Exodus 6:1-27 –
¹ But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

² God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. ⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” ⁹ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” ¹³ But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. ¹⁵ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. ¹⁶ These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. ¹⁷ The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. ¹⁸ The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. ¹⁹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. ²⁰ Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. ²¹ The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²² The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. ²³ Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴ The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. ²⁵ Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their clans.

²⁶ These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.” ²⁷ It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

Introduction

Back in early 2023, I decided to preach through the book of Exodus when I have the opportunity to fill the pulpit. This is the seventh sermon on the book. It’s a joy to dig into, study, and preach from this book. The previous six are on our website if you want to read or listen. This morning we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the narrative of God’s salvific work.

After Jacob and his family sojourn in Egypt during the great famine that Joseph had prophesied would come, the Hebrews found themselves enslaved to the Egyptians. They had groaned under the hand of Egyptian oppression at the end of chapter two. By then, Moses had fled Egypt and was in Midian. But the LORD met him at the burning bush in chapter three and called him to return to his people to bring them out of Egypt. Things were looking up when Moses arrived. The people were eager to believe God was bringing them salvation. But in chapter five, Pharaoh scorned Moses and Aaron’s message from God, and he increased the people’s burden by requiring them not only to make bricks, but also to gather their own straw to make them. In chapter six, the situation for the Hebrews in Egypt was even darker than when their suffering began.

What does God want us to do when our circumstances overwhelm us? What does God’s Word tell us to do? More importantly, what does God do when our circumstances overwhelm us? What will God do? 

Our text this morning has three main sections. The first section is God’s encouragement to Moses in the first five verses. Verses 6-13 are God’s message, and verses 14-27 serve as the authentication of God’s messenger.

In chapter 6, the people of Israel are despondent, having lost faith in God and His servant Moses. Moses came from the wilderness of Midian and claimed to bear a message from God, but his return has only worsened their plight. The daily grind of slave labor has been made even more intolerable. Moses is downcast and dejected. How is it that God sent him to Egypt to deliver Israel, but now they hate him and their situation has gotten worse? In this moment, what seems like their darkest hour, God declares He will act to deliver His people. God will reveal Himself to Israel by fulfilling what He promised their fathers. The people of Israel will know their covenant God through His covenant-keeping. God is faithful, even when Israel cannot see past their circumstances. God keeps his word when Israel forgets. 

God’s Encouragement to Moses (v1-5)

The text begins with an encouraging word to the doubting Moses. In verse 1, “the LORD said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” Thus far in Exodus, Moses has brought God’s demand to Pharaoh, but here we see that God is prepared to act upon that demand. God “will do” something to Pharaoh. This sounds ominous, and if you know the rest of the story, it’s even more so. 

But what will God do to Pharaoh? In 3:19-20, God had declared to Moses, at the burning bush, “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.” In verse 1, it isn’t clear whose “strong hand” God is referring to. But in the context of the book, it is clear that God is referring to his own “strong hand.” For some reason, the ESV translates the same Hebrew word “mighty” in 3:19, but “strong” in 6:1. We see the same expression used in 13:9, “For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.” 

Throughout the book, the thematic power of “the hand” recurs. The signs God gave Moses in chapter 4 were demonstrated through his hand—he casts his staff down from his hand, and it turns into a serpent. Moses uses his hand to pick it up again, and it turns back into a staff. Moses puts his hand into his cloak, and it becomes leprous. He takes it back out, and his hand is no longer leprous. God even commands Moses to take his staff in his hand, because with it, he will do the signs. In 4:20, the staff in Moses’ hand is called “the staff of God.” We are supposed to see the hand of God on display in the hands of Moses. Later, with each plague, someone’s “hand” is always involved—whether it be Moses, Aaron, or God. 

At the end of the previous chapter, we see that the foremen of the people of Israel fear “Pharaoh and his servants” because they believe Moses has “put a sword in their hand to kill” them. The people of Israel feared the wrong hand. They feared men, rather than God. They couldn’t see past the physical hand in front of their eyes. In a similar vein, Moses warns the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:17, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” Scholar Greg Beale says this well, “Regardless of how rampantly evil seems to run and to cause God’s people to suffer, they can know that His hand superintends everything for their good and His glory.”

The New English Translation reads this way, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for compelled by my strong hand he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” This more accurately describes what is happening. God is now about to use His “mighty hand” promised in 3:19 to compel Pharaoh to do the very thing he has so far refused. Pharaoh will, in fact, resist the hand of the LORD again and again, as God’s hand of judgment brings ten plagues upon Pharaoh’s land.

