Exodus 2:25

2:25 God saw ¹  the Israelites, and God understood…. ² 

Exodus 4:29

4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and brought together all the Israelite elders. ³ 

Exodus 12:40

12:40 Now the length of time the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴ 

Exodus 16:2

16:2 The entire company ⁵  of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert.

Exodus 16:17

16:17 The Israelites did so, and they gathered – some more, some less.

Exodus 29:45

29:45 I will reside ⁶  among the Israelites, and I will be their God,

Exodus 33:6

33:6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Exodus 35:20

35:20 So the whole community of the Israelites went out from the presence of Moses.

[2:25]  ¹ tn Heb “and God saw.”

[2:25]  ² 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).

[4:29]  ³ sn These are the leaders of the tribes who represented all the people. Later, after the exodus, Moses will select the most capable of them and others to be rulers in a judicial sense (Exod 18:21).

[12:40]  ⁵ sn Here as well some scholars work with the number 430 to try to reduce the stay in Egypt for the bondage. Some argue that if the number included the time in Canaan, that would reduce the bondage by half. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 102) notes that P thought Moses was the fourth generation from Jacob (6:16-27), if those genealogies are not selective. Exodus 6 has Levi – Kohath – Amram – Moses. This would require a period of about 100 years, and that is unusual. There is evidence, however, that the list is selective. In 1 Chr 2:3-20 the text has Bezalel (see Exod 31:2-5) a contemporary of Moses and yet the seventh from Judah. Elishama, a leader of the Ephraimites (Num 10:22), was in the ninth generation from Jacob (1 Chr 7:22-26). Joshua, Moses’ assistant, was the eleventh from Jacob (1 Chr 7:27). So the “four generations” leading up to Moses are not necessarily complete. With regard to Exod 6, K. A. Kitchen has argued that the four names do not indicate successive generations, but tribe (Levi), clan (Kohath), family (Amram), and individual (Moses; K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, 54-55). For a detailed discussion of the length of the sojourn, see E. H. Merrill, A Kingdom of Priests, 75-79.

[16:2]  ⁷ tn Or “community” or “assembly.”

[29:45]  ⁹ tn The verb has the root שָׁכַן (shakan), from which came the word for the dwelling place, or sanctuary, itself (מִשְׁכָּן, mishkan). It is also used for the description of “the Shekinah glory.” God is affirming that he will reside in the midst of his people.