Exodus 3:10-11

3:10 So now go, and I will send you ¹  to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

3:11 Moses said ²  to God, ³  “Who am I, that I should go ⁴  to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Exodus 12:51

12:51 And on this very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.

Exodus 16:27

16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing.

Exodus 23:28

23:28 I will send ⁵  hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you.

Exodus 32:32-33

32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, ⁶  but if not, wipe me out ⁷  from your book that you have written.” ⁸  32:33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book.

[3:10]  ¹ tn The verse has a sequence of volitives. The first form is the imperative לְכָה (lÿkha, “go”). Then comes the cohortative/imperfect form with the vav (ו), “and I will send you” or more likely “that I may send you” (וְאֶשְׁלָחֲךָ, vÿ’eshlakhakha), which is followed by the imperative with the vav, “and bring out” or “that you may bring out” (וְהוֹצֵא, vÿhotse’). The series of actions begins with Moses going. When he goes, it will be the Lord who sends him, and if the Lord sends him, it will be with the purpose of leading Israel out of Egypt.

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “And Moses said.”

[3:11]  ³ sn When he was younger, Moses was confident and impulsive, but now that he is older the greatness of the task makes him unsure. The remainder of this chapter and the next chapter record the four difficulties of Moses and how the Lord answers them (11-12, 13-22; then 4:1-9; and finally 4:10-17).

[3:11]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense אֵלֵךְ (’elekh) carries the modal nuance of obligatory imperfect, i.e., “that I should go.” Moses at this point is overwhelmed with the task of representing God, and with his personal insufficiency, and so in honest humility questions the choice.

[23:28]  ³ tn Heb “and I will send.”

[32:32]  ⁴ tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”

[32:32]  ⁵ tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.

[32:32]  ⁶ sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).