Commentaria in Exodum
Learn here that eloquence and grace of speech is a gift of God, either natural or supernatural. Hence, when Plato was still an infant asleep in the cradle, bees were seen to distil an abundance of honey into his mouth; which was an omen that from the mouth of Plato, by the gift of God, a speech sweeter than honey would flow. Hence also Xenophon, from the elegance of his speech, was called the Attic Muse. So too on St. Ambrose, when he was still an infant, a swarm of bees settled on his mouth, which foretold the divine eloquence of the man, says Paulinus in his Life. The mother of St. Dominic, when with child, seemed in sleep to carry in her womb a whelp bearing a torch in its mouth, with which, when brought forth into the light, it would set the world on fire; by which dream it was signified that St. Dominic by his eloquent, fervent and pious preaching would inflame all to the love of God. Something like it befell the mother of St. Bernard, who was truly mellifluous. It is wonderful, moreover, that we often see men otherwise morose and unpolished given eloquence by God, and speaking many things graciously and elegantly. So when Xenocrates, who was by nature harsh and morose, spoke graciously and wittily, and his hearers marvelled, Plato said: “Why do you marvel? Do you not see lilies and roses for the most part springing up among thistles and nettles?”
First, some hold that the defect in Moses was that for the forty years in which he had lived in Madian he had forgotten the Egyptian tongue. But Scripture here ascribes to Moses not this defect of idiom but another defect of tongue, indeed several. Secondly, the Hebrews relate that Moses, when he was three years old, put burning coals to his mouth and scorched the tip of his tongue, and thence contracted this defect; but this is a Jewish fable. Thirdly, Origen, homily 3, St. Gregory, homily 8 on Ezechiel, and Rupert, book 1 on Exodus, chap. 16, think that Moses was of himself eloquent, but that after he began to converse with God he seemed so by comparison with the divine wisdom and eloquence.
13. I BESEECH THEE, LORD, SEND WHOM THOU WILT SEND,—as if to say: Send another, whom thou hast foreknown thou wilt send.
The Hebrew is, send, I pray, by the hand (namely of another), whom thou wilt send, as if to say: For this so great an embassy use another, and a more fit instrument than me; for “hand” among the Hebrews is the instrument.
Cajetan notes that this is the fifth excuse of Moses. For the first was chap. 3, verse 11, from his unfitness, that he was unfit and unequal to so great an office. Second, chap. 3, verse 13, from the unknown name of God. Third, chap. 4, verse 1, from the unbelief of the Hebrews. Fourth, chap. 4, verse 10, from his defect of tongue. And when he saw that these excuses were not accepted by God, he adds this fifth entreaty and supplication, by which he wholly tried to shake this mission off from himself and to throw it on another, beseeching: “Send whom thou wilt send,” as if to say: Send whomsoever thou wilt, only do not send me, unfit for so great an office. So Vatablus.
It belongs to the truly obedient to shrink from and decline honourable tasks (such was this mission), and yet to offer themselves willingly and eagerly for hard and rough ones, as S. Gregory teaches, Moral. bk. xxxv. In like manner Saul excused himself as unworthy of the kingdom, 1 Kings ix, and Jeremias, ch. i, of prophecy and preaching. “Moses,” says S. Gregory, “because he was humble in his own mind, immediately shrank from the glory of so great a government when it was offered. But Paul, when he heard from Agabus what adversity awaited him in Jerusalem, at once answered: ‘I am ready not only to be bound, but to die also in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ Led, therefore, by the unbroken virtue of both leaders, we are taught that if we truly strive to lay hold of the palm of obedience, we should serve in prosperity of this world only at command, but in adversity even from devotion.”
I say truly, with Cajetan and Abulensis, that Moses did not sin by these words. Wherefore Lyranus is not right in thinking that he sinned venially by pusillanimity and disobedience; nor that Moses besought God to send his brother Aaron in particular, as being more eloquent, because, weighing his own weakness, he clung too much to the belief that he was weaker than he should be, or could not speak, as some Rabbis add and invent, or could not bear so great a burden laid upon him by God, as though he had hitherto played the prophet in Israel.
