And the sons of Jizhar Korah, and Nepheg, and Zicri.
Exodus 6 stops the story to list names. Israel lies crushed under Pharaoh, and Moses has come to the end of himself. This verse names the three sons of Izhar. One of them, Korah, later led a famous rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
At the moment when everything looked lost, the record turns to who these people are:
Israel was in despair and Moses was overwhelmed. Just at this point the record introduces the genealogy of Aaron and Moses. It shows their high dignity as God's servants in the deliverance of Israel. Israel lived in slavery, yet lost nothing of its tribal order or of the headship of its princes. Israel was a nation. Even in its most bitter and hopeless bondage it never sank to a herd of slaves. The genealogy marks a new starting point in the history God gives us. Here it begins the story of the time when the promise of deliverance comes true.
The list also has a clear stopping point:
It is very significant that the genealogy of the tribes runs only as far as Moses and Aaron (Ex. 6:26). So Christ is the one object before God, the only Deliverer of His elect.
Izhar was the second son of Kohath, in the tribe of Levi. Some commentators read meaning into these family names:
Kohath's first son is Amram, "people of the Exalted One," a beautiful name. The next is Izhar, "oil" — clearly a picture of the Spirit as the Anointer. Then we have Hebron, "union," or, as some put it, "communion." Last comes Uzziel, "the power of God."
Kohath had four sons, yet this passage lists the children of only two:
The record mentions Izhar and Uzziel in Exodus 6:21-22 simply because there was some special reason for mentioning them. Kohath had another son, Hebron, who may have had, for all we know, ten times as many descendants. In a word, the genealogies notice those about whom some special motive existed, and pass over the rest.
Of the three sons named in this verse, two leave no further trace. Nepheg and Zichri appear here and nowhere else. The third name carries a terrible story.
The first name in the verse carries the most weight:
Son of Izhar, a son of Kohath. He, with Dathan and Abiram, headed the rebellion against Moses and Aaron. They said that Moses and Aaron took too much upon themselves, since all the people were holy... The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram with their families, while the fire of the Lord devoured Korah and his company. For Korah and the Levites it was a religious rebellion:
after "they strove against Jehovah" in His appointed priesthood. The whole rebellion pictured opposition to the royalty and priesthood of Christ.
What makes it worse is the pedigree this verse records. Korah was no outsider to holy things:
Korah is the leader of a grand conspiracy. He is a Levite of the family of Kohath, a son of Izhar. His line of ministry handles the most precious things of the tabernacle, yet in spirit he is dead to it all — as his name, which probably means "ice," may hint.
The story does not end with judgment. Grace picked out one household — the worst one:
The exception of grace was in the household of the very worst of them. As people would have thought, the sons of Korah deserved least of all to escape destruction. Yet they were exactly the ones for whom God reserved this special grace. Korah led and organised the rebellion, and his position as well as his conduct made him the most guilty of all. Where can you find a finer sample of grace and its power over every circumstance? Grace singled out the children of rebellious Korah and saved them from destruction.
And those spared sons became singers:
Heman is called "Heman a singer," and his genealogy runs through Korah to Levi. As a descendant of Korah, he had good cause to praise God for His rich mercy. Dathan and Abiram perished with their children, and Korah shared their fate. Yet the record says, "But the sons of Korah did not die" (Num. 26:11). God spared them in His sovereign mercy, so no one was more suited to sing of His goodness and mercy.
- Timing. The family list breaks in at Israel's lowest point. It shows a nation still ordered under its princes, not a shapeless crowd of slaves.
- Privilege. Izhar belonged to Kohath's line, the branch that served the most precious things of the tabernacle.
- Peril. Out of that privilege came Korah. He struck at the priesthood God had appointed. The highest place produced the deepest fall.
- Grace. When judgment came, the household spared was the one that deserved it least: the sons of Korah did not die.
- Song. The rescued sons became Israel's singers. The family known for rebellion ended up leading praise.
