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Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath <i>were</i> an hundred thirty and three years.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/exodus/6.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/exodus/6.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/exodus/6.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/exodus/6.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/exodus/6.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/exodus/6.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/exodus/6.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/exodus/6.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/exodus/6.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/exodus/6.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/exodus/6.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/exodus/6.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/exodus/6.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/exodus/6.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/exodus/6.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/exodus/6.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/exodus/3-13.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/exodus/6.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/exodus/6.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/exodus/6.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/exodus/6.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/exodus/6.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/exodus/6.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/exodus/6.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/exodus/6.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/exodus/6.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/exodus/6.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/exodus/6.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/exodus/6.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/exodus/6.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/exodus/6.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/exodus/6.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/exodus/6.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>6:14-30 Moses and Aaron were Israelites; raised up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver of the people of Israel. Moses returns to his narrative, and repeats the charge God had given him to deliver his message to Pharaoh, and his objection against it. Those who have spoken unadvisedly with their lips ought to reflect upon it with regret, as Moses seems to do here.Uncircumcised, is used in Scripture to note the unsuitableness there may be in any thing to answer its proper purpose; as the carnal heart and depraved nature of fallen man are wholly unsuited to the services of God, and to the purposes of his glory. It is profitable to place no confidence in ourselves, all our sufficiency must be in the Lord. We never can trust ourselves too little, or our God too much. I can do nothing by myself, said the apostle, but I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/exodus/6.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>These be the heads - We have in the following verses, not a complete genealogy, but a summary account of the family of the two brothers. Moses records for the satisfaction of Hebrew readers, to whom genealogical questions were always interesting, the descent and position of the designated leaders of the nation. See <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/6-26.htm">Exodus 6:26-27</a>. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/exodus/6.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>Ex 6:14-30. The Genealogy of Moses.<p>14, 15. These be the heads of their fathers' houses—chiefs or governors of their houses. The insertion of this genealogical table in this part of the narrative was intended to authenticate the descent of Moses and Aaron. Both of them were commissioned to act so important a part in the events transacted in the court of Egypt and afterwards elevated to so high offices in the government and Church of God, that it was of the utmost importance that their lineage should be accurately traced. Reuben and Simeon being the oldest of Jacob's sons, a passing notice is taken of them, and then the historian advances to the enumeration of the principal persons in the house of Levi [Ex 6:16-19].<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/exodus/6.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/exodus/6.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And the sons of Kohath, Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel,.... So they are reckoned in <a href="/1_chronicles/6-18.htm">1 Chronicles 6:18</a> though only the family of the Hebronites are mentioned in <a href="/numbers/26-58.htm">Numbers 26:58</a>. <p>and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty three years. A Jewish chronologer says (f) he died one hundred years before the going out of Egypt: just the same number of years is ascribed to him by Polyhistor from Demetrius, an Heathen historian (g). <p>(f) Shalshalet Hakabalaut, ut supra. (fol. 5. 1.) (g) Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425.) <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/exodus/6.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">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.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/exodus/6.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">18</span>. <span class="ital">Amram, Izhar</span>, &c.] Cf. <a href="/numbers/3-19.htm" title="And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel.">Numbers 3:19</a>, <a href="/1_chronicles/6-2.htm" title="And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.">1 Chronicles 6:2</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/6-18.htm" title="And the sons of Kohath were, Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.">1 Chronicles 6:18</a>; and for families regarded as descended from them, <a href="/numbers/3-27.htm" title="And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites.">Numbers 3:27</a>, <a href="/context/1_chronicles/15-9.htm" title="Of the sons of Hebron; Eliel the chief, and his brothers fourscore:...">1 Chronicles 15:9-10</a>; <a href="/context/1_chronicles/23-18.htm" title="Of the sons of Izhar; Shelomith the chief....">1 Chronicles 23:18-20</a>; <a href="/context/1_chronicles/24-22.htm" title="Of the Izharites; Shelomoth: of the sons of Shelomoth; Jahath....">1 Chronicles 24:22-24</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/26-23.htm" title="Of the Amramites, and the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites:">1 Chronicles 26:23</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/exodus/6.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The sons of Kohath</span>. The same names are given in <a href="/1_chronicles/6-2.htm">1 Chronicles 6:2</a> and 15. <span class="cmt_word">The years of the life of Kohath</span>. Kohath, who was probably about twenty at the time of the descent into Egypt, must have considerably outlived Joseph, who died about seventy years after the descent. His eldest son, Amram, is not likely to have been born much later than his father's thirtieth year. (See <a href="/genesis/11-12.htm">Genesis 11:12-24</a>.) Amram would thus have been contemporary with Joseph for above fifty years. Exodus 6:18<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/exodus/6.