Exodus 6: 1 – 30
God turns bad things into good
6 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’” 9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. 10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.” 12 And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations. 20 Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. 21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. 23 Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families. 26 These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27 These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron. 28 And it came to pass, on the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the LORD. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”30 But Moses said before the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
The results of studying major problems that people face show that individual Christian faith becomes present during times of personal crisis. Faith and hope manifest themselves very intensely, but it is rare that they show in the classical forms we normally associate with Christianity. Rather than a single and static set of beliefs, everyday Christianity constantly unfolds in multiple ways and in relation to others.
Life for many of us often is full of obstacles. Many times we are faced with obstacles in our families, our finances, our health and a host of other issues. Sadly we have two conclusions to face with all these difficulties; we can either overcome our crises or our crises can overcome us.
Our Holy Lord Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 16 verses 33, these things I have spoken to you, that in Me you will have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’ Our Great Master and King makes it very clear that in this world we will face difficulties.
Throughout my life I have faced many different obstacles and challenging situations. My faith in God and my relationship with Him is what gave me the strength and the ability to overcome these obstacles.
I’ve have therefore personally learned that problems have a way of bringing out the best or the worst in us.
We have our bibles that teach us of all the plagues our Holy God had to use in order to get Pharaoh to let His people go. We also need to understand that Moses did not have this same information. To him it seemed like wave after wave of confrontations and obstacles that Pharaoh threw back at each situation. Let’s see how this all unfolded.
6 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Our Great and Majestic Holy God Yahweh’s reply is, ‘you wait and see what I will do’. And He promises that Pharaoh will be made to listen under Yahweh’s strong hand, so much so that Pharaoh himself will drive the people out with a strong hand.
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers.
This continues the thought of verse 1 and must be interpreted in that light and in the light of verse 7. God tells Moses that He had appeared to their fathers as El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the God of the nations. He Is the covenant maker. They had thus been made aware of His universality and greatness, and it was on that basis that He had been able to make the wide promises of blessing for all Abraham’s descendants, including those descended from Ishmael. This had been their life experience of God. But they had not experienced His individual, direct, activity on behalf of His chosen line establishing them as rulers over the land. They had not experienced the dynamic of His might and power as their covenant God bringing about the final fulfillment of His promises of possessing the land and being saved from all who hated them. That awaited the future.
So while they had worshipped Yahweh, they had not ‘known His name’, that is, experienced Him in powerful action bringing about His promises as their covenant God. This was not to deny that Yahweh had been a name passed down from their ancestors under which they had worshipped Him, but it was to point out that they had not in their own time realized or experienced the full significance of that name as ‘the One Who acts’. El Shaddai had been the title that throbbed with significance, the God of the nations; the God Who held the future in His hands - Now all that was to be changed. Yahweh was about to make the very depths of His name known, the name that spoke of a powerful presence and activity, Who would be what He wanted to be as He had defined it in chapter 3.
So the promise was that Moses and the people were not like the patriarchs to be given future hopes, they were now to be made aware in the fullest sense of the power contained within the name of Yahweh. They would ‘know by experience’ that He was Yahweh, ‘the One Who is there’, for He will reveal His power in the actual deliverance of His people ‘with a strong arm’. They were to see Him in action. They would not now just ‘know (be aware of) His name’ as something that was passed down, they would know it in the depths of their experience because of His powerful activity. It will be made known by what He does. The wonders were wrought so that his people in the future might ‘know that I am Yahweh’ (10.2; 16.11). He was manifesting Himself in the fullness of His power.
They were aware of their past history and that their fathers had ‘known’ Him. But as they had not in their own time experienced Yahweh as the mighty Deliverer Whose delivery they had experienced for themselves. He had become a theory Who could conveniently be ignored.
Many are in a similar position today. If you asked them, ‘do you know of Jesus Christ?’ they would reply, ‘Yes, of course’. But if they were asked, ‘do you know Him? Have you experienced His saving power?’ they would not know what you were talking about. They do not know Him. He has not made Himself known to them. They simply know about Him.
The point being made is thus that while Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did know the name of Yahweh theoretically and were aware of it, they did not know that name in its practical outworking. They waited in hope. They had never experienced its explosiveness in action. He had not made Himself known as ‘the One Who acts’. Rather had they walked before Him in obedience and expectancy of the future, believing that He would make His name known in the future by one day fulfilling His promises?
The patriarchs did, of course, know the name of Yahweh as a name. That is not in question. The point is that He was not ‘made known’ to them in the significance of that name. In the same way they knew of Him by His titles but did not experience His present power in giving them the land. For we must recognize that to know a name was to enter into the power of that name, to experience the personality and force behind it, and to know the fulfillment of it, and they had only known it in promise not in realization. They could not truly ‘know Yahweh’ until His promises were fulfilled.
