Exodus 6 explained: God Renews His Promise to Free Israel

God answers Moses (vv. 1-5)

In the previous chapter Pharaoh made the slaves' work harder, so God now assures Moses that Pharaoh will be forced to let Israel go. God says he appeared to the ancestors as "God Almighty" but was not fully known to them by his name, the LORD, and scholars are unsure exactly what this means, since Genesis already uses that name.

A string of promises (vv. 6-8)

God promises to bring them out, free them, redeem them (buy them back, as a relative would free a family member from slavery), take them as his people, and give them the land promised to their ancestors. Jewish Passover tradition links its four cups of wine to the promises in these verses.

Too crushed to listen (vv. 9-13)

The Israelites are so worn down by harsh labor that the promises cannot reach them, and Moses doubts Pharaoh will listen if his own people will not. He calls himself a poor speaker, using a Hebrew picture of lips unfit for the task, but God simply gives him and Aaron a direct command.

The family of Levi (vv. 14-25)

The story pauses for a family list that moves quickly past Reuben and Simeon to Levi, the tribe of Moses and Aaron and later of Israel's priests, naming people who matter later, like Korah and Aaron's sons. Amram's marriage to his aunt was later forbidden in Israel's law, and some ancient translations render the word as "cousin."

Back to the story (vv. 26-30)

The writer picks the story up again by stressing that these very two men stood before Pharaoh. Moses repeats his worry about his speech, which leads into God's answer in the next chapter.

Key verse: Exodus 6:7

Where Christians differ

Interpreters differ on whether verse 3 means the name "the LORD" was truly unknown before Moses, even though Genesis uses it, or that its full meaning had not yet been shown through action.

Something to think about

When someone is worn down by hardship, what makes hopeful words believable to them, and what makes those words sound empty?