Keluaran 3:11
Konteks3:11 Moses said 1 to God, 2 “Who am I, that I should go 3 to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Keluaran 4:11
Konteks4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave 4 a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 5
Keluaran 5:2
Konteks5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord 6 that 7 I should obey him 8 by releasing 9 Israel? I do not know the Lord, 10 and I will not release Israel!”
Keluaran 17:5
Konteks17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; 11 take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.
Keluaran 32:24
Konteks32:24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it 12 to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” 13
[3:11] 1 tn Heb “And Moses said.”
[3:11] 2 sn When he was younger, Moses was confident and impulsive, but now that he is older the greatness of the task makes him unsure. The remainder of this chapter and the next chapter record the four difficulties of Moses and how the
[3:11] 3 tn The imperfect tense אֵלֵךְ (’elekh) carries the modal nuance of obligatory imperfect, i.e., “that I should go.” Moses at this point is overwhelmed with the task of representing God, and with his personal insufficiency, and so in honest humility questions the choice.
[4:11] 4 tn The verb שִׂים (sim) means “to place, put, set”; the sentence here more precisely says, “Who put a mouth into a man?”
[4:11] sn The argumentation by Moses is here met by Yahweh’s rhetorical questions. They are intended to be sharp – it is reproof for Moses. The message is twofold. First, Yahweh is fully able to overcome all of Moses’ deficiencies. Second, Moses is exactly the way that God intended him to be. So the rhetorical questions are meant to prod Moses’ faith.
[4:11] 5 sn The final question obviously demands a positive answer. But the clause is worded in such a way as to return to the theme of “I AM.” Isaiah 45:5-7 developed this same idea of God’s control over life. Moses protests that he is not an eloquent speaker, and the
[5:2] 6 tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).
[5:2] 7 tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).
[5:2] 8 tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”
[5:2] sn The construction of these clauses is similar to (ironically) the words of Moses: “Who am I that I should go?” (3:11).
[5:2] 9 tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”
[5:2] 10 sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the
[17:5] 11 tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).
[32:24] 12 tn Here “it” has been supplied.
[32:24] 13 sn Aaron first tried to blame the people, and then he tried to make it sound like a miracle – was it to sound like one of the plagues where out of the furnace came life? This text does not mention it, but Deut 9:20 tells how angry God was with Aaron. Only intercession saved his life.
