Decaf coffee with a dash of Hebrew (Exodus 4)

For those of you wondering or curious about Moses’ relationship with God previous to and during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt…this is for you. Exodus 4:12 records the onset of their relationship and God utters these words to Moses,

“Now then go, and I, even I will be with your mouth,
and teach you what you are to say.” (Emphasis added)

The word teach (Hebrew, yara) used here is of utmost importance. Anyone who reads the book of Exodus can depict that God and Moses were close. The Scriptures even teach us that Moses was like God to Pharaoh (see Exodus 4:16). In order for Moses to be like God, he had to first know what God was like, right? Yara gives insight into how Moses learned so much about God.

The Hebrew word yara used here sheds some light on Moses’ relationship with God. This word is in the Hiphil stem in the Hebrew language. Yeah, so what? Well, that’s important because word stems (along with their tense) give Hebrew words their meaning. The stem of this word reinforces God’s role in Moses’ life, He will be his teacher and master. Moses is to be a student under God, a learner, a pupil, and a disciple. So we learn Moses didn’t converse and receive orders every once in a while from God; he was God’s disciple. Which means Moses had to be constantly learning from God. He spent a lot of quality time with God learning from Him; his relationship with God wasn’t stagnant and dusty, it was alive and growing. (Could this be why so many Christians turn their backs on God and walk away from the faith, because their relationship with God isn’t growing? Whom do we blame for that?) Dare I say that there were probably numerous times Moses spent with God that we don’t have recorded in our Scriptures? It’s nothing to worry about because what’s recorded in our Bibles is absolutely trustworthy and all we need.

The New Testament picture of Moses’ relationship to God would be like Jesus with His disciples. We know from Scripture how Jesus discipled them; the rebuking, the parables, the sermons, the teachings, the examples, the Agape love exemplified by Jesus, the restoring of their wounded spirits. The beauty of Scripture and God is the harmony between everything (The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament). So, you bet God used the same general method Jesus used (a relationship) to turn Moses into His disciple. Though the times were different, the way God makes disciples (a growing relationship with Him) remains the same.

What do you think?
Have you ever thought of Moses as a disciple before?