In teaching of how Moses slew the Egyptian, do not fail to bring out the heroic character of the action by emphasis on the motive of Moses, namely, his violated sense of justice, and on the perils to which he must have known in advance that this act would expose him. CHAPTER III GOD SENDS MOSES TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE Exodus 3.1-4.31 =Interpretation.= The time now being ripe for God's fulfilling His covenant to redeem Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He makes His purpose known to Moses and entrusts him with the mission of announcing the redemption to the elders of Israel and demanding it of Pharaoh. But Moses hesitates. He doubts his qualifications for the task, asking, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" And God's answer is, "Certainly I will be with thee." But this does not yet satisfy Moses, he wants a guarantee of Divine aid in God's statement, "I am יהוה." For in asking God for his name, Moses was not merely seeking information. There is no space in this book to take up a discussion of the critical questions raised by these verses. The interpretation given by Wiener[7] seems the most reasonable. He calls attention to the fact that among primitive people--and the narratives of the Pentateuch had to be made comprehensible to a primitive people--the name of a person, and, more especially, of a god, was regarded as having certain powers which were conferred upon anyone to whom he revealed his name. When Moses asked for the name of God, it was, therefore, as a sort of positive irrevocable guarantee of success, but God, at this juncture, refuses to say directly, "I am יהוה" and gives the evasive reply, "I am that I am." Then Moses, dissatisfied, declares that the people will not believe him, and God replies by showing him the miracle of the staff turning into a serpent, etc. Still Moses hesitates, pleading lack of eloquence as an excuse for not going, and God promises to inspire his utterances and to commission, also, his brother Aaron, who was eloquent, to assist as his spokesman. The significance of this dialogue of Moses with God is usually explained as contained in what it reveals to us of the characteristic meekness of Moses. It does, indeed, illustrate this conspicuous trait of his character, but if it were the chief aim of the Biblical author to commend the meekness of Moses we should scarcely be prepared for the statement (Exodus 4.14), "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses." The main purpose of the Biblical author seems rather to be to emphasize the apparent impossibility of the task which Moses was asked to accomplish in order that the miraculous character of the deliverance be the more evident. It is significant that before Moses goes to speak to Pharaoh, God refuses the revelation of His name, but after he has gone on his mission God does reveal it (Exodus 6.2). It would seem that He resented Moses' refusal to go without a special guarantee.