FRAMEWORKS:
Exodus 6: The Call is Clarified
v.1-5
The Lord reiterates to Moses who He is and what He has done
v.6-9
God instructs Moses what to tell the Israelites
v.10-13
God tells Moses to challenge Pharaoh but Moses questions it
v.14-27
Family Record of Moses and Aaron
v.26-30
Moses & Aaron, the ones called to deliver Israel
v.1-5
The Lord reiterates to Moses who He is and what He has done
v.1
Then
the LORD
said
to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because
of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand
he will drive them out of his country.”
v.2
God
also said to Moses, “I am the LORD
.
v.3
I
appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but
by my name the Lord
I
did not make myself fully known to them.
v.4
I
also established my covenant with them to give them the land of
Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.
v.5
Moreover,
I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians
are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
[Notes:
The Lord makes the point that the resistance they have
encountered will eventually give way before His power. He is the
‘I AM', the eternal, all-powerful God of Creation after all. He
had appeared to the Patriarchs as ‘God Almighty' but had not revealed
Himself as He was now doing. He had made a covenant to take Israel
back to Canaan and [implied] He will keep that covenant.]
v.6-9
God instructs Moses what to tell the Israelites
v.6
“Therefore,
say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD
,
and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you
with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
v.7
I
will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you
will know that I am the LORD
your
God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
v.8
And
I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give
to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a
possession. I am the Lord.'”
v.9
Moses
reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him
because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
[Notes:
The Lord's next instruction to Moses is to convey something
of this to Israel, that He WILL deliver them and it will be by
mighty acts of power, and He WILL take them to Canaan, but Israel
struggle to believe. Implied in talk of ‘mighty acts of judgment',
we might consider this will be necessary to overcome the mighty
stubbornness of Pharaoh, but perhaps Moses & Aaron haven't
fully understood that yet. This is going to be a God-deliverance,
not a Moses-deliverance.]
v.10-13
God tells Moses to challenge Pharaoh but Moses questions it
v.10
Then
the LORD
said
to Moses,
v.11
“Go,
tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his
country.”
v.12
But
Moses said to the Lord
,
“If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen
to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
v.13
Now
the LORD
spoke
to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
[Notes:
The Lord prompts Moses to challenge Pharaoh again, and
now Moses is beginning to understand the impossibility of the
task. Before (on Sinai) he expressed his own low self-esteem,
but perhaps now he is beginning to understand it will take more
than his faltering words to convince Pharaoh because even Israel
won't believe him.]
v.14-27
Family Record of Moses and Aaron
v.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.
v.15
The
sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul
the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.
v.16
These
were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records:
Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.
v.17
The
sons of Gershon, by clans, were Libni and Shimei.
v.18
The
sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived
133 years.
v.19
The
sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These
were the clans of Levi according to their records.
v.20
Amram
married his father's sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses.
Amram lived 137 years.
v.21
The
sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zikri.
v.22
The
sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.
v.23
Aaron
married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon,
and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
v.24
The
sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were the
Korahite clans.
v.25
Eleazar
son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore
him Phinehas. These
were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.
[Notes:
It's time to clarify who we are talking about and so
the names of all the tribal leaders are reiterated.]
v.26-30
Moses & Aaron, the ones called to deliver Israel
v.26
It
was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD
said,
“Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.”
v.27
They
were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing
the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.
v.28,29
Now
when the LORD
spoke
to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, “I am the LORD.
Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”
v.30
But
Moses said to the LORD,
“Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to
me?”
[Notes:
“Just for the Record” is how this section feels. Make
no mistake, this was the Aaron & Moses called to deliver Israel
from Egypt by the Lord. Make no mistake, they will go down in
history for this!]
Continue to Chapter 7