Exodus 6:14-30 - Headship and Failing Lips

Exodus 6:14-30

The Family of Moses and Aaron (Genesis 46:8–27)

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. 15 And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. 17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. 18 And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. 19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

20 Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. 21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 And the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. 23 Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 And the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

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.” 27 These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Is Moses’ Spokesman

28 And it came to pass, on the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the LORD. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

30 But Moses said before the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

The headship of three of the sons of Israel representing their families leading to the sons of Levi and their headship over their houses listed here as a historical account validating the truth of God’s word and pointing out their responsibility to the nation over each family line of descendants.  This led to listing Amram and Jochebed bearing him Aaron and Moses to validate their origin and headship roles in their families as representatives of God’s family and people to whom they were given the opportunity and responsibility to deliver from bondage in Egypt.  They were tasked to bear witness to the message of salvation from bondage as a picture of our eventual salvation from the bondage of sin (Hebrews 2:14-15, Romans 5:12, 6:18, 8:21, Galatians 4:3-4) we all have been born in.  The brothers Moses and Aaron were chosen and sent together to deliver those bound in a foreign land where they had been enslaved for the better part of the four hundred years the people had been there to bring them out (Genesis 15:13-14) “with their armies” as foretold according to God’s plan.  Their armies were alluding to the fact that Israel had multiplied greatly under captivity and enslavement to prepare them to fight for the promised land to come.  The day had arrived for Moses and Aaron to approach Pharaoh with God’s ultimatum according to the words that He would provide for them as they spoke, just as the Lord by His Spirit gives us (Luke 12:11-12) the words of the gospel to speak to free others now bound by sin.  He and we do this under the authority of the headship of Jesus Christ the Son of God and our Lord.  Like Moses, however, we also have difficulty with failing lips that are far from perfectly righteous enough to speak yet we have been given the power of God’s Spirit and word of Grace to effectively speak life to the living dead (Ephesians 2:5) in spite of our imperfect state.  We need to remember our head is Christ and that He gives us the authority (Matthew 28:18) and necessary eloquence to verbalize the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15) with lips steadied by humility and power under the headship of Jesus Christ the Son of God who holds all authority in the world.  This passage then describes the relationship of Headship and Failing Lips in Moses and we who are in Christ today.