Exodus 06

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:19utc

I AM THE LORD

This chapter is divided into six section:

vs. 1-5 God's answer to Moses

vs. 6-8 God's answer to Israel

vs. 9 Israel reaction, or the lack of it

vs. 10-12 The renewed address to Pharaoh and Moses' objection

vs. 13-27 The genealogy of Moses and Aaron

vs. 28-30 Recapitulation

God's answer to the discouragement of the people and of Moses is concise: Remember Who I am and remember who you are. Moses' reaction is summarized: It won't work and Israel indicates that the Word of God is not relevant to their situation. How different life is when we understand what God means when He says: "I am the LORD."

The immediate result of Moses' appearance before the people and before Pharaoh had been the opposite of what they had expected. In the hearts of the people hope had been kindled. But Pharaoh had not only refused the request of the people to leave the country, he had struck back with increased oppression. God's patience with man was exhibited in this; He was even patient with Pharaoh, and with the devil. In ch. 9:15 we read: "For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth." There was an underlying tone of compassion in all of this. It was not God's will that even Pharaoh would perish but that he too would be saved.

God announced to Moses that He was ready to act. Twice in the first verse God mentioned His "mighty hand." In vs. 6 He called it "an outstretched arm." According to The Pulpit Commentary an outstretched arm in Egypt writing signified action. God promised action. The onset would be slow, but the pressure upon the Egyptians would increase to the point to which they could not stand it any longer, and they themselves would drive Israel out of Egypt. If only Moses and the Israelites had waited for the Lord, they would have been encouraged beyond measure; but they felt they could not afford to wait. They were wrong. It takes moral strength to wait for the Lord. David said: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."[ 1 ]

There is a hermeneutical problem in the verses 2 and 3. God had revealed Himself to Moses as Yahweh, YHWH or Jehovah. Vs. 3 says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew God as "God Almighty" El-Shaddai, but not as YHWH. The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "The explanation of this passage is by no means easy. God himself, according to Gen xv. 7, revealed himself to Abraham as Jehovah before declaring his name to be El-Shaddai (God Almighty); and again revealed himself to Jacob as Jehovah-Elohim (ib. xxxviii. 13). Abraham named the place where he had been about to sacrifice Isaac, 'Jehovah-jireh' (ib. xxii. 14). That Moses regarded the name as known even earlier, appears from Gen. iv.1. It was probably as old as language. The apparent meaning of the present passage cannot therefore be its true meaning. No writer would so contradict himself. Perhaps the true sense is, 'I was known to them as a Being of might and power, not as mere absolute (and so eternal and immutable) existence.' This meaning of the word, though its etymological and original meaning, may have been unknown to the patriarchs, who were not etymologists. It was first distinctly declared to Moses at Sinai (ch. iii. 14,15)."

It seems to me that the solution is easier if we approach the verse not from the etymological angle but from a spiritual one. The name YHWH stands for the character of God. In the exodus of the people from Egypt and their entrance into Canaan they would know a part of God's character that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never saw. The patriarchs were never anybody's slaves. They never experienced deliverance from bondage as the people in Moses' day were going to experience. The name YHWH was from then on particularly linked with deliverance from bondage. Yahweh is the same Person as our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave the real application of this passage to the Jews of His day when He said: "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."[ 2 ]

The deliverance of Israel from Egypt and their conquest of Canaan eptiomized the essence of God's promises to the patriarchs. On the basis of this covenant with their fathers, God paid attention to the groaning of Israel in Egypt.

The Israelites would be redeemed on the basis of a covenant that had been established before they were born. They had had no input in this. Their deliverance was not the result of anything they had done themselves. It went back to a promise that had been given centuries before they entered into the picture. But now God wanted them to become part of it. Not only would they receive what God had promised to their ancestors, but they were invited to enter this personal relationship with God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had known. In vs. 7 God says: "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." The purpose of redemption is knowing God and knowing God is eternal life. Jesus says it this way in John's Gospel: "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."[ 3 ]

God guarantees the deliverance of Israel by linking the promise to His own character. As in vs. 2, so in vs. 8 God says, "I am the LORD." This should have settled the matter for Israel and for Moses, but it did not. They had no idea Who the God was Who promised this to them. They were unable to look over the boundaries of their present condition. Slavery had made them blind and deaf. They could not hear the Word of God, and they could not reach out in faith to the promise. The reality of their present condition of slavery was greater to them then the promise of God. The devil had them exactly where he wanted them. And in spite of the great miracles God would perform before their very eyes, their hearts never changed. They went out of Egypt but Egypt never went out of them.

