Amram - This can scarcely be the same person who is mentioned in Exodus 6:18; but his descendant and representative in the generation immediately preceding that of Moses. The intervening links are omitted, as is the rule where they are not needed for some special purpose, and do not bear upon the history.

Jochebed - The name means "the glory of Jehovah (Yahweh)," one clear instance of the use of the sacred name before the Exodus.

Father's sister - This was within the prohibited degrees after the law was given Leviticus 18:12 but not previously.

His father's sister - דדתו dodatho. The true meaning of this word is uncertain. Parkhurst observes that דוד dod signifies an uncle in 1 Samuel 10:14; Leviticus 10:4, and frequently elsewhere. It signifies also an uncle's son, a cousin-german: compare Jeremiah 32:8 with Exodus 6:12, where the Vulgate renders דדי dodi by patruelis mei, my paternal cousin; and in Amos 6:10, for דודו dodo, the Targum has קריביה karibiah, his near relation. So the Vulgate, propinquus ejus, his relative, and the Septuagint, οἱ οικειοι αυτων, those of their household. The best critics suppose that Jochebed was the cousin-german of Amram, and not his aunt. See Clarke's note on Exodus 2:1.

Bare him Aaron and Moses - The Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, and one Hebrew MS. add, And Miriam their sister. Some of the best critics suppose these words to have been originally in the Hebrew text.

And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife,.... This Amram was the first son of Kohath, and the father of Moses, as after related, and so must be the same with the man of the house of Levi, and his wife the daughter of Levi, as in Exodus 2:1 and though such a marriage was afterwards prohibited, Moses does not conceal it, though it may seem to reflect some dishonour on him and his family; he writing not for his own glory, but for the sake of truth, and the good of mankind, and especially the church and people of God. Indeed the Vulgate Latin version, and the Septuagint, Samaritan, and Syriac versions, make her to be his first cousin, the daughter of his father's brother, his uncle's daughter: and so does Polyhistor from Demetrius (h); but in Numbers 26:59, she is expressly said to be a daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt, and therefore must be his father's sister:

and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and Miriam also, though not mentioned, it being for the sake of these two that the genealogy is made:

and the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty seven years: just the age of his grandfather Levi, Exodus 6:16. A Jewish chronologer (i) says he died in the thirtieth year of Moses: but the Arabic writers (k) say in the fifty sixth or fifty seventh, and at the end of A. M. 3810. Polyhistor (l) from Demetrius makes his age to be one hundred and thirty six, and him to be the father of Moses and Aaron, and Aaron to be three years older than Moses, exactly according to the Scripture account.

(h) Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425.) (i) Shalshalet Hakabala, ut supra. (fol. 5. 1.) (k) Patricides, p. 26. Elmacinus, p. 46. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 392. (l) Apud Euseb. ut supra.

And Amram took him Jochebed his {g} father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.

(g) This type of marriage was later forbidden in the law; Le 18:12.

6:20 His father's sister - That is, kins - woman. So the Hebrew word is frequently used.

20. Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife-The Septuagint and Syriac versions render it "his cousin."

6:14-30 Moses and Aaron were Israelites; raised up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be the Prophet and Priest, the Redeemer and Lawgiver of the people of Israel. Moses returns to his narrative, and repeats the charge God had given him to deliver his message to Pharaoh, and his objection against it. Those who have spoken unadvisedly with their lips ought to reflect upon it with regret, as Moses seems to do here.Uncircumcised, is used in Scripture to note the unsuitableness there may be in any thing to answer its proper purpose; as the carnal heart and depraved nature of fallen man are wholly unsuited to the services of God, and to the purposes of his glory. It is profitable to place no confidence in ourselves, all our sufficiency must be in the Lord. We never can trust ourselves too little, or our God too much. I can do nothing by myself, said the apostle, but I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.