Exodus 3:3

3:3 So Moses thought, ¹  “I will turn aside to see ²  this amazing ³  sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ⁴ 

Exodus 5:9

5:9 Make the work harder ⁵  for the men so they will keep at it ⁶  and pay no attention to lying words!” ⁷ 

Exodus 5:22

The Assurance of Deliverance

5:22 ⁸ Moses returned ⁹  to the Lord, and said, “Lord, ¹⁰  why have you caused trouble for this people? ¹¹  Why did you ever ¹²  send me?

Exodus 8:12

8:12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried ¹³  to the Lord because of ¹⁴  the frogs that he had brought on ¹⁵  Pharaoh.

Exodus 11:4

11:4 Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight ¹⁶  I will go throughout Egypt, ¹⁷ 

Exodus 14:30

14:30 So the Lord saved ¹⁸  Israel on that day from the power ¹⁹  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ²⁰  on the shore of the sea.

Exodus 20:12

20:12 “Honor ²¹  your father and your mother, that you may live a long time ²²  in the land ²³  the Lord your God is giving to you.

Exodus 20:26

20:26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’ ²⁴ 

Exodus 26:11

26:11 You are to make fifty bronze clasps and put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it is a unit. ²⁵ 

Exodus 29:29

29:29 “The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed ²⁶  in them and consecrated ²⁷  in them.

Exodus 30:29-30

30:29 So you are to sanctify them, ²⁸  and they will be most holy; ²⁹  anything that touches them will be holy. ³⁰ 

30:30 “You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and ³¹  sanctify them, so that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 39:4

39:4 They made shoulder pieces for it, attached to two of its corners, so it could be joined together.

[3:3]  ¹ tn Heb “And Moses said.” The implication is that Moses said this to himself.

[3:3]  ² tn The construction uses the cohortative אָסֻרָה־נָּא (’asura-nna’) followed by an imperfect with vav (וְאֶרְאֶה, vÿ’er’eh) to express the purpose or result (logical sequence): “I will turn aside in order that I may see.”

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “great.” The word means something extraordinary here. In using this term Moses revealed his reaction to the strange sight and his anticipation that something special was about to happen. So he turned away from the flock to investigate.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn The verb is an imperfect. Here it has the progressive nuance – the bush is not burning up.

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

[5:9]  ⁶ tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

[5:9]  ⁷ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

[5:22]  ⁹ sn In view of the apparent failure of the mission, Moses seeks Yahweh for assurance. The answer from Yahweh not only assures him that all is well, but that there will be a great deliverance. The passage can be divided into three parts: the complaint of Moses (5:22-23), the promise of Yahweh (6:1-9), and the instructions for Moses (6:10-13). Moses complains because God has not delivered his people as he had said he would, and God answers that he will because he is the sovereign covenant God who keeps his word. Therefore, Moses must keep his commission to speak God’s word. See further, E. A. Martens, “Tackling Old Testament Theology,” JETS 20 (1977): 123-32. The message is very similar to that found in the NT, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet 3:4). The complaint of Moses (5:22-23) can be worded with Peter’s “Where is the promise of his coming?” theme; the assurance from Yahweh (6:1-9) can be worded with Peter’s “The Lord is not slack in keeping his promises” (2 Pet 3:9); and the third part, the instructions for Moses (6:10-13) can be worded with Peter’s “Prepare for the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet 3:12). The people who speak for God must do so in the sure confidence of the coming deliverance – Moses with the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and Christians with the deliverance from this sinful world.

[5:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Moses returned.”

[5:22]  ¹¹ tn The designation in Moses’ address is “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) – the term for “lord” or “master” but pointed as it would be when it represents the tetragrammaton.

[5:22]  ¹² tn The verb is הֲרֵעֹתָה (hare’otah), the Hiphil perfect of רָעַע (ra’a’). The word itself means “to do evil,” and in this stem “to cause evil” – but evil in the sense of pain, calamity, trouble, or affliction, and not always in the sense of sin. Certainly not here. That God had allowed Pharaoh to oppose them had brought greater pain to the Israelites.

[5:22]  ¹³ tn The demonstrative pronoun serves for emphasis in the question (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118). This second question continues Moses’ bold approach to God, more chiding than praying. He is implying that if this was the result of the call, then God had no purpose calling him (compare Jeremiah’s similar complaint in Jer 20).

[8:12]  ¹³ tn The verb צָעַק (tsa’aq) is used for prayers in which people cry out of trouble or from danger. U. Cassuto observes that Moses would have been in real danger if God had not answered this prayer (Exodus, 103).

[8:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[8:12]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is an unusual choice if it were just to mean “brought on.” It is the verb שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). S. R. Driver thinks the thought is “appointed for Pharaoh” as a sign (Exodus, 64). The idea of the sign might be too much, but certainly the frogs were positioned for the instruction of the stubborn king.

[11:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “about the middle of the night.”

[11:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will go out in the midst of Egypt.”

[14:30]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע (vayyosha’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.

[14:30]  ²² tn Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.

[14:30]  ²³ tn The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”

[20:12]  ²⁵ tn The verb כַּבֵּד (kabbed) is a Piel imperative; it calls for people to give their parents the respect and honor that is appropriate for them. It could be paraphrased to say, give them the weight of authority that they deserve. Next to God, parents were to be highly valued, cared for, and respected.

[20:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “that your days may be long.”

[20:12]  ²⁷ sn The promise here is national rather than individual, although it is certainly true that the blessing of life was promised for anyone who was obedient to God’s commands (Deut 4:1, 8:1, etc.). But as W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:424) summarizes, the land that was promised was the land of Canaan, and the duration of Israel in the land was to be based on morality and the fear of God as expressed in the home (Deut 4:26, 33, 40; 32:46-47). The captivity was in part caused by a breakdown in this area (Ezek 22:7, 15). Malachi would announce at the end of his book that Elijah would come at the end of the age to turn the hearts of the children and the parents toward each other again.

[20:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “uncovered” (so ASV, NAB).

[26:11]  ³³ tn Heb “one”

[29:29]  ³⁷ tn The construction is an infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. The form simply means “for anointing,” but it serves to express the purpose or result of their inheriting the sacred garments.

[29:29]  ³⁸ tn This form is a Piel infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. It literally reads “for filling the hands,” the idiom used throughout this chapter for ordination or installation. Here too it has a parallel use of purpose or result.

[30:29]  ⁴¹ tn The verb is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; in this verse it is summarizing or explaining what the anointing has accomplished. This is the effect of the anointing (see Exod 29:36).

[30:29]  ⁴² tn This is the superlative genitive again, Heb “holy of holies.”

[30:29]  ⁴³ tn See Exod 29:37; as before, this could refer to anything or anyone touching the sanctified items.

[30:30]  ⁴⁵ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive follows the imperfect of instruction; it may be equal to the instruction, but more likely shows the purpose or result of the act.