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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Exodus 6 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/exodus/6.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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the work is just about to begin, and Moses will behold it. He will then cease to doubt.<p><span class= "bld">With a strong hand shall he let them go.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">through a strong hand: i.e.,</span> through the compulsion which my strong hand will exert on him,<p><span class= "bld">Drive them.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/exodus/12-31.htm" title="And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.">Exodus 12:31-33</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-3.htm">Exodus 6:3</a></div><div class="verse">And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by <i>the name of</i> God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">I appeared . . . by the name of God Almighty.</span>—This name, “El Shaddai,” is first found in the revelation made of Himself by God to Abraham (<a href="/genesis/17-1.htm" title="And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.">Genesis 17:1</a>). It is used by Isaac (<a href="/genesis/28-3.htm" title="And God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a multitude of people;">Genesis 28:3</a>), and repeated in the revelation made to Jacob (<a href="/genesis/35-11.htm" title="And God said to him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins;">Genesis 35:11</a> ). Its primary idea is, no doubt, that of “overpowering strength.” (See the comment on <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm" title="And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.">Genesis 17:1</a>.) The primary idea of “Jehovah” is, on the contrary, that of absolute, eternal, unconditional, independent existence. Both names were probably of a great antiquity, and widely spread among Semitic races; but, at different times and in different places, special stress was laid on the one or on the other. To the early patriarchs God revealed Himself as “El Shaddai,” because He desired to impress upon them His ability to fulfil the promises which He had made to them; to Moses and Israel generally, at the date of the Exodus, He insisted on His name Jehovah, because they were in the closest contact with polytheism, and had themselves, in many cases, fallen into polytheism (<a href="/joshua/24-14.htm" title="Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve you the LORD.">Joshua 24:14</a>), against which this Name was a standing protest, since “the Existent” must mean “the Self Existent,” and so “the Only Existent.” (See <a href="/deuteronomy/4-39.htm" title="Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath: there is none else.">Deuteronomy 4:39</a> : “Jehovah, he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: <span class= "ital">there is none else”</span>)<p><span class= "bld">By my name Jehovah was I not known to them.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">was I not made manifest to them.</span> The antiquity of the name itself appears—(1) from its derivation, which is from the obsolete <span class= "ital">havah,</span> a form already in the time of Moses superseded by <span class= "ital">hayah;</span> (2) from its occurrence in some of the most ancient documents inserted by Moses into the Book of Genesis, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> <a href="/exodus/2-4.htm" title="And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.">Exodus 2:4</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/2-3.htm" title="And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.">Exodus 2:3-4</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/11-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more on Pharaoh, and on Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.">Exodus 11:1-9</a>, &c.; (3) from its employment by Abraham as an element in a name (<a href="/genesis/22-14.htm" title="And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.">Genesis 22:14</a>). But though the name was ancient, and known to the patriarchs, its full meaning was not known to them, and so God was not manifested to them by it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-4.htm">Exodus 6:4</a></div><div class="verse">And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">My covenant.</span>—See <a href="/context/genesis/15-18.htm" title="In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:">Genesis 15:18-21</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/17-7.htm" title="And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you.">Genesis 17:7-8</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/26-3.htm" title="Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you, and to your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father;">Genesis 26:3-4</a>; <a href="/genesis/35-12.htm" title="And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it, and to your seed after you will I give the land.">Genesis 35:12</a>. &c.<p><span class= "bld">The land of Canaan.