Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Reflections on Exodus 6


    Exodus 06 (Contemporary English Version)

  1. The LORD God told Moses: Soon you will see what I will do to the king. Because of my mighty power, he will let my people go, and he will even chase them out of his country.
  2. My name is the LORD.
  3. But when I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I came as God All-Powerful and did not use my name.
  4. I made an agreement and promised them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners.
  5. Now I have seen how the people of Israel are suffering because of the Egyptians, and I will keep my promise.
  6. Here is my message for Israel: "I am the LORD! And with my mighty power I will punish the Egyptians and free you from slavery.
  7. I will accept you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I was the one who rescued you from the Egyptians.
  8. I will bring you into the land that I solemnly promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be yours. I am the LORD!"
  9. When Moses told this to the Israelites, they were too discouraged and mistreated to believe him.
  10. Then the LORD told Moses
  11. to demand that the king of Egypt let the Israelites leave.
  12. But Moses replied, "I'm not a powerful speaker. If the Israelites won't listen to me, why should the king of Egypt?"
  13. But the LORD sent Aaron and Moses with a message for the Israelites and for the king, he also ordered Aaron and Moses to free the people from Egypt.
  14. The following men were the heads of their ancestral clans: The sons of Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
  15. The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
  16. Levi lived to be one hundred thirty-seven, his sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
  17. Gershon's sons were Libni and Shimei.
  18. Kohath lived to be one hundred thirty-three, his sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
  19. Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. All of the above were from the Levi tribe.
  20. Amram lived to be one hundred thirty-seven. He married his father's sister Jochebed, and they had two sons, Aaron and Moses.
  21. Izhar's sons were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
  22. Uzziel's sons were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
  23. Aaron married Elisheba. She was the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, they had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
  24. Korah's sons were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph.
  25. Aaron's son Eleazar married one of Putiel's daughters, and their son was Phinehas. This ends the list of those who were the heads of clans in the Levi tribe.
  26. The LORD had commanded Aaron and Moses to lead every family and tribe of Israel out of Egypt,
  27. and so they ordered the king of Egypt to set the people of Israel free.
  28. When the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
  29. he said, "I am the LORD. Tell the king of Egypt everything I say to you."
  30. But Moses answered, "You know I am a very poor speaker, and the king will never listen to me."



    Moses was regrouping after his first failure with Pharoah. But was it a failure? Certainly Moses felt it was since Pharoah both rejected his request for the people to journey into the wilderness and increased the Israelite work load. But Pharoah's rejection of the request was part of God's plan so it cannot be considered a failure. Moses was not convinced, though, and was not ready to keep pushing forward.

    Sometimes to be able to move forward we have to look back. Not to dwell there wishing we could go back, but to find our reason and assurance for going forward. This was what God did with Moses and the Israelites. First, He reminded Moses of who He was: "I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty." (6:2b-3) He was the God of Moses' revered ancestors, but He was now revealing Himself in a new way. To the ancestors God had not revealed Himself as Yahweh, the Promise-Keeper, but as "el Å¡adday," the One who provides or sustains. Now God's people were to know Him as the Promise-Keeper - the One who remembers "My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as foreigners." (6:4)

    Then God told Moses to tell the Israelites "I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment." (6:6) Moses did this, but they "did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor." (6:9) Moses had been rejected not only by Pharoah but by His own people. Neither of these surprised God. He planned to glorify Himself through these rejections. Even though the Israelites wouldn't listen to Moses and didn't want any part of this scheme, God told Moses to go back to Pharoah and tell him "to let the Israelites go from his land." (6:11) This time Moses was not to ask for a three-day journey into the wilderness to worship their God, but was to tell Pharoah to let the Israelites go from his land. It was a demand rather than a request, and was to be permanent rather than temporary.

    Moses' response to God's instructions to go to Pharoah was a replay of the scene at the burning bush: "If the Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?" (6:12) Moses was still focused on his weakness rather than God's strength. God would have to shift Moses' attention from himself to the One who was sending him which He does in chapter 7.

    Following Moses' hesitancy at God's instructions to go back to Pharoah, God spoke to Moses and Aaron together. This time it says that He commanded them "concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt." God was taking a more forceful approach with Moses to get him moving. At this point the narrative was interrupted with a brief geneology. The intent was to identify who this Moses and Aaron were. "It was this Aaron and Moses whom the LORD told, 'Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their divisions.'" (6:26) The geneology tracks only the family of Levy, son of Jacob.

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