Exodus 6:14

The Ancestry of the Deliverer

6:14 ¹ These are the heads of their fathers’ households: ² 

The sons ³  of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans ⁴  of Reuben.

Exodus 6:25

6:25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the fathers’ households ⁵  of Levi according to their clans.

Exodus 12:9

12:9 Do not eat it raw ⁶  or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

Exodus 17:10

17:10 So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him; ⁷ and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

Exodus 26:24

26:24 At the two corners ⁸  they must be doubled at the lower end and finished together at the top in one ring. So it will be for both.

Exodus 28:32

28:32 There is to be an opening ⁹  in its top ¹⁰  in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, ¹¹  like the opening of a collar, ¹²  so that it cannot be torn. ¹³ 

Exodus 29:10

29:10 “You are to present the bull at the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to put ¹⁴  their hands on the head ¹⁵  of the bull.

Exodus 30:23

30:23 “Take ¹⁶  choice spices: ¹⁷  twelve and a half pounds ¹⁸  of free-flowing myrrh, ¹⁹  half that – about six and a quarter pounds – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane,

Exodus 34:2

34:2 Be prepared ²⁰  in the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and station yourself ²¹  for me there on the top of the mountain.

Exodus 36:29

36:29 At the two corners ²²  they were doubled at the lower end and ²³  finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both.

Exodus 38:17

38:17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands. ²⁴ 

Exodus 38:28

38:28 From the remaining 1,775 shekels ²⁵  he made hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and made bands for them.

[6:14]  ¹ sn This list of names shows that Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi that came to the priesthood. It helps to identify them and authenticate them as spokesmen for God within the larger history of Israel. As N. M. Sarna observes, “Because a genealogy inherently symbolizes vigor and continuity, its presence here also injects a reassuring note into the otherwise despondent mood” (Exodus [JPSTC], 33).

[6:14]  ² tn The expression is literally “the house of their fathers.” This expression means that the household or family descended from a single ancestor. It usually indicates a subdivision of a tribe, that is, a clan, or the subdivision of a clan, that is, a family. Here it refers to a clan (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 46).

[6:14]  ³ tn Or “descendants.”

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Or “families,” and so throughout the genealogy.

[6:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “heads of the fathers” is taken as an abbreviation for the description of “households” in v. 14.

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

[17:10]  ¹³ tn The line in Hebrew reads literally: And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek. The infinitive construct is epexegetical, explaining what Joshua did that was in compliance with Moses’ words.

[26:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they will be for the two corners.” This is the last clause of the verse, moved forward for clarity.

[28:32]  ²¹ tn Heb “mouth” or “opening” (פִּי, pi; in construct).

[28:32]  ²² tn The “mouth of its head” probably means its neck; it may be rendered “the opening for the head,” except the pronominal suffix would have to refer to Aaron, and that is not immediately within the context.

[28:32]  ²³ tn Or “woven work” (KJV, ASV, NASB), that is, “the work of a weaver.” The expression suggests that the weaving was from the fabric edges itself and not something woven and then added to the robe. It was obviously intended to keep the opening from fraying.

[28:32]  ²⁴ tn The expression כְּפִי תַחְרָא (kÿfi takhra’) is difficult. It was early rendered “like the opening of a coat of mail.” It occurs only here and in the parallel 39:23. Tg. Onq. has “coat of mail.” S. R. Driver suggests “a linen corselet,” after the Greek (Exodus, 308). See J. Cohen, “A Samaritan Authentication of the Rabbinic Interpretation of kephi tahra’,” VT 24 (1974): 361-66.

[28:32]  ²⁵ tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect, here given the nuance of potential imperfect. Here it serves in a final clause (purpose/result), introduced only by the negative (see GKC 503-4 §165.a).

[29:10]  ²⁵ tn The verb is singular, agreeing with the first of the compound subject – Aaron.

[29:10]  ²⁶ sn The details of these offerings have to be determined from a careful study of Leviticus. There is a good deal of debate over the meaning of laying hands on the animals. At the very least it identifies the animal formally as their sacrifice. But it may very well indicate that the animal is a substitute for them as well, given the nature and the effect of the sacrifices.

[30:23]  ²⁹ tn The construction uses the imperative “take,” but before it is the independent pronoun to add emphasis to it. After the imperative is the ethical dative (lit. “to you”) to stress the task to Moses as a personal responsibility: “and you, take to yourself.”

[30:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “spices head.” This must mean the chief spices, or perhaps the top spice, meaning fine spices or choice spices. See Song 4:14; Ezek 27:22.

[30:23]  ³¹ tn Or “500 shekels.” Verse 24 specifies that the sanctuary shekel was the unit for weighing the spices. The total of 1500 shekels for the four spices is estimated at between 77 and 100 pounds, or 17 to 22 kilograms, depending on how much a shekel weighed (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:576).

[30:23]  ³² sn Myrrh is an aromatic substance that flows from the bark of certain trees in Arabia and Africa and then hardens. “The hardened globules of the gum appear also to have been ground into a powder that would have been easy to store and would have been poured from a container” (J. Durham, Exodus [WBC], 3:406).

[34:2]  ³³ tn The form is a Niphal participle that means “be prepared, be ready.” This probably means that Moses was to do in preparation what the congregation had to do back in Exod 19:11-15.

[34:2]  ³⁴ sn The same word is used in Exod 33:21. It is as if Moses was to be at his post when Yahweh wanted to communicate to him.

[36:29]  ³⁷ tn This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.

[36:29]  ³⁸ tn This difficult verse uses the perfect tense at the beginning, and the second clause parallels it with יִהְיוּ (yihyu), which has to be taken here as a preterite without the consecutive vav (ו). The predicate “finished” or “completed” is the word תָּמִּים (tammim); it normally means “complete, sound, whole,” and related words describe the sacrifices as without blemish.

[38:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they were banded with silver.”

[38:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Here the word “shekels” is understood; about 45 pounds.