The Grammar of I AM: Yahweh Remembers His Covenant Text: Exodus 6:1-9
Introduction: When Obedience Makes Things Worse
We come now to a moment of profound discouragement. Moses, the newly commissioned prophet of God, has done exactly what he was told to do. He went to Pharaoh, he delivered the message, and the result was not liberation, but a heavier yoke. The straw was taken away, the brick quotas remained, and the Hebrew foremen were beaten. Consequently, the people turned on Moses, and Moses, in his distress, turned to God with a complaint that borders on accusation: "O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all" (Exodus 5:22-23).
This is a scenario we are all familiar with in our own lives, though on a smaller scale. We resolve to obey God in a particular area, we take a stand, we speak the truth, and our world immediately gets more complicated. The boss becomes hostile, the family objects, the finances tighten. And in that moment of pressure, the temptation is to think as Moses thought: "This isn't working. You have not delivered me at all." We expect obedience to result in immediate relief, and when it results in immediate affliction, our spirit grows weak.
But God's answer to Moses, and to us, is not a word of placating sympathy. It is not a pat on the back. It is a thunderous declaration of His own identity. He does not adjust His plan to accommodate our discouragement. He reveals His character to obliterate our discouragement. He answers our "why" with His "who." He grounds His promise of future deliverance not in the shifting circumstances of Egypt, but in the immutable reality of His own name: Yahweh.
This passage is one of the most potent self-disclosures of God in all of Scripture. It is the divine response to human despair. And what we find is that God's covenant promises are not fragile things that depend on our good cheer or Pharaoh's cooperation. They are iron-clad guarantees, signed with His own name, and driven by the engine of His own glory.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."
God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am Yahweh; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Yahweh, I was not known to them. And I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in slavery, and I have remembered My covenant. Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am Yahweh.' " So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery.
(Exodus 6:1-9 LSB)
The Divine Reversal (v. 1)
God begins His response by redirecting Moses's focus from the problem to the performance.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.'" (Exodus 6:1)
Moses had just complained, "You have not delivered Your people at all." God's reply is, "Now you shall see." The time for talking is over; the time for acting is here. The very resistance of Pharaoh that caused Moses such despair is going to be the backdrop against which God displays His glory. God is a master dramatist. He allows the villain to puff himself up, to harden his heart, to increase the pressure, precisely so that the coming deliverance will be all the more spectacular.
Notice the double use of "strong hand." This is a beautiful piece of divine irony. The first "strong hand" is God's. Because of God's strong hand of judgment, Pharaoh will let them go. But the deliverance will be so total that the second "strong hand" will be Pharaoh's own. He will be so utterly broken by God's power that he will actively "drive them out." The very tyrant who refused to let them go will be desperate to get rid of them. God's sovereignty is so complete that He makes His enemies serve His redemptive purposes, not just unwillingly, but enthusiastically.
The Unfolding Name (v. 2-5)
God now grounds this coming action in the bedrock of His own being and His covenant history.
"God spoke further to Moses and said to him, 'I am Yahweh; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.'" (Exodus 6:2-3 LSB)
This is a statement that has caused a great deal of confusion. Critics of the Bible point to the fact that the patriarchs clearly did use the name Yahweh (e.g., Gen. 12:8, Gen. 15:2). But this is to miss the point with a kind of wooden literalism. The issue is not the pronunciation of the syllables, but the experiential knowledge of the name's meaning. To "know" in Hebrew means far more than intellectual awareness; it means to experience, to participate in.
The patriarchs knew God as El Shaddai, God Almighty. They knew Him as the one who had all power to make magnificent, seemingly impossible promises. He promised an elderly couple a son, and a wandering family a great nation and a land. They knew Him as the promise-maker. But this generation, Moses's generation, was about to know Him as Yahweh, the promise-keeper. They were about to experience the fulfillment of what El Shaddai had sworn. They would know Him as the self-existent, unchanging "I AM" who brings His covenant promises to pass in history, with power and great glory.
God continues by anchoring His present action in His past words. He is not making up a new plan.
