This is that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.
The genealogy of Exodus 6 breaks into the story to answer one question. Who are the two men God has commissioned? Verse 26 closes the list by naming them and repeating their charge. Both the order of the two names and the phrase "by their hosts" carry weight.
The chapter turns away from Pharaoh and Israel's misery to trace the family line from Reuben, through Simeon, to Levi. One writer sees the timing as deliberate. The list arrives at the point where hope had died.
The record brings in the genealogy of Aaron and Moses just at this point, when Israel was in despair and Moses was overwhelmed. It shows their high dignity as God's servants in Israel's deliverance. And we see that Israel, though in slavery, had lost none of its tribal order, and its princes still led. Israel was a nation. Even in its most bitter and hopeless slavery it never sank to a herd of slaves. The genealogy marks a new starting point in the history God gave.
The writer could have gone on through the other tribes. The list stops where it does because of the men it was heading toward.
It is very significant that the genealogy of the tribes is given only until Moses and Aaron are reached (Ex. 6:26); so Christ is the one object before God, the only Deliverer of His elect.
Aaron was the elder brother, and verse 26 puts him first. Verse 27 flips the order. Commentators treat the switch as deliberate, not careless.
Moses was not the elder brother; Aaron was. The genealogy keeps the order of nature, as in verses 20 and 26. But the moment we come to spiritual action, it is always "Moses and Aaron" — never "Aaron and Moses." How slow we are to learn how perfect the word of God is! Our difficulty is that people are so familiar with it that they fail to notice what is right in front of their eyes.
Grace does not cancel natural ties. It keeps them in their place.
God always recognises the natural relationships He Himself has set up, and so should we, as those who understand His mind. But in doing so we must keep the superiority of grace in every particular… As to spiritual action, Moses keeps the place of superiority. Together, Moses and Aaron form a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus as Mediator and Priest. As Mediator He brings to people all that God is, in the fullness of grace and blessing. As Priest He is Head of the priestly family, holding them up in the love and activity that come out in worship.
The final phrase describes the manner of the exodus. Runaway slaves would leave in a scramble. That is not how God brought Israel out.
At the very moment of the people's deepest anguish of spirit, the Lord gave Moses and Aaron a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt. The charge was "to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt" (Ex. 6:13). And in what way would the slaves come out? As escaped slaves? No — "by their hosts" (v. 26), with all the dignity of the army of the Lord.
The order of that march says something about God Himself:
The Israelites did not travel in disorder. The heads of each tribe would have control over their tribe and could arrange its march… It is clear that they marched in order. God was bringing them out, and it would have been unworthy of Him to have them moving as a disorderly rabble.
Verse 26 speaks of Moses in the third person. Some read that as proof that someone wrote it long after his lifetime, and so that Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible. One writer answers that the wording fits a man writing about himself, amazed that God used him:
Exodus 6:26 has nothing to do with a long lapse of time after Moses. It comes from the writer's sense of God's condescension in using such men, and the writer was one of the two… None of this in the smallest degree touches the claim that Moses wrote the Pentateuch by inspiration.
- Identity — The genealogy lands where despair was deepest, and names the two men God commissioned.
- Narrowing — The list runs only as far as Moses and Aaron, and points on to Christ, God's one Deliverer.
- Order — Aaron stands first by birth; Moses stands first in spiritual action. God owns nature; grace still rules.
- Dignity — They were not to escape as slaves but to march out as the ordered host of the Lord.
- Authorship — The third-person wording shows a writer amazed that God used such men. It is not the mark of a later hand.
These are they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt this is that Moses and Aaron.
The chapter's family list ends by pointing at the two men who stood before Pharaoh, and this time Moses comes first. Why does a family list interrupt a rescue story, and why do the brothers swap places between verse 26 and verse 27?
The list interrupts the narrative at its lowest moment. Israel would not listen. Moses had lost heart. Pharaoh stood against them. One writer reads the timing as deliberate:
Israel was in despair and Moses was overwhelmed. It is just at this point that the record brings in the genealogy of Aaron and Moses, and their high dignity as God's servants in the deliverance of Israel. Israel was enslaved, yet they lost 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 genealogy shows a new starting point in the history God gave.
The record begins with Reuben and Simeon, Jacob's two eldest sons, then turns to Levi and goes no further. One writer sees meaning in where the list stops:
It is very significant that the genealogy of the tribes is given only until Moses and Aaron are reached (Ex. 6:26); so Christ is the one object before God, the only Deliverer of His elect.
Another writer asks why the two older brothers appear at all:
Only Reuben and Simeon have a place here. As the elder sons of Jacob, they might seem to have a claim above Levi to supply the deliverer of Israel. Yet they do not, and they appear here only to be passed by. But God does nothing without the fullest reason for it, so there is a reason in this case too. It does not lie on the surface, no doubt, but faith can still discover it.
The verse does not just say that someone spoke to Pharaoh. It names them, and the family list before it settles who they are:
Verses 14-27 give family details about the sons of Reuben and Simeon, and then in more detail the sons of Levi, leading up to Moses and Aaron and their immediate descendants. This establishes the identity of these two chief actors on God's behalf.
Verse 26 says "Aaron and Moses"; verse 27 says "Moses and Aaron." The switch is not careless writing. Aaron was the elder brother, which explains verse 26. One writer explains the change in verse 27:
Aaron, not Moses, was the elder brother, and the genealogy keeps the order of nature... But the moment we come to spiritual action, it is always "Moses and Aaron" — never "Aaron and Moses." How slow we are to learn the perfection of the word of God! Yet nothing is like it for simplicity and accessibility. Our difficulty is that men are so familiar with it that they fail to notice what is under their eyes.
Another writer explains why the two orders differ:
Aaron had priority over Moses in nature, but grace never follows the order of nature. Grace recognizes all the natural relationships God has formed... but since it is above nature and outside it altogether, it acts in its own sphere and by its own laws. So God, acting by His own sovereign rights, chose Moses and not Aaron. Later, because Moses failed, and out of tenderness to his weakness, He joined his brother with him in the work. The divine order is "Moses and Aaron"; the natural order, seen in the genealogy and in verse 26, is "Aaron and Moses."
By now the whole mission looked like failure. One writer says God's purpose was untouched by it:
But the Lord is not affected by human weakness or human resistance. His purposes flow from His own heart, His own power carries them out, and nothing can change them... The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. Unmoved by the deafness of His people, the failure of His servant, or the open hostility of Pharaoh, He calmly goes on to bring about the redemption of His people.
- Timing. The family record drops in at the point of despair, marking a fresh start in the story rather than a pause in it.
- Order. Verse 26 follows nature: Aaron the elder comes first. Verse 27 follows God's choice: Moses leads.
- Selection. The list passes over Reuben and Simeon, the older sons, and stops at Levi. God sets the elder aside and picks His own man.
- Identity. The two men who confronted Pharaoh have a name, a family and a tribe, so the rescue rests on real people.
- Source. God gave them the charge, and His unchangeable purpose carried it through, not their strength.