His Name is Wonderful!
(Exodus 6:14-25)
14 These are the heads of their fathers' households. The sons of Reuben, Israel's firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 15The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. 16These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. 17The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. 18The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath's life was one hundred and thirty-three years. 19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. 20Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. 21The sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. 22The sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri. 23Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24The sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. 25Aaron's son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites according to their families.
Commentary
(6:14) These were the heads of their families: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. These were the clans of Reuben.
"These were the heads of their families:" Not of the families of Moses and Aaron, but the children of Israel, though only the heads of three tribes are mentioned; and some think that these three are taken notice of, to show that they were accepted by God, though they seem to be somewhat cursed than blessed by Jacob; and that though they were guilty of very great crimes, as Reuben of incest, and Simeon and Levi of murder, yet they truly repented, and obtained mercy from God, and were honored in their offspring, of whom an account is given here; but the first two seem to be taken notice of for the sake of the third, and that order might be observed, and that it might appear that the deliverers of Israel were Israelites:
The sons of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. These were the clans of Reuben.
These are the families of Reuben, the heads of them, or from whence they sprung.
Names and the order in which they appear are the same as in Genesis 46:9.
(6:15) The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.
These are the heads of their fathers' houses—chiefs or governors. The insertion of this genealogical table in this part of the narrative was intended to authenticate the descent of Moses and Aaron. Both of them were commissioned to act so important a part in the events transacted in the court of Egypt and afterward elevated to such high offices in the government and Church of God that it was of the utmost importance that their lineage should be accurately traced. Reuben and Simeon being the oldest of Jacob's sons, a passing notice is taken of them. Then the historian advances to the enumeration (a record) of the principal persons in the house of Levi (Ex 6:16-19).
These are the heads - We have in the following verses not a complete genealogy but a summary account of the family of the two brothers. Moses records for the satisfaction of Hebrew readers, to whom genealogical questions were always interesting, the descent and position of the designated leaders of the nation. See Exodus 6:26-27.
The sons of Simeon. The list corresponds precisely, both in the names and in the order, with that given in Genesis 46:9-10 but differs considerably from 1 Chronicle 4:24 and Numbers 26:12. In both the latter places, Jemuel appears as Nemuel, Zohar as Zerah, and Obad is omitted. In 1 Chronicle 4:24, Jachin appears as Jarib. It would seem that the family of Obad died out and disappeared soon after the Israelites left Egypt. On the other hand, the family of Shaul increased and multiplied (1 Chronicle 4:25-27).
The list corresponds precisely, both in the names and in the order, with that given in Genesis 46:10 but differs considerably from 1 Chronicle 4:24 and Numbers 26:12. In both the latter places, Jemuel appears as Nemuel, Zohar as Zerah, and Obad is omitted. In 1 Chronicle 4:24, Jachin appears as Jarib. It would seem that the family of Obad died out and disappeared soon after the Israelites left Egypt. On the other hand, the family of Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman, increased and multiplied (1 Chronicle 4:25-27). The clan Shaul must have had in it a mixing of Canaanite blood.
(6:16) These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.
And these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their generations. Whose sons, according to the order of their birth, were as follow: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari; see (Genesis 46:11), And these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their generations.
Moreover, the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven years; and Polyhistor assigns precisely the same number of years to him from Demetrius, a Heathen writer. Jarchi says that the reason why the years of the life of Levi are reckoned is to show how long the bondage lasted; for there was no servitude as long as any of the tribes (or of the sons of Jacob) remained, according to Exodus 1:6 and the Jewish chronologers affirm that Levi was the last of the patriarchs that died; and that he died in the year of the world 3332, and lived in Egypt ninety-four years; and from his time to the going out of Egypt, were only one hundred and sixteen years; and they further say the bondage could not last longer than one hundred and sixteen years, nor shorter than eighty-seven. Bishop Usher places his death in A. M.[1] (above mentioned) 2385, and before Christ 1619: according to the Targum of Jonathan, he lived to see Moses and Aaron the deliverers of Israel; but that is false since Joseph, and all his brethren died before Moses was born, Exodus 1:6.
