Exodus 6
DEPRESSION
OF MOSES AND THE CONFIRMATION OF HIS
vs. 1-8 – “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now
shalt thou see what I will do to
Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he
let them go, and with a strong hand shall
he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto
Moses, and said unto him,
I am the LORD:
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.”
The
explanation of this passage is by no means easy. God Himself, according to
Genesis
15:7, 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
(Genesis
38:13). [I recommend Genesis 17 – Names of God – El Shaddai
by Nathan
Stone and Psalm 19 –
Names of God – Elohim – by Nathan Stone – both
on this web
site] Abraham named the place where he had been about
to sacrifice Isaac, “Jehovah-jireh”
(Genesis
22:14). That Moses regarded the name as known even earlier, appears from
Genesis
4:1. 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 (Exodus 3:14-15). “And I have also established my covenant with
them, to
give them the
strangers. And I
have also heard the groaning of the children of
assure the Israelites that God has not forgotten
them, but will sustain them under
their afflictions, and will shortly deliver
them. “whom the Egyptians keep in
bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the
children of
in finding no alleviation of their toils, but the reverse,
after their hopes had been
raised high by the words of Moses (ch.
4:31). He therefore sent them an inspiriting
and gracious message. “They should be rid of their bondage; they should
be brought
out; they should
be redeemed and
delivered by His mighty arm and miraculous
intervention. He,
Jehovah, had said it.” Faith would lay hold on this assurance and
cling to it, even though God still delayed His coming, and
did not precipitate matters.
“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” - Arms are stretched out by men
to help and save. An
outstretched arm in the Egyptian writing meant “action.” The
phrase, elsewhere so
common, is here used for the first time. (Compare,
however, ch. 3:20.) It was
significant of active, energetic help. “and with great judgments” - These had
been previously hinted at (chps.
3:20; 4:22) but had not been previously called
“judgments.” Compare
Genesis 15:14: “Also that nation whom they
serve will
I judge.” The plagues of
inflicted on a proud and cruel nation by a Judge. The promises are continued,
heaped one upon another:
. “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. 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” - See
Genesis
22:16-18; 26:3; - The only formal oath is recorded in Genesis 22:16; but an
oath is perhaps implied in every covenant between
God and man. God’s faithfulness
is pledged to the performance of the terms of the covenant on
His part. “and I will
give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.” “I will give it you for an heritage, I
the Lord” (or “I Jehovah,” or “I the Eternal One”). “You have the pledge of my
Eternity and Immutability that it shall be yours.” (for a different take on
the
idea of “heritage” or “inheritance” I highly
recommend: Deuteronomy ch 32 v 9 –
God’s
Inheritance by Arthur Pink
- this web site – CY – 2010)
The Israelites were
formally taken to be God’s people at Sinai (ch. 19:5-6); where, at the same time, He
became (specially but not exclusively) their God (chps. 20:1; 29:45-46). They had
evidence that it was He who brought them forth in the
pillar of fire and of a cloud
(chps. 13:21; 14:19-20). They were
brought into the promised land by Joshua
(Joshua
4:1), and given the full possession of it by him and his successors — the
various judges and kings, until at last, under David
and Solomon, they held the
entire tract that had been promised to Abraham (see I
Kings 4:21; II Chronicles
9:26). The expostulation
of Moses did not offend God. God gave him, in reply to it,
a most gracious series of promises and assurances, well calculated to calm his fears,
assuage his griefs, and
comfort his heart; and He
confirmed the whole to him by His name
JEHOVAH, “the Only Existent,” and
therefore “the Eternal and Immutable.”
(I
recommend Psalm 19 – Names of God – Jehovah – by Nathan Stone – this
web
site – CY – 2010) This name He had previously revealed to Moses at
as His peculiar name, and the one by which He would choose to be called (3:13-15).
He had also told him to proclaim this name to the
people. This command is now
repeated (v. 6) very solemnly; and with it are coupled
the promises above alluded to!
Jesus
condescended to Thomas, and bade him “reach
hither
his finger and behold
His hands, and reach hither his hand and thrust
it into His side,”
so that he
might be no
longer “faithless, but believing” - (John 20:27), so Jehovah now
declared to Moses
that, if he could not walk by faith, sight should be vouchsafed
to him. “Now shalt thou see” – Human infirmity is so great, man’s faith is so
weak, the best are so liable to accesses of distrust and despondency, that, if
God
were extreme to
mark
what is in this way done amiss, few indeed would be
those who could “abide it.” “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand?” – (Psalm
130:3) - Therefore, in His mercy, He
condescends. Well for
man could he breathe continually the higher, rarer,
atmosphere of faith. But, if he cannot, yet has Godward aspirations, so that
he takes his
distrust and his despondency to God, as Moses did, God will in
no wise cast him out.
