The Genealogy of Moses & Aaron

INTRO

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Alright I’m about to ask you all a question, and I need you to know it truly is a judgment-free question.

Do you ever come to genealogies like this in your Bible-reading and just skip over them completely? (Hand up)

Word. I get that. I really do! I’ve done it plenty myself. But I’ve got to tell you, over the last ten years or so I’ve begun to love genealogies more and more. That’s not because I just started to understand them all of a sudden, or that I’m just a nerd when it comes to names (though I kind of am…), it really started 1o or so years ago when I heard a sermon on the genealogy of Jesus out of Matthew 1.

My mind was absolutely blown.

I kind of expected it to just be skipped over in the sermon series, or summarized quickly as a smaller point or something. But it wasn’t, and my attention was gripped and dots were connected that I’d never seen before.

Things like:

Where it says ‘Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar’, and ‘Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab’, or ‘David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah’. All of those illustrating that God is absolutely sovereign and all-powerful, and even uses incredibly dark, sinful, heartbreaking situations to accomplish his plan of salvation and preserve and protect his people.

Or, like where it says ‘Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth’, illustrating again that God’s plan includes situations we may not choose or even see coming. and also illustrated the role of a redeemer, pointing towards the true and perfect Redeemer yet to come, Jesus.

There was so much packed into that genealogy that I never realized, it was incredible! And this genealogy before us this morning is packed with details and foreshadowing as well.

Now, I’m not saying that I’m going to blow your minds today. BUT, I have been praying that God would make His Word come alive to us all this morning in a fresh way as we consider this list of names together. That we would have dots connected that haven’t been before, that we would see God’s faithfulness and power on display, that we would trust God’s authority and promises more, that we would see clear evidences of God’s desire to be with his people, that we would be pointed to the ways this genealogy points us to God’s sovereign plan of redemption, and that we would rejoice in these realities together.

I know these verses might seem boring. I know that a list of names seems insignificant. But I promise that neither of those are true. We have a lot to learn and benefit from in this passage this morning.

But a fair question to ask about this particular genealogy is “why is it here?” I mean, it’s totally interrupting the narrative, right? In fact, if you look back at verse 12 and then verse 30, you’ll see they’re almost identical. So what we have here this morning is truly an interrupting, parenthetical passage.

The thing is, and scholars agree, we don’t use genealogies like this anymore. There’s reasons for that that I’ll get to later, but you and I don’t read and write in the same way the Bible was written and what the customs were back then. BUT, the more I’ve been thinking about it, I think we DO still talk like this.

It’s like when I’m telling a story about one of my siblings or friends, and I want to make sure the person I’m talking to understands who I’m talking about. So if I’m telling you a story about me and my brother and I think you know who he is but I’m not totally sure, I might interrupt my story, maybe even before it really get’s going, with something like: “you know my brother, Isaac? He’s got a bald head and used to have a big red beard? His wife’s name is Sara? Yea, yea, that’s the one!” Then I’ve established a foundation and I know we’re on the same page. That’s what is happening here, but in a much more significant way than me telling you some hilarious story about me and Isaac getting into trouble when we were younger.

AND, if we believe that the Bible is the living, active Word of God, which we do, and we believe that all of it is invaluable to us, which we do, then I’ve got to ask the question: ‘How does this passage relate to 2 Timothy 3:16? How is it profitable to us “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, helping to complete us and equip us for every good work”? THAT is the question. What does this passage reveal to us about God? What does it teach us about ourselves? What’s in here that we can apply to our lives?

Friends, there is so much in here for us!

In this genealogy this morning, what we’re going to see, is our Main Idea:

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

We’re going to see this in three points this morning:

1) Aaron’s Authority is Authenticated

2) God’s Faithfulness and Power are Proved, and,

3) The Future is Foreshadowed

Let’s jump into it...

1) Aaron’s Authority Is Authenticated

This really is the most significant point that this passage is here for.

Whether it was because Aaron’s position was being questioned, which seems unlikely, or simply to answer potential questions that reader’s will have, much more likely, Moses, who wrote Exodus, was inspired by the Spirit to put this genealogy here. In this specific spot. To interrupt the flow of the story and point out with clear, historical detail, just who exactly Aaron was.

So who was he?

Well, he’s Moses’ big brother. That’s why you begin to see Aaron’s name come before Moses’ name in most of this passage.

Just like you see the names Reuben and Simeon come first before Levi’s in the genealogy, Aaron’s comes before Moses’ because of their birth order. That’s the reason that none of the other 12 sons of Jacob are listed here after Levi. Reuben and Simeon are really there as a way of honoring their position, and to give the context and connection as truly being part of the family of the true Israel, Jacob himself.

