Exodus 2:23-25

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ¹ During ²  that long period of time ³  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁴  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ⁵  because of their slave labor went up to God. 2:24 God heard their groaning, ⁶  God remembered ⁷  his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 2:25 God saw ⁸  the Israelites, and God understood…. ⁹ 

Exodus 22:23

22:23 If you afflict them ¹⁰  in any way ¹¹  and they cry to me, I will surely hear ¹²  their cry,

Genesis 29:32

29:32 So Leah became pregnant ¹³  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ¹⁴  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ¹⁵  Surely my husband will love me now.”

Genesis 29:1

The Marriages of Jacob

29:1 So Jacob moved on ¹⁶  and came to the land of the eastern people. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹⁸  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Psalms 22:24

22:24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering ¹⁹  of the oppressed; ²⁰ 

he did not ignore him; ²¹ 

when he cried out to him, he responded. ²² 

Psalms 34:4

34:4 I sought the Lord’s help ²³  and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalms 34:6

34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;

he saved him ²⁴  from all his troubles.

Psalms 106:44

106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress,

when he heard their cry for help.

Psalms 145:19

145:19 He satisfies the desire ²⁵  of his loyal followers; ²⁶ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

Isaiah 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ²⁷ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ²⁸  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ²⁹  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ³⁰ 

Hebrews 4:15

4:15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.

[2:23]  ¹ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

[2:23]  ² tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[2:23]  ³ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ⁵ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[2:24]  ⁶ sn The word for this painfully intense “groaning” appears elsewhere to describe a response to having two broken arms (Ezek 30:24).

[2:24]  ⁷ sn The two verbs “heard” and “remembered,” both preterites, say far more than they seem to say. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’, “to hear”) ordinarily includes responding to what is heard. It can even be found in idiomatic constructions meaning “to obey.” To say God heard their complaint means that God responded to it. Likewise, the verb זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) means to begin to act on the basis of what is remembered. A prayer to God that says, “Remember me,” is asking for more than mere recollection (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], 1-8). The structure of this section at the end of the chapter is powerful. There are four descriptions of the Israelites, with a fourfold reaction from God. On the Israelites’ side, they groaned (אָנַח [’anakh], נְאָקָה [nÿ’aqah]) and cried out (זָעַק [za’aq], שַׁוְעָה [shav’ah]) to God. On the divine side God heard (שָׁמָע, shama’) their groaning, remembered (זָכַר, zakhar) his covenant, looked (רָאָה, ra’ah) at the Israelites, and took notice (יָדַע, yada’) of them. These verbs emphasize God’s sympathy and compassion for the people. God is near to those in need; in fact, the deliverer had already been chosen. It is important to note at this point the repetition of the word “God.” The text is waiting to introduce the name “Yahweh” in a special way. Meanwhile, the fourfold repetition of “God” in vv. 24-25 is unusual and draws attention to the statements about his attention to Israel’s plight.

[2:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and God saw.”

[2:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and God knew” (יָדַע, yada’). The last clause contains a widely used verb for knowing, but it leaves the object unexpressed within the clause, so as to allow all that vv. 23-24 have described to serve as the compelling content of God’s knowing. (Many modern English versions supply an object for the verb following the LXX, which reads “knew them.”) The idea seems to be that God took personal knowledge of, noticed, or regarded them. In other passages the verb “know” is similar in meaning to “save” or “show pity.” See especially Gen 18:21, Ps 1:6; 31:7, and Amos 3:2. Exodus has already provided an example of the results of not knowing in 1:8 (cf. 5:2).

[22:23]  ¹⁰ tn The accusative here is the masculine singular pronoun, which leads S. R. Driver to conclude that this line is out of place, even though the masculine singular can be used in places like this (Exodus, 232). U. Cassuto says its use is to refer to certain classes (Exodus, 292).

[22:23]  ¹¹ tn Here again and with “cry” the infinitive absolute functions with a diminished emphasis (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[22:23]  ¹² tn Here is the normal use of the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense to emphasize the verb: “I will surely hear,” implying, “I will surely respond.”

[29:32]  ¹³ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ¹⁴ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.

[29:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”

[9:16]  ¹⁸ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[22:24]  ¹⁹ tn Or “affliction”; or “need.”

[22:24]  ²⁰ sn In this verse the psalmist refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as oppressed.

[22:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “he did not hide his face from him.” For other uses of the idiom “hide the face” meaning “ignore,” see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9. Sometimes the idiom carries the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 27:9; 88:14).

[22:24]  ²² tn Heb “heard.”

[34:4]  ²³ tn Heb “I sought the Lord.”

[34:6]  ²⁴ tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.

[145:19]  ²⁵ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[63:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”