Introduction: Moses has a second chance! We learned last
week that God supernaturally placed him in the Egyptian
royal family where he is the grandson to Pharaoh. God’s plan
seems obvious. Moses will eventually become Pharaoh and
arrange the release of the Hebrews from slavery. But Moses
sinned by killing an Egyptian, and suddenly God’s obvious
plan blew up. Let’s dive into our study of Exodus and find
out what God has in mind for an alternative plan!
I. Moses the Shepherd
A. Read Exodus 3:1. Would being a shepherd give you
plenty of time to contemplate your life?
1. How do you think Moses views the path his life
has taken? (He had fallen from the most
powerful family in the most powerful nation to
working for his father-in-law as a shepherd.)
2. How did Egyptians view shepherds? (Read
Genesis 46:32-34. The were an “abomination” in
the eyes of the Egyptians.)
3. What has happened to Moses’ life goals? (Not
only is he an “abomination” (and murderer) in
the eyes of his Egyptian friends, but his
chance of helping the Hebrew slaves is now
zero.)
a. Does Moses regret terribly the day he
killed the Egyptian?
B. Read Exodus 3:2-3. Moses suddenly has something
exciting in his life. What mystery did he need to
solve? (Why a burning bush does not burn up.)
1. Why do you think it did not burn up? Is this a
symbol of something? (Consider fire to be a
symbol of the power of God. We often connect
fire with the Holy Spirit. Think, for example,
of Acts 2:1-3. God brings power, but He does
not burn us up. The Holy Spirit brings
positive power.)
II. Moses’ Encounter With God
A. Read Exodus 3:4-6. Why might the true God of
heaven come to see Moses in the wilderness?
B. Read Exodus 3:7-10. Do you like to receive second
chances? Especially a second chance to do
something that changes the course of history?
C. Read Exodus 3:11. This strikes me as a stupid
question. Moses is still uniquely qualified to
lead the Hebrews out of slavery. He understands
the royal court. He believes in the true God. Why
would Moses give this answer?
D. Read Exodus 3:12. Notice that God does not discuss
Moses’ unique qualifications. Instead, God says
that He will be with Moses. If God being with you
qualifies you, does that mean God could have
worked with anyone?
1. Why does God tell Moses that in the future He
will “serve God” in the very place that Moses
is now? (This is very important. God is asking
Moses to see his task as already
accomplished.)
a. Should we treat the calls and promises of
God as if they were already completed?
III. Answers to Concerns
A. Read Exodus 3:13. What does this tell us about the
religious beliefs of the Hebrews? (It suggests
that they might be confused about the “God of
[their] fathers.”)
1. Why would Moses be concerned about this issue?
(Read Exodus 2:13-14. Even though Moses stood
up for a Hebrew who was being beaten, his
authority was challenged. Consider that this
challenge took place when he was the grandson
of Pharaoh! Of course Moses was a “prince”
over them.)
B. Read Exodus 3:14-15. God answers Moses’ question
in two ways. First, He states that His name is “I
AM.” Second, He says that He is the God of
Abraham. Why do you think God gives two answers?
(The first answer compares God to any others the
Hebrews might also consider to be a god. God says
that He is eternal. Second, God links Himself to
the ancestors of the Hebrews. He is their
traditional God. He is not something introduced to
them by the Egyptians.)
C. Read Exodus 3:16-17. Would you love to bring this
message to the Hebrews? (This should be the desire
of Moses’ life. God has redeemed him and given him
a second chance to help rescue God’s people.)
D. Read Exodus 3:18. Is this a lie? Would God start
His rescue attempt by trying to deceive Pharaoh?
Would the three-day journey to worship turn out to
be “goodbye forever?” Sneaky slaves.
E. Read Exodus 3:19. Does God think that Pharaoh
might be deceived? (No! God says that Pharaoh will
not voluntarily agree to this.)
1. What, then, is the purpose of asking that the
people be allowed to take three days to
worship their God? (The point is to introduce
Pharaoh to the true God and that the Hebrews
owe their allegiance to the true God.)
F. We are going to peek ahead to see how Pharaoh
reacts to this introduction to the true God. Read
Exodus 5:3-7. Is this how you might predict
Pharaoh would answer? (Yes. Pharaoh thought he was
a divine being. This is a challenge to his
authority and he responds harshly.)
G. Read Exodus 3:20. Does God know that He will
battle Pharaoh?
H. Read Exodus 4:1-5. Is this a miracle?
1. Think about how Jesus performed many miracles.
Is the purpose of the miracles the same for
both Moses and Jesus?
I. Read Exodus 4:6-7. Is it significant that the
miracles involve either what is in Moses’ hand or
his hand itself? (God can take what we have and do
miracles.)
J. Let’s skip down and read Exodus 4:9. Is it
foreseeable that the people will not accept either
the snake or leper signs? (Yes. God gives Moses a
third potential sign – turning water into blood.)
K. Read Exodus 4:10-12. Does Moses think those three
signs will be sufficiently convincing? (He must,
because now he goes to a third excuse.)
1. What argument is God making to Moses about his
ability to speak? (God points out that He is
the Creator. The snake, leprosy, and blood
miracles are nothing compared to creating
humans.)
2. Why does Moses say (verse 10) that he has
always been a poor speaker, and this had not
changed since he encountered God? (Moses’
argument is that God has not so far improved
his speech.)
L. Read Exodus 4:13-14. Is God right to be angry?
1. How would you characterize Moses’ plea for God
to “send someone else?” (This is the first of
many disappointments that God faces with the
Hebrews. It is a failure to trust God. It is
an outrageous failure if you believe (as I do)
God’s statement that He is the Creator.)
a. Consider the challenges in your life. Do
you trust God?
M. Read Exodus 4:15-16. Why does God agree to
continue working with Moses even through this
serious failure of faith?
N. Read Exodus 4:18-19, Acts 7:23-24, and Exodus 7:7.
These verses reveal that Moses was 40 years-old
when he killed the Egyptian and 80 years-old when
he led the Hebrews out of Egypt. We are also told
that when Moses was 80 everyone who wanted to kill
him was dead. What does this suggest about God’s
original plan? (If Moses had just trusted God
instead of himself, he would be Pharaoh and the
Israelites would be back home.)
IV. Listen to Your Wife?
A. Read Exodus 4:24-26. Moses is heading towards
Egypt and that shows his obedience to God. Why
would God want to kill Moses? (It has to do with
the circumcision of his son.)
1. When we think of Moses’ many failures of
faith, why would this failure get him killed?
2. How can it be true that God “sought to” put
Moses to death, but apparently could not?
B. Look again at Exodus 4:25. Why is Zipporah angry
and why is she performing the circumcision? (This
shows that she strongly opposed circumcision – it
was only when Moses’ life was in danger that she
angrily agreed.)
1. Is the nature of Moses’ failure now becoming
clear? (Moses was choosing his wife over God.)
C. Read Luke 14:26. Jesus tells us to love others, so
He would not teach us to literally “hate” our
family. What Jesus is addressing is Moses’ problem
of putting the wishes of his wife before the
wishes of God. It was another failure of faith.)
D. Friend, it is never too late to trust God. You may
have made all sorts of faithless decisions, but
God wants to work with you. Why not turn your
heart to Him right now?
V. Next week: Rough Start
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references
are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are from the ESV®
Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses.
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