(John 6:37) – He will not “break
the bruised reed, nor
quench the
smoking flax.” (Matthew 12:20) - He will accept the imperfect
service that is
still service, and allow his servant to work in a lower sphere.
Henceforth
the faith of Moses was not much tried — he had soon sight to
walk by. When once the series of plagues began, he could no
longer ask, “Why
is it that thou
hast sent me?” He could see that the end was being advanced —
the
deliverance being extorted from the king — and that the day of final
triumph was fast coming.
some of these names above – the book Names of God by
Nathan Stone, is
highly recommended – CY – 2010) - With men a name is simply a “mark of
difference” — a mode of distinguishing one individual from another; and
the
particular name that a man bears is, generally speaking, a matter of
the very
slightest importance. But with
God the case is otherwise. The names of God
have always been among all men significant names. If their
signification is
clear, or generally known, then men’s views of the Supreme Being are
vitally
affected by the names under which they know Him. Persons whose
only name
for God is Dyaus or Tien — “the heaven” — are not likely
to be strongly
apprehensive
of the personality and spirituality of the Creator. If God is
known as Ammon, the main idea of Him will be, that He is a riddle
and a
mystery; if
as Shaddai, that He is powerful; if as Mazda, that He
is wise or
bounteous.
When monotheism is firmly established, it is well that God
should be
known by many names, as El, Elohim, Adonai, Eliun, Shaddai,
Jehovah, because
then His many and various attributes are better
apprehended.
If, however, God is to be known by one name only, or by
one special
name, while there is none more pure or lofty than Jehovah —
“the Self-Existent “ — there is none more tender
and loving than our own
English name, God — i.e. “the
Good.”
to be one who “keepeth covenant and mercy, yea, to a
thousand generations”
(Deuteronomy
7:9). He is ever faithful. He cannot
lie. He is not a man that He
should repent. The bow which He set in the
cloud, when He covenanted with
Noah that the
waters should no more become
a flood to destroy all flesh, is still
there, and the
promise of which it
was the sign has been kept — there has come
no repetition
of the Flood, no
second destruction of mankind by water. God has
kept the covenant
which He made with
promise, in
giving them all the good things which He said He would give
them; and
then, on the side of threatening, in bringing upon them all the
calamities
which he said He would bring. With Christians, too, God enters
into
covenant at their baptism, promising them protection, spiritual aid, and
eternal
life in heaven, on their maintaining faith and repentance. This
covenant,
like His others, He will assuredly keep. Let them be but true to
Him, and they need have no fear but
that He will be true to them. The
Promised Land will be theirs — He will
give it to them for an heritage —
HE,
JEHOVAH!
MOSES SPEAKS GOD’S WORDS
TO THE PEOPLE BUT THEY DON’T LISTEN
v. 9 – “And Moses spake
so unto the children of
not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for
cruel bondage.” “Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick” –
(Proverbs 13:12) - The Israelites, who
had expected a
speedy deliverance, and found themselves only the more
downtrodden for Moses’
interference, were too much dispirited to be cheered even by the gracious promises
and assurances which Moses was commissioned to give. They had no longer any trust
in one who they thought had
deceived them. He was a dreamer, a visionary, if no
worse. They did not intend hearkening to him any more. “Anguish of spirit”
possessed their souls, and “cruel bondage” claimed their bodies, day after
day. They had not even the time, had they had the will, to
hearken. The contrast
between their feelings now, and when Moses first
addressed them (ch. 4:31), is
strong, but fully accounted for by the change of
circumstances. They had
lost all heart and their attitude was “let us alone,
and let us serve the Egyptians;
for it is better for us to serve them than die in a wilderness”
which receives
some support from ch.
14:12.
It is the worst result of
long-continued oppression that it brings its victims
into a
state of apathy. Servile
insurrections are rare — servile wars all but
unknown.
Slavery so crushes men, so brutalizes, so deadens them, that they
lose all
heart, all spirit, all hope, almost all feeling. Defenders of slavery call
the proper
objects of the “institution” live machines; and “live
machines” is
exactly
what it tends to make them. What is to stir a mass so sluggish and
inert that
it vegetates rather than lives? Not the name of God (v. 3). It
falls on
closed ears — it has no meaning to them, conveys no idea, arouses
no thought.
Not the mention of a covenant (vs. 4, 5). They cannot realize
so complex
a notion — cannot understand what the word means. Not
promises (vs.
6-8). A promise has no power unless embraced by faith;
and the
down-trodden have no faith, either in themselves or in others. So
the most
stirring appeals are made in vain — the brightest hopes and
prospects
presented to no purpose. And as with oppression, so with all
extreme
depression and destitution. Hopeless poverty, constant battle with
the wolf at
the door, continual striving to keep off starvation from
themselves,
their wives, and children, reduces a population to a condition
in which it
becomes dead to spiritual things, and
not only appears to be,
but is, unimpressible. It is so occupied with the cares of this
life that it has
no thought
for another. It has bid farewell to hope, and with hope to fear.