The covenant was given to them and established with them but it was not actualized. They only ‘sojourned’ (lived as aliens) in the land as ‘strangers’. But now it was to be given to them in the persons of their descendants, something that they themselves had not experienced. Then they had been aware of Him by His titles, now they would know Him fully in the outworking of His power as revealed in His mighty name.
5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
The Great and Mighty God Yahweh recognizes that Moses’ faith is wavering and so He repeats His assurances about what He intends to do.. In chapter 3.7 He had heard their cry as a result of their taskmasters and in 3.8 had come down to deliver them, and now He confirms He will do the same. So while things might seem not to be encouraging, let Moses be sure of this, patience is required but God’s purpose and intention has not changed. Patience with God in His work is one thing that all of us find hard to learn.
6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’”
How then were they to know that He was Yahweh? This was an advance on what had been promised before. The first promise was to deliver out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey (3.8, 17). This promise went much further. They are to receive it for a heritage. He wants them to be comforted and to recognize that nothing that has happened has altered His intentions. The promises still apply and are indeed extended.
The theme of knowing Yahweh continues. He is now about to reveal Himself in their deliverance from their slavery (the Exodus), the taking of them to be His people (Mount Sinai), the bringing of them into the land (Joshua), and the giving it to them for a heritage (Joshua to David). Thus will they know Him by His name as the One Who is there to act, and has acted, and will worship Him in His Dwelling place (tabernacle) as the One Who has come down to them to be among them.
Please take note that His words begin and end with the same refrain, ‘I am Yahweh.’ He is emphasizing that they have known His name for so long but have not ever known Him in the real significance of that name. Now they are about to do so.
The statement made by our Holy God -‘I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments’- is only the second use of the term ‘redeem’, which means to deliver by the payment of a price. The first was when Jacob spoke of ‘the Angel who redeemed me from all evil’ (Genesis 48.16). Now Yahweh will redeem with a powerful arm and with great judgments.
A stretched out arm is an arm active in power. The great judgments will follow. They are judgments because by their actions the Egyptians have made themselves worthy of judgment.
The Israelites were, of course, already His people, for they were of the ‘family’ of the Patriarchs to whom the promises had been given. They were ‘His son, His firstborn’ (4.22). They were ‘My people’ (5.1). But now it is to be confirmed to them personally. At Mount Sinai Yahweh will personally adopt them as His own. They will know His Name fully because they will experience its significance as the One Who acts, the One Who ‘will be what He will be’. He is about to act in order to fulfill His promises to their fathers.
Lifting up the hand was way of making a solemn confirmation of His determination to fulfill His part in the covenant. God was sworn to act on their behalf.
9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
They had listened before. But then life had been bearable. Now it was so hard that they were not prepared to listen any longer. They had lost all spirit. They gritted their teeth and closed their ears. They had lost hope. Life was almost unsustainable. From now on Moses and Aaron would have to act alone. But this simply brings out the lesson that when things seem at their worst, God is at His best.
10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.” 12 And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
Having sought to bolster Moses’ faith with a reminder and revelation of Who He Is, God now commanded that Moses go again to Pharaoh to request leave to go out of the land. But Moses’ reply was, if the children of Israel who believe in Yahweh will not listen, why should Pharaoh? He remembers vividly the scathing words of Pharaoh, ‘I do not know Yahweh’.
Our Holy Lord Yahweh tells him what he was to say, ‘Let the children of Israel go out of this land.’ The purpose of the ‘going’ is not mentioned here, but at this stage the idea is still that they go for the purpose of worshipping and serving Yahweh in the wilderness. That is how Pharaoh also continued to see it (8.8). But it would be the first reminder that as a people they did not belong in this land.
The idea of ‘uncircumcised’ is of unresponsiveness, of a function which is not working properly. It does not suggest that Moses was uncircumcised. It means rather that he had a ‘covering’ on his lips which he could not remove (as with the foreskin. It is saying that his words are not powerful enough to be effective, or that his lips have not been sufficiently trained. He is not properly qualified. The thought may also include that Pharaoh will not see him as a man dedicated to a god, but as one whose lips are unsanctified.
Our Precious Holy Spirit now inserts a break in the narrative. The writer saw it as important that now in preparation for the deliverance the credentials of Aaron, and therefore of Moses, should be given.
