Exodus 2:17

2:17 When some ¹  shepherds came and drove them away, ²  Moses came up and defended them ³  and then watered their flock.

Exodus 5:15

5:15 ⁴ The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating ⁵  your servants this way?

Exodus 14:22-23

14:22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall ⁶  for them on their right and on their left.

14:23 The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea – all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Exodus 19:2

19:2 After they journeyed ⁷  from Rephidim, they came to the Desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. ⁸ 

[2:17]  ¹ tn The definite article here is the generic use; it simply refers to a group of shepherds.

[2:17]  ² tn The actions of the shepherds are subordinated to the main statement about what Moses did.

[2:17]  ³ sn The verb used here is וַיּוֹשִׁעָן (vayyoshi’an, “and he saved them”). The word means that he came to their rescue and delivered them. By the choice of words the narrator is portraying Moses as the deliverer – he is just not yet ready to deliver Israel from its oppressors.

[5:15]  ⁴ sn The last section of this event tells the effect of the oppression on Israel, first on the people (15-19) and then on Moses and Aaron (20-21). The immediate reaction of Israel was to cry to Pharaoh – something they would learn should be directed to God. When Pharaoh rebuffed them harshly, they turned bitterly against their leaders.

[5:15]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.

[14:22]  ⁷ tn The clause literally reads, “and the waters [were] for them a wall.” The word order in Hebrew is disjunctive, with the vav (ו) on the noun introducing a circumstantial clause.

[19:2]  ¹⁰ tn The form is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, “and they journeyed.” It is here subordinated to the next clause as a temporal clause. But since the action of this temporal clause preceded the actions recorded in v. 1, a translation of “after” will keep the sequence in order. Verse 2 adds details to the summary in v. 1.

[19:2]  ¹¹ sn The mountain is Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, the place where God had met and called Moses and had promised that they would be here to worship him. If this mountain is Jebel Musa, the traditional site of Sinai, then the plain in front of it would be Er-Rahah, about a mile and a half long by half a mile wide, fronting the mountain on the NW side (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 169). The plain itself is about 5000 feet above sea level. A mountain on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula has also been suggested as a possible site.