Exodus 6:1-27--God Promises Freedom

Exodus 6:1-27
World English Bible

6 Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.”

2 God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am Yahweh. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them. 4 I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. 5 Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. 7 I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 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 for a heritage: I am Yahweh.’”

9 Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they didn’t listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

10 Yahweh 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.”

12 Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel haven’t listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, when I have uncircumcised lips?” 13 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 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. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred thirty-three years. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. 20 Amram took Jochebed his father’s sister to himself as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of the life of Amram were one hundred thirty-seven years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar Aaron’s son took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families. 26 These are that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” 27 These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron.

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We'll finish up this week with God's plan to save His people.  God wants Pharaoh to know that the arm of the LORD is long enough and strong enough to deliver His people and that He has unlimited reach and power, unlike Pharaoh who was worshiped by the Egyptian people as a god, and He was the only true God and the only living God and all the gods the Egyptians worshiped were frauds.

The LORD reminds Moses of the covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which He has not forgotten, and it is for the sake of that covenant that He will act to save His people, whom He has heard.  He will free them from their bondage and redeem them from their slavery (redemption requires a price to be paid, and we'll see exactly what that price is and what it points forward to when we get there--I think next week--in Exodus 14).  He promises to bring them up out of the land of Egypt to the Land of Canaan that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Israelites heard, but did not believe and would not listen because their spirits had been crushed by the harsh treatment of the Egyptians.  They believed (to quote the Borg from various Star Trek series and movies) that "resistance is futile."  The last time they listened to the LORD's promise of deliverance it ended in them having to make bricks without straw and harsh beating from their taskmasters, and they did not want to make that same mistake again.

Moses then begins to doubt the LORD's plan.  If the LORD's own people won't listen to him as the messenger of the LORD, what chance is there of Pharaoh listening to Moses's message? Yet, the LORD never promised that Pharaoh would listen.  In fact, He has already promised quite the opposite.  He has promised that Pharaoh will not listen and that it will lead to the destruction of Pharaoh and his empire.  The LORD did not give into Moses's complaining that the job would be hard, He just simply repeated His command to go and tell both His people and Pharaoh that the LORD was going to set His people free and redeem them as people unto Himself.  Moses's job was not to get anyone to agree with the message, but simply to speak the message he was given.  In much the same way, we cannot make anyone believe the gospel, we can just be faithful to preach it.

The passage ends with a genealogy for Moses and Aaron.  It starts by showing that Levi was the third son of Jacob and then focuses in on the family of Levi and keeps focusing in on the family from which Moses and Aaron came from.  It then clarifies for us that these were the same Moses and Aaron that spoke to Pharaoh (almost like they knew someone would make the claim later that Moses and Aaron were just common names and that this genealogy was for a different Moses and Aaron).  Now that we have an official introduction to all the players "on stage," it is time for the action to begin and it is the LORD, no Pharaoh who has written and is directing this play.