He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” (Exodus 3:6)

God revealed Himself in the line of orthodoxy first to Abraham, then to Isaac, and third to Jacob. This threefold declaration riveted Moses in front of the burning bush. The awesome God he must have heard about—the faint memory of the revered ancestors, the ancient patriarchs of his people—was revealing Himself to this man who had fled out of fear, having been rejected by the Egyptians and his own people. For 40 years Moses lived a quiet life in the wilderness tending sheep, getting married and having children. His identification with the descendants of Jacob must have become a distant memory.

If you recall the story of the last part of Genesis, Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, had 12 sons. Due to famine, they ended up in Egypt—a common theme among the patriarchs, who in doubt of God’s protection fled from the land promised to them by God, to greener pastures, so to speak. In Jacob’s case, his stay lasted longer than the famine—in fact, his descendants settled there for about 400 years! Their life became one of servitude, supplying the Egyptian overlords with construction materials for their great nation-building projects. Without their realizing, God was nation-building His own people, creating a foundational experience that would shape the rest of biblical history: the captivity by Egypt and deliverance from it (namely, the Exodus) was an object lesson of redemption from captivity by the world.

So after 400 years, when God commissioned Moses to lead His people out of Egypt back to the Promised Land, Moses must have known and understood the continuity with God’s work in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was not a new religion conjured up in the creative mind of Moses. There was absolutely no disconnect with God’s work as expressed in the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Faith in God did not come easy for Jacob. As he fled Canaan out of fear of his brother, God spoke to him in a dream at Bethel:

“I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth … in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 28:13–15)

Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, thank You for blessing me with salvation because of the promise You gave to the patriarchs.