Daily Scripture Reading Exodus 4:29 - 5:19

Christians believe in the great commission, the command God gave us to make disciples of all the nations. Accordingly, throughout church history, many people have traveled all over the world in order to preach the good news of Jesus to people who have never heard of Him.

There are many obstacles missionaries face when they try to convince people to leave their native religion and adopt Christianity. The story of Moses approaching Pharaoh in the name of Yahweh illustrates one of the obstacles.

Yahweh instructed Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery. Moses came up with many excuses to get out of his assignment, but Yahweh did not rescind His command. Moses received permission from his father-in-law to return to Egypt, and then met his brother Aaron in the wilderness.

Ex. 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel;

Ex. 4:30 and Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He then did the signs in the sight of the people.

Take note of the words “spoke” and “signs”. Moses delivered God’s message and performed the signs to prove his message was from God.

Ex. 4:31 So the people believed; and they heard that Yahweh cared about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction. So they bowed low and worshiped.

Notice the word “believed”. After the people saw the signs, they believed the message Moses gave them was from God, which assured them Yahweh cared about their circumstance.

Ex. 5:1 ¶ And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”

Don’t miss the phrase “the God of Israel”. Moses and Aaron identified Yahweh as the God of Israel.

Ex. 5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh that I should listen to His voice to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and also, I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh asked, “Who is Yahweh?” Yahweh was not one of the Egyptian gods; therefore, Pharaoh did not know Yahweh and thought he could ignore Yahweh. In order to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites, Moses would first have to convince Pharaoh that Yahweh is the Only God.

The objection expressed by Pharaoh is similar to an objection Christians face when we evangelize people from other cultures and other religions. When we evangelize, we tell people they need to believe in the God of Christianity in order to be saved. We tell them the God of Christianity is going to judge all people someday, so they need to obey the commands of the God of Christianity. People from other cultures and religions do not accept that the God of Christianity is the only true God; therefore, they do not accept that they need to believe in Jesus in order to be saved. In order to evangelize them, we first need to convince them the God of the Bible is the One and only true God.

Ex. 5:3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest He confront us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Ex. 5:4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your hard labors!”

Ex. 5:5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their hard labors!”

Ex. 5:6 So on that day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,

Ex. 5:7 “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

Ex. 5:8 But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall set upon them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

Ex. 5:9 Let their slavery be hard on the men, and let them work at it so that they will have no regard for false words.”

The reason Yahweh sent Moses was because Yahweh heard the cry for help that arose from the sons of Israel (see Exo. 2:23). However, at this point the plight of the Israelites was worse than before Yahweh sent Moses.

Ex. 5:10 ¶ So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not going to give you any straw.

Ex. 5:11 You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but no amount of your slave labor will be reduced.’”

Ex. 5:12 So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

Ex. 5:13 And the taskmasters were pressing them, saying, “Complete your work quota, the daily amount, just as when there was straw.”

Ex. 5:14 Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?”

Ex. 5:15 ¶ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your slaves?

Ex. 5:16 There is no straw given to your slaves, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your slaves are being beaten; but it is the sin of your own people.”

Ex. 5:17 But he said, “You are lazy—lazy! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’

Ex. 5:18 So now, go and labor; but straw will not be given to you, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks.”

Ex. 5:19 Then the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble because they were told, “You must not reduce your daily amount of bricks.”

Take note of the word “trouble”. The foremen understood they were in a no-win situation because they had to do more work in the same amount of time. Plus, Pharaoh told them the reason for the increase in work was their request to go meet Yahweh. That told them Moses had actually made their situation worse, not better.

Christians believe in the great commission, the command God gave us to make disciples of all the nations. Accordingly, throughout church history, many people have traveled all over the world in order to preach the good news of Jesus to people who have never heard of him.

There are many obstacles missionaries face when they try to convince people to leave their native religion and adopt Christianity. The story of Moses approaching Pharaoh in the name of Yahweh illustrates one of the obstacles. Pharaoh did not know Yahweh; therefore, he did not believe he had to do what Yahweh told him to do.

When missionaries proclaim the truth about Jesus in other cultures, they are proclaiming the truth to people who do not know the God of the Bible. They have no reason to believe they need to obey the God of the Bible and make Jesus Christ the Lord of their life. Thus, when missionaries evangelize the world, we need to convince them that the God of the Bible is real, and is the One and only true God.

To what extent is this an obstacle when sharing the gospel with people who come from societies that are known as Christian countries?

How many of your neighbors do not know the God of the Bible, and do not accept the truthfulness of the teachings found in the Bible?

How do we go about convincing people that the God of Christianity is the One and only true God?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”