</span>—Canaan proper was the tract between Sidon and Gaza (<a href="/genesis/10-19.htm" title="And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you come to Gerar, to Gaza; as you go, to Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even to Lasha.">Genesis 10:19</a>), which is now counted as “Palestine “; but the region promised to Abraham, and included in a larger sense of the word “Canaan,” was very much more extensive, reaching as it did from the Nile to the Euphrates (<a href="/genesis/15-18.htm" title="In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:">Genesis 15:18</a>). This vast territory was actually possessed by Israel under David and Solomon (<a href="/context/1_kings/4-21.htm" title="And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.">1Kings 4:21-24</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">The land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned.</span> (Comp. <a href="/genesis/17-8.htm" title="And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.">Genesis 17:8</a>; <a href="/genesis/23-4.htm" title="I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burial plot with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.">Genesis 23:4</a>; <a href="/genesis/28-4.htm" title="And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you; that you may inherit the land wherein you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.">Genesis 28:4</a>.) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were occupants of Canaan merely by sufferance: they were allowed to dwell in it because it was not half peopled; but the ownership was recognised as belonging to the Canaanite nations, Hittites and others (<a href="/genesis/20-15.htm" title="And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you: dwell where it pleases you.">Genesis 20:15</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/23-3.htm" title="And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,">Genesis 23:3-20</a>, &c).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-6.htm">Exodus 6:6</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I <i>am</i> the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:</div>(6) <span class= "bld">I will redeem you.</span>—The idea of God purchasing, or redeeming, Israel is here brought forward for the first time. Later on we learn that the redemption was accomplished in a twofold way—(1) by the long series of wonders, culminating in the tenth plague, whereby they were taken out of Pharaoh’s hand, and ceased to be his slaves, becoming instead the servants of God; and (2) by being led through the Red Sea, and thus delivered, one and all, from impending death, and so purchased anew. (See <a href="/context/exodus/15-13.htm" title="You in your mercy have led forth the people which you have redeemed: you have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.">Exodus 15:13-16</a>.) The delivery from Pharaoh typified <span class= "ital">our</span> deliverance from the power of Satan; the bringing forth from Egypt <span class= "ital">our</span> deliverance from the power of sin.<p><span class= "bld">With a stretched out arm.</span>—See the comment on <a href="/exodus/3-20.htm" title="And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the middle thereof: and after that he will let you go.">Exodus 3:20</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Witn great judgments.</span> – That the “wonders” to be performed would also be “judgments” is here first declared plainly, though previously hinted at (<a href="/exodus/3-20.htm" title="And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the middle thereof: and after that he will let you go.">Exodus 3:20</a>; <a href="/exodus/4-23.htm" title="And I say to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, even your firstborn.">Exodus 4:23</a>). In Genesis God had said that he would “judge” the nation which should afflict Israel (<a href="/genesis/15-14.htm" title="And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.">Genesis 15:14</a>), but not that he would do so miraculously.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-7.htm">Exodus 6:7</a></div><div class="verse">And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">I will take you to me for a people.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/exodus/19-5.htm" title="Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine:">Exodus 19:5-6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/7-6.htm" title="For you are an holy people to the LORD your God: the LORD your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all people that are on the face of the earth.">Deuteronomy 7:6</a>. The selection of Israel as a “peculiar people” did not involve the abandonment of all other nations, as we see by the instances of Balaam, Ruth, Job, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede, Cyrus, and others. God always continued to “govern all the nations upon the earth” (<a href="/psalms/67-4.htm" title="O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.">Psalm 67:4</a>); and “in every nation those that feared him and worked righteousness” were accepted with him (<a href="/acts/10-35.htm" title="But in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him.">Acts 10:35</a>). The centurion of the Gospels (<a href="/context/matthew/8-5.htm" title="And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,">Matthew 8:5-13</a>, <a href="/context/luke/7-2.htm" title="And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick, and ready to die.">Luke 7:2-10</a>) and Cornelius in the Acts (<a href="/context/acts/10-1.htm" title="There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,">Acts 10:1-33</a>) carry the same principle into Gospel times.