Exodus 4:9

4:9 And if ¹  they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, ²  then take ³  some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” ⁴ 

Exodus 4:14

4:14 Then the Lord became angry with ⁵  Moses, and he said, “What about ⁶  your brother Aaron the Levite? ⁷  I know that he can speak very well. ⁸  Moreover, he is coming ⁹  to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁰ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “listen to your voice.”

[4:9]  ³ tn The verb form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it functions then as the equivalent of the imperfect tense – here as an imperfect of instruction.

[4:9]  ⁴ sn This is a powerful sign, for the Nile was always known as the source of life in Egypt, but now it will become the evidence of death. So the three signs were alike, each consisting of life and death. They would clearly anticipate the struggle with Egypt through the plagues. The point is clear that in the face of the possibility that people might not believe, the servants of God must offer clear proof of the power of God as they deliver the message of God. The rest is up to God.

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the anger of Yahweh burned against.”

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “Is not” or perhaps “Is [there] not.”

[4:14]  ⁷ sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 29) suggests that the term “Levite” may refer to a profession rather than ancestry here, because both Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi and there would be little point in noting that ancestry for Aaron. In thinking through the difficult problem of the identity of Levites, he cites McNeile as saying “the Levite” referred to one who had had official training as a priest (cf. Judg 17:7, where a member of the tribe of Judah was a Levite). If it was the duty of the priest to give “torah” – to teach – then some training in the power of language would have been in order.

[4:14]  ⁸ tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive absolute and the Piel imperfect to express the idea that he spoke very well: דַבֵּר יְדַבֵּר (dabber yÿdabber).

[4:14]  ⁹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with the participle points to the imminent future; it means “he is about to come” or “here he is coming.”

[4:14]  ¹⁰ sn It is unlikely that this simply means that as a brother he will be pleased to see Moses, for the narrative has no time for that kind of comment. It is interested in more significant things. The implication is that Aaron will rejoice because of the revelation of God to Moses and the plan to deliver Israel from bondage (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 93).