6:14-30 This genealogical interlude places Moses and Aaron among the families of Israel. That it is an interlude is clear because 6:30 is a repetition of 6:12. There is a recurring emphasis in Exodus on Yahweh as the God of the ancestors, both explicitly (from 3:6 on) and implicitly (from 1:1 on). What was about to happen was not an unrelated action by some new god who was devaluing impotent older gods (a typical theme in ancient pagan literature). Unlike pagan gods, whose only purpose is personal power, and who are in constant conflict among themselves, the true God has a single, overarching purpose: He wants his creation to find its fulfillment in proper relation to him. Although he enacts that purpose in ever-expanding displays of creativity, the new activities are always consistent with what he has already revealed of himself. Moses and Aaron did not suddenly appear out of the unknown, but were an integral part of that same people to whom God first revealed himself and through whom he was about to give an even grander revelation. The genealogies of Jesus have a similar purpose (Matt 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38). 6:14-16 The genealogy works its way through Jacob’s first and second sons to the third, Levi, the ancestor of Moses and Aaron. Having reached Levi, it dispenses with the other nine sons.