<p><span class= "bld">I will be to you a God.</span>—See <a href="/genesis/17-8.htm" title="And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.">Genesis 17:8</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-8.htm">Exodus 6:8</a></div><div class="verse">And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I <i>am</i> the LORD.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.</span>—Heb., I <span class= "ital">will give it to you for an heritage, I Jehovah.</span> The whole is one sentence, and implies that, as being Immutable and Eternal, He would assuredly give it them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-9.htm">Exodus 6:9</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">They hearkened not.</span>—The second message was received in quite a different spirit from the first. Then “the people believed, and bowed their knees and worshipped” (<a href="/exodus/4-31.htm" title="And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.">Exodus 4:31</a>). Now they could not even be induced to listen. But there is nothing strange in this. The reason is obvious. The first announcement of coming deliverance elated them with a hope to which they had been long strangers. Their spirits sprang to the message, and readily accepted it. But now they had been chilled by disappointment. The only result of their leader’s interference hitherto had been to increase their misery (<a href="/context/exodus/4-7.htm" title="And he said, Put your hand into your bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.">Exodus 4:7-23</a>). They had therefore lost heart, and could trust him no longer.<p><span class= "bld">Anguish of spirit.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">shortness of breath.</span> (Comp. <a href="/job/21-4.htm" title="As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?">Job 21:4</a>.) The expression points to extreme lassitude and depression.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-11.htm">Exodus 6:11</a></div><div class="verse">Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.</div><span class= "bld">THE SECOND MESSAGE TO PHARAOH.</span><p>(11) <span class= "bld">Speak unto Pharaoh.</span>—The second message was an advance upon the first. The first asked only for permission to enter the wilderness, much of which was within the limits of Egypt; the second was a demand that the Israelites should be allowed “to go out of the land.” Such is the way of Providence generally. If we refuse a light cross, a heavier cross is laid on us. If we will not close with the Sybil on the first occasion, she offers us a worse bargain on the second.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-12.htm">Exodus 6:12</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who <i>am</i> of uncircumcised lips?</div>(12) <span class= "bld">How then shall Pharaoh hear me?</span>—This time the objection comes from Moses. His double rejection, by Pharaoh (<a href="/context/exodus/5-1.htm" title="And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus said the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.">Exodus 5:1-4</a>) and by Israel (<a href="/exodus/6-9.htm" title="And Moses spoke so to the children of Israel: but they listened not to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.">Exodus 6:9</a>), had thrown him back into utter despondency. All that diffidence and distrust of himself which he had shown in his earlier communications with Jehovah (<a href="/exodus/3-11.htm" title="And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?">Exodus 3:11</a>; <a href="/exodus/4-1.htm" title="And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice: for they will say, The LORD has not appeared to you.">Exodus 4:1</a>; <a href="/exodus/4-10.htm" title="And Moses said to the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since you have spoken to your servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.">Exodus 4:10</a>; <a href="/exodus/4-13.htm" title="And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray you, by the hand of him whom you will send.">Exodus 4:13</a>) revived, and he despaired of success in his mission. Was it of any use his making a second appeal to the foreign monarch when he had failed with his own countrymen?<p><span class= "bld">Uncircumcised lips.</span>—Rosenmüller argues from this expression that Moses was “tongue-tied;” but it is not clear that more is meant here than in <a href="/exodus/4-10.htm" title="And Moses said to the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since you have spoken to your servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.">Exodus 4:10</a>, where Moses says that Hebrews 13 “slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” He had some difficulty of utterance; but whether or not it was a physical impediment remains uncertain. “Uncircumcised” is used, according to the Hebrew idiom, for any imperfection which interferes with efficiency. An “uncircumcised ear,” is explained in Jeremiah 6 to be an ear that “cannot hearken;” and an “uncircumcised heart: (Lev. xxvi 41) is a heart that fails to understand.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-13.htm">Exodus 6:13</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">The Lord . . . gave them a charge.