INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 4 This chapter is a continuation of the discourse that passed between God and Moses; and here Moses makes other objections to his mission; one is taken from the unbelief of the people of Israel, which is removed by giving him power to work miracles, by turning the rod in his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES ANSWERED AND SAID,.... In reference to what Jehovah had declared to him in the latter end of the preceding chapter: BUT, BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME, NOR HEARKEN TO MY VOICE; this seems to contradict what God had said to him, Exodus 3:18 that they would hearken to his voice; but it c... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM,.... Not reproving him for contradicting him, or showing any diffidence of what he had said; but rather as approving the hint he gave of having some sign or miracle wrought, to command from the Israelites an assent unto him, as commissioned of God to deliver them: WHAT [I... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, CAST IT ON THE GROUND,.... That is, the rod or staff: AND HE CAST IT ON THE GROUND, AND IT BECAME A SERPENT; not in appearance only, but in reality, it was changed into a real living serpent; for God, who is the author of nature, can change the nature of things as he pleases; nor is it... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, PUT FORTH THY HAND, AND TAKE IT BY THE TAIL,.... Which to do might seem most dangerous, since it might turn upon him and bite him; this was ordered, partly that Moses might be assured it was really a serpent, and not in appearance only; and partly to try his courage, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE,.... The elders and people of Israel; for this miracle was wrought not for the confirmation of Moses's faith; for, as Aben Ezra observes, the sign of the burning bush was given to him to confirm his faith, that it was God that appeared to him, and called him to this work; but t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID FURTHERMORE UNTO HIM,.... Continued his discourse, and gave him another sign: PUT NOW THINE HAND INTO THY BOSOM. AND HE PUT HIS HAND INTO HIS BOSOM; within his coat, under that part of the garment next to his breast: AND WHEN HE TOOK IT OUT, BEHOLD, HIS HAND [WAS] LEPROUS AS SNOW... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, PUT THINE HAND INTO THY BOSOM AGAIN,.... With the leprosy on it: AND HE PUT HIS HAND INTO HIS BOSOM AGAIN, AND PLUCKED IT OUT OF HIS BOSOM; quickly after he had put it in: AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS TURNED AGAIN AS HIS OTHER FLESH; it was cured of the leprosy, and recovered its colour, and w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE THEE,.... Will not give credit to the commission he had from God, but question the truth of it: NEITHER HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF THE FIRST SIGN; which miracle wrought, spoke plain enough that he that wrought it, or for whose sake it was wrought, mu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ALSO THESE TWO SIGNS,.... Performed before their eyes; for these were done over again when Moses came into Egypt to the Israelites, and yet some of them might still remain unbelievers to his commission, and so to the voice of these signs, which lou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD,.... Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered: I AM NOT ELOQUENT; or "a man of words" s, that h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, WHO HATH MADE MAN'S MOUTH?.... Made that itself, and put in it the power and faculty of speech, even into the mouth of the first man, Adam, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so of every other man, did not the Lord do it? none else could, and therefore he that made it, and ma... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE GO, AND I WILL BE WITH THY MOUTH,.... And put words into it, and cause it to speak readily and powerfully; and so it appears that he was mighty in words, as well as in deeds, Acts 7:22: AND TEACH THEE WHAT THOU SHALT SAY; to Pharaoh, to the Israelites, and to Aaron, that was to speak... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, O MY LORD,.... Acknowledging his dominion, his sovereignty, his power to do the above things: or "on me, O Lord" u, be the blame for making such objections; or on me let this work be devolved, since it is thy pleasure: SEND, I PRAY THEE, BY THE HAND [OF HIM WHOM] THOU WILT SEND. Many o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED AGAINST MOSES,.... For the objections, excuses, and delays he made with respect to his mission. In what way this anger was expressed is not easy to say, whether by not removing the impediment of his speech, or not giving him the priesthood, which Jarchi thinks h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT SPEAK UNTO HIM, AND PUT WORDS IN HIS MOUTH,.... Or "things" z, the matter and substance of what he should say, who being a man of words, an eloquent man, and a good spokesman, would put them into proper language, and express them fluently: AND I WILL BE WITH THY MOUTH, AND WITH HIS M... