Keluaran 4:7

4:7 He said, “Put your hand back into your robe.” So he put his hand back into his robe, and when he brought it out from his robe – there it was, ¹  restored ²  like the rest of his skin! ³ 

Keluaran 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ⁴  that ⁵  I should obey him ⁶  by releasing ⁷  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ⁸  and I will not release Israel!”

Keluaran 16:16

16:16 “This is what ⁹  the Lord has commanded: ¹⁰  ‘Each person is to gather ¹¹  from it what he can eat, an omer ¹²  per person ¹³  according to the number ¹⁴  of your people; ¹⁵  each one will pick it up ¹⁶  for whoever lives ¹⁷  in his tent.’”

Keluaran 24:1

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

24:1 ¹⁸ But to Moses the Lord ¹⁹  said, “Come up ²⁰  to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. ²¹ 

Keluaran 24:8

24:8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on ²²  the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant ²³  that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

[4:7]  ¹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) points out the startling or amazing sight as if the reader were catching first glimpse of it with Moses.

[4:7]  ² tn Heb “it returned.”

[4:7]  ³ tn Heb “like his flesh.”

[5:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ⁸ sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ¹² sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ¹⁷ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[24:1]  ¹⁸ sn Exod 24 is the high point of the book in many ways, but most importantly, here Yahweh makes a covenant with the people – the Sinaitic Covenant. The unit not only serves to record the event in Israel’s becoming a nation, but it provides a paradigm of the worship of God’s covenant people – entering into the presence of the glory of Yahweh. See additionally W. A. Maier, “The Analysis of Exodus 24 According to Modern Literary, Form, and Redaction Critical Methodology,” Springfielder 37 (1973): 35-52. The passage may be divided into four parts for exposition: vv. 1-2, the call for worship; vv. 3-8, the consecration of the worshipers; vv. 9-11, the confirmation of the covenant; and vv. 12-18, the communication with Yahweh.

[24:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And he;” the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:1]  ²⁰ sn They were to come up to the Lord after they had made the preparations that are found in vv. 3-8.

[24:1]  ²¹ sn These seventy-four people were to go up the mountain to a certain point. Then they were to prostrate themselves and worship Yahweh as Moses went further up into the presence of Yahweh. Moses occupies the lofty position of mediator (as Christ in the NT), for he alone ascends “to Yahweh” while everyone waits for his return. The emphasis of “bowing down” and that from “far off” stresses again the ominous presence that was on the mountain. This was the holy God – only the designated mediator could draw near to him.

[24:8]  ²² tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).

[24:8]  ²³ sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.