Seeing Is Believing

Moses met the LORD, who presented himself in the right moment to save his people, those with who he had pact an alliance long ago. He gives us a further piece of information to complement his identity when he tells Moses about his relationship with his ancestors. “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them (chapter 6)”. By giving us his true name we are able to establish a connection with God in genesis, and we are able to understand how the story will evolve. We had previously established a difference between JEHOVAH and JANWEH, which are the two different characters for God in genesis. Now we know JEHOVAH is god in chapter two of genesis and will be the divine figure in exodus, at least at the moment.

Jehovah asked Moses to go and free his people from the Egyptians, but the latter couldn’t think of how to do it. God told him to go in his name, “And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee (chapter 4)”. The lord insisted and Moses when and delivered the message, with a predictable result. “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? (chapter 5)”. This shows his human characteristic; it shows that even though he believes in the God but he doubts about the task and would rather not do it. He is shocked by the evil of the Egyptians and not only feels overpowered, but he feels that he is not strong enough for the task. We see a very similar reflection further on in the bible when Jesus is about to be crucified, and he prays to God to save him, to change his destiny because he is afraid and as all humans, we doubt and lack devotion in many occasions.

God helped him by giving him a miraculous rod, which he could turn into a serpent to impress the Pharaoh. He did so and the Pharaoh called for his advisers to help him understand and explain the phenomenon, “And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said (chapter 7)”. Egyptians found an explanation to everything Moses did, and where not at all understanding. The pharaoh would never listen to him and never would consider the release of these people, because he really didn’t believe that he was dealing with a god. What you don’t see you don’t believe until it’s too late to realize your lack of faith. This happened to the Egyptians, who had to suffer terrible things before they understood their inferiority and accepted their loss. And this happens to us consistently, when we don’t trust other people and fail to do something for our own benefit only because we are incredulous and respond to things only when they affect us directly.