And the sons of Uzziel Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri.
One line in the long family list of Exodus 6 names three sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. Two of them will act at one of the most solemn moments in Israel's history, so why does the list interrupt the story of the rescue from Egypt?
A family record usually marks a beginning. One writer shows what this one begins, and where it falls in the story.
Israel was in despair, and Moses was overwhelmed. It is just at this point that the record introduces the family line of Aaron and Moses, and their high dignity as God's servants in the deliverance of Israel. And we see that slavery had cost Israel nothing of their tribal order or of the headship of their princes. Israel was a nation. It was not reduced to a herd of slaves even at the time of its most bitter and hopeless bondage. The family record marks a new starting point in the history God gives. Here it begins the story of the time when the promise of deliverance is fulfilled.
Kohath had four sons, but Exodus traces only some of the branches. One commentator answers a critic who built a numerical argument on the naming of Izhar and Uzziel.
Exodus 6:21-22 mentions Izhar and Uzziel simply because there was some special reason for mentioning them. Kohath had another son, Hebron, who may have had, for all we know, ten times as many descendants. In a word, the genealogies notice those about whom some special reason existed, and pass over the rest.
Scripture names two of the three again later. A dictionary lists one of them under the fuller form Elizaphan.
Son of Uzziel, and a 'chief' of the Kohathites. Numbers 3:30; 1 Chronicles 15:8. Exodus 6:22 and Leviticus 10:4 call him ELZAPHAN. With Mishael he had the painful duty of removing the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu.
Nadab and Abihu were Aaron's sons, struck down for offering fire God had not commanded. Moses did not call the priests to clear the bodies away. He called Uzziel's sons, and their standing as Levites decided what they could do.
Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan to carry their brothers who had died "away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp" (Leviticus 10:4-5). That solemn hour still recognised family ties. But the sons of Uzziel were Levites, so they could come near the entrance of the sanctuary. This time they came not to carry the vessels of the holy place, but to carry the dead who had defiled the coats of their consecration.
One writer explains what the two priests had done, and why the rest of the family could not touch the bodies.
They had dared to kindle incense with strange fire — that is, not the fire which had come down from heaven. That God would not allow. Fire came out from the Lord and devoured them. It made all see that no one, however close he had been brought to God, could escape judgment when guilty of such a sin. All Israel must have learnt this as Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, carried the bodies of the offenders outside the camp. Their father and brothers, meanwhile, were not allowed to uncover their heads or tear their garments, on pain of death overtaking them, and wrath coming on all the people. For if the dead had defiled them on this occasion, the whole service at the altar and in the sanctuary must have stopped.
One commentator reads the four sons of Kohath in order and finds that their names fit together.
Kohath's first son is Amram, "people of the Exalted One." The next is Izhar, "oil," the undoubted picture of the Spirit as the Anointer. Then we have Hebron, "union," or "communion" — in either case, clearly the effect of the Spirit's work. Lastly, we find the father of Elizaphan, Uzziel, "the power of God." That these names run most naturally together, that they harmonise in a blessed presentation of the results of Kohathite ministry, is plain.
English Bibles have spelled the third son's name in more than one way.
Son of Uzziel, a son of Kohath. Exodus 6:22. The name is really SITHRI. In Exodus 6:21 the name Zithri should be ZICHRI, as in the A.V. of 1611.
- Timing — The family record breaks in when Israel despaired and Moses was overwhelmed. It shows a nation still ordered under God, not a herd of slaves.
- Selection — Names enter a family record for a reason. Scripture skips whole branches, such as Hebron's, so the naming of Uzziel's line points ahead.
- Calling — When Nadab and Abihu fell, Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan. They carried their relatives out of the camp.
- Protection — Their service kept Aaron and his remaining sons undefiled. Without it, all service at the altar would have stopped.
- Meaning — One commentator gives Uzziel's name as "the power of God." His son Elizaphan appears again as a chief of the Kohathites, the family that carried the vessels of the holy place.