It is reckless. The preacher can do
nothing with it until he has changed the
physical
conditions of its existence. He must first address himself to the
people’s
physical wants. Let these be provided for, let the struggle for
existence
slacken, let hope dawn on the despairing souls, and all will at
once be
different. As the unbound earth opens to receive seed at the genial
breath of
spring, so these torpid souls may be brought to take in the seed
of life, by
having their bodies warmed and clothed and cared for.
GOD
TELLS MOSES TO KEEP AT IT – MOSES COMPLAINS – HE IS
INSTRUCTED
TO GO TO PHARAOH AND GIVE THE MESSAGE AND
CHARGE
HIS PEOPLE TO STAY THE COURSE
vs. 10-12 – “And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh
king of
advance in the demand. No longer is there any
limitation to a three days’ journey, as at first
(chps. 3:18; 5:3). The children of
generally, if God lays a light burden upon us and we
refuse it, we may expect Him to
exchange our lighter burden for a heavier one. We had
better accept the first cross He offers.
“And Moses spake
before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of
not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh
hear me, who am of uncircumcised
lips?” The
Israelites having shown themselves, for the time, unimpressible, God
commands
Moses to make his next effort upon the Pharaoh. He is to enter into his presence once more,
and demand, without circumlocution
or obscurity, that the Israelites be allowed to quit the
land (v. 11).
Moses, however, demurs. He had done God’s will with respect to the people
readily and at once, expecting that, as
he
had persuaded them before, so
he
would a second time. But he had been disappointed;
the people had refused to listen
to him. Immediately all his original self-distrust and diffidence recurred — even the
old form of diffidence, distrust of his ability to persuade men (ch.
4:10). How shall
he expect to persuade
Pharaoh, who had already rejected him (ch. 5:2-5),
when
he had just failed with his own countrymen, who previously had
“believed”
his report (ch. 4:31)?
Scarcely has Moses made one attempt
at service and failed than God
requires of
him another service. “Go in, speak unto
Pharaoh.” In the
career of
God’s servants there is “no rest, no pause.” Failure here must be
redeemed by
effort there. And in this unceasing continuance of service one
thing is
especially remarkable. After failure, not a lighter but a heavier duty
is commonly
imposed on men. If they prove unable to convince their
kindred,
they are given a mission to strangers; if they fail with men of low
degree,
they are appointed to preach to princes. God will have them
redeem
failure by fresh effort. God knows the causes of their failure, and
introduces
them to new spheres, where those causes will not operate, or
operate
less. A man who has failed in a humble sphere not unfrequently
succeeds in
a higher one. The servant of God must not care greatly about
the sphere
to which he is called, but seek to do his best in each while he
remains in
it. He will thus —
ü Be
always laboring for God;
ü Be
always exercising and so improving his own mental and spiritual
gifts;
and
ü Be of
far more benefit to others than if he sat idle half his time waiting
for such a call as
seemed to him altogether fitting and suitable. “The
time is short.” (I Corinthians 7:29 – THIS IS THE
THEME OF THIS
WEB SITE – CY – 2010) We must “work while it is day — the night
cometh when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
THE
INSERTION OF THE FAMILY HISTORY OF
vs. 13-27 – “And the LORD spake
unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a
charge unto the children of
children of
houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of
and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. 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. 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.”
The
length of Levi’s life is recorded, not from any chronological considerations,
but to
show God’s blessing upon the family of Moses,
which gave such length of days to so many
of his ancestors. The sons of Gershon; Libni,
and Shimi, according to their families.
And the sons of Kohath;
Amram, and Izhar, and
and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. And
the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the
families of Levi according
to their generations. And Amram took
him Jochebed (The name Jochebed is the
earliest known compounded with Jah,
or Jehovah. It means “the glory of Jehovah.”)
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. And
the sons of
Izhar; Korah,
and Nepheg, and Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel;
Mishael, and
Elzaphan, and Zithri” - (Mishael and Elzaphan are again mentioned as “sons of
Uzziel” in Leviticus
10:4. They were employed by Moses to carry the bodies of Nadab
and Abihu out of the camp.) “And
Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab,
sister of Naashon, to
wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, (on their fate see
Leviticus
10:1-2) Eleazar, and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah”
– (All Korah’s
sons were not cut off with him (Numbers 26:11).
Three at least survived, and became
the heads of “families of the Korhites.” – “Assir, and Elkanah,
and Abiasaph: these
are the families of the Korhites. 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. These are that Aaron and
Moses,
to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of
according to their armies.” At this
point the narrative is interrupted The author, or
(it may be) the final compiler - perhaps Joshua — thought it
desirable to insert here a
genealogical section, taking up the family
history
of
was left in ch.1:5, where the sons of Jacob were enumerated.
