Moses – La Vista Church of Christ

Are You the Wrong Person for the Job?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:32:34 +0000

by Zeke Flores

"The Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your serant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue'" (Exodus 4:10).

Moses basically tells God, "You picked the wrong guy."

He lists his weaknesses like God somehow missed them. And honestly, we do the same thing. God nudges us toward something, and we immediately start explaining why we’re not qualified. We think our limitations disqualify us, but God often chooses people who feel inadequate because they’re the ones who will lean on Him.

Moses wasn’t wrong about his weakness. He just didn’t understand that God wasn’t asking him to be impressive. God was asking him to be available. There’s a big difference. God doesn’t need your strengths to accomplish His work. He just needs your willingness to trust Him with your weaknesses.
Think about the thing you keep avoiding because you feel underqualified. Maybe it’s a conversation, a spiritual opportunity, a step of obedience, or a change you know you need to make. Moses reminds you that God isn’t limited by your limitations. He already knows your weaknesses and still calls you forward. If He’s asking you to step into something, He’s already prepared the help you’ll need to walk it out.

Why would God have Moses strike the rock one time and not the next?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 22:32:13 +0000

Question:

Dear Brother Jeffrey,

I have a question and would appreciate your insights. In Exodus 17, God commanded Moses to smite the rock for water, and then in Numbers 20, He commanded Moses to speak unto the rock for water. We know that Moses smote the rock in Exodus; he did the same in Numbers, smote the rock twice. Due to disobedience, he did not enter the promised land. My questions:

Is there any explanation in the Bible why God would have Moses strike the rock in the first instance (Exodus), and then speak to the rock on the second occasion (Numbers)?
Does it appear that Moses was also showing frustration or stress with the children of Israel, resulting in his striking the rock instead of speaking to it?
Is I Corinthians 10:1-4 making metaphorical linkage between Christ and the rock in Exodus and Numbers? If so, and the rock is Christ Himself, was Moses punished because of disrespecting Christ, or purely for not complying with the exact command of God?

Answer:

God did not tell us why He gave different commands in the two situations. However, we are told why Moses and Aaron were punished. See "Why did Moses strike the rock twice and what was Aaron’s participation?"

Moses was definitely annoyed with the Israelites.

The Israelites had assembled to oppose Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:2).
They argued with Moses, claiming that they would have been better off dead (Numbers 20:3).
Before striking the rock, Moses called the people "rebels" (Numbers 20:10).

What I can't answer is whether this was the cause of Moses changing God's command.

Emphasis should be on the metaphorical connection. In two instances of the wilderness wanderings, first near the beginning of the journey and the second near the end, God provided water from a rock. Jesus is the source of living water for his followers (John 4:10,13-14). Thus, in the world that is parched from a lack of righteousness, Jesus becomes our refreshing source that sustains and renews us. Multiple rocks are in the account, but Paul said the Rock (singular) was Jesus. Paul also said that the Rock followed the Israelites. In other words, Jesus was with the Israelites during their journey, helping and sustaining them. The point in I Corinthians 10 is that the Israelites had similar advantages to Christians, yet they failed to follow God despite God's aid.

Right Message, Wrong Audience

Jeffrey Hamilton — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 01:29:03 +0000

by Matthew W. Bassford

At first glance, the narrative of Exodus 2:11-14 appears to be one of impulsiveness and immaturity. Moses, a 40-year-old resident of Pharaoh's household, decided to visit his Hebrew kinfolk. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, strikes the tormentor dead, and hides the body. The next day, he tries to break up a fight between Hebrews and gets a snarky retort about the Egyptian he killed yesterday. He realizes that the word is out and flees for his life.

However, the inspired reading of this story, as provided by Stephen in Acts 7:23-28, doesn't lay any of the blame on the future lawgiver. According to Stephen, Moses expected his people to understand that God had sent him to deliver them, but they missed the point. The exile of Moses in Midian, then, doesn't represent the 40 years in which he needed to grow up. Instead, it represents 40 years of unnecessary suffering by the Israelites because they rejected the one God had chosen to lead them to freedom.

