Exodus 14:25

14:25 He jammed ¹  the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, ²  and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee ³  from Israel, for the Lord fights ⁴  for them against Egypt!”

Exodus 14:2

14:2 “Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp ⁵  before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it. ⁶ 

Exodus 2:1

The Birth of the Deliverer

2:1 ⁷ A man from the household ⁸  of Levi married ⁹  a woman who was a descendant of Levi. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 2:5

2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh ¹¹  came down to wash herself ¹²  by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, ¹³  and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, ¹⁴  took it, ¹⁵ 

Exodus 2:7

2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get ¹⁶  a nursing woman ¹⁷  for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse ¹⁸  the child for you?”

Psalms 86:17

86:17 Show me evidence of your favor! ¹⁹ 

Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ²⁰ 

for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ²¹ 

Psalms 112:10

112:10 When the wicked ²²  see this, they will worry;

they will grind their teeth in frustration ²³  and melt away;

the desire of the wicked will perish. ²⁴ 

Malachi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ²⁵  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

Luke 16:23

16:23 And in hell, ²⁶  as he was in torment, ²⁷  he looked up ²⁸  and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. ²⁹ 

[14:25]  ¹ tn The word in the text is וַיָּסַר (vayyasar), which would be translated “and he turned aside” with the sense perhaps of removing the wheels. The reading in the LXX, Smr, and Syriac suggests a root אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”). The sense here might be “clogged – presumably by their sinking in the wet sand” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 120).

[14:25]  ² tn The clause is וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת (vaynahagehu bikhvedut). The verb means “to drive a chariot”; here in the Piel it means “cause to drive.” The suffix is collective, and so the verbal form can be translated “and caused them to drive.” The idea of the next word is “heaviness” or “hardship”; it recalls the previous uses of related words to describe Pharaoh’s heart. Here it indicates that the driving of the crippled chariots was with difficulty.

[14:25]  ³ tn The cohortative has the hortatory use here, “Let’s flee.” Although the form is singular, the sense of it is plural and so hortatory can be used. The form is singular to agree with the singular subject, “Egypt,” which obviously means the Egyptian army. The word for “flee” is used when someone runs from fear of immanent danger and is a different word than the one used in 14:5.

[14:25]  ⁴ tn The form is the Niphal participle; it is used as the predicate here, that is, the verbal use: “the Lord is fighting.” This corresponds to the announcement in v. 14.

[14:2]  ⁵ tn The two imperfects follow the imperative and therefore express purpose. The point in the verses is that Yahweh was giving the orders for the direction of the march and the encampment by the sea.

[14:2]  ⁶ sn The places have been tentatively identified. W. C. Kaiser summarizes the suggestions that Pi-Hahiroth as an Egyptian word may mean “temple of the [Syrian god] Hrt” or “The Hir waters of the canal” or “The Dwelling of Hator” (“Exodus,” EBC 2:387; see the literature on these names, including C. DeWit, The Date and Route of the Exodus, 17).

[2:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.” In other words, the tribe of Levi.

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “went and took”; NASB “went and married.”

[2:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:5]  ¹¹ sn It is impossible, perhaps, to identify with certainty who this person was. For those who have taken a view that Rameses was the pharaoh, there were numerous daughters for Rameses. She is named Tharmuth in Jub. 47:5; Josephus spells it Thermouthis (Ant. 2.9.5 [2.224]), but Eusebius has Merris (Praep. Ev. ix. 27). E. H. Merrill (Kingdom of Priests, 60) makes a reasonable case for her identification as the famous Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She would have been there about the time of Moses’ birth, and the general picture of her from history shows her to be the kind of princess with enough courage to countermand a decree of her father.

[2:5]  ¹² tn Or “bathe.”

[2:5]  ¹³ sn A disjunctive vav initiates here a circumstantial clause. The picture is one of a royal entourage coming down to the edge of a tributary of the river, and while the princess was bathing, her female attendants were walking along the edge of the water out of the way of the princess. They may not have witnessed the discovery or the discussion.

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn The word here is אָמָה (’amah), which means “female slave.” The word translated “attendants” earlier in the verse is נַעֲרֹת (na’arot, “young women”), possibly referring here to an assortment of servants and companions.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is preterite, third person feminine singular, with a pronominal suffix, from לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). The form says literally “and she took it,” and retains the princess as the subject of the verb.

[2:7]  ¹⁶ sn The text uses קָרָא (qara’), meaning “to call” or “summon.” Pharaoh himself will “summon” Moses many times in the plague narratives. Here the word is used for the daughter summoning the child’s mother to take care of him. The narratives in the first part of the book of Exodus include a good deal of foreshadowing of events that occur in later sections of the book (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture).

[2:7]  ¹⁷ tn The object of the verb “get/summon” is “a woman.” But מֵינֶקֶת (meneqet, “nursing”), the Hiphil participle of the verb יָנַק (yanaq, “to suck”), is in apposition to it, clarifying what kind of woman should be found – a woman, a nursing one. Of course Moses’ mother was ready for the task.

[2:7]  ¹⁸ tn The form וְתֵינִק (vÿteniq) is the Hiphil imperfect/jussive, third feminine singular, of the same root as the word for “nursing.” It is here subordinated to the preceding imperfect (“shall I go”) and perfect with vav (ו) consecutive (“and summon”) to express the purpose: “in order that she may.”

[86:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

[86:17]  ²⁰ tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

[86:17]  ²¹ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

[112:10]  ²² tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

[112:10]  ²³ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

[112:10]  ²⁴ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

[3:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”

[16:23]  ²⁶ sn The Greek term Hades stands for the Hebrew concept of Sheol. It is what is called hell today. This is where the dead were gathered (Ps 16:10; 86:13). In the NT Hades has an additional negative force of awaiting judgment (Rev 20:13).

[16:23]  ²⁷ sn Hades is a place of torment, especially as one knows that he is separated from God.

[16:23]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

[16:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in his bosom,” the same phrase used in 16:22. This idiom refers to heaven and/or participation in the eschatological banquet. An appropriate modern equivalent is “at Abraham’s side.”