SHEMOT 6

1 Then Yahweh said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

The ways of providence are plainly illustrated in several minor elements of the work of Moses. First, there is the man on the throne of Egypt at the time when Moses was instructed to demand the liberation of Israel. A good deal depended upon the character of this man.

If he had been a reasonable, pliable man, he might have complied with the demand too soon for the work to be done. It was necessary that he should refuse, and that he should refuse obstinately many times, because the liberation of Israel was only one of several things that had to be accomplished by the work entrusted to the hand of Moses.

Had the liberation of Israel been the only object aimed at, a single day's destroying judgment on the Egyptians would have sufficed, after the example of Sennacherib's army decimated in a single night in the days of Hezekiah. But a higher object was aimed at, both as regarded Israel, the Egyptians, the world at large, and posterity. This object is clearly defined several times in the course of the narrative. It is plainly exhibited in this simple statement:

"THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED THROUGHOUT ALL THE EARTH" (Exodus 9:16).

Israel was sunk in idolatry...If Israel was bad, the Egyptians were worse: the Canaanitish nations were reeking in iniquity, and the world at large lay in darkness. Left to itself, this state of things must have resulted in the establishment of incorrigible barbarism. The purpose of God (which was declared to Moses), that ultimately He would fill the earth with His glory (Numbers 14:21), required that a beginning should be made then, in the exhibition of His power in a way not to be mistaken.

To allow of this exhibition, it was needful there should be a plain issue between God and man, and resistance on the part of man, and an ensuing struggle sufficiently prolonged and diversified to exclude the possibility of doubt as to the nature of the operations performed.

Ways of Providence Ch 10

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh was I not known to them.

The God of Abraham was about to begin the fulfilment of the covenant in that part of it which related to "the fourth generation" of the natural seed. He was therefore in relation to Israel about to become known as the performer of His word. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew Him as Almighty; but as they had died without receiving the promises covenanted, they knew Him not as Yahweh: yet as Yahweh is now the name of Abraham's God unto all generations, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will know Him as set forth in his memorial, when they rise from the dead. He will then be Yahweh to them.

Elpis Israel 2.4.

God told Moses that His name Yahweh was not known to the fathers, who only knew Him as Ail Shaddai or Strength of the Mighty Ones (Ex. 6:3). How then comes this name to appear in the history of the fathers, and right back to the beginning? Simply because Moses, under the guidance of the Spirit, introduced it where God thought fit. Yahweh Elohim.

He who will be Mighty Ones; is the name by which the Eternal has chosen to be remembered by the faithful in the earth. It reminds them that He who is now manifested in the glorious angels, will yet be manifested in Abraham's seed in a similar manner, the Lord Jesus Christ being the all-sufficient practical illustration of His gracious purpose.

Israel cannot now understand this name because they reject Him who is its ever-living primary illustration. But when He is among them them in glory as Yahweh Tzidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, sitting on David's throne, the veil will be quite taken away.

The Christadelphian, June 1888

Of Deity Before Manifestation in Flesh

As we have said, the Hebrew representative of Theos is AIL. This is a primitive word, which to the mind of the Hebrew always presented the idea of strength and power. It is applied in the prophets to the Former of all things when contemplating Him in His almightiness. The meaning of the word is strength, might, power, and when used of a person, signifies a mighty one, a powerful one, a strong one, a hero.

The first place in which it occurs is in Gen. 14:18, where Melchizedec is styled "the priest of the most high AIL." This teaches, by implication, that there are other Ailim, but that He whose priest Melchizedec was, was the highest of them all.

The term is used in a multitude of places in the Old Testament, in the greater number of which it is rendered "God." This, however, does not at all express its meaning, for goodness is no element of the word. The Deity informs us through Moses that it is a part of the name He chose for Himself in His communications with Abraham.

"I appeared," said he, "to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name AIL-Shaddai; but by my name YAHWEH (commonly, but erroneously, pronounced Jehovah) was I not known unto them." (Exod 6:3).

In the English Version, AIL-Shaddai is rendered "God Almighty;" but this does not express the original. Shaddai is indeed rendered almighty, omnipotent, by lexicographers; but their reason for so doing is theological, not etymological. They have invented what they call a pluralis excellentia, by which a plural noun is applied to a person or thing in the singular, to express its excellency.

