Keluaran 4:1

The Source of Sufficiency

4:1 ¹ Moses answered again, ²  “And if ³  they do not believe me or pay attention to me, ⁴  but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

Keluaran 4:5

4:5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Keluaran 4:8-9

4:8 “If ⁵  they do not believe you or pay attention to ⁶  the former sign, then they may ⁷  believe the latter sign. ⁸  4:9 And if ⁹  they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, ¹⁰  then take ¹¹  some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” ¹² 

Keluaran 19:9

19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come ¹³  to you in a dense cloud, ¹⁴  so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you.” ¹⁵  And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

[4:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and Moses answered and said.”

[4:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “listen to my voice,” so as to respond positively.

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “listen to the voice of,” meaning listen so as to respond appropriately.

[4:8]  ⁷ tn The nuance of this perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive will be equal to the imperfect of possibility – “they may believe.”

[4:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “believe the voice of the latter sign,” so as to understand and accept the meaning of the event.

[4:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “listen to your voice.”

[4:9]  ¹¹ tn The verb form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it functions then as the equivalent of the imperfect tense – here as an imperfect of instruction.

[4:9]  ¹² sn This is a powerful sign, for the Nile was always known as the source of life in Egypt, but now it will become the evidence of death. So the three signs were alike, each consisting of life and death. They would clearly anticipate the struggle with Egypt through the plagues. The point is clear that in the face of the possibility that people might not believe, the servants of God must offer clear proof of the power of God as they deliver the message of God. The rest is up to God.

[19:9]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the deictic particle and the participle to express the imminent future, what God was about to do. Here is the first announcement of the theophany.

[19:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the thickness of the cloud”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT “in a thick cloud.”

[19:9]  ¹⁵ tn Since “and also in you” begins the clause, the emphasis must be that the people would also trust Moses. See Exod 4:1-9, 31; 14:31.