Message 9
The record of God’s calling of Moses is the most complete record of such a calling to be found in the Bible. In this message we shall consider how Aaron (Exo. 4:10-16) and Zipporah (Exo. 4:24-26) are related to God’s calling of Moses. Without the portion concerning Aaron and Zipporah, God’s calling of Moses would not be complete. The record of the calling of Moses is found not only in Exodus 3, but also in Exodus 4. Hence, if we would understand the calling of Moses in full, we need to consider even the small portions of chapter four as part of this calling.
Exodus 4:14 says that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” Even after the signs in chapter four, Moses was still reluctant to go along with the Lord. It seems to me that Moses should have said, “Lord, since You have called me and have given me these signs, I take Your word.” Nevertheless, Moses still told the Lord to send someone else. At this point the Lord became angry with him. When I was young, I could see the reason for the Lord’s anger on the one hand. But, on the other hand, I thought that the Lord was too great and that this situation was too small for His anger to be kindled against Moses.
I believe that deep in His heart the Lord wanted Aaron to be a match for Moses. When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out two by two (Luke 10:1), that is, in the principle of two as a testimony. To be alone is to be individualistic, but to be sent forth with another is to be sent according to the principle of the Body. Thus, to have Aaron as a match for Moses was according to the divine principle.
Although this was according to God’s principle, God did not simply tell Moses that he needed Aaron to match him. But if we read this portion carefully, we shall see that this was already in God’s heart. The whole of verse 14 says, “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.” The Lord was hoping that Moses would realize his need for someone to match him. Although the Lord was ready to do this, He did not point this out to Moses until he himself became conscious of his need. The Lord is very wise. He may be willing to do a certain thing for us, but He often will not do anything until we realize our need. This principle has an application among us in the church life. Although you may realize that I need a certain thing, it is better for you not to tell me. Instead, you should wait until I realize my need.
If we are clear about what was in the Lord’s heart, we can understand why the Lord’s anger was kindled against Moses. Apparently this anger was unpleasant; actually it was sweet. Only those who are superficial will say that the Lord’s anger here was unkind. Those who have depth with the Lord will realize that it was pleasant. The anger here indicates a sweet, intimate, human fellowship. Some may wonder how it is possible for the Lord to have human fellowship. This was possible because the Lord appeared to Moses as the Angel of Jehovah, who was a type of Christ. Because Christ is God incarnated to be a man, He is mysterious. For this reason, it is rather difficult to understand the appearing of the Angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament. In Exodus 4 the Lord talked to Moses as if He were a man speaking to another man. According to the record, the conversation was more like that between friends than like that between the almighty God and a human being.
This intimacy between the Lord and Moses can be compared to the intimacy between a man and his wife. Sometimes a man is angry with his wife, but his expression of anger is sweet and pleasant. It is not the kind of anger that he would ever show toward anyone else; for it is an anger that expresses a sweet, intimate feeling. This is very similar to the feeling between the Lord and Moses here. The anger of the Lord toward Moses in this chapter is much different from His wrath toward Sodom. The anger in this instance is a pleasant anger between two intimate parties. After the Lord spoke to Moses in verses 11 and 12, Moses replied, “O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send” (v. 13). Moses’ word was not a harsh rejection of the Lord. On the contrary, it was an intimate expression of his personal feeling. Nevertheless, Moses’ response caused the Lord to be angry with him. His reaction forced the Lord, in His pleasant anger toward Moses, to open His heart regarding Aaron as Moses’ match.
In keeping with the divine principle, the Lord would not allow His servant to be individualistic. Moses needed Aaron. Hence, Aaron’s presence was not accidental. God had prepared him as a match for Moses.
This principle of matching applies today. If you have been called by the Lord, you need to realize your need for someone to match you. We have pointed out that the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples two by two. When the Apostle Paul came out to serve the Lord, he did not behave individualistically. He always had others to match him. This is proved by the opening verse of 1 Corinthians: “Paul, a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother.” When Paul wrote this Epistle, neither Timothy nor Barnabas was present. Therefore, Paul took Sosthenes as a match; he took a brother whose name we hardly know in order to keep the principle.