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL BE THY SPOKESMAN UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... And open to them Moses's commission from God, and the end of his mission into Egypt, and to them, and declare what signs had been, and would be done, in confirmation of it: AND HE SHALL BE, [EVEN] HE SHALL BE TO THEE INSTEAD OF A MOUTH; or an inter... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALL TAKE THIS ROD IN THINE HAND,.... Which he then had in his hand, and was no other than his shepherd's staff: WHEREWITH THOU SHALL DO SIGNS: wondrous things, meaning the ten plagues inflicted on Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES WENT AND RETURNED TO JETHRO HIS FATHER IN LAW,.... With his flock of sheep he kept, Exodus 3:1: and said unto him, LET ME GO, I PRAY THEE, AND RETURN TO MY BRETHREN WHICH ARE IN EGYPT; the Israelites, who were so by nation and religion; as Jethro had been kind and beneficent to him, he di... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES IN MIDIAN,.... After he had obtained leave of his father-in-law to quit Midian, but before he left it; GO, RETURN INTO EGYPT: that is, directly, immediately; before he had only given him a commission at large to go thither, but had not fixed the time when he should go;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES TOOK HIS WIFE, AND HIS SONS,.... Gershom and Eliezer; by which it appears that he intended to stay in Egypt, and that he believed that God would work deliverance by him: AND SET THEM UPON AN ASS: which though with us a mean creature, yet in those times and countries were rode upon by grea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES,.... At the same time he appeared to him in Midian, and ordered him to go into Egypt, even before his departure thither: WHEN THOU GOEST TO RETURN INTO EGYPT; and when got thither; for before the thing directed to in the next clause could not be done: SEE THAT THOU DO... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALL SAY UNTO PHARAOH,.... When arrived in Egypt, and in his presence: THUS SAITH THE LORD; he was to declare to him that he came in his name, and by his orders, and, as an ambassador of his, required the dismission of the children of Israel out of Egypt: ISRAEL [IS] MY SON, [EVEN] MY FI... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAY UNTO THEE, LET MY SON GO, THAT HE MAY SERVE ME,.... Worship God according to his will in the place he had designed for him, and where he might be safe and free; and which service was due from him as a son, and to be performed not in a servile way, but in a filial manner, and therefore as a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS BY THE WAY, IN THE INN,.... As Moses and his family were travelling in their way to Egypt, at an inn where they stopped for the refreshment of themselves and cattle, or in order to lodge all night: so it was, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him; not the uncircumcised so... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ZIPPORAH TOOK A SHARP STONE, AND CUT OFF THE FORESKIN OF HER SON,.... Perceiving that it was the neglect of circumcising her son was the cause of the divine displeasure against her husband; and he being either so ill through the disease upon him, or so terrified with the appearance of the Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HE LET HIM GO,.... That is, the Lord let Moses go; suffered him to go on his journey without any further interruption; as the Targums, "it", the angel, ceased from him, or left him; or the disease and trembling departed from him, as Aben Ezra, and he was quite well and easy; though Grotius, after... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO AARON,.... He appeared to him in a dream or vision, and to this reference is had in 1 Samuel 2:27 GO INTO THE WILDERNESS TO MEET MOSES; in the wilderness of Arabia, through which Moses was to pass into Egypt, and who was now set out on his journey thitherward: AND HE WENT; i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES TOLD AARON ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD, WHO HAD SENT HIM,.... He declared his mission and commission from God, and gave him the particulars of what was to be said both to the people of Israel and to the king of Egypt; and this he did, because Aaron was to be his spokesman unto them: AND ALL... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES AND AARON WENT,.... Set forward for Egypt: and being come thither, GATHERED TOGETHER ALL THE ELDERS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; the heads of tribes and families, as many as they could conveniently get together in one place; probably in the metropolis of the kingdom, where Pharaoh's palace... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AARON SPAKE ALL THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD HAD SPOKEN UNTO MOSES,.... As Moses had related to him, being his mouth and spokesman: AND DID THE SIGNS IN THE SIGHT OF THE PEOPLE; not Aaron, but Moses, and these were the turning of his rod into a serpent, and the serpent into a rod again; putting his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE BELIEVED,.... That Moses was sent of God, and would be the deliverer of them: AND WHEN THEY HEARD THAT THE LORD HAD VISITED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; in a way of grace and mercy, by raising such a redeemer and deliverer in the midst of them: AND THAT HE HAD LOOKED UPON THEIR AFFLICTIO... [ Continue Reading ]