1 THEN the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: [ This is Gods response to Moses's question asked at the end of chapter 5. In other words, Moses, buckle your seatbelt because you haven't seen anything like what you're going to see. How often do we as people do the same thing? We feel like we have a prompting, we're going to move forward. It's going to work out and it doesn't. We go back to the Lord saying where did that prompting come from? ] for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. [ God says in effect, "Now, calm down, wait and see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh because of my strong hand. Because of my strong hand, he will eventually drive the Israelites out of his land. Things will be that powerful that he will in effect want them to go. He won't want them to keep around." Can you picture MOses at this point. He is like yeah righ Pharaoh is going to drive them out, never going to happen. ]

2  And God spake unto Moses, [ It is important to understand the interaction between God and Moses. This is a process one of gaining trust and communication, all of which will be necessary in Moses accomplishing his mission. ] and said unto him, I am the LORD:

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, [ God reminds Moses that he's the one that appeared to Abraham, and to Isaac, and Jacob. Notice that they're listed separately because each one is important to God and each one has a separate experience with Jehovah. So the Lord wants Moses to understand that Jehovah is capable of bringing about his purposes. ] by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. [ This translation is clarified for us in the JST addition. There it says that the Lord's statement not a statement at all but rather a question. He says and was not my name known unto them? In other words, the name Jehovah was known by the patriarchs, and it was known all the way back before that. There were no question marks in ancient Hebrew writings. The way that you asked a question was you made a comment in the form of a statement but you inflected it as a question. So remember that when God appeared to Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob ge appeared aas God Almighty or El Shaddai in Hebrew. ]

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, [ The Lord does remember the covenant that he made with Adam and then reconfirmed to Abraham. Abraham was such a powerful follower of truth and a powerful follower of Jehovah that it becomes known as the Abrahamic Covenant. The four main pi;;ars of the Abrahamic Covenant are: promised land, numerable posterity, priesthood authority, and ultimately exaltation. In this case, we're going to focus on the land part of it right now. What was God's intended purpose for leading the children of Israel out of Egypt? God wanted to renew with them the covenants that he had made with their forefathers. Liberate them from bondage so they could learn and think for themselves Bring them to Christ Bring them to My Sinai where they were to be santified. ] to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, [ Today we might say well, I'm not in to the Egyptians but we are in bonded to the monsters of sin and death, as Jacob would say. The Lord saying I will release you from this bondage of sin and death. And for our future we might also apply this when it comes. Where is model that reassures us, that Jehovah in ancient times had enough power to bring about his purposes. Jesus Christ in our day has enough power to bring about his purposes. ] and I will rid you out of their bondage, [ This is Christs message to every one of us. Whether our bondage is physical, emotional or spiritual. Whether it is from our sins or the sins of others Christ can free us from that bondage. ] and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear [ "nasa yad" means to lift the hand. Think temple. Pointing to the heavens which means he is pointing toward his home, or to himself since he resids in the heavens. ] to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

9 ¶ And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. [ I guess why would they. Moses promised things would be better and now they are worse. ]

10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

11  Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, [ So the Lord says to Moses, "Go and speak unto Pharaoh that he let the children of Israel go." Moses says, "Well, they didn't listen to me before. Why are they going to listen to me again?" He puts up this protestation that he has already expressed way back in chapter four of Exodus. "Pharaoh's not going to listen to me". ] that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

12 And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? [ This is a Hebrew idiom. Circumcision versus the uncircumcised suggests the demarcation between those that are covenant Israel. Those that are known as opposed to those that are foreigners. So what we might discern from this is that what Moses is really saying is that I have problems in a foreign tongue and we naturally think, well, yeah he doesn't understand Egyptian. But that's actually not true. What is Moses really trying to say here? If we take a look back or forward in the New Testament, go to Acts chapter 7, verse 22. This is the great disciple, Stephen, who is bearing his testimony about Christianity and about Jesus as the Messiah. But he does it by teaching of Israel's history. So Acts chapter 7 is Stephen's defense of Christianity and his defense of Jesus as the Messiah but he does it by teaching history. Notice what Stephen says about Moses. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. so, well, wait a minute. Moses says, "I'm slow of speech and I've answered. So what's going on here? I think the answer, at least part of the answer is that what Moses is saying is my native tongue, I was raised in Egypt. My native tongue is Egyptian. I don't speak so good the Hebrew lingo. I don't speak Northwest Semitic. As a result, I'm not viewed by either the Israelites or Pharaoh and his court as an eloquent and polished ambassador. Not just for my people but a competent ambassador for my very God. ]

13 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. [ This might seem strange here. We have been talking about Moses and he has been telling the Lord all of the reasons why he is not the right guy for the job here. He suggests that he doesn't have the qualifications credentials. But here the narrative changes, and we start talking about family history. Notice that the history is Moses' history. The author of this wants us to understand why Moses is chosen of the Lord. That is because he is the authentic, legitimate representative of the Israelites. He is a member of the tribe of Levi and only the first three sons of Israel are mentioned here. To get to the point that Moses and Aaron are legitimate, designated representatives, and they are representing their own people. It's done by the insertion of family history, that they really do have the Lord's approval. That they are the very ones whose family they are representing and whose families they're going to save. The Israelites taught and were taught that family history is used to justify their legitimate call. Another other reason that this put in is that Moses and Aaron being Levites will be in charge of the priesthood when the Melchizedek priesthood is taken away at the time of the great apostacy. With the golden calves in Exodus chapter 32. What will be left is the Levitical priesthood. Aaron will be put in charge of Levitical priesthood. ]

14 ¶ These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.

15 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.

16 ¶ And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.

18 And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.

19 And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations.

20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; [ So we are told who Moses parent's are here. ] and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

21 ¶ And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

22 And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.

23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

24 And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites.

25 And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.

26 These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.

27 These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.

28 ¶ And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,

29 That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.

30 And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, [ Again a repeated phrase , same as in verse 12. Yeah, he speaks Egyptian but he doesn't speak the language of his own people. So he is not regarded as competent, as a worthy ambassador of this. That's a little bit different twist I think than we sometimes think of as what's Moses' problem with language. No, I don't think he stutters. No, I don't think he has a speech impediment. I think he's telling us that because he was raised in Pharaoh's court as a young man, he speaks Egyptian. That's his mother tongue and he's trying to learn Hebrew or a form of Hebrew, Northwest Semitic.] and how shall Pharaoh hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] unto me?