The first two chapters of Exodus tell the backstory of Moses...where and what he came from and how he happened to be where he was at the start of chapter three...saved from infanticide by a shrewd but faith-filled mama and quick-thinking older sister, raised in luxury and supremely educated, only to have his first attempt to Do The Right Thing blow up on him and send him into exile as a shepherd.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (3:1)
Moses wasn't just in the desert...he was on the far side of the desert. I have often wondered if that place was known as 'the mountain of God' before Moses's experience there, or if that's what it was called later. Because God was there...and he commissioned Moses to go and do what he failed to do so many years earlier...save his people from their Egyptian overlords.
...then you and the elders are to go to the King of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.' (3:18)
Moses protested...and God relented enough to allow Aaron to be the spokesperson, since Moses, for all his education, apparently had a speech impediment. God did not allow Moses to turn down the assignment; Moses was not allowed to live out his days in obscurity while someone else confronted Pharaoh. But he was given help.
The LORD said to Aaron, 'Go into the desert to meet Moses.' So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. (4:27)
The help came to him in the desert. It was a confirmation of what God had told him.
And Moses and Aaron left the desert and went back to Egypt. It's worth noting that, if they were successful, they would return to the very same spot...the mountain of God on the far side of the desert...bringing others with them:
And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you [plural] will worship God on this mountain.' 3:12
I am very much reminded of my own desert experiences, my own inclination to want to retire to 'the far side of the desert' and be...safe...from my own foibles. Those times when my own attempts to Do The Right Thing backfire and do more harm than good, spoiling not only that opportunity but messing with relationships that I value. I can't hurt anything...or anyone...on the far side of the desert, can I?
But God tells us, in the desert, that our failings and flaws are not disqualifications from His calling. He will send us help if we need it, to go bring others to the place where He met us...
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