(6:17) The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.
These are the heads - We have in the following verses not a complete genealogy but a summary account of the family of the two brothers. Moses records for the satisfaction of Hebrew readers, to whom genealogical questions were always interesting, the descent and position of the designated leaders of the nation. See Exodus 6:26-27.
(6:18) The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; the length of Kohath's life was one hundred and thirty-three years.
The sons of Kohath. The same names are given in 1 Chronicle 6:2 and 15. Kohath, who was probably about twenty at the time of the descent into Egypt, must have considerably outlived Joseph, who died about seventy years after the descent. His eldest son, Amram, is not likely to have been born much later than his father's thirtieth year. (See Genesis 11:12-24.) Amram would thus have been contemporary with Joseph for above fifty years.
(6:19) The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.
And the sons of Merari, Mahali, and Mushi, from whence sprung the families of the Mahalites and Mushites, Numbers 3:33, are the families of Levi, according to their generations: the families that descended from him and his sons, according to their order of birth.
The sons of Merari. The same names occur in 1 Chronicle 6:19 and 23. Mahali, by a difference of pointing: to give added force, emphasis, or piquancy (spiciness) to becoming Mahli. The Mahlites and Mushites were among the most important of the Levitical families (Numbers 3:33; Numbers 26:58). Exodus 6:19
The Merarites, who formed two families comprising 6200 males, were to encamp on the north side of the tabernacle, under their prince Zuriel, and to observe the boards, bolts, pillars, and sockets of the dwelling-place (Exodus 26:15, Exodus 26:26, Exodus 26:32, Exodus 26:37), together with all the vessels thereof (the plugs and tools), and all that had to be done in connection in addition to that, also the pillars of the court with their sockets, the plugs and the cords (Exodus 27:10, Exodus 27:19; Exodus 35:18); that is to say, they were to take charge of these when the tabernacle was taken down, to carry them on the march, and to fix them when the tabernacle was set up again (Numbers 4:31-32)
(6:20). Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; the length of Amram's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.
This Amram was the first son of Kohath. The father of Moses, as after related, and so must be the same with the man of the house of Levi, and his wife the daughter of Levi, as in Exodus 2:1, and though such a marriage was afterward prohibited, Moses does not conceal it, though it may seem to reflect some dishonor on him and his family; he was writing not for his glory, but the sake of truth, and the good of humankind, and especially the church and people of God. Moreover, Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife,... Indeed the Vulgate Latin version, and the Septuagint, Samaritan, and Syriac versions make her be his first cousin, the daughter of his father's brother, his uncle's daughter: and so does Polyhistor from Demetrius; but in Numbers 26:59, she is expressly said to be a daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt, and therefore must be his father's sister: and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and Miriam also, though not mentioned, it is for the sake of these two that the genealogy is made: and the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven years: just the age of his grandfather Levi, Exodus 6:16. A Jewish chronologer says he died in the thirtieth year of Moses: but the Arabic writers say in the fifty-sixth or fifty-seventh, and at the end of A. M. 3810. Polyhistor from Demetrius makes his age one hundred and thirty-six, and him to be the father of Moses and Aaron, and Aaron to be three years older than Moses, according to the Scripture account.
(6:21). The sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri.
This is the family of Kohath's second son, Izhar. And the sons of Izhar, Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. These seem to be mentioned as a "son (descendant) for the sake of Korah, Moses' and Aaron's cousin: Numbers 16:1; the other two are talked about nowhere else in Scripture.
Amram. That Amram is the "man of the house of Levi" mentioned in Exodus 2:1 cannot be doubted, but it is scarcely possible that he should be the Amram of ver. 18, the actual son of Kohath and contemporary of Joseph. He is probably a descendant of the sixth or seventh generation, bore the same name, and was the head of the Amramite house. That house, at the time of the Exodus, numbered above two thousand males (Numbers 3:27, 28).