But, because this passage is focused on the tribe of Levi, and Aaron in particular, there’s no need to continue down the line of the 12 Patriarchs of Israel. We get to Levi, and then we dive down his family tree to establish that Aaron and Moses are siblings, who truly belong to the people of Israel, and are a part of the tribe of Levi in particular.

WHY is that significant?

Well, genealogies play a very important roll, in that they help to establish and prove the historical record of a family line. Now lots of genealogies in the Bible are compressed, or don’t include every single descendent or sibling, most of them focus on the men in the family because that’s how the family name and lineage is passed down. But regardless of their selective nature at times, they still serve as an inspired, accurate, historical record, and some of the same names can be seen throughout the different recordings of the same family lines in the Bible.

So, first of all, this record is important because by tracing Aaron and Moses back to Levi and Jacob it establishes the fact that Aaron and Moses are Israelites, which carries a lot of weight as they are representing the Israelite people as a whole, speaking on behalf of them and their God.

Secondly, this record is is important because of the role that the Levites will play in the future. But more on that later.

Ultimately, this historical record tracing Aaron back to Levi and Jacob is important because it establishes that he is a worthy leader of Israel, and this reinforced for the people that Aaron belongs with them to their God, and that he has been charged with Moses by the LORD, like verse 13 says, to go before the King of Egypt and get the Israelites out of Egypt, just as God promised He would do.

Moses’ authority had already been proven and established back in chapter 4, as he gathered all the elders of the people of Israel, and he had Aaron share the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and then showed them the mighty signs given to him by the Lord. The people saw all of this and the believed it says in verse 31 of chapter 4. Authority had clearly been given to Moses already as the prophet of the LORD.

So here in Chapter 6, we have this genealogy Authenticating Aaron’s Authority for the people of Israel, for us as we read the story, because Aaron is about to be used in significant ways alongside Moses to demonstrate God’s faithfulness and power. And even though this interruption to the story starts and ends with Moses’ whining to God about his self-perceived weakness and unworthiness, what we’re starting to see is that...

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

This brings us to our second point this morning:

2) God’s Faithfulness And Power Are Proved

Now, you might be asking the question: “Drew, how in the world are God’s Faithfulness and Power proved in this list of names?”

I’m so glad you asked! Let me show you some of the ways:

Did you notice that there are three lifespans given in this list?

Verse 16 says that Levi lived 137 years, verse 18 tells us Kohath lived for 133 years, and verse 20 tells us that Amram lived for 137 years. What does that add up to? 407 years. How many years did God say that his people would be in Egypt? That’s right. 400.

Back in Genesis 15:13 God made this promise to Abraham:

Genesis 15:13 (ESV)

“Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.

Don’t let the math trip you up. The 400 years there in Genesis isn’t meant to be exact. We can understand it to mean ‘around 400 years’. Which is very consistent with what we see later in Exodus as the people of Israel are leaving, it says they’d been in Egypt 430 years.

What’s really important for us to see is that God told Abraham exactly what was going to happen and how long it would be. And it happened. He is faithful to his word, church, always.

This shows us is that God is trustworthy. If he has said or promised something, you can take it to the bank. His word is trustworthy. He has proven it over and over and over again.

As a small pastoral aside, as I was considering God’s faithfulness in this passage I was thinking about all of you. And I wonder, how many of us have given up waiting on the LORD to come through in our lives?

Have you lost track of God’s promises to you because you’ve been waiting so long?

Have you given up hope that he will act according to his word?

Let these verses challenge you this morning to recount God’s faithfulness to you and his power in your life.

Take some time today, whether it’s on your own with a notebook, or through conversation with family or friends today over lunch or dinner, to trace God’s faithfulness to you. Recall the ways he’s provided for you, protected you, guided you, cared for you, and sustained you.

Friends we lose faith in who God is and how he moves because we don’t actively remember his faithfulness. Even in our darkest moments he is still good and powerful and faithful.

Why do we know that? How can we trust and believe that? Because these 430 years recorded here in this genealogy happened precisely as God promised they would. You can be sure, friend, that if God has promised something, he will surely do it.

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

How else is God’s faithfulness and power proved in this list of names?

Well, this genealogy shows us that even though Israel was kept as slaves for over 400 years in Egypt, and even though they lost so much dignity and status, even though they experienced suffering and pain and ongoing abuse and trial, all of this even for entire generations… This genealogy shows us that God did not forget them.

It shows us that while they had lost so much, they were still a part of His family, and a major part of his plan of redemption.

There are 7 generations recorded and represented in this genealogy, and that’s just in the line of Levi! Every. Single. Time you come across a genealogy in the Bible the first thing that should come to mind is that the LORD. Is. Faithful.

Friend, do you feel forgotten this morning? Does it seem like the world is passing you by and no one even cares?

Do you feel isolated and lonely? Do you feel abandoned or betrayed? Does it seem like your pain and suffering will never end?

