(1) Then the LORD said to Moses, “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a greater might; indeed, because of a greater might he shall drive them from his land.” (2) God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. (3) I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name יהוה. (4) I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. (5) I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. (6) Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the LORD. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. (7) And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, the LORD, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians. (8) I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I the LORD.” (9) But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage. (10) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from his land.” (12) But Moses appealed to the LORD, saying, “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!” (13) So the LORD spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt. (14) The following are the heads of their respective clans. The sons of Reuben, Israel’s first-born: Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; those are the families of Reuben. (15) The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul the son of a Canaanite woman; those are the families of Simeon. (16) These are the names of Levi’s sons by their lineage: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and the span of Levi’s life was 137 years. (17) The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their families. (18) The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel; and the span of Kohath’s life was 133 years. (19) The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their lineage. (20) Amram took to wife his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the span of Amram’s life was 137 years. (21) The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. (22) The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. (23) Aaron took to wife Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. (24) The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Those are the families of the Korahites. (25) And Aaron’s son Eleazar took to wife one of Putiel’s daughters, and she bore him Phinehas. Those are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their families. (26) It is the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring forth the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.” (27) It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to free the Israelites from the Egyptians; these are the same Moses and Aaron. (28) For when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt (29) and the LORD said to Moses, “I am the LORD; speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I will tell you,” (30) Moses appealed to the LORD, saying, “See, I am of impeded speech; how then should Pharaoh heed me!”

(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him. (5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. (6) When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” (7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” (8) And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. (9) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. (10) When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.” (11) Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. (12) He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (13) When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” (14) He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known! (15) When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well. (16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; (17) but shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to their defense, and he watered their flock. (18) When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?” (19) They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” (20) He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread.” (21) Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife. (22) She bore a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” (23) A long time after that, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were groaning under the bondage and cried out; and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. (24) God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. (25) God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

אלה ראשי בית אבתם THESE ARE THE HEADS OF THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSES — Since it (Scripture) finds itself compelled to give the genealogy of the tribe of Levi as far as Moses and Aaron because of Moses and Aaron, it begins to give the genealogy of the tribes in the order of their birth commencing from Reuben. And in Pesikta Rabbati 7 (on Numbers 7:12) I have seen the statement, that because their father Jacob reproached these three tribes in the hour of his death Scripture again enumerates here their genealogy alone of all the tribes to indicate that they nevertheless were men of worth.

ואל פרעה מלך מצרים signifies that He charged them with regard to PHARAOH, KING OF EGYPT, viz., that they should show respect to him in all that they spoke. This is a Midrashic explanation (Exodus Rabbah 7:3; Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 2); but the real meaning is: He gave them a command with regard to Israel and with regard to His mission on which he had sent them to Pharaoh. And what the purport of this command was is explained in the second section from here (vv. 29—31) after the order of genealogy set forth in the next passage. It properly should follow here, but because Scripture has mentioned Moses and Aaron here, it interrupts the narrative by interpolating the section beginning (v. 14), “These are the heads of their fathers’ houses”, in order to inform us how Moses and Aaron were born (who were their parents) and with whom they are connected by descent.

אלה ראשי בית אבותם, this is explained in the Mechilta as a reference to the three (potential) tribes Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, whom Yaakov had chastised on his deathbed. At this point the Torah enumerates their genealogy to demonstrate their importance in the fabric of Jewish nationhood. According to the plain meaning of the text, the Torah had to provide details of the tribes’ genealogy as far as Moses and Aaron, whereas it also had to provide details as far down the line as Korach, and the sons of Uziel; as well as Pinchas all of whom are mentioned by name and deed in the Torah later on. If we had not heard about their roots in this chapter we would not have known who these people had been.

אלה ראשי בית אבותם, Moses and Aaron were justifiably referred to as the heads of the various tribal groups of Israel, as they were the most respected and most honoured. ראובן בכור ישראל, seeing that none of his descendants were particularly noteworthy except his sons who had been part of the original 70 persons who had come to the land of Egypt from Canaan, none other are mentioned. All those 70 persons had already died as we know from Exodus 1,6. The same consideration held true for the descendants of Shimon. On the other hand, Levi, the longest surviving member of the original 70 Hebrews who migrated to Egypt, managed to raise even his grandchildren to become leaders of the people in their own right. Amram produced three outstanding children in the persons of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, all of whom attained prophetic stature. Aaron married a sister of Nachshon who had been considered the most notable member of the nation in his time. He begat leaders of the generation who were later on appointed as priests. Eleazar, son of Aaron took as a wife one of the daughters of Putiel who was also considered outstanding in his generation (compare Nachmanides). This union produced Pinchas who was granted a covenant of “peace” by G’d as a reward for spontaneously slaying a high ranking Israelite prince who flagrantly engaged in forbidden sex with a Midianite princess and had challenged Moses to do something about it. (Numbers 25,12) אלה ראשי אבות הלוים, just to tell us that Moses and Aaron were the respective heads of the Levites.

אלה ראשי בית אבותם, These are the heads of the various families, etc. The reason the family background of Moses is listed here is in accordance with the principle that only people whose genealogy can be traced back directly to Jacob are fit to be appointed as kings over Israel. This is the reason the Torah did not state the יחוס of Moses and Aaron until they had been given Royal authority. This is all still part of the answer of G'd to Moses' comment that the Israelites did not and would not listen to him.