The whole political
system of
politically, to hand down the divisions and subdivisions of
families. The lists here
given, probably prepared by Moses in a separate
document, had to be inserted
somewhere. The present seemed a fitting place. The
narrative had reached a turning-
point. All the preliminaries were over — the action of
the Exodus itself was about to begin.
A dramatist
would have made Act 1 end and Act 2 commence. A poet would
have begun a new canto. In the imperfect bibliography
of the time, it was thought best
to make a division by a parenthetic
insertion.
Among the religions of the world
which are based on the contents of a
written
volume, none has such an historical character as the religion of
Christians. Most nations have
evolved their religion out of their internal
consciousness,
and have then, after a certain lapse of time, thrown into a
narrative
form the supposed revelations made to this or that individual
secretly,
and by him committed to writing. These revelations — to give
them the name
— are not connected with any series of events, are not,
properly
speaking, historical at all, but belong to the domain of thought,
contemplation,
philosophy. It is quite otherwise with the religion of the
Bible. Both
in the Old Testament and in the New our attention is directed
primarily
and mainly to a series of facts. Religion is not put before us in an
abstract,
but in a concrete form. The Bible represents to us “God in
history.” We learn the nature
and the will of God from his dealings with
nations and individuals at
definite times and in definite places. It is a
necessary
consequence of such a mode of inculcating religious truth, that
very dry
and mundane details must from time to time be obtruded upon the
reader, in
order that the narrative may be clear, and that he may understand
the
circumstances of time and place with which each writer in his turn has
to deal. In
this way genealogies come in. History cannot be understood
without
them. We want to know who the individuals are who are
introduced
afresh at each new stage in the narrative, and in what relation
they stand
to those other individuals with whom the narrative is concerned
before and
after. (Remember friends, the teaching of Hebrews 11:39-40 -
“these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not
the promise: God
having provided some better thing for us, that they
WITHOUT US should not be made perfect”. Genealogies convey this
knowledge.
Many think them uninteresting; but they are not so to any
thoughtful
person. For
ü they raise
the salutary thought of the rapid flight of time and the
speedy passing away of one generation after another.
ü They show
us how good men and bad, great men and little, are
intermixed
in the world, arise under the same conditions, seem
produced
by the same circumstances; and thus they force us to see
what a vast power the human will has in shaping human
character,
and
even in determining the course of earthly events. Hence they
remind
us of our responsibilities.
ü They hold
up to us warnings and examples — warnings in the names
to which there is attached the savor of evil deeds never to
be forgotten
so long as the world endures — Nadabs,
Abihus, Korahs; examples in
those, familiar to us as household words, which we no sooner
hear or
see than there rush to our thought a crowd of glorious and
heroic actions.
Being dead, these
men still speak to us — theirs is a death “full of
immortality.” “Some men’s
sins are open beforehand, going before
to judgment; and
some men they follow after. Likewise
also the
good works of
some are manifest beforehand; and they that are
otherwise cannot
be hid.” (I Timothy 5:24-25)
HONOR IN GOD’S SIGHT IS
DETERMINED BY SPIRITUALCONSIDERATIONS,
v. 20 — that which includes the
names of Moses and Aaron. It was the
spiritual greatness
of these men which secured for them this honor.
but he lost
through sin the prerogatives of birth. He is eclipsed by Levi,
who,
through piety, rose from a degraded position to one of honor.
Korah, whose
name, from considerations of relationship, is honorably
prominent
in this select list (vs. 21-24), subsequently destroyed himself
by his
rebellion (Numbers 16.). His posterity, however (another illustration
of the same
law), rose to high spiritual honor in the minstrelsy of the
temple.
around the
names of Moses and Aaron, some in nearer, some in more
distant
relations, draw honor from the association. The chief prominence
is given to
the Kohathites, as most nearly related to the sons of
Amram.
This distinction was subsequently
confirmed by the appointment of this
family to
the charge of the sacred
(Numbers 4:4-16). Relationship with
the good thus confers honor, and
secures
privilege. The highest
of all examples of this is the honor and
privilege conferred through relationship to Jesus Christ.
The
remainder of this chapter is scarcely more than a recapitulation. The author, or
compiler, having interposed his genealogical section, has to take up the narrative from
v. 12,
where he broke off, and does so by
almost repeating the words of vs. 10-12.
The only
important addition is
the insertion of the words — “I am the
Lord” (v. 29),
and the only
important variation, the substitution of “Speak thou unto Pharaoh all
that I say unto thee’ (ibid.),
for “Speak unto
Pharaoh… that he let the
children of
vs. 28-30 – “These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of
the children of
to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the
the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh
king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. And Moses said before the LORD, Behold,
I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall
Pharaoh hearken unto me?
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