Let these verses encourage you this morning. Let them give you even just an ounce of hope in the LORD.

This list of names, this recounting of the 400+ years that the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, it doesn’t end there. A generation comes after Aaron, and a generation comes after Eleazar, and on and on.

It’s not all easy. There’s pain and suffering and betrayal represented in these names. There’s really hard stories. But more than anything there is the LORD who is faithful and who has not for a moment forgotten any single one of his people, and that continues for you today.

His mercy is over all that he has made, and whether you believe that you belong to God’s family or not, He has been faithful to sustain your family for thousands of years. That doesn’t mean that there’s no pain or suffering or death along the way. The curse of sin promises those things. But the LORD’s faithfulness does mean that you can trust him and run to him at. all. times.

Every list of names like this proclaims God’s faithfulness and power. They prove that he is in control of all things and that all things comes to pass exactly how he has said, and promised, and planned. The LORD is faithful and powerful. Amen? Amen.

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

And church, one of the coolest things about this genealogy, is how much of the future of the people of Israel is here. Which helps to get just a glimpse of what’s coming in the story of Israel, and will help to build our hope as well.

That brings us to our third point...

3) The Future Is Foreshadowed

I’m sure many of you have already picked this up by reading through this genealogy this morning, and I’ve made mentions to it along the way, but the genealogy doesn’t stop with Aaron, and it includes other members of the tribe of Levi as well. But why?

Why here? Why now in the story does this make sense?

Think of it kind of like the end of the Marvel Loki TV series: Loki meets this guy ‘He Who Remains’ and he begins to show this view of time that is really, really cool and zoomed out. At the same time, “He Who Remains” is a major character being introduced, even though you don’t know all the details and what exactly is going to happen, he’s dropping clues and giving nods to what will happen in the future. The foreshadowing is phenomenal. It’s building tension. It’s keeping our interest.

“He Who Remains” isn’t giving away all the stories and details, but that scene in the series will prove to be a sort of anchor point for many, many story lines that unfold in the future of Marvel.

That’s like how this genealogy here in Exodus works for us. It’s an anchor point for many storylines that will unfold throughout Israel’s history. That’s why we see all these names in verses 18-25 that are running parallel with and after Aaron. Some of them being in this specific genealogy are serving as anchors for stories yet to come in the life of the people of Israel.

We don’t have time to go into lots of detail about all of them this morning, and some of them are not really relevant to what’s going on in the current context of where we are in the book of Exodus, so I want to give just a couple high-level summaries, and point you where to go to learn more, in case you have questions or just want to learn more about the broader scope of the story that is introduced and foreshadowed here.

First of all, the genealogy of Aaron serves as an anchor point for later in Exodus, in chapters 27-29 when Aaron and his sons are set apart and designated as the priests of Israel who will tend and care for the Tabernacle carry out all of the priestly responsibilities for the people, mediating between them and God and taking care of the place his presence would dwell so that He could be with his people. We will cover that much, much more in our series, so I’ll leave that there for now, but this text this morning anchors Aaron and his sons as legitimate members of the tribe of Levi, the tribe that God sets apart to be his priests starting later in Exodus.

Another anchor point is the mention of Eleazar’s son, Phineas, in verse 25.

In the book of Numbers 25 Phineas acts boldly and with zeal to mediate and atone for the sins of people of Israel, and God turns away his anger from them, and makes a covenant with Phineas that the priesthood would be one of succession through his descendants. It’s an awesome story, again, foreshadowed and anchored here in this genealogy this morning.

Another anchor point is the mention of Korah and his sons in verse 21, you can go to Numbers 16 to learn more about why that’s significant.

Another anchor point is the mention of Aaron’s 4 sons in verse 23, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. You can go to Exodus 27-29 and Leviticus 10 to learn more about why that’s significant.

What all of these anchor points, all of this foreshadowing is helping us to see, is that

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

I bet some of you never thought or knew you could pull so much out of a list of names, huh? Isn’t God’s Word incredible?!

One last anchor point and foreshadowing in this genealogy is a really cool one that is super easy to miss:

In verse 23 we read that Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the Sister of Nahshon. Who might Amminadab and Nahshon be? Let me take you to Matthew 1 to find out:

Matthew 1:1–6 (ESV)

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

What we see here is that Amminadab and Nahshon, who are both recorded in our genealogy this morning in Exodus 6, and here in Matthew 1, and also in the genealogy found in Luke 3, they are ancestors of king David.

Why is that so cool? Because these are the genealogies of Jesus. This means that Aaron and Moses were actual distant relatives of Jesus himself! That really struck me this week as a small but significant way that God is faithful, and demonstrates his power and plan. These are the types of little dots in genealogies that are wonderful to connect.

AND this demonstrates yet another consistency of the Bible and of historical records that prove that these people really existed and that God has proved his faithfulness to his people over and over and over again.