As Stephen reveals during the rest of his final sermon, this is not a unique problem for the Jews. Their fathers had rejected God's chosen deliverer Joseph, and they themselves had rejected God’s chosen deliverer Jesus. Of course, this problem isn't limited to the descendants of Abraham. To this day, members of every nation under heaven reject those whom God has sent to teach them.

Let's look at this first from the perspective of the teacher. Today, many Christians consider evangelism to be work best suited for highly trained diplomats. You have to say everything just right and give no grounds for an offense if you want to lead someone to the Lord. In many cases, they base their beliefs on their own experience. They themselves tried to lead a sinner to Christ, they didn't say everything just right, the sinner rejected the gospel, and they blame themselves for it.

Generally, the explanation is much simpler. Moses certainly didn't do everything exactly right in his first attempt to rescue the Israelites, but it was still their fault for rejecting him. In the same way, if we don't present the gospel in exactly the right way and people reject it, they’re not rejecting our approach. They're rejecting the gospel. They weren't ready to hear it, and they may never be ready to hear it.

Sometimes, though, the shoe is on the other foot. Someone else has challenged what we believe. Maybe they're young and a little bit arrogant, like Joseph. Maybe they come from a different background than ours and seem stuck-up, like Moses. Regardless, we decide they're not worth listening to, and we close our ears to their position.

Although this is a natural way to behave, it is very dangerous. Truth from the lips of anyone remains the truth, no matter whether we like them or not. If we pay more attention to the messenger than the message, our rejection of truth may cost us our souls.

In fact, in both scenarios, the gospel ought to be the most important element. When we try to teach others, we must put our trust in the gospel and rely on it to do its work. We aren't going to change matters much one way or the other. So too, we must allow the gospel to do its work in our hearts. If that comes at the price of overlooking annoying behavior by someone else, it's a small price to pay indeed!

Did the magicians know in advance what Moses planned to do?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 22:23:36 +0000

Question:

Dear sir,

I read the article above. I wanted to know why the Egyptian magicians added to the problem of frogs rather than removed them. You said they could not remove them, but have given no logical explanation why they could not. In regard to the snakes you said and I quote “ All it would take is a collapsible cane being switched by sleight of hand with a cataleptic snake to accomplish this apparent miracle.” "Sleight of hand," I think, assumes the magicians knew before hand what Moses was going to do. They would have needed to practice this to pull it off. The Bible doesn’t tell us that Moses discussed his plans with anyone other than God.

What say ye?

Answer:

Consider that it is God who knew in advance what the Egyptian magicians' favorite tricks were like. God instructs Moses to conduct a true miracle in front of these magicians that looked similar to their own (Exodus 7:8-13). Of course, when Moses threw down the staff and it became a snake, the magicians took that as a challenge and performed their own trick. But then Moses' snake swallows all of their snakes! And in the end, Moses picks up his snake by its tail (the wrong way to pick up any snake if you don't wish to be bitten) and it returns to being a staff. The Egyptian magicians were bested by God at their own trick, but it was close enough to one that Pharaoh had seen before that he was able to dismiss it, which was what God wanted Pharaoh to do. God was aiming to prove to the world that He alone was God and He desired Pharaoh to be stubborn and unbelieving in the face of the progressive demonstrations of God's power and complete control.

Also, notice that while it is tempting to read this account as everything happening immediately, Exodus 7:11 says that after Moses' staff becomes a serpent that Pharaoh sent for his wise men and sorcerers, implying that they weren't present at that moment. They, in turn, sent for the magicians who then did their trick. There was time for them to gather up their equipment.

