In chapter 3 God gave Moses the sign of the thornbush (Exo. 3:2-3). In this chapter God gave Moses three additional signs as evidence that he had truly been called and sent by God. The meaning of the first sign, the sign of the staff becoming a serpent (vv. 2-4), is that anything we rely on apart from God — our education, our occupation, etc. — is actually the hiding place of Satan, the usurping serpent. However, when at God’s word we throw it down and then take it up again “by the tail,” i.e., in the way opposite to the practice of the worldly people, using it for God’s purpose and not for ourselves, it becomes a staff of authority (vv. 4, 17; Luke 10:19). In the second sign, the sign of the hand becoming leprous (vv. 6-7), the bosom signifies what is within us, and leprosy signifies sin. This sign shows that our flesh is the embodiment of leprosy; in it there is nothing good, nothing but sin, corruption, and uncleanness (Rom. 7:17-18; cf. Isa. 6:5). Nevertheless, when we obey the Lord by keeping His word, His cleansing power is able to make us clean (cf. 2 Kings 5:1-14). The meaning of the third sign, the sign of the water becoming blood (v. 9), is that in the eyes of God all the earthly supply and worldly enjoyment (the water of the Nile) are nothing but death (blood). When they are poured out on that which produces life (the ground), immediately the death is exposed.

Satan is against Christ (1 John 3:8); the flesh is against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17); and the world is against the Father (1 John 2:15). Hence, these three negative things are opposed to the Triune God and His economy. In one whom God has called, Satan, the flesh, and the world have lost their ground (cf. John 14:30; Gal. 5:24; 6:14).

Lit., listen to the voice of.

Lit., believe the voice of.

Lit., heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue. In Acts 7:22 Moses is said to have been “powerful in his words.” This applied to him at the age of forty, when he relied on his natural strength and boldness (Exo. 2:11-13). Moses spoke the word in this verse at the age of eighty, when he considered himself ready for death (Psa. 90:10a), indicating that he had no confidence in his natural strength (cf. Phil. 3:3).

In keeping with the New Testament principle of the Body of Christ, God would not allow Moses to be individualistic in his service to God. Hence, God gave Aaron to Moses as a match for him (cf. Matt. 10:2-5; Luke 10:1; 1 Cor. 1:1 and note 1 Cor. 1:1³). According to v. 16, the position each occupied in the matching relationship was determined entirely by God’s arrangement, not by man’s maneuvering.

See note Matt. 21:31¹.

God’s seeking to kill Moses (v. 24) compelled Zipporah, Moses’ Gentile wife, to circumcise her son. This circumcising signified the cutting off of the natural life (see note Gen. 17:10^1a). This was required by God to usher Moses into his ministry, for an uncircumcised person, one who still lives in the flesh or the natural life, could have no part in God’s ministry or in the covenant God made with Abraham regarding the inheriting of the good land (Gen. 17:9-15). Those who would be used by God must bear the sign of having been “cut” subjectively in their natural life. After the matching by Aaron (vv. 14-16) and the cutting by Zipporah, God’s calling of Moses was complete.

The expression bridegroom of blood implies that in the eyes of Zipporah, circumcision meant that her husband, Moses, was under the sentence of death (cf. 2 Cor. 1:9; 4:10-12).