Exodus — Chapter 6

And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob by the name of God Almighty; but my name Adonai I did not shew them. Lapide expounds the progressive revelation of the divine names: the patriarchs knew God as El Shaddai (Almighty), capable of all things, fulfilling promises; but the name YHWH (Qui est, He Who Is), with its full metaphysical depth, is now for the first time fully unfolded to Moses. This progressive revelation of the divine name corresponds to the progressive revelation of the divine nature, fulfilled finally in Christ who reveals the Father (Jn. 14:9).

I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage, and redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments. God promises fourfold: (1) to bring out; (2) to deliver; (3) to redeem; (4) to take for His own people. Lapide identifies these four acts with the fourfold work of redemption: (1) the Incarnation removes us from the darkness of ignorance; (2) the ministry of Christ delivers from the devil's dominion; (3) the Passion redeems by the blood of the Cross; (4) Baptism incorporates us as God's own people. So Origen (Hom. in Ex. IV) and Ambrose.

I will take you to myself for my people, and I will be your God. This covenant formula—\"I will be your God, you shall be my people\"—is for Lapide the central formula of the entire Old Testament, repeated in the prophets and transformed in the New Testament into the spousal covenant of the Church with Christ. He cites Hosea 2:20, Jeremiah 31:33, and Revelation 21:3. The formula denotes not merely a legal relationship but a personal union of knowledge and love.

Moses spoke before the Lord, saying: Behold the children of Israel do not hearken to me, and how will Pharaoh hear me, especially as I am of uncircumcised lips? Moses's objection—uncircumcised lips—means he was naturally a halting speaker. Lapide notes the paradox: God uses the inarticulate to confound the eloquent. He cites 1 Corinthians 1:27: \"God hath chosen the weak things of the world, that he may confound the strong.\" The apparent defect becomes a vehicle of divine power; God's word works through Moses not because of Moses's eloquence but in spite of its absence.