Matt Nelson’s words from his sermon on Philippians 1:27-30 a few weeks ago come to mind here. He wrote, “Our opponents have no power whatsoever to affect anything. They can only serve as involuntary mediators of sovereign grace. They can’t touch what really matters, they can’t stop Christ from being glorified even in their opposition…” We rightly get frustrated when we witness our own civil rulers resist God by enacting and enforcing wickedness through the force of human law. But we too easily lose sight of the fact that God’s strong hand is behind all civil rulers. It is not that God is committing injustice as civil rulers abuse their office, but that God’s purposes of blessing and curse are at work through every action of every civil ruler. Every civil ruler will be held accountable for how they rule.  We must remember that God is at work and his purposes are never thwarted.

This first word to Moses was meant to encourage him. God has declared that it is He who is at work, and He will do as he had said. He had said He would compel Pharaoh “by a mighty hand,” and He has not forgotten that promise.  

God recognized that Moses and Israel could not see past their circumstances. God recognized their greatest need was to look to Him, not their trouble, not their need. And so God reminds Moses who He is. Notice the fourfold repetition of “I am the LORD” in verses 2, 6, 7, and 8. This is the covenant name of God, Yahweh. God then reminds Moses of five things that He has already done and declares seven things He will do. God is declaring that His people will recognize Him through the fulfillment of His promises. 

In verse 3, God reminds Moses that he had appeared to the patriarchs: “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” Two names of God are mentioned here. In Hebrew, “God Almighty” is El-Shaddai, and LORD (in all capital letters) is Yahweh. He seems to be saying the patriarchs did not know Him as Yahweh. Commentators disagree on how to understand, or even interpret, this verse. Some argue this is “a very clear statement that the name YHWH had not been used by the patriarchs as a title for God.” Others argue “that the term “Yahweh” was known before, but God is about to give it a new level of meaning through the Exodus.” And then others believe a better translation turns this into a rhetorical question, “and by my name Yahweh, did I not make myself known to them?” I’m not able to, or interested in, settling the disagreement, but it is important to know scholars interpret this difficult verse in many ways. 

Regardless of which position is correct, this moment is significant in covenant history, and God’s covenant name, Yahweh, will become better known as it is wedded to His great covenantal act of redemption. One commentator notes, “This is the first time in Exodus that God says, ‘I am Yahweh’… He had said these words…only twice before, in Gen 15:7 to Abraham and in Gen 28:13 to Jacob, each time in connection with the promise of the land to their descendants. Again here the promise of the land follows.”

All of the verbs in these verses show God is the initiator and doer. God “appeared” to the patriarchs. God “established” his covenant. God promised “to give” them the land. God “heard” their groaning.  And finally, God “remembered” His covenant. God is reminding Moses that He has been there and acting all along, even in Israel’s faithlessness. 

What had been promised long ago to their forefathers is about to be fulfilled. And through this covenant-keeping, Israel will know Yahweh, who brought them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (v. 7) He is the LORD.

In these five reminders of what God has done in the past, we are meant to see that God made promises that He will fulfill.

God’s Message (v6-13)

After Moses’ brief history lesson on God’s covenant promises, God gives another list: seven things He will do to fulfill them. This brings us to the second section, verses 6-13, which is God’s message to Israel and Pharaoh. 

were to trust the seven declarations of what He is about to do. This is why history matters. We must remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and remember that He is still faithful. Like the five actions of God in the previous section, we again find God as the initiator and doer. And so Yahweh commands Moses, “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will: 

1. “…bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians…”
2. “…deliver you from slavery”
3. “…redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.”
4. “…take you to be my people”
5. “…be your God…”
6. “…bring you into the land” he had sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
7. “…give [the land] to you for a possession.”

As the five-fold history lesson began, “I am the LORD.” The seven-fold list of promises ends with the same refrain, “I am the LORD.”  God is staking his name and reputation upon His promises. Yahweh is the covenant-keeper, even when His people forget.

The first two promises meant their slavery would be over. No more Egyptian burdens, no more Egyptian slave masters. This is what the people had hoped for when Moses arrived in Egypt, but those hopes were dashed in chapter five.

At the center of those promises is God’s declaration that he would take them “to be my people.” God had called Israel His “firstborn Son” in chapter four, but He would have to redeem them out of slavery to Pharaoh to do so. This redemption would be accomplished “with great acts of judgment”—another ominous bit of foreshadowing.

To be God’s people meant being freed from the burdens of their slave masters—Pharaoh and his servants. Each day they bore their burdens of oppression. 

To be God’s people meant being delivered out of bondage. The burdens of their slavery symbolized the condition of all men. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they had fallen into the bondage of sin and covenanted with the Serpent. They could not deliver themselves from this bondage. They needed a deliverer—someone not subject to their bondage to act as deliverer. They needed someone with divine power. Moses is that man: born an Israelite, adopted as an Egyptian, and a sojourner in Midian; he is God’s given means of deliverance, invested with a divine message, authority, and power. 

