Éxodo 3:9-11

"And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: moreover I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

God here flatly proposed to Moses that Moses himself should lead the people up out of Egypt, and Moses' first reaction to it was negative. He who forty years previously had been anxious and ready to take up a sword and deliver his brethren, at this point in time was filled with a deep feeling of inadequacy.

These verses, along with Exodus 3:12, constitute the commissioning of the Deliverer. And, after some doubt, hesitation, and excuse-making, Moses accepted it, eventually discharging the full obligation magnificently! The source-splitters and meddlers with the Sacred Text have attempted to postulate their version of a "contradiction," affirming that the real commissioning of Moses actually took place, not in Midian, but in Egypt, according to Exodus 6:10-13. The answer to this lies in the fact that the latter mention of the commission is nothing more than a renewal of the commission already given. Just as God renewed the covenant with Abraham, he found it necessary here to renew the charge to Moses. Haley has this:

"Moses' failure to persuade Pharaoh to a dismissing of the Israelites, as well as the sudden revulsion of their part, from buoyant hope to unseemly dejection, rendered it absolutely necessary that Moses' wavering faith should be strengthened by a solemn renewal of his commission."[18]

"Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh ...?" This is the first of a series of excuses offered by Moses in his resistance to full acceptance of God's commission of deliverance by the hand of Moses. Note:

"Who am I, that I should go?" (Exodus 3:11). "What shall I say when they ask, `What is his (God's) name?'" (Exodus 3:13). "They will not believe" (Exodus 4:1). "I am not eloquent" (Exodus 4:10). "Send someone else" (Exodus 4:13).

God effectively refuted all of Moses' objections and set him forward on the road to Egypt to do the work to which God called him.