And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:
This declaration opens God's reassurance to Moses after Israel's suffering had grown worse, turning him back to the covenant made with the fathers with the assurance that it would be fulfilled. In it the speaker identifies himself to Moses as the LORD, Jehovah, the God bound to Israel by covenant. That name itself marks covenant faithfulness.
That faithfulness means he had established his covenant with the patriarchs to give them the land of Canaan, had heard Israel's groaning under bondage, and had remembered his covenant promise. He had appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. The worsening of their suffering did not mean he had abandoned his promise.
He assured Moses that by his own power Pharaoh would be compelled to release Israel and that the promised deliverance would surely come. That compulsion would come by God's strong hand, until Pharaoh would not merely let them go but drive them out of Egypt.
This declaration opens God's reassurance to Moses after Israel's suffering had grown worse, turning him back to the covenant made with the fathers with the assurance that it would be fulfilled. In it the speaker identifies himself to Moses as the LORD, Jehovah, the God bound to Israel by covenant. That name itself marks covenant faithfulness.
That faithfulness means he had established his covenant with the patriarchs to give them the land of Canaan, had heard Israel's groaning under bondage, and had remembered his covenant promise. He had appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. The worsening of their suffering did not mean he had abandoned his promise.
He assured Moses that by his own power Pharaoh would be compelled to release Israel and that the promised deliverance would surely come. That compulsion would come by God's strong hand, until Pharaoh would not merely let them go but drive them out of Egypt.