Exodus 6.1-7.7

Israel’s Deliverance Assured / Genealogy of Moses and Aaron / Moses and Aaron Obey God’s Commands

Israel’s Deliverance Assured: Exodus 6.1-13

When last we left our hero, Moses was wondering why the Lord so “mistreated” this people, failed to deliver them, and choose Moses as his general go-to guy.

The Lord tells Moses that now he will execute the divine plan. God’s “mighty hand” will force Pharaoh to let the Israelites go (Ex. 6.1, Cf. Ex 3.19-20).

Then comes a story (from a separate tradition) that parallels God’s conversation with Moses is chapters 3 and 4. God again appears to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But God claims he appeared to these men as “God Almighty,” though by his other name, “The Lord,” he did not make himself know. This is not true. In the composite biblical narrative, God revealed himself as YHWH to all of these patriarchs. In the tradition this story is drawn from, apparently God did not.

God speaks of the covenant of land, leaving out the part about progeny. (Perhaps this has been fulfilled?) In any case, hearing the groans of the Israelites has caused God to remember the covenant. Moses is therefore to tell the Israelites that the Lord has come to free them from slavery: 

I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.

(Ex. 6. 6-7)

God will bring the Israelites into the land sworn to the patriarchs and give it over.

In this telling of the tale, Moses does not doubt God or himself. He goes straight to the Israelites and tell him. But this part of the narrative remains the same – the Israelites do not listen, because slavery has broken their spirit.

The Lord tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Moses tells the Lord that if the Israelites will not listen, why should Pharaoh listen to him, poor speaker that he is? The Lord then gives orders to Moses and Aaron regarding freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh.

Genealogy of Moses and Aaron: Exodus 6.14-27

Click the image below for today’s genealogy.

Looks a bit like the Starship USS Enterprise, no?

Moses and Aaron Obey God’s Commands: Exodus 6.28-7.7

For the third time in the composite biblical narrative, God comes to Moses and tells him to speak to the King of Egypt. For the third time, Moses asks why Pharaoh should listen to such a poor speaker (literally “poor speaker” here is uncircumcised of lips in Hebrew. That one phrase tells us so much of the view of non-Hebrews and the importance of circumcision as a sign of the covenant.)

Moses is to act as God, and Aaron as his prophet. In effect, every character is displaced one – a game of biblical musical chairs. In confronting Pharaoh, God moves out of the picture, Moses moves up to God’s place, and Aaron moves up to Moses’ place.

God tells Moses that he is to tell Aaron to tell Pharaoh to free the Israelites. But God will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that God may “multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 7.3). It is frustrating that God insists on hardening Pharaoh’s heart rather than simply freeing the Israelites, but perhaps this passage gives a clue as to why God does so. Maybe God wants to give signs, to make this a memorable occasion. In any case, it will be!

God tells Moses that when Pharaoh does not listen, “I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of Egypt by great acts of judgment” (Ex. 7.4). Then God reveals that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is an integral part of his plan: “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them” (Ex. 7.5).

When Moses and Aaron do this, Moses is eighty and Aaron is eighty-three.

Check out all the hand imagery! Between Exodus 3.9 and 4.20, the word appears 14 times. It’s the appendage with which Moses carries his staff, and with which God forces Pharaoh to free the people of Israel.

Yesterday’s post emphasized the “dialectical tensions” in the Moses narrative. This is a tale of human recalcitrance. Moses assumes an almost adversarial role against God, not wishing to speak to Pharaoh, not willing to lead the Israelites. Pharaoh, on the other hand, does not have a choice but to act as God’s enemy. Moses has a choice, but God hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that the King of Egypt cannot act any other way.