Seven Promises Before the Shaking
Main Text: Luke 18:9–14
Parallel: Exodus 6:2–13
Theme: God responds to truthful humility, not confident performance
Key Phrase: “Before God confronts power, He secures covenant.”
New Testament
Luke 18:9-14
Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector
9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Old Testament
Shemot (Exodus) Chapter 6
2 God rebuked Moses by saying to him, “I am God.
3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob only as El Shadai [‘God Almighty’]; I was not manifest to them by My Name God.
4 I also made My covenant with them to give them Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.
5I have also heard the Israelites’ groaning, complaining that the Egyptians are enslaving them, and I have recalled My covenant.
6 Therefore, convey to the Israelites: ‘I am God. I will free you from the oppression of the Egyptians, rescue you from their servitude, and redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great chastisements.
7 I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am God, your God, who is freeing you from the burdens of the Egyptians.
8 I will bring you to the land regarding which I raised My hand to swear that I would give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage; for I am God.’”
9 Moses related God’s message to the Israelites, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their anguish of spirit and harsh labor.
10 God spoke to Moses, saying,
11 “Come and speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so he will send the Israelites out of his land.”
12 But Moses spoke before God, saying, “Even the Israelites have not listened to me, so how will Pharaoh listen to me? For I am a man of blocked lips.”
13 God spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He commanded them to be His emissaries to the Israelites and to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to take the Israelites out of Egypt.
CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
This is the same Torah logic you’re working with in Exodus 6:
Israel cannot speak because of crushed spirit
Moses claims blocked lips
God still listens for truthful humility, not polished speech
Exodus 6:2–13
Theme: God speaks covenant before confronting power
A — v.2
God declares His identity
“I am God.”
Revelation begins with God’s self-naming.
B — v.3
God distinguishes how He was known before
Known as El Shaddai, not yet by His covenantal Name
Past relationship acknowledged, deeper revelation announced.
C — v.4
Covenant established with the ancestors
Promise of land to sojourners
Historical promise anchored in oath.
D — v.5
God hears Israel’s groaning and remembers the covenant
Enslavement → divine memory activated
Human suffering meets divine faithfulness.
E — vv.6–8 (THE CENTER)
Sevenfold covenant proclamation: “I will…”
- Bring you out
- Rescue you
- Redeem you
- Take you
- Be your God
- You will know
- Bring you in
This is the gravitational center of the passage.
Not Pharaoh.
Not plagues.
Promise.
Covenant is secured before confrontation begins.
D′ — v.9
Israel cannot receive the covenant because of anguish of spirit
They do not listen
Human incapacity mirrors v.5’s suffering—but now from the inside.
C′ — vv.10–11
Mission restated: confrontation with Pharaoh
The same covenant now moves outward toward power
What was promised internally must now be enacted externally.
B′ — v.12
Moses resists based on unworthiness of speech
“Blocked lips”
Just as the ancestors did not know the Name fully, Moses feels he does not bear it adequately.
A′ — v.13
God commissions Moses and Aaron as emissaries
Authority is granted, not earned
God’s purpose stands despite human limitation.
Sevenfold Covenant
Leader: I will bring you out
People: We are not forgotten
Leader: I will rescue you
People: We are not abandoned
Leader: I will redeem you
People: We are not owned
Leader: I will take you to Myself
People: We belong to God
Leader: I will be your God
People: You are our God
Leader: You will know that I am the LORD
People: We will know Your Name
Leader: I will bring you into the land
People: The promise stands
Pardes
Peshat (Plain)
One prayer is impressive.
One is honest.
God answers the honest one.
Remez (Hint)
They go up to pray.
One goes down justified.
Seven promises come before ten plagues.
Drash (Interpretive)
Confident speech can resist God.
Crushed spirits do not cancel covenant.
Sod (Hidden)
Seven contains ten.
Promise restrains power.
God never dismantles a system
until He has already promised a future
to those crushed by it.
Word Study (Truth, Humility, Covenant, Weight)
1. אֱמֶת (Emet) — Truth That Holds
Truth in Scripture is not accuracy.
It is what stands across time.
Built from Aleph–Mem–Tav: beginning, middle, end.
The Pharisee’s prayer is factual but unstable.
The tax collector’s sentence holds.
Truth does not perform.
It aligns.
2. שָׁפֵל (Shafel) — Lowered into Reach
Humility is not disappearance.
It is voluntary lowering.
The tax collector chooses distance.
Israel lives in it.
God meets both there.
3. גָּאַל (Ga’al) — Redeem by Claiming Kinship
Redemption is not rescue-at-a-distance.
It is God stepping in as family.
“I will redeem you” comes before Pharaoh is addressed.
Belonging precedes freedom.
4. כָּבֵד (Kaved) — Weight
The same word means glory and burden.
Pharaoh is heavy with power.
Israel is heavy with suffering.
Only one weight moves God.
