Exodus 6: Fun with Genealogies
OK – I understand… most churchgoers don’t jump out of bed, eager for a chance to study genealogies! But 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that every Scripture is there for a reason, including the more difficult ones like Exodus 6. So this Sunday I tried to focus on the main thing: why does Exodus 6 give us a genealogy in the midst of all the narrative plot? I pointed out that the genealogy primarily follows the line of Levi, specifically focusing on Aaron’s pedigree. God uses the genealogy to help Moses understand that he and his brother are uniquely qualified for the position God has entrusted to them.
But to keep people from falling asleep, there were quite a few details that I left on the cutting room floor. I also kept the bigger issue of the chronological difficulties for this blog as well. I’ll deal with that first, and then work through a few extra details that would’ve slogged down the sermon.
Chronological Issue
The Exodus 6 genealogy traces the line of Levi as follows:
Israel – Levi – Kohath – Amram – Aaron – Eleazar – Phinehas
Exodus 12:40-41 reads: The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt (ESV). Genesis 15:13 gives the time as 400 years of affliction, which could either be a round number or the 30 years could be the period of peace during the time of Joseph. Genesis 15:16 predicts that the Israelites will be in Egypt under suffering for “four generations.”
Genesis 46:11 tells us that Kohath was one of the children of Levi that came with his father to Egypt during the time of the famine in Joseph’s day. The problem comes in when we add the ages of their deaths that are given to us in the Exodus 6 text (as well as Aaron’s age given in Ex 7:7):
Israel – Levi (137) – Kohath (133) – Amram (137) – Aaron (83) – Eleazar – Phinehas
Even if Kohath was a newborn when he came to Egypt, and even if all the men had their children in the last year of their life (which is obviously highly improbable!), then at best we have accounted for 353 years between the arrival at Egypt (Kohath) to the exodus from Egypt (Aaron at 83 years old).
To put it another way, if the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years, and Aaron was 83 at the time of the exodus, then we would have to have 353 years between Kohath and Amram!
What all this amounts to is a chronological problem with the numbers as we have them. It is obvious that this genealogy is in some way “telescoped,” meaning that we are intentionally skipping over some generations somewhere in here. This is corroborated by other genealogies we have in Scripture. 1 Chronicles 7:20-29 lists 10 generations between Joseph and Joshua (Hamilton, Handbook of the Pentateuch, 158). Add to that Ruth 4:18-22 and 1 Chr 2:4-10, where Aaron’s wife Elisheba belongs to the sixth (not fourth) generation after Jacob (Childs, Exodus, 117). To complicate things further, Genesis 50:23 tells us that Joseph lived long enough to see his own great-grandchildren, which here would extend to the generations of Aaron/Moses themselves! We know the suffering in Egypt didn’t start until after Joseph’s death (Ex 1:8ff). What we see, then, are definite “gaps” in this genealogy. This is not at all unnatural for Hebrew writers, as “sons of” can mean “descendants of” and not necessarily direct father-son relationship (compare also the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 for the same idea of selective genealogies).
How then are we to understand Genesis 15:16 that tells us that the Israelites were in Egypt for “four generations”? Most scholars seem to take the reference similar to how the NET Bible explains it: “The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years” (see also Cole, Exodus, 87).
Where do the gaps fit in the Exodus genealogy then? Our possibilities are A) between Levi and Kohath, B) between Kohath and Amram, or C) between Amram and Aaron. We have already ruled out A) on the basis of Gen 46:11 – Kohath entered the Exodus with his father Levi. We can also probably rule out B) because of the marriage of Amram to Jochebed, Kohath’s sister. That leaves us with a gap between Amram and Aaron.
This is not without difficulties. Amram and Jochebed are Moses/Aaron’s named parents in Num 26:59 (cf. 1 Chr 6:3, 23:13; Garrett, Exodus, 265). The text there clearly says Jochebed “bore to Amram Aaron and Moses.” “Bore” is a verb normally used only on a woman who is the immediate mother of a person (ibid., 262). Perhaps this is the exception to the rule? Or perhaps we go with commentator Duane Garrett’s suggestion, that Ex 6:20 gives their “legal” genealogy, but not the immediate parents – Jochebed and Amram are “adopted” parents of the sort (265-6; could this be another reason they are left nameless in Exodus 2?).
