Exodus 6:1-30

Exodus: Israel becomes a nation

The *Israelites leave Egypt

Exodus Chapter s 1 to 18

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 6

v1 Then the *LORD replied to Moses. ‘Now you will see what I will do to *Pharaoh. Because of my great power, *Pharaoh will agree. He will let my people go. He will force them to go away from his country.’

v2 And God continued. ‘I am the *LORD. v3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, the All-Powerful God. But with them, I did not use my name, the *LORD. v4 I made my special promise to them. They used to live as foreigners in the country called *Canaan. But I promised to give that country to them. v5 And now, I have heard the *Israelites’ cries because of their troubles. I know that the *Egyptians are keeping them as slaves. And I have remembered my special promise.

v6 So you must give this message to the *Israelites for me. “I am the *LORD. The *Egyptians have forced you to do difficult work. But I will free you. And you will not continue to be their slaves. I will use my great power to punish them. And I will rescue you with powerful acts when I act as the judge to the *Egyptians. v7 I will accept you as my own people. And I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the *LORD your God. I brought you away from the *Egyptians’ control. v8 I made a serious promise to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I promised to give to them the country called *Canaan. So now, I will bring you to that country, and it will belong to you. I am the *LORD.” ’

Verses 22-23 Moses was honest with God. He had obeyed God. But the result was that his people had more difficulties. Moses did not understand it. God had promised to rescue his people. But Moses did not know what God was doing. It seemed that things were getting worse. Moses had forgotten that God had warned him about *Pharaoh’s bad attitude (Exodus 3:19; Exodus 4:21).

Verse 1 God referred to his great power in order to encourage Moses. *Pharaoh would let the *Israelites go only at the end. But also God would cause *Pharaoh to hate the *Israelites. He would hate them so much that he would force them to leave Egypt.

Verse 2 The words: ‘I am the *LORD’ begin God’s record of his past promises. Those words also end God’s message to Moses in verse 8. And Moses must remind the *Israelites what God’s name is (verse 6). Those references emphasise that God’s power is much greater than *Pharaoh’s power. God is alive for all time. He is ‘I AM’. *Pharaoh was a human king and God had put limits to his temporary power.

Verse 3 God had appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as ‘El Shaddai’. ‘El’ means God, ‘Shaddai’ means ‘All-Powerful’. That name told Abraham that God had great power. God could make him to be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:1-4). Later Jacob prayed to El Shaddai. Jacob wanted God to make Egypt’s’ ruler to be kind to Jacob’s sons (Genesis 43:14). El Shaddai had appeared to Jacob at the place called Luz (Genesis 28:13-19 and 48:3). ‘But with them, I did not use my name, the *LORD’, God told Moses. At first, that seems to be a difficulty. The name ‘*LORD’ appears at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 2:5. But in verse 3, God is talking about how he uses his name with the *Israelites. He has a special relationship with them. When God chose Moses as their leader, then the *Israelites began to understand God’s nature better. After God chose Moses, ‘Yah’ began to appear in people’s names. That was the short form of Yahweh, which means *LORD. For example, ‘Joshu-(y)a’ (Numbers 13:16), ‘Eli-jah’ (1 Kings 17:1).

Verses 4-8 The *LORD is the God who carries out his promises. He knows our difficulties (verse 4). He causes us to be free (verse 6). He brings us close to himself (verse 7). He will lead us home (verse 8).

Verse 5 ‘Remembered’. That does not mean that God had forgotten before that time. But he had decided to act now. It is time for God to carry out his special promise. God always carries out his promises. His words are always true.

Verse 6 ‘Rescue’. Some translations use the word ‘redeem’. Here it means that God would act like a near relative. If a person became very poor, he might lose his land because of a debt. His nearest relative had the right to buy back family property (Leviticus 25:25). For example, Boaz was the nearest relative to Ruth’s dead husband. Her dead husband, his brother and their father owned land. But Boaz had the right to buy that land. Also he had the right to marry Ruth in place of her dead husband (Ruth 4:1-11). In Exodus God would act to claim back his people from the *Egyptians. The word ‘rescue’ shows the close relationship with God and his people.

Verse 7 God emphasises that close relationship. ‘I will accept you as my own people’, he says. His special promise at *Mount Sinai made these words clearer (Exodus 19:5-6). *Israel would be God’s ‘holy nation’. He had chosen *Israel. God wanted to show other nations what he was like.

Verse 8 God would carry out the promise that he gave to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. He would give the country called *Canaan to their families (Genesis 17:8; Genesis 26:3-4; Genesis 28:13). And he would bring the *Israelites to that country when he had rescued them from Egypt.

