exodus 5 and 6

Read Exodus 5 and 6 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for today’s chapters are:

Exo 4:27-6:1 {s} Pharaoh’s response to Moses and the children of Israel
Exo 6:2-9 {p} YHVH to reveal the meaning of His name by redeeming Israel from Egypt
Exo 6:10-12 {p} Speak to Pharaoh + How shall he heed me? (Moses’ question)
Exo 6:13 {s} YHVH commanded Israel and Pharaoh, through Moses and Aaron
Exo 6:14-28 {s} Moses and Aaron the seed of Levi
Exo 6:29-30 {p} I am YHVH (YHVH’s answer)

The strong themes of these chapters:

Exo 4:27-6:9 {s+p} Pharaoh does not know YHVH, plagues Israel/ YHVH to reveal who He is to Pharaoh and Israel
Exo 6:10-12 {p} Speak to Pharaoh + How shall he heed me? (Moses’ question)
Exo 6:13-30 {s+s+p} I have commanded you through Moses (through Levi); I am YHVH (God’s answer)

The stage has been set in the previous chapters of Exodus. The children of Israel have been enslaved in hard bondage; they have cried out to the LORD, the God of their fathers. He has not forgotten them, but has heard them and remembered them. In response to their bondage and their cry, He has prepared a deliverer for them. When Moses is 80 years old, God calls him, equips him, and commissions him for the work for which he was born.

God, in His wisdom, is amazingly patient in bringing about His plan, as we saw with Joseph. This is a very important mission for which Moses was born, and yet God grants him much time to mature into his calling and purpose. May we emulate Your example, Father, and likewise grant each other a measure of patience!

Pharaoh’s famous response to God’s demand to let His people go that they may serve Him:

“Who is YHVH, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know YHVH, nor will I let Israel go.” Exo 5:2

Instead of respecting YHVH’s firstborn son — Israel — and letting him go, Pharaoh increased his cruelty and his bondage of the people, because he did not know YHVH.

God’s response to Moses’ cry at this turn of events forms a chiastic structure:

1a) Exo 5:2-23, Pharaoh did not heed Moses;

1b) Exo 6:1-2a, God spoke to Moses;

1c) Exo 6:2b, “I am YHVH;”

1d) Exo 6:3a, He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

1e) Exo 6:3b-4, They did not know His name, YHVH + His covenant to give them the land;

1f) Exo 6:5, Israel kept in bondage as the Egyptians’ people + He has remembered His covenant;

central axis) Exo 6:6, Therefore say to the children of Israel: “I am YHVH; I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”

2f) Exo 6:7a, God will take Israel as His people + He will be their God;

2e) Exo 6:7b-8a, Israel shall know that He is YHVH + when He gives them the land;

2d) Exo 6:8b, He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

2c) Exo 6:8c, “I am YHVH;”

2b) Exo 6:9a, Moses spoke to the children of Israel;

2a) Exo 6:9b, The children of Israel did not heed Moses.

God is about to instruct everyone, from Pharaoh on down, what it means that He is YHVH – that He is the I AM THAT I AM. That He is the Self- Existent, Unchanging, and Eternal. What it means that He is YHVH, is that when He makes a promise and a covenant, He keeps it. When no one heeds Him or believes Him, whether Pharaoh, or Israel, He still keeps His word, because He is YHVH.