Keluaran 20:18

20:18 All the people were seeing ¹  the thundering and the lightning, and heard ²  the sound of the horn, and saw ³  the mountain smoking – and when ⁴  the people saw it they trembled with fear ⁵  and kept their distance. ⁶ 

Keluaran 4:1

The Source of Sufficiency

4:1 ⁷ Moses answered again, ⁸  “And if ⁹  they do not believe me or pay attention to me, ¹⁰  but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

[20:18]  ¹ tn The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116.o).

[20:18]  ² tn The verb “to see” (רָאָה, ra’ah) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).

[20:18]  ³ tn The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).

[20:18]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.

[20:18]  ⁵ tn The meaning of נוּעַ (nua’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

[20:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”

[4:1]  ⁷ sn In chap. 3, the first part of this extensive call, Yahweh promises to deliver his people. At the hesitancy of Moses, God guarantees his presence will be with him, and that assures the success of the mission. But with chap. 4, the second half of the call, the tone changes sharply. Now Moses protests his inadequacies in view of the nature of the task. In many ways, these verses address the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” There are three basic movements in the passage. The first nine verses tell how God gave Moses signs in case Israel did not believe him (4:1-9). The second section records how God dealt with the speech problem of Moses (4:10-12). And finally, the last section records God’s provision of a helper, someone who could talk well (4:13-17). See also J. E. Hamlin, “The Liberator’s Ordeal: A Study of Exodus 4:1-9,” Rhetorical Criticism [PTMS], 33-42.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Moses answered and said.”

[4:1]  ⁹ tn Or “What if.” The use of הֵן (hen) is unusual here, introducing a conditional idea in the question without a following consequence clause (see Exod 8:22 HT [8:26 ET]; Jer 2:10; 2 Chr 7:13). The Greek has “if not” but adds the clause “what shall I say to them?”

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “listen to my voice,” so as to respond positively.