Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 3:11

"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?" — Exodus 3:11 (ASV)

Who am I, that I should go? —The men most fit for great missions are inclined to consider themselves unfit. When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, his reply was, “O Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child” (Jeremiah 1:6). St. Ambrose fought hard to escape being made Archbishop of Milan. Augustine was reluctant to undertake the mission to England. Anselm was with difficulty persuaded to accept the headship of our Church in the evil days of Rufus.

The first impression of a fit man selected for a high post generally is, “Who am I?”

In Moses’s case, though there were some manifest grounds of fitness—e.g., his Egyptian training and learning, his familiarity with the court, his knowledge of both nations and both languages—yet, on the other hand, there were certain very marked (apparent) disqualifications.

Forty years of exile and of a shepherd’s life had at once unfitted him for dealing with a court and made him a stranger to his brethren. Lack of eloquence seemed to be a fatal defect in one who must work mainly by persuasion. Even his age (eighty) might well have seemed to him unsuitable.