God's Mouthpiece for the Hard-Hearted Text: Exodus 6:28-7:7
Introduction: The Sufficiency of God, Not the Giftedness of Man
We live in an age that is utterly obsessed with technique, with giftedness, with personal aptitude. The church has not been immune to this. We search for pastors with the right charisma, worship leaders with the right stage presence, and evangelists with the right sales pitch. We have subtly bought into the world's lie that the success of God's mission depends on the slickness of our presentation. We want to march on Pharaoh's court armed with a dynamic platform and a winning smile. And when we look in the mirror and see our own manifest inadequacies, our fumbling speech, our profound weaknesses, we do what Moses does here. We object.
God's kingdom is not a meritocracy. God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. And more often than not, He is pleased to leave certain glaring weaknesses in place, lest any man should boast. He chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chooses the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast in His presence.
The passage before us is a profound lesson in this divine economy. Moses, having already been commissioned, balks a second time. He looks at his own lips and finds them wanting. God's response is not to send him to a Toastmasters class. God's response is to redefine the entire situation, to declare His own sovereign purpose, and to establish a chain of command that depends not on human eloquence, but on divine authority. This is a confrontation between the God of the universe and the potentate of a pagan empire, and God intends to win it with two old men, one of whom can barely speak plainly. This is how our God works, and we must learn to love it.
The Text
Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "I am Yahweh; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you." But Moses said before Yahweh, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?"
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand upon Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst." So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
(Exodus 6:28-7:7 LSB)
The Covenant Objection (vv. 28-30)
We begin with the restatement of the commission and Moses's repeated objection.
"Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'I am Yahweh; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.' But Moses said before Yahweh, 'Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?'" (Exodus 6:28-30 LSB)
God begins by reminding Moses of who is speaking. "I am Yahweh." This is the covenant name of God. This is the God who is, who was, and who is to come. This is the God who keeps His promises. The authority of the command is grounded in the character of the commander. The task is simple: "speak to Pharaoh... all that I am speaking to you." Moses is to be a conduit, a messenger. His job is fidelity, not creativity.
But Moses is not looking at Yahweh; he is looking at himself. His objection is potent. "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips." We must understand what this means. This is not simply a man with a stutter admitting his flaw. The word "uncircumcised" is covenantal language. An uncircumcised heart is a rebellious heart, closed to God's word (Jer. 9:26). An uncircumcised ear is an ear that cannot hear God's command (Jer. 6:10). For Moses to say he has uncircumcised lips is for him to say that his mouth is ritually unclean, unfit, and functionally closed to the things of God. It is a profane instrument, unsuitable for carrying a holy message into a king's court. He is saying, "My mouth is a covenant-breaking mouth. How can I be your covenant spokesman?" He sees a deep incongruity between the holiness of the message and the profanity of the messenger.
This is an honest objection. It is a spiritual objection. And it is one that every true servant of God has felt. Who is sufficient for these things? Who is worthy to carry the gospel of a holy God on his polluted lips? The answer is, of course, nobody. And that is precisely the point.
The Divine Restructuring (vv. 1-2)
God does not answer Moses's objection by healing his lips. He answers by restructuring the entire mission and elevating Moses's office.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh...'" (Exodus 7:1-2 LSB)
This is one of the most astonishing statements in all of Scripture. "I have made you as God to Pharaoh." Let us be clear. This is not an ontological statement; Moses is not being deified. This is a functional and judicial statement. In the context of this confrontation, Moses will stand in the place of God. His words will carry divine authority. His commands will be God's commands. His judgments will be God's judgments. Pharaoh considers himself a god. Very well. God is sending a man to function as the true God right in front of him. Moses is God's appointed regent, His authorized ambassador.
And God provides for Moses's weakness. "Your brother Aaron shall be your prophet." This defines the roles perfectly. What does a prophet do? A prophet speaks the words of God. In this divinely established hierarchy, Aaron will speak the words of Moses, who is speaking the words of Yahweh. The chain of command is Yahweh to Moses to Aaron to Pharaoh. God does not remove Moses's weakness; He incorporates it into His plan. He builds a structure of ministry around it. The power is not in the eloquence of the final speaker, Aaron, but in the faithful transmission of the word down the chain from the ultimate source, Yahweh.
The Sovereign Purpose (vv. 3-5)
Now God reveals why this mission will be so difficult, and what His ultimate purpose is in the difficulty. He is not just saving Israel; He is judging Egypt and making His name known.
"But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt... And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh..." (Exodus 7:3, 5 LSB)
Here we are at the bedrock of divine sovereignty. "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." This is an active, judicial hardening. God is not a passive observer of Pharaoh's pride. He is using and ordaining Pharaoh's rebellion for His own greater glory. Pharaoh, in his pride, has already hardened his own heart against God. God's action is to confirm him in that rebellion, to give him over to it, to strengthen his resolve so that he becomes a perfect anvil on which God can display the full force of His hammer.
And why? "That I may multiply My signs and My wonders." A swift victory would not accomplish God's purpose. God intends to dismantle the entire religious and political structure of Egypt. Each plague will be a direct assault on a specific Egyptian deity. He is waging war against the false gods of the Nile, of the sun, of the livestock, of the harvest. He is systematically demonstrating their impotence. The hardness of Pharaoh's heart is the necessary backdrop for this comprehensive display of Yahweh's supremacy.
The ultimate goal is stated in verse 5: "And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh." This is evangelism through judgment. God is revealing His character, His power, His name, to the premier pagan superpower of the day. He wants the Egyptians, from the lowest slave to the highest priest, to know that the God of the Hebrews is the only true God. This is not just about letting His people go. This is about putting the world on notice.
The Humble Obedience (vv. 6-7)
After this staggering revelation of God's plan, the response of Moses and Aaron is beautiful in its simplicity.
"So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh." (Exodus 7:6-7 LSB)
The objections are over. The fears have been answered, not by removing the cause of the fear, but by revealing the sovereign God who rules over it. And so they simply obey. "Thus they did." This is the heart of faith. Not a feeling of adequacy, but a simple trust in the command of God, regardless of the perceived odds or personal limitations.
And the Holy Spirit includes that final detail about their age for a crucial reason. Moses is eighty. Aaron is eighty-three. They are old men. The great work of their lives, the work for which they will be remembered forever, begins when they are past retirement age. Their strength is not the strength of youth. Their wisdom is not the wisdom of the world. Their power is not their own. God is making it abundantly clear that the deliverance of Israel is His work from start to finish. He will get all the glory because He is doing all the work, and He is doing it through two senior citizens.
Conclusion: Your Uncircumcised Lips
What are your uncircumcised lips? What is the weakness, the inadequacy, the flaw that you believe disqualifies you from serving God faithfully? Is it your past? Your lack of education? Your awkward personality? Your fear of man? Whatever it is, you are holding it up before God as an objection, just as Moses did.
And God's answer to you is the same as His answer to Moses. He does not say, "You are right, you are too weak." He says, "See, I have made you an ambassador for Christ." He says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." He does not necessarily remove the weakness, but He gives you His authoritative Word to speak. He gives you His Holy Spirit to be your Aaron, to help you in your weakness.
Our task is not to be eloquent. Our task is to be faithful. We are called to speak the words He commands to a world with a hard heart. And we must know, going in, that the hardness of their hearts is part of God's plan to make His own name glorious. The resistance we face is not a sign of our failure; it is the stage God is setting for a display of His power. Therefore, our only proper response is the one modeled here at the end. After all the excuses and all the divine reassurance, we must simply do as the Lord has commanded us. "So Moses and Aaron did it." May the same be said of us.