Remembering the Covenant
Questions and Proposed Answers Supplied
Background and Printed Text: Exodus 6:2-9
Exodus 6:2 And Elohim spoke unto Draw [Moshe]. And He said unto him, “I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]. 3 “And I appeared unto Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], unto He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and unto He-Will-Heel [Jacob] via Mighty-[One]-My-Breasts [El Shaddai]. And my name is Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! Was I not known to them?
4 “And I also made-stand my Covenant with them to give the land of Canaan to them, the land of their sojournings that they sojourned in her.
5 “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.
6 “Therefore, say-thou to the children of Israel, ‘I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians! And I will rescue you from their slavery. And I will redeem you via a stretched out arm and via big justices! 7And I will take you to me to a people. And I will be to you to Gods. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was] your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians! 8And I will bring you unto the land that I carried my hand to give her to Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], to He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and to He-Will-Heel [Jacob]. And I will give her to you, an inheritance. I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was].’”
9And Draw [Moshe] spoke establishment unto the children of Israel. And they didn’t hearken unto Draw [Moshe] from shortness of spirit/wind and from hard slavery.
I. Appearances (verses 2-3)
Elohim again communicated with Moshe, first identifying Himself: “I am Yehovah.” He then associated Himself with Avraham, Isaac and Jacob: “And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob via El Shaddai.”
Yehovah again stated, “And my name is Yehovah!” He then asked Moshe a question: “Was I not known to them?”
Questions
1. Why did Yehovah start by identifying Himself as Yehovah?
- It is like His signature, but He begins with His signature instead of ending with it.
- He is declaring that He will be, He is, and He was—there will never a time when He isn’t! (False gods will last for only a very short time.)
- He is giving the reason for His authority to command.
2. Who is El Shaddai? He is one of the forms in which Elohim makes appearances. He is known as Mighty One, My Breasts because He is very mighty, never having any difficulty overcoming any enemies or obstacles, and yet He is like a mother toward a very young child who breastfeeds and nurtures that child.
3. What does “And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob via El Shaddai” mean? This means that Elohim appeared to the three men in the form of El Shaddai. He could have appeared as the Captain of Yehovah’s Hosts; He could have appeared in the form of a fire; He could have appeared as the Angel Yehovah, and He could have appeared in other ways. Instead, He chose this one form.
4. Why did Elohim find it necessary to again state, “And my name is Yehovah”? This teaches careful readers that Elohim and Yehovah are the same being. Some readers will learn that Elohim is Yeshua. Thus, Yehovah and Yeshua are truly the same! Yet, Yeshua’s roles will be different, and He will intentionally limit Himself in many ways in order to do the work that He will do.
5. Why did Elohim ask, “Was I not known to them”? He reminded His audiences that Avraham, Isaac and Jacob knew Elohim by His Name—by the Name Yehovah! This is important because of many individuals who will not believe that He desires for His Name, Yehovah, to be used. Others will claim that ‘Jesus’ and Yehovah are not the same. Those three, Avraham, Isaac and Jacob, knew El Shaddai as Yehovah, and they knew Yehovah!
II. Promised Land (verse 4)
Yehovah next spoke in the past tense as if what He described had already happened: “And I also made-stand my Covenant with them to give the land of Canaan to them, the land of their sojournings that they sojourned in her.”
Questions
1. What does making a covenant stand involve? It involves two steps: giving the covenant (that is, declaring it), and fulfilling it. No covenant stands if it is not kept.
2. What is a Covenant? It is a vow that often involves a sacrifice (and therefore a god), or if not a sacrifice, it still involves a god as the one who watches to see if the covenant is kept.
When Yehovah gave the Covenant, Yehovah vowed using Himself as the agent to guard the Covenant.
A Covenant is far more than a promise, and it is more than a vow. It always involves two (or more) persons and a god/God.
3. Who are them in, “I also made-stand my Covenant with them”? They are Avraham, Isaac and Jacob; yet, they also include one other: their seed, referring to the Messiah.
4. What does “the land of their sojournings” mean? That is the land in which they sojourned—they traveled on their journey to some destination.
5. Who is her in, “… that they sojourned in her”? She is the land.
III. Hearing and Remembering (verse 5)
Yehovah now responded to their present predicament: “And also I, I hearkened-to the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians are enslaving them. And I remembered my Covenant.”
Questions
1. Why is the pronoun, I mentioned twice in, “And also, I, I hearkened to the groaning …”? This shows that Elohim Himself truly hearkened to the groaning. He was very personally involved.
2. When Elohim heard their groaning, why didn’t He just use His power to stop the Egyptians and to make life much better for the Israelis instead of going through this whole process of taking them out of Egypt? Elohim’s desire is that those made in His image determine to do right in whatever circumstances they are, showing valiance and correct faith. If He had just stopped their problems, they would have done no thinking about life or the God of Israel. They would have just continued as pagans. (They did continue as pagans, but what they experienced will later convince Israelis to turn to Yehovah from paganism.)
Helping folks by doing for them instead of helping folks by assisting them often hurts them more than helps them. When they participate to do what is right while struggling to achieve the goal, the benefits are very great, and can be lasting for life.
3. Why were the Egyptians so mean to the Israelis? There are several reasons:
- The Egyptians feared them
- The Egyptians were afraid of their rapid rate of population growth
- Yehovah Himself caused the Egyptians to hate the Israelis:
Psalm 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt. And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24And He greatly increased His people. And He made them stronger than their enemies. 25He turned their heart to hate His people, to subtly deal with His slaves.
