God Promises Deliverance (Exodus 6:1-13)

1 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” [God does not answer Moses’ complaint directly, instead focusing on the fact that something other than and greater than human power would move Pharaoh. The phrase translated “with a strong hand” means “because of my (God’s) force.”]

2 God spoke to Moses [in covenant language] and said to him, “I am the Lord [I am Yahweh]. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty [El Shaddai, “God the Mountain One], but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. [He did not appear to them on Mount Sinai.] 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. [See Genesis 15:13-16. What the patriarchs trusted would happen is now underway, and God encourages Moses to believe.] 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. [“I will respond to your prayers and go into action according to my earlier promises.] 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery [freedom from servitude] to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment [referring to the plagues that not only lead to their freedom but were a severe punishment on Egypt]. 7 I will take you to be my people [election], and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. [The Israelites will not only live in the land, they will own it.] I am the Lord [a statement of relational identity].’” [God would spell out what this election and his relationship to them meant on Mount Sinai.] 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. [Human thinking becomes increasingly pessimistic and irrational when any sort of pain continues unabated. Pharaoh’s strategy is working.]

10 So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” [Now the demand becomes permanent departure, not just to hold a festival of worship.] 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” [Moses returns to his protest mode, seeking release from his assignment. He is saying that he is not ready to speak publically. Did Moses believe that since God was willing to kill him for failing to circumcise his son that he would be willing to dismiss him as a prophet for being unwilling to speak to Pharaoh again?] 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.