Discovery BoxExodus 12:1
Context12:1 1 The Lord said 2 to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 3
Exodus 33:1-23
Context33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up 4 from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath 5 to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 6 33:2 I will send an angel 7 before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 8 33:3 Go up 9 to a land flowing with milk and honey. But 10 I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you 11 on the way.”
33:4 When the people heard this troubling word 12 they mourned; 13 no one put on his ornaments. 33:5 For 14 the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, 15 I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, 16 that I may know 17 what I should do to you.’” 18 33:6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
33:7 19 Moses took 20 the tent 21 and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance 22 from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone 23 seeking 24 the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.
33:8 And when Moses went out 25 to the tent, all the people would get up 26 and stand at the entrance to their tents 27 and watch 28 Moses until he entered the tent. 29 33:9 And 30 whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord 31 would speak with Moses. 32 33:10 When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship. 33 33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, 34 the way a person speaks 35 to a friend. Then Moses 36 would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. 37
33:12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ 38 but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, 39 and also you have found favor in my sight.’ 33:13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me 40 your way, that I may know you, 41 that I may continue to find 42 favor in your sight. And see 43 that this nation is your people.”
33:14 And the Lord 44 said, “My presence 45 will go with you, 46 and I will give you rest.” 47
33:15 And Moses 48 said to him, “If your presence does not go 49 with us, 50 do not take us up from here. 51 33:16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” 52
33:17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know 53 you by name.”
33:18 And Moses 54 said, “Show me your glory.” 55
33:19 And the Lord 56 said, “I will make all my goodness 57 pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name 58 before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” 59 33:20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can 60 see me and live.” 61 33:21 The Lord said, “Here 62 is a place by me; you will station yourself 63 on a rock. 33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover 64 you with my hand 65 while I pass by. 66 33:23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, 67 but my face must not be seen.” 68
Exodus 38:1-31
Context38:1 He made the altar for the burnt offering of acacia wood seven feet six inches long and seven feet six inches wide – it was square – and its height was four feet six inches. 38:2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, 69 and he overlaid it with bronze. 38:3 He made all the utensils of the altar – the pots, the shovels, the tossing bowls, the meat hooks, and the fire pans – he made all its utensils of bronze. 38:4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom. 38:5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, to provide places for the poles. 38:6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 38:7 He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made the altar 70 hollow, out of boards.
38:8 He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served 71 at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
38:9 He made the courtyard. For the south side 72 the hangings of the courtyard were of fine twisted linen, one hundred fifty feet long, 38:10 with 73 their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:11 For the north side the hangings were 74 one hundred fifty feet, with their twenty posts and their twenty bronze bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:12 For the west side there were 75 hangings seventy-five feet long, with 76 their ten posts and their ten bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver. 38:13 For the east side, toward the sunrise, it was seventy-five feet wide, 77 38:14 with hangings on one side 78 of the gate that were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases, 38:15 and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other, 79 the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases. 38:16 All the hangings around the courtyard were of fine twisted linen. 38:17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands. 80 38:18 The curtain 81 for the gate of the courtyard was of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. It was thirty feet long, and like the hangings in the courtyard, it was seven and a half feet high, 38:19 with four posts and their four bronze bases. Their hooks and their bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 38:20 All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the courtyard all around were bronze.
38:21 This is the inventory 82 of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted 83 by the order 84 of Moses, being the work 85 of the Levites under the direction 86 of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. 38:22 Now Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the Lord had commanded Moses; 38:23 and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an artisan, a designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
38:24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary 87 (namely, 88 the gold of the wave offering) was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, 89 according to the sanctuary shekel.
38:25 The silver of those who were numbered of the community was one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, 90 according to the sanctuary shekel, 38:26 one beka per person, that is, a half shekel, 91 according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older, 92 603,550 in all. 93 38:27 The one hundred talents of silver were used for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the special curtain – one hundred bases for one hundred talents, one talent per base. 38:28 From the remaining 1,775 shekels 94 he made hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and made bands for them.
