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 4:16

4:16 He ⁵  will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if ⁶  he ⁷  were your mouth ⁸  and as if you were his God. ⁹ 

Keluaran 4:28

4:28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had ¹⁰  sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him.

Keluaran 13:14

13:14 ¹¹ In the future, ¹²  when your son asks you ¹³  ‘What is this?’ ¹⁴  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ¹⁵  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹⁶ 

Keluaran 20:4

20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image ¹⁷  or any likeness ¹⁸  of anything ¹⁹  that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. ²⁰ 

Keluaran 29:37

29:37 For seven days ²¹  you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. ²²  Anything that touches the altar will be holy. ²³ 

Keluaran 34:19

34:19 “Every firstborn of the womb ²⁴  belongs to me, even every firstborn ²⁵  of your cattle that is a male, ²⁶  whether ox or sheep.

[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.

[4:16]  ⁵ tn The word “he” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

[4:16]  ⁶ tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity.

[4:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and it will be [that] he, he will be to you for a mouth,” or more simply, “he will be your mouth.”

[4:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will be to you for a mouth.”

[4:16]  ⁹ tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity. The word “you” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

[4:16]  sn Moses will be like God to Aaron, giving him the words to say, inspiring him as God would inspire a prophet. The whole process had now been removed one step. Instead of God speaking to Moses and Moses telling the people, Aaron would be the speaker for a while. But God was still going to work through Moses.

[4:28]  ¹⁰ tn This verb and the last one in the verse are rendered with the past perfect nuance because they refer to what the Lord had done prior to Moses’ telling Aaron.

[13:14]  ¹¹ sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.

[13:14]  ¹² tn Heb “tomorrow.”

[13:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”

[13:14]  ¹⁴ tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.

[13:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house of slaves.”

[20:4]  ¹⁷ tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.

[20:4]  ¹⁸ tn The word תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).

[20:4]  ¹⁹ tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.

[20:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[29:37]  ²¹ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

[29:37]  ²² tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”

[29:37]  ²³ sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).

[34:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “everything that opens the womb.”

[34:19]  ²⁵ tn Here too: everything that “opens [the womb].”

[34:19]  ²⁶ tn The verb basically means “that drops a male.” The verb is feminine, referring to the cattle.