Exodus chapter 6 comments: God restates His promise to deliver Israel from Egypt

Exodus 6:1 ¶  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. 2  And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3  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. 4  And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 5  And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 6  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 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, and with great judgments: 7  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. 8  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; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. 9  And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

Now, God says He’s going to do a work. He reaffirms to Moses who He is and states His name, and Moses is the first of God’s people to hear that name used so many, many times in the Bible as LORD. He also reaffirms the covenant He made with Abraham. He gave Moses mighty words to repeat to the Hebrews but they were too busy with their own suffering now to pay any attention. It was bad before Moses returned but it is worse now.

Here is a point for the new believer in Christ. First, your plight may seem worse after you were saved than before and second, Satan or your own flesh will keep you down with anguish of spirit and cruel bondage to keep you from doing what you must do and allowing God to do what He wants to do in your life.

Exodus 6:10 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11  Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. 12  And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? 13  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 6:14 ¶  These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. 15  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. 16  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. 17  The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. 18  And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. 19  And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations. 20  And Amram took him Jochebed 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. 21  And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 22  And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri. 23  And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24  And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites. 25  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. 26  These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. 27  These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron. 28  And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 29  That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. 30  And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?

Moses repeats his self-doubts in this chapter. He uses the phrase uncircumcised lips to describe his condition. He feels totally inadequate for this incredible assignment, to go again before the most powerful man on earth to demand the release of his Hebrew slaves. His lips are not sanctified, set apart for God’s purpose. A type of that phrase is used a number of times in the Bible in different contexts.

A proud heart;

Leviticus 26:41  And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:

An ear that won’t hear and obey;

Jeremiah 6:10  To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

…resisting the guidance and instruction of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

And here, lips that the owner has no confidence in to do God’s will and bidding. But it is true that Moses lips are incapable, on their own, of doing God’s will. However, God uses fallible men and women to achieve His purposes, here to move His ministry of reconciliation forward. He will give them the words to say.

Luke 12:11  And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: 12  For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

God gives Aaron and Moses a charge, a command, to give to the children of Israel.

Genesis 26:5  Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Through the use of listing the ancestry of Moses and Aaron God prepares us specifically for the events that are about to take place and declares with no uncertainty who He is going to use as His vehicles to announce said events.

This is one of the most momentous occasions in human history, where God is interfering with what He has allowed to happen by His permissive will. Not since the dispersal at Babel have we seen such an event or series of events that is about to happen. Creation, the Flood, Babel, and the Exodus all are events that impact directly the world at large rather than God just singling out individuals and working with them to move His plan forward.