Exodus 12:37

12:37 The Israelites journeyed ¹  from Rameses ²  to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men ³  on foot, plus their dependants. ⁴ 

Exodus 14:7

14:7 He took six hundred select ⁵  chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, ⁶  and officers ⁷  on all of them.

Exodus 16:26

16:26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

Exodus 21:2

Hebrew Servants

21:2 ⁸ “If you buy ⁹  a Hebrew servant, ¹⁰  he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free ¹¹  without paying anything. ¹² 

Exodus 34:21

34:21 “On six days ¹³  you may labor, but on the seventh day you must rest; ¹⁴  even at the time of plowing and of harvest ¹⁵  you are to rest. ¹⁶ 

Exodus 36:16

36:16 He joined five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves.

[12:37]  ¹ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel journeyed.”

[12:37]  ² sn The wilderness itinerary begins here. W. C. Kaiser records the identification of these two places as follows: The name Rameses probably refers to Qantir rather than Tanis, which is more remote, because Qantir was by the water; Sukkoth is identified as Tell el Maskhuta in the Wadi Tumilat near modern Ismailia – or the region around the city (“Exodus,” EBC 2:379). Of the extensive bibliography, see G. W. Coats, “The Wilderness Itinerary,” CBQ 34 (1972): 135-52; G. I. Davies, “The Wilderness Itineraries: A Comparative Study,” TynBul 25 (1974): 46-81; and J. T. Walsh, “From Egypt to Moab. A Source Critical Analysis of the Wilderness Itinerary,” CBQ 39 (1977): 20-33.

[12:37]  ³ tn The word for “men” (הַגְּבָרִים, haggÿvarim) stresses their hardiness and capability – strong men, potential soldiers – in contrast with the word that follows and designates noncombatants.

[12:37]  ⁴ tn For more on this word see 10:10 and 24.

[14:7]  ⁵ tn The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.

[14:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”

[14:7]  ⁷ tn The word שָׁלִשִׁם (shalishim) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).

[21:2]  ⁹ sn See H. L. Elleson, “The Hebrew Slave: A Study in Early Israelite Society,” EvQ 45 (1973): 30-35; N. P. Lemche, “The Manumission of Slaves – The Fallow Year – The Sabbatical Year – The Jobel Year,” VT 26 (1976): 38-59, and “The ‘Hebrew Slave,’ Comments on the Slave Law – Ex. 21:2-11,” VT 25 (1975): 129-44.

[21:2]  ¹⁰ tn The verbs in both the conditional clause and the following ruling are imperfect tense: “If you buy…then he will serve.” The second imperfect tense (the ruling) could be taken either as a specific future or an obligatory imperfect. Gesenius explains how the verb works in the conditional clauses here (see GKC 497 §159.bb).

[21:2]  ¹¹ sn The interpretation of “Hebrew” in this verse is uncertain: (l) a gentilic ending, (2) a fellow Israelite, (3) or a class of mercenaries of the population (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:431). It seems likely that the term describes someone born a Hebrew, as opposed to a foreigner (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 210). The literature on this includes: M. P. Gray, “The Habiru-Hebrew Problem,” HUCA 29 (1958): 135-202.

[21:2]  ¹² sn The word חָפְשִׁי (khofshi) means “free.” It is possible that there is some connection between this word and a technical term used in other cultures for a social class of emancipated slaves who were freemen again (see I. Mendelsohn, “New Light on the Hupsu,” BASOR 139 [1955]: 9-11).

[21:2]  ¹³ tn The adverb חִנָּם (hinnam) means “gratis, free”; it is related to the verb “to be gracious, show favor” and the noun “grace.”

[34:21]  ¹³ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[34:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “cease” (i.e., from the labors).

[34:21]  ¹⁵ sn See M. Dahood, “Vocative lamed in Exodus 2,4 and Merismus in 34,21,” Bib 62 (1981): 413-15.

[34:21]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect tense expresses injunction or instruction.