38:29 The bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels. 95 38:30 With it he made the bases for the door of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils of the altar, 38:31 the bases for the courtyard all around, the bases for the gate of the courtyard, all the tent pegs of the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs of the courtyard all around. 96
[12:1] 1 sn Chapter 12 details the culmination of the ten plagues on Egypt and the beginning of the actual deliverance from bondage. Moreover, the celebration of this festival of Passover was to become a central part of the holy calendar of Israel. The contents of this chapter have significance for NT studies as well, since the Passover was a type of the death of Jesus. The structure of this section before the crossing of the sea is as follows: the institution of the Passover (12:1-28), the night of farewell and departure (12:29-42), slaves and strangers (12:43-51), and the laws of the firstborn (13:1-16). In this immediate section there is the institution of the Passover itself (12:1-13), then the Unleavened Bread (12:14-20), and then the report of the response of the people (12:21-28).
[12:1] 2 tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”
[33:1] 4 tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”
[33:1] 5 tn Or “the land which I swore.”
[33:2] 7 sn This seems not to be the same as the Angel of the Presence introduced before.
[33:2] 8 sn See T. Ishida, “The Structure and Historical Implications of Lists of Pre-Israelite Nations,” Bib (1979): 461-90.
[33:3] 10 tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.
[33:3] 11 tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”
[33:3] 12 tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.
[33:4] 13 tn Or “bad news” (NAB, NCV).
[33:4] 14 sn The people would rather have risked divine discipline than to go without Yahweh in their midst. So they mourned, and they took off the ornaments. Such had been used in making the golden calf, and so because of their association with all of that they were to be removed as a sign of remorse.
[33:5] 16 tn The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.
[33:5] 17 tn The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav (ו) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”
[33:5] 18 tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”
[33:5] 19 tn The form is the cohortative with a vav (ו) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.
[33:5] 20 tn This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”
[33:7] 19 sn This unit of the book could actually include all of chap. 33, starting with the point of the
[33:7] 20 tn Heb “and Moses took.”
[33:7] 21 sn A widespread contemporary view is that this section represents a source that thought the tent of meeting was already erected (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 359). But the better view is that this is a temporary tent used for meeting the
[33:7] 22 tn The infinitive absolute is used here as an adverb (see GKC 341 §113.h).
[33:7] 23 tn The clause begins with “and it was,” the perfect tense with the vav conjunction. The imperfect tenses in this section are customary, describing what used to happen (others describe the verbs as frequentative). See GKC 315 §107.e.
[33:7] 24 tn The form is the Piel participle. The seeking here would indicate seeking an oracle from Yahweh or seeking to find a resolution for some difficulty (as in 2 Sam 21:1) or even perhaps coming with a sacrifice. B. Jacob notes that the tent was even here a place of prayer, for the benefit of the people (Exodus, 961). It is not known how long this location was used.
[33:8] 22 tn The clause is introduced again with “and it was.” The perfect tense here with the vav (ו) is used to continue the sequence of actions that were done repeatedly in the past (see GKC 331-32 §112.e). The temporal clause is then formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’), with “Moses” as the subjective genitive: “and it was according to the going out of Moses.”
[33:8] 24 tn The subject of this verb is specified with the individualizing use of “man”: “and all Israel would station themselves, each person (man) at the entrance to his tent.”
[33:8] 25 tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) continues the sequence of the customary imperfect. The people “would gaze” (after) Moses until he entered the tent.
[33:8] 26 tn This is a temporal clause using an infinitive construct with a suffixed subject.
[33:9] 25 tn Heb “and it was when.”
[33:9] 26 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[33:9] 27 tn Both verbs, “stand” and “speak,” are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive.
[33:10] 28 tn All the main verbs in this verse are perfect tenses continuing the customary sequence (see GKC 337 §112.kk). The idea is that the people would get up (rise) when the cloud was there and then worship, meaning in part bow down. When the cloud was not there, there was access to seek God.
[33:11] 31 tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).
[33:11] 32 tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.
[33:11] 33 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[33:11] 34 sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.
