Commentary - Exodus 7:1-7

Bird's-eye view

Here we have the great recommissioning. After the initial setback and the complaints of the people at the end of chapter 5, and Moses' own complaint to God in chapter 6, the Lord reestablishes the terms of engagement. This is not a negotiation. This is a declaration of divine war. God lays out the entire strategy for Moses, from the chain of command to the predicted obstinacy of the enemy, and all the way to the ultimate purpose of the whole affair. The central point is this: the exodus from Egypt is not fundamentally about the liberation of a slave people for their own sake. It is fundamentally about the manifestation of the glory of Yahweh on the world stage. Egypt, the greatest empire of the day, is to be the theater where God reveals His name, His power, and His absolute sovereignty over all human affairs and all pretended deities.

The key theological issue front and center is the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Modern sensibilities want to flinch here, but the text is unflinching. God declares beforehand that He will harden Pharaoh's heart so that He might multiply His signs and wonders. This is not God overriding the will of a neutral or good man. It is God judicially confirming a wicked man in his rebellion in order to make him an instrument of God's own glory. The whole conflict is orchestrated by God to one end: "the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh."

Outline

Commentary

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “See, I set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

The Lord begins with a staggering statement. "See, I set you as God to Pharaoh." Let that sink in. This is not to say that Moses is deified, but rather that in his official capacity, representing Yahweh to the court of Egypt, he is to function as God functions. He will speak with an authority that is not his own. His word will carry divine weight. Pharaoh considers himself a god, the incarnation of Horus. The true God answers this arrogance by sending a shepherd to be His plenipotentiary. Moses is to be the source of the word, and in that sense, he is God to Pharaoh. And just as God has prophets to speak His word, so Moses will have his. "Aaron shall be your prophet." The chain of command is established. God speaks to Moses, Moses speaks to Aaron, and Aaron speaks to Pharaoh. This structure mirrors the divine reality. The word proceeds from the source, through a mediator, to the world. Pharaoh is about to get a lesson in what real divine authority looks like, and it looks like an eighty year old man with a staff.

2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

The task is one of pure transmission. "You shall speak all that I command you." There is to be no editing, no softening of the blow, no diplomatic massaging of the message. Moses' job is faithfulness to the word given him. Aaron's job is the same. The content of that word is a non-negotiable demand: "let the sons of Israel go." This is not a request. It is a royal summons from the King of Heaven. Yahweh is claiming His property. Israel does not belong to Pharaoh; they are God's "hosts," His "people," His firstborn son. This is a declaration of ownership, and it sets the stage for the conflict. The entire contest will be over this one point: who is Lord? Who has the right to command?

3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart with stiffness that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

And here we come to the heart of the matter, a truth that is a stumbling block to many. God announces His intention to harden Pharaoh's heart. The word here for harden means to make stiff or heavy. God is not creating sin in a righteous man. Pharaoh's heart is already inclined toward pride, arrogance, and rebellion. God's action is a judicial one. He is giving Pharaoh over to the sin that he has already chosen. It is like the sun that beats down on a lump of clay; the sun does not put hardness into the clay, but rather draws out the properties of the clay itself, baking it into a brick. For what purpose? "That I may multiply My signs and My wonders." God is not trying to get Israel out of Egypt by the easiest means possible. He is arranging the situation for maximum glory. Pharaoh's stubbornness will not thwart God's plan; it will serve it. Every refusal from Pharaoh will simply be the occasion for another display of Yahweh's incomparable power.

4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.

God tells Moses and Aaron the immediate outcome of their mission right up front. "Pharaoh will not listen to you." This is a great mercy. It frees them from the burden of results. Their responsibility is not to be persuasive, but to be faithful. Success is not defined by Pharaoh's capitulation but by their obedience. And because Pharaoh will not listen, God will act. "I will set My hand upon Egypt." This is the language of judgment. The plagues are not just impressive magic tricks; they are "great judgments." They are the execution of a sentence upon a rebellious nation and its false gods. And through these judgments, God will "bring out My hosts." Notice the military language. Israel is God's army, and this is a divine rescue operation, a jailbreak on a national scale.

5 Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”

This is the ultimate purpose statement for everything that is about to happen. Why the plagues? Why the hardening? Why the drama? So that "the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh." The goal is the revelation of God's name and character. The word "know" here is not mere intellectual assent. It is knowledge born of experience, the kind of knowledge a defeated army has of the general who crushed them. They will know His power, His justice, His covenant loyalty to His people, and His utter supremacy over their pantheon of impotent deities. This is evangelism by means of overwhelming force. God is making a name for Himself, and He is using the premier pagan empire on earth as His billboard.

6 So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did.

After all the theological weight and cosmic drama of the preceding verses, we get this simple, beautiful statement of obedience. "So Moses and Aaron did it." They had their mission. They knew the difficulty. They were told in advance that their initial efforts would be met with defiance. And yet, they obeyed. "As Yahweh commanded them, thus they did." This is the turning point for Moses. The man who was full of excuses in chapter 4 is now, after being reminded of God's sovereign purpose, ready to act in simple faith. True faith is not the absence of fear, but obedience in the face of it.

7 Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

The Holy Spirit includes this biographical note for a reason. These are not impetuous young men leading a revolution. Moses has spent forty years in the wilderness being emptied of his self-reliance. He is eighty. Aaron is eighty-three. Their strength is not in their youth, their charisma, or their physical prowess. Their only strength is in the God who sent them. This detail serves to highlight the fact that the power at work here is entirely God's. He delights in using the old, the weak, and the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the strong, so that no flesh might glory in His presence.

Application

This passage sets the pattern for all of God's redemptive work. First, God's servants are called to speak His word faithfully, without addition or subtraction. Our task is not to make the gospel palatable, but to declare what God has commanded. We are ambassadors, not strategists. Second, we must not be discouraged by opposition. God is sovereign over the hardened heart. The resistance we face may well be the very instrument God intends to use for a greater display of His glory. We are responsible for faithfulness, and God is responsible for the results. Third, the ultimate goal of all our work, all our evangelism, all our discipleship, is that the world might "know that He is Yahweh." The salvation of souls is a glorious means to an even more glorious end: the hallowing of God's name. Finally, we are called to simple obedience, regardless of our age or perceived inadequacies. God has already spent a lifetime preparing us for the work He has for us today. We must simply do as He has commanded.