Nor is R. Salomon right in thinking that Moses asked that Josue be sent, not considering that God, who was calling him, would also supply him with strength and courage. For although Moses, to whom it had been revealed that after his death Josue would lead the Hebrews into Chanaan, did not directly refuse the will of God, yet he wished God to will otherwise and to send another, and in this pressed God too far, even to a fifth refusal; wherefore God was justly angry with him, as with one too much evading: or, as the Hebrew has it, ichar, that is, He suddenly blazed forth, yet saving His friendship with Moses; whence He presently tempered this anger with clemency, and sent Moses, now acquiescing, to Pharao, adding Aaron as his companion. For the words of Moses are general and indefinite. Secondly, many Fathers, as S. Justin, Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius, writing against the Jews, and Rupert, think that Moses here asked for the coming of the Messiah, whose name was “the one sent” or “to be sent,” as is plain from Genesis xlix, 10; as if he said: Since, O Lord, Thou hast determined to send the Messiah, and wilt one day send Him to free us from sin, send Him rather now, that by the same work He may free Thy people from Egypt. This sense is very probable and fitting, whatever Abulensis may object, and Eugubinus too boldly clamours against such great Fathers. For so the other Patriarchs of old, in grave causes, always looked to the promised Christ and sighed for Him, as is plain of Jacob, Genesis xlix, verses 10 and 18. You will say: Moses already knew that he had been chosen by God for this office, and therefore slew that Egyptian as boldly as dangerously, as I showed from S. Stephen, ch. ii, 12; how then did he here become so pusillanimous as to refuse this office now? I answer: this happens because a hard task shown from afar, and lying far in the future, as if absent, does not strike or shake the mind; but when it is present and must be carried out, then it shakes a man so that he trembles and sweats: for then the bulk of the matter, with all its difficulties and dangers, is apprehended far more vividly than before. We experience this in ourselves and our soldiers inexperienced in war: when they are beyond bowshot they seem lions, ready to dare anything; but when they must fight hand to hand with the enemy, with trumpets sounding and the battle-lines shouting on both sides, then they grow pale, fear and tremble, and, as the saying is, they are lions in peace, stags in battle. So Moses, when he received the oracle about his future leadership, did not fear.
You may ask, did Moses sin by so often resisting the call and mission of God? Some Hebrews hold that Moses sinned mortally by incredulity, diffidence and disobedience, and was therefore punished in that he did not lead the Hebrews into the promised land.
But this judgment is too harsh and lacks foundation; for not on account of this, but for another distrust at the waters of contradiction, Moses was shut out of the holy land, as is plain from Numbers xx. Still more foolish is what R. Salomon says, that Moses for this sin was deprived of the priesthood, and that it was transferred to Aaron.
Secondly, S. Basil, Gregory and Jerome, and Pererius citing them, wholly excuse Moses, and praise his excuse as proceeding from humility; both because Moses knew the stubborn and inexorable heart of Pharao and the hard neck of the Hebrews, which, says Basil, he thought he could not break; and because, when he saw that office laid upon him and perceived its burdens close at hand, he began to tremble and to seek every escape, yet saving the friendship and obedience of God; whence, when he saw that God absolutely willed it, and would admit no excuses but was angry, he at once obeyed and accepted the burden.
14. AARON THY BROTHER THE LEVITE.—The title “Levite” is added to the name of Aaron as a surname taken from his tribe, after the manner of the Jews; for they were surnamed from their tribe, as the Dutch from their father, and others commonly from their family. Moreover, “Levite” was an honourable surname, on account of the priesthood assigned to the tribe of Levi, in which Aaron was to be the first and chief. Moses was as it were the understanding that conceives, Aaron the mouth that speaks; such are the advantages of companionship.
15. I WILL BE IN THY MOUTH.—From the Hebrew it may be rendered, I will be with thy mouth; as if He said: I will be the governor of thy mouth, I will suggest, guide and direct thy tongue and thy words; “for it is the part of the Lord to govern the tongue,” as the Wise Man says, Proverbs xvi, and this is to be continually begged of God by the saints, especially by one who presides over others. So Esther, ch. xiv, 13, prays to God: “Give me,” she says, “a well ordered speech in my mouth;” and the Apostle, Ephesians vi, 19, desires prayers for himself, “that speech may be given me,” he says, “in the opening of my mouth.”