Jochebed, his father's sister. Marriages with aunts and nieces have been common in many countries and are not forbidden by any natural instinct. They first became unlawful by the positive command recorded in Leviticus 18:12. The name Jochebed is the earliest known combined with Jah or Jehovah. It means "the glory of Jehovah."
Amram took Jochebed, his father's sister, as his wife—The Septuagint and Syriac versions render it "his cousin."
(6:22 )The sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan, and Shri.
From Egypt to Sinai. Ex. Chs. 1-19 has Israel in Egypt. The length of time the Hebrews remained In Egypt is a perplexing question. Exodus 6:16-20 makes Moses the fourth generation from Levi (See Gen. 15:16; Num. 26:57-59). This would make it about 150 years. Gen. 15:13 predicts 400 years. Ex. 12:40 says they were there 430 years and Paul (Gal. 3:17) says 430 years from Abraham to Sinai. These conflicting dates may be explained because of different methods of counting generations.
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; if they fail, their failure must be significantly attributed to their lack of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age.
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph that Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt, and the book's story is the story of her redemption. Ultimately, Israel's God is her redeemer, but He operates primarily by human means; the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses.
23. Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
(6:23) Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Naashon.— This was prohibited after the law was given in Leviticus 18:12 but not previously. Amminadab and Naashon were among the ancestors of David (Ruth 4:19-20; 1 Chronicle 2:10-15), and their names are consequently found in the genealogies of our Lord (Matthew 1:4; Luke 3:32-33). Naashon was the "prince of Judah" at the time of the Exodus (Numbers 1:7; Numbers 1:16).
Moses and Aaron were Israelites; raised unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver of the people of Israel. Moses returns to his narrative and repeats the charge God had given him to deliver his message to Pharaoh and his objection against it. Those who have spoken unadvisedly with their lips should reflect upon it regretfully, as Moses seems to do here. Uncircumcised is used in Scripture to note the unsuitableness in anything to answer its proper purpose, as the carnal heart and depraved nature of fallen man are wholly unsuited to the services of God and the purposes of his glory. It is profitable to place no confidence in ourselves; all our sufficiency must be in the Lord. We never can trust ourselves too little or our God too much. I can do nothing by myself, said the apostle, but I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Elisheba—that is, Elizabethan. These minute particulars recorded of the family of Aaron, while he has passed over his own, indicate the genuine modesty of Moses. An ambitious man or an impostor would have acted differently.
Amminadab, a prince of the tribe of Judah, Numbers 1:7 and Numbers 2:3. Marriages were not yet confined to their tribes. When they were, the Levites seem to have had this privilege that they might marry a daughter of any other tribe because, indeed, the reason for that law did not concern them, there not being any danger of confusion or loss of inheritance on their part. Moreover, many marriages were made between the tribes of Judah and Levi to signify that both were united in Christ, who was to be both king and priest. It is observable that Moses is here silent in his progeny (offspring). However, it gives a particular account of his brother's, not only from his great humility and modesty, which shines forth in many other passages but because it was of more concern. The honor of priesthood given to Aaron was hereditary and peculiar to his seed; therefore, they needed to be precisely known. In contrast, Moses's honor and the government were only personal and did not pass to his children.
Furthermore, Aaron took him Elisheba, The same name we pronounce as Elizabeth; and of this name was the wife of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, Luke 1:5, this woman Aaron took was the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Naashon; a prince of the tribe of Judah, (Numbers 7:12), her he took to wife; or married; for though intermarriages with the several tribes were not allowed, nor used in after times, that they might be kept distinct, and the inheritances also, yet the tribe of Levi often took wives of other tribes, because they had no inheritance, and were to have none in the land of Canaan, so that confusion in tribes and inheritance was not made as a result of this. It is observable that these marriages were frequently with the tribe of Judah as signifying the union of the kingly and priestly offices in Christ, who sprung from the tribe of Judah:
Moreover, she bares him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; the two first of these died by fire from heaven in their father's lifetime, for offering strange fire to the Lord, Leviticus 10:1. Eleazar succeeded his father in the priesthood, Numbers 20:26 and of the sons of Ithamar executing the priest's office, see 1 Chronicle 24:2.
