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.

Exodus 2:1

The Birth of the Deliverer

2:1 ¹² A man from the household ¹³  of Levi married ¹⁴  a woman who was a descendant of Levi. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 4:20

4:20 Then Moses took ¹⁶  his wife and sons ¹⁷  and put them on a donkey and headed back ¹⁸  to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 4:25

4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, ¹⁹  and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood ²⁰  to me.”

Exodus 9:22

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ²¹  that there may be ²²  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ²³  and on everything that grows ²⁴  in the field in the land of Egypt.”

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

[1:14]  ³ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  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.”

[2:23]  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.

[2:23]  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.

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ¹¹ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[2:1]  ¹² sn The chapter records the exceptional survival of Moses under the decree of death by Pharaoh (vv. 1-10), the flight of Moses from Pharaoh after killing the Egyptian (vv. 11-15), the marriage of Moses (vv. 16-22), and finally a note about the Lord’s hearing the sighing of the people in bondage (vv. 23-25). The first part is the birth. The Bible has several stories about miraculous or special births and deliverances of those destined to lead Israel. Their impact is essentially to authenticate the individual’s ministry. If the person’s beginning was providentially provided and protected by the Lord, then the mission must be of divine origin too. In this chapter the plot works around the decree for the death of the children – a decree undone by the women. The second part of the chapter records Moses’ flight and marriage. Having introduced the deliverer Moses in such an auspicious way, the chapter then records how this deliverer acted presumptuously and had to flee for his life. Any deliverance God desired had to be supernatural, as the chapter’s final note about answering prayer shows.

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “house.” In other words, the tribe of Levi.

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “went and took”; NASB “went and married.”

[2:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a daughter of Levi.” The word “daughter” is used in the sense of “descendant” and connects the new account with Pharaoh’s command in 1:22. The words “a woman who was” are added for clarity in English.

[4:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And Moses took.”

[4:20]  ¹⁷ sn Only Gershom has been mentioned so far. The other son’s name will be explained in chapter 18. The explanation of Gershom’s name was important to Moses’ sojourn in Midian. The explanation of the name Eliezer fits better in the later chapter (18:2-4).

[4:20]  ¹⁸ tn The verb would literally be rendered “and returned”; however, the narrative will record other happenings before he arrived in Egypt, so an ingressive nuance fits here – he began to return, or started back.

[4:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).

[4:25]  ²⁰ sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).

[9:22]  ²¹ tn Or “the heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[9:22]  ²² tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.

[9:22]  ²³ tn Heb “on man and on beast.”

[9:22]  ²⁴ tn The noun refers primarily to cultivated grains. But here it seems to be the general heading for anything that grows from the ground, all vegetation and plant life, as opposed to what grows on trees.