Exodus 6:1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Yahweh calls into being that which does not exist. (Rom 4:17) "Jehovah’s reply. He calms Moses with the assurance that he will now shortly see what will happen to the Pharaoh: he will soon not merely be willing to let the Israelites go, but will be eager to drive or thrust them (Exodus 11:1, Exodus 12:39) from his land.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am Yahweh. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.
Yahweh or Jehovah-- "It signifies the same with, I AM THAT I AM, the fountain of being and blessedness, and of infinite perfection. By my name Jehovah was I not known unto them —As it is certain that God declared himself to these patriarchs by the name Jehovah, as may be seen Genesis 15:6-7; Genesis 22:14; Genesis 22:16, some of the best and most accurate writers conclude that the latter part of this verse ought to be read interrogatively, thus, 'And by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them?' The original words will well bear this translation, and it would entirely remove that apparent contradiction which is implied in our version. At the same time it would greatly improve the sense and force of the passage.” (Benson Commentary)
Yahweh or Jehovah-- "Hence our Lord Jesus Christ assumes this name… The name is appropriate to the Godhead, and cannot be given to any creature. Isaiah 42:8. For God and his name are the same... Jehovah is the supreme appellation of God, Of the Father, Psalms 110:1. Of God the Son, Jeremiah 23:6... Of the Holy Spirit... ” (Sutcliffe Commentary)
"Thus says God YAHWEH, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, YAHWEH, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I AM YAHWEH, THAT IS MY NAME; AND MY GLORY I WILL NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 42:5-9)
Of the Father - “YAHWEH said to my A·ḏō·nî, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” (Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:44)
And of the Son— “'But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,' says YAHWEH. 'Behold, the days are coming,' says YAHWEH, 'That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: YAHWEH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Jer 23:3-6)
And again of Himself said the Son in the Book of Revelation: "To Him who loved us and was he us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says YAHWEH God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:6-9)
And again: "Before Abraham was I Am." (John 8:58)
Abraham "believed in Yahweh, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, 'I am Yahweh, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it…. Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Gen 15:6-7; 13-16) Yahweh also appeared to Isaac and to Jacob and entered covenant with them repeating the promises of land, as well as descendants. See Genesis 26:2-5 and Genesis 28:13, respectively.
Exodus 6:4 Then Yahweh said to Moses... "I have ALSO established My covenant with them [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob], to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers.
Also... with them. It sound to me like Moses is offering the covenant to the entire congregation in the name of Yahweh. It had been offered to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… and they had each, at some point, ratified by sacrifice. Of Abraham— the ram in the thicket, instead of his son Isaac… and the promise that Jehovah-jireh- would provide "Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering." (Gen 22:8) The Lamb of God is the LORD Himself. Isaac and Jacob (Isaac’s son) kept the faith by making animal sacrifices (Gen 26:24-25; 31:54; 33:20; 35:7; 46:1) and the LORD refers to Himself as "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."(Exo 3:6, 15) They did many noble things, but it was not until after they understood the significance of the burnt offering that they, like Judah, found rest for their souls and gave Christ the glory due to His name. (2 Chr 15:15) Then, their lives entered a new chapter full of hope, good works, and acts of charity for Christ’s sake. See Hebrews 11:17-21. But at least at this point, Israel— the people— would not heed the words of Moses— the Word of God.
"By faith he (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."(Heb 11:9-10) And Isaac and Jacob believed in Yahweh and became heirs of the promise to Abraham by faith. Yahweh establish His covenant with them also. Yahweh could say that they, like Abraham, "obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” (Gen 26:5) Yet "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were occupants of Canaan merely by sufferance: they were allowed to dwell in it because it was not half peopled; but the ownership was recognized as belonging to the Canaanite nations, Hittites and others (Gen 20:15; 23:3-20, &c).” (Ellicotts’s Commentary) Fret not, for they knew Yahweh… and when He opens their graves, He will bring them forth into their own land.