13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
This is one of the summary verses which occur so often in the Scriptures, summarizing what was to come. That Yahweh was working to finally bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land was unquestioned, and had been clearly stated. That thought may be included here as a note of final intent. But we can equally argue that this must be read in the light of the context. The purpose stated is continually that they be allowed to go and serve Yahweh in the wilderness, and that can be read in here.
The charge having been given it is now considered necessary to outline the genealogical background to these two great men. In those days a man’s genealogy and family connections were seen as of prime importance and were often found at the beginning of a written record. Furthermore the preliminaries being over the main battle was about to begin. It was thus important to identify the background of the main participants who were not yet identified, and it was done in a wider context. Moses and Aaron’s place in the scheme of things had to be pinpointed.
Here we have the genealogy of Aaron. What meaning has that for us today? The truth is that the detailing of a genealogy is a reminder that God knows exactly who we are, even if we do not know ourselves. It is a reminder that God knew all about Aaron, and that He knows all about us. Thus will He direct our lives in the way that is best for us, if only we will let Him.
14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon.
These genealogies of Reuben and Simeon are introductory to the genealogy of Levi. Reuben is mentioned as the firstborn of Israel, and Simeon probably because he is Levi’s twin (Genesis 49.5). These both add their status to that of Levi. Please also notice the mention of the Canaanite woman. This was looked on as a blot against Simeon’s name. Marriage with Canaanite women was frowned on. The Simeonites would later bring a similar blot on themselves in Numbers 25.
So Reuben and his sons are mentioned because he was the head of the whole of Israel, the ‘firstborn’. Then Simeon is mentioned because he was possibly Levi’s twin, and therefore closely associated. These make clear who Levi himself was.
16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.
An important insight in these verses is that the part of the family of special concern is highlighted by a statement of the length of their lives. Their long lives were an indication of Yahweh’s blessing on that part of the family. A number ending in seven indicated divine connection. A number ending in three indicates completeness.
20 Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.
The fact that Amram married his father’s sister is only later forbidden when we come to the time of Leviticus 18.12. The name ‘Yochebed’ means ‘Yahweh is glory’. This serves to demonstrate how early the name of Yahweh was incorporated in Hebrew names and confirms that the name of Yahweh was known to the children of Israel well before the time of Moses.
21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri.
These are ‘the sons of’ (descendants of) Amram’s brothers. Probably Hebron had no children. He may have died young. Overall they represent the leaders of the clans (verse 25).
23 Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
The family of Aaron is now given. Nahshon, the brother of Aaron’s wife, was the son of Amminadab and an important leader of the tribe of Judah (Numbers 1.7), thus Elisheba his sister came from a leading family.
24 And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.
These details are given, (exceptionally), probably because Korah himself was ‘swallowed up by the earth’ or slain by fire from heaven and therefore his sons carried on the line (Numbers 26.10-11). His name was blotted out of Israel.
25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.
Phinehas was a popular Egyptian name. He later proved his loyalty to Yahweh in a rather grim fashion when he slew an Israelite who was brazenly consorting with a pagan Midianite woman (probably in the course of adulterous rites) after many in Israel had taken to the worship of pagan gods (Numbers 25.11). Putiel is also probably an Egyptian name. Phinehas later became ‘the Priest’ (the leading priest) after Eleazar.
26 These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27 These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.
The writer now connects Moses and Aaron as the deliverers from Egypt with the Aaron and Moses mentioned in the genealogy. Notice the switch from ‘Aaron and Moses’ (verse 26) to ‘Moses and Aaron’ (verse 27). In the genealogy Aaron is the eldest son, but in importance Moses is primary.
28 And it came to pass, on the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the LORD. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”30 But Moses said before the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
This final statement parallels verses 11-12. Having intervened with a genealogy the writer has to bring his hearers back to where they were before the diversion, thus we have a partial repetition in reverse order of what was written in verses 10-13.
Indeed the constant partial repetitions are intended to build up the hearers’ anticipation. It was important that the facts were firmly rooted in the mind, and it builds them up to a state of anticipation. It was drawing out the drama.
Moses of course knew that He was Yahweh, but what God wanted to impress on him more and more was that He was there as ‘the One Who is about to act’. He wanted them to know that He was Yahweh, that is, to recognize the power with which He would act. He then stressed that Moses must pass on His words to Pharaoh (compare verse 11).
In this chapter we have seen that through the experiences which Israel was enduring our Great and Holy God revealed Himself to them in a new way. Often the purpose for our experiences is that we might come to know God better. There are so many distractions that take possession of our lives. And God has sometimes to put us in positions where we turn our eyes from our distractions and fix our thoughts on Him. And it is then that He will make Himself known to us as He never has before. Then, depending on our response, will be the blessing that we receive from it.
