1Und JehovaH3068 sprachH559 zu MoseH4872 : Nun sollst du sehen, was ich dem PharaoH6547 tunH6213 werde; denn durch eine starkeH2389 HandH3027 gezwungen sollH7200 er sieH7971 ziehen lassen, und durch eine starkeH2389 HandH3027 gezwungen soll er sie aus seinem LandeH776 wegtreiben. 2Und GottH430 redeteH1696 zu MoseH4872 und sprachH559 zu ihm: Ich bin JehovaH3068. 3Und ich bin AbrahamH85, IsaakH3327 und JakobH3290 erschienen als GottH410, der AllmächtigeH7706; aber mit meinem NamenH8034 JehovaH3068 habeH7200 ich mich ihnen nicht kundgegeben. 4Und auch habeH6965 ich meinen BundH1285 mit ihnen aufgerichtet, ihnen das LandH776 KanaanH3667 zu gebenH5414, das LandH776 ihrer Fremdlingschaft, in welchem sie als FremdlingeH1481 geweilt haben. 5Und auch habe ich das WehklagenH5009 der KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 gehörtH8085, welcheH834 dieH5647 ÄgypterH4714 zum Dienst anhalten, und habe meines BundesH1285 gedachtH2142. 6DarumH3651 sprichH559 zu den KindernH1121 IsraelH3478 : Ich bin JehovaH3068, und ich werde euch herausführen unter den Lastarbeiten der ÄgypterH4714 hinweg und werde euch errettenH5337 ausH3318 ihrem Dienste und euch erlösenH1350 mit ausgestrecktemH5186 ArmH2220 und durch großeH1419 GerichteH8201. 7UndH3318 ich will euch annehmenH3947 mir zum VolkeH5971 und will euer GottH430 sein; und ihr sollt erkennenH3045, daß ich JehovaH3068, euer GottH430, bin, der euch herausführt unter den Lastarbeiten der ÄgypterH4714 hinweg. 8Und ich werde euch in das LandH776 bringenH935, welches dem AbrahamH85, IsaakH3327 und JakobH3290 zu gebenH5414 ich meine HandH3027 erhoben habeH5375, und werde es euch zum Besitztum gebenH5414, ich, JehovaH3068. 9Und MoseH4872 redeteH1696 also zu den KindernH1121 IsraelH3478; aber sie hörtenH8085 nicht auf MoseH4872 vor Ungeduld und vor hartem Dienste. 10Und JehovaH3068 redeteH1696 zu MoseH4872 und sprachH559 : 11Gehe hinein, redeH1696 zu dem PharaoH6547, dem KönigeH4428 von ÄgyptenH4714, daß erH935 die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 aus seinem LandeH776 ziehen lasseH7971. 12Und MoseH4872 redeteH1696 vor JehovaH3068 und sprachH559 : Siehe, die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 haben nicht aufH6440 michH589 gehörtH8085, und wie sollte der PharaoH6547 mich hörenH8085, zumal ich unbeschnitten an LippenH8193 bin? 13Und JehovaH3068 redeteH1696 zu MoseH4872 und zu AaronH175 und gab ihnen BefehlH6680 an die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 und an den PharaoH6547, den KönigH4428 von ÄgyptenH4714, um die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 ausH3318 dem LandeH776 ÄgyptenH4714 hinauszuführen. 14Dies sind die HäupterH7218 ihrer VaterhäuserH1 : Die SöhneH1121 RubensH7205, des ErstgeborenenH1060 IsraelsH3478 : Hanok und PalluH6396, HezronH2696 und KarmiH3756; das sind die GeschlechterH4940 RubensH7205. 15Und die SöhneH1121 SimeonsH8095 : JemuelH3223 und JaminH3226 und OhadH161 und Jakin und Zochar und SaulH7586, der SohnH1121 der Kanaaniterin; das sind die GeschlechterH4940 SimeonsH8095. 16UndH8141 dies sind die NamenH8034 der SöhneH1121 LevisH3878 nach ihren GeschlechternH8435 : GersonH1648 und Kehath und MerariH4847; und die Lebensjahre LevisH3878 waren hundertsiebenunddreißig H3967 H7651 H7970 JahreH8141. 17Die SöhneH1121 GersonsH1648 : LibniH3845 und SimeiH8096, nach ihren Familien. 18UndH8141 die SöhneH1121 Kehaths: AmramH6019 und JizharH3324 und HebronH2275 und Ussiel; und die Lebensjahre Kehaths waren hundertdreiunddreißig H3967 H7969 H7970 JahreH8141. 