What Does Exodus 6:10 Mean?

The LORD said to Moses, "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land." The renewed commission to Moses in verse 10, after the failed delivery of the seven promises to the broken-spirited Israelites, redirects the mission to Pharaoh: if the people cannot yet hear, go to the king.

God does not revise the strategy or apologize for the seven promises that Israel could not receive; he sends Moses to Pharaoh with the same message. The mission continues past Israel's inability to hear it. God's faithfulness to his covenant promises is not contingent on the beneficiaries of those promises being in a condition to receive them.

The structure of the renewed commission (go to Pharaoh, despite Israel's broken spirit and inability to respond) establishes a pattern for prophetic ministry: the prophet continues to the mission even when the community that is its ultimate beneficiary is too depleted to participate.

The prophets who follow Moses in Israel's history will frequently encounter a community that cannot hear: "They have stubborn hearts" (Ezekiel 3:7); "their ears are closed, they cannot listen" (Jeremiah 6:10). The experience of speaking to people who cannot hear is not a sign that the message is wrong or the mission is failed; it is the condition in which prophetic faithfulness is most clearly displayed.

The designation of Pharaoh as "Pharaoh king of Egypt" in verse 10 is slightly more formal than some earlier references. This formality is appropriate to the renewed and escalated nature of the commission: Moses is being sent back to royal authority with the same demand after Pharaoh's initial refusal. The commission is not a new initiative but the continuation of the authorized mission past its first failure. Moses is going back to Pharaoh not with new information but with the same divine word: let the people of Israel go. The word does not change because Pharaoh refused it; it is simply declared again by the authority that issued it.