The Second Sign - The Leprous Hand (Exodus 4:6-8).
It was with his hand that Moses had smitten the taskmaster whom he had murdered. Now he was to be made to recognise that it was defiled, and needed purifying by Yahweh. But to Israel it would signify that although they were defiled in God's eyes through idolatry and sin, he was now seeking to cleanse them and deliver them.
a Yahweh tells him to put his hand in his bosom (Exodus 4:6 a).
b He puts his hand in his bosom and it becomes leprous (Exodus 4:6 b).
b He is told to put his hand in his bosom again and it becomes as his flesh (Exodus 4:7).
a If they will not believe the first sign this latter sign will cause them to believe (Exodus 4:8).
Here in ‘a' Moses puts his hand, the hand of God which has rendered the snake powerless, in his bosom, the seat of his life and affections, to his very heart, symbolising the relationship between himself and God. And in the parallel as a result of what occurs in the hand becoming leprous and then being healed, a symbol of his deliverance from a diseased situation, they will believe that the God Who has brought them to their situation will also deliver them from it. In ‘b' his hand becomes leprous and in the parallel it becomes whole again.
‘And Yahweh said further to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.'
The second thing that Moses was to do as a sign was to put his hand within his cloak ‘into his bosom'. Then, when he withdrew it, it would be seen by all to be leprous. They would see in the leprosy the mark of God and of what He could do in smiting men, and restoring them. Their position had no doubt made them feel that they were cursed by God, and there was reason for them to do so for many of them were dallying with the gods of Egypt (Joshua 24:15). Here was open evidence that that curse could be removed.
But why should his hand placed in his bosom say this to them? We should note that the hand that he was to put into his bosom would just earlier have taken the snake by the tail and turned it into a staff. Thus while he might see it as branding him as a murderer they would see it as the prophet's hand of power by which the one whom the snake represented could be defeated. (Later he will raise his hand in order to do wonders). Thus when he pointedly put it in his bosom He was thereby indicating to them his own history, that because of the attitude of his heart the hand of God in him had previously been made useless and ‘unclean' by God, but that now it had been restored and God was with him. Its becoming leprous and being restored again may well have been seen by them as an indication that Moses, God's hand, whom they had believed as lost, was now restored by God to fulfil His purposes.
It may well too have been a sign that God saw their hearts as sinful so that on recognising that God was coming to them as they were, they gained in confidence that he would save them.
“Leprosy”, (in Hebrew the word covers many diseases of the skin), was a particularly dreaded disease. It was seen as being a curse from God, and often incurable. It often rendered a person permanently ‘unclean' and therefore unable to approach God. (It was not always leprosy as we know it. They did not, of course, distinguish clearly between various kinds of skin disease. Thus some skin diseases would eventually heal, which explains later legislation). And this kind that Moses had was particularly virulent as was shown by the effect, it made his hand white as snow, an effect produced by certain types of skin disease. Perhaps there was here a hint of the mark (‘sign') of Cain (Genesis 4:15) which may well have been seen as some similar disfigurement. For the sign on the hand see Exodus 13:9; Exodus 13:16 where a sign on the hand was later considered important for Yahweh's people. Then it would be a sign of response and obedience. Here therefore it might well indicate the ‘curing' of their disobedience.
‘And he said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” And he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold it was turned again as his other flesh.'
First the giving and then the healing of this severe skin disease would be a clear indication to all that it was God Who was at work, for such severe skin diseases were uniquely seen as within the prerogative of God (Num 12:10; 2 Samuel 3:29; 2 Kings 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:20-21). They learned by this the important lesson, that God could make something loathsome, but that He could also make it clean. God could smite and He could heal. He had done it for Moses. He could do it for them. And just as the snake had symbolised hidden powers of evil, so we may see the healing of the leprosy as indicating God's power to control and deal with all that was loathsome so that he could attack men and their ability to act, and then restore them as he would. And if they did see it as representing the mark of Cain on the man in the wilderness they would recognise by this that that mark had in Moses' case been removed. Although they might have thought he was marked by his Midianite background, this would demonstrate that he was not marked by God as separated from the people of God or as a murderer. For whatever he was God had made him whole. Thus his God-empowered hand was there to deliver.
Furthermore if the snake represented the powers against which they were arrayed, the hand represented Moses' own power and ability as bestowed by God. By himself he was weak and diseased, but let his hand be conjoined with a heart that was right and all would be well. Then God would use his hand.
“And it will happen that, if they will not believe you, or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign.”
The second sign will give good reason why the people will believe in the face of two signs. Two witnesses should be accepted as valid evidence.