Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 6:1) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he shall let them go, and with a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.”
In the last chapter, Moses and Aaron had gone before Pharaoh the first time to ask that Pharaoh let the Israelite people go to worship and sacrifice to their God in the desert. He had refused just as God said he would, but he put unreasonable additional work on the Israelites claiming the only reason they wanted to go sacrifice to their Lord was because they were idle. It was too much work and the Israelite officers were beaten because the people could not possibly keep up with the task. The people complained to Moses and Aaron that it was their fault, and Moses took their complaints to God. God responded in a way that should have conveyed to Moses that this was part of His plan; NOW Moses would see what God would do to Pharaoh in response. When forced with God's strong hand, Pharaoh would not only let the people go, he would drive them out of the land. God was giving assurance to Moses, repeating His promise to him, that He would stretch out His hand and strike Egypt with all His wonders
and then Pharaoh would let them go. Interestingly, the word translated as "strong" above is "chazaq", and that was the same word used in Exodus 4:21, there translated as "harden" when God said He would harden Pharaoh's heart. It may be a slightly different form of the word, as Strong's listed it as a separate word; it is spelled the same, but appears to be pronounced a little differently, but definitely it's a form of the same word. With a strong hardened heart, Pharaoh would refuse God's people, but with a stronger mightier hand, God would deliver them from Pharaoh, to the point where he would actually drive them out of his land.
(2) And God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; (3) And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH I was not known to them."
God told Moses that He was the Lord, Jehovah. He told him He had appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and He was known to them as El Shaddai, God Almighty, but His name, Jehovah, or more properly Yehovah, was not known to them. Actually, Jehovah had been used as a title before this time, and it meant "self-existent or eternal", so the eternal God was known, but perhaps not as the true proper name of the one true God. Moses had been the one to ask what God's name was, so now it was personal. At least that is what I thought, but some Biblical scholars have said that it was translated a bit wrong, or in the wrong order, and should have read, "and by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them?" The same almighty eternal God of his forefathers was here before him now. Maybe both interpretations are true--God had been called Jehovah, but the reality of the name may not have truly been known to them, as God was about to accomplish the promises He had made to them in a big way, in a way they could have only imagined, and could not have known from experience. Jehovah and His covenant were about to be made real!
(4) “And 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."
The Lord had established His covenant with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, to give them the land of Canaan; a land in which they had lived as strangers would be theirs. The Lord had now heard the groaning of the children of Israel who were living in oppression and bondage by the Egyptians, and He remembered the covenant He had made to their forefathers, not that God ever forgot, but now was the time to bring it to fruition.
(6) “Therefore say to the children of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. (7) And I will take you to Me as My people, and I will be your God; and 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, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage; I am the LORD.’”
God told Moses to tell the people of Israel that He was Jehovah, the Lord, and that He would rescue them and bring them out of Egypt with His outstretched arm, which surely signified the exertion of His almighty power, and with great judgments upon the Egyptians. He would furthermore take this people as His people and He would be their God; they would no longer be subject to Pharaoh, but would have God as their ruler and protector and defender. They would surely know that He alone was Jehovah the Lord when He brought them out, and fulfilled the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, bringing them to the promised land. He would give the land to them as an inheritance for He was Jehovah, the Lord, and had the sovereign power to dispose of lands and kingdoms as He pleased.
(9) And Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
It is hard to believe that after all these marvelous personal promises by God, the people would not even listen to Moses! It was Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, who pointed out how many repetitions of His promises God gave to the people in what He told Moses to tell them above: "I will bring you out...I will rescue you...I will redeem you...I will bring you into...I will give you..." I'm paraphrasing his words, but in essence, he said it was shameful that man had such unbelief and needed such repetitions, and that glory be to God that He would give man such repeated assurances! Maybe they just didn't believe Moses because his actions seemed to make things so much worse. The people were so swallowed up by their troubles and misery, they probably felt helpless and hopeless and were either unable or unwilling to listen to Moses.
(10) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
Moses probably went right back to the Lord, not knowing what to do when the people would not listen to him. God just told Moses to go back to Pharaoh and repeat his demand. It did seem more like a demand this time to let the people go, rather than a request to allow them to go for a few days. However, I believe the point is that God was giving Pharaoh one more chance to let the people go before He brought judgment.
(12) And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel have not heeded me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who is of uncircumcised lips?”
