translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET study note

text: The expression “I will do to Pharaoh” always refers to the plagues. God would first show his sovereignty over Pharaoh before defeating him.


text: The announcement “I am the Lord ” ( Heb “Yahweh”) draws in the preceding revelation in Exod 3:15 . In that place God called Moses to this task and explained the significance of the name “Yahweh” by the enigmatic expression “ I am that I am .” “ I am ” ( אֶהְיֶה , ’ ehyeh ) is not a name; “Yahweh” is. But the explanation of the name with this sentence indicates that Yahweh is the one who is always there, and that guarantees the future, for everything he does is consistent with his nature. He is eternal, never changing; he remains. Now, in , the meaning of the name “Yahweh” will be more fully unfolded.


text: The verb וְהוֹצֵאתִי ( vÿhotse ’ ti ) is a perfect tense with the vav ( ו ) consecutive, and so it receives a future translation – part of God’s promises. The word will be used later to begin the Decalogue and other covenant passages – “I am Yahweh who brought you out….”


text: These covenant promises are being reiterated here because they are about to be fulfilled. They are addressed to the nation, not individuals, as the plural suffixes show. Yahweh was their God already, because they had been praying to him and he is acting on their behalf. When they enter into covenant with God at Sinai, then he will be the God of Israel in a new way ( 19:4-6 ; cf. Gen 17:7-8; 28:20-22 ; Lev 26:11-12 ; Jer 24:7 ; Ezek 11:17-20 ).


text: Here is the twofold aspect again clearly depicted: God swore the promise to the patriarchs, but he is about to give what he promised to this generation. This generation will know more about him as a result.


text: The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.


text: This analogy is an example of a qal wahomer comparison. It is an argument by inference from the light ( qal ) to the heavy ( homer ), from the simple to the more difficult. If the Israelites, who are Yahwists, would not listen to him, it is highly unlikely Pharaoh would.


text: This list of names shows that Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi that came to the priesthood. It helps to identify them and authenticate them as spokesmen for God within the larger history of Israel. As N. M. Sarna observes, “Because a genealogy inherently symbolizes vigor and continuity, its presence here also injects a reassuring note into the otherwise despondent mood” ( Exodus [JPSTC], 33).


text: From here on the confrontation between Yahweh and Pharaoh will intensify until Pharaoh is destroyed. The emphasis at this point, though, is on Yahweh’s instructions for Moses to speak to Pharaoh. The first section ( 6:28-7:7 ) ends (v. 6 ) with the notice that Moses and Aaron did just as ( כַּאֲשֶׁר , ka ’ asher ) Yahweh had commanded them; the second section ( 7:8-13 ) ends with the note that Pharaoh refused to listen, just as ( כַּאֲשֶׁר ) Yahweh had said would be the case.