In this section I will focus on my personal re-reading of the Bible text in question, based on my experience of my own disability and on my work with other disabled people and those who participated in CBS, using narrative interpretation of the existing literature, considered from a psycho-spiritual perspective. The material in this section will serve as a bridge to the next section which will present a dialogue between Bible study participants and scholarly materials related to the Exodus text.
My starting point is to link the chapter 3 to the actual text, which is chapter 4. I will interpret verse by verse, according to my understanding as a PWD, employing my academic resources.
The aim of this section is to demonstrate how God views disability in the text of Exodus 4, 1- 17.
Verse 1. The text of Exodus 4 continues the dialogue between Moses and God that began in Exodus 3. In some biblical versions it starts with “Then Moses answered…” (NRSV). As I stated earlier, chapter 4 of Exodus is a further development of the scenario presented in chapter 3. Moses’ objection or hesitance to encounter God is described from chapter 3, 14-17 as follows:
- Moses is unworthy (3, 11) and God says he will be “with” him (3, 12)
- Moses does not know God’s name (3, 33) and God reveals the name (3, 14-17).261
In 4, 1, I hear Moses’ third complaint: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say: ‘the Lord did not appear to you?’” Moses mentions his brothers, the Israelites, saying that they would not listen to him, as they “…would not hearken to his speech”.262 Here, I see that Moses was expecting to receive something more than what God had revealed to him earlier. I mean, Moses needed more proofs that show God is really appeared to him. In addition, I argue that in these moments Moses remembers how his brothers rejected him once (2, 13 -14) and fears it could happen again. At this stage, Moses is being conscious of his limitations. His question to God, “What if they do not [believe] me or [listen] to me...” shows
261 Meyers, ‘Exodus’ 2005, 55.
262 Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Libronix Digital System,
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his feelings, he sees himself useless, worthless, and unable to transmit what God has asked him to do.
Verses 2–9 describe the wonder of God to Moses in responding to Moses’ concerns of believe and listen. The “miraculous signs given to Moses were proof that God actually had appeared to him. These signs were intended to convince Moses’ fellow Hebrews (v. 5), not Pharaoh”.263In other words, sometimes for people to believe or listen, may not need necessarily to hear the voice or the words. But, through diverse ways of communication such as seeing, touching, and feeling.
Moses might not have known the God of Israel as he grew up in Egypt where he was familiar with Egyptian culture and religion. Hence, God empowers him to work miracles so that he recognizes the might of God (3, 13-22).
Verse 5 says that God performed this wonder for the Israelite people as well, so that they will believe that “the Lord, the God of their ‘fathers’ – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has appeared to [them]”. This is mentioned three times as God has himself introduced to Moses thrice (3, 6, 15, 16; 4, 5). God speaks twice of Moses
“remembering” God to his people, and the third time of the “souvenir” of his work (the rod).
Also the manner of the introduction of God to each of the three fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) was different, revealing how God works in a particular way through each of them.
Therefore, each experience of the father has impacted on the Israelites and given them a sense of their source of strength (i.e. the father). Abraham's encounter with God brought forth promises of blessings. As regards Jacob, despite his deceit and trickery, God worked through him and, in a face to face encounter, transformed him. Mostly, however, I want to focus on Isaac's experience with God, because it can be related to the experience of PWDs. Isaac can be related to minority groups since some scholars point out that he was the “least” of the ancestors (fathers). In the journey of God and the Israelites, Isaac functions as an object rather than a subject. This becomes apparent in Abraham's blessing of the arrival of his son (Isaac) at the age of 100, and in the story of his faithfulness when he has to sacrifice Isaac. Again, Isaac is an object rather than a participant in the story of Jacob's deceptions. This indicates that, although Isaac did not play a leadership role, God accompanied him and impacted on his life and his community (his family and the broader society). God’s words Moses that “I am the Lord, the God of their fathers” and “the Lord of Abraham, the Lord of Isaac and the Lord
263 The Bible Readers’ Companion, Exodus 4, 2-9, Libronix Digital System,.
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of Jacob”, reveal that God encounters meets everyone regardless of position. And such encounters form a source of empowerment for all people.264
Verse 8 indicates that Moses did not work miracles through his own power nor for his own glory, but through and for God. Thus the Lord said to him: “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second…” This illustrates one of the characteristics of God which is identifying with human limits. This means that God, who is beyond limits, accepts to be active within the limitations of human beings. God Almighty accepts to work within the constraints of human weaknesses and the God of perfection identifies with improvements on a human being.
