Keluaran 3:8

3:8 I have come down ¹  to deliver them ²  from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, ³  to a land flowing with milk and honey, ⁴  to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁵ 

Keluaran 3:1

3:1 Now Moses ⁶  was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert ⁷  and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ⁸ 

1 Samuel 2:8-9

2:8 He lifts the weak ⁹  from the dust;

he raises ¹⁰  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ¹¹ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

2:9 He watches over ¹²  his holy ones, ¹³ 

but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,

for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

Mazmur 72:12-13

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ¹⁴  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ¹⁵  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ¹⁶  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

[3:8]  ¹ sn God’s coming down is a frequent anthropomorphism in Genesis and Exodus. It expresses his direct involvement, often in the exercise of judgment.

[3:8]  ² tn The Hiphil infinitive with the suffix is לְהַצִּילוֹ (lÿhatsilo, “to deliver them”). It expresses the purpose of God’s coming down. The verb itself is used for delivering or rescuing in the general sense, and snatching out of danger for the specific.

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “to a land good and large”; NRSV “to a good and broad land.” In the translation the words “that is both” are supplied because in contemporary English “good and” combined with any additional descriptive term can be understood as elative (“good and large” = “very large”; “good and spacious” = “very spacious”; “good and ready” = “very ready”). The point made in the Hebrew text is that the land to which they are going is both good (in terms of quality) and large (in terms of size).

[3:8]  ⁴ tn This vibrant description of the promised land is a familiar one. Gesenius classifies “milk and honey” as epexegetical genitives because they provide more precise description following a verbal adjective in the construct state (GKC 418-19 §128.x). The land is modified by “flowing,” and “flowing” is explained by the genitives “milk and honey.” These two products will be in abundance in the land, and they therefore exemplify what a desirable land it is. The language is hyperbolic, as if the land were streaming with these products.

[3:8]  ⁵ tn Each people group is joined to the preceding by the vav conjunction, “and.” Each also has the definite article, as in other similar lists (3:17; 13:5; 34:11). To repeat the conjunction and article in the translation seems to put more weight on the list in English than is necessary to its function in identifying what land God was giving the Israelites.

[3:1]  ⁶ sn The vav (ו) disjunctive with the name “Moses” introduces a new and important starting point. The Lord’s dealing with Moses will fill the next two chapters.

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Or “west of the desert,” taking אַחַר (’akhar, “behind”) as the opposite of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “on the face of, east of”; cf. Gen 16:12; 25:18).

[3:1]  ⁸ sn “Horeb” is another name for Mount Sinai. There is a good deal of foreshadowing in this verse, for later Moses would shepherd the people of Israel and lead them to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:9]  ¹³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.

[72:12]  ¹⁴ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ¹⁵ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:13]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).