</span>—The reluctance and opposition of Moses led to an express “charge” being laid upon himself and Aaron, the details of which are given in <a href="/context/exodus/7-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.">Exodus 7:1-9</a>. <a href="/exodus/6-1.htm" title="Then the LORD said to Moses, Now shall you see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.">Exodus 6:1</a> of Exodus 7 probably followed originally on <a href="/exodus/6-12.htm" title="And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?">Exodus 6:12</a> of this chapter. When the genealogy was inserted at this point, the present verse, which summarises <a href="/context/exodus/7-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.">Exodus 7:1-9</a>, was added, as also <a href="/context/exodus/6-28.htm" title="And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,">Exodus 6:28-30</a> at the end of the chapter.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-14.htm">Exodus 6:14</a></div><div class="verse">These <i>be</i> the heads of their fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these <i>be</i> the families of Reuben.</div><span class= "bld">THE FAMILY OF MOSES.</span><p>(14) <span class= "bld">These be the heads of their fathers’ houses.</span>—Genealogies have always had a special interest for the Semitic races. They occupy quite as prominent a position in Arabian as in Jewish history. The descent of a man who aspired to be a leader would be a subject of curiosity, with a Semitic people, to all those who submitted themselves to his guidance; and Moses naturally inserts his at the point where, fully accepting the post of leader, he came forward and commenced his struggle with Pharaoh for the emancipation of his nation. A “father’s house” is a family. (See <a href="/numbers/1-2.htm" title="Take you the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;">Numbers 1:2</a>; <a href="/numbers/1-18.htm" title="And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.">Numbers 1:18</a>.)<p>(14, 15) <span class= "bld">Reuben . . . Simeon.</span>—It fixes the position of the family of Levi in the house of Jacob to commence the genealogy with a mention of the two elder brothers. As, however, the writer is really concerned only with the Levites, the families of Reuben and Simeon are dismissed with the briefest possible notice. Nothing new is rocorded of them. (See <a href="/context/genesis/46-9.htm" title="And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.">Genesis 46:9-10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-16.htm">Exodus 6:16</a></div><div class="verse">And these <i>are</i> the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi <i>were</i> an hundred thirty and seven years.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Gershon, Kohath, and Merari</span> were all born before Levi went into Egypt (<a href="/genesis/46-8.htm" title="And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.">Genesis 46:8</a>; <a href="/genesis/46-11.htm" title="And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.">Genesis 46:11</a>; <a href="/genesis/46-27.htm" title="And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three score and ten.">Genesis 46:27</a>), which was when he was about forty or fifty years of age. It is not unlikely that they were at that time all grown up. If Levi lived to be “an hundred thirty and seven years” old, he would probably before he died have seen his descendants of the fifth generation. Attempts have been made to show that the present genealogy is complete, and that Moses was Levi’s great-grandson. But in Joshua’s case there were ten generations (at least) between him and Jacob (<a href="/context/1_chronicles/7-23.htm" title="And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bore a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.">1Chronicles 7:23-27</a>); so that three generations only between Jacob and Moses are scarcely possible. The Israelites were in the habit of constructing their genealogies by omitting some of the links, as we see plainly in the genealogy of Ezra (<a href="/context/ezra/7-1.htm" title="Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,">Ezra 7:1-5</a>) and in St. Matthew’s genealogy of our Lord (<a href="/matthew/1-8.htm" title="And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;">Matthew 1:8</a>). In this present genealogy four or five (perhaps more) names are probably omitted between Amram, the son of Kohath. and Amram, the father of Moses, as will appear if we model the genealogy of Moses upon that of Joshua.<p>(17) <span class= "bld">The sons of Gershon.</span>—From this point the genealogy is no longer a recapitulation, but an original historical document of first-rate importance, which is confirmed by Numbers (<a href="/context/numbers/3-18.htm" title="And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei.">Numbers 3:18-33</a>) and Chronicles (<a href="/context/1_chronicles/6-17.htm" title="And these be the names of the sons of Gershom; Libni, and Shimei.">1Chronicles 6:17-19</a>). It is remarkable that Gershon had but two sons, Kohath but four, and Merari but two. Yet the Levites in the year after the Exodus numbered 22,300 males (<a href="/numbers/3-22.htm" title="Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred.">Numbers 3:22</a>; <a href="/numbers/3-28.htm" title="In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.">Numbers 3:28</a>; <a href="/numbers/3-34.htm" title="And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred.">Numbers 3:34</a>). This increase could only have taken place, at the rate indicated, in the course of some ten or eleven generations.