Exodus 2:14-15

2:14 The man ¹  replied, “Who made you a ruler ²  and a judge over us? Are you planning ³  to kill me like you killed that ⁴  Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, ⁵  “Surely what I did ⁶  has become known.” 2:15 When Pharaoh heard ⁷  about this event, ⁸  he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled ⁹  from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, ¹⁰  and he settled ¹¹  by a certain well. ¹² 

Exodus 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back ¹³  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ¹⁴ 

Exodus 14:10-13

14:10 When ¹⁵  Pharaoh got closer, ¹⁶  the Israelites looked up, ¹⁷  and there were the Egyptians marching after them, ¹⁸  and they were terrified. ¹⁹  The Israelites cried out to the Lord, ²⁰  14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ²¹  What in the world ²²  have you done to us by bringing ²³  us out of Egypt? 14:12 Isn’t this what we told you ²⁴  in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, ²⁵  because it is better for us to serve ²⁶  the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” ²⁷ 

14:13 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! ²⁸  Stand firm ²⁹  and see ³⁰  the salvation ³¹  of the Lord that he will provide ³²  for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. ³³ 

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “And he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:14]  ² tn Heb “Who placed you for a man, a ruler and a judge over us?” The pleonasm does not need to be translated. For similar constructions see Lev 21:9; Judg 6:8; 2 Sam 1:13; Esth 7:6.

[2:14]  ³ tn The line reads “[is it] to kill me you are planning?” The form אֹמֵר (’omer) is the active participle used verbally; it would literally be “[are you] saying,” but in this context it conveys the meaning of “thinking, planning.” The Qal infinitive then serves as the object of this verbal form – are you planning to kill me?

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Egyptian.” Here the Hebrew article functions in an anaphoric sense, referring back to the individual Moses killed.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn The verb form is “and he said.” But the intent of the form is that he said this within himself, and so it means “he thought, realized, said to himself.” The form, having the vav consecutive, is subordinated to the main idea of the verse, that he was afraid.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn The term הַדָּבָר (haddavar, “the word [thing, matter, incident]”) functions here like a pronoun to refer in brief to what Moses had done. For clarity this has been specified in the translation with the phrase “what I did.”

[2:15]  ⁷ tn The form with the vav consecutive is here subordinated to the main idea that Pharaoh sought to punish Moses.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Heb הַדָּבָר (haddavar, “the word [thing, matter, incident]”) functions here like a pronoun to refer in brief to what Moses had done.

[2:15]  ⁹ tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite shows result – as a result of Pharaoh’s search for him, he fled.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ sn The location of Midyan or Midian is uncertain, but it had to have been beyond the Egyptian borders on the east, either in the Sinai or beyond in the Arabah (south of the Dead Sea) or even on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba. The Midianites seem to have traveled extensively in the desert regions. R. A. Cole (Exodus [TOTC], 60) reasons that since they later were enemies of Israel, it is unlikely that these traditions would have been made up about Israel’s great lawgiver; further, he explains that “Ishmaelite” and “Kenite” might have been clan names within the region of Midian. But see, from a different point of view, G. W. Coats, “Moses and Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb reads “and he sat” or “and he lived.” To translate it “he sat by a well” would seem anticlimactic and unconnected. It probably has the same sense as in the last clause, namely, that he lived in Midian, and he lived near a well, which detail prepares for what follows.

[2:15]  ¹² tn The word has the definite article, “the well.” Gesenius lists this use of the article as that which denotes a thing that is yet unknown to the reader but present in the mind under the circumstances (GKC 407-8 §126.q-r). Where there was a well, people would settle, and as R. A. Cole says it, for people who settled there it was “the well” (Exodus [TOTC], 60).

[4:19]  ¹³ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive vav introduces a circumstantial clause here.

[14:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “drew near.”

[14:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes,” an expression that indicates an intentional and careful looking – they looked up and fixed their sights on the distance.

[14:10]  ¹⁸ tn The construction uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) with the participle, traditionally rendered “and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them.” The deictic particle calls attention in a dramatic way to what was being seen. It captures the surprise and the sudden realization of the people.

[14:10]  ¹⁹ tn The verb “feared” is intensified by the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od): “they feared greatly” or “were terrified.” In one look their defiant boldness seems to have evaporated.

[14:10]  ²⁰ sn Their cry to the Lord was proper and necessary. But their words to Moses were a rebuke and disloyal, showing a lack of faith and understanding. Their arrogance failed them in the crisis because it was built on the arm of flesh. Moses would have to get used to this murmuring, but here he takes it in stride and gives them the proper instructions. They had cried to the Lord, and now the Lord would deliver.

[14:11]  ²¹ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 396-97) notes how the speech is overly dramatic and came from a people given to using such exaggerations (Num 16:14), even using a double negative. The challenge to Moses brings a double irony. To die in the desert would be without proper burial, but in Egypt there were graves – it was a land of tombs and graves! Gesenius notes that two negatives in the sentence do not nullify each other but make the sentence all the more emphatic: “Is it because there were no graves…?” (GKC 483 §152.y).

[14:11]  ²² tn The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:11]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ (lÿhotsi’anu) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.

[14:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Is not this the word that we spoke to you.”

[14:12]  ²⁵ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 164) explains this statement by the people as follows: “The question appears surprising at first, for we have not read previously that such words were spoken to Moses. Nor is the purport of the protest of the Israelite foremen (v 21 [5:21]) identical with that of the words uttered now. However, from a psychological standpoint the matter can be easily explained. In the hour of peril the children of Israel remember that remonstrance, and now it seems to them that it was of a sharper character and flowed from their foresight, and that the present situation justifies it, for death awaits them at this moment in the desert.” This declaration that “we told you so,” born of fright, need not have been strictly accurate or logical.

[14:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “better for us to serve.”

[14:12]  ²⁷ tn Since Hebrew does not use quotation marks to indicate the boundaries of quotations, there is uncertainty about whether the Israelites’ statement in Egypt includes the end of v. 12 or consists solely of “leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians.” In either case, the command to Moses to leave them alone rested on the assumption, spoken or unspoken, that serving Egypt would be less risky than what Moses was proposing. Now with the Egyptian army on the horizon, the Israelites are sure that their worst predictions are about to take place.

[14:13]  ²⁸ tn The use of אַל (’al) with the jussive has the force of “stop fearing.” It is a more immediate negative command than לֹא (lo’) with the imperfect (as in the Decalogue).

[14:13]  ²⁹ tn The force of this verb in the Hitpael is “to station oneself” or “stand firm” without fleeing.

[14:13]  ³⁰ tn The form is an imperative with a vav (ו). It could also be rendered “stand firm and you will see” meaning the result, or “stand firm that you may see” meaning the purpose.

[14:13]  ³¹ tn Or “victory” (NAB) or “deliverance” (NIV, NRSV).

[14:13]  ³² tn Heb “do,” i.e., perform or accomplish.

[14:13]  ³³ tn The construction uses a verbal hendiadys consisting of a Hiphil imperfect (“you will not add”) and a Qal infinitive construct with a suffix (“to see them”) – “you will no longer see them.” Then the clause adds “again, for ever.”