Exodus 6:14-30; 7:1-13

Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ families:

The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel:

Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi.

These are the clans of Reuben.

15 The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin,

Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

These are the clans of Simeon.

16 These are the names of the sons of Levi

according to their family records;

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Levi lived 137 years.

17 The sons of Gershon:

Libni and Shimei, by their clans.

18 The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

Kohath lived 133 years.

19 The sons of Merari:

Mahli and Mushi.

These are the clans of the Levites

according to their family records.

20 Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed,

and she bore him Aaron and Moses.

Amram lived 137 years.

21 The sons of Izhar:

Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

22 The sons of Uzziel:

Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

23 Aaron married Elisheba,

daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon.

She bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24 The sons of Korah:

Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph.

These are the clans of the Korahites.

25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married

one of the daughters of Putiel,

and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

26 It was this Aaron and Moses whom the LORD told, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions.” 27 Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

MOSES AND AARON BEFORE PHARAOH

28 On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

30 But Moses replied in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Why does the Bible include this section? How is it beneficial for us to know Moses and Aaron’s genealogy? We must consider something very important: the bible was not just written to apply to your life. Fundamentally, these books and letters are historical documents. Therefore, it is imperative for the bible’s credibility to include genealogies we can track.

Not only this, but we must consider the Israelites whom this was written to initially. They likely wanted to know exactly who Moses and Aaron are!

Couple quick interesting notes about the genealogy:

The genealogy of the Levites, Aaron, and Eleazar were important for the sake of the priest line. In order to be a priest, you have to have been born into one of these priestly families.

Verse 24 shows us the Sons of Korah whose descendents would go on to write many Psalms.

Moses and Aaron came from a messed up family where their priestly father would have three children with his aunt. Moses and Aaron came from a messed up background.

Notice that it says in verse 26 It was THIS Aaron and Moses whom the Lord told…. The writer of Exodus was clarifying genealogically whom these stories were talking about.

Consider the final few verses of chapter 6:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

28 On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

30 But Moses replied in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

This is the final time Moses will use the “Poor Speaker” card on the Lord. As you continue to follow this story of Moses and the Exodus of Israel, you will find that Moses stops saying this. Is this because he finds the confidence within himself in himself? Not completely, though that may be true.

In the following passages we will see the many plagues of Egypt and many signs and wonders. Upon seeing the power of the Lord over and over, Moses’s focus is removed from himself and placed on God. He begins to see that the Lord is All-Powerful. He is Almighty. If God is All-Powerful, why should Moses think he can fail him?

As I have often said, we still do these things. We feel called to something (whether that be something specific like working in ministry or sharing the Gospel with someone; or something more general like to know the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength) and we don’t follow through. Why? Because we don’t feel confident we can do that… or because we are lazy, but Im not talking about that right now.

You must stop being so self-obsessed when it comes to pursuing God’s Will for your life. Do you really think that God called you to do what you are doing because you are perfect? You think He is unaware of your immense sin? God is completely aware that those He is calling, such as Moses, are not perfect creatures. He is completely aware that you will mess up at stuff. You will lash out. You will let the lust linger in your heart. You will let pride consume your thoughts and actions. He is completely aware of your sinfulness. He chose you because He desired to do His will through you. Why? Because He loves you.

So don’t do what Moses does and wait until God displays His strength, which is dependent on nobody, to realize He is choosing to use you. He does not need you. Once again, do not be so self-obsessed. You aren’t the main character. You the hammer that God uses every now and then.

The Simplicity of God’s Plan

Chapter 7 begins with commands from the Lord to Moses once again. It has been verily established that Moses had no confidence in himself to carry out God’s plan, and so God runs through the details with Moses and Aaron over and over and over. Here are the details one more time:

Say exactly what God commands to Aaron so he can declare it to Pharaoh

God will harden Pharaoh’s heart and do many wonders in Egypt

Pharaoh won’t listen again

God will press His hand onto Egypt to deliver Israel

The Egyptians will know the Lord after this great act of judgement

These are simple, yet very complex! They complex in that there is some ambiguity in these commands and how they will turn out. The ambiguity is intentional, though, as following the Lord requires that you trust Him.

These commands are simple only with that trust in the Lord. When you trust God, then doing as He commands is simple. Maybe a little scary still, but ultimately simple. “He says, I do.” We must strive to not overcomplicated God’s callings and will for our lives. Sometimes God doesn’t say. Sometimes we just need to faithfully pursue Him and do what seems right. Don’t overthink it. Trust.

One more detail is added into verse 6 to help us understand ages and timelines. Moses was 80 years old; his older brother Aaron was 83. These were old dudes doing God’s will and horrified to do it. Let’s learn from them and trust the Lord a little more.

The Power of God’s Hand

Now Moses and Aaron come back to Pharaoh and it seems the Pharaoh, to test God’s divinity and power, commands them to perform a miracle. The miracle that God tells them to perform is the one of the staff turning into a serpent.

It can be hard to picture these stories as we hear them, especially such supernatural ones. So I want to show you guys this clip from the Prince of Egypt that shows an animated dramatized version of what really happened here.

When I first heard this story, I was amazed by what God could do, but then confused when the Egyptians could do the same. How? Isn’t there only one God? How could they perform the exact same miracle unless their gods were true too?

I want to close tonight’s message by addressing this issue.

Notice what Scripture says the Egyptians used to mimic God’s miracle: occult practices. Those who do these things are called wise men, sorcerers, and magicians. We must not act so naive to think that there is no spiritual realm in this world. We also must not think that the evil in the spiritual realm has no power at all.

These magicians would likely have sought to summon power from false Egyptian gods, but these gods are no gods at all. Rather, these are demons faking as gods. They have tricked a whole people into thinking they are gods by being able to do some miraculous things. But we must remember what happens at the beginning of Job.

Satan is on God’s leash, essentially. He lets him do things, but only so much. In this case, God allows Satan’s demons to do a miraculous work. Why? To show that He is still greater.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 7

12 Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

Ultimately, the One, True God’s power is greater than these other beings. There is evil in this world and it is doing a work on those around us. We should expect this, but we should not fear. Evil wants us to fear. Our God is so much greater and stronger than any evil in this world and this is shown in Aaron’s staff swallowing the others.

We can either submit to God’s power and be recipients of His Spirit and therefore His power as well; or we can be enemies of God’s power and harden our hearts.