Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 6:7
And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
7. and I will take you to me for a people ] to be owned by Me, and enjoy My protection. The thought, as Exo 19:5 (J), DeuExo 26:18; cf. also Deu 29:13. The common expression is ‘and ye ( or they) shall be to me a people,’ Jer 7:23, Eze 11:20 (and often in Jer. Ez.); Zech. 2:15, 8:8; Lev 26:12 (H).
and I will be to you a God ] to be revered by you, and also to be your all-powerful leader, protector, and benefactor. The correlative of the last expression: cf. Gen 17:7-8, Exo 29:45, Lev 11:45; Lev 22:33; Lev 25:38; Lev 26:45, Num 15:41 (all P or H); and together with that expression, Lev 26:12 (H), Deu 26:17; Deu 29:13, Jer 7:23, Eze 11:20 (and often in Jer. Ez.), Zec 8:8.
and ye shall know, &c.] learn by what you witness and experience that I am Jehovah, your Deliverer; so Exo 7:5; Exo 14:4; Exo 14:18; Exo 16:12; Exo 29:46 (all P); cf. Exo 31:13 b (H), and Exo 10:2. Sentences of the type, ‘and ye (they, thou) shall know (viz. by some signal and impressive manifestation of power) that I am Yahweh,’ are extremely common in Ezek., a prophet who in other respects also displays many literary affinities with P, as Exo 6:7; Exo 6:10; Exo 6:13-14, Exo 7:4; Exo 7:9, &c. (more than 50 times altogether): comp. LOT. p. 266 f. (ed. 6 8, p. 295).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 7. I will take you to me for a people, c.] This was precisely the covenant that he had made with Abraham. See Ge 17:7, and See Clarke on Ge 17:7.
And ye shall know that I am the LORD your God] By thus fulfilling my promises ye shall know what is implied in my name. See Clarke on Ex 6:3.
But why should God take such a most stupid, refractory, and totally worthless people for his people?
1. Because he had promised to do so to their noble ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, c., men worthy of all praise, because in general friends of God, devoted to his will and to the good of mankind.
2. “That (as Bishop Warburton properly observes) the extraordinary providence by which they were protected, might become the more visible and illustrious for had they been endowed with the shining qualities of the more polished nations, the effects of that providence might have been ascribed to their own wisdom.”
3. That God might show to all succeeding generations that he delights to instruct the ignorant, help the weak, and save the lost for if he bore long with Israel, showed them especial mercy, and graciously received them whenever they implored his protection, none need despair. God seems to have chosen the worst people in the universe, to give by them unto mankind the highest and most expressive proofs, that he wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his iniquity and live.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Will take you to me for a people, i.e. for my people; ye shall no longer be the people and slaves of the king of Egypt, but my people and servants, whom I will bless and preserve.
And I will be to you a God, to judge and deliver you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I will take you to me for a people,…. Out of the hands of the Egyptians, and out of their country, to be in a political sense his kingdom and subjects; and in a religious sense a holy people to himself, to fear, serve, worship, and glorify him, by walking according to laws and rules given them by him; and this he did by setting up and establishing a civil and ecclesiastical polity among them:
and I will be to you a God; their King and their God to rule over them, protect and defend them, they being a theocracy; and their covenant God and Father, giving them various spiritual privileges, the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the law, service, and promises:
and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God; by the promises fulfilled, the favours granted, and the deliverances wrought for them:
which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians; see the preceding verse Ex 6:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The adoption of Israel as the nation of God took place at Sinai (Exo 19:5). , “ with regard to which I have lifted up My hand to give it ” (Exo 6:8). Lifting up the hand (sc., towards heaven) is the attitude of swearing (Deu 32:40 cf. Gen 14:22); and these words point back to Gen 22:16. and Gen 26:3 (cf. Gen 24:7 and Gen 50:24).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7. And I will take you to me. The end of their liberation is here described in the continued tenor of His grace. For it would have been little that the people should once be redeemed from Egypt, unless, when redeemed, they had lived under the defense and guardianship of God. As, therefore, He had long since separated the holy seed of Abraham from the other nations by circumcision, He now again sets it apart, ( sanctificat,) and promises that he will be their God. In these words, then, their peculiar election, as well as its perpetuity, is asserted; since to be accounted the people of God means the same as to be by especial privilege received into his favor, and to be called by adoption to the hope of eternal salvation. But the future tense shews that the benefit was