CLOSE

I’m sure you all caught this, but there’s no explicit mention of the Messiah in our passage this morning. There’s not even really clear Gospel pictures. But church, that doesn’t mean that this genealogy doesn’t still point us to Jesus and the power of the Gospel.

How though?

2 main ways stick out to me, and we’ll close with these:

Even though there’s no mention of the Messiah, there is Promise of Deliverance.

To the Israelites at that time all it meant was deliverance from slavery in Egypt. But to us, who can read the whole story and know the ending, it paints a much bigger picture of God’s promise of Redemption, not just from slavery, but from sin and death.

Any time we get glimpses or hints of deliverance or redemption in the OT, a big neon sign should be lighting up in our minds “That’s pointing back to Genesis 3 where God promised the conqueror of sin and death, and it points to Jesus who is that Savior-King!”

Sin and death are not gone, friends, but they will not last forever. The promise of deliverance here in verses 13 and 26 where God charges Moses and Aaron to bring his people out of Egypt? Those are reminders to us that God’s promise and plan of deliverance from sin back in Genesis 3 has been fulfilled to us in Jesus Christ.

As you consider and recount God’s faithfulness to you today and this week, keep in mind his promise of salvation and what he has done to redeem you from your sins. Not only did he promise to do so, but he has done it. Reflecting on the redeeming work of Jesus must build our trust in our faithful, powerful, trustworthy God for the rest of our lives.

Luke 1:68 says: ““Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”

Galatians 3:13 says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us...”

Christian, your deliverance and redemption from sin and death is only possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. It’s the only way! And the power of the gospel PROCLAIMS God’s faithfulness and power!

Recount your salvation, share the story of your salvation. Friend, if you believe that Jesus is your Savior and King, then the LORD has redeemed you from your slavery and bondage to sin, he has given you NEW life in Christ, and He has given you his Spirit to help you live your whole life for him. Celebrate and rejoice in these things, church!

Those are the realities of God’s promise of deliverance being fulfilled and they are pointed to here and they are absolutely glorious!

Second and final way this passage points us to Jesus and the power of the Gospel:

2. The names Amminadab and Nahshon point us to the genealogy of Jesus.

That’s not a stretch, there’s no acrobatics involved. They’re really there and they really do point us to Jesus.

But it’s things like this that we can just breeze right over in our Bibles. But the more we read this book and the more we study it, memorize it, and become strongly familiar with it, the more we use good resources to help us learn more about it, then the more of these things we’ll catch and appreciate and value about God’s living and active Word to us. The more we will regularly be reminded of and pointed to Christ.

Another thing that’s easy for us to miss, but significantly important that this passage points us towards, is that there are no significant genealogies in the Bible after the genealogies of Jesus. There’s a couple ‘sons of Zebedee’ or mentions of mothers and grandmothers, etc. But there’s nothing even remotely close to the genealogies of Jesus, even though there are extremely significant people in the rest of the New Testament.

Why is that? Because ultimately, the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth is the only one that really matters.

Establishing his lineage and his authority are the true aim of these genealogies.

But they also remind us that God cares about his family, and that Jesus can make you a part of that family.

They remind us that God promised a Savior-King, and that he would come from His people.

They remind us that even in the depths of our sin and faithlessness, God is still at work in our lives.

They remind us that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God’s faithfulness. He has always been faithful, and he always will be.

They point us to the reality that Jesus came to earth in the form of a baby, lived the perfect life that we couldn’t, died the death that we should, rose from the dead conquering sin and death, and returned to heaven where he is sitting, ruling, reigning over everything.

They remind us that Jesus is the one and only true and perfect Prophet, Priest, and King. Better than Moses. Better than Aaron. Better than David. He holds all three offices perfectly at the same time, speaking to us, mediating for us, and ruling over us. There is none like Him.

Friends, Jesus is the only way for us to truly know and believe and experience and benefit from God’s faithfulness and power, and this genealogy points us to Him.

Moses and Aaron will let Israel down. They will fail. There are many failures ahead for the people of Israel.

These things are true of us as well. We will let each other down. We will fail. There are many failures ahead for us.

But Jesus will never fail you. Not once, not for one second, not ever. Trust in him at all times, friends.

Even simple genealogies like this remind us that the LORD is faithful and powerful beyond measure.

They remind us that God has kept his promises and that he will continue to do so. The LORD, our God, Is. Faithful.

__________

Next week, the story of Exodus continues and we’ll get back into the actual narrative, where Moses and Aaron are about to be used in powerful ways to represent God to Pharoah, and begin to be used by God to deliver his people from their bondage.

But that promise has been rooted deeper and unpacked further for us here in this incredible genealogy.

Friends,

The LORD is faithful, and will forever prove his power.

Amen? Amen. Let’s pray.

PRAY