Exodus 35:3

35:3 You must not kindle a fire ¹  in any of your homes ²  on the Sabbath day.” ³ 

Exodus 12:8

12:8 They will eat the meat the same night; ⁴  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ⁵  and with bitter herbs.

Exodus 3:2

3:2 The angel of the Lord ⁶  appeared ⁷  to him in ⁸  a flame of fire from within a bush. ⁹  He looked ¹⁰  – and ¹¹  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ¹² 

Exodus 12:9

12:9 Do not eat it raw ¹³  or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

Exodus 13:21

13:21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ¹⁴  so that they could ¹⁵  travel day or night. ¹⁶ 

Exodus 14:24

14:24 In the morning watch ¹⁷  the Lord looked down ¹⁸  on the Egyptian army ¹⁹  through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army ²⁰  into a panic. ²¹ 

Exodus 22:6

22:6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads ²²  to thorn bushes, ²³  so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started ²⁴  the fire must surely make restitution.

Exodus 9:23

9:23 When Moses extended ²⁵  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ²⁶  sent thunder ²⁷  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ²⁸  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

[35:3]  ¹ sn Kindling a fire receives special attention here because the people thought that kindling a fire was not work, but only a preparation for some kind of work. The Law makes sure that this too was not done. But see also G. Robinson, “The Prohibition of Strange Fire in Ancient Israel: A Look at the Case of Gathering Wood and Kindling Fire on the Sabbath,” VT 28 (1978): 301-17.

[35:3]  ² tn Heb “dwelling places”; KJV, ASV “habitations.”

[35:3]  ³ sn The presence of these three verses in this place has raised all kinds of questions. It may be that after the renewal of the covenant the people needed a reminder to obey God, and obeying the sign of the covenant was the starting point. But there is more to it than this; it is part of the narrative design of the book. It is the artistic design that puts the filling of the Spirit section (31:1-11) prior to the Sabbath laws (31:12-18) before the idolatry section, and then after the renewal there is the Sabbath reminder (35:1-3) before the filling of the Spirit material (35:4-36:7).

[12:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:8]  ⁵ sn Bread made without yeast could be baked quickly, not requiring time for the use of a leavening ingredient to make the dough rise. In Deut 16:3 the unleavened cakes are called “the bread of affliction,” which alludes to the alarm and haste of the Israelites. In later Judaism and in the writings of Paul, leaven came to be a symbol of evil or corruption, and so “unleavened bread” – bread made without yeast – was interpreted to be a picture of purity or freedom from corruption or defilement (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 90-91).

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[12:9]  ¹⁰ sn This ruling was to prevent their eating it just softened by the fire or partially roasted as differing customs might prescribe or allow.

[13:21]  ¹³ sn God chose to guide the people with a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, or, as a pillar of cloud and fire, since they represented his presence. God had already appeared to Moses in the fire of the bush, and so here again is revelation with fire. Whatever the exact nature of these things, they formed direct, visible revelations from God, who was guiding the people in a clear and unambiguous way. Both clouds and fire would again and again represent the presence of God in his power and majesty, guiding and protecting his people, by judging their enemies.

[13:21]  ¹⁴ tn The infinitive construct here indicates the result of these manifestations – “so that they went” or “could go.”

[13:21]  ¹⁵ tn These are adverbial accusatives of time.

[14:24]  ¹⁶ tn The night was divided into three watches of about four hours each, making the morning watch about 2:00-6:00 a.m. The text has this as “the watch of the morning,” the genitive qualifying which of the night watches was meant.

[14:24]  ¹⁷ tn This particular verb, שָׁקַף (shaqaf) is a bold anthropomorphism: Yahweh looked down. But its usage is always with some demonstration of mercy or wrath. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 120) suggests that the look might be with fiery flashes to startle the Egyptians, throwing them into a panic. Ps 77:17-19 pictures torrents of rain with lightning and thunder.

[14:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “camp.” The same Hebrew word is used in Exod 14:20. Unlike the English word “camp,” it can be used of a body of people at rest (encamped) or on the move.

[14:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “camp.”

[14:24]  ²⁰ tn The verb הָמַם (hamam) means “throw into confusion.” It is used in the Bible for the panic and disarray of an army before a superior force (Josh 10:10; Judg 4:15).

[22:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “if a fire goes out and finds”; NLT “if a fire gets out of control.”

[22:6]  ²⁰ sn Thorn bushes were used for hedges between fields, but thorn bushes also burned easily, making the fire spread rapidly.

[22:6]  ²¹ tn This is a Hiphil participle of the verb “to burn, kindle” used substantivally. This is the one who caused the fire, whether by accident or not.

[9:23]  ²² tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ²³ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ²⁴ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ²⁵ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.