not to be merely temporal, when God with a stretched-out arm shall bring the people out of Egypt, but that this should only be the beginning of eternal protection. Moreover, we should observe the anagoge or similitude between us and the Israelites, because God has once delivered us by the hand of his only-begotten Son from the tyranny of Satan, to this end, that he may always pursue us with his paternal love. Afterwards he subjoins the possession of the land of Canaan as an earnest or pledge, which was given to the Israelites, in order that God might always dwell among them, protect them with his aid, and defend them with his power. I have said that this was the earnest of their adoption, because the faith of the fathers was not to be tied to earthly blessings, but to tend to an higher object. Meanwhile, by this outward sign God shewed them that they were his peculiar people, for whose habitation he chose the land in which he would be worshipped. By saying He “would lift up his hand,” (75) He means in confirmation, because the promise was ratified by the addition of an oath. It is indeed certain that there is enough and more than enough steadfastness in the simple word of God; but He made this concession to man’s weakness, and interposed His sacred name as a pledge, that they might with fuller confidence be persuaded that nothing was promised them in vain. To lift up the hand, means to swear; a similitude taken from men, who, by this gesture, testify that they speak in the sight of God, as if they would call Him down as a witness from heaven. This is not applicable to God, who swears by Himself, because there is none greater to whom He may lift His hand, (Heb 6:13😉 but, metaphorically, the custom of men is transferred to Him. As to the insertion, that “they should know that He was the Lord,” after they had been brought forth, it contains an indirect rebuke; since that knowledge is too late which comes after the event. But at the same time, He promises that He would cause them openly to experience how true He is in all His sayings, that the Israelites may more constantly expect their redemption. Repeating at the close that He is Jehovah, He magnifies (as He had just before done) His invincible power, which easily surmounts all impediments; whilst this expression also contains a testimony to His truth, as if He had said that He alone can be safely trusted to, because He is both faithful in His promises and possessed of infinite power.
(75) Vide margin of A. V.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) I will take you to me for a people.Comp. Exo. 19:5-6; Deu. 7:6. The selection of Israel as a peculiar people did not involve the abandonment of all other nations, as we see by the instances of Balaam, Ruth, Job, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede, Cyrus, and others. God always continued to govern all the nations upon the earth (Psa. 67:4); and in every nation those that feared him and worked righteousness were accepted with him (Act. 10:35). The centurion of the Gospels (Mat. 8:5-13, Luk. 7:2-10) and Cornelius in the Acts (Act. 10:1-33) carry the same principle into Gospel times.
I will be to you a God.See Gen. 17:8.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 6:7. I will take you “I will now take you under my peculiar protection; separate you to me for a people; and become, in an especial and distinguishing manner, your God.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 2:23 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 6:7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Ver. 7. And I will be to you a God. ] This is the top of any man’s happiness, to have God for his God. What can such a man want? Psa 23:1 As he in Plutarch said of the Egyptians, that though they had no music nor vines among them, yet they had gods. a
a Plut., S .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
will take: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Deu 4:20, Deu 7:6, Deu 14:2, Deu 26:18, 2Sa 7:23, 2Sa 7:24, Jer 31:33, Hos 1:10, 1Pe 2:10
I will be: Exo 29:45, Exo 29:46, Deu 29:13, Zec 13:9, Mat 22:32, Rom 8:31, Heb 11:16, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:7
from under: Exo 5:4, Exo 5:5, Psa 81:6
Reciprocal: Exo 6:26 – Bring Exo 7:17 – thou shalt Exo 16:6 – the Lord Exo 16:12 – ye shall know Lev 11:45 – that bringeth Lev 18:2 – General Lev 22:33 – General Lev 26:12 – will be Num 10:29 – for the Lord 1Ki 20:28 – ye shall know 2Ch 20:7 – our God Psa 79:10 – let him Psa 114:2 – General Isa 63:8 – Surely Eze 20:5 – In the Act 7:5 – yet
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 6:7-9. I will take you to me for a people A peculiar people; and I will be to you a God And more than this we need not ask, we cannot have, to make us happy. I am the Lord And therefore have power to dispose of lands and kingdoms as I please. But they hearkened not to Moses, for anguish of spirit That is, they were so taken up with their troubles that they did not heed him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:7 And I will {b} take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
(b) He means, concerning the outward calling, the dignity of which they lost later by their rebellion: but as for election to life everlasting, it is unchangeable.