Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 4:5

"That they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." — Exodus 4:5 (ASV)

That they may believe ... — These are God’s words to Moses, in continuation of those which form the first portion of the preceding verse. The clause describing the action of Moses in Exodus 4:4 is parenthetic. The words give Divine sanction to the view, so strangely combated recently, that the power of working miracles is given to men, primarily and mainly, for its evidential value to accredit them as God’s messengers. Without the gift of miracles, neither would Moses have persuaded the Israelites, nor would the Apostles have converted the world.