Exodus 6:1-27
I. Introduction
God
does not accept letters of resignation; neither does he offer counter
proposals. He provides Moses with a word
from, about, and for God.
II.
God reminds Moses of who he is and what it means.
1. We are in that section of the Book in which
Moses has resigned (5:1-7:7). His plea
to Pharaoh did not work. The people did
not believe. The overt implication is
that God has failed. See 5:23. Therefore, let me return to being a shepherd
and the people to being slaves.
2. When this happens in Scripture, God reissues
his call to the man of God. God does not
change and neither does his call.
3. It is a strategic issue. God has issued a promise to redeem his people
from
4. God counters the charge of Moses in
5:23. Read vs 1. The Hebrew is literally by a strong
hand. The irony of this is that the
verbal form of the word “strong” is later used of God
hardening Pharaoh’s heart. See
10:20. It is the reminder that God is
sovereign over Pharaoh. Pharaoh lives
under the hand of God. Pharaoh has
refused, but it is not a sign that God has failed; rather that he has
succeeded. The promise is tied to
sovereignty.
5. From this theology, there spins three
movements (2-8, 9-13, and 14-27). In the
first, God gives Moses a declaration. I
am Yahweh. In the ANE, kings and gods
used this formula to declare their might and power. Yahweh is God and King. God goes on to declare that when he appeared
to the patriarchs, he used the name El Shaddai and not Yahweh. The NAS reads almighty as does the LXX. The Vulgate has omnipotens from which we have our word omnipotent. The Hebrew is an abbreviated form of the
relative pronoun who and the word sufficiency; in other words God who is
sufficient or enough. God is sufficient
within himself. He needs nothing or no
one. In the context of theophany to the
patriarchs, it is a covenant reminder that he is able to take care of them. With God, they have everything they
need. It speaks to his ability to
fulfill the promise. But it also implies
that they are to return the same and trust God.
Read 17:1: Abraham must trust God for a son. In 28:3, Jacob is to trust God for a
wife. And in 35:11, Jacob is to trust
God for safety from Esau. But here the
name is Yahweh. It is a derivative of
the divine name of Exodus 3. I am. Thus, what is pressing upon Moses is the
infinity and immutability of God. He
never changes. The nature of God is the
counter of God to Moses’ resignation.
What follows the name in 6-8 are seven promises
in rapid fire order. I will bring you
out, I will deliver, I will redeem, I will take you to me as a people, I will
be to you God, I will bring you to the land, and I will give it to you. They are all promises within the context of
covenant. You are my people; I am your
God. It is a declaration (about) and
response (for). The promises are only
as good as the one issuing it. The
promises are absolute and certain because God is the subject. The God who does not change
and who is entirely sufficient within himself to accomplish his designs. The section closes just as it began. I am Yahweh.
This is the answer to the complaint of Moses (word from, about, and for
God).
6. The section is followed by two rejections
(people [9] and Moses [13]). The people
did not hear because literally of the shortness of spirit and the hard
labor. The first is an idiom for
depression. Appl: God is not short of Spirit. The word for hard will appear again as God
will harden Pharaoh for making it hard on his people. It is all a refusal based on unbelief. And Moses complains. I am uncircumcised of lips. They still do not get the fact that it has
nothing at all to do with them. It is
all about God: His Spirit and not
theirs; His power and not the eloquence of Moses. The covenant God expects his people to trust
him! And when we lose who he is we are
all the more prone to lose our way. It
is the tragedy of the Church today. We
do not understand God and neither do we stand under God.
7. The final section is the genealogy of Moses
and Aaron. It seems out of place. There is an implied 490 years in the
text. It is a long time to wait. But not on him because it is for him! But its focus is the tribe of Levi. This is the family of priests. This family will represent all of the others
before God. It is an implicit identity
of the life for which the entire nation is to be created. See Exodus 19:5-6. It is the practical side of the divine
revelation of God. Since he is God, his
people must be priests. The genealogy comes
before the expulsion as a reminder of the purpose of it (from, about,
for).
8. It is so with us by grace. In Revelation 1 John says that he made us to
be a kingdom priests to his God and Father.
Our genealogy is traced to Christ whose grace adopts us into the
priestly family. We too await full
redemption and the city whose builder and maker is God. The covenant God has made us for himself and
set eternity in our hearts. The taste of
heaven is enough to make us wait for God is enough. We are unflagging because he has lavished his
Spirit upon us. We serve faithfully for
what is to come and what he has prepared for us. What he did for Israel is a reminder that he
will do it for us as well. The words
that come from God, about God, and for God check our resignations.