Exodus 4:2

4:2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ¹ 

Exodus 4:24

4:24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, ²  the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. ³ 

Exodus 6:2

6:2 God spoke ⁴  to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. ⁵ 

Exodus 6:28

The Authentication of the Word

6:28 ⁶ When ⁷  the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

Exodus 7:8

7:8 The Lord said ⁸  to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ 

Exodus 7:25

The Second Blow: Frogs

7:25 ¹⁰ Seven full days passed ¹¹  after the Lord struck ¹²  the Nile.

Exodus 8:30

8:30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

Exodus 10:27

10:27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to release them.

Exodus 17:15

17:15 Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” ¹³ 

Exodus 29:11

29:11 You are to kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting

Exodus 32:14

32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

Exodus 33:21

33:21 The Lord said, “Here ¹⁴  is a place by me; you will station yourself ¹⁵  on a rock.

[4:2]  ¹ tn Or “rod” (KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “walking stick”; NLT “shepherd’s staff.”

[4:24]  ² tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”

[4:24]  ³ sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son – but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.

[6:2]  ³ tn Heb “And God spoke.”

[6:2]  ⁴ sn The announcement “I am the Lord” (Heb “Yahweh”) draws in the preceding revelation in Exod 3:15. In that place God called Moses to this task and explained the significance of the name “Yahweh” by the enigmatic expression “I am that I am.” “I am” (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh) is not a name; “Yahweh” is. But the explanation of the name with this sentence indicates that Yahweh is the one who is always there, and that guarantees the future, for everything he does is consistent with his nature. He is eternal, never changing; he remains. Now, in Exodus 6, the meaning of the name “Yahweh” will be more fully unfolded.

[6:28]  ⁴ sn From here on the confrontation between Yahweh and Pharaoh will intensify until Pharaoh is destroyed. The emphasis at this point, though, is on Yahweh’s instructions for Moses to speak to Pharaoh. The first section (6:28-7:7) ends (v. 6) with the notice that Moses and Aaron did just as (כַּאֲשֶׁר, ka’asher) Yahweh had commanded them; the second section (7:8-13) ends with the note that Pharaoh refused to listen, just as (כַּאֲשֶׁר) Yahweh had said would be the case.

[6:28]  ⁵ tn The beginning of this temporal clause does not follow the normal pattern of using the preterite of the main verb after the temporal indicator and prepositional phrase, but instead uses a perfect tense following the noun in construct: וַיְהִי בְּיוֹם דִּבֶּר (vayÿhi bÿyom dibber). See GKC 422 §130.d. This verse introduces a summary (vv. 28-30) of the conversation that was interrupted when the genealogy began.

[7:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[7:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “said to Moses and Aaron, saying.”

[7:25]  ⁶ sn An attempt to connect this plague with the natural phenomena of Egypt proposes that because of the polluted water due to the high Nile, the frogs abandoned their normal watery homes (seven days after the first plague) and sought cover from the sun in homes wherever there was moisture. Since they had already been exposed to the poisonous water, they died very suddenly. The miracle was in the announcement and the timing, i.e., that Moses would predict this blow, and in the magnitude of it all, which was not natural (Greta Hort, “The Plagues of Egypt,” ZAW 69 [1957]: 95-98). It is also important to note that in parts of Egypt there was a fear of these creatures as embodying spirits capable of great evil. People developed the mentality of bowing to incredibly horrible idols to drive away the bad spirits. Evil spirits are represented in the book of Revelation in the forms of frogs (Rev 16:13). The frogs that the magicians produced could very well have been in the realm of evil spirits. Exactly how the Egyptians thought about this plague is hard to determine, but there is enough evidence to say that the plague would have made them spiritually as well as physically uncomfortable, and that the death of the frogs would have been a “sign” from God about their superstitions and related beliefs. The frog is associated with the god Hapi, and a frog-headed goddess named Heqet was supposed to assist women at childbirth. The plague would have been evidence that Yahweh was controlling their environment and upsetting their beliefs for his own purpose.

[7:25]  ⁷ tn The text literally has “and seven days were filled.” Seven days gave Pharaoh enough time to repent and release Israel. When the week passed, God’s second blow came.

[7:25]  ⁸ tn This is a temporal clause made up of the preposition, the Hiphil infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah), הַכּוֹת (hakkot), followed by the subjective genitive YHWH. Here the verb is applied to the true meaning of the plague: Moses struck the water, but the plague was a blow struck by God.

[17:15]  ⁷ sn Heb “Yahweh-nissi” (so NAB), which means “Yahweh is my banner.” Note that when Israel murmured and failed God, the name commemorated the incident or the outcome of their failure. When they were blessed with success, the naming praised God. Here the holding up of the staff of God was preserved in the name for the altar – God gave them the victory.

[33:21]  ⁸ tn The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.

[33:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”