A Journey Through the Bible: Exodus 5 and 6

Exodus 5:2—“And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.” This is certainly a true statement. Jehovah wasn’t Egypt’s god; that country had a multitude of gods, and Pharaoh was considered one as well, or the representation of the great Egyptian god, Horus, the sun god. So, in effect, Pharaoh was considered a god by his people. The upcoming battle between Jehovah and Pharaoh was a mighty one indeed—the god of the Hebrews versus the god of the Egyptians. I think part of the rationale for this supreme struggle and the 10 plagues was that the Hebrews didn’t know Jehovah, either, or at least didn’t know Him by that name. As He told Moses in the next chapter (6:3), “and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew the name “Jehovah” (or, “Yahweh” as it is popularly called today), but they didn’t understand the full implications of the covenant nature of that name. See my discussion of this in the Chapter Summary of chapter 6. Jehovah, by these mighty works, was trying to build faith in the children of Israel. They had had no communication with Him for well over 200 years, and no doubt were influenced by the Egyptian gods. Idolatry will, of course, be a serious problem in Israel once they arrive in the Promised Land, but it will be the Canaanite gods that tempt them, not the Egyptian ones. The Lord would constantly remind them throughout their history what He had done for them in Egypt—for what good it did. But He did all He could, and in Egypt, had defeated the most powerful monarch on earth at that time. Yet still the Jews descended into pagan idolatry. For that, they will be purged by captivity in Assyria and Babylon.

Exodus 6:26—“These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, ‘Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.’" By this time, Moses and Aaron had been identified several times in the Exodus account; why this seemingly superfluous statement, naming and classifying them again? Liberal, skeptical "scholars" argue that Moses wasn’t the author of the first five books of the Old Testament, but that they were compiled over the centuries (beginning several hundred years after the exodus—if that event really happened) by various priests, editors, redactors, etc. and since there were a number of these editors, there is a lot of repetition, each “editor” putting whatever comments, etc. he wished into the text. Some have even suggested that Moses never even existed. I suppose George Washington didn’t exist, either, that later historians and “editors” have created a fictional history of the United States as well. But, again, to return to our initial question—why this identification, or re-identification, of Moses and Aaron? We must always remember that most ancient peoples were illiterate, and books were few and far between. Every book had to be hand written; there were no printing presses. So how was knowledge disseminated? By word of mouth, or, in the case of the Law of Moses, public reading. For example, in Deuteronomy 31:11, Moses commanded the elders of Israel, “When all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.” Such is not a terribly effective way of learning, but it was basically all they had. So, repetition of important people or events was frequent. One finds it constantly in the Old Testament, especially; education and reading ability increased as time went on, but never were more than a small portion of people literate. By repeating the events, they were more to be remembered. So, Moses and Aaron were obviously extremely important, and to emphasize that to the hearers, they are identified again in Exodus 6:26. Because hearing was such an important means of education, much of the Old Testament was written in poetic form. Poetry is easier to memorize than prose. So repetition such as that found in Exodus 6:26 doesn’t mean multiple authors; modern skeptics need to understand a little bit about ancient history and peoples and grasp the practical circumstances of daily living.