Moses told the Lord if his own people would not listen to him, he didn't see how Pharaoh would pay any attention to him, one of uncircumcised lips. An uncircumcised ear was one that did not hear clearly, an uncircumcised heart was slow to receive and understand, and uncircumcised lips could not speak fluently. Moses used the term to again complain that he could not speak well.
(13) And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
As God had answered Moses's objection about his speech before, He sent Aaron with Moses to give God's command both to the people and to Pharaoh, that they were to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. God had already told Moses that Pharaoh would refuse to let the people go at first, so any objection Moses would have would really be moot anyway, but God pretty much shut up all debate and gave Moses and Aaron His command to tell the people and Pharaoh to let the people go from 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.
Inserted here is a genealogy of Moses and Aaron, probably intended to show that Moses and Aaron were Israelites who came in a direct line from Abraham. It begins with Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son, and names Reuben's sons. Next the sons of Simeon are named. Interestingly, Reuben and Simeon are not direct lines to Moses and Aaron, but are two of Levi's brothers, Levi being their direct line. None other of the brothers are listed, so why name just Reuben and Simeon? Perhaps it was as simple as naming the brothers in order until Levi was reached to prove the relationship with the sons of Israel. Some of the old Bible commentators wrote that there was more to it: these three were taken notice of to show that they were not rejected of God, although they were rather cursed by Jacob; and although they were guilty of great crimes, Reuben of incest, and Simeon and Levi of murder, they truly repented and obtained mercy of God, and were honored in their offspring, of whom an account was here given. It's a nice idea, but I don't see that there is any proof of that. Since they are named in order, I believe it is as simple as the first two being named only for the sake of the third that the order might be preserved, but then again Moses would not have had to mention Reuben and Simeon at all, so who knows...? One thing is for certain, though, this genealogy was used to prove that the deliverers of the Israelite people, Moses and Aaron, were indeed Israelites themselves. So on with that proof:
(16) And 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) And the sons of Merari were Mahali and Mushi; these are the families of Levi according to their generations.
Levi and his sons and each of their sons were listed next.
(20) And 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.
Amram, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, was the father of Moses and Aaron. Once again, as discussed before, it must not be ignored that Moses recorded the marriage of his father Amram with Jochebed his own aunt. This marriage would later be forbidden as incestuous, which might be looked upon as a blot upon Moses's family, but Moses did not hide it, "for he sought not his own praise, but wrote with a sincere regard to truth, whether it smiled or frowned upon him" (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible).
(21) And the sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. (22) And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri.
Two of Amram's brothers, two other sons of Kohath, were mentioned next, with their sons, perhaps to show the relationship of Moses to his cousins, some of whom will be mentioned later, although not so favorably. But, as generally the case with his impartial writing, Moses listed them in his genealogy.
(23) And Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Moses's brother, Aaron, is listed next, with his wife and his sons. Aaron's wife was from the line of Judah, and her brother Nahshon was considered a prince of Judah. I have read that while normally there was not a lot of intermarriage among the tribes, so as to keep the tribes and their inheritances distinct, 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.
(24) And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.
This scripture went back to name the sons of Korah, son of Izhar, Amram's brother; these would be sons of Moses's cousin.
(25) And 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 of the Levites according to their families.
Next and finally, Aaron's son Eleazar is listed with his wife and son. This partial genealogy was intended to name the heads of the Levites. Interestingly, Moses wrote of Aaron's offspring, but not of his own. This was probably because the priesthood was successive in the family of Aaron, rather than Moses.
(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 they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt; these are that Moses and Aaron.
These verses confirm that the reason for the genealogy was to show that Aaron and Moses were also children of Israel and to prove their ancestry and their positions in the Abrahamic line. The verses reiterated that God had chosen Moses and Aaron to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, and that they indeed were the ones who went to Pharaoh to do just that. Bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt according to their armies might have been a description of the large numbers of them marching out of Egypt, not in a confused fearful flight, but as in military order with great composure and power.
(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) And Moses said before the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken to me?”
The genealogy was included as a sort of parenthesis to explain just who this Moses and Aaron were who God was charging to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, and now the scriptures returned to a repeat of verses 10 and 11 after Moses had spoken to the children of Israel, but they did not heed him because of their anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. God told Moses to return to Pharaoh and tell him all God had told him to tell him. However, Moses objected, wondering why Pharaoh would ever listen to him, one with uncircumcised lips that could not speak well. Verses 28-30 are just a repeat of verses 10-12 in order to return to the story before the parenthetical verses about the genealogy of Moses and Aaron, and to set up what happened next in the following chapter.
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