Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ¹ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ² 

Psalms 91:14-15

91:14 The Lord says, ³ 

“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;

I will protect him ⁴  because he is loyal to me. ⁵ 

91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

Exodus 2:23

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ⁶ During ⁷  that long period of time ⁸  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁹  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ¹⁰  because of their slave labor went up to God.

Exodus 14:10

14:10 When ¹¹  Pharaoh got closer, ¹²  the Israelites looked up, ¹³  and there were the Egyptians marching after them, ¹⁴  and they were terrified. ¹⁵  The Israelites cried out to the Lord, ¹⁶ 

Exodus 14:30-31

14:30 So the Lord saved ¹⁷  Israel on that day from the power ¹⁸  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ¹⁹  on the shore of the sea. 14:31 When Israel saw ²⁰  the great power ²¹  that the Lord had exercised ²²  over the Egyptians, they ²³  feared the Lord, and they believed in ²⁴  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ²⁵ 

Exodus 17:2-7

17:2 So the people contended ²⁶  with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!” ²⁷  Moses said to them, “Why do you contend ²⁸  with me? Why do you test ²⁹  the Lord?” 17:3 But the people were very thirsty ³⁰  there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world ³¹  did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ³² 

17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with ³³  this people? – a little more ³⁴  and they will stone me!” ³⁵  17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; ³⁶  take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 17:6 I will be standing ³⁷  before you there on ³⁸  the rock in Horeb, and you will strike ³⁹  the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” ⁴⁰  And Moses did so in plain view ⁴¹  of the elders of Israel.

17:7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, ⁴²  saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

[50:15]  ¹ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ² sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[91:14]  ³ tn The words “the Lord says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the words which follow are the Lord’s oracle of assurance.

[91:14]  ⁴ tn Or “make him secure” (Heb “set him on high”).

[91:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “because he knows my name” (see Ps 9:10).

[2:23]  ⁶ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[14:10]  ¹¹ tn The disjunctive vav introduces a circumstantial clause here.

[14:10]  ¹² tn Heb “drew near.”

[14:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes,” an expression that indicates an intentional and careful looking – they looked up and fixed their sights on the distance.

[14:10]  ¹⁴ tn The construction uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) with the participle, traditionally rendered “and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them.” The deictic particle calls attention in a dramatic way to what was being seen. It captures the surprise and the sudden realization of the people.

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb “feared” is intensified by the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od): “they feared greatly” or “were terrified.” In one look their defiant boldness seems to have evaporated.

[14:10]  ¹⁶ sn Their cry to the Lord was proper and necessary. But their words to Moses were a rebuke and disloyal, showing a lack of faith and understanding. Their arrogance failed them in the crisis because it was built on the arm of flesh. Moses would have to get used to this murmuring, but here he takes it in stride and gives them the proper instructions. They had cried to the Lord, and now the Lord would deliver.

[14:30]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע (vayyosha’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.

[14:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.

[14:30]  ¹⁹ tn The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”

[14:31]  ²⁰ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.

[14:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.

[14:31]  ²² tn Heb “did, made.”

[14:31]  ²³ tn Heb “and the people feared.”

[14:31]  ²⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’aman).

[14:31]  ²⁵ sn Here the title of “servant” is given to Moses. This is the highest title a mortal can have in the OT – the “servant of Yahweh.” It signifies more than a believer; it describes the individual as acting on behalf of God. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand, God used it as his own (Isa 63:12). Moses was God’s personal representative. The chapter records both a message of salvation and of judgment. Like the earlier account of deliverance at the Passover, this chapter can be a lesson on deliverance from present troubles – if God could do this for Israel, there is no trouble too great for him to overcome. The passage can also be understood as a picture (at least) of the deliverance at the final judgment on the world. But the Israelites used this account for a paradigm of the power of God: namely, God is able to deliver his people from danger because he is the sovereign Lord of creation. His people must learn to trust him, even in desperate situations; they must fear him and not the situation. God can bring any threat to an end by bringing his power to bear in judgment on the wicked.

[17:2]  ²⁶ tn The verb וַיָּרֶב (vayyarev) is from the root רִיב (riv); it forms the basis of the name “Meribah.” The word means “strive, quarrel, be in contention” and even “litigation.” A translation “quarrel” does not appear to capture the magnitude of what is being done here. The people have a legal dispute – they are contending with Moses as if bringing a lawsuit.

[17:2]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect tense with the vav (ו) follows the imperative, and so it carries the nuance of the logical sequence, showing purpose or result. This may be expressed in English as “give us water so that we may drink,” but more simply with the English infinitive, “give us water to drink.”

[17:2]  ²⁸ tn In this case and in the next clause the imperfect tenses are to be taken as progressive imperfects – the action is in progress.

[17:2]  ²⁹ tn The verb נָסָה (nasah) means “to test, tempt, try, prove.” It can be used of people simply trying to do something that they are not sure of (such as David trying on Saul’s armor), or of God testing people to see if they will obey (as in testing Abraham, Gen 22:1), or of people challenging others (as in the Queen of Sheba coming to test Solomon), and of the people in the desert in rebellion putting God to the test. By doubting that God was truly in their midst, and demanding that he demonstrate his presence, they tested him to see if he would act. There are times when “proving” God is correct and required, but that is done by faith (as with Gideon); when it is done out of unbelief, then it is an act of disloyalty.

[17:3]  ³⁰ tn The verbs and the pronouns in this verse are in the singular because “the people” is singular in form.

[17:3]  ³¹ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used as the enclitic form for special emphasis in the question; it literally says, “why is this you have brought us up?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[17:3]  ³² sn Their words deny God the credit for bