Summary
God spoke to Moses, identified Himself as the God of the Patriarchs, and acknowledged hearing the moaning of the Israelites. God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites that God would free them, make them God’s people, and bring them to the Promised Land. But the Israelites would not listen because of their distress and hard labor. God told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Moses complained that Pharaoh would not heed him, a man of impeded speech.
The text interjects a partial genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, and finally Levi, including Moses and his family.
| Levi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gershon | Kohath | Merari | Jochebed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amram | Izhar | Hebron | Uzziel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miriam | Aaron | Moses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
God placed Aaron in the role of Moses’ prophet, to speak to Pharaoh. God intended to harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that God might show signs and marvels. God told how Aaron could cast down his rod and it would turn into a snake, and Aaron did so before Pharaoh. Pharaoh caused his magicians to do the same, but Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods. Pharaoh’s heart stiffened.
Read more about this topic: Va'eira
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