The people lose their hope – verses 9-13

v9 Moses reported God’s message to the *Israelites. But they did not listen to him. They did not believe that God cared about them still. They had to work as slaves and their masters were very cruel to them. So they were too sad and too tired to believe.

v10 Then the *LORD spoke to Moses again. v11 ‘Go to *Pharaoh and demand his attention. *Egypt’s king must allow the *Israelites to go away from his country.’

v12 But Moses replied to the *LORD. ‘The *Israelites will not listen to me. So I am sure that *Pharaoh will not listen to me either. I do not speak well.’ v13 However, the *LORD had spoken to Moses and Aaron about the *Israelites. And the *LORD had spoken about *Pharaoh, who was Egypt’s king. God ordered Moses and Aaron to bring the *Israelites away from Egypt.

Verse 9 The *Israelites had lost their hope for anything better. Moses had promised that God would free them. But their work had become even harder. Now, they had to find their own straw.

Verses 10-13 Moses did not think that he could speak to *Pharaoh again. Moses’ own people would not listen to him. So it was unlikely that *Pharaoh would listen either. Moses declared that he had no skill with words. But God had ordered Moses and Aaron to lead his people away from Egypt.

Moses’ and Aaron’s dead relatives – verses 14-27

v14 This list records the leaders of *Israel’s families:

Reuben was Israel’s (Jacob’s) oldest son. His sons were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. Those were the names of Reuben’s family.

v15 Simeon’s sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul. Shaul was a *Canaanite woman’s son. Those were the names of Simeon’s family.

v16 The records named Levi’s sons next. They were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived for 137 years.

v17 And Gershon’s sons, who were leaders of families, were Libni and Shimei.

v18 Kohath lived for 133 years and his sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

v19 Merari’s sons were Mahli and Mushi. Those were the families that Levi’s family reported in their records.

v20 Amram lived for 137 years and he married his father’s sister Jochebed. She gave birth to two sons who were Aaron and Moses.

v21 Izhar’s sons were Korah, Nepheg and Zicri.

v22 Uzziel’s sons were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

v23 Aaron married Elisheba. She was Amminadab’s daughter and Nahshon’s sister. They had 4 sons called Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

v24 Korah’s sons were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. They were the Korah family.

v25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of Putiel’s daughters. Their son was Phinehas.

These are the leaders of the Levi family groups.

v26 Aaron and Moses were the ones to whom the *LORD spoke. He said, ‘Bring the *Israelites away from Egypt with each family in a group together.’ v27 So Moses and Aaron spoke to *Pharaoh, who was Egypt’s king. They asked him to free the *Israelites.

Verses 14-16 Reuben, Simeon and Levi were Israel’s first three sons. ‘Israel’ is the name that God gave to Jacob in Genesis 32:28. The list continues with all their sons’ names.

Verses 17-20 The list shows how Aaron and Moses were Israel’s (Jacob’s) relatives. Amram married his aunt, Jochabed. At that time, they allowed a person to marry his aunt. But later it would not be legal. See Leviticus 18:12-13. Aaron and Moses were their sons. The record shows that Aaron was the older son.

Verses 21-25 The list of Levi’s children and grandchildren emphasises Aaron’s family. They became the priests. Nadab and Abihu both died (Leviticus 10:1-3). But the priests’ family continued by means of Aaron’s son, Eleazar, and Eleazer’s son Phinehas.

Merari (verse 16) and Putiel (verse 25) may be *Egyptian names. Phinehas means ‘person from the country called Ethiopia’. While in Egypt, some *Israelites may have married foreigners, who were living there also. The record shows exactly who Moses and Aaron were. That family is part of a much longer history of the family. We can read about it in Numbers chapter 26.

Verse 26 Aaron’s name comes first in that record because he was older than Moses (Exodus 7:7).

Verse 27 However, Moses was the leader so his name comes first now.

The message that Aaron will give to the king 6:28 – 7:7

v28 The *LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt. v29 He told Moses, ‘I am the *LORD. Tell *Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything that I tell you.’

v30 But Moses answered the *LORD. ‘I cannot speak easily, so *Pharaoh would not listen to me.’

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has been here always.

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Pharaoh ~ the Egyptian ruler or king.

Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
Canaan ~ the country that God gave to Israelites. Canaanites lived here. And also people called Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites and Perizzites lived here.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Canaanite ~ the people who originally lived in the country called Canaan; something that comes from the country called Canaan.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
Mount ~ another name for mountain
Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.
Canaanite ~ the people who originally lived in the country called Canaan; something that comes from the country called Canaan.

Canaan ~ the country that God gave to Israelites. Canaanites lived here. And also people called Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites and Perizzites lived here.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.