[33:12] 34 tn The Hiphil imperative is from the same verb that has been used before for bringing the people up from Egypt and leading them to Canaan.
[33:12] 35 tn That is, “chosen you.”
[33:13] 37 tn The prayer uses the Hiphil imperative of the verb “to know.” “Cause me to know” is “show me, reveal to me, teach or inform me.” Moses wanted to know more of God’s dealings with people, especially after all that has happened in the preceding chapter.
[33:13] 38 tn The imperfect tense of the verb “to know” with the vav follows the imperative of this root, and so this indicates the purpose clause (final imperfect): “in order that I may know you.” S. R. Driver summarizes it this way: that I may understand what your nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, so that I may find grace in your sight, and my future prayers may be answered (Exodus, 361).
[33:13] 39 tn The purpose clause simply uses the imperfect, “that I may find.” But since he already has found favor in God’s eyes, he is clearly praying that it be so in the future as well as now.
[33:13] 40 tn The verb “see” (an imperative) is a request for God to acknowledge Israel as his people by providing the divine leadership needed. So his main appeal will be for the people and not himself. To underscore this, he repeats “see” the way the section opened.
[33:14] 40 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the
[33:14] 41 sn Heb “my face.” This represents the presence of Yahweh going with the people (see 2 Sam 17:11 for an illustration). The “presence” probably refers to the angel of the presence or some similar manifestation of God’s leading and caring for his people.
[33:14] 42 tn The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
[33:14] 43 sn The expression certainly refers to the peace of mind and security of knowing that God was with them. But the expression came to mean “settle them in the land of promise” and give them rest and peace from their enemies. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 434) observes how in 32:10 God had told Moses, “Leave me alone” (“give me rest”), but now he promises to give them rest. The parallelism underscores the great transition through intercession.
[33:15] 43 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (
[33:15] 44 tn The construction uses the active participle to stress the continual going of the presence: if there is not your face going.
[33:15] 45 tn “with us” has been supplied.
[33:15] 46 tn Heb “from this.”
[33:16] 46 sn See W. Brueggemann, “The Crisis and Promise of Presence in Israel,” HBT 1 (1979): 47-86; and N. M. Waldman, “God’s Ways – A Comparative Note,” JQR 70 (1979): 67-70.
[33:17] 49 tn The verb in this place is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive, judging from the pointing. It then follows in sequence the verb “you have found favor,” meaning you stand in that favor, and so it means “I have known you” and still do (equal to the present perfect). The emphasis, however, is on the results of the action, and so “I know you.”
[33:18] 52 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (
[33:18] 53 sn Moses now wanted to see the glory of Yahweh, more than what he had already seen and experienced. He wanted to see God in all his majesty. The LXX chose to translate this without a word for “glory” or “honor”; instead they used the pronoun seautou, “yourself” – show me the real You. God tells him that he cannot see it fully, but in part. It will be enough for Moses to disclose to him the reality of the divine presence as well as God’s moral nature. It would be impossible for Moses to comprehend all of the nature of God, for there is a boundary between God and man. But God would let him see his goodness, the sum of his nature, pass by in a flash. B. Jacob (Exodus, 972) says that the glory refers to God’s majesty, might, and glory, as manifested in nature, in his providence, his laws, and his judgments. He adds that this glory should and would be made visible to man – that was its purpose in the world.
[33:19] 55 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the
[33:19] 56 sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.
[33:19] 57 tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the
[33:19] 58 sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.
[33:20] 58 tn In view of the use of the verb “can, be able to” in the first clause, this imperfect tense is given a potential nuance.
[33:20] 59 tn Gesenius notes that sometimes a negative statement takes the place of a conditional clause; here it is equal to “if a man sees me he does not live” (GKC 498 §159.gg). The other passages that teach this are Gen 32:30; Deut 4:33, 5:24, 26; Judg 6:22, 13:22, and Isa 6:5.
[33:21] 61 tn The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.
[33:21] 62 tn Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”
[33:22] 64 sn Note the use in Exod 40:3, “and you will screen the ark with the curtain.” The glory is covered, veiled from being seen.
