Reassurance

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Reassurance

Moses’s Complaint

Known

Discouraged

Uncircumcised Lips

The Disgraced Tribes

Aaron’s Family

The Call Renewed

Image by Lisa Caroselli from Pixabay

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Moses’s Complaint

Then Moses returned to Yahweh. “My Lord, why have you harmed this people? Why did you send me for this? From the moment I went to the pharaoh to speak in your name, he has harmed this people. You have in no way delivered your people!”

Yahweh responded to Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’m going to do to the pharaoh. By force he will send them away. By force he will drive them from his land.”

Reassurance 2

Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay

The Israelite supervisors took their frustration out on Moses, but Moses did not reciprocate. He took his complaint to the right place. He returned to Yahweh. Moses had messed up Yahweh’s instructions and incited the pharaoh against the Israelites.1 Yet Yahweh had promised his presence alone would suffice to free the Israelites, despite Moses’s shortcomings.2

Moses accused Yahweh of harming the Israelites instead of delivering them. But Yahweh didn’t scold his frightened servant for his failures or for his disrespectful tone. He simply redirected Moses’s focus from the difficulties of the present to the hope of the future. Yahweh had not failed to keep his promise. He had barely begun the process.

The pharaoh would not have the last word about Israel’s fate. Moses would see God act against the king of Egypt. By the time Yahweh had finished with him, the pharaoh would drive the Israelites out of Egypt by force.3

Known

“I am Yahweh,” God said. “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. But as Yahweh, my name, I was not known to them. Yet I confirmed my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. I’ve also heard the groans of the Israelites forced to serve the Egyptians, and I’ve remembered my covenant.”

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Image by Michael Taylor from Creation Swap

After addressing Moses’s complaint, God reminded him of the purpose of the confrontation with the pharaoh: to make the name Yahweh known throughout the world.4 This part of God’s speech to Moses begins and ends with the declaration “I am Yahweh,” marking this as the theme.5 The pharaoh didn’t reject God’s command because Moses messed up or because God failed. He rejected it because God intended to use his disobedience to glorify his name.

God had chosen Moses and the Israelites of his generations for the special privilege of knowing and making known the name Yahweh. Far from harming them, he had blessed them beyond the blessings of the patriarchs. God revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, the God who does the impossible.6 They used the name Yahweh, among other titles for God. But they didn’t know what it meant or that it was his true name.

Though God didn’t fully reveal himself to the patriarchs, he blessed them through the covenant. He promised to give them the land of Canaan, and he heard the groans of their descendants in Egypt. He had remembered his covenant promises and would now act to fulfill them.7 In doing so, he would reveal himself in a whole new way.

Discouraged

“So tell the Israelites, ‘I am Yahweh. I’ll bring you out from Egypt, where you’re forced to labor, I’ll deliver you from serving them, and I’ll redeem you with authority and great judgments. I’ll take you as my own people, and I’ll be your God. Then you’ll know I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out from Egypt, where you’re forced to labor. I’ll take you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I’ll give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.’”

So Moses told this to the Israelites. But they didn’t listen to Moses because they were too discouraged by their harsh service.

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God had a message of reassurance not only for Moses but also for the rest of the Israelites. This message also begins and ends with “I am Yahweh.” In fact, God repeats this three times. Despite their suffering, the Israelites could trust the God who is.8 The pharaoh’s cruelty wouldn’t stop him from delivering his people and giving them the land of Canaan. Then the Israelites would know Yahweh in a way their ancestors never had.

Encouraged by God’s reassurance, Moses returned to the Israelites and passed on the message that deliverance would come soon. But believing Moses’s promises had led to nothing but trouble, and the renewed promise didn’t encourage them. Exhausted by their endless labor, the Israelites couldn’t hope anymore. Moses realized he’d lost their support.

Uncircumcised Lips

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses again, “Go tell the pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to send the Israelites away from his land.”

But Moses responded, “Look! Even the Israelites won’t listen to me. Why would the pharaoh? My lips are uncircumcised!”

In this way, Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron concerning the Israelites and the pharaoh, the king of Egypt. He commanded them to bring the Israelites out from the land of Egypt.

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Moses obeyed Yahweh’s command to speak to the Israelites, but they wouldn’t listen to him. Nonetheless, Yahweh spoke to Moses again and told him to go back to the pharaoh and reissue the command to send the Israelites away from Egypt. But the Israelites’ discouragement had discouraged him. His own people had rejected him. The pharaoh certainly would too.

Moses decried his “uncircumcised” lips, a different statement from his earlier claim of ineloquence.9 Circumcision served as the sign of devotion to Yahweh and his covenant.10 Someone with an uncircumcised heart lacked inward devotion regardless of the outward sign.11 Moses feared his speech reflected a lack of devotion, causing the Israelites to reject his message. He would certainly fail again when speaking to the pharaoh too. Moses still trusted too much in his own understanding of the situation.12

The pharaoh’s oppressive decree had achieved its desired effect of discouraging Moses and the Israelites.13 They had no desire to continue the confrontation. This marks the low point in the narrative. Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron to bring the Israelites out from Egypt. But they had experienced the impossibility of that task. With all possibility of success through human effort exhausted, the time had come for Yahweh to act.

The Disgraced Tribes

These are the heads of their fathers’ houses:

The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, were Enoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.

The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Saul, whose mother was Canaanite. These are the clans of Simeon.

These are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their descendants: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

The descendants of Gershon are Libni and Shimei, according to their clans. The descendants of Kohath are Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. The descendants of Merari are Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their descendants.

