Lot's of Hard to Pronounce Names (Exodus 6:14-30)

[It’s time for a commercial break. Moses has just said, “I can’t do it.” What will the resolution be in this emotionally-charged, suspenseful story? It is not out of character for ANE writings to include a genealogy at this point so that people can find out just who these important players are. After all, we do not exactly know how Moses and Aaron are connected to Abraham and his descendants.]

14 These are the heads of their fathers' houses [families]: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. [It does not continue on into the present day because Moses and Aaron were not descended from him.] 15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. [If Levi had been the last son, then this genealogy would have been longer because the real interest here is in the descendants of Levi. The remaining sons of Jacob are not mentioned. The fact that Levi, like the other patriarchs, lived so long can help account for the reason Israel could multiply so rapidly in Egypt.] 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years [given because Moses and Aaron descend from him]. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. 20 Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister [his aunt (a Levite as well), so bothersome to the LXX translator it records “married the daughter of his father’s brother” probably in response to the later incest laws in Leviticus, yet he committed no sin because that law had not yet been given], and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah [future rebellion leader], Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 Aaron took as his wife Elisheba [a Judahite], the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. [In this selective genealogy, Moses chooses to mention only a single grandson of Aaron: the most famous one.] These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites by their clans.

[This genealogical list has “at least seven particular purposes: (1) It begins with Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn son, and thus traces the lineage of Aaron and Moses back to Israel the man, linking them with the very beginnings of their people, as a proper Israelite genealogy was expected to do. (2) It ends with Aaron’s grandson (Phinehas, v. 25) and thus brings the genealogy into the time of the book of Judges (Judges 20:28), providing a way for successive generations to link these leaders with their own place in time. (3) It honors Aaron and the true priesthood, one of Moses’ special concerns in Exodus. (4) It shows the reader where Korah, the leader of the wilderness rebellion (Numbers 16:1-49) found his claim to credentials of leadership. (5) It reminds the reader that Moses was from a priestly family and tribe, thus qualified and called to perform priestly—not merely prophetic—duties from time to time (including his directing the building of the tabernacle, his right to enter it, and his offering the ordination sacrifice in Leviticus 8:28-29). (6) It reminds the reader that the Israelites were not ethnically pure, by specifically mentioning the Canaanite woman in v. 15. (7) By reason of calling special attention to several women in the priestly family lineage (vv. 20, 23, 25), it reminds the reader of the importance attached to proper, godly marriage for priests, a theme also reflected later in the laws.” (Stuart, pp. 175-1760]

26 These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts [army of God].” 27 It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

28 On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?” [These last verses serve to reintroduce the narrative after the genealogical excurses and really belong to the content of the next chapter.]