To act individualistically in the Lord’s service is not according to the divine principle. Today, in the New Testament economy, to be individualistic is to violate the principle of the Body. We should not behave individualistically; rather, we should move and act according to the principle of corporateness, always having at least one other member to match us. The more members we have to match us, the better it is. The Body cannot be represented by individuals. According to the divine principle, the proper representation of the Body is always by those members who are matched with others.
To be matched, however, is difficult. In the case of Moses and Aaron, the younger brother was the leader, and the elder was the follower. To be matched with anyone is difficult, to be matched to a brother in the flesh is more difficult, and to be matched in such a way that the younger is the leading one is most difficult. My younger brother was a dear brother in the Lord; he loved the Lord very much. When we were in mainland China, we were in the same local church. But I learned from experience that it was difficult to have him match me. Because Aaron was Moses’ elder brother in the flesh, it was very difficult for Moses to be matched with him. This might be one reason the Lord did not tell Moses that Aaron was to be his match until Moses had fully expressed himself to the Lord regarding his inability to answer His call. This gave the Lord the ground to tell Moses that Aaron would be his spokesman. The Lord had prepared Aaron for Moses, and, no matter how difficult it was, Moses had no choice except to take him as his match.
In Numbers 12 there is recorded an incident involving Aaron and Miriam which shows how difficult it was for Moses to be matched by Aaron. Verse 1 of this chapter says, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.” This indicates how difficult it was for Miriam and Aaron, both of whom were older than Moses, to take Moses as the leader. His mistake in marrying the Ethiopian woman gave Miriam and Aaron the opportunity to speak against him. Their speaking here was not accidental; rather, it was an expression of what was already within them. How hard it was for Moses to take the lead over his sister and brother! The Lord certainly arranged a difficult situation for him.
In principle, it is the same with us today. The Lord will often arrange a difficult match for us. But such a match is actually a great help. Without it, we would have no restriction, no protection, and no safeguard. Most of the time Aaron and Miriam were submissive to Moses. But at least some of the time they were not submissive. This lack of submission on their part was a protection to Moses; it kept him from becoming proud. Numbers 12:3 says that “Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Miriam and Aaron helped Moses to become so humble. Nevertheless, no matter how much of a help Miriam and Aaron were to Moses, God did not tolerate their speaking against him.
The arrangements God makes in matching us with others sometimes are beyond our understanding. Do not think that a match will always be pleasant. Most of the time it may be enjoyable, but at least part of the time it will be unpleasant. But this unpleasantness is our protection.
With Christians today we rarely see this kind of matching. There is very little coordination between Christian workers because they lack the vision of the principle of the Body. I am burdened that we all, as God’s called ones, see the need of such a match. I have known some very gifted brothers who became useless because they refused to accept a match. A matching one binds us and restricts us. For this reason, it is difficult to be matched with others.
A three-legged race illustrates the principle of matching. In a three-legged race, the runners have one of their legs tied to one of their partner’s legs. The Lord’s service is not a race run by individuals; it is a race run by those who are bound to another member of the Body. To dislike such an arrangement is to dislike the Lord’s service. If you want to share in His work, you must be willing to be part of a twosome in a three-legged race. If you refuse to be bound to another, you are disqualified from this race. By yourself you may be able to accomplish a great deal, but what you do will not be very profitable for the building of the Body. Some may carry on a great Christian work, but it is not of much benefit to the Body. The work in the Lord’s recovery is not an ordinary Christian work; it is the work of building the Body. If we would be used of the Lord to build the Body, we must be willing to run a three-legged race; that is, we must be willing to be bound to another to form one unit.
Regarding this, there are many lessons to be learned, especially by those who are capable. It is very difficult for a capable person to be bound to another. The situation in today’s Christianity proves this. Every gifted preacher or minister is individualistic. Such people may have employees those whom they hire and fire, but they do not have any matching co-workers. A hired one is very different from a matching one. Moses did not hire Aaron, and Paul did not hire Timothy. Nevertheless, most of the well-known Christian workers today are individualistic. If they need others to help them, they hire them, but they do not accept them as a match. Whatever is done by such Christian workers is not of much profit for the building up of the Body. In the Lord’s recovery there is an urgent need for the true work of building. This building work, however, can be carried out only by co-workers who have been matched. We all need to be matched, not just with one other person, but with several others. It is by means of such matching that God’s commission is carried out.
