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And now we skip ahead, leaving Moses’ remaining objections for this coming Sunday’s discussions.  Today, we focus instead on God’s instructions regarding what Moses is to do and say to Pharaoh.  We learn here for the first time that God will take Pharoah’s first-born:

18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 The Lordsaid to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead.”
20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.
23 I said to you, “Let my son go that he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’” Ex 4:18-23 (NRSV)

We talked about “wonders” in yesterday’s post, but this is the first time that the word “wonders” is used (yesterday, the word used was “signs“).  We have seen three of those signs/wonders, but we don’t know what is meant by “all of the wonders” that God has put in Moses’ power.  A couple of things are significant about these verses:

First, we learn that God views Israel as his “first-born son”.  This is significant even in today’s society, but in the context of when the story of Moses occurs, it is of paramount significance.  Israel is God’s chosen people, his most treasured, and if Pharaoh will not release Israel then God will kill Pharaoh’s first-born son.

Second, we learn that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart despite the wonders that Moses will work.  The New Interpreters Biblecommentary suggests that Pharaoh’s heart is hardened because of the wonders – which the NIB likens to “extraordinary deeds that intrude upon settled, controlled life and generate new possibilities.”  In that sense, Pharaoh’s reaction to the threat of change is understandable.

So, God acts through Moses to signal an end to the present reality of Israel’s bondage, and God acts through these “wonders” to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and then God acts directly to crush Pharaoh’s resistance to the change.  Well, at least God says this is what is going to happen and we’ll see that it does happen just that way.

So, it’s easy to see why some people just aren’t comfortable with the God of the Old Testament.  If you really want to wonder about the terrifying, unpredictable, beyond understanding nature of God, then read the passages that are omitted from this week’s lessons (Exodus 4:24-26).  How do we approach such a God?  You can well imagine that very question being asked by the people of Israel and gain a new appreciation for those prophets and priests who were called to stand on holy ground.

But if you consider Christ, you see the same God – just in a different context.  After all it was predictable that hearts would be hardened at the wonders Jesus performed and at the threat of the radical change Jesus preached (the first will be last, etc).  Bear in mind that God chose Israel as his “first-born son” in more than one sense – including not least the sense that from Israel and into Israel Jesus would be born.  God is therefore willing to kill for his first-born son and is also willing to sacrifice that first born son.

There’s a lot to ponder here, not least that God is far beyond our human reckoning – so far beyond that it required God to come to us as one of us to intercede for us.