4. The text states that Elohim remembered His Covenant. Had He forgotten it? He had not forgotten. This remembrance will be with action: He will do something about the situation of the Israelis because of the Covenant. Whenever the Bible states that Yehovah remembered or Elohim remembered, He is about to take action.
IV. I Am, I Will, I Am (verses 6-8)
He next gave Moshe the speech to say to the Israelis: “Therefore, say-thou to the children of Israel, ‘I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was]! And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians! And I will rescue you from their slavery. And I will redeem you via a stretched out arm and via big justices! 7And I will take you to me to a people. And I will be to you to Gods. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was] your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians! 8And I will bring you unto the land that I carried my hand to give her to Father-Of-A-Crowd [Avraham], to He-Will-Laugh [Isaac] and to He-Will-Heel [Jacob]. And I will give her to you, an inheritance. I am Yehovah [He-Will-Be, He-Is, He-Was].’”
Questions
1. What was the first thing that Moshe was told to tell the children of Israel? He must tell Israel that the God speaking these things is Yehovah. That declaration includes that He will be, He is, and He was!
2. When the Bible says children of Israel, are they little children? The word children in the Bible never indicates age, and therefore it doesn’t indicate being young. The Bible might use the word youths for children who are young. Instead, the word children only indicates that they came from a particular father (Israel, in this case) by birth or by joining.
3. Yehovah said, “And I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians!” How long will that take? It will take months. Yehovah must prepare the Israelis; they wouldn’t obey if He didn’t prepare them. (They hardly obeyed as it was!)
4. What is the difference between these two statements: “I will exit you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” and “I will rescue you from their slavery”? The difference is this: Being exited from under the burdens doesn’t mean that the Israelis are no longer slaves; it only means that their work load has been greatly lightened. Being rescued from their slavery means that Egyptians will no longer reign over the Israelis.
5. What does redeem mean? There are two kinds of redemption in the Bible:
- redemption by price, meaning that someone or something has been taken from some sort of held state (like a captive) by another paying a ransom price. The person might be a captive by kidnapping, but more often the person will be a captive (slave) by some other circumstance that isn’t a kidnapping (in the Bible).
- redemption by force, meaning that someone or something has been taken from some sort of held state (like a captive) by a forceful rescue operation.
6. What kind of redemption will Yehovah do in this case? A reader might think that this will be a forceful rescue, but it won’t be. Yehovah will make the Egyptians willing. Instead, this is a redemption by price.
7. If the answer to the above question is the correct answer, how will this occur? Obviously, Elohim must pay the price. That didn’t occur during this entire event. This switches readers far into the future to the time of the Tribulation. Yehovah will stretch out His arm on the world through great attacks against the bad guys, and some folks (Saints and even non-saints) will give their lives to save the Israelis. Elohim will do those big justices during this time.
Yet, there is another time when He stretched out His arm and did big justices; that was when He was crucified. His being the sacrifice for sin and for redemption was an act of big justices! He provided Salvation and redemption for all so that those who will grasp them will obtain their benefits.
8. What will be the result of this redemption via a stretched out arm and via big justices? The result will be that Elohim will take the Israelis to Himself; they will be His people.
9. What is a people in the Bible? A people is a group of individuals who have a common culture, and therefore interact well with each other. A people is one group; peoples are more than one group.
10. What does “I will be to you to Gods” mean? Elohim/Yehovah will be all the Gods of the Israelis! They will claim Him as their Gods, and He will openly demonstrate Himself as their Gods! Thus, He will do miracles and demonstrate great power.
11. Elohim said, “And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods Who exits you from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Did this occur in Moshe’s day? No! This awaits another event that is very similar, but will occur thousands of years from now! The Israelis under Moshe never figured that Yehovah exited them; they thought that Moshe and Aharon did!
12. Which land is in mind in, “I will bring you unto the land”? That is the land that was formerly called Canaan, but will become known as the Land of Israel.
13. Yehovah said that He carried His hand. What does that mean? Yehovah’s hand can refer to the Messiah, and it always refers to His power. He directs with His speech or with His hand (and sometimes with both). When He shows His power, He uses His hand. (This is how a very young child sees the hand of adults.)
14. Who is her in, “I carried my hand to give her to Avraham …”? She is the Land (of Canaan/Israel).
15. The Israelis will later have to fight their way into the land of Canaan. Elohim states here, “I will give her to you, an inheritance.” Why would anyone have to fight for an inheritance? No one in the Bible has to fight for an inheritance. The timing in which this will occur is much later in history, and far into the future from our time. When the Israelis went into the land of Canaan, they did have to fight! Later, when Elohim gives the Land of Israel to the Israelis as an inheritance, they won’t fight for it; Yehovah will fight for them!
16. This paragraph ends with, “I am Yehovah.” Why does He say this again? The Israelis don’t know that He is Yehovah. Only when they truly know that He is Yehovah will they have faith in Him!
V. Shortness of Spirit (verse 9)
Moshe spoke with certainty to the Israelis: he spoke establishment unto them. They didn’t hearken to him; they were out of breath, and were being worked far too hard to hear him.
Questions
1. What does “Moshe spoke establishment unto the children of Israel” mean? What Moshe spoke was exactly what Yehovah told him to speak.
Once the Israelis will hearken to him, they will be established!
Whatever is established is firmly placed. If it isn’t established, one cannot be certain that it will stay where it is put or that it will do what it is supposed to do.
2. What does hearken mean? It means to listen and to obey—to do and to believe what was said.
3. Why didn’t the Israelis hearken unto Moshe? They were too out of breath from the difficulty of their slavery. They heard Moshe saying words, but they saw things only getting worse!