Tongue-Tied

Moses is a man on a mission! When last we read, the mission wasn't going very well, but let's see what's going on this time.

Shemot (Exodus) 6:1 "Then Yahuah said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.'"

Drive them out? Sounds like the Israelites might not be leaving on very good terms...

Shemot 6:1-9 "And Elohim spoke to Moses and said to him: 'I am Yahuah. I have appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as Elohim Almighty, but by My name Yahuah I was not known to them. I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to the children of Israel: "I am Yahuah; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your Elohim. Then you shall know that I am Yahuah your Elohim who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am Yahuah."' So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage."

Can you really blame them for not listening? They were minding their own business, building bricks for the Pharaoh's construction projects, everything wasn't fine, but it was endurable. Moses comes along and suddenly they have to make bricks, and now they're expected to listen to him? That's pretty tough...

Shemot 6:10-13 "And Yahuah spoke to Moses, saying, 'Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.' And Moses spoke before Yahuah, saying, 'The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?' Then Yahuah spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt."

Ok, we know circumcision is a surgery performed on baby boys, and the place where this surgery is performed is not on the face. What does he mean by uncircumcised lips? I looked up Exodus 6:12 on Blueletterbible.org, and found a bunch of different translations. Most of them phrase it in a way that basically means "I'm not eloquent, I get tongue tied, I have problems with speech." That makes more sense!

The rest of the chapter is recap and genealogy. You're welcome to read it on your own if you like, but you may find it either boring or redundant.

No song today! Take a look at The Prince of Egypt or The Ten Commandments and let me know what you think.