19Und die SöhneH1121 MerarisH4847 : Machli und MusiH4187; das sind die Familien LevisH3878 nach ihren GeschlechternH4940. 20UndH8141 AmramH6019 nahmH3947 Jokebed, seine MuhmeH1733, sich zum WeibeH802, und sie gebarH3205 ihm AaronH175 und MoseH4872; und die Lebensjahre AmramsH6019 waren hundertsiebenunddreißig H3967 H7651 H7970 JahreH8141. 21Und die SöhneH1121 JizharsH3324 : KorahH7141 und NephegH5298 und Sikri. 22Und die SöhneH1121 Ussiels: Mischael und ElzaphanH469 und SithriH5644. 23Und AaronH175 nahmH3947 Elischeba, die TochterH1323 AmminadabsH5992, die SchwesterH269 Nachschons, sich zum WeibeH802; und sie gabar ihm NadabH5070 und AbihuH30, EleasarH499 und IthamarH385. 24Und die SöhneH1121 KorahsH7141 : AssirH617 und ElkanaH511 und AbiasaphH23; das sind die Familien der Korhiter. 25Und EleasarH499, der SohnH1121 AaronsH175, nahmH3947 eine von den TöchternH1323 PutielsH6317 sich zum WeibeH802, und sie gebarH3205 ihm PinehasH6372; das sind die HäupterH7218 der VäterH1 der LevitenH3881 nach ihren GeschlechternH4940. 26Dieser AaronH175 undH559 dieser MoseH4872 sind es, zu denenH834 JehovaH3068 gesprochen hat: Führet die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 ausH3318 dem LandeH776 ÄgyptenH4714 hinaus, nach ihren HeerenH6635. 27Diese sind es, dieH1992 zu dem PharaoH6547, dem KönigeH4428 von ÄgyptenH4714, redetenH1696, um die KinderH1121 IsraelH3478 ausH3318 ÄgyptenH4714 hinauszuführen: dieser MoseH4872 und dieser AaronH175. 28Und es geschah an dem TageH3117, da JehovaH3068 zu MoseH4872 redeteH1696 im LandeH776 ÄgyptenH4714, 29da redeteH1696 JehovaH3068 zu MoseH4872 und sprachH559 : Ich bin JehovaH3068; redeH1696 zu dem PharaoH6547, dem KönigeH4428 von ÄgyptenH4714 alles, was ich zu dir redeH1696. 30Und MoseH4872 sprachH559 vor JehovaH3068 : Siehe, ich bin unbeschnitten an LippenH8193, und wie sollte der PharaoH6547 aufH6440 mich hörenH8085?
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here, I. God silences Moses's complaints with the assurance of success in this negotiation, repeating the promise made him in
Exod 3:20,
After that, he will let you go. When Moses was at his wit's end, wishing he had staid in Midian, rather than have come to Egypt to make bad worse - when he was quite at a loss what to do -
Then the Lord said unto Moses, for the quieting of his mind,
Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh (
Exod 6:1); now that the affair has come to a crisis, things are as bad as they can be, Pharaoh is in the height of pride and Israel in the depth of misery, now is my time to appear. See
Pss 12:5,
Now will I arise. Note, Man's extremity is God's opportunity of helping and saving. Moses had been expecting what God would do; but now he shall see what he will do, shall see his day at length,
Job 24:1. Moses had been trying what he could do, and could effect nothing. Well, says God, now thou shalt see what
I will do; let me alone to deal with this proud man,
Job 40:12,
Job 40:13. Note, Then the deliverance of God's church will be accomplished, when God takes the work into his own hands.
With a strong hand, that is, being forced to it by a strong hand,
he shall let them go. Note, As some are brought to their duty by the strong hand of God's grace, who are made willing in the day of his power, so others by the strong hand of his justice, breaking those that would not bend.
