Exodus 5-6

Exodus 5-6

After this time of celebration from the Israelites, Moses and Aaron head over to see Pharaoh. They go and tell Pharaoh everything that God had commanded, and just as God had promised, Pharaoh refused to listen. Even though Moses warned Pharaoh of the consequences of not listening to God’s commands, Pharaoh only made life worse for the Israelites. He demanded that they produce the same amount of bricks as before, but they had to work harder to accomplish this task due to a lack of resources. Many times doing the right thing is not easy, and it can also come with severe consequences. But in those times we must remember that the “consequences” we receive from man is nothing in comparison to the glory we will receive one day from the Lord. Think of the consequences if we do not follow God’s commands, and furthermore, think of the rewards of when we do follow God’s commands. We might endure some suffering here on earth, but the eternal reward far outweighs anything we might experience here. This is what the Israelites were struggling in understanding. From their perspective, it appeared as if the Lord had abandoned them, and they blamed Moses and Aaron for their sufferings. They could not see past their suffering in order to see God’s promise.

But what is interesting here is Moses’ lack of faith. After arguing with God for quite some time about going to Egypt, he had finally agreed to obey God’s command. He even knew what would happen as a result. God plainly told him that Pharaoh would not listen to his initial request, which is one reason God had given Moses the signs and miracles to perform. But in this moment of despair (catching flack from the Israelites), Moses forgot about God’s promises. At the beginning of Exodus 6, God answered Moses’ requests, again telling him exactly what would happen. He promised Moses once more that Pharaoh would eventually allow the Israelites to leave, but that time had not yet come. Like Moses, we sometimes think that God has to perform immediately in whatever situation we find ourselves in. We seem to have so much trouble waiting on God, waiting on His timing. We must remember that God does know what He is doing, and although it might not make sense right now, He will reveal His purposes to us within time. We just have to learn to have patience.

God then reminds Moses and the Israelites once more of who He is and what He is about to do. I think it is key here to notice that God told them who He was. In doubting God, we in essence question God. We forget that God is the Almighty, the one who created the universe. We forget how powerful He is. We end up questioning God, thinking that we know better than He does. So many times we have to be reminded that it is the Lord we are speaking to. Yet Moses, as well as the Israelites, also needed to be reminded of what God had already done. He had proven how faithful He is in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They knew the stories and knew how God had provided for these great men. Now God was promising to take care of them, and yet they doubted His power. This seems absurd, and yet we do the same thing in our lives. We must learn to never question God but always trust His purposes.

Exodus 6 ends with God commanding Moses to once again return to Pharaoh and Moses once again questioning God. It seems as if this cycle is never going to end. But these final verses also make a historical side note. Remember that the promise God made through Abraham was going to continue through Jacob’s son Judah, which would eventually lead to Jesus. But here we find out that Moses and Aaron are descendants of Levi. This will come into play later on when the Law is established, but the Levites would one day become the priests, led by Aaron. This historical side note is embedded in a list of genealogy and is just one more reason why we really should not just skip over the genealogy lists.

Matt