Keluaran 18:26

18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Keluaran 31:18

31:18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. ² 

Keluaran 32:15

32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with ³  the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.

Keluaran 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ⁴  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ⁵  by the order ⁶  of Moses, being the work ⁷  of the Levites under the direction ⁸  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Keluaran 40:20

40:20 He took the testimony and put it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and then put the atonement lid on the ark.

[18:26]  ¹ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[31:18]  ² sn The expression “the finger of God” has come up before in the book, in the plagues (Exod 8:15) to express that it was a demonstration of the power and authority of God. So here too the commandments given to Moses on stone tablets came from God. It too is a bold anthropomorphism; to attribute such a material action to Yahweh would have been thought provoking to say the least. But by using “God” and by stating it in an obviously figurative way, balance is maintained. Since no one writes with one finger, the expression simply says that the Law came directly from God.

[32:15]  ³ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.

[38:21]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.

[38:21]  ⁵ tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.

[38:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ⁷ tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).

[38:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “by the hand of.”