Keluaran 4:31

4:31 and the people believed. When they heard ¹  that the Lord had attended to ²  the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. ³ 

Keluaran 4:1

The Source of Sufficiency

4:1 ⁴ Moses answered again, ⁵  “And if ⁶  they do not believe me or pay attention to me, ⁷  but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

1 Samuel 9:16

9:16 “At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate ⁸  him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!”

1 Samuel 9:2

9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ⁹  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

Mazmur 102:19-20

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ¹⁰ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ¹¹ 

102:20 in order to hear the painful cries of the prisoners,

and to set free those condemned to die, ¹² 

Mazmur 119:132

119:132 Turn toward me and extend mercy to me,

as you typically do to your loyal followers. ¹³ 

[4:31]  ¹ tc The LXX (Greek OT) has “and they rejoiced,” probably reading וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ (vayyismÿkhu) instead of what the MT reading, וַיִּשְׂמְעוּ (vayyismÿ’u, “and they heard”). To rejoice would have seemed a natural response of the people at the news, and the words sound similar in Hebrew.

[4:31]  tn The form is the preterite with the vav consecutive, “and they heard.” It clearly is a temporal clause subordinate to the following verbs that report how they bowed and worshiped. But it is also in sequence to the preceding: they believed, and then they bowed when they heard.

[4:31]  ² tn Or “intervened for.” The word פָּקַד (paqad) has traditionally been translated “visited,” which is open to many interpretations. It means that God intervened in the life of the Israelites to bless them with the fulfillment of the promises. It says more than that he took notice of them, took pity on them, or remembered them. He had not yet fulfilled the promises, but he had begun to act by calling Moses and Aaron. The translation “attended to” attempts to capture that much.

[4:31]  ³ tn The verb וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ (vayyishtakhavu) is usually rendered “worshiped.” More specifically, the verbal root חָוָה (khava) in the hishtaphel stem means “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” While there is nothing wrong with giving it a general translation of “worship,” it may be better in a passage like this to take it in conjunction with the other verb (“bow”) as a verbal hendiadys, using it as an adverb to that verb. The implication is certainly that they prayed, or praised, and performed some other aspect of worship, but the text may just be describing it from their posture of worship. With this response, all the fears of Moses are swept aside – they believed and they were thankful to God.

[4:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Moses answered and said.”

[4:1]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “listen to my voice,” so as to respond positively.

[9:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “anoint.”

[16:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[102:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ¹¹ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[102:20]  ¹² tn Heb “the sons of death.” The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 79:11) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[119:132]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to custom toward the lovers of your name.” The “lovers of” God’s “name” are the Lord’s loyal followers. See Pss 5:11; 69:36; Isa 56:6.