We are in chapter six of Exodus. If you remember over the last few days we have looked at both the amazing things God was about to do to deliver his people from slavery and why the people did not listen to Moses. So what does God do next when the people won’t listen to the leader that God raised up for them? This is our word for today let’s have a look. צָוָה give an order, command, instruct, order, lay charge, give charge. It is used 492 times in the Old Testament. Exodus 6:10-13 So the Lord said to Moses, “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and וַיְצַוֵּם֙ gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
We see this repeated throughout the Bible of God challenging leaders to lead even when it doesn’t seem to be working and no one wants to follow them. God challenges the people through Moses and Joshua. Joshua 1:7, 9 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant צִוְּךָ֙ commanded you… Have I not צִוִּיתִ֙יךָ֙ commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. God challenges Elijah when he assumed that everyone would now follow him but instead his life was threatened. 1 Kings 19:1-18 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life…Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
I’ll close with this great passage where Paul challenges Timothy as a young leader in the church. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
