6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they.
7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.
We do not know exactly how old Moses was when he left Egypt for Midian. While in that strange land he got married, had two sons, lived as a shepherd, and all the Egyptians who wished to condemn him died. It’s entirely possible that he left Egypt as a young man, and had spent as much as sixty years living this other life. And while we do not know any details for Aaron, other than that he had raised his own family, he too had lived a whole life before this major turning point.
In short, the two men had already lived an entire life, and were quite possibly expecting a quiet sunset to their lives, yet now they were stepping into their greatest undertaking yet. Moses would live another forty years, thus only a third of his life would be spent leading Israel, but it would be the third that defined the whole.
4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
These verses further explain how Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites go served the purposes of the Lord. The Egyptians had denied the Lord’s sovereignty, taken away His peoples’ dignity, enslaved them, and murdered an untold number of their children. Their crimes were immense, and God was not only coming for deliverance, but also retribution. God was here to have a war against the Egyptians, and He wanted them to stand up to the fight long enough to receive the full punishment. Pharaoh capitulating quickly would not have served God’s purpose “that I may lay my hand upon Egypt.” Of course, God could have punished the Egyptians whether the Israelites had already been released from their captivity or not, but keeping the Israelites present would ensure that the Egyptians understood who it was that punished them and why.
“The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,” God further declared. The Egyptians would be converted to the fear of Him, even if not to the worship of Him. Remember that Pharaoh had previously asked “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” Because the Israelites were weak, the Egyptians were dismissive of their God. Now, though, they would learn that a lack of power and prosperity in the Israelite people was in no way a reflection of their God.
This is actually another theme that can be found throughout the Bible. Even at the height of their strength, the Israelites would never become a world superpower like other nations, but they would still punch far above their weight class! Against far stronger foes, such as the Philistines and the Assyrians, they would prevail. Their God would win the respect of pagan nations, not because of the people’s great strength, but because of how they were preserved and progressed in spite of their weakness.
1 And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
As mentioned previously, these verses seem to repeat the events that we already read of in Exodus 4 and 5, so I will not rehash the same commentary that I made previously, but there are two new details that are worth making note of.
The first is in verse 1, where Moses is said to have been made “a god to Pharaoh.” The first time we heard of Moses being given this role, to stand in the place of God, it sounded as though he was being made a god to Aaron. Here the roles are clearly Moses as God, Aaron as the prophet, and the Pharaoh as everyday people. And this reframing emphasizes why Moses should not have stressed whether Pharaoh was persuaded by his words or not. It is not for God to worry whether the people believe Him or not, and so it was not for Moses to worry about that either. God commands us in what is right and true, and if we do not accept it, it is we who have failed, not God. Like God, Moses’s only concern was to dictate the truth, Aaron’s was to communicate it, and Pharaoh’s was to obey or be damned.
And that leads to the second difference between this account and the first. These verses seem to suggest that Aaron alone spoke to Pharaoh. The first time around it said “Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh,” but these verses suggest that while both men went in together, Moses might have stood there completely silent, or only spoken to Aaron, and Aaron delivered the message to Pharaoh all on his own. And given the roles mentioned above, why not? Usually we people do not hear God directly, but only through the mouths of his prophets. And if Moses was a god to Pharaoh, then why not only be heard indirectly through the mouth of Aaron?
When you apologize, acknowledge your wrongs and express remorse for them, stopping short of the wrongs that the other person has done to you. It doesn’t matter if you hurt them because of what they did, or if they responded disproportionately. Regardless of the context, if what you did was wrong, then own what you did and speak only to that.
Ideally, the other person will also apologize for their wrongs, stopping short of the wrongs that you did, only owning what their own failings. If they do, then you will both be free, but even if they don’t, you still will be.
Raising a voice in anger, using insulting language, and swearing exhaust all forms of fear and coercion that we can impose on another before all that remains is to become physically violent. Shouting at other people communicates that we are one step from physically hurting them.
Shouting is, of course an antagonistic form of persuasion, as opposed to friendly forms of persuasion like reasoning, convincing, and offering. Shouting is to get the other person to give us what we want, though it personally hurts them to do it. As such, shouting communicates: that we are an antagonist, an enemy, a hater of the person. We can say that we do not hate the other just because we are shouting at them, but the message that others will receive is clear.
I have watched two people reassure one another of their friendship even in the middle of a shouting match, but as shouting became the standard form of communication between them, soon all talk of friendship ceased and they angrily parted ways. One must understand that whenever they raise a voice in anger, they raise the risk of ending the relationship forever. How often is that worth getting what we want in the moment?
So do we really mean to imply all that we imply when we shout at another person? Do we really want to tell our kids, our spouse, our friends, our coworkers, or our neighbors that we are their enemy, that we hate them, and that we are close to violence? Do we want to tell that to strangers and acquaintances just because they make a mistake or a social gaffe towards us? Do we even want to tell that to social rivals just because they have deeply held beliefs that contradict our own? When another person shouts at us first, does even that justify us in showing them the same message of hate in return?
