Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:28-30

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:26-27

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:21-25

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:16-20

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:14-15

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:13

13 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Lord gave great detail to Moses for how the delivering of captive Israel would go. He explained exactly what miracles to perform, that Pharaoh would not listen to him, and how the Lord would work wonders to finally secure the Israelites’ freedom. He also described how Moses would return with the Israelites to Mount Horeb and there serve the Lord.

But what we do not hear is an exhaustive detailing for how Moses would lead the people forty years in the wilderness, becoming their prophet/father for the rest of his life, and the law and legacy that he would leave to them for countless generations. All we hear in this verse is that God “gave them a charge…to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”

Sometimes God details our paths out exhaustively, but typically it is only to a point. Much is often left unsaid, to be discovered at the time of facing it. Moses had a sense of his purpose and his calling, but not necessarily the full vision of whom he would become.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:9-12

9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

10 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

11 Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

12 And Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?

I mentioned that the accounts in Exodus 6 and 7 seemed to be another telling of the same events found in chapters 3, 4, and 5. If that is the case, though, today’s verses show a great discrepancy between this and the prior account. For in Exodus 4:30-31, it stated that the Israelites believed the words of Moses, but here it states that they did not.

So perhaps these chapters are not simply a repeat of the prior ones. Perhaps God was reiterating His prior messages as a way to rekindle Moses’s belief, but when Moses tried to do the same for the Israelites they weren’t willing to accept it. Or perhaps these chapters are still a repeat of the prior ones, and one of the accounts is mistaken in this matter.

Personally, I still think that the situation is the latter, and if this second account is the more accurate one, then it would seem that the reason why Moses argued to the Lord that he wasn’t fit for his tasks was because he had failed at the very first step: convincing the Israelites to trust in God’s plan. His failure to capture the hearts of the people might have reinforced his belief he was an incapable vessel. He had similarly failed in the past to aid the Israelite people, and so his fears would have been well-founded.

And as for the Israelites, in verse 9 it tells us that they were simply too broken by their sorrows and their afflictions to accept the glad news that Moses had brought from the Lord. Their core problem was not their doubt of Moses, but their utter lack of hope. Fortunately, Aaron was apparently an Israelite who could still hope, and who had confidence in Moses’s word. He was the bridge God needed to overcome both Moses’s self-doubt and Israel’s hopelessness.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:7-8

7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.

God does not only promise the Israelites their freedom, but He also claims them as His own. “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God.” This was God re-establishing His special relationship to the current Israelite generation. He was creating with them the covenant and the union that He had with their forefathers.

Last of all, God also covenanted to bring the Israelites to the promised land that He had designated to their forefathers. God had promised this land as the eventual inheritance for Abraham’s children, but that had not yet been fulfilled. For many Israelites this promise wasn’t meant for them personally, but for some future generation. Now, though, God was saying that it was this generation was the first that could see the realization of these promises. It could be meant for them, not just their children. Though, as we will see, while the deliverance from Egypt was a sure promise, receiving the promised land was contingent upon their obedience. By their rebellion and faithlessness they would end up pushing the promised land back one more generation.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:4-6

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein 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.

6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, 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 a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

God had given His name to Moses to share with the Israelites, and next Moses was to reveal God’s purpose to them. It is notable how clear and specific this prophecy from God was. It was not a vague promise that could be fulfilled in various or symbolic ways, God was very specific that He would literally redeem Israel from their slavery. It was an extremely lofty claim, but God did not shy away from it. He boldly committed Himself to the miracle, just as when He told Abraham that he would have a son in his extreme old age.

I think it is also worth noting that there were no conditions set upon this promise. He did not say that He would free them if they proved worthy, just that He would free them. Later on the Israelites would themselves eligible or ineligible for certain blessings, such as whether the first generation would see the promised land, but this first gift was theirs for free. This is a type for the other gifts that God has determined to give all of us for free, regardless of our worthiness. We all have the gift of life, the gift of agency, and the gift of resurrection, regardless of whether we use those gifts in honorable or dishonorable ways. Like Israel, we are all brought out of obscurity and confinement by the Lord. Whether we will be happy with the lives and freedom that we have been given depends on what we choose to do with them.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 6:2-3

2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: 

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

We previously read of Moses asking the Lord what His name was so that he could tell it to the Israelites, and God told Moses to introduce Him as “I AM,” which is a translated form of YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah. In today’s verses we learn the additional detail that the patriarchs did not, themselves, know this name. Though God had an extremely close relationship with these historical men, apparently He never disclosed to them His actual name. He was just their “God,” or their “Lord.”

However, this fact is not reflected in the earlier text of the Bible. This is not at all that the first time that the name of Jehovah has been used. It first appeared in Genesis 2:4 (the English translation writes this name as “the LORD” instead of Jehovah), and there are also verses where the patriarchs are said to speak the name of “Jehovah” (written in English as all-caps GOD). The simplest explanation is that the patriarchs did not actually use God’s name, but when their account was written, the name was inserted by the author, since at that time the name would have been common knowledge.

And if this is the case, then for Moses to have information revealed to him that the patriarchs never had would signify how pivotal his role was to the Israelite people. Put simply, Moses was the single most influential figure sent to the Hebrews until the birth of Christ. Of course, at the time of this conversation with the Lord, Moses had not yet done anything remarkable for the people of Israel. God already knew Moses’s destiny, though, and entrusted him with information that was befitting of who he would become, not who he already was.