Many think that if they are matched with others, they will lose their position. For this reason, they do not want others to do the same work they are doing. But look again at the case of Moses and Aaron. Aaron did not cause Moses to lose his position. Nothing Aaron did could replace Moses in his position as God’s called one. In 4:16 God said to Moses concerning Aaron, “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.” This verse indicates that there was no need for Moses to be concerned about being replaced. The same is true with God’s called ones today. Your standing as a called one is of the Lord, and no one can take it from you.
According to the record, Aaron might have been more capable than Moses in the matter of speaking; Aaron might have been more eloquent than Moses. However, Aaron was not to take this as an occasion to be proud. He could only do a certain amount, for God did not give him so much as far as position was concerned. In fact, verse 16 says that Moses was to be as God to Aaron. From the match of Moses and Aaron we all can learn the importance of knowing where we are. The place we occupy in a matching relationship depends entirely on the Lord’s arrangement. The Lord called Moses and He prepared Aaron to match him. There was no place for human maneuvering. Everything was according to the divine economy, the divine arrangement.
I have been involved in matching relationships for almost fifty years. I have learned that such a relationship is not easy to bear over a long period of time. For this, we need to receive grace from the Lord. Now seems to be the right time for the release of this word concerning matching. I hope that all those in the local churches will become clear about the need to be properly matched so that there may be among us permanent and constant matches.
We come now to the record regarding Moses and Zipporah (4:24-26). Verse 24 says, “And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.” By the time of verse 23, it seemed that the calling of Moses was complete. Therefore, Moses took his wife and his two sons and began to make his way from the land of Midian to Egypt. But as they were staying in an inn, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. Moses must have been shocked, and Zipporah must have been terrified. Zipporah may have asked Moses why God, who had called and sent him, was now seeking to kill him. She may have questioned what was wrong. I believe that Moses immediately realized the problem: his younger son had not been circumcised. As a Gentile wife, Zipporah may have been unhappy when Moses circumcised the first son, and this may have caused her to oppose the circumcision of the second son. Due to Moses’ weakness and negligence plus Zipporah’s opposition, the Lord’s requirement had not been fulfilled; therefore, the Lord sought to kill Moses. It was not easy for Zipporah, a Gentile woman, to enforce this requirement. Zipporah was compelled to comply, although she was not happy about it.
Verse 25 says, “Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” In cutting the foreskin of her son, Zipporah did not use a knife; she used a sharp stone, a flint, an unusual cutting instrument. Perhaps she used such an instrument because the circumcision was performed during a state of emergency. The use of a sharp stone also seems to indicate that the circumcision was carried out in an atmosphere of unpleasantness. This is also indicated by the fact that Zipporah cast the foreskin at Moses’ feet and said, “Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” Although the atmosphere was not pleasant, God let Moses go after the circumcision had been completed. Had there been a pleasant atmosphere, no doubt Zipporah would have expressed her repentance and fellowshipped with Moses. She would have asked Moses to do the circumcising, with a proper knife to do the proper cutting. Then the cutting would not have been so painful. Nevertheless, in our experience it is only the Lord Himself who uses a proper knife to do the cutting work. The cutting is here represented by the female life, because the cutting is subjective. But all of us, old and young, brothers and sisters, are those doing the cutting. In the church life we either cut or are being cut. In almost every case this cutting is done with crude, uncultured instruments.
For many years I was troubled by this portion of the Word. I began to understand it only after I had a certain amount of experience. Through experience I realized that the called ones need not only the male help, the help from Aaron, but also the female help, the help from Zipporah. The male help is matching, but the female help is cutting. Everyone called of God needs both the male help and the female help, both the matching and the cutting.
As every married brother realizes, wives are very adept at cutting. There are times when even Christian wives are “Gentiles” to their husbands. If the husband does not love the Lord or desire to go on with the Lord, the wife may not be a “Gentile.” But as soon as he begins to love the Lord, to go the Lord’s way, and to live for the Lord, the wife is exposed as being a “Gentile,” a “heathen.” This means that a wife who has been a Christian for years may suddenly behave like one who is not separated unto God and who does not live for God. Many of today’s Christians are still heathen in their daily living: they do not love the Lord, they are not separated unto the Lord, and they do not take the Lord’s way. They are Christians in that they have been regenerated and have received the divine life, but they are not Christians in their daily walk.
