Exodus 6
From Theologica
God Promises Deliverance (6:1 - 6:9) Observation - - 6:1 The Lord tells Moses that Pharaoh will free Israel under compulsion - God tells Moses that he will see it. - This is a promise of what God will do. It has no stipulations - 6:2-3 God informs Moses that he is unique in that God has revealed His name only to him. - 6:4 reiteration of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - 6:5 A reminder that God has heard Israel's groanings and that He knows the covenant He made. - Moses is being informed/reminded that God plans to redeem His people - 6:6 Moses is commanded to go to the people again, telling them that God will redeem them through his "great judgments." - 6:7 God promises to take Israel for his own people. - Furthermore, He promises that they will know that He is God and that it was He who freed them. - 6:8 God promises to bring the people into Canaan. - 6:9 Moses told the people, but they didn't listen. - Nevertheless, the fulfillment of this promise is not dependent upon the people's actions. - The people's hearts were hardened because of their circumstances.
Interpretation - - God continually reminds His people what He promised them. The implication is that He will always fulfill His promises and that He can be trusted to do so. - The reiteration of God's promises are used as proof for what He will do in the future.
Application - - In our own depression and despondency we get so self-absorbed that we fail to hear God, even when He is telling us how he will comfort us. - We get so wrapped up in our misery, we don't want to hear anything about hope. - We can trust in God for our future because of His faithfulness in our past.
Moses commanded to go back to Pharaoh (6:10 - 6:13) Observation - - 6:10-11 God commands Moses to tell Pharaoh to free Israel. - These two verses would argue against any idea that Moses was "cursed" to speak through Aaron. - In fact, it shows that Moses was God's chosen mouthpiece - 6:12 Moses balks - States that since Israel wouldn't listen to him, neither would Pharaoh. - Israel was at least would have been inclined to listen. Pharaoh would not be. - Falls back on his "I am unskilled in speech" excuse - Moses still thinks his skills have something to do with this ? Are the circumstances a reflection upon Moses speaking to the people rather than Aaron? - This would be a terrifying command for Moses. He must go before the king of the land and command him to free those he has enslaved. - "How then will Pharaoh listen to me?" Moses still hasn't figured out that God is at work. - 6:13 Both Moses AND Aaron are charged with bringing the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
Interpretation - - Moses continually fails to see God at work and falls back to believing for things to get accomplished it must be through material means.
Application - - Even when we see God at work in our lives, even with the truth of the Bible, regardless of how much evidence, we will continue to fall back onto worldly means. This is man's habit, his nature. We/I must learn to trust God to do His work and stop relying on myself. There is a certain point we get to where we really... -
The Heads of Israel (6:14 - 6:30) Observation - - 6:16 The sons of Levi (Lived 137 years) - Gershon - Libni - Shimei - Kohath (133 years) - Amram - Aaron - Moses (80 yrs old when Israel left Egypt) - Izhar - Hebron - Uzziel - Merari - Mahli - Mushi
Interpretation - - Problem: The ages given for the descendents of Aaron and Moses can't possibly add up to 400, let alone 430. Are the generations mentioned only those which are important? I can't imagine the writers (ie Moses) making this kind of boneheaded mistake when he got it right on the flood and Methuselah.
Application - - Paul warns us in 1 Tim 1:4 not to pay attention to "endless genealogies" because they lead to "endless speculation" and take our attention away from the important things as in "furthering the administration of God". Still, it would be comforting to know how this works.
