Exodus 6:10-13

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before Jehovah, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? And Jehovah spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt."

"Let the children of Israel go out of his (Pharaoh's) land ..." This is a dramatic and extensive change in God's demands upon Pharaoh. No longer is it a mere "three days journey." Pharaoh having rebelled against God's command in regard to that mild and reasonable request, now gets the unconditional order to liberate the whole nation! When God lays light burdens upon men and they refuse to bear them, God dramatically multiplies and increases the burdens. Pharaoh, having declared himself as God's enemy, professing not even to know him, made himself the object of God's wrath and power at this point.

"Who am of uncircumcised lips ..." One can appreciate Moses' reluctance. When his own people will not hearken to him, why should Pharaoh? And besides, the old problem mentioned back in Exodus 4:10 was still in the mind of Moses. "Uncircumcised lips" has the meaning of "lips inefficient for the purpose. `Uncircumcised ears' are ears that cannot listen (Jeremiah 6:10), and `an uncircumcised heart' is a heart that cannot understand (Jeremiah 9:26)."[33] God did not answer Moses regarding the uncircumcised lips until Exodus 7:1.

Neither the children of Israel nor Pharaoh were excusable in the sight of God for their failure to hearken unto Moses. Sure, Moses' performance was by no means perfect, and the impediment that he brought up here for the second time was probably real enough, and a handicap of considerable dimensions, but the fault and failures of the messenger never excused any man from heeding the message of God, delivered by anyone whomsoever. Men are foolish indeed who believe that the faults they see in Christian ministers absolve them of the requirement of obedience to the divine message. "If one hear but one clear word concerning Jesus, spoken only once, it is enough to fix responsibility upon the auditor."[34]

"Exodus 13 forms a concluding summary, and prepares the way for the genealogy that follows."[35]

Up to here, Exodus has been much like a prelude. The preliminaries have been observed, the characters who will figure in the ensuing drama have been introduced. Action is about to begin. This was an appropriate place indeed for this genealogy (which follows) to be inserted by the sacred author. It would reveal parenthetically the connection that Moses and Aaron actually had with the people whom they were to lead out of bondage. According to Keil, even liberal scholars have abandoned their fragmentary hypothesis regarding this chapter and "now admit its organic connection with the whole narrative."[36]