God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbour, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewellery, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
Exodus 3:15-22
In 11 we see that Moses had a double concern, Pharaoh on the one hand, and the children of Israel on the other. But in fact, in these verses Israel looms more largely in the discussion than does the tyrant king, and this may indicate that Moses had more fear of them than of him. And, of course, in terms of continuing burden, Israel was certainly a much greater hazard than Pharaoh could possibly have been. For his demise was a once-for-all matter and, after a sustained trial of strength, soon over. But Israel, with all her fractiousness and murmuring, was with Moses for the subsequent forty years. Small wonder that the man was apprehensive, when we think of all that was involved for him of heartbreak and frustration in his association with the people of God! But God's quiet, inexorable assurances undergird His faltering and reluctant servant, setting his objections at naught. The pulse of the divine determination throughout the passage is very wonderful, 'Thou shalt' (15), 'Go ... and say' (16), 'I have ... I have ... I will' (16, 17), 'They shall' (18), 'I will .... I will' (20, 21). Here is the divine sovereignty at its most glorious and reassuring, and it stands over against Israel's seemingly hopeless situation of bondage and oppression. It is God saying, 'I will work, and who shall let it?' (Isaiah 43:13). The extent of His control over the situation is seen in the promise that Israel would not only be delivered but also given favour in the sight of the Egyptians. How like God not to be content with mere liberation, but also to guarantee recompense and restitution for all they had suffered at the hands of their oppressors! Well might we trust such a God and have confidence in Him. But Moses is not so sure of this, as we shall see in the next passage.