Who Put You in Charge?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 00:29:18 +0000

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Who-Put-You-in-Charge.mp3

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton

Text: Acts 7:20-39

I. David had asked for some provisions for his men after having protected Nabal’s herds - I Samuel 25:5-8

A. But Nabal’s response was “Who is David?” - I Samuel 25:10-11

B. Nabal shows he did know who David was, but he thought he wasn’t worth recognizing.

C. But it was God who had David anointed to be the next king. Nabal might not have remembered that critical fact, but his wife did - I Samuel 25:30-31

II. God’s messengers get this same response

A. Prophets have had to deal with rejection

1. They will fight against you - Jeremiah 1:16-19

2. They will not listen to you - Ezekiel 3:4-9

B. People don’t like being told that the things they might do are wrong

1. Speak with all authority - Titus 2:15

2. Be an example - I Timothy 4:12

C. “What right do you have to tell us what to do?”

1. “Who made you a judge?”

2. God’s messengers have the authority of God behind them and not their own.

III. No man is perfect

A. We all sin - Romans 3:23

B. Moses committed murder - Exodus 2:11-12

C. He thought he escaped detection until the next day - Exodus 2:12-14

1. Moses thought it was his duty to lead the Israelites, since he was a prince in Egypt - Acts 7:22-25

2. But his fellow Israelites rejected his authority - Acts 7:26-28

D. He ran and went from being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter to a shepherd in the wilderness - Exodus 2:15; 3:1

E. Ironically, forty years later God sends Moses back to lead Israel out bondage - Exodus 3:10

1. Moses is still hurting from the rejection - Exodus 3:11

2. But this time he will not be going by his own authority, but the Lord’s - Exodus 3:12-14

3. God also gave Moses miracles to prove he was from God - Exodus 4:1-5

F. Stephen notes the irony years later - Acts 7:35-36

1. He also notes a prophecy - Acts 7:37

2. It comes from Deuteronomy 18:15,18-19

IV. But God is perfect

A. The Son of God left glory to come and dwell among His creation - John 1:14

B. But the Creator’s own creation rejected him - John 1:10-11

1. They did not want him to rule over them - Luke 19:12,14

2. They questioned his authority - Matthew 21:23

C. He was sent from God - John 5:36-37

D. He did miracles. More than any prophet before him; yet, they demanded more - Matthew 12:38; 16:1

E. And despite this, Jesus led people out of the bondage of sin - John 1:12-13

V. Rejection doesn’t change the message or the urgency to respond

A. You can make the messenger’s duty easy or rough, but you can’t stop the message

B. Salvation awaits you this day, but it means you have to give up your sins

C. It means no longer doing things your own way - James 4:4-10

D. Will you come and be exalted by God?

Will you explain Exodus 32:30 to me?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:24:47 +0000

Question:

Will you explain Exodus 32:30 to me?

Answer:

"On the next day Moses said to the people, "You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin"" (Exodus 32:30).

Israel had broken the first two commandments God had given them (Exodus 20:3-4) while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai getting a written copy of those very laws. So Moses returned to Mt. Sinai to talk to God. "Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves"" (Exodus 32:31).

Atonement means to repair the damage caused by a wrong done. It is trying to calm down the hostilities between two parties due to the misbehavior of one party. In this case, Moses understands that God has every right to be angry with Israel -- he is angry himself. But Moses hoped to repair the damage that Israel had caused to their relationship with God.

What he did was to ask God to forgive the people and if God couldn't forgive Israel, Moses asked that he join the people in not reaching heaven. "But now, if You will, forgive their sin -- and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!" (Exodus 32:32). God turned down Moses' request because Moses did not understand that sin is a personal responsibility. "The LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin." Then the LORD smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made" (Exodus 32:33-35).

Did Moses write a second book of Law and that was the one taken away?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 02:01:00 +0000

Question:

Greetings my brother,

I'm very happy about the website. I have studied a lot from it. I count many subjects that helped me to teach better through your website. Thank you.

Regarding the Ten Commandments: There is a claim that the book that stood against them was the one next to the ark of the covenant which Moses wrote for them, Deuteronomy 31:23-26. They claim that was the book that was nailed on the cross Colossians 2:14. I don't know if I'm misusing the Scriptures if I do an exposition from II Corinthians 3:1-18 to prove that the Ten Commandments are no more in the New Testament. If it's not scripture misuse, please help me by explaining more on the subject.