24. The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.
The sons of Korah did not partake in his sin and therefore "died not" (Numbers 26:11) but became the heads of important families. The eldest son of Izhar, who, though he proved an evil man, many of his posterity were good men and are often mentioned in the titles of some of the psalms of David: the immediate sons of Korah were Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Aben Ezra says that Samuel the prophet was of the sons of Korah; perhaps what might lead him to it was, because his father's name was Elkanah, the name of one of these sons of Korah, but cannot be this Elkanah: these are the families of the Korhites, the heads or from whom they descended.
Kora?'s family. It is stated in Numbers 26:11 that the sons of Kora? did not perish with their father (Numbers 16:32); Kora?ites are mentioned in Numbers 26:58. In much later days, the Kora?ites acted as gate-keepers in the Temple (1 Chronicle 9:19; 1 Chronicle 26:1-19), and also, probably (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:19; and the titles of Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, 88), assisted in some way in the worship of the Temple. For the names, see 1 Chronicle 6:22-23 (where, however, Elkanah is the son of Assir, and Ebiasaph [Abiasaph] the son of Elkanah), Exodus 9:19 (Ebiasaph). All Korah's sons were not cut off from him (Numbers 26:11). Three at least survived and became the heads of "families of the Korhites."
25. Aaron's son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites according to their families.
This was Aaron's eldest son. The person whose daughter he married, Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, was an Egyptian convert, perhaps of the posterity of Potipherah, among whom Joseph had sowed the seeds of true religion, and supposes that the Egyptians used the name of Puti or Poti, either in memorial of their uncle Put, Genesis 10:6 or in reverence of some deity of that name; but the Targum of Jonathan makes Putiel be the same with Jethro; and so does Jarchi; but Aben Ezra seems to be most fitting, who takes him to be of the children of Israel, though the reason of his name is not known. The daughter of such a one it is most likely a son of Aaron would marry: All Korah's sons were not cut off from him (Numbers 26:11). Three at least survived and became the heads of "families of the Korhites." Moreover, Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife, and she bore him Phinehas; of whom see Numbers 25:11. According to their families, these are the heads of the Levites, from whence the Levites sprung, and their several families. It may be observed that Moses says nothing of his offspring, only of his brother Aaron's, partly out of modesty and humility and partly because the priesthood was successive in the family of Aaron but not the civil government in the family of Moses; and that he proceeds no further to give the genealogy of the remaining tribes, his chief view being to show the descent of Aaron and himself, that it might be with certainty known in after times who they were that were instruments of Israel's deliverance.
Book Summary
The book of Exodus establishes God's covenant relationship with the full-fledged nation of Israel. The descendants of Abraham prosper after settling in Egypt, only to be enslaved by a fearful, hateful Egyptian Pharaoh. God appoints Moses to lead the people out of this bondage. Moses serves as God's spokesman, as the Lord brings plagues and judgments on Egypt, leading to the release of Israel.
Summary of verses 14-25
The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron. - "These are their (Moses' and Aaron's) father's-houses." father's-houses (not fathers' house) is a compound noun so formed that the two words not only denote one idea but are treated grammatically as one word, like idol-houses (1 Samuel 31:9), and high-place-houses (cf. Ges. 108, 3; Ewald, 270c). Father's house was a technical term applied to a collection of families, called by the name of a common ancestor. The father's houses were the larger divisions into which the families (mishpachoth), the largest subdivisions of the tribes of Israel, were grouped. To show clearly the genealogical position of Levi, the tribe-father of Moses and Aaron, among the sons of Jacob, the genealogy commences with Reuben, the first-born of Jacob. It gives the names of such of his sons and those of Simeon as were the founders of families (Genesis 46:9-10). Then follows Levi; and not only are the names of his three sons given but the length of his life is mentioned (Exodus 6:16), also that of his son Kohath and his descendant Amram, because they were the tribe-fathers of Moses and Aaron. However, the Amram mentioned in Exodus 6:20 as the father of Moses cannot be the same person as the Amram, who was the son of Kohath (Exodus 6:18) but must be a later descendant. However, the sameness of names may seem to favor the identity of the persons. If we look at the genealogy before us, a comparison of this passage with Numbers 3:27-28 will show the impossibility of such an assumption. "According to Numbers 3:27-28, the Kohathites were divided (in Moses' time) into the four branches, Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites, who consisted together of 8600 men and boys (women and girls not being included). Of these, about a fourth, or 2150 men, would belong to the Amramites. Now, according to Exodus 18:3-4, Moses himself had only two sons. Consequently, if Amram, the son of Kohath, and tribe-father of the Amramites, was the same person as Amram, the father of Moses, Moses must have had 2147 brothers and brothers' sons (the brothers' daughters, the sisters, and their daughters, not being reckoned at all). Nevertheless, as this is impossible, it must be granted that Amram, the son of Kohath, was not the father of Moses and that an indefinitely long list of generations has been omitted between the former and his descendant of the same name."
