The text of Exodus 3–15 recounts YHWH’s self-revelation to the people of Israel and his epochal victory over Pharaoh, the self-professed god of Egypt. Its narrative makes use of three key words in order to emphasise its three central themes.1
The first is the Hebrew word yad (יָד), which designates a person’s ‘hand’ or ‘arm’ and by extension their ‘power’. At the outset of Exodus 3–15’s narrative, YHWH hears his people’s cry and comes down to deliver them from the ‘hand’ (yad) of the Egyptians (3.8, 14.30). Evidently, Pharaoh thinks it’s in his ‘power’ (yad) to spare or destroy Israel (15.9). He is badly mistaken. In response, YHWH stretches out *his* ‘hand’ (yad) against Egypt, smites the nation with plagues (3.20, 7.5, 9.3, etc.), and leads Israel out by *his* mighty ‘power’ (yad) (13.3, 9, 14, etc., 14.31).
The second key word is the Hebrew word lev (לֵב) (or on one occasion levav [לֵבָב]), which signifies a person’s ‘heart’ and by extension their ‘mind’ and ‘intentions’. Our text has little to say about Pharaoh’s great wealth or (alleged) wisdom; its concern is the state of Pharaoh’s ‘heart’ (lev) and God’s interaction with it. Throughout the course of our text, YHWH variously strengthens and hardens Pharaoh’s heart (e.g., 8.11, 28, etc., 9.12, 10.1, 20) until he has Pharaoh exactly where he wants him—on a narrow strip of dry land in the midst of the Red Sea—, at which point YHWH causes the walls to close in on Pharaoh and drowns him in the ‘heart’ (lev) of the Sea (cp. 14.7. 15.4–8). YHWH does not merely, therefore, demonstrate the might of his hand in comparison to Pharaoh’s; he also demonstrates his mastery over Pharaoh’s heart.2
The final key word used in our text is ‘glory’ (kavod) (כָּבוֹד), which derives from the Hebrew root K-B-D (כב׳׳ד). The root K-B-D has the sense ‘to be heavy/weighty’ or ‘to be glorious’, and is used in a range of different ways in our text, all of which contribute to—and find their full expression in—God’s intention to glorify his name in the judgment of Egypt. YHWH raises up Moses to deliver the people of Israel, even though his manner of speech is ‘heavy/ungainly’ (kaved) (כָּבֵד) (cp. 4.10).3 In response to Moses’s interaction with him, Pharaoh subjects the Israelites to ‘heavy’ (kaved) burdens (5.9), yet, as he does so, things start to go badly wrong for him. Pharaoh’s land is afflicted by ‘heavy’ (kaved) plagues (e.g., 8.24, 9.3, 18, etc.), while Pharaoh’s heart becomes ‘heavier’ and ‘heavier’ (K-B-D) (e.g., 8.15, 32, 9.7, etc.), until, in the end, Pharaoh decides to pursue the Israelites through the Red Sea, at which point YHWH ‘glorifies’ (K-B-D) himself in Pharaoh’s destruction (14.4, 17, 18). Our text thus uses the root K-B-D in a range of ways in order to bring out the many strands of YHWH’s work in history and how they jointly contribute to the purpose of—and culminate in—his self-glorification.
Numerical confirmation
The gematrial value of the name YHWH (יהוה) is 26, which is reflected in a number of important ways in our text. The word ‘heart/intent’ (Hebrew lev/levav) occurs 26 times in our text,4 and the word ‘hand/power’ (yad) occurs 52 times (26 x 2).5 YHWH (יהוה) isn’t, however, the only group of consonants to have a gematrial value of 26; the consonants K-B-D (כבד) also do. Hence, midway through our text, our author includes a genealogy (6.14–25), the focal point of which is Moses and Aaron’s mother, Jochebed (יוֹכֶבֶד) (‘YHWH is [my] glory’),6 whose name brings together the name YHWH (יהוה) and the root K-B-D (כב׳׳ד). (Jochebed’s line is the most extended of Exodus 6’s.) Furthermore, Jochebed happens to be the 26th individual listed in 6.14–25’s genealogy, and the birth of her two sons marks the rise of the world’s 26th generation.7 Appropriately, then, in the 26th generation of creation, YHWH reveals his twenty-six-valued name to mankind.8
The central themes of our text are thus brought out by a combination of devices—the clear statements and events of the narrative, the careful use of a group of three key words, and an array of numerico-compositional features—, all of which sing together in perfect harmony.
R. J. Clifford’s analysis of Exodus has the relevant section begin at 2.23 rather than 3.1, though it makes no difference for our present purposes.
Note: In the aftermath of the exodus, God puts the Israelites to work in a different construction project, though with a key difference: its workers and donors are men and women with a ‘generous heart’ (a nediv lev [נְדִיב לֵב] cp. 35.5, 21ff.).
The original sense of כבד־פה is presumably ‘an awkward speaker’, but the phrase may at the same time harbour a deeper significance: Moses’s words will ultimately prove too ‘weighty’ for Pharaoh to bear.
Cp. 4.14, 21, 7.3, 13, 14, 22, 23, 8.15, 19, 32, 9.7, 12, 14, 21, 34, 35, 10.1 (x2), 20, 27, 11.10, 14.4, 5 (levav), 8, 17, 15.8.
Cp. 3.8, 19, 20, 4.2, 4 (x2), 6 (x3), 7 (x2), 13, 17, 20, 21, 5.21, 6.1 (x2), 8, 7.4, 5, 15, 17, 19, 8.5, 6, 17, 9.3, 15, 22, 35, 10.12, 21, 22, 25, 12.11, 13.3, 9 (x2), 14, 16 (x2), 14.8, 16, 21, 26, 27, 30, 31, 15.9, 17, 20.
The full list is as follows: Israel (Jacob), Reuben, Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi, Simeon, Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, Shaul, Levi, Gershon, Kohath, Merari, Libni, Shimei, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel, Mahli, Mushi, Jochebed.
The full list is as follows: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kohath, Amram, Aaron/Moses. The birth and Aaron and Moses also mark the last ‘timed/aged generation’ in the Biblical narrative. The genealogies recorded in Genesis tell us how long each member of the line of promise lived. (Adam lived for 930 years, Seth for 912, Enosh for 905, and so on, until we get to Jacob: Gen. 47.28.) With the close of Exodus 6’s genealogy, however, the Biblical narrative’s timed/aged generations come to an end. We are told how long Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Aaron/Moses lived, but we cannot go any further.
Note: In the aftermath of the exodus, YHWH’s glory takes up residence in ‘the ark’ (הָאָרֹן) (an anagram of ‘Aaron’ [אַהֲרֹן]), which occurs 26 times.