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron. - "These are their (Moses' and Aaron's) father's-houses." בּית־אבות father's-houses (not fathers' house) is a composite noun, so formed that the two words not only denote one idea, but are treated grammatically as one word, like בּית־עצבּים idol-houses (<a href="/1_samuel/31-9.htm">1 Samuel 31:9</a>), and בּית־בּמות high-place-houses (cf. Ges. 108, 3; Ewald, 270c). Father's house was a technical term applied to a collection of families, called by the name of a common ancestor. The father's-houses were the larger divisions into which the families (mishpachoth), the largest subdivisions of the tribes of Israel, were grouped. To show clearly the genealogical position of Levi, the tribe-father of Moses and Aaron, among the sons of Jacob, the genealogy commences with Reuben, the first-born of Jacob, and gives the names of such of his sons and those of Simeon as were the founders of families (<a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/46-9.htm">Genesis 46:9-10</a>). Then follows Levi; and not only are the names of his three sons given, but the length of his life is mentioned (<a href="/exodus/6-16.htm">Exodus 6:16</a>), also that of his son Kohath and his descendant Amram, because they were the tribe-fathers of Moses and Aaron. But the Amram mentioned in <a href="/exodus/6-20.htm">Exodus 6:20</a> as the father of Moses, cannot be the same person as the Amram who was the son of Kohath (<a href="/exodus/6-18.htm">Exodus 6:18</a>), but must be a later descendant. For, however the sameness of names may seem to favour the identity of the persons, if we simply look at the genealogy before us, a comparison of this passage with <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/3-27.htm">Numbers 3:27-28</a> will show the impossibility of such an assumption. "According to <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/3-27.htm">Numbers 3:27-28</a>, the Kohathites were divided (in Moses' time) into the four branches, Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites, who consisted together of 8600 men and boys (women and girls not being included). Of these, about a fourth, or 2150 men, would belong to the Amramites. Now, according to <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-3.htm">Exodus 18:3-4</a>, Moses himself had only two sons. Consequently, if Amram the son of Kohath, and tribe-father of the Amramites, was the same person as Amram the father of Moses, Moses must have had 2147 brothers and brothers' sons (the brothers' daughters, the sisters, and their daughters, not being reckoned at all). But as this is absolutely impossible, it must be granted that Amram the son of Kohath was not the father of Moses, and that an indefinitely long list of generations has been omitted between the former and his descendant of the same name" (Tiele, Chr. des A. T. p. 36).<p>(Note: The objections of M. Baumgarten to these correct remarks have been conclusively met by Kurtz (Hist. of O. C. vol. ii. p. 144). We find a similar case in the genealogy of Ezra in <a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/7-3.htm">Ezra 7:3</a>, which passes over from Azariah the son of Meraioth to Azariah the son of Johanan, and omits five links between the two, as we may see from <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_chronicles/6-7.htm">1 Chronicles 6:7-11</a>. In the same way the genealogy before us skips over from Amram the son of Kohath to Amram the father of Moses without mentioning the generations between.)<p>The enumeration of only four generations, viz., Levi, Iohath, Amram, Moses, is unmistakeably related to <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/15-16.htm">Genesis 15:16</a>, where it is stated that the fourth generation would return to Canaan. Amram's wife Jochebed, who is merely spoken of in general terms as a daughter of Levi (a Levitess) in <a href="/exodus/2-1.htm">Exodus 2:1</a> and <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/26-59.htm">Numbers 26:59</a>, is called here the דּודה "aunt" (father's sister) of Amram, a marriage which was prohibited in the Mosaic law (<a href="/leviticus/18-12.htm">Leviticus 18:12</a>), but was allowed before the giving of the law; so that there is no reason for following the lxx and Vulgate, and rendering the word, in direct opposition to the usage of the language, patruelis, the father's brother's daughter. Amram's sons are placed according to their age: Aaron, then Moses, as Aaron was three years older than his brother. Their sister Miriam was older still (vid., <a href="/exodus/2-4.htm">Exodus 2:4</a>). In the lxx, Vulg., and one Hebrew MS, she is mentioned here; but this is a later interpolation. In <a href="/exodus/6-21.htm">Exodus 6:21</a>. not only are the sons of Aaron mentioned (<a href="/exodus/6-23.htm">Exodus 6:23</a>), but those of two of Amram's brothers, Izhar and Uzziel (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/6-21.htm">Exodus 6:21</a>, <a href="/exodus/6-22.htm">Exodus 6:22</a>), and also Phinehas, the son of Aaron's son Eleazar (<a href="/exodus/6-25.htm">Exodus 6:25</a>); as the genealogy was intended to trace the descent of the principal priestly families, among which again special prominence is given to Aaron and Eleazar by the introduction of their wives. On the other hand, none of the sons of Moses are mentioned, because his dignity was limited to his own person, and his descendants fell behind those of Aaron, and were simply reckoned among the non-priestly families of Levi. The Korahites and Uzzielites are mentioned, but a superior rank was assigned to them in the subsequent history to that of other Levitical families (cf. <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/16.htm">Numbers 16-17</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/26-11.htm">Numbers 26:11</a>, and <a href="/numbers/3-30.htm">Numbers 3:30</a> with <a href="/leviticus/10-4.htm">Leviticus 10:4</a>). Aaron's wife Elisheba was of the princely tribe of Judah, and her brother Naashon was a tribe-prince of Judah (cf. <a href="/numbers/2-3.htm">Numbers 2:3</a>). אבות ראשׁי (<a href="/exodus/6-25.htm">Exodus 6:25</a>), a frequent abbreviation for בית־אבות ראשׁי, heads of the father's-houses of the Levites. In <a href="/exodus/6-26.htm">Exodus 6:26</a> and <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/6-27.htm">Exodus 6:27</a>, with which the genealogy closes, the object of introducing it is very clearly shown in the expression, "These are that Aaron and Moses," at the beginning of <a href="/exodus/6-26.htm">Exodus 6:26</a>; and again, "These are that Moses and Aaron," at the close of <a href="/exodus/6-27.htm">Exodus 6:27</a>. The reversal of the order of the names is also to be noticed. In the genealogy itself Aaron stands first, as the elder of the two; in the conclusion, which leads over to the historical narrative that follows, Moses takes precedence of his elder brother, as being the divinely appointed redeemer of Israel. 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