Exodus 5 ended with Pharaoh increasing the oppression of the Jewish people. Moses asked God why He had sent him to Pharaoh.
Exodus 6 begins with God answering Moses.
God assures Moses that He remembers the covenant He made with the forefathers. Then God gives Moses a message for the Jewish people:
6. Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments;
7. And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be God for you; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, Who brings you out from under the burdens of Egypt.
I’ll start by explaining the 4 highlighted words in these verses.
The 4 Words
These 4 Hebrew words are meant to encourage the Jewish people:
- bring out (Hebrew: v’hotzeiti)
- deliver (Hebrew: v’hitzalti)
- redeem (Hebrew: v’ga’alti)
- take (Hebrew: v’lakachti)
The Jerusalem Talmud (Pesachim 68b) states that the 4 cups of wine we drink on the night of Passover correspond to these 4 words, these 4 expressions of redemption.
In Exodus 6:6-7, these four words are past tense verbs with the “reversing vav” of Biblical Hebrew. The vav transforms them into future tense verbs. Also, they conclude with the suffix “ti” which is the marker for a first person, singular verb.
Hence the full translation of these 4 words is:
- v’hotzeiti – I will bring out
- v’hitzalti – I will deliver
- v’ga’alti – I will redeem
- v’lakachti – I will take
God is assuring the Jewish people that He is about to take them out of Egypt and bring them to Him.
Now let’s look at some of the phrases in our two verses.
Exodus 6:6 Explained
I am the Lord – Rashi explains God is ensuring the Jewish people that He is faithful to fulfill His promises.
This phrase means God is the source of all existence and the master of all strengths [R. Steinsaltz].
Malbim writes God is telling Moses that the things He needs to do for them will not be done via God’s names Shaddai or Elohim. These names signify that God is working with hidden miracles and natural means.
Rather, now He will act in and against Egypt with the name Lord (the Tetragrammaton) and via open miracles.
and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt – Rashi: this will fulfill the promise made to Abraham:
14. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great wealth.
and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments – Daat Mikra writes the language “redeem” often describes the act of purchasing a slave from his master to free the slave. In that case, the master willingly accepts the payment and frees the slave.
In this instance, the Egyptians do not want the children of Israel to go free. Therefore, the verse continues “with an outstretched arm.” God will redeem the Jewish people against the will of the Egyptians with great power.
Exodus 6:7 Explained
and you shall know that I am the Lord your God – As God spoke at the beginning of the 10 Commandments.
2. I am the Lord your God, Who brought [Hebrew: hotzeiti] you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
The same verb is used in both Exodus 6:7 and 20:2. In verse 6:7 the “reversing vav” indicates a future event. In 20:2, after leaving Egypt and arriving at Mount Sinai, only a simple past tense verb is written.
Who brings you out from under the burdens of Egypt – The formation of the Jewish people will not be a natural process. Everyone will know that God has chosen the Jewish people as His own people [R. Steinsaltz].
The 4 Redemptions
Torah Temimah makes a distinction between the phrase “the four words of redemption” as compared to “the four redemptions.”
Talking about “the four words of redemption” suggests that Exodus 6:6-7 is about one act of redemption described using different words.
The phrase “the four redemptions” makes clear that each word is about a different redemption that was needed to bring the children of Egypt from abject slavery to become God’s nation.
In this section I will look at three approaches to explain what were the four redemptions.
Torah Temimah
Here’s how Torah Temimah explains each of the 4 words to make clear that there were four different redemptions.
Bring out – their oppressive servitude will be reduced in intensity, but not eliminated completely.
Deliver – the oppressive servitude will be eliminated, but they will still be servants to Pharaoh.
Redeem – they will no longer be servants of Pharaoh, but they will be just one of the nations of the world.
Take – now they will become God’s unique possession and nation.
Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno
Sforno links the four redemptions closely to the events in Egypt.
Bring out – the day the plagues begin the burdens will ease.
Deliver – on the day you cross the border out of Egypt. This was after the death of the firstborn and when they left Rameses (Exodus 12:37).
Redeem – with the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea (Exodus 14:30).
Take – this is the standing at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Rabbi Hirsch explains that bring out, deliver, and redeem are about the 3 stages of the deliverance from Egyptian slavery.
The word “take” is about the their destiny, the purpose of the redemption.
In Genesis 15:13 God told Abraham what would happen to his offspring:
13. And He said to Abram, Know for a certainty that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.
The progression of the oppression in Egypt was from “stranger” to “serve them” to “afflict them.”
God’s deliverance came in the reverse order. First, they were released from the affliction: I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt.
Next they were released from slavery: and I will deliver you from their slavery.
Then they were taken out of Egypt: and I will redeem you. The Jewish people were strangers in Egypt. A stranger does not have a close relative that can serve as a redeemer. Hence, God Himself became the redeemer of the children of Israel.
Rabbi Hirsch develops these ideas more fully in his commentary.