That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

EXODUS 4:5KJV
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Exodus 4:5 (KJV)

What does Exodus 4:5 mean?

Exodus 4:5 gives the purpose of a sign God has given Moses: the Israelites are to believe that the God known to their ancestors has appeared to him. Moses is not merely bringing a message of his own; he is to show them why they should trust his account of the encounter.

God is speaking to Moses, and “thee” means Moses. The verse follows the sign in which Moses’ staff becomes a snake and then a staff again. The repeated names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob identify the God who appeared to Moses as the God of Israel’s earlier generations.

The Hebrew behind Exodus 4:5

  • “believe” — אָמַן (aman): This word can carry the sense of trusting or accepting something as reliable. Here, the sign addresses whether the people will accept Moses’ report that God appeared to him.
  • “LORD” — יְהוָה (YHWH): This is God’s personal name, represented by “LORD” in the KJV. Exodus 4:5 joins that name to the description “God of their fathers,” linking the speaker with the God named in their family history.

Why Exodus 4:5 matters

  • The sign answers Moses’ concern about being believed. In Exodus 4:1, Moses asks what will happen if the people do not believe that the LORD appeared to him.
  • The names give the message a shared history. “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” identifies the one Moses encountered through people the Israelites knew as their ancestors.
  • The sign points beyond the remarkable change in the staff. Its stated purpose is that the people believe God “hath appeared” to Moses.

Where else these words appear

“Isaac” Hebrew H3327 · used in 101 verses

  • Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
  • Genesis 26:12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
  • Genesis 35:27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

“believe” Hebrew H539 · used in 102 verses

  • Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
  • 2 Kings 17:14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
  • Psalms 106:24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word: