But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
Comment: Having been forcibly sent out by Pharaoh, and having heard the disappointed voices of the enslaved Israelites, Moses gets a powerful and direct message from God. God had heard the cries of His people and makes a promise that He will most certainly act on the Israelites behalf! Moses believes God and goes back to the leaders of the enslaved Israelites. They are so downhearted and have been through so much that they simply won’t believe Moses or that he (Moses) is speaking what the great God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said. Or don’t they believe that God can do what He promises! In a double sense they are way ‘down in the pits’!
Prayer: Help me to trust Your Word and Your Promises as expressed so clearly in the Bible. Forgive me that I do sometimes doubt You!
As I read it! 