Exodus 6: The Name of God Covering the Slow of Speech

Exodus 6: The Name of God Covering the Slow of Speech

"God also said to Moses, 'I am the LORD. Say to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I tell you.' But Moses said to the LORD, 'Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?'" (Exodus 6:2, 29-30)

In response to Moses' complaint-filled prayer, God once again proclaims His name: "I am the LORD (YHWH)!" This is no mere introduction. The One who revealed Himself to the patriarchs only as El Shaddai, God Almighty, now makes a powerful declaration that He will back Moses as the faithful covenant-keeping LORD, YHWH. Yet even before this overwhelming revelation, Moses shrinks back. "I am of uncircumcised lips—I cannot speak." Moses recoils twice in this chapter alone.

Moses' refusal is not cheap humility. It is the honest self-assessment of one who has experienced crushing failure (chapter 5). He delivered God's message, only to see the workload increase and his own people turn their backs on him. "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh?" Moses' objection is all too logical, all too realistic. He is not rebelling against God here—he is groaning, acknowledging his own powerlessness to the bone. To say "I cannot go" is far more painful than to say "I will go." This is the abyss of a defeated man.

Here we witness something astonishing. In chapter 4, when Moses made excuses, God's anger burned against him. But in chapter 6, God is silent. No rebuke. No warning. God sees past the words of refusal to the wounded heart from which they emerge. Instead, God repeatedly says, "I am the LORD," persuading and waiting for Moses with what almost seems an undignified patience. This is the very condescension of God.

When Moses confesses he has "uncircumcised lips," he is expressing spiritual despair—that his very being is covered, blocked, unfit to carry holy words. The prophet Isaiah, upon recognizing this same uncleanness in the temple, underwent purification as a burning coal touched his lips. But no coal comes to Moses. God does not heal Moses' slow tongue. He does not remake him into an eloquent speaker. Instead, God leaves Moses' uncircumcised lips exactly as they are and simply covers them with His own word. God does not repair the vessel of Moses, perfecting it before use. Rather, He causes the mighty torrent of His word to burst through the cracks. Moses' mouth is not opened. God's word breaks through Moses' blocked mouth. What will bring Pharaoh to his knees is not Moses' eloquence, but the living, active word of God itself.

Our weakness is not an obstacle to God. Our desperate confessions—"I am slow of speech," "I am unqualified"—paradoxically become the most powerful prelude, declaring that not our strength but God's name alone will be revealed. Even today, God chooses not to fix us before using us, but rather to cover our inadequacy with His overwhelming name and work through it.