To be God’s people meant being redeemed. This redemption is accomplished through the power of God’s “outstretched arm” meeting his people in their weakness and captivity. Later, the Mosaic Law develops this concept and requires “an intermediary to serve as a redeemer.” Israel was to see that only someone outside their situation could save them. God was, and is, that redeemer. Psalm 130 speaks of the need for ongoing redemption, “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” 

Israel’s redemption was to be accompanied by “great acts of judgment.” God would execute judgment upon Israel’s slave master, Pharaoh. This passage anticipates the ten plagues about to be brought to bear on Pharaoh and all Egypt. God is mighty to save, and He would glorify His name as he executed judgment upon the evildoer.

To be God’s people meant that God would be their God. They would have no other gods before Him. They would make no images to worship. They would not serve idols. They would not serve themselves. They would receive the “steadfast love” of the LORD. (Ex. 20:3:6) God would dwell with them, in their midst. He would meet their high priest in the most holy place of their place of worship. He would bless them, not just by His presence, but pour out his covenant blessings in every aspect of their existence—whether “in the city”, or “in the field.” Their offspring would be blessed, the “fruit of [their] ground,” their cattle, their flocks, their harvest, their “kneading bowl.” God’s blessings would be bountiful and overflowing. (Deut. 28: 1-6) 

To be God’s people meant entering the land God had prepared for them and promised to their fathers. They would receive an inheritance and have a home of their own possession. Israel had never had a land. The patriarchs had sojourned in Canaan, moving from place to place, digging wells, setting up altars, but always looking to the next place. They had settled comfortably for a time in Egypt, while Joseph lived, but that was brief, and that quickly turned into their captivity and slavery. Now, they could look forward to a place of rest. 

Israel knew this history, but they no longer believed it. They no longer trusted in the God of their fathers. Moses brought God’s message to Israel. He “spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” (v. 9) When Moses had spoken to Israel in 4:29, they had believed him and worshipped God. But not this time. They’d lost patience and lost faith. The covenant-keeping God had been faithful and remained so. But God’s people were not. They had no patience, no faith, no hope. They could not look beyond their circumstances to the God who was greater than them. We have all been there, haven’t we? Israel’s situation was not settled, because God had made promises, and He is the covenant-keeping God. He was going to act. 

God also had a message for Pharaoh: “Let the people of Israel go.” Moses is incredulous. He’s already given this message to Pharaoh, and he’s still smarting from that encounter. Moses complains, “The people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”

But, as before, God doesn’t accept excuses. He commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh, and Moses had to do it. “But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.” (v. 13) So Moses will have to obey, and in chapter 7 we will see Moses go to Pharaoh.

God’s Messenger (v14-27)

The final section is the genealogy of Moses and Aaron given in the last half of the chapter. Genealogies like this one tend to surprise modern readers. In fact, we often skip over them, or skim them as we read our Bibles, don’t we? But they aren’t just ‘the boring part.’ Like the rest of the Bible, genealogies teach us about God. In this case, they teach us how God ordains family trees to accomplish his redemptive purposes in the world. 

To understand why this genealogy is placed here, we must remember two facts about Moses. Moses came to Egypt as an 80-year-old man, having lived the last forty years of his life in Midian, “claiming to be the man called by God to lead his people.” Second, the man he was claiming to be had lived in luxury, as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, for forty years. How could they know he was truly an Israelite? This selective genealogy demonstrates Aaron and Moses’ authenticity as Israelites of the tribe of Levi. We see this emphasis in verse 26, “These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said: Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.” Genealogical legitimacy is a significant theme throughout the Bible—especially in Levitical genealogies—because of the requirements for serving in the priesthood.

A few comments on the genealogy are in order. This is not a comprehensive genealogy. Only the three oldest sons of Jacob are mentioned: Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. Reuben and Simeon’s sons are mentioned, and none past that first generation. Verse 15 is another of the blemishes in the genealogical record of the seed of Abraham—where Shaul is said to be “the son of a Canaanite woman.”  The genealogy of Jesus has similar blemishes. None of us has spotless family trees. Many of us are born into far more difficult circumstances.  We should be encouraged. God is a redeemer—He restores, heals, and sets right. As the saying goes, ‘God draws straight lines with crooked sticks’. 

Levi, Jacob’s third son, is the focus of attention, with several generations of sons named. More specifically, verse 26 states that this genealogy is given to authenticate the Israelite—and more specifically, Levitical—heritage of Moses and Aaron. The three sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, will become increasingly important in Exodus as each tribal house is given specific priestly duties. Moses and Aaron were born for ‘such a time as this.’ God ordained their entire family history so they would be positioned to enact God’s redemptive purposes for God’s covenant people. His choosing them had nothing to do with them personally. Moses is an excuse-maker who didn’t want to be there. But God’s plans are bigger than any man’s weaknesses. 