II. He gives him further instructions, that both he and the people of Israel might be encouraged to hope for a glorious issue of this affair. Take comfort,
1. From God's name, Jehovah,
Exod 6:2,
Exod 6:3. He begins with this,
I am Jehovah, the same with,
I am that I am, the fountain of being, and blessedness, and infinite perfection. The patriarchs knew this name, but they did not know him in this matter by that which this name signifies. God would now be known by his name
Jehovah, that is, (1.) A God performing what he had promised, and so inspiring confidence in his promises. (2.) A God perfecting what he had begun, and finishing his own work. In the history of the creation, God is never called Jehovah till the heavens and the earth were finished,
Gen 2:4. When the salvation of the saints is completed in eternal life, then he will be known by his name Jehovah (
Revel 22:13); in the mean time they shall find him, for their strength and support,
El-shaddai, a God all-sufficient, a God that is enough and will be so,
Mic 7:20.
2. From his covenant:
I have established my covenant, Exod 6:4. Note, The covenants God makes he establishes; they are made as firm as the power and truth of God can make them. We may venture our all upon this bottom.
3. From his compassions (
Exod 6:5):
I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel; he means their groaning on occasion of the late hardships put upon them. Note, God take notice of the increase of his people's calamities, and observes how their enemies grow upon them.
4. From his present resolutions,
Exod 6:6-
Exod 6:8. Here is line upon line, to assure them that they should be brought triumphantly out of Egypt (
Exod 6:6), and should be put in possession of the land of Canaan (
Exod 6:8):
I will bring you out. I will rid you. I will redeem you. I will bring you into the land of Canaan, and
I will give it to you. Let man take the shame of his unbelief, which needs such repetitions; and let God have the glory of his condescending grace, which gives us such repeated assurances for our satisfaction.
5. From his gracious intentions in all these, which were great, and worthy of him,
Exod 6:7. (1.) He intended their happiness:
I will take you to me for a people, a peculiar people, and
I will be to you a God; more than this we need not ask, we cannot have, to make us happy. (2.) He intended his own glory:
You shall know that I am the Lord. God will attain his own ends, nor shall we come short of them if we make them our chief end too. Now, one would think, these good words, and comfortable words, should have revived the drooping Israelites, and cause them to forget their misery; but, on the contrary, their miseries made them regardless of God's promises (
Exod 6:9):
They harkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit. That is, [1.] They were so taken up with their troubles that they did not heed him. [2.] They were so cast down with their late disappointment that they did not believe him. [3.] They had such a dread of Pharaoh's power and wrath that they durst not themselves move in the least towards their deliverance. Note,
First, Disconsolate spirits often put from them the comforts they are entitled to, and stand in their own light. See
Isa 28:12.
Secondly, Strong passions oppose strong consolations. By indulging ourselves in discontent and fretfulness, we deprive ourselves of the comfort we might have both from God's word and from his providence, and must thank ourselves if we go comfortless.
10 Here, I. God sends Moses the second time to Pharaoh (
Exod 6:11) upon the same errand as before, to command him, at his peril, that he
let the children of Israel go. Note, God repeats his precepts before he begins his punishments. Those that have often been called in vain to leave their sins must yet be called again and again, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear,
Ezek 3:11. God is said to
hew sinners by his prophets (
Hos 6:5), which denotes the repetition of the strokes.
How often would I have gathered you? II. Moses makes objections, as one discouraged, and willing to give up the cause,
Exod 6:12. He pleads, 1. The unlikelihood of Pharaoh's hearing:
Behold the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; they give no heed, no credit, to what I have said; how then can I expect that Pharaoh should hear me? If the anguish of their spirit makes them deaf to that which would compose and comfort them, much more will the anger of his spirit, his pride and insolence, make him deaf to that which will but exasperate and provoke him. If God's professing people hear not his messengers, how can it be thought that his professed enemy should? Note, The frowardness and untractableness of those that are called Christians greatly discourage ministers, and make them ready to despair of success in dealing with those that are atheistical and profane. We would be instrumental to unite Israelites, to refine and purify them, to comfort and pacify them; but, if they hearken not to us, how shall we prevail with those in whom we cannot pretend to such an interest? But with God all things are possible. 2. He pleads the unreadiness and infirmity of his own speaking:
I am of uncircumcised lips; it is repeated,
Exod 6:30. He was conscious to himself that he had not the gift of utterance, had no command of language; his talent did not lie that way. To this objection God had given a sufficient answer before, and therefore he ought not to have insisted upon it, for the sufficiency of grace can supply the defects of nature at any time. Note, Though our infirmities ought to humble us, yet they ought not to discourage us from doing our best in any service we have to do for God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
III. God again joins Aaron in commission with Moses, and puts an end to the dispute by interposing his own authority, and giving them both a solemn charge, upon their allegiance to their great Lord, to execute it with all possible expedition and fidelity. When Moses repeats his baffled arguments, he shall be argued with no longer, but God gives him a charge, and Aaron with him, both to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh,
Exod 6:13. Note, God's authority is sufficient to answer all objections, and binds us to obedience, without murmuring or disputing,
Phili 2:14. Moses himself has need to be charged, and so has Timothy,
1Tim 6:13;
2Tim 4:1.