Hence, to show how excellent the Deity is in power and majesty, they suppose the scriptures speak of him as many powers or many gods, as is implied by Elohim, Shaddai, and so forth. But this is a weak invention, which only reveals the ignorance of the learned respecting the Name of the Deity exhibited in "the Mystery of Godliness."

Their pluralis excellentiae, is a mere fiction. It admits plurality in regard to Deity, but has entirely failed in giving a rational and scriptural exposition.

Shaddai is a plural masculine, and derived from the root shahdad, "to be strong, powerful." Shaddai is the plural of shad, "mighty, powerful," and therefore signifies the mighty or powerful ones. Three of them appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Moses informs us that "Yahweh appeared to him there;" and that when he lifted up his eyes to see Yahweh apparent,

"he saw three men standing by him."

Hence, Yahweh, was apparent in these three men, Here was One-Three, or Three-One. AIL was the One, Shaddai the Three. These "three men" were mighty, powerful, strong, and therefore they were styled Shaddai. They were harmless, patient, and sociable with Abraham and Lot, but terrible in power to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain.

But was their power absolute and independent, or was it derived? Could they say,

"Before us there was nothing formed of Ail?"

Could they say, "We three are the Divine Nature in Trinity, original, uncreated, underived?" The name by which they were known to Abraham answers these questions in the negative. Their power was not absolute and underived. It was derived from the DIVINE SUBSTANCE John terms THEOS, and which Paul says,

"only hath deathlessness , dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see."

But Abraham saw the three men, Yahweh apparent, therefore they were not the ETERNAL FIRST CAUSE, but a Spirit-Manifestation of Him, whose name was known to Abraham as AIL-Shaddai, the STRENGTH of the Mighty Ones.

Eureka 2.1.

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

A babe, though born of Israelites, was unclean (Job 14:4; 25:4), which is the same thing as unholy, until its circumcision, and after presentation to the Lord. 

"Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord."

This was the law, but how great the number so called were wicked men, Israel's history shows abundantly. Some, however, desired to keep the law. They grew up "blameless" (Phil. 3:6), observing all the precepts of the decalogue, conforming to the temple worship, and abstaining from contact with all legally unclean and interdicted things. This was a man's own righteousness acquired by working according to the law (Phil. 3:9).

This was the righteousness Israel followed after, which they sought to establish in opposition to the righteousness Paul preached (Rom. 9:31; 10:3), and styled by the prophets "filthy rags." Many such men were ignorant. They had the token of the covenant in their flesh, but they were "children in whom was no faith," and "without faith it is impossible to please God."

Thus an Israelite might be legally blameless, but if without faith, his legal righteousness could entitle him to no more than length of days in the land which the Lord had given His people. The twelve tribes inherited the land under the law of Moses, which could confer upon their generations only a temporal life interest in the country.

Could it have given them an everlasting inheritance therein, the nation, whatever its misdeeds, would not have been expelled, and its citizens might have attained to everlasting life as a recompense for keeping the law.

The transgressions of Israel consummated in their rejection of the gospel of the kingdom, would doubtless have brought down heaven's judgments upon them, which would have ultimated in the triumph of the truth; but they would not have been punished in the way they have, by an expulsion from their country, if the word spoken by angels in the hand of Moses, could have conferred an everlasting title to it.

The Mystery of the Covenant of the Holy Land Explained

9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

The disconsolate Israelites... were in no mood to listen

There is no artificial glow such as would have characterised a patriotic fictitious narration—no heroic confidence of the people; no sublime resignation in the prospect of Divine interference; no magnificent attitudinising—not even on the part of Moses; for Moses himself, rebuffed by the heartless reception of this message by the people...

And shall we say that it was unbefitting divine wisdom that Israel's afflictions should be aggravated, as the first result of divine interposition on their behalf? On the contrary, it accentuated the situation; it gave acuteness to the crisis; it deepened and sharpened Israel's interest in the issue at stake; it chased away all indifference, and thoroughly roused the solicitude both of Israel and the Egyptians in the controversy about to be debated with stupendous power. It was a fitting preparation for the display of Omnipotence in exhibition of Yahweh's mighty name.

Visible Hand of God Ch 11

20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

Scripture Names Doctrinally Applicable to Christ

Jochebed: (Yokhebhedh). Yahweh shall be the glory)

"When Yahweh shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory."—(Ps. 102:16.)

The Christadelphian, June 1873