Keluaran 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹  book, and rehearse ²  it in Joshua’s hearing; ³  for I will surely wipe out ⁴  the remembrance ⁵  of Amalek from under heaven.

Keluaran 22:25

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ⁶  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ⁷  to him; do not charge ⁸  him interest. ⁹ 

Keluaran 30:13

30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered ¹⁰  is to pay this: a half shekel ¹¹  according to the shekel of the sanctuary ¹²  (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering ¹³  to the Lord.

Keluaran 30:32

30:32 It must not be applied ¹⁴  to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

Keluaran 35:29

35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that the Lord through ¹⁵  Moses had commanded them ¹⁶  to do.

[17:14]  ¹ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ² tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ³ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ⁵ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[22:25]  ⁶ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ⁷ sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁹ sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).

[30:13]  ¹⁰ sn Each man was to pass in front of the counting officer and join those already counted on the other side.

[30:13]  ¹¹ sn The half shekel weight of silver would be about one-fifth of an ounce (6 grams).

[30:13]  ¹² sn It appears that some standard is in view for the amount of a shekel weight. The sanctuary shekel is sometimes considered to be twice the value of the ordinary shekel. The “gerah,” also of uncertain meaning, was mentioned as a reference point for the ancient reader to understand the value of the required payment. It may also be that the expression meant “a sacred shekel” and looked at the purpose more – a shekel for sanctuary dues. This would mean that the standard of the shekel weight was set because it was the traditional amount of sacred dues (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 333). “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11,5 grams…Whether an official standard is meant [by ‘sanctuary shekel’] or whether the sanctuary shekel had a different weight than the ‘ordinary’ shekel is not known” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181).

[30:13]  ¹³ tn Or “contribution” (תְּרוּמָה, tÿrumah).

[30:32]  ¹⁴ tn Without an expressed subject, the verb may be treated as a passive. Any common use, as in personal hygiene, would be a complete desecration.

[35:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[35:29]  ¹⁶ tn Here “them” has been supplied.