Exodus 3-4

What's Happening?

Exodus 1 shows how Israel, Moses, and Pharaoh map onto the first figures in Genesis—Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. The following chapters show how Moses maps onto the next figure in Genesis—Adam and Eve’s son, Cain. Adam and Eve were made to have life with God in Eden. But outside the Garden, the serpent sought to rule them and keep them in his domain of death away from life with God. But even in the serpent’s realm, Adam and Eve produce life in their children, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2). However, the serpent mastered Cain and made him a bringer of death when he murdered his brother. When Abel’s blood cried out from the land, God heard it and came to Cain. In response, Cain fled into the wilderness where he lived separated from God in the serpent’s realm (Genesis 4:8-12).

In Exodus, God’s people are ruled and kept by a new Serpent, Pharaoh. Yet in the serpent’s realm, they have managed to produce life in their children, namely in Moses. Being raised in Pharaoh’s house, Moses is well-educated, wealthy, and has access to the best Egypt has to offer. If anyone is in a position to crush the serpent, it’s him. But Moses quickly proves he is an unworthy savior. One day, Moses sees an Egyptian foreman beating a Hebrew slave. Thinking that perhaps this was the moment to enact the freedom of God’s people, he murders the man and brings death instead of life (Exodus 2:11-12; Acts 7:23-25). So, like Cain, Moses flees to the wilderness and lives separated from God’s people in the serpent’s realm (Exodus 2:15).

Moses spends the next several decades futilely trying to create a homeland in a foreign realm. But he is unable to create a new life with God in Eden. This alienation from home is intensified by the fact that the woman he marries and the child he fathers are both foreigners. He even names his son Gershom, which means “foreigner” (Exodus 2:16-22). During those years, like Abel’s blood, God’s people cried out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 2:23-25). In response, God comes to the new Cain, Moses.

Like Cain, Moses is exiled in the wilderness away from God’s homeland of life. But in an act of merciful new creation, God brings Eden life to this murderer in the wilderness. God appears to Moses in a bush that is on fire, but not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3). It’s a picture of the gateway to Eden, guarded by a flaming sword. God invites Moses, a murderer, to enter this new holy ground of Eden where he will not be cut off, but brought in (Exodus 3:4-6).

God tells Moses to return to Egypt, confront Pharaoh, free his people, and bring them to their Edenic homeland (Exodus 3:7-10). Moses protests that a person like him could never bring life to his brothers. After all, like Cain, he had been mastered by the serpent. But, in a series of signs and promises, God shows Moses that he will give him power over the serpent to bring Eden life in the wilderness of death.

First, God says he will bring all his enslaved people to the same Eden space Moses is in now. If God could bring into Eden a Moses who murders like Cain, he can bring to life a people who cry out like Abel (Exodus 3:11-12). Next, God gives Moses the personal name by which he is to be known—Yahweh, which means “I Am.” God explains that he has been with their forefathers since the beginning to bring them to a new homeland. Since I Am was with their fathers to bring them to a new Eden, I Am will be with their children to bring them home as well (Exodus 3:13-22).

God then gives Moses three miraculous signs that will prove to enslaved Israel that I Am has the power over the serpent to raise them out of death and into life. First, God has Moses turn a staff into a snake and then back into a staff (Exodus 4:1-5). With God, the serpent that conquered Cain would be conquered in Egypt through Moses. Then, God turns Moses’ hand leprous and then back to healthy when he puts it inside his cloak (Exodus 4:6-8). God has the power to turn death into life. Finally, when Moses pours water from the Nile onto the ground it turns to blood. This shows that as God heard the cries of Abel’s blood from the ground, he has heard the cries of their children’s blood from the Nile (Exodus 4:9).
Finally, God tells Moses that he is sending his brother Aaron with him to be his mouth piece to Pharaoh. In an ultimate restoration for this Cain-like murderer, God sends with him his Abel-like brother who will cry out on his behalf (Exodus 4:10-17). Together, they will conquer the serpent and bring God’s people home.

Where is the Gospel?

The figures of Cain in Genesis and Moses in Exodus map onto us today. We are all mastered by the serpent, cut off from our homeland of life, and dying as foreigners of Eden in the wilderness. But God mercifully brings Eden to those outside.

As God brought Eden to Moses in the burning bush, Jesus brought the home of God to foreigners in the wilderness. As I Am in the flesh, wherever Jesus went, the signs God gave to Moses accompanied him. Like Moses’ staff, he showed his mastery over the serpent by casting out demons (Luke 4:35-36). Like Moses’ hand, he healed diseased lepers (Matthew 8:2-3). And ultimately, when his blood was poured out on the ground, he cried out to God for forgiveness on behalf of his enemies (Luke 23:33-34). When Moses turned water to blood it was proof that God heard Israel’s cries and would save them from death. When Jesus’ blood spilled on the ground in his death, it was proof that he saved us from death (John 19:34-37). Jesus is the doorway out of the wilderness of death and into Eden life with God (John 14:6).

As a Cain-like murderer and foreigner, Moses could not conquer death and bring life. But from the holy ground of the burning bush, God promised to be with him to free his people. Jesus does the same thing for his church. He sets up holy ground through the burning presence of his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). He makes his home in foreigners and gives life even to murderers. The I Am dwells in us today, enabling us to conquer the Serpent and bring Eden to the wilderness of the world.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who brings Eden into the wilderness. And may you see Jesus as I Am in the flesh whose blood cries out on our behalf.