Speaking to a Friend

"The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent." Exodus 33:11

Imagine for a moment that someone came up to you and said, "I want to be your friend." Assuming you were open to developing a friendship, how would you feel if they followed this up with, "Here is my list of what I expect of you in this friendship and how I will respond to you based on your ability to meet these demands"? I would not be surprised if you told this person to take a hike and move on. In order for a true friendship to develop between two individuals, there cannot be any predetermined rules or circumstances in place. Each individual must be accountable to themselves individually and not to each other based on any preset rules or conditions. When this is the case, any friendship that develops will be a natural byproduct of things like shared interests, mutual love for each other, trust and respect. The Bible doesn't really tell us why God chose Moses to lead the people of Israel out of captivity in Egypt. But, one reason the Lord may have chosen Moses is their shared love of justice. Regarding God, the Bible says, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him (Isaiah 30:18)!" When it comes to Moses, one of his obvious qualities was his passion for justice. When we are first introduced to Moses as an adult we see that he as a passion for defending the oppressed when he comes to the aid of a Hebrew slave being beaten by an Egyptian. "One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.  Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2:11-12)." The very next day we see this quality for justice again when he does what is right, even if it meant criticizing his own own people. "The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew (Exodus 2:13)?” A third example of Moses seeking justice is when he comes to the aid of seven sisters who are being harassed by a group of shepherds. Although he is a stranger to them, and in a foreign land, he still found the courage to seek justice. "Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock (Exodus 2:16-17)." As one Jewish scholar writes, "Moses’s three acts of justice are what lead God to choose him to lead the people from slavery to freedom. God could have chosen someone else. But God knew this impassioned fighter for justice would not give up until His people were free."

If this is why God chose Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery it is good evidence as to why God would later speak to Moses, "face to face, as one speaks to a friend." When Moses had went up Mount Sinai to speak to God and receive the Ten Commandments, the people grew impatient of his return. They had gone so far as to build and worship a golden calf; calling it the Lord. Later, God said to Moses, "Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way (Exodus 33:3).” God had promised to, effectively, abandon the people of Israel because they were "a stiff-necked people" and He might destroy them on the way. In other words, God said the Jews were stubborn and He may have to destroy them for being disobedient. He said as much in Exodus 32:8, where we read, "They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf." The people of Israel were "quick to turn away" from what God had commanded. God and His people were not friends because their relationship was built around commands; a list of what was expected of the Jews and how God would respond based off their obedience to them. And because of their disobedience God was tempted to move on from them. There was no possibility of being friends. It has been said, "You cannot have true friends in religion. You can only have true friendship in freedom." The reason you cannot have true friends in religion is because religion is grounded in obedience to rules. Rules that none of us ever truly master. Therefore, by default, you cannot have a relationship based off of one's ability to do the impossible; be perfect in everything we do. God and Moses had a friendship based off a shared interests and a common purpose, not one necessarily built off of Moses' obedience to everything God commanded. Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15)." We are friends of God, not because of our obedience to His commands, but because of our faith in the obedience of Jesus Christ on our behalf. As a born again Christian, I am a friend of God because of my faith in Jesus Christ not because of my faith in my ability to obey the commands of religion. Religion, by definition, means a "return to bondage." If you are in bondage, you are not free. Ask yourself, "How can I be friends with someone who keeps me in bondage?" Fact is, you cannot. "For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1)." Amen!