Exodus Chapter 4, Verse 1
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1: And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not
believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
1: And Moses answered and said, If they believe me not, and do not hearken to my voice (for they will say, God has not appeared to thee), what shall I say to them?
Moses now started a fresh difficulty: the Israelites would not believe that Jehovah had appeared to him. There was so far a reason for this difficulty, that from the time of Jacob-an interval, therefore, of 430 years - God had never appeared to any Israelite. God therefore removed it by giving him three signs by which he might attest his divine mission to his people. These three signs were intended indeed for the Israelites, to convince them of the reality of the appearance of Jehovah to Moses; at the same time, as even Ephraem Syrus observed, they also served to strengthen Moses' faith, and dissipate his fears as to the result of his mission. For it was apparent enough that Moses did not possess true and entire confidence in God, from the fact that he still raised this difficulty, and distrusted the divine assurance, "They will hearken to thy voice," Ex 3:18). And finally, these signs were intended for Pharaoh, as is stated in Ex 4:21; and to him the אתות (σημεῖα) were to become מפתים (τέρατα). By these signs Moses was installed as the servant of Jehovah (Ex 14:31), and furnished with divine power, with which he could and was to appear before the children of Israel and Pharaoh as the messenger of Jehovah. The character of the three signs corresponded to this intention.
