Keluaran 12:12

12:12 I will pass through ¹  the land of Egypt in the same ²  night, and I will attack ³  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, ⁴  and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ⁵  I am the Lord.

Keluaran 13:19

13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph ⁶  had made the Israelites solemnly swear, ⁷  “God will surely attend ⁸  to you, and you will carry ⁹  my bones up from this place with you.”

Keluaran 17:12

17:12 When ¹⁰  the hands of Moses became heavy, ¹¹  they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, ¹²  and so his hands were steady ¹³  until the sun went down.

Keluaran 32:1

The Sin of the Golden Calf

32:1 ¹⁴ When the people saw that Moses delayed ¹⁵  in coming down ¹⁶  from the mountain, they ¹⁷  gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, ¹⁸  make us gods ¹⁹  that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, ²⁰  the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what ²¹  has become of him!”

Keluaran 32:11

32:11 But Moses sought the favor ²²  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Keluaran 32:13

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ²³  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ²⁴  I will give to your descendants, ²⁵  and they will inherit it forever.’”

Keluaran 32:27

32:27 and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ²⁶  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²⁷  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ 

Keluaran 33:1

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up ²⁹  from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath ³⁰  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ³¹ 

Keluaran 33:19

33:19 And the Lord ³²  said, “I will make all my goodness ³³  pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name ³⁴  before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” ³⁵ 

Keluaran 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ³⁶  go among us, for we ³⁷  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

[12:12]  ¹ tn The verb וְעָבַרְתִּי (vÿ’avarti) is a Qal perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, announcing the future action of God in bringing judgment on the land. The word means “pass over, across, through.” This verb provides a contextual motive for the name “Passover.”

[12:12]  ² tn Heb “this night.”

[12:12]  ³ tn The verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to strike, smite, attack”; it does not always mean “to kill,” but that is obviously its outcome in this context. This is also its use in 2:12, describing how Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

[12:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “from man and to beast.”

[12:12]  ⁵ tn The phrase אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים (’e’eseh shÿfatim) is “I will do judgments.” The statement clearly includes what had begun in Exod 6:1. But the statement that God would judge the gods of Egypt is appropriately introduced here (see also Num 33:4) because with the judgment on Pharaoh and the deliverance from bondage, Yahweh would truly show himself to be the one true God. Thus, “I am Yahweh” is fitting here (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 312).

[13:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “solemnly swear, saying” (so NASB). The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive absolute with the Hiphil perfect to stress that Joseph had made them take a solemn oath to carry his bones out of Egypt. “Saying” introduces the content of what Joseph said.

[13:19]  ⁸ sn This verb appears also in 3:16 and 4:31. The repetition here is a reminder that God was doing what he had said he would do and what Joseph had expected.

[13:19]  ⁹ tn The form is a Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it follows in the sequence of the imperfect tense before it, and so is equal to an imperfect of injunction (because of the solemn oath). Israel took Joseph’s bones with them as a sign of piety toward the past and as a symbol of their previous bond with Canaan (B. Jacob, Exodus, 380).

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here – of time.

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kÿvedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.

[17:12]  ¹² tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”

[17:12]  ¹³ tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (’emuna) from the root אָמַן (’aman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word – firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power – to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit – the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.

[32:1]  ¹⁴ sn This narrative is an unhappy interlude in the flow of the argument of the book. After the giving of the Law and the instructions for the tabernacle, the people get into idolatry. So this section tells what the people were doing when Moses was on the mountain. Here is an instant violation of the covenant that they had just agreed to uphold. But through it all Moses shines as the great intercessor for the people. So the subject matter is the sin of idolatry, its effects and its remedy. Because of the similarities to Jeroboam’s setting up the calves in Dan and Bethel, modern critics have often said this passage was written at that time. U. Cassuto shows how the language of this chapter would not fit an Iron Age setting in Dan. Rather, he argues, this story was well enough known for Jeroboam to imitate the practice (Exodus, 407-10). This chapter can be divided into four parts for an easier exposition: idolatry (32:1-6), intercession (32:7-14), judgment (32:15-29), intercession again (32:30-33:6). Of course, these sections are far more complex than this, but this gives an overview. Four summary statements for expository points might be: I. Impatience often leads to foolish violations of the faith, II. Violations of the covenant require intercession to escape condemnation, III. Those spared of divine wrath must purge evil from their midst, and IV. Those who purge evil from their midst will find reinstatement through intercession. Several important studies are available for this. See, among others, D. R. Davis, “Rebellion, Presence, and Covenant: A Study in Exodus 32-34,” WTJ 44 (1982): 71-87; M. Greenberg, “Moses’ Intercessory Prayer,” Ecumenical Institute for Advanced Theological Studies (1978): 21-35; R. A. Hamer, “The New Covenant of Moses,” Judaism 27 (1978): 345-50; R. L. Honeycutt, Jr., “Aaron, the Priesthood, and the Golden Calf,” RevExp 74 (1977): 523-35; J. N. Oswalt, “The Golden Calves and the Egyptian Concept of Deity,” EvQ 45 (1973): 13-20.

[32:1]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of this verb is properly “caused shame,” meaning cause disappointment because he was not coming back (see also Judg 5:28 for the delay of Sisera’s chariots [S. R. Driver, Exodus, 349]).

[32:1]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition is used here epexegetically, explaining the delay of Moses.

[32:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the people.”

[32:1]  ¹⁸ tn The imperative means “arise.” It could be serving here as an interjection, getting Aaron’s attention. But it might also have the force of prompting him to get busy.

[32:1]  ¹⁹ tn The plural translation is required here (although the form itself could be singular in meaning) because the verb that follows in the relative clause is a plural verb – that they go before us).

[32:1]  ²⁰ tn The text has “this Moses.” But this instance may find the demonstrative used in an earlier deictic sense, especially since there is no article with it.

[32:1]  ²¹ tn The interrogative is used in an indirect question (see GKC 443-44 §137.c).

[32:11]  ²² tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.

[32:13]  ²³ tn Heb “your seed.”

[32:13]  ²⁴ tn “about” has been supplied.

[32:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

[32:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “put.”

[32:27]  ²⁷ tn The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys: “pass over and return,” meaning, “go back and forth” throughout the camp.

[32:27]  ²⁸ tn The phrases have “and kill a man his brother, and a man his companion, and a man his neighbor.” The instructions were probably intended to mean that they should kill leaders they knew to be guilty because they had been seen or because they failed the water test – whoever they were.

[33:1]  ²⁹ tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”

[33:1]  ³⁰ tn Or “the land which I swore.”

[33:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “seed.”

[33:19]  ³² tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ³³ sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  ³⁴ tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  ³⁵ sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.

[34:9]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”