Exo 6.1-30 tells us that Yehovah assures Moses that everything will work according to his promised covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Pharaoh will let the people go; but the people would not listen to Moses because of the their despondency; God tells Moses keep going; a genealogy is given to authenticate the descent of Moses and Aaron; Moses objects again about being sent to Pharaoh.
v 1…And the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh (just when we think it is hopeless, Yehovah moves; Pharaoh is going to be given a lesson on Monotheism versus Polytheism; God isn’t trying to conquer Egypt, he already owns Egypt); for under compulsion (by a strong hand) he shall let them go, and under compulsion (a strong hand) he shall drive them out of his land (urgent upon them that they should go).”
v 2…God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord (Yehovah;
v 3…and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai; sufficient power), but by my name Lord (Yehovah) I did not make myself known to them (who he really is in the past, present and future; Yehovah was now going to show the full significance of that name in the coming dealings with Egypt and Pharaoh).
v 4…And I also established by covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.
v 5…And furthermore, I have heard (this is emphatic) the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage; and I have remembered the covenant (not that he had forgotten it, but now was the time that the fulfillment of it might come about according to his covenant plans and purposes).
v 6…Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, “I am the Lord (Yehovah), and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians; and I will deliver you from their bondage; I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments (the redemption is by God’s power, not by Moses or by our power; there are seven “I wills” in v 6-8; seven “I wills” in the Abrahamic Covenant in Gen 17.2-8; and seven “I wills” in the Renewed Covenant in Jer 31.31-34).
v 7…Then I will take you for my people (at Sinai with the Torah), and I will be your God; and you shall know (yada) that I am your God, who brought you from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
v 8…And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession (inheritance). I am the Lord (Yehovah).’ “
v 9…So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency (Hebrew “kotzer ruach” or broken spirit, utterly crushed by disappointment; slavery always devalues the person, making the person less than their taskmasters and eventually people give up and don’t even try anymore; sin is slavery and it is like that, and it eventually robs us) and cruel bondage.
v 10…Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
v 11…”Go, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the sons of Israel out of his land.”
v 12…But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled (Hebrew “uncircumcised”) in speech (unfruitful, unsuitable; he was forgetting that the power of the message wasn’t dependant upon his oratorical skills).”
v 13…Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 6.1-27 gives us the genealogy of Moses and Aaron, who are now the leaders of the people. This list is to authenticate their descent and to shows us that Moses was not the first-born of Amram, or Kohath was not the first-born of Levi. The first-born is not always the “first-born” in God’s eyes and dealings. This seems to be a general rule in the Scriptures. Abel, Shem, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Judah, Joseph, Ephraim, Moses, David were not the eldest sons in their families.
v 14…These are the heads of their father’s households. The sons of Reuben, Israel’s first born: Hanoch (dedicate) and Paltu (distinguished), Hezron (surrounded by a wall) and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.
v 15…And 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
v 16…And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations (“toldot” has a vav missing): Gershom (stranger) and Kohath and Merari (bitter); the length of (life) of Levi was one hundred and thirty-seven years.
v 17…The sons of Gershom: Libni (white) and Shimei (renowned); according to their families .
v 18…And the sons of Kohath: Amram (exalted people) and Izhar and Hebron (communion) and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred and thirty-three years.
v 19…And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations (“toldot” has a vav missing).
v 20…And Amram married his father’s sister (aunt) Jocheved (Yehovah is my glory) and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.
v 21…And the sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg and Zichri.
v 22…And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri.
v 23…And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nachshon, and she bore Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (Aaron’s children are mentioned because of their later prominence in history).
v 24…And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korahites.
v 25…And Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas (of Num 25.10-13 fame; became high priest after Eleazar). These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
v 26…It was Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts (Hebrew “zavotam” or armies).
v 27…They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh the king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt: it was Moses and Aaron.
v 28…Now it came about on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt (resumes the story from v 11-12),
v 29…that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you.”
v 30…But Moses said before the Lord , “Behold, I am unskilled (Hebrew “uncircumcised” or unfruitful, unsuitable) in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me (see v 12 notes)?”
Leave a Reply