Exodus 6:13

Exo 6:13 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Ver. 13. And the Lord spake unto Moses.] Notwithstanding his former equivocation, and the people’s peevishness. Men’s wickedness cannot interrupt the course of God’s goodness.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 6:13 forms a concluding summary, and prepares the way for the genealogy that follows, the heading of which is given in Exo 6:14.

(Note: The organic connection of this genealogy with the entire narrative has been so conclusively demonstrated by Ranke, in his Unterss. ub. d. Pent. i. p. 68ff. and ii. 19ff., that even Knobel has admitted it, and thrown away the fragmentary hypothesis.)

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

(13) The Lord . . . gave them a charge.—The reluctance and opposition of Moses led to an express “charge” being laid upon himself and Aaron, the details of which are given in Exo_7:1-9. Exo_6:1 of Exodus 7 probably followed originally on Exo_6:12 of this chapter. When the genealogy was inserted at this point, the present verse, which summarises Exo_7:1-9, was added, as also Exo_6:28-30 at the end of the chapter.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. A summary statement, unconnected with v. 12, of the commission given to Moses and Aaron in vv. 2–6. The verse comes in abruptly; for Aaron has not in this connexion been mentioned before. No doubt, it is an addition of the compiler who inserted the genealogy, vv. 14–27 (the main object of which is to explain who Moses and Aaron were), and who intended this verse to introduce it.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These be the heads of their father's houses,.... Not of the families of Moses and Aaron, but of the children of Israel, though only the heads of three tribes are mentioned; and some think that these three are taken notice of, to show that they were not rejected of God, though they seem to be rather cursed than blessed by Jacob; and that though they were guilty of very great crimes, as Reuben of incest, and Simeon and Levi of murder, yet they truly repented, and obtained mercy of God, and were honoured in their offspring, of whom an account is here given; but the two first seem to be taken notice of for the sake of the third, and that order might be observed, and that it might plainly appear that the deliverers of Israel were Israelites:

the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; whose names, and the order in which they are put, are the same as in Gen 46:9 these be the families of Reuben; the heads of them, or from whence they sprung.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Unto Moses and unto Aaron - The final and formal charge to the two brothers is given, as might be expected, before the plagues are denounced. With this verse begins a new section of the history.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13-19. Since Israel is now to be led forth as a nation, Moses and Aaron, their leaders, are fully set before us according to their genealogy. The tribe of Levi now, therefore, comes before us, with its three tribal families and their subdivisions, while the elder tribes, Reuben and Simeon, are mentioned with their general family divisions, in order to show the relative position of Levi. (Knobel here clearly shows the connexion against the documentists.) The fathers’ houses are usually considered as divisions of the tribal families, subdivisions of the tribe, (Geseuius, Furst, Ewald,) but the phrase is considered by Kurtz to be simply another designation for the tribe, the word “fathers” meaning ancestors. But the first view is favoured by the systematic classification in passages like Jos_7:14, and Num_1:20; Num_1:22, etc., where the phrase should be translated, as here, “houses of their fathers,” (not house; see Gesen., Gram., § 108, 3; Ewald, Gram., § 270, c.) The twelve tribes were regularly divided and subdivided, according to lineage, with princes or heads over each section or grade, who took their rank by primogeniture. Besides this hereditary nobility there were elders, who appear to have held their position from age and experience, probably owing their rank to popular election, and who always appear as the representatives of the people, and constitute a democratic element in the state. There were, finally, the scribes, or shoterim — officers who may have arisen under Egyptian influences, as already noticed, who exercised a subordinate overseership over government labourers, and probably had charge of the genealogical tables and public writings. Thus the patriarchal and Egyptian governments furnished the groundwork for the elaborate Mosaic system perfected at Sinai.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 13-27. At this point the narrative is interrupted The author, or (it may be) the final compiler perhaps Joshua thought it desirable to insert here a genealogical section, taking up the fatuity history of Israel from the point at which it was left in Exo_1:5, where the sons of Jacob were enumerated. The whole political system of Israel was based upon the tribal relation; and it was of the last importance, politically, to hand down the divisions and subdivisions of families. The lists here given, probably prepared by Moses in a separate document, had to be inserted somewhere. The present seemed a fitting place. The narrative had reached a turning-point. All the preliminaries were over the action of the Exodus itself was about to begin. A dramatist would have made Act 1. end and Act 2 commence. A poet would have begun a new canto. In the imperfect bibliography of the time, it was thought best to make a division by a parenthetic insertion.

Verse 13 seems to belong to what follows rather than to what precedes. There is no emphasis on the words and to Aaron, as if God, having found Moses singly to be irre-sponsive, had now given a charge to both the brothers conjointly (Rashi). Rather the verse is a concise summary of chs. 3-5., prefixed to the genealogy when it was a separate document, and preserved when the compiler placed the document in the text

Vers. 13-27. The historical character of real revelation.

