Exodus 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back ¹  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ² 

Exodus 30:35

30:35 and make it into an incense, ³  a perfume, ⁴  the work of a perfumer. It is to be finely ground, ⁵  and pure and sacred.

Exodus 33:15

33:15 And Moses ⁶  said to him, “If your presence does not go ⁷  with us, ⁸  do not take us up from here. ⁹ 

[4:19]  ¹ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

[4:19]  ² sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

[30:35]  ³ tn This is an accusative of result or product.

[30:35]  ⁴ tn The word is in apposition to “incense,” further defining the kind of incense that is to be made.

[30:35]  ⁵ tn The word מְמֻלָּח (mÿmullakh), a passive participle, is usually taken to mean “salted.” Since there is no meaning like that for the Pual form, the word probably should be taken as “mixed,” as in Rashi and Tg. Onq. Seasoning with salt would work if it were food, but since it is not food, if it means “salted” it would be a symbol of what was sound and whole for the covenant. Some have thought that it would have helped the incense burn quickly with more smoke.

[33:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:15]  ⁶ tn The construction uses the active participle to stress the continual going of the presence: if there is not your face going.

[33:15]  ⁷ tn “with us” has been supplied.

[33:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “from this.”