(Note: Kurtz has conclusively met the objections of M. Baumgarten to these correct remarks. We find a similar case in the genealogy of Ezra in Ezra 7:3, which passes over from Azariah, the son of Meraioth, to Azariah, the son of Johanan, and omits five links between the two, as we may see from 1 Chronicle 6:7-11. In the same way, the genealogy before us skips over from Amram, the son of Kohath, to Amram, the father of Moses, without mentioning the generations between.)
The enumeration of only four generations, namely., Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses, are unmistakeably related to Genesis 15:16, where it is stated that the fourth generation would return to Canaan. Amram's wife Jochebed, who is merely spoken of in general terms as a daughter of Levi (a Levitess) in Exodus 2:1 and Numbers 26:59, is called here the "aunt" (father's sister) of Amram, a marriage which was prohibited in the Mosaic law (Leviticus 18:12) but was allowed before the giving of the law; so that there is no reason for following the lxx and Vulgate, and rendering the word, in direct opposition to the usage of the language, patruelis, the father's brother's daughter. Amram's sons are placed according to their age: Aaron, then Moses, as Aaron was three years older than his brother. Their sister Miriam was still older (Exodus 2:4). In the lxx, Vulg., and one Hebrew MS, she is mentioned here; but this is a later interpolation. In Exodus 6:21, not only are the sons of Aaron mentioned (Exodus 6:23), but those of two of Amram's brothers, Izhar and Uzziel (Exodus 6:21, Exodus 6:22), and also Phinehas, the son of Aaron's son Eleazar (Exodus 6:25); as the genealogy was intended to trace the descent of the principal priestly families, among which again special prominence is given to Aaron and Eleazar by the introduction of their wives.
On the other hand, none of the sons of Moses are mentioned because his dignity was limited to his person, and his descendants fell behind those of Aaron and were reckoned among the non-priestly families of Levi. The Korahites and Uzzielites are mentioned, but a superior rank was assigned to them in the subsequent history to that of other Levitical families (cf. Numbers 16-17; Numbers 26:11, and Numbers 3:30 with Leviticus 10:4). Aaron's wife, Elisheba, was of the princely tribe of Judah, and her brother Naashon was a tribe-prince of Judah (cf. Numbers 2:3; Exodus 6:25), a frequent abbreviation for heads of the father's-houses of the Levites. In Exodus 6:26 and Exodus 6:27, with which the genealogy closes, the object of introducing it is very clearly shown in the expression, "These are that Aaron and Moses," at the beginning of Exodus 6:26; and again, "These are that Moses and Aaron," at the close of Exodus 6:27. The reversal of the order of the names is also to be noticed. In the genealogy itself, Aaron stands first, as the elder of the two; in conclusion, which leads to the historical narrative that follows, Moses takes precedence over his elder brother as the divinely appointed redeemer of Israel. On the expression, "according to their armies," see Exodus 7:4.
General Notes:
[1] Only one source gives a different meaning for the abbreviation A/M, A.M., a.m. (which is "above mentioned"); all other sources use the meaning ante meridiem (indicating the period from midnight to midday.)