Verse 10. Moses’ fourth complaint is: “I have never been eloquent”, implying that he is
“slow of speech and of a slow tongue hesitant in speech” (HCSB). “Eloquent” in Hebrew (P’al), translated into English, is “words”, “say”, “command”, “tell” and “relate”. In other words, Moses saying that he is “slow of speech [saying or speaking]”, means that he is deficient in speech or, literally, that he is “uncircumcised of lips” (6, 30). In other words, he had speech impairment.
Verses 11 – 12. God’s initial reaction to Moses’ objections was to remind him that he is the Sovereign Lord, “the Lord [who] determines man’s abilities or disabilities”. This makes clear that “the commission of Moses (3, 9-12) is at the heart of the episode, but the point of focus is the identity of Yahweh (3, 1-8; [4, 11])”.265 The verse speaks clearly about the issue of disability: “…Who gives man his mouth, who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Here it is stated that God is in control of everything and he is thus also the author of disability.
The Lord said to Moses, “Now go, I will be with thy mouth…and teach thee what thou shall say” (KJV). God has planned to use this disabled mouth for able teaching.
God did not say: I will heal your mouth so that you can speak clearly. Rather, he said “I will be with your mouth”. The healing in this passage is “psychological” in that God wants to enable Moses, to make him realize that, even in his weakness, he has ability.
264 Nancy L. DecLaisse-Walford, Isaac, in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. (Grand Rapids: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 647-648.
265 Thomas B. Dozeman, Commentary on Exodus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 121.
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Verses 13-17. Moses’s fifth objection, “O, Lord, please send someone else to do it” (NIV).
Moses experienced psychological pain as a result of his faltering speech vis-a-vis to Pharaoh and his brothers. Although God encouraged him, saying “I will help…you (3, 12; 4, 12), the awareness of his verbal deficiency weighed heavily on Moses (Exodus 6, 12; 30).
Moses’ suggestion that another person might replace him angers God (v. 14). God perhaps saw that Moses did not trust him and did not understand the way in which he dealt with this mission. As God is slow to anger but abundant in his grace, he provided Aaron, Moses' brother, to help him (v. 14–15). God does not strike when provoked, but provides more grace so that he may ultimately be obeyed.266 God's provision of a brother to speak on behalf of Moses points to their inter-dependency in this undertaking and that two are better than one (16). God thus identifies with both brothers in order to reinforce the execution of the mission.
The Lord said to Moses, “He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him”. Linking these words with verse 8, as stated above, one of God’s apparent characteristics is his identification with human beings. Moses was given the privilege of being in the “position of God”: this is God working through weaknesses to draw out strengths.
4.4.1 Summary
My re-reading of the text of Exodus 4, 1-17, is a response to a crucial question as a person with a disability, “How does God view disability?” In the situation of disaster, uncertainty, loneliness, fear, and despair that PWDs in many cases experience, the question which often arises is, “Is God aware of my situation?” Through this text, it is revealed that God views disability as another possibility to ability. The text reveals that, despite Moses’ limitations and fears, God has chosen him for the purpose of his mission. As I stated in my comment on v. 8, the God of all-power, who is beyond limits, accepts to work with human weaknesses.
This step of reading the text from my own experience as a person with a disability, as a church minister working with PWDs, and as a biblical scholar, enlightened my perception of God’s view of disability, and it nurtured my understanding for the next discussion, namely, dialogue with PWDs and with the work of various scholars.
266 The Bible Reader’s Companion, Exodus 4, 2-9, Libronix Digital System.
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