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 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am Yahweh; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
The captivity of the children of Israel would now end, at the appointed time, according to His Word. Yahweh God heard the groanings of the spiritual children of Israel. Moreover, He was ready to cut off the wicked Amorites from the land of the living… and to give their land to the children of Israel by faith. "The Amorites [of Genesis 15:16] were only one of the nations of the Canaanites, but were a very strong and powerful one, and are put for them all... Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord,.... Eternal in His being, immutable in His counsels, faithful to His covenant, and able to fulfil it: and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians; which lay heavy on them, and made them sigh and groan: and I will rid you out of their bondage; in which they were kept, and by which their lives were made bitter: and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm; with an arm stretched out from heaven to earth, as Aben Ezra expresses it; even by the exertion of His almighty power, openly and manifestly displayed in the lighting down of His arm upon the enemies of his people, and in delivering them out of their hands: and with great judgments; upon the Egyptians, by many and sore plagues and punishments inflicted on them. ” (John Gill)
7 "I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am Yahweh.’” 9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
Moses basically offered for them all to enter covenant with Yahweh…. "That is, he said what God told him to say [reciting the promises of God]. He did not invent his message. He did not think out the gospel that he had to carry to the people. He was simply a repeater of the divine message. As he received it, so he spake it.” (C H Spurgeon) But they would not heed the message "for anguish." They were "out of breath, as it were, after their cruel disappointment, they were quite absorbed by their misery, unable and unwilling to attend to any fresh communication.” (Albert Barnes)
Morning Remix with the Great Commission
Exodus 6:10 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
It was made manifest to all, even to our generation, that in captivity in Egypt, God’s people were not allowed to practice true religion. So "Moses is now bidden to demand not a permission for a three days’ journey... [for religious purposes], which might be within the boundaries of Egypt, but for departure from the land.” (Barnes Notes on the Bible)
"The children of Israel are to be let go altogether 'out of the land.’” (Pulpit Commentary) "An unconditional release of the people is asked for, not merely... a temporary one, to hold a three days’ feast in the wilderness.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
12 And Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
"How then shall Pharaoh hear me?—This time the objection comes from Moses. His double rejection, by Pharaoh (Exodus 5:1-4) and by Israel (Exodus 6:9), had thrown him back into utter despondency. All that diffidence and distrust of himself which he had shown in his earlier communications with Jehovah (Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10; Exodus 4:13) revived, and he despaired of success in his mission. Was it of any use his making a second appeal to the foreign monarch when he had failed with his own countrymen?... Uncircumcised lips ...More is meant here than in Exodus 4:10, where Moses says that.. [he was] 'slow of speech and of a slow tongue.’… ‘Uncircumcised' is used, according to the Hebrew idiom, for any imperfection which interferes with efficiency. An 'uncircumcised ear,' is explained in Jeremiah 6 to be an ear that 'cannot hearken;' and an 'uncircumcised heart': (Lev. xxvi 41) is a heart that fails to understand.” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)
"Uncircumcised lips - An uncircumcised ear is one that does not hear [the Word of God] clearly; an uncircumcised heart one slow to receive and understand [Divine] warnings; uncircumcised lips, such as cannot speak [God’s Word] fluently.” (Barnes' Notes on the Bible) He heard and understood the precepts of the faith but had never practiced speaking them. He complains: See Lord, I tried and my efforts failed. Even your servant, Aaron, was unable to assist me.
Circumcise therefore my lips with your Spirit.
13 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
"Even the faith of Moses himself was faltering; and he would have abandoned the enterprise in despair had he not received a positive command from God to revisit the people without delay, and at the same time renew their demand on the king in a more decisive and peremptory tone.” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)
The Great Commission-- "Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.'" (Mark 16:14-16) "And lo," says Jesus, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
"The Lord gave them a charge to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh — God’s authority is sufficient to answer all objections, and binds us to obedience without murmuring or disputing.” (Benson Commentary) We must not let failure keeping us from the practice of making the good confession of faith. God bids you go again into the world and declare His Word. Send us your Spirit, Lord Jesus, and circumcise our lips!