Among the religions of the world which are based on the contents of a written volume, none has such a historical character as the religion of Christians. Most nations have evolved their religion out of their internal consciousness, and have then, after a certain lapse of time, thrown into a narrative form the supposed revelations made to this or that individual secretly, and by him committed to writing. These revelations to give them the name are not connected with any series of events, are not, properly speaking, historical at all, but belong to the domain of thought, contemplation, philosophy. It is quite otherwise with the religion of the Bible. Both in the Old Testament and in the New our attention is directed primarily and mainly to a series of facts. Religion is not put before us in an abstract, but in a concrete form. The Bible represents to us "God in history." We learn the nature and the will of God from his dealings with nations and individuals at definite times and in definite places. It is a necessary consequence of such a mode of inculcating religious truth, that very dry and mundane details must from time to time be obtruded upon the reader, in order that the narrative may be clear, and that he may understand the circumstances of time and place with which each writer in his turn has to deal. In this way genealogies come in. History cannot be understood without them. We want to know who the individuals are who are introduced afresh at each new stage in the narrative, and in what relation they stand to those other individuals with whom the narrative is concerned before and after. Genealogies convey this knowledge. Many think them uninteresting; but they are not so to any thoughtful person. For

(1) they raise the salutary thought of the rapid flight of time and the speedy passing away of one generation after another, Oih per fullwn geneh toihde kai ajndrwn.

(2) They show us how good men and bad, great men and little, are intermixed in the world, arise under the same conditions, seem produced by the same circumstances; and thus they force us to see what a vast power the human will has in shaping human character, and even in determining the course of earthly events. Hence they remind us of our responsibilities.

(3) They hold up to us warnings and examples warnings in the names to which there is attached the savour of evil deeds never to be forgotten so long as the world endures Nadabs, Abihus, Korahs; examples in those, familiar to us as household words, which we no sooner hear or see than there rush to our thought a crowd of glorious and heroic actions. Being dead, these men still speak to us theirs is a death "full of immortality."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord gave them a charge, both to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh - God's authority is sufficient to answer all objections, and binds us to obedience without murmuring or disputing.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

וידבר ה' אל משה ואהרן AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES AND UNTO AARON — because Moses had said, “I am of uncircumcised lips”. The Holy One, blessed be He, associated Aaron with him to be his mouth-piece and spokesman.

ויצום אל בני ישראל signifies that HE GAVE THEM A CHARGE regarding them; viz., to deal with them in a gentle manner and to be patient with them (Exodus Rabbah 7:3)

ואל פרעה מלך מצרים signifies that He charged them with regard to PHARAOH, KING OF EGYPT, viz., that they should show respect to him in all that they spoke. This is a Midrashic explanation (Exodus Rabbah 7:3; Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 2); but the real meaning is: He gave them a command with regard to Israel and with regard to His mission on which he had sent them to Pharaoh. And what the purport of this command was is explained in the second section from here (vv. 29—31) after the order of genealogy set forth in the next passage. It properly should follow here, but because Scripture has mentioned Moses and Aaron here, it interrupts the narrative by interpolating the section beginning (v. 14), “These are the heads of their fathers’ houses”, in order to inform us how Moses and Aaron were born (who were their parents) and with whom they are connected by descent.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND HE GAVE THEM A CHARGE UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Rashi wrote: “The purport of this command is explained in the second section, after the order of genealogy. [It properly belongs here], but because Scripture mentioned Moses and Aaron here, it interrupted the subject-matter [with the narrative of their genealogy], informing us how each was born and with whom they are connected by descent. And the Eternal spoke unto Moses in the land of Egypt, saying: I am the Eternal; speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak unto thee., Verse 29. This is the selfsame command which is mentioned here [in Verse 11]: Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt. However, because Scripture broke off the subject-matter in order to record their genealogy, it reverts to it [further in Verse 29] and begins it anew. And Moses said before the Eternal: Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?, Verse 30. This is the selfsame statement Moses made here [in Verse 12]: Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me, etc. However, because Scripture broke off the subject-matter [for the abovementioned reason], it repeats it there [further in Verse 30]. Such indeed is a proper method, just as a person who says, ‘Let us return to the previous subject.’” And so also is the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra.But I do not agree with this. Rather, [it is my opinion] that when G-d commanded Moses to speak to the children of Israel — as it is said, Wherefore say unto the children of Israel — he did so and they hearkened not unto him. Then He commanded him to go before Pharaoh and bid him to let them go out of his land, and Moses answered: Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me, etc. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded both Moses and Aaron to speak to the people and to Pharaoh. Moses thus thought that both of them — [he and Aaron] — are to take equal part in all the signs they are to do; both of them are to come to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh. But indeed [Moses reckoned that] it is sufficient that only one should speak, for such is the customary way of all pairs of emissaries, that one speaks and the other is silent. This was consented to, and G-d then said to him: “I am the Eternal, Verse 29. Who revealed Myself to you only to speak in My Great Name. Speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak unto thee, Verse 29. for it is to you that all communications are given, not to Aaron [primarily] and to you. It is you that I made the emissary to Pharaoh.” Then Moses answered once again: Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, etc., Verse 30. And G-d said to him: “See, I have set thee in G-d’s stead to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. You will go before Pharaoh with Aaron, and there [in Pharaoh’s presence] you will command Aaron while Pharaoh will not hear your words, and Aaron as your emissary will make your words heard.” This is just as G-d commands a prophet and the prophet makes His words audible and chastises [the people] with them. This was a great achievement for Moses, which he merited by his humility since he was ashamed to speak because of his speech — impediment. And so Scripture says, Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people. It was measure for measure. He had been afraid lest he be despised in their eyes [on account of his defective speech, but Scripture testifies to the Egyptians’ admiration of his greatness].Now Rashi commented: “Thou shalt speak, 7:2. each and every message once, just as you heard it from My mouth, and your brother Aaron shall express it in eloquent language and explain it in Pharaoh’s hearing.” This is not correct at all.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.