Day 953: A special name - Exodus 6 vs 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.” 2-3 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, (El Shaddai) but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4-5 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

6-8 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 to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgement. I will take you to be my people, 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. 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. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

10-13 So the Lord said to Moses, “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 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?” 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. Exodus 6:1-13 English Standard Version

Chapter 5 ended with Moses crying out “Why did you ever send me? You haven’t delivered your people at all.” The situation looked hopeless. But what was God's response? (vs 1)

Pharaoh's stubbornness wasn’t going to stop God from carrying out His plan. In fact, the hardness of Pharaoh's heart was part of His plan. God was going to show Israel that it wasn’t due to Pharaoh's kindness, or their goodness, that they would be set free from their bondage. It would only be due to God's power. See how firmly this is stated in vs 6-8. Their salvation from Egypt would be all of God's doing, and nothing of their own merits. That’s true of our salvation too. It’s only through God's mercy and power that we are saved from sin through Christ.

Verses 2-3 pose a problem because God's name (Yahweh) – translated as 'The LORD' in our Bibles - was used many times in the book of Genesis during the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why does God say He had not made Himself known to them by that Name? The answer would seem to be that there is more to a name's meaning that just knowing the name. God had shown Abraham and the others that He was almighty – and so El Shaddai was appropriate. But now God was going to show that the name Yahweh (sometimes translated as Jehovah) was the name of redemption. It was the name which Israel would use as distinct from other so-called gods which the nations bowed down to.

As Christians we know that there is a special name by which God has made His saving power known to us. It is the name of His well beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said of Christ Jesus that: “God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name - that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

Verses 10-13 of our reading are a summary of what’s been happening. God has told Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that he release the Israelites. Moses could only see the people's unwillingness to listen, and his own unsuitability for the task. But neither of those things were going to stop the Lord from doing His will. Let us take courage when it comes to evangelism in our hard hearted generation. People don't want to hear the gospel and we feel so unfit for the work. But don't underestimate what Yahweh can do through Jesus.