Exodus 12:22

12:22 Take a branch of hyssop, ¹  dip it in the blood that is in the basin, ²  and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out ³  the door of his house until morning.

Exodus 14:27

14:27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state ⁴  when the sun began to rise. ⁵  Now the Egyptians were fleeing ⁶  before it, but the Lord overthrew ⁷  the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

Exodus 18:14

18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this ⁸  that you are doing for the people? ⁹  Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

Exodus 22:1

Laws about Property

22:1 ¹⁰ (21:37) ¹¹  “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back ¹²  five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. ¹³ 

Exodus 27:21

27:21 In the tent of meeting ¹⁴  outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening ¹⁵  to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. ¹⁶ 

[12:22]  ¹ sn The hyssop is a small bush that grows throughout the Sinai, probably the aromatic herb Origanum Maru L., or Origanum Aegyptiacum. The plant also grew out of the walls in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 4:33). See L. Baldensperger and G. M. Crowfoot, “Hyssop,” PEQ 63 (1931): 89-98. A piece of hyssop was also useful to the priests because it worked well for sprinkling.

[12:22]  ² tn The Greek and the Vulgate translate סַף (saf, “basin”) as “threshold.” W. C. Kaiser reports how early traditions grew up about the killing of the lamb on the threshold (“Exodus,” EBC 2:376).

[12:22]  ³ tn Heb “and you, you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house.” This construction puts stress on prohibiting absolutely everyone from going out.

[14:27]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term לְאֵיתָנוֹ (lÿ’etano) means “to its place,” or better, “to its perennial state.” The point is that the sea here had a normal level, and now when the Egyptians were in the sea on the dry ground the water would return to that level.

[14:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “at the turning of the morning”; NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV “at daybreak.”

[14:27]  ⁶ tn The clause begins with the disjunctive vav (ו) on the noun, signaling either a circumstantial clause or a new beginning. It could be rendered, “Although the Egyptians…Yahweh…” or “as the Egyptians….”

[14:27]  ⁷ tn The verb means “shake out” or “shaking off.” It has the significance of “throw downward.” See Neh 5:13 or Job 38:13.

[18:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “what is this thing.”

[18:14]  ⁸ sn This question, “what are you doing for the people,” is qualified by the next question. Sitting alone all day and the people standing around all day showed that Moses was exhibiting too much care for the people – he could not do this.

[22:1]  ¹⁰ sn The next section of laws concerns property rights. These laws protected property from thieves and oppressors, but also set limits to retribution. The message could be: God’s laws demand that the guilty make restitution for their crimes against property and that the innocent be exonerated.

[22:1]  ¹¹ sn Beginning with 22:1, the verse numbers through 22:31 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:1 ET = 21:37 HT, 22:2 ET = 22:1 HT, etc., through 22:31 ET = 22:30 HT. Thus in the English Bible ch. 22 has 31 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 30 verses, with the one extra verse attached to ch. 21 in the Hebrew Bible.

[22:1]  ¹² tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of obligatory imperfect – he must pay back.

[22:1]  ¹³ tn בָּקַר (baqar) and צֹאן (tso’n) are the categories to which the ox and the sheep belonged, so that the criminal had some latitude in paying back animals.

[27:21]  ¹³ tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”

[27:21]  ¹⁴ sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.

[27:21]  ¹⁵ sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.