Matthew Henry on Exodus 6:1-9
Here, I. God silences Moses's complaints with the assurance of success in this negotiation, repeating the promise made him in Exo 3:20, After that, he will let you go. When Moses was at his wit's end, wishing he had staid in Midian, rather than have come to Egypt to make bad worse - when he was quite at a loss what to do - Then the Lord said unto Moses, for the quieting of his mind, "Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh (Exo 6:1); now that the affair has come to a crisis, things are as bad as they can be, Pharaoh is in the height of pride and Israel in the depth of misery, now is my time to appear." See Psa 12:5, Now will I arise. Note, Man's extremity is God's opportunity of helping…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 6:3
I . . . God Almighty--All enemies must fall, all difficulties must vanish before My omnipotent power, and the patriarchs had abundant proofs of this.
but by my name, &c.--rather, interrogatively, by My name Jehovah was I not known to them? Am not I, the Almighty God, who pledged My honor for the fulfilment of the covenant, also the self-existent God who lives to accomplish it? Rest assured, therefore, that I shall bring it to pass. This passage has occasioned much discussion; and it has been thought by many to intimate that as the name Jehovah was not known to the patriarchs, at least in the full bearing or practical experience of it, the honor of the disclosure was reserved to Moses, who…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on Exodus 6:7
I will take you to me for a people, etc. - This was precisely the covenant that he had made with Abraham. See Gen 17:7, and see Clarke's note on Gen 17:7.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God - By thus fulfilling my promises ye shall know what is implied in my name. See Clarke's note on Exo 6:3.
But why should God take such a most stupid, refractory, and totally worthless people for his people? 1. Because he had promised to do so to their noble ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, etc., men worthy of all praise, because in general friends of God, devoted to his will and to the good of mankind.
2. "That (as Bishop Warburton properly observes) the extraordinary providence b…