Exodus 6:14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: THE SONS OF REUBEN, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 AND THE SONS OF SIMEON were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. 16 THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE SONS OF LEVI according to their generations: Gershon, KOHATH, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath were AMRAM, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.
20 Now AMRAM took for himself JOCHEBED, his father’s sister, as wife; AND SHE BORE HIM AARON AND MOSES. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. 21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. 23 Aaron took to himself Elisheba (ELIZABETH in LXX ), daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.
REUBEN, SIMEON AND LEVI- these are three of the twelve sons of Israel.
"Reuben and Simeon being the oldest of Jacob's sons, a passing notice is taken of them...” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) Moses is concerned especially in this place with his own and Aaron's descent "and therefore with the genealogy of the tribe of Levi, and has only inserted any account of the families descended from Reuben and Simeon, that he might not seem to disregard the claims of primogeniture.” (Pulpit Commentary) In the Hebrew family during early days, the eldest son took the place of the father as head of religion for the family. Reuben and Simeon are mentioned for the sake of the objections to Moses being the leader of Israel. Yahweh does not reject the first two but, as often is found in the history of God’s people, He passes them by for the position of spiritual firstborn…. and comes to Levi from whom the priesthood would generally remain until Christ.
The Priesthood of Levites- "During the patriarchal period, God dealt with single families… Abraham and the other patriarchs, as ‘priest' of the family, could lead out in offering the required sacrifices. But now Israel had grown into a large and complex nation composed of thousands of individual family units, making the ancient system inadequate. It would be inappropriate to erect thousands of altars in every place for presenting individual, family offerings and sacrifices. The potential for abuse and distortion would be too great.” (Roy Adams) It is for the same reason that the torah of creation, fall and redemption now goes from oral to written. They were tasked to turn the whole nation into a kingdom priests, which only Christ would effectively do, even among those of the other nations. But He was a priest from another order, like unto Melchizedek. (Gen14:15-20; Heb 7:3)
“Genealogies have always had a special interest for the Semitic races...The descent of a man who aspired to be a leader would be a subject of curiosity, with a Semitic people, to all those who submitted themselves to his guidance; and Moses naturally inserts his at the point where, fully accepting the post of leader, he came forward and commenced his struggle with Pharaoh for the emancipation of his nation.” (Ellicott's Commentary)
“This genealogy ends in those two great patriots, Moses and Aaron, and comes in here to show that they were Israelites, bone of the bone, and flesh of the flesh of those whom they were sent to deliver; raised up unto them of their brethern, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver of the house of Israel, and whose genealogy also, like this, was to be carefully preserved. The heads of the houses of three of the tribes are here named, agreeing with the accounts we had, Genesis 46. Reuben and Simeon seem to be mentioned only for the sake of Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish Church.” (Benson Commentary)
26 These are the same 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 the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.
“In the close of the chapter he returns to his narrative, from which he had broken off some-what abruptly, (Exodus 6:13,) and repeats the charge God had given him to deliver his message to Pharaoh, Exodus 6:29.” (Benson) Bring out the children of Israel, according to the armies. The children of Israel went into Egypt as the mere twelve sons of Israel. They came out an army or host… "According to their numerous families, which were equal to great armies, and which went out of Egypt like several armies in military order, and with great power. See Exodus 12:41,51 13:18 14:8.” (Poole) “… as Dillm. remarks, it is part of the picture that he had formed of Israel at the Exodus, as marching out and journeying through the wilderness in battle array (cf. Numbers 1, 2).” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
Morning Remix w Reflections on Jesus
Exodus 6:28 And it came to pass, on the day Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “I am Yahweh. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30 But Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
"These verses are most closely connected with Exodus 7. They are a recapitulation of main points in Exodus 6, rendered necessary by the long parenthesis (Exodus 6:14-27), and serve to unite Exodus 7 with the previous narrative. They contain no new information.” (Elliott’s Commentary for English Readers)