Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 6

Now you will see. —Moses’ complaint was that God delayed, and “was slack concerning His promise.” Until now He had not “delivered His people at all.” The answer, “Now you will see,” is an assurance that there will be no more delay; the work is just about to begin, and Moses will behold it. He will then cease to doubt.

With a strong hand he will let them go. —Rather, through a strong hand: i.e., through the compulsion which my strong hand will exert on him.

Drive them. —Compare Exodus 12:31-33.

I appeared ... by the name of God Almighty. —This name, “El Shaddai,” is first found in the revelation of Himself that God made to Abraham (Genesis 17:1). It is used by Isaac (Genesis 28:3) and repeated in the revelation made to Jacob (Genesis 35:11). Its primary idea is, no doubt, that of “overpowering strength.” (See the comment on Genesis 17:1.) The primary idea of “Jehovah” is, on the contrary, that of absolute, eternal, unconditional, independent existence. Both names were probably of great antiquity and widely spread among Semitic races; but, at different times and in different places, special stress was laid on one or the other.

To the early patriarchs God revealed Himself as “El Shaddai,” because He desired to impress upon them His ability to fulfill the promises which He had made to them. To Moses and Israel generally, at the date of the Exodus, He insisted on His name Jehovah, because they were in the closest contact with polytheism and had themselves, in many cases, fallen into polytheism (Joshua 24:14), against which this Name was a standing protest, since “the Existent” must mean “the Self Existent,” and so “the Only Existent.” (See Deuteronomy 4:39: Jehovah, he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.)

By my name Jehovah was I not known to them. —Rather, was I not made manifest to them.

The antiquity of the name itself appears—

1. From its derivation, which is from the obsolete havah, a form already in the time of Moses superseded by hayah;
2. From its occurrence in some of the most ancient documents inserted by Moses into the Book of Genesis, e.g.,Exodus 2:4; Exodus 2:3–4; Exodus 11:1–9, etc.;
3. From its employment by Abraham as an element in a name (Genesis 22:14).

But though the name was ancient and known to the patriarchs, its full meaning was not known to them, and so God was not manifested to them by it.

My covenant. See Genesis 15:18-21; Genesis 17:7–8; Genesis 26:3–4; Genesis 35:12, etc.

The land of Canaan. Canaan proper was the area between Sidon and Gaza (Genesis 10:19), which is now considered “Palestine”; but the region promised to Abraham, and included in a broader sense of the word “Canaan,” was much more extensive, reaching from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18). This vast territory was actually possessed by Israel under David and Solomon (1 Kings 4:21–24).

The land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. Hebrew: The land of their sojournings, in which they sojourned. (Genesis 23:4; Genesis 28:4.) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob occupied Canaan only by permission; they were allowed to dwell in it because it was sparsely populated. However, ownership was recognised as belonging to the Canaanite nations, Hittites and others (Genesis 20:15; Genesis 23:3–20, etc.).

I will redeem you. —The idea of God purchasing, or redeeming, Israel is here brought forward for the first time.

Later on we learn that the redemption was accomplished in a twofold way:

1. By the long series of wonders, culminating in the tenth plague, by which they were taken out of Pharaoh’s hand, and ceased to be his slaves, becoming instead the servants of God;
2. And by being led through the Red Sea, and thus delivered, one and all, from impending death, and so purchased anew. (See Exodus 15:13-16.)

The delivery from Pharaoh typified our deliverance from the power of Satan; the bringing forth from Egypt our deliverance from the power of sin.

With a stretched out arm. —See the comment on Exodus 3:20.

With great judgments. —That the “wonders” to be performed would also be “judgments” is here first declared plainly, though previously hinted at (Exodus 3:20; Exodus 4:23). In Genesis God had said that he would “judge” the nation that should afflict Israel (Genesis 15:14), but not that he would do so miraculously.

I will take you to me for a people. —Compare to Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 7:6.

The selection of Israel as a peculiar people did not involve the abandonment of all other nations, as we see by the instances of Balaam, Ruth, Job, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede, Cyrus, and others. God always continued to govern all the nations upon the earth (Psalms 67:4); and in every nation those that feared him and worked righteousness were accepted with him (Acts 10:35). The centurion of the Gospels (Matthew 8:5–13; Luke 7:2–10) and Cornelius in the Acts (Acts 10:1–33) carry the same principle into Gospel times.

I will be to you a God. —See Genesis 17:8.