Exodus 6:14-30

GENEALOGY

"These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi, these are the families of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty and seven years. The sons of Gershon: Libni, and Shimei, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath: Areram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty and three years. And the sons of Merari: Mahli, and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years. And the sons of Izhar: Korah,, and Nepheg, and Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. And Aaron took him Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. And Eleazar Aaron's son took him one of the daughters of Putiel; and she bare him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites according to their families. These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts. These are they that spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron."

First it should be noted that this is a selective and abbreviated genealogy. It is evident that, "There are not enough years in the life spans of these men to stretch over the 430 years of Egyptian bondage."[37] The Amram of Exodus 6:18, and the Amram of Exodus 6:20 (Moses' father) cannot be the same persons. "An indefinitely long list of generations has been omitted here."[38] The fact that just four generations are mentioned here, whereas there were actually ten, is perhaps due to the promise in Genesis 15:16, where the delivery of Israel from the land of their oppression was prophesied to happen in the "fourth generation." Significantly, there were people in each of four generations (embracing the whole period) with life spans of more than a hundred years each, thus giving two ways of reckoning the count. It was four generations as counted by the lives of successive patriarchs whose lives of over a hundred years touched each other, and also, in the meantime, actually ten successive generations had been born. "Joshua, who was a younger contemporary of Moses, was of the tenth generation from Joseph (1 Chronicles 7:20-27)."[39] This may very well explain why the ages of certain people are given in this passage.

As for the purpose of this genealogy, it is clear that it introduces a great many characters who appear in subsequent chapters of the Pentateuch. See below.

We are at first surprised that it begins with Reuben and Simeon, but this has two purposes:

1. it identified with Jacob all of the personnel whose lives figure in subsequent chapters, and
   
2. "It served to show that Moses was not disregarding the claims of primogeniture."[40]
   

"The sons of Levi ..." (Exodus 6:16). These are given because of the importance of their work as outlined later in the Pentateuch.

"Mahli, and Mushi ..." (Exodus 6:19). "These were among the most important of the Levitical families."[41]

"Jochebed ... bare Aaron and Moses ..." (Exodus 6:20). This is not from some prior document seeking to glorify Aaron instead of Moses. Aaron is mentioned first here because he was the older. The order of their importance is observed in Exodus 6:27, where we have, "Moses and Aaron." The Septuagint (LXX) adds an older sister, Miriam, in this verse. She is also mentioned in Numbers 26:59.

"Korah ..." (Exodus 6:21). He later figured prominently in a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16:1-3,32; Jude 1:1:11).

"Nadab, and Abihu ..." (Exodus 6:23). These were slain by Jehovah for their presumption in offering strange fire (Numbers 3:4).

"Eleazar and Ithamar" ministered in the office of the high priest; and Eleazar succeeded Aaron to that office (Numbers 3:4ff).

"According to their hosts ..." (Exodus 6:26). "The word for hosts rendered armies in the KJV. Armies had not been mentioned until here; but the word occurs in Exodus 7:4, and was used here because it was already in the mind of the sacred author,"[42] the same being another unmistakable evidence of the unity of the passage. "Israel left Egypt as an organized host (Exodus 3:16; 12:17; 13:18)."[43]

Exodus 6:27-28 are a recapitulation for the sake of emphasis.

Thus it is clear that this parenthetical genealogy serves somewhat as a list of the "dramatis personnae" for the epic drama about to be performed upon the stage of world history! There are few events in the story of mankind that approach the importance and significance of the delivery of Israel from Egypt.

Before leaving this chapter, we wish to include a quotation from Fields. After noting that the name of Jochebed, Moses' mother, has the meaning, "Jehovah is my glory," thus proving that, "The Hebrews used `Jehohah' before Exodus 6:2," he spoke of critical denials and their assignment of certain passages to "the imaginary `P'," adding: "Their knowledge of unknowable things passes all bounds!"[44]