As chapter 6 starts, we find a Moses who seems a bit disoriented. He knew enough from what God has previously said that there would be reluctance on the part of Pharaoh to just let the people split (God gave him signs and wonders for a reason specifically to combat doubt). However, the impact this had on the Israelites and their subsequent rejection of Moses doesn’t appear to have been anticipated. This conflict between our expectations and God’s execution isn’t specific to their time. God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.
In response to Moses’ exasperation of God not delivering His people as expected, God largely ignores the protest and reminds him of what he said back in chapter 3, that it will take a mighty hand to change Pharaoh’s heart and that many wonders must be done in the land to get that to happen. We must not forget that this isn’t a battle between Moses and Pharaoh, or even Israel and Egypt, it’s between Yahweh and the so-called gods of Egypt.
We should likely see the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, when it occurs, as part of this same battle. The Pharaoh was considered a pure person, a manifestation of the gods themselves. For Yahweh to be able to do whatever he wanted with Pharaoh’s heart shows a domination over those gods already. This is temporary, not an indication of God’s permanent or eternal judgment upon the man himself, but a demonstration of God’s power to communicate a truth and make a point. This shouldn’t be a surprise, every time we pray for something we’re generally asking for God to suspend someone’s free will or a natural process and to intervene in a supernatural way. The broad question is, do we trust God to suspend free will in the appropriate times for the right reasons? Well, if we can’t trust God to be just, we can’t trust him with anything. So, generally I’d say that it must be able to be done in a just and fair way.
The promise remains the same. Who are they dealing with? Yahweh (the same Yahweh that makes promises of land to Abraham, et al). Further, He has heard their groaning, has been with them in it, and now the time has come for that His faithfulness in this promise will be demonstrated to not only the Israelites but to those who have oppressed them as well. Even more, there is a unique connection between Yahweh and these folks that no one else has. They will be liberated for a special relationship where He will be their God and they will be His people. When would this happen? v. 7 answers. They will know for certain the truth of this when they have been delivered out of Egypt.
Moses pulls all this together…and the Israelites don’t want to hear it. From their perspective, they got burned the last time they put their hope in this deliverance. No thanks, this brick load burden leaves us no time for these promises anymore. Interestingly, Pharaoh wanted to work them harder to keep them from following lies. It’s working, but instead they’re missing the truth. Pessimism will do that, especially pessimism that is comes from being let down when your expectations, unreasonable or otherwise, weren’t met. Just something to watch, boys.
Still, God’s faithfulness doesn’t wane even when folk be stubborn about it. So, he sends Moses to talk to Pharaoh anyway. Moses tries to bail again, this time claiming that disbelief that Pharaoh will listen when his own people will not (this seems reasonable) and further by claiming that he has “uncircumcised lips”, meaning that he isn’t ready, things aren’t in order on his end to go and convince Pharaoh of this thing. Granted, we get that Moses remains a little disoriented and disenfranchised by the relative lack of success so far. Yet, when God says it’s the thing then it’s the thing. So, He insists that Moses and Aaron are the right fellas to get this promise delivered.
Now we run into a genealogy out here in the middle of everywhere like a pair of undies on the lawn. You wonder why it’s there? Why is this happening and who thought it was a good idea? Well, if we look, it’s focused on tracing the connections between the lineage of the man Israel through to Aaron’s grandson Phinehas. Notice it’s a selective genealogy. We only get the first 3 sons of Israel, for example. When we hit Levi, we then start following him because it’s his line that produces Amram, the father of Aaron and Moses. The level of detail for those that follow that line also varies. This is not unusual, Biblical writers use genealogies for specific connections or to reinforce specific narratives and will skip generations or bail on tracing certain branches because it’s not important to the point of the story.
So why is this here? Multiple reasons. It provides an affirmation that these leaders, Moses and Aaron, are legit and their line can be traced back from Levi all the way through Phinehas (who is a priest during the time of the Judges). Their future priestly duties are understandable given that lineage. Also, that the Israelites aren’t ethnically pure as the genealogy points out connections to a Canaanite woman in v. 15. This isn’t a surprise, really, the group that leaves Egypt was likely a pretty mixed bag and probably includes Egyptians who wanted to leave with them. The initial recipients of these writings from Moses could see a bit of themselves in the genealogy. We also see quite a few ladies, highlighting the importance of proper marriages for priests, something that will show up later in the laws that God gives them.
The end of chapter 6 resumes where the lawn undies interrupted but makes reference that one of the points of the genealogy was to orient how readers/hearers of this story were to understand Moses and Aaron. Now we’re back to the question again of Moses’ ability to do this thing on God’s behalf. This leads to a chapter 7 where, as expected, God will largely again ignore this protest and affirm His commitment to what is to go down.