Thank you.

Answer:

The use of II Corinthians 3:1-18 is appropriate. See Paul's Service: Delivering a Glorious Message.

The idea that there was a second book has no basis in Scripture. Ask them where you can find this second book in the Bible and which passages are from the second book and which are from the first book. My guess is that you'll find them intermingled. For example, the laws on the Sabbath are not just in the Ten Commandments, they are also scattered in the other books. The same goes for laws on stealing, murder, etc. If there is not a clear delineation between these supposed two books, then the arbiter is not God but men who desire to say which laws they will keep and which they will discard.

How did Moses write about his death before his book was finished?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 22:04:00 +0000

Question:

So how did Moses write about his death before the first five books of the Old Testament ended?

Answer:

Joshua was the prophet who came after Moses "Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses" (Deuteronomy 34:9). It is believed that Joshua wrote the last chapter of Deuteronomy. The writing was placed at the end of Deuteronomy because it was about Moses and made a fitting ending regarding Moses' life.

It is not unusual for a later prophet to finish the writing of a former prophet. Joshua 24:29-33 appears to be written by the prophet who began Judges because it uses similar terms. It too mentions the death of Joshua in the book that was mostly written by Joshua.

Were Abraham and Moses in the church?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Question:

I heard a quote from a preacher sometime ago that Moses and Abraham are not in the Church of Christ (Ephesians 4:4; I Corinthians 12:13), even though they are currently saved. I understand they were never baptized into Christ; but if they are not in the body, where are they? It is my understanding that all dead saved people are currently in one place right now (Luke 16:19-31; 23:43).

Answer:

The problem is the definition of terms and without being able to talk to the preacher, I cannot say he was wrong or right. The word "church," which translates the Greek word ekklesia, which means assembly, can mean a single local church (e.g. I Corinthians 1:2) or all saved under the law of Christ (Matthew 16:18). When Jesus said, "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), it implies that the church did not exist prior to Jesus establishment of it. "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:19-22). Being built on Jesus, it could not exist before Jesus came into this world.

But the church of the New Testament is not the only assembly of God's people. Israel was the assembly of God's people under the law of Moses. "I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You" (Psalms 22:22). In heaven all the assemblies of God's people from all ages will be combined into one great multitude (Revelation 7:9). "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance" (Hebrews 9:15).

Did Moses have one wife or two?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Question:

I am taking a Bible Study class on the "Bad Girls of the Bible" and have a question. There is speculation that Moses may have had a second wife. When referring to his Cushite wife, isn't that Zipporah? I have been unable to find any evidence of another wife other than the verse in Exodus that talks of his Cushite wife. What research I have done states that Zipporah was in fact a Cushite although there is nothing I can find in the Bible to verify that. Would she be a Midianite? I hope this isn't a dumb question, but I have never heard of this issue until now. Thank you for any help on this.

God bless.

Answer:

"Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said, "How is it that you have come so soon today?" ... Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses" (Exodus 3:16-18, 21).

"Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman" (Numbers 12:1).

Ethiopia, also known as Cush after its founder, is the country south of Egypt. Like Egypt, its borders fluctuate over the years and sometimes included the Sinai Peninsula (II Chronicles 21:16; Habakkuk 3:7). The supposition is that Reuel actually descended from Cush and that he was in this region because Ethiopia had at times occupied the region and he descended from one of those occupiers. However, Reuel is called a Midianite in Numbers 10:29, so it makes this argument unlikely.

Another possibility is that by the time of Numbers 12, which took place in the wilderness wanderings, that Zipporah had died and Moses remarried, this time to an Ethiopian woman. It is noticeable that Zipporah's name is not mentioned again after Exodus 18, which is before the Law was given on Mt. Sinai. It would also explain why Miriam and Aaron's contention against Moses on this point was only now brought up years into the wilderness wanderings. This second scenario fits the facts better.