Exodus 6 – Study 2

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 6:6-12

6 ‘Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”’

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labour.

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 ‘Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.’

12 But Moses said to the Lord, ‘If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?’

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Lord first say He would do? v.6
2. Then what will happen? v.7
3. What will be the final stage of what He’ll do? v.8
4. Why wouldn’t Israel listen to Moses? v.9
5. What did the Lord tell Moses to do? v.10,11
6. What is Moses’ response? v.12

B. Think:

1. Moses has 2 messages. To whom has he to bring them?
2. How does rejection of the first put him off delivering the other?
3. What is the clear threefold plan of the Lord?

C. Comment:

      First of all the Lord gives Moses a message of encouragement for Israel. It is a threefold declaration of intent by the Lord as follows:

1. To deliver Israel.
2. To make them His people.
3. To take them into the Land.

     We then see Moses delivering this message to the Israelites but they, because of the oppression that they are under, reject it. Why should the Lord give such a message knowing, as He surely does, that they will reject it? Often such prophetic messages are declarations of intent that are there as “signposts” in history which can be looked back upon. Merely because we don’t believe when we first hear, that doesn’t stop the Lord saying them.

      The second message that Moses has to take, is to Pharaoh himself, to let Israel go. Having had one negative encounter with him already, Moses would not be feeling very good about it. He himself speaks with “faltering lips” and this comes from faltering faith – but he does it nevertheless! The Lord’s purpose will be spoken. Yes, it may be faltering faith, but it is, nevertheless, faith. Faith is actually “doing the stuff”, despite how we feel!

D. Application?

1. How many times do we need to hear a word before we will believe it?
2. Faltering faith is better than no faith!