"And I also established My covenant with them... I have heard the groaning... and I have remembered My covenant." (Exodus 6:4-5 LSB)
God's memory is not like ours. He does not forget and then have His memory jogged. For God to "remember" His covenant means that He is now moving to act upon the terms of that covenant. The groaning of Israel did not take God by surprise; it was the appointed alarm clock, set centuries before, signaling that the time for fulfillment had arrived. Everything is proceeding according to the divine timetable established with Abraham. This is not improvisation; it is revelation.
The Seven "I Wills" of Redemption (v. 6-8)
God then tells Moses what to say to the people. And what He gives him is a magnificent, seven-fold, unilateral declaration of sovereign grace. This is the Gospel according to Exodus. Notice the drumbeat of "I will." Salvation is not a cooperative venture; it is a divine accomplishment.
"'I am Yahweh, and (1) I will bring you out... (2) I will deliver you... (3) I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm... (4) Then I will take you for My people, and (5) I will be your God... (6) And I will bring you to the land... and (7) I will give it to you for a possession; I am Yahweh.'" (Exodus 6:6-8 LSB)
This is the whole package of salvation. First, He will bring them out from the burden of the labor. Second, He will deliver them from the status of slavery. Third, He will redeem them. This is the language of a kinsman-redeemer, one who pays a price to buy back a relative. Here the price is paid with an "outstretched arm and with great judgments" upon Egypt. This is a picture of the exertion of immense, personal power.
The fourth and fifth promises are the heart of the covenant: "I will take you for My people, and I will be your God." This is the goal of redemption. It is not just about getting out of a bad place; it is about being brought into a relationship with the living God. This is the central promise of the entire Bible.
And finally, the sixth and seventh promises concern the inheritance. He will bring them to the promised land, and He will give it to them as a permanent possession. He is not just a rescuer; He is a benefactor who lavishes His people with gifts.
And notice how God brackets this entire declaration. He begins with "I am Yahweh" and ends with "I am Yahweh." His own character is the guarantee. The promise is as certain as His own existence. He is putting His very being on the line.
Deafened by Despair (v. 9)
Moses, armed with this glorious message, goes back to the people. The result is heartbreakingly realistic.
"So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery." (Exodus 6:9 LSB)
They heard the words, but they could not listen. Their suffering was a roaring in their ears that drowned out the promises of God. Their "weakness of spirit," or as it could be translated, "shortness of breath," meant they were so crushed, so exhausted by their affliction, that they had no capacity left to hope. The lash of the taskmaster was more real to them than the word of the Creator.
This is a profound pastoral lesson. We should not be surprised when those who are deep in suffering struggle to receive words of comfort or promise. Pain has a deafening effect. But here is the glory of the gospel. God's plan did not depend on their ability to listen. Their weak faith did not invalidate His strong hand. He was going to save them anyway. His "I wills" were not conditional on their enthusiastic reception. He is Yahweh, and what He swears to do, He will perform, whether we are cheering from the sidelines or huddled in a corner, too short of breath to even whisper "amen."
The Great "I AM" Has Come
This entire chapter is a magnificent portrait of the God who saves. But it is also a profound foreshadowing of a greater exodus to come. We too were in bondage to a greater Pharaoh, the prince of this world. We were slaves to sin and death, making bricks with no straw, laboring under a burden we could never satisfy.
And in our weakness of spirit, God remembered His eternal covenant. He sent a greater Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate revelation of the name Yahweh. For Jesus means "Yahweh saves."
And in Christ, every one of these seven "I wills" finds its ultimate fulfillment. Through His death and resurrection, Christ brings us out from under the hard labor of sin. He delivers us from slavery to the devil. He redeems us, not with judgments on Egypt, but with His own precious blood, His arms outstretched on the cross. He takes us to be His people, the church, and He is our God. And He is bringing us to the true promised land, the new heavens and the new earth, which He will give to us as an eternal possession.
Our salvation does not rest on the strength of our spirit, but on the strength of His hand. It does not depend on our ability to listen, but on His determination to speak and to act. He is Yahweh. He is the great "I AM." He has sworn by Himself to save us, and therefore, our hope is not a flimsy wish, but an unbreakable reality.