Commentary - Exodus 4:27-31

Bird's-eye view

This short passage marks a crucial turning point in the Exodus narrative. After Moses' personal and harrowing re-consecration on the way back to Egypt (Ex. 4:24-26), God now orchestrates the reunion of the two brothers, Moses and Aaron, who are to be His instruments of deliverance. This is not a chance meeting; it is a divinely appointed rendezvous at the very place where God first called Moses, the mountain of God. The passage highlights the transfer of the divine message from Moses to Aaron, and then from Aaron to the elders and the people. The central theme is the power of God's Word to create faith. When the words of Yahweh are faithfully declared and confirmed with the signs He commanded, the result is belief, relief, and worship. The people, long crushed under the heel of Pharaoh, hear that God has not forgotten them, that He has seen their affliction, and their immediate response is to bow down in humble adoration. This is the first corporate flicker of faith in a nation that God is about to redeem for Himself.

What we see here is the formal beginning of the prophetic office in Israel. God speaks to Moses, Moses speaks to Aaron, and Aaron speaks to the people. It is a model of delegated, authoritative communication. The signs are not the main event; they are the confirmation of the words. And the result is not mere intellectual assent, but a deep, heartfelt turning to God in worship. This passage sets the stage for the confrontation with Pharaoh, grounding the entire enterprise not in the courage of Moses or the eloquence of Aaron, but in the faithful declaration of God's revealed will and the response of faith it elicits from His chosen people.

Outline

Context In Exodus

This section immediately follows the strange and terrifying incident of the "bridegroom of blood," where God met Moses and sought to kill him, likely for his failure to circumcise his son. That event served as a stark, personal reminder to Moses of the absolute seriousness of God's covenant commands. Having survived that fiery test, Moses is now ready to be the covenant mediator for the nation. The verses before this (Ex. 4:1-26) detail Moses' initial calling at the burning bush, his objections, God's provision of Aaron as a spokesman, and the giving of the signs. These five verses (27-31) are the fulfillment of God's promise to provide Aaron. They are the bridge between Moses' private commissioning in Midian and the public confrontation with Pharaoh in Egypt. This is the moment the plan begins to be put into action, the first step of gathering the internal support of Israel before confronting the external enemy.

Key Issues

The Believing People

After a long and painful silence, God is on the move. For generations, the sons of Israel have groaned under Egyptian slavery, and we can assume that for many, God seemed distant, perhaps even absent. But the machinery of redemption is now turning. These verses show us the initial, internal effects of God's intervention. Before a single word is spoken to Pharaoh, God first speaks to His own people. He is gathering them, encouraging them, and preparing them. The deliverance of the Exodus is not something that merely happens to Israel; it is something that happens with them and through them. And it all begins, as every work of God does, with His word being spoken and His people believing it.

This is a foundational principle. God does not save a people against their will. He sends His word, which is powerful and effective, and it creates the very faith that receives it. The belief of the people is not a meritorious work they perform to earn their deliverance. Rather, their belief is the first fruit of the deliverance that has already begun in the heart of God and is now breaking into their history.

Verse by Verse Commentary

27 Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and encountered him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

Notice the direct, sovereign command. Just as God called Moses from the bush, He now calls Aaron from Egypt. God is the master strategist, moving His pieces on the board. Aaron is not given a detailed itinerary; he is simply told to go into the wilderness to meet his brother, whom he has not seen for forty years. This requires a significant measure of faith on Aaron's part. And where do they meet? At "the mountain of God," Horeb. This is no coincidence. This is the place of revelation, the place where God initiated this whole plan with Moses. Their reunion is consecrated by taking place on holy ground. The kiss is a sign of warm, familial affection, but also of reunion and shared purpose. God is not just restoring a nation; He is restoring a family to be at the head of that nation.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.

Here we see the principle of faithful transmission. Moses, having received his commission, now passes it on to his designated spokesman. He holds nothing back. He tells Aaron "all the words" and "all the signs." The message and the miracles are a package deal. The words carry the substance of God's promise and demand, while the signs serve as the divine credentials, the authentication of the message. This is how God's revelation always works. It is not a series of disconnected miracles or abstract propositions. It is an authoritative Word, confirmed by mighty acts. Moses is acting as the prophet, and Aaron is being equipped to be the prophet's mouth.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel;

Their first official act in Egypt is not to go to the people indiscriminately, but to gather the elders. This is crucial. Israel, even in slavery, had a social structure, a form of representative government. The elders were the heads of the families and clans, the recognized leaders of the people. God works through established lines of authority. By addressing the elders first, Moses and Aaron are honoring this structure and ensuring that the message is received and disseminated in an orderly way. Redemption is not chaotic; it brings order. They are treating Israel as a nation, not as a mob of slaves, even before they are politically free.

30 and Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He then did the signs in the sight of the people.

Aaron now steps into his role. He is the mouthpiece, faithfully speaking "all the words" that originated with Yahweh. The text emphasizes the direct line of communication: Yahweh to Moses, Moses to Aaron, Aaron to the elders and people. After the word is delivered, the signs are performed. The staff becomes a serpent, the hand becomes leprous and is healed. The order is paramount: Word first, then signs. The signs are not magic tricks to wow a crowd; they are visible sermons that confirm the truth of the spoken proclamation. They are God's "amen" to Aaron's sermon.

31 So the people believed; and they heard that Yahweh cared about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction. So they bowed low and worshiped.

This is the glorious result. The Word, confirmed by the signs, produces faith. "The people believed." What did they believe? The text tells us specifically. They heard and believed two fundamental truths that are the bedrock of the gospel in any era. First, that Yahweh "cared about" them (the Hebrew word has the sense of visiting, or taking notice of, or intervening for). After centuries of apparent silence, they believed that God had not forgotten His covenant people. Second, they believed that "He had seen their affliction." God was not a distant, detached deity. He was intimately aware of their suffering. This is the gospel: God has seen your miserable condition and has graciously intervened. And what is the proper response to this good news? It is not applause or even just relief. It is worship. "They bowed low and worshiped." True faith always culminates in worship. The news of God's gracious visitation humbles the sinner and causes him to bow before his Redeemer. This is the first act of corporate worship in the book of Exodus, and it is the goal of the entire redemption that is about to unfold.

Application

This passage is a beautiful microcosm of how God always works with His people. He does not leave us to figure things out on our own. He speaks. He sends His Word, and that Word is the foundation of our faith. In the Old Testament, He spoke through Moses and the prophets. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate Word of God.

Just as Aaron was the spokesman for Moses, the church is now the spokesman for Christ. Our task is to faithfully declare "all the words" that He has commanded us. We are not called to invent a new message, but to transmit the one we have received. And while we do not perform the same kind of signs as Moses, the Word we preach is still accompanied by the confirming work of the Holy Spirit, who performs the greatest sign of all: raising spiritually dead hearts to new life.

The message that brought faith to the Israelites is the same message that brings faith to us. It is the news that God has seen our affliction, our slavery to sin, and has cared enough to intervene. He has visited us in the person of His Son. When this message is truly heard and believed, the response is always the same. It is not pride in our decision, but a humble bowing of the knee. It is worship. If our faith does not lead us to bow down and worship the God who has seen our affliction and visited us with salvation, then we must question whether we have truly believed the message at all. True faith sees God's grace and immediately falls on its face in grateful adoration.