When a certain brother is in the world, with no concern for the Lord’s interests, his wife may not give him any trouble as far as the Lord is concerned. But as soon as he begins to live for the Lord, his wife behaves like a heathen Zipporah, a woman not wholly separated unto the Lord. To some extent, his wife will go along with him, just as Zipporah went along with Moses. But in his situation there is something that is not circumcised, something that is common, unholy, and not separated, sanctified, to the Lord. If the Lord does not come into this brother’s situation, the wife’s Gentile nature may not be exposed. But as soon as the Lord intervenes, perhaps as the brother is about to fulfill God’s commission, the wife’s attitude toward the circumcision of the flesh is exposed. Forced to agree to the cutting of the foreskin, the wife may actually carry it out, but she does not do so with a positive and pleasant attitude. Because she must accept her husband’s separation unto the Lord, she looks upon him as a “bloody husband.”
To be a “bloody husband” is to be one under death. In the eyes of Zipporah, circumcision meant that her husband Moses was under the sentence of death. If we brothers are absolute with the Lord, we also shall become a “bloody husband” in the eyes of our wives.
Examine carefully the picture of Moses and Zipporah in Exodus 4. As they were on the way to fulfill God’s commission, Zipporah was somewhat agreeable with what Moses was doing. Moses, however, was more for the Lord than Zipporah was. He was willing for his son to be circumcised, but Zipporah was not willing. Although there is no indication that Moses and Zipporah were fighting with each other over the question of circumcision, there was nevertheless something between them that was not smooth. There had to be a circumcision, but Zipporah opposed it. She disagreed with the cutting of the flesh as a sign of separation unto God. But it is against the divine principle for God to use one who is still living in the flesh or in the natural life. The flesh and the natural life must be cut off. God can only use one who has been separated unto Him.
The matter of circumcision involves a crucial principle in God’s economy. Without circumcision, it is impossible to participate in the covenant God made with Abraham regarding the inheritance of the good land. Furthermore, an uncircumcised person can have no part in God’s ministry. The meaning of God coming in to kill Moses was that an uncircumcised situation would cause him to be finished in the ministry of God. But the meaning of circumcision is to be ushered into His ministry.
Therefore, as Moses was on the way to carry out God’s commission, God could not tolerate Moses’ negligence in the matter of circumcision. Thus, He came in to deal with Moses. No doubt Moses had been weak in yielding, at least somewhat, to his wife’s opposition to circumcision. Because this weakness was an offense to the Lord, He sought to kill Moses. When the Lord met Moses, the whole situation was brought to the light. Moses knew that he was wrong, and Zipporah realized what her responsibility was. Because the responsibility rested mainly upon her due to her opposition to the circumcision, she was forced to take action. She cut the foreskin with an unusual instrument, a sharp stone. But we need to point out that Zipporah nevertheless did the cutting in love. She loved Moses and wanted to save his life.
As we make the spiritual application of this incident, we see that often wives cut their husbands in an unusual way. If the sisters bring this matter to the Lord in prayer, He will show them the unusual ways in which they cut their husbands. It is not always the wives, however, who do the cutting. The Apostle Paul was never married, but he was surely cut by others.
Aaron’s help, the matching, was objective, whereas Zipporah’s help, the cutting, was subjective. Sometimes the Lord places us in an environment where we are cut by others, perhaps by our dear brothers in the Lord. At such a time, these brothers do not match us; they cut us. They may not fight against us, but even as they apparently agree with us, they function as cutters. We all need to be ready to receive this cutting.
God has prepared not only an Aaron for us, but, in His sovereignty, He also has prepared a Zipporah. There is no need for us to make any choices. God has the Aarons and the Zipporahs ready and waiting. Especially in the church life today there are both matching ones and cutting ones. To handle the matching ones is difficult, but to manage the cutting ones is more difficult because it makes us a “bloody husband.”
After the matching with Aaron and the cutting by Zipporah, the calling of Moses was complete. He was ready to go to Egypt to carry out God’s commission. Thank the Lord for the full picture of God’s calling of His called ones! If we bring this word to the Lord, He will enlighten us. Then we shall say, “Lord, how I thank You that with me there are some Aarons and some Zipporahs. I praise You, Lord, for the matching and for the cutting.”
