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. May it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God? What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! How it would lead us to act toward our fellow-men! God can always be depended upon. God is without variableness or shadow of turning. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May the Eleventh but -- --!
"And Moses answered and said, But----" --EXODUS iv. 1-9. We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record. "Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the "demonstration of power." "And I will teach thee what thou shall say." The Lord will not only be with our mouths, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts.
When the Bride, or rather the lover (for she is not yet a bride), has found her Bridegroom, she is so transported with joy, that she is eager to be instantly united to Him. But the union of perpetual enjoyment is not yet arrived. He is mine, she says, I cannot doubt that He gives Himself to me this moment, since I feel it, but He is to me, as it were, a bundle of myrrh. He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Preaching (I. ).
Earthen vessels, frail and slight, Yet the golden Lamp we bear; Master, break us, that the light So may fire the murky air; Skill and wisdom none we claim, Only seek to lift Thy Name. I have on purpose reserved the subject of Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching is, from many points of view, the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the Ministry. What we have said already about the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in society, in the parish; what we have said about his …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

To the Saddest of the Sad
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; for if they fail, their failure must be attributed in great measure to their want of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age, and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age. Unless, indeed, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888

The Sweet Uses of Adversity
Now, I propose to address myself to the two classes of persons who are making use of this question. First, I shall speak to the tried saint; and then I shall speak to the seeking sinner, who has been seeking peace and pardon through Christ, but who has not as yet found it, but, on the contrary, has been buffeted by the law, and driven away from the mercy-seat in despair. I. First, then, to THE CHILD OF GOD. I have--I know I have--in this great assembly, some who have come to Job's position. They …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

"For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children.
(Bethlehem and Road Thence to Egypt, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 13-18. ^a 13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy …
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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