Certainly we are justified to reason, to correct, to call out, and to oppose at all times. I would even say that at certain times there are those individuals and situations that are deserving of the threat of violence and hatred that we give in an angry shout, but these are very far and few between.
28 And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,
29 That the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I am the Lord: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.
30 And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?
Back in verses 10 through 12 we heard the start of a conversation between Moses and God, where Moses was discouraged because the Israelite people had not believed his message from the Lord. This conversation was interrupted by the record of Levitical genealogy, and todays verses seem to be recapping where the exchange had left off.
Moses had failed to convince the Israelites that God would liberate them, and now he was being asked to get Pharaoh to believe God’s words instead. Moses was sure that he could not do this. He had “uncircumcised lips,” he did not speak well, he could not see himself being up to the task. We have already examined God’s response to this fear in the first account of these events, but there is a notable difference in this second version which we will review in the next verses.
26 These are that 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 which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.
These are interesting verses, lauding the accomplishments of Moses and Aaron at the conclusion of giving their ancestry. The fact that it is tying Moses and Aaron to the events that we were already in the middle of reading is strong evidence that this whole genealogy sequence was actually a separate passage that was inserted in the middle of the other account. The record of Moses seems to be a patchwork of many different tellings all combined together, sometimes in haphazard ways.
One other thing that stands out to me is that the two men are first listed as “Aaron and Moses” and secondly as “Moses and Aaron.” This seems to emphasize their inseparable nature. There is no Moses rescuing captive Israel without Aaron, just as there is no Aaron performing the priestly rituals in the wilderness without Moses. Moses may have been the one God spoke directly to, but in their duty both men were equally yoked. They pulled together as one.
21 And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.
22 And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.
23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
24 And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.
25 And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
In these verses we hear the children of Izhar and Uzziel, who were Moses and Aaron’s uncles, and the sons of Korah, who was Moses and Aaron’s cousin. More importantly, we also hear the names of Aaron’s sons and his grandson, all of whom would be integral to the law that God would lay forth. Through Moses, God would establish the priestly office and detail its responsibilities. This office would first fall to Aaron and his sons, and then to their descendants, ultimately turning the entire Levitical tribe into a priest class in Israel.
The tribe of the Levites would serve exclusively in this function, being the only ones authorized to perform the priestly duties until the advent of Jesus Christ, who was of the tribe of Judah. Christ would extend the priestly responsibility to any worthy man who was called to it, regardless of his heritage. For now, though, it would be approximately 1,600 years that the Levites would carry this duty alone.
16 And 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 an hundred thirty and seven years.
17 The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.
18 And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.
19 And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.
20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
Yesterday we read a brief account of the descendants of Reuben and Simeon, but those were simply to establish the context for today’s verses, which dive more deeply into the descendants of the third son Levi. And the reason why we are going into greater detail with the descendants of Levi is because this leads us to the birth of Aaron and Moses.
So, to summarize the connection, Levi had three sons. The middle son, Kohath, had four sons. The eldest of those, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. So Moses and Aaron were the great-grandchildren of Levi. This information is helpful in getting a sense of just how long the Israelites had been in bondage. Presumably they were not enslaved during the first generation of the Israelite tribes (that of Levi), but it may have occurred in the time of Kohath or Amram. Of course, if Kohath, Amram, and Aaron and Moses were all born late in the lives of their fathers, this could still represent a gap of more than a hundred years between Israel’s entry to Egypt and its exit. The fact that the Israelites had grown to such a size that the Egyptians would fear them suggests that there was some significant passage of time before they were enslaved.
In short, it seems the Israelites were not under captivity for many centuries. There are many estimates that put it around 80 years, and that makes sense with the information given in these verses. Of course, 80 years is still long enough that the vast majority of the Israelites alive at this point would have spent their entire lives in slavery. When all one has known is a singular, deprived sort of life, it really doesn’t matter whether that situation originated just before birth, or thousands of years earlier. Either way, bondage is the entirety of that person’s existence.
14 These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.
15 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.
The account in Exodus 6 suddenly pivots to describing the clans that grew out of the twelve tribes of Israel. It begins with the main households of Reuben, the firstborn, and Simeon, the second-born. The ancestry of these two households does not go past the second generation, though, and there were certainly other generations before that of the current narrative.
But, take notice, the record is not actually trying to give us a full genealogy here. As we will see tomorrow, after Reuben and Simeon are briefly mentioned, the record goes into much fuller detail with the descendants of Levi. And after doing that, none of the descendants of the other tribes of Israel will be detailed at all!
Therefore, this is not a standard genealogy sequence in the Bible. Presumably Reuben and Simeon are only mentioned to establish context before diving into the details of the third-born son Levi. These and the following verses are actually just helping us to understand the link from Levi to Aaron and Moses, and the eventual transformation of that tribe into the priest class.
Spiritual Wanderings 