'And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said, Is

not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well.  And

also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he

will be glad in his heart.  And thou shalt speak unto him, and put

words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth,

and will teach you what ye shall do.  And he shall be thy spokesman

unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a

mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God' (Exod. 4:14 -16).

It would take us too far afield to pursue the personal history of both

Moses and Aaron and mark their interrelated service whether for good or ill.

One thing only must be said before we pass on, and that is, quite apart from

any personal failure on  the part of Moses, he was ever a type.  As

representing the law he could not take Israel across Jordan, only Joshua,

'The Salvation of the Lord', could do that.  So here.  Moses, a 'king' (Deut.

33:5) and a 'lawgiver', was early associated with a 'Sceptre' (Gen. 49:10).

Moses had access within the veil beyond the right granted to any high priest

(Num. 7:89; Lev. 16:2) and so was in some ways 'a priest'; we have already

learned that he was something more than a 'prophet', but these three offices

can be truly borne by One and One only.  He Who is in truth Prophet, Priest

and King is the Saviour Himself, and Moses' failure but sets forth the total

failure of all mankind and of all types and shadows.

Aaron was to be 'spokesman' for Moses.

Aaron was to be 'instead of a mouth' to Moses.

Aaron was to be a 'prophet' to Moses.

Moses 'took the place' of God to Aaron.

Throughout the narrative, it is Moses who is commissioned, but it is

Aaron who actually speaks, whether Aaron be mentioned by name or not.  'And

the Lord spake unto Moses' (Exod. 8:1).  'And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say

unto Aaron' (8:5).  'And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh ... and

Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh' (10:1,3).  What is true of Moses and

Aaron is true of the Lord and of His prophets.  When the prophet speaks, it

is understood that he speaks 'instead of a mouth', he is 'spokesman' for the

Let us, having gone so far, pursue this aspect of the subject further.

'The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth' (Num. 23:5).  The context of this

statement is illuminating.  Balak, the king of the Moabites, seeing what

Israel had done to the Amorites, was moved with fear, and sent messengers to

Balaam, calling him to come and 'curse me this people', promising him great

reward.  After several vacillations Balaam consented, and when Balak heard

that Balaam had come, went out to meet him saying, 'Am I not able indeed to

promote thee to honour?' but Balaam replied:

'Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say anything?

the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak' (Num.

And so it was, in spite of the 'seven altars' with the 'seven oxen' and

the 'seven rams', all was unavailing to alter the word of the Lord, Balaam

spake only that which the Lord put into his mouth.  Now if a reluctant and

greedy self -seeker like Balaam could not help but speak words of truth when