FROM BONDAGE TO
FREEDOM: A Study of the Book of Exodus
Keep reminding People of the Promises of God
Exodus 6 SCC 7/22/12
INTRODUCTION
So what do we do when it seems that God is not listening? Or not working in a way we had expected? Our expectations of God do not obligate Him to perform. Even if God has given promises, He is not obligated to perform according to our expectations. This can be a source of frustration for us as we try and surmise our situations. Moses had the same difficulty and even takes God to task for the hardship being caused because of God’s performance. So what can we learn about how we should manage those situations in which we do have a promise from God but its outworking does not match our expectation?
If the plan of God is not working as we
expected, then it must be that the plan of God is working as he planned 5:22-23
1. Here in
this section we have Moses’ complaint. The section is based on two
rhetorical questions: Why have you dealt
evil . . . ? The word itself means “to do evil,” but evil in the sense of pain,
calamity, trouble or affliction. How God had allowed Pharaoh to oppose them had
brought greater pain to the Israelites (Chp 5). Then, Why did you send me . . . ? Moses is not
looking for an answer. He is implying that if this was the result of the call, then God
had no purpose calling him. He is rather chiding God
out of his frustration–you brought calamity on the people and had no purpose in
sending me. Moses brought God’s message of hope as he was instructed to do, but
God brought painful toil to the people. God seemed to be working against them.
Moses discerns a cause-effect relationship: “Why did you do
evil to this people?” is the cause; “Pharaoh did evil to this people” is the
effect. The
ultimate cause of the trouble was God, but the immediate cause was Pharaoh and
the way he increased the work. So Moses knows all about
God’s sovereignty. He knows that if the plan is not working it is because of
God. We might say if the plan of God is
not working as we expected, then it must be that the plan of God is working as
he planned. We may not like it, especially if it is a painful delay. And we
may ask questions as to why God works the way he does. But the answer will be: trust me, I am the Lord.
2. The complaint is basically that the plan has
not worked; Moses uses a very emphatic construction that is difficult to
translate. Literally it would say “you have not delivered at all.” It implies
that, “you have not lifted a finger to deliver,” putting it at the level it
conveys. The charge is legitimate, but the boldness is striking. It will be greatly
overshadowed by the Lord’s answer. God never has objected from such bold complaints
by the devout. So the rhetorical questions are designed to prod God to act differently.
This promise will be fulfilled because of
the nature of God
6:1-5
1. Here is the Lord’s answer. Essentially, the Lord is not slack in
keeping his promises (6:1-5). Notice the assurance of the promise as it is
based on the nature of the Lord. The theme “I am the Lord,” is the organizing
principle. You can see this in v 2 and 6. He first states the promise clearly
(6:1), “Now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh.” The deliverance is worded
in parallelism: “by my strong hand he will send them out // by my strong hand
he will drive them out.” The word “hand” is the hand and forearm. It became
idiomatic for the strength or power. Here it means the power of God will
deliver them.
What are the things the ‘hand of the Lord’ does?
o Ezra
8:21-23 The hand
of our God is for good on all who seek him.
o Josh.
4:24 So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may
fear the LORD your God forever
o 1Sam.
5:6 The hand of the LORD was heavy
against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors
o Ezra
7:6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of
Moses and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.
o Prov. 21:1 the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.
o Acts 11:21 and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
2. This promise will be
fulfilled because of the nature of God (6:2-5). “I am Yahweh” is the
declaration that he is the sovereign covenant God. The statement calls for
faith. The Lord says he appeared to the patriarchs “as” El Shaddai,
but was not known to them “as” Yahweh or Lord. They knew about the name; but
God says “I will bring you out . . . and deliver you . . . and redeem you . . .
and take you to myself and be your God . . . that you may know that I am Yahweh.” No one could have known the Lord fully until he fulfilled his
promises. The name is the covenant name, but the covenant had not been
realized. The implication of this passage is that this generation would know
the name (i.e., the nature) of the Lord in a way the patriarchs never did. In
fact, the exhaustive divine exposition on the holy name in these chapters shows
that is what is intended. God told Moses to say “Yahweh, the God of” the
patriarchs sent me. They knew the name, but this generation would know by
experience the covenant name. Pharaoh claimed also not to know the Lord. But
the plagues would be designed to let him know, i.e., see and experience firsthand,
the power of the Lord.
3. The rest of this
section is a review of the covenant promises the LORD made. He had established
the covenant to give the patriarchs the land of sojourning. Now he would
respond to the groaning and fulfill it. The message that Moses is to deliver is
an emphatic listing of the divine assurances of the covenant promises, all
based on “I am Yahweh.”
keep reminding
the people of what God has promised to do while warning the world not to oppose
god’s plan 6:6-12
1. Here is Moses’
responsibility, i.e., prepare for the day of God and speed it’s coming.
Moses speaks to
Israel as commanded, but they do not listen to him because of anguish and labor
(6:6-9); then God instructs Moses to speak to Pharaoh that he send out Israel
(10, 11), but Moses hesitates because if
Israel did not listen to him, certainly Pharaoh will not (12).
2. The section
closes with a report that God simply laid the task before him (13). This last
verse seems to summarize their whole mission: “The Lord . . . appointed them to
Israel and to Pharaoh.” The verb is normally “command,” but may also be
“appoint, charge, commission.” It did not matter if Israel or Pharaoh listened–they had a charge from God to lead a
stubborn people out from under a stubborn monarch. Ezekiel was commissioned
to speak ‘to the rebellious sons of Israel—stubborn and obstinate children—and
say to them Thus says the Lord whether they listen or not!
CONCLUSION
In spite of opposition and rejection we must
continue to declare his plan, trusting in the nature of the covenant God to
fulfill his promises. The messages of God must faithfully declare the
promise of God as a warning to the world and a hope for the believer. The
promise of God is inseparably bound up with the nature of God.
And what does
Scripture say? God is not a man that he should lie.
God stretches out his hand, but who will tell him to take it back. God remains
faithful to his word, for even if we are unfaithful, he remains faithful
because he cannot deny himself.