The parallel with the Christian life is striking. We may be saved by the blood of Christ and yet keep on living as people who are still in bondage to the power of sin. God expected Israel to start behaving as citizens of Canaan, but they remained Egyptian slaves even as they reached the border of the promised land. It is the condition of our heart that counts. That is why Paul says to the Colossians: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."[ 4 ]

As we have seen before, God had compassion on the people. At the burning bush, He had said to Moses: "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering" (ch. 3:7). And here again in vs. 5 He says: "Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant." Jesus shows the same compassion in Matthew, where we read: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."[ 5 ] God weeps bigger tears than we do, and the Holy Spirit groans more loudly than we do. But God does not act on the basis of emotion alone, no matter deep the emotion may be. The actual basis is a legal one, the covenant He made with the patriarchs.

As a marriage starts with two persons being in love with one another and is concluded in a legal ceremony in which vows are exchanged, so does God put His relationship with us on a legal basis. We have been legally adopted by Him, and any rejection of that relationship is a breach of contract.

The promise of redemption is, moreover, linked to the person and character of God. Moses had to 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. 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" (vs. 6,7). Their redemption should make them understand Who God is.

Also God promises them a very unique relationship that is unequaled in this world. There is an interesting verse in Deuteronomy, which reads: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance."[ 6 ] On the basis of new evidence discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Good News Bible translates this as: "The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a god, but Jacob's descendants he chose for himself."

That is why Paul says: "For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, The people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen."[ 7 ]

This message that should have turned the lives of the people around, falls on deaf ears. We read in vs. 9: "Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage." The Word of God was considered not relevant to their present need. How wrong they were! It seems that the people had a reasonable excuse for not paying attention to Moses. They suffered hardship beyond description and, in their thinking, the increase of pressure was the result of Moses' speaking. Their logic was wrong, but it looked like logic. Their oppression did not come from God but from the enemy. But the enemy hid behind God's back so the Israelites did not see him. As long as the devil remains hidden our world view will be distorted, however reasonable our thinking may sound.

The word "discouragement" seems a weak translation for kotzer ruach. Literally, it means "shortness of spirit" or "shortness of breath." The KJV and RSV bring out better the anguish of the people with the words "anguish of spirit" or "broken spirit."

God repeated the order to Moses to go to Pharaoh. Whether this order was given at the same time as God's promise to the people in the preceding verses is not clear. It was probably a few days later, since Moses had addressed the people in the meantime with very poor results. At this point Moses was utterly miserable. He repeated to God the same argument as he had given in the desert, that is, that he could not speak properly. The Hebrew word that is translated "faltering" in the NIV is aral which literally means "uncircumcised." It has the larger meaning of anything that is superfluous. The Pulpit Commentary says: "'Lips inefficient for the purpose for which lips are given; as 'uncircumcised ears' are ears that cannot hearken (Jer. vi. 10), and an 'uncircumcised heart' a heart that cannot understand (ib. ix. 26)." Evidently Moses was leaving his eloquent brother out of the picture.

There is a slight but important change in the second command God wanted Moses to give to Pharaoh. Whereas, the first time the three-day journey was mentioned, during the second audience Moses had to announce an unqualified demand for departure. It seems that the first time, in ch. 5:1,3 there was a request that could imply a return of the people to Egypt, the second time this seems to be dropped completely. It is obvious, though, that return to Egypt was never the plan. God wanted the people in Canaan, not in Egypt. Initially the door seems to have been kept open to bring Israel and Egypt into normal relations with one another. Pharaoh's violent resistance resulted in expulsion and enmity for centuries to come.

The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron vs. 13-27

Obviously the verses 13-27 and 28-30 are an interruption of the actual narrative. The Pulpit Commentary supposes that, although Moses might have prepared the genealogy, the verses were inserted in the book at a later date by the final compiler. The intent is obvious: later generations should have a clear understanding of the historical links, especially of the genealogical line of the leaders who were the main instruments in bringing the people out of Egypt to Canaan.

This is not a complete genealogy of all the sons of Jacob and their offspring. The list starts with Reuben and Simeon and stops at Levi. Neither the rest of Lea's children, nor any of the other brothers are mentioned. Why Reuben and Simeon are mentioned at all is not clear. The obvious intent is to distinguish the family of Levi.

The details of the lists are of very little consequence for our study. The most revealing fact is that the name of Moses' father is mentioned in vs. 20. The Pulpit Commentary says here: "That this Amram is the 'man of the house of Levi' mentioned in ch. ii.1, cannot be doubted; but it is scarcely possible that he should be the same Amram of ver. 18, the actual son of Kohath and contemporary of Joseph. He is probably a descendant of the sixth or seventh generation, who 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 (Num. iii.27,28)."

[ 1 ] Ps 27:14

[ 2 ] John 8:34-36

[ 3 ] John 17:3

[ 4 ] Col. 3:1-3

[ 5 ] Matt. 9:36

[ 6 ] Deut. 32:3,8

[ 7 ] Rom. 9:3-5