And Moses said to Jehovah, Ah Lord! I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant, for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.
Moses has raised objections before, and God has answered each one. He holds back again — this time over what his own mouth can do. Does God's call depend on the gifts of the person He calls?
One writer notes the odd timing and points to what lies underneath.
Then Moses finds another difficulty. He says, "I am not eloquent" — one wonders that he took so long to find it out... If God sent him, what had that to do with the matter? The real difficulty is always this — one thinks about oneself, instead of the Lord. It is astonishing what a difference it makes when one can afford, and has made up one's mind, to drop self. It is clear that God must be the best judge. If He chooses a man who is slow of speech, who can say No? Still, no one should think this is said with the least disrespect for Moses. It is said for our profit and instruction, to guard us from acting the same part with even less excuse. God has set the wavering of so faithful a servant before us for that very purpose.
Commentators take this claim in two directions. One reads it as not matching the facts:
He protested that he was not eloquent, but was slow of speech (v. 10). This does not sound convincing. Acts 7:22 tells us Moses "was mighty in his words and deeds." God's answer to him was sharp and penetrating... God had made Moses just as he was, and had made him for the specific purpose of delivering Israel. Did God not know what He was doing?
Another reads it as the honest result of his years away from Pharaoh's court:
Earlier, when he left Pharaoh's court, Moses had been mighty in words. But the years in the wilderness taught him how little that natural ease of speech was worth.
God had already said, "I will be with you." Placed beside that promise, a missing gift is not a shortage at all.
God Himself had said, "I will be with you." Surely that was a guarantee that could not fail, and it covered every need Moses could have. If an eloquent tongue were necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over against "I AM"? That inexhaustible treasury held everything: eloquence, wisdom, might, energy.
Moses assumed the rescue of Israel would turn on persuasive words.
He speaks as if everything depended on the persuasive words of human wisdom. He speaks as if he had to make his appeal to the natural man by human skill. How common the mistake, even in the Church of God!... This is why God often uses the "slow of speech" far more than those who are eloquent. In such cases there is no temptation to lean on the wisdom of men. Everyone sees that it is the power of God.
Whatever we secretly trust in for results does not stay secret; it prints itself on the work.
How hard it is, in the middle of what we call "second causes," to trust simply in God alone! All God's power, even for a Moses, is not enough without an eloquent tongue! Paul was wiser when he came to the Corinthians "not with lofty speech or wisdom," so that their "faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." Our idolatry of means shapes and marks our work.
The words sound humble. But leaving a post God has given is not the same as lowliness.
It is never the fruit of humility to leave a post God has appointed. The deepest humility does the opposite: it stays at that post in simple dependence on God. When we shrink from service because we feel unable, we show for certain that self is occupying us. God does not call us to service on the ground of our ability, but of His own.
The trap is that self-belittling can be as self-centred as boasting.
Many have finished with boasting and thinking they are great, and are now occupied with their littleness. But little I is as great a hindrance as great I. It looks very humble to run yourself down and stay in the background. Yet a very subtle pride often wears this dress of humility.
The excuse implies that God's own dealings with Moses had achieved nothing. No rebuke follows.
Can Moses still hold back? Yes. Unbelief has resources still. He hints that all his present communion with the Lord had not helped him, but left him exactly the man it found him... Can the Lord still refrain from reproach? Yes. This personal slight, as we may call it, draws out no rebuke. "I will be with your mouth" is the divine answer.
- Self — The real obstacle is not a slow tongue but a mind turned inward; the cure is to drop self and look at the One who sends.
- Sender — God does not call on the basis of our ability but His own. He made Moses exactly as he was, and for this very task.
- Sufficiency — Hold any missing gift up against "I AM." The shortage vanishes, because that treasury holds it all.
- Strategy — God often prefers the slow speaker, so that no one mistakes human skill for divine power.
- Patience — The excuse insults God's dealings, yet He answers without a word of reproach: "I will be with your mouth."
And Jehovah said to him, Who gave man a mouth? or who maketh dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? [have] not I, Jehovah?
Moses has just told God that he is not a good speaker. God answers with a question about who made the mouth in the first place, which turns the issue from what Moses lacks to who made him.
Moses kept looking for a way out. One writer notes that his plea does not square with what Scripture says about him elsewhere:
Despite the miraculous signs God gave Moses, he tried hard to excuse himself from a task he did not feel qualified for. He protested that he was not eloquent, but was slow of speech (v. 10). This does not sound convincing in view of Acts 7:22, which tells us Moses "was mighty in his words and deeds."
Forty years in the desert had changed Moses, but not only for the better:
We think he had not really lost his powers of mighty speech. The forty years of discipline in the desert had completely broken his self-confidence. But he had also become self-occupied, and so unwilling to answer to the call and commission of God.
God's reply claims that He Himself forms each person, including those who cannot speak or hear. If the mouth is His work, then a slow tongue is not an accident He failed to notice:
God had made Moses just as he was, and had made him for the specific purpose of delivering Israel. Did God not know what He was doing? Were the thoughts of Moses more correct than God's thoughts? God allowed Moses no excuse.
One writer traces the objection to a simpler root, and turns it back on the reader:
The real difficulty is always this — one thinks about oneself instead of the Lord. It is astonishing what a difference it makes when one can afford, and has made up one's mind, to drop self. It is clear that God must be the best judge. If He chooses a man who is slow of speech, who can say No? Still, no one should suppose that this is said with the smallest disrespect for Moses. It is said for our own profit and instruction, to guard us in case we act the same part with even less excuse.
Moses spoke as if the rescue of Israel depended on persuasive speech. One writer answers it, and finds the same mistake far beyond Moses:
He speaks as if everything depended on the persuasive words of human wisdom. He speaks as if he had to win over the natural man by human skill. How common the mistake, even in the Church of God! So eloquence is what even Christians desire — giving it a place beyond the power of God... This is why God often uses the "slow of speech" far more than the eloquent. In such cases there is no temptation to lean on the wisdom of men. Everyone sees that it is the power of God.
Trusting God alone is harder when we can see the means in front of us. One writer answers Moses' logic with irony:
How hard it is, among what we call "second causes," to trust simply in God alone! All God's power, even for a Moses, is not enough without an eloquent tongue!... Our idolatry of means shapes and marks our work. The work will show the workman.
God's question does more than silence Moses. It opens a door he never walked through:
It is worth remembering. When we have the Lord with us, our very deficiencies and weaknesses become an occasion to display His all-sufficient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses remembered this, his lack of eloquence need not have troubled him. The Apostle Paul learned to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me... For when I am weak, then I am strong." ... The Maker of man's mouth could fill that mouth with the most commanding eloquence, if such were needed. But the doubting heart would place far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than in the One who created it.
God's question did not end the argument. Moses pressed on, and the objection cost him:
At last the Lord is really displeased with His servant's readiness to object. "Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, 'Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite?'" Great humiliation! He might have been the simple and happy instrument of God in the mighty work. Instead God brings Aaron forward to share it.
- Maker. God answers a complaint about ability by naming Himself the Maker. He made the mouth, and every limit on it.
- Made for it. God made Moses just as he was, for the very job he was refusing. His weakness was not a mistake.
- Means. Trusting God alone is hard when we can see the means. Prize eloquence, and you give it a place beyond the power of God. The work will show the workman.
- Made strong. With the Lord present, our weak points become an occasion for His all-sufficient grace. Paul boasted in his weakness for that reason.
- Missed. Moses could have been the simple and happy instrument of God. He pressed his objection, and God brought Aaron in to share the honour.
And now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.