Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exodus 6 - Introduction
The second account (P) of the call and commission of Moses
God, who had been known to the patriarchs as El Shaddai, reveals Himself to Moses as Jehovah (Yahweh), and bids him tell the Israelites that He has resolved to deliver them from their bondage, to make them His people, and to bring them into the land promised to their forefathers (Exodus 6:2-8). The people, hopeless and disheartened, refuse to listen to him (Exodus 6:9). He and Aaron are then commanded to demand the release of the people from the Pharaoh: upon his pleading his inability to speak, Aaron is appointed to be his spokesman with the king (Exodus 6:10-13; Exodus 6:28-30; Exodus 7:1-2). But God will harden the Pharaoh's heart, that he will not listen to their request, and that he may be made to see and feel His might (Exodus 7:3-7). Moses and Aaron are empowered to work a portent, as a credential of their mission; but it is imitated by the Egyptian magicians, and the Pharaoh remains obdurate (Exodus 7:8-13). The narrative is interrupted by a genealogy of Moses and Aaron, Exodus 6:14-27.
The phraseology of this narrative shews that it is derived from P; its contents shew that it does not describe the sequelof Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 6:1, but is parallelto it, and that it gives a partly divergent account of the commission of Moses, and of the preliminary steps taken by him to secure the release of the people This will be apparent if the narrative be followed attentively, Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 6:1 describes the call and commission of Moses, the nomination of Aaron as his spokesman with the people, and three signs given to him for the satisfaction of the people, if they should demand his credentials. Moses and Aaron have satisfied the people (Exodus 4:30-31), but their application to the Pharaoh has proved unsuccessful (ch. 5), and something further is threatened (Exodus 6:1). The continuation of Exodus 6:1 is, however, Exodus 7:14: Exodus 6:1 to Exodus 7:13 is a parallelnarrative of Moses" call and commission, in which, unlikeExodus 4:31, the people refuse to listen to him (Exodus 6:9), and in which, upon Moses" protesting his inability to plead, not, as in Exodus 4:10-16, with the people, but with the Pharaoh, Aaron is appointed to be his spokesman with him(Exodus 6:11-12; Exodus 6:29-30; Exodus 7:1-2). If the Pharaoh had already refused to hear him (as he would have done, had ch. 5 6 formed a continuous narrative), it is scarcely possible that Moses should allege (Exo Exodus 6:12) a different, à prioriground, a ground, moreover, inconsistent with Exodus 4:31, for his hesitation. The parallelism of details which prevails between the two narratives is remarkable: comp. Exodus 6:2-8 and Exodus 3:6-8; Exodus 3:14-15; Exodus 6:12 b (30) and Exo Exodus 4:10; Exodus 7:1 and Exodus 4:16; Exodus 7:4 f. and Exodus 3:19 f., Exodus 6:1.