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-20.htm">Exodus 6:20</a></div><div class="verse">And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram <i>were</i> an hundred and thirty and seven years.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Amram took him Jocheoed his father’s sister to wife.</span>—Marriages with aunts and nieces were not unlawful before the giving of the Law. They were common throughout the East, and at Sparta (Herod. vi. 71, 7:239).<p><span class= "bld">The</span> <span class= "bld">years</span> <span class= "bld">of the life of Amram.</span>—The long lives of Levi, Kohath, and Amram, the father of Moses, are not recorded for any chronological purpose, but to show that the blessing of God rested in an especial way on the house of Levi, even before it became the priestly tribe. Life in Egypt at the time not unfrequently reached 120 years; but the 137 of Levi, the 133 of Kohath, and the 137 of Amram, the father of Moses, would, even in Egypt, have been abnormal.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-23.htm">Exodus 6:23</a></div><div class="verse">And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon.</span>—Amminadab and Naashon were among the ancestors of David (<a href="/context/ruth/4-19.htm" title="And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,">Ruth 4:19-20</a>; <a href="/context/1_chronicles/2-10.htm" title="And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;">1Chronicles 2:10-15</a>), and their names are consequently found in the genealogies of our Lord (<a href="/matthew/1-4.htm" title="And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;">Matthew 1:4</a>; <a href="/context/luke/3-32.htm" title="Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson,">Luke 3:32-33</a>). Naashon was “prince of Judah” at the time of the Exodus (<a href="/numbers/1-7.htm" title="Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.">Numbers 1:7</a>; <a href="/numbers/1-16.htm" title="These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.">Numbers 1:16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-24.htm">Exodus 6:24</a></div><div class="verse">And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these <i>are</i> the families of the Korhites.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">The sons of Korah</span> did not partake in his sin, and therefore “died not” (<a href="/numbers/26-11.htm" title="Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.">Numbers 26:11</a>), but became the heads of important families.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-25.htm">Exodus 6:25</a></div><div class="verse">And Eleazar Aaron's son took him <i>one</i> of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these <i>are</i> the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">According to their families.</span>—The genealogy proper here ends. But the author appends to it an emphatic statement that the Moses and Aaron mentioned in it (<a href="/exodus/6-20.htm" title="And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.">Exodus 6:20</a>; <a href="/exodus/6-23.htm" title="And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bore him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.">Exodus 6:23</a>) are the very Moses and Aaron appointed by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt—the very Moses and Aaron who delivered God’s message to Pharaoh (<a href="/context/exodus/6-26.htm" title="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.">Exodus 6:26-27</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-26.htm">Exodus 6:26</a></div><div class="verse">These <i>are</i> that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">Their armies.</span>—This expression is here used of the Israelites for the first time. It seems to refer to that organisation, of a quasi-military character, which was given to the people by the order of Moses during the long struggle with Pharaoh, and which enabled them at last to quit Egypt, not a disorderly mob, but “harnessed,” or “in military array” (<a href="/exodus/13-18.htm" title="But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.">Exodus 13:18</a>). The expression is repeated in <a href="/exodus/7-4.htm" title="But Pharaoh shall not listen to you, that I may lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.">Exodus 7:4</a>; <a href="/exodus/12-17.htm" title="And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.">Exodus 12:17</a>; <a href="/exodus/12-51.htm" title="And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.">Exodus 12:51</a>.<p><span class= "ital"><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/6-28.htm">Exodus 6:28</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass on the day <i>when</i> the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,</div>÷Exo 6:</span></span>28-30<span class= "ital"><span class= "bld"></span><p>THE SECOND MESSAGE TO PHARAOH (<span class= "ital">resumed</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span></span><p>(28-30) These verses are most closely connected with Exodus 7. They are a recapitulation of main points in Exodus 6, rendered necessary by the long parenthesis (<a href="/context/exodus/6-14.htm" title="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.">Exodus 6:14-27</a>), and serve to unite Exodus 7 with the previous narrative. They contain no new information.<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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