You may also notice that Moses’ father, Amram, married his aunt. According to this genealogy, Moses is both Levi’s grandson and great-grandson. This kind of marital union will later be forbidden in Leviticus 18:12. But the law had not been established at this time, so it is not yet prohibited.

The genealogy ends with Phinehas, son of Aaron. He, too, will play a pivotal role in the years to come. But again, the lineage of Moses and Aaron, right in the middle of this genealogy, is particularly important. God had ordained both to perform God’s mighty acts in front of Pharaoh, Egypt, and all Israel to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and deliver them to the LORD. This genealogy acts as a stamp of approval and authentication to their ministry. They are God’s appointed servants to speak to Pharaoh.

One final observation on the genealogy. The genealogy is introduced at the beginning of Moses’s ministry as Israel’s deliverer. Both Matthew and Luke give the genealogy of Jesus, the greater Moses, in the early chapters of their gospels as Jesus is about to begin his ministry of deliverance.

Praise God for genealogies! Read them. Make observations. Don’t skip them!

Conclusion

The Bible is given to us for our instruction, and so we must always ask, “What does this mean for Christians today?” The Exodus was thousands of years ago, yet it still holds lessons for us. 

Moses and all of Israel were in crisis. Moses and all Israel were at enmity with one another, and they were even more oppressed than before Moses had intervened on their behalf. But in this darkest of hours, God remained faithful.

God staked His name on His covenant-keeping. He had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He would fulfill them. He bound up the knowledge of Himself with their redemption. Verse 7 is the heart of this passage: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

God is always the initiator, the doer. This covenant-keeping fulfillment is the great movement in history. God’s promise to Israel, to “be their God,” is a common refrain throughout the Bible—especially the Old Testament. It is usually coupled with the phrase you “shall be my people.” This is the Bible’s great promise—that though men have worshipped other gods and estranged themselves from the true God, there is a way back! 

The seven promises God made to Israel regarding their salvation from slavery were meant to show forth the need of all men for a savior while demonstrating God’s faithfulness to accomplish salvation for His chosen people. In this seven-fold act of salvation for Israel, we see ourselves and our Savior.

The burdens the Israelites bore were a physical display of the way in which they, and all men, are oppressed by the burden of our own sin—in which we can find no rest, no relief. Is that you today? Does the burden of your own sin still rest upon you? Does it not feel intolerable?

All men, like Israel, are in bondage. Israel was in bondage to a tyrannical king, but all men are enslaved to their own tyrannical nature, from which there is no escape. Human nature is such that we can do naught else but serve our own lusts and desires, even to our own destruction. We need someone not subject to that enslavement to deliver us. Do you remain upon the path of destruction?

We need a redeemer—someone mighty to save! We need someone strong and faithful to take us out of that bondage and give us a new nature. We need to be born again! As Israel’s redemption was to be accompanied by “great acts of judgment,” so too was ours. At the cross, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Col. 2:15) “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54b-55)

Christians are God’s people because the Lord Jesus Christ has saved us, as he saved Israel. By his blood, Jesus “ransomed people for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and…made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10) 

We have also been given a new nature and new spirit. God’s own Spirit dwells within us. We have been united with our redeemer, Jesus Christ. We are not our own.

Like Israel, who was to enter into a land of their own, we have been promised an eternal inheritance in the new heavens and earth, dwelling in the presence of the LORD. This inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for us. (1 Peter 1:4)

In the Apostle John’s heavenly vision in Revelation 21:3, he writes, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’”

God has made himself known to us in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done a far greater work of redemption than God promised the Israelites. Jesus has delivered us from the greatest of enslavements: our own sin. He has redeemed us with arms outstretched at the cross—the greatest act of judgment—justice for the enormity of human sin. We are God’s people—possessing His Spirit within us. He has given us more than a piece of land; He has ushered his heavenly kingdom onto earth as the down payment of the new heavens and new earth that He will one day establish here forever as our possession.

Just as Israel was to trust God because of what He had promised and done, we can trust God for what He has done through Jesus Christ. Christ “died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6) He “rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:41) He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9), and he is “seated at the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:1) We know all these things to be true. We have a great many more promises that God has made to us in Christ. Trust those promises and know they will be kept. “The LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” (Deut. 7:9)

When you feel as though you are walking in the valley of the shadow of death, remember God is with you. His rod and his staff comfort you. (Ps. 23:4) Let’s remember the words of Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The Israelites suffered immensely under Pharaoh’s hand. But God was at work, and his deliverance was sure. They were to trust God and be patient as He redeemed them. We have already been redeemed. Let us “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) and patiently trust God’s promises, for He is our covenant-keeping God who will be our God and we, His people. Look past your circumstances at God, who is faithful, who is working all things for your good and His glory.