There is another intriguing possibility. At least one scholar has raised the possibility that the Amram of vs 18 is not the same Amram of vs 20 (Houtman, Exodus Vol I., 512-3, crediting Keil). As I mentioned above, the most likely possible place to find the “gap” is between Amram and Aaron. This solution could solve the problem of the “born” terminology discussed above.
Unfortunately, the biblical text doesn’t give us much more information than that. There is likely a gap in here somewhere, but placing our finger on the exact “where” is not possible with the information we are given. The point of the passage is to direct us to Aaron’s lineage and show that he is a full pureblood Levite, perfectly qualified for the task ahead of him.
Cutting Room Scraps
Every biblical genealogy is selective in some way. Which means, when the author chooses to reveal the lineage of an individual (or vice versa – he chooses to exclude a lineage), the author is doing so for a reason. No detail of the biblical text is unimportant, so here are a few of the details of the Exodus 6 genealogy that I left out, as well as the chart I shared during the sermon:
Reuben & Simeon (6:14-15): Reuben and Simeon both get brief mention, mainly because of their status as first and second born before Levi. Simeon is singled out because of his impure relationship with a Canaanite woman, producing Shaul. This is likely here to contrast the purity that we see in Levi’s family line (Sarna, Genesis, 34).
Hebron (6:18): The four sons of Kohath all appear in the genealogy, and all but Hebron get extended genealogies. As we can see from Num 26:58 and 1 Chr 15:9, he had descendants. So why aren’t they here? It is likely due to the fact that they have no real role in the rest of the Torah. Though this genealogy primarily focuses on the Levites and Aaron’s line, it secondarily highlights those that will have a larger role in the story to come. Hebron is not included (Sarna, 34).
Mahli & Mushi (6:19): The names sound funny if read out loud, don’t they? This is a common feature in this genealogy, for some reason (commentator Houtman has a list of these alliterative names on 514-5 of the first volume in his commentary). I know a family that has four kids whose names all start with the letter J. Another family I know has three girls, all of which have exactly seven letters in their first, middle and last names (and all their first names start with A). So this is not an uncommon thing even in our culture today.
Korah (6:24): In the book of Numbers, Korah leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, which is quickly “swallowed up” by God (Num 26). As we might expect, Korah’s line is extended beyond that of his brothers. But this might also help us understand the reason for the rebellion itself. Korah is on the same generational “level” as Aaron and also in the line of Levi. From the point of view of genealogy, Korah was equal to Moses/Aaron in prestige (besides the doubly pure marry-your-aunt thing that goes on with Jochebed and Amram). This might have helped stoke the fires of his rebellion (Stuart, Exodus, 178).
Ages of the Levites: The ages we are given are 137 for Levi, 133 for Kohath, and 137 for Amram. All of these numbers are composed of biblically “significant” numbers: 100 + 30 + 7 or 3. This may indicate some theological significance, certainly an orderly account guided by God (see Fox, 286; Houtman 511). If we add to these three Aaron’s age given in Ex 7:7, then the numbers total 490 (7 x 7 x 10) (Houtman 513). This is not an accident. It likely points to God governing history and already giving the Levites order.
Moses’s (lack of) wife: Moses’s wife is not mentioned here. This may be due to one of two factors: 1) Zipporah wasn’t a Hebrew and inclusion of her into this genealogy would have “stained” the reputation of Moses (Hannah, “Exodus,” Bible Knowledge Commentary, 118), or 2) The next time we see Zipporah is when her father brings her to Moses, after Moses had “sent her home” (Ex 18:2, ESV). This phrase might mean divorce (you’ll have to wait until we get there in Exodus to hear my opinion about what this phrase means!). Was Moses’s wife not included here because he didn’t, at this time, have one?
Phinehas (6:25): Phinehas is one of the heroes of the Pentateuch. He emerges in Numbers 25 by slaying sin and stopping a great plague of judgment against Israel (also see Joshua 22). His presence here further legitimizes Aaron’s line (the guy has a truly remarkable grandkid). Phinehas’s name means, literally, “the dark-skinned one” (Sarna 35, Cole 87). Phinehas’s father, Eleazar, is said to have married Putiel’s daughter. Could this be an indication that Eleazar married a darker race and had a dark-skinned boy (Stuart 179)?
So as you can see, genealogies are often-times skipped or skimmed from the pulpit and in our devotions, but they are packed with information and theology that greatly contribute to the narrative and overall picture in Scripture.
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