14 I. We have here a genealogy, not an endless one, such as the apostle condemns (
1Tim 1:4), for it ends in those two great patriots Moses and Aaron, and comes in here to show that they were Israelites, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh whom they were sent to deliver, raised up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the prophet and priest, the Redeemer and lawgiver, of the people 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, Gen. 46. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, are thus dignified here by themselves for this reason, because they were left under marks of infamy by their dying father, Reuben for his incest and Simeon and Levi for their murder of the Shechemites; and therefore Moses would put this particular honour upon them, to magnify God's mercy in their repentance and remission, as a pattern to those that should afterwards believe: the two former seem rather to be mentioned only for the sake of a third, which was Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish church. Thus was the tribe of Levi distinguished betimes. Observe here, 1. That Kohath, from whom Moses and Aaron, and all the priests, derived their pedigree, was a younger son of Levi,
Exod 6:16. Note, The grants of God's favours do not go by seniority of age and priority of birth, but the divine sovereignty often prefers the younger before the elder, so crossing hands. 2. That the ages of Levi, Kohath, and Amram, the father, grandfather, and great grandfather, of Moses, are here recorded; they all lived to a great age, Levi to 137, Kohath to 133, and Amram to 137. Moses himself came much short of them, and fixed seventy or eighty for the ordinary stretch of human life (
Pss 90:10); for now that God's Israel was multiplied and had become a great nation, and divine revelation was by the hand of Moses committed to writing and no longer trusted to tradition, the two great reasons for the long lives of the patriarchs had ceased, and therefore henceforward fewer years must serve men. 3. That Aaron married Elisheba (the same name with that of the wife of Zecharias, Elizabeth, as Miriam is the same with Mary), daughter of Amminadab, one of the chief of the fathers of the tribe of Judah; for the tribes of Levi and Judah often intermarried,
Exod 6:23. 4. It must not be omitted that Moses has recorded the marriage of his father Amram with Jochebed his own aunt (
Exod 6:20); and it appears by
Num 26:59 that it must be taken strictly for his father's own sister, at least by the half blood. This marriage was afterwards forbidden as incestuous (
Lev 18:12), which might be looked upon as a blot upon his family, though before that law; yet Moses does not conceal it, for he sought not his own praise, but wrote with a sincere regard to truth, whether it smiled or frowned upon him. 5. He concludes it with a particular mark of honour on the persons he is writing of, though he himself was one of them,
Exod 6:26,
Exod 6:27. These are
that Moses and Aaron whom God pitched upon to be his plenipotentiaries in this treaty. These were those to whom
God spoke (
Exod 6:26), and who
spoke to Pharaoh on Israel's behalf,
Exod 6:27. Note, Communion with God and serviceableness to his church are things that, above any other, put true honour upon men. Those are great indeed with whom God converses and whom he employs on his service. Such were that Moses and Aaron; and something of this honour have all his saints, who are made to our God kings and priests.
II. In the close of the chapter Moses returns to his narrative, from which he had broken off somewhat abruptly (
Exod 6:13), and repeats, 1. The charge God had given him to deliver his message to Pharaoh (
Exod 6:29):
Speak all that I say unto thee, as a faithful ambassador. Note, Those that go on God's errand must not shun to declare
the whole counsel of God. 2. His objection against it,
Exod 6:30. Note, Those that have at any time spoken unadvisedly with their lips ought often to reflect upon it with regret, as Moses seems to do here.