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Right at the turning point between despair and triumph, the narrative briefly sets aside the events in Egypt to record the genealogy of Moses and Aaron. This genealogy is not an interruption or later addition, as some claim. Both its placement and its form reinforce the main point of this section, a vital message emphasized throughout Exodus. Moses and Aaron were wholly unqualified for the tasks assigned to them.

The genealogy occurs immediately after Moses highlights his own inadequacy by lamenting his uncircumcised lips, a statement repeated at the end.14 It begins not with Moses and Aaron’s ancestor, Levi, but with Levi’s two older brothers, Reuben and Simeon. Yet it never mentions any of the other nine brothers. This association reminds the reader of Jacob’s displeasure with his three eldest sons because of their behavior.15 Moses and Aaron came from one of the three disgraced tribes.

A generation skip occurs between Levi’s sons and “the heads of their fathers’ houses” at the time of the exodus.16 So Libni and Shimei were not Gershon’s sons. They were the heads of the clans descended from Gershon.17 Moses and Aaron’s father, Amram, still lived and served as head of one of the clans descended from Kohath. Moses and Aaron had no natural leadership role even in their own family, much less among the rest of the Israelites. On their own, they couldn’t succeed. And they knew it.

Aaron’s Family

Amram married Jochebed, his father’s sister. She gave birth to Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. The sons of Izhar are Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri. The sons of Uzziel are Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon. She gave birth to Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The sons of Korah are Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites. Aaron’s son Eleazar married a daughter of Putiel. She gave birth to Phinehas. These are the heads of the Levite households, according to their clans.

This Aaron and Moses are the ones Yahweh told to bring the Israelites out from the land of Egypt by their companies. They’re the ones who spoke to the pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out from Egypt—that Moses and Aaron.

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The second part of the genealogy focuses on the descendants of Levi’s son Kohath, particularly Aaron and his family. Amram married his paternal aunt, Jochebed, before the law forbade such marriages.18 Aaron married Elisheba from the tribe of Judah. Her brother, Nahshon, became the chief of that tribe.19 Aaron’s third son, Eleazar, married and had a son named Phinehas.

Here the genealogy introduces other members of the family who would also prove unfit for their roles. The mention of Aaron’s grandson Phinehas foreshadows the deaths of Nadab and Abihu soon after their consecration as priests.20 Yahweh killed Aaron’s eldest two sons because they disregarded his instructions on the proper way to offer incense.21 Neither had any sons.22 This left Eleazar and his firstborn son, Phinehas, as Aaron’s heirs.

Other than Aaron’s, only one family line extends past Moses and Aaron’s generation—that of Korah son of Izhar. As a Levite, Korah had the special privilege of entering the tabernacle to assist Aaron in his duties as priest.23 But that honor didn’t satisfy Korah. He rebelled against Moses and Aaron, arguing for an egalitarian society. Because of this, the earth opened beneath him and his household, swallowing them alive.24

Despite their lack of qualifications, this Moses and Aaron were indeed the ones Yahweh called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He chose men who had no claim to worldly honor, power, or authority. By using the weak to demonstrate his power, Yahweh showed only he deserved credit for the wonders that would lead to Israel’s freedom.25

The Call Renewed

When Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, he said, “I am Yahweh. Tell the pharaoh, the king of Egypt, everything I tell you.”

But Moses said to Yahweh, “Look! My lips are uncircumcised! Why would the pharaoh listen to me?”

Yahweh told Moses, “See, I have made you a god to the pharaoh, and Aaron, your brother, is your prophet. You will say everything I command you, and Aaron, your brother, will tell the pharaoh to send the Israelites away from his land.

“But I will make the pharaoh obstinate so I can multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. The pharaoh won’t listen to you. So I’ll use my power against Egypt to bring out my companies, my people, the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great judgments. The Egyptians will know I am Yahweh when I strike Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”

Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh commanded them. When they spoke to the pharaoh, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old.

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Image by Lisa Caroselli from Pixabay

After the genealogy, the narrative returns to Yahweh’s conversation with Moses. Though the pharaoh had succeeded in discouraging Moses and the Israelites, he’d won only a temporary victory. Yahweh would not allow Moses to give in to fear. He and Aaron had to go back.

Moses feared the pharaoh wouldn’t listen to him, and Yahweh again confirmed he wouldn’t. What Moses feared, God intended. God would use the pharaoh’s stubborn disobedience to show the world his signs and wonders. He would judge Egypt for their treatment of the Israelites and then lead his people out by “companies.” The Hebrew word tsavaʾ (“company, army”) portrays Israel as a conquering army departing Egypt in organized companies. They would march out in victory, not flee in fear.

Moses had forgotten the importance of the signs and had previously neglected to perform them.26 But this time, he would not forget. Moses and Aaron would return to the pharaoh and confront him the way Yahweh commanded.

← Exodus 4:29–5:21

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Exodus 7:8–8:19 →

  1. See Knowing Yahweh.
  2. See Qualifications.
  3. Exodus 12:31–33.
  4. See Obstinate.
  5. Exodus 6:2, 8; see Inclusio.
  6. See God Almighty.
  7. See Remembered.
  8. See The Name.
  9. See Eloquence.
  10. See Circumcision.
  11. Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4.
  12. See Proverbs 3:5–6.
  13. See Quelling Rebellion.
  14. See Inclusio.
  15. See Reuben’s Future; Simeon and Levi’s Future.
  16. See Hebrew Genealogies.
  17. Numbers 3:21–22.
  18. Leviticus 18:12.
  19. Numbers 2:3.
  20. See Foreshadowing.
  21. Leviticus 10:1–2.
  22. Numbers 3:4.
  23. Numbers 3:8.
  24. Numbers 16:1–33.
  25. 1 Corinthians 1:27.
  26. See Quelling Rebellion.