God Calls Moses

The Bible Story

Moses was no longer the baby who had been hidden in a basket by the Nile.

He grew up in Pharaoh’s household, but he knew that he belonged to the Hebrew people.

One day, when Moses was grown, he went out and saw how hard the Israelites were being forced to work.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew worker.

Moses became angry and killed the Egyptian.

What Moses did was very serious and wrong.

He tried to hide what had happened, but the secret did not stay hidden.

The next day Moses saw two Hebrew men fighting.

When he tried to stop them, one of the men showed that he knew what Moses had done.

Moses became afraid.

Soon Pharaoh heard about the killing and wanted Moses dead.

So Moses fled from Egypt and traveled into the land of Midian.

There, far from Pharaoh’s palace, Moses’s life changed completely.

He helped a group of women at a well when other shepherds tried to drive them away.

Moses was welcomed into their family.

He married Zipporah and began a new life in Midian.

Instead of living in Pharaoh’s household, Moses became a shepherd.

Many years passed.

Back in Egypt, the Israelites were still suffering under slavery.

They cried out because of the heavy burden they carried.

God heard their cries.

God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

This did not mean that God had forgotten them and suddenly remembered again.

It meant that God was acting faithfully according to the promises He had already made.

God saw the Israelites.

God knew what they were suffering.

One day Moses was caring for the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro.

He led the sheep through the wilderness toward Horeb, the mountain of God.

It may have seemed like another ordinary day of shepherding.

Then Moses noticed something strange.

A bush was on fire.

But the bush was not burning up.

Its branches were not disappearing into ash.

Moses turned aside to take a closer look.

As he approached, God called to him by name.

Moses answered.

God told him not to come any closer.

Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.

The dirt itself was not magical.

The place was holy because God was making His presence known there.

God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Moses covered his face in awe and fear.

God told Moses that He had seen the suffering of His people in Egypt.

He had heard their cries.

He knew their pain.

God said that He would act to rescue them from slavery and lead them toward a good land.

Then God gave Moses a difficult assignment.

Moses was to go back to Egypt.

He was to stand before Pharaoh.

And he was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses did not respond like a fearless hero.

He asked, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?'

God’s answer did not begin by telling Moses how impressive he was.

God promised, 'I will be with you.'

Moses still had questions.

He wanted to know what he should say when the Israelites asked who had sent him.

God revealed His name to Moses.

God made clear that He was the God who truly is and the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses was to tell the elders of Israel that their God had seen what was happening in Egypt.

God had not abandoned His people.

Moses worried that they might not believe him.

God gave Moses signs that would show that his message did not come from Moses’s own power.

Moses’s shepherd staff could become a snake and then become a staff again.

God also gave another sign involving Moses’s hand, which was changed and then restored.

These signs did not make Moses a magician.

The power belonged to God.

Still Moses hesitated.

He told God that he was not a confident or skillful speaker.

Moses believed his difficulty with words made him the wrong person for the job.

God reminded Moses that He was the Creator of the human mouth.

God promised to help Moses speak and teach him what to say.

But Moses was still afraid.

He asked God to send someone else.

God was angry with Moses for continuing to resist.

Yet God also provided help.

Moses’s brother Aaron could speak with him.

Aaron would meet Moses and help communicate the message.

Moses would still have to obey and go.

But he would not go alone.

Moses had spent years as a shepherd far from Egypt.

Now God was sending him back toward the place he had fled.

Moses still had weaknesses.

His past had not disappeared.

He did not suddenly become fearless.

But God had called him and promised to be with him.

The next step was to return to Egypt with Aaron and stand before Pharaoh.