[33:22] 65 tn The circumstantial clause is simply, “my hand [being] over you.” This protecting hand of Yahweh represents a fairly common theme in the Bible.
[33:22] 66 tn The construction has a preposition with an infinitive construct and a suffix: “while [or until] I pass by” (Heb “in the passing by of me”).
[33:23] 67 tn The plural “my backs” is according to Gesenius an extension plural (compare “face,” a dual in Hebrew). The word denotes a locality in general, but that is composed of numerous parts (see GKC 397 §124.b). W. C. Kaiser says that since God is a spirit, the meaning of this word could just as easily be rendered “after effects” of his presence (“Exodus,” EBC 2:484). As S. R. Driver says, though, while this may indicate just the “afterglow” that he leaves behind him, it was enough to suggest what the full brilliancy of his presence must be (Exodus, 363; see also Job 26:14).
[33:23] 68 tn The Niphal imperfect could simply be rendered “will not be seen,” but given the emphasis of the preceding verses, it is more binding than that, and so a negated obligatory imperfect fits better: “it must not be seen.” It would also be possible to render it with a potential imperfect tense: “it cannot be seen.”
[38:2] 70 tn Heb “its horns were from it,” meaning from the same piece.
[38:7] 73 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the altar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[38:8] 76 sn The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 Hebrew text]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said.
[38:9] 79 tn Heb “south side southward.”
[38:10] 82 tn While this verse could be translated as an independent sentence, it is probably to be subordinated as a circumstantial clause in line with Exod 27:10-12, as well as v. 12 of this passage.
[38:11] 85 tn Here the phrase “the hangings were” has been supplied.
[38:12] 88 tn The phrase “there were” has been supplied.
[38:12] 89 tn The text simply has “their posts ten and their bases ten”; this may be added here as a circumstantial clause with the main sentence in order to make sense out of the construction.
[38:13] 91 tn The text simply says “seventy-five feet.”
[38:14] 94 tn The word literally means “shoulder.” The next words, “of the gate,” have been supplied here. The east end contained the courtyard’s entry with a wall of curtains on each side of the entry (see v. 15).
[38:15] 97 tn Heb “from this and from this” (cf, 17:12; 25:19; 26:13; 32:15; Josh 8:22, 33; 1 Kgs 10:19-20; Ezek 45:7).
[38:17] 100 tn Heb “they were banded with silver.”
[38:18] 103 tn This word is different from the word for hangings; it has more of the idea of a screen, shielding or securing the area.
[38:21] 106 tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.
[38:21] 107 tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.
[38:21] 108 tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”
[38:21] 109 tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).
[38:21] 110 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
[38:24] 109 tn These words form the casus pendens, or independent nominative absolute, followed by the apodosis beginning with the vav (ו; see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 469).
[38:24] 110 tn Heb “and it was.”
[38:24] 111 sn There were 3000 shekels in a talent, and so the total weight here in shekels would be 87,730 shekels of gold. If the sanctuary shekel was 224 grs., then this was about 40,940 oz. troy. This is estimated to be a little over a ton (cf. NCV “over 2,000 pounds”; TEV “a thousand kilogrammes”; CEV “two thousand two hundred nine pounds”; NLT “about 2,200 pounds”), although other widely diverging estimates are also given.
[38:25] 112 sn This would be a total of 301,775 shekels (about 140,828 oz), being a half shekel exacted per person from 605,550 male Israelites 20 years old or more (Num 1:46). The amount is estimated to be around 3.75 tons.
[38:26] 115 sn The weight would be about half an ounce.
[38:26] 117 tn The phrase “in all” has been supplied.
[38:28] 118 tn Here the word “shekels” is understood; about 45 pounds.
[38:29] 121 sn The total shekels would have been 212,400 shekels, which would be about 108,749 oz. This would make about 2.5 to 3 tons.
[38:31] 124 sn The bronze altar is the altar for the burnt offering; the large bronze basin is not included here in the list.
