Exodus 1:13-14

1:13 and they ¹  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ²  1:14 They made their lives bitter ³  by ⁴  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁵  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁶ 

Exodus 2:23

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ⁷ During ⁸  that long period of time ⁹  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ¹⁰  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ¹¹  because of their slave labor went up to God.

¹ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

² tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

³ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

⁴ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

⁵ tn Heb “and in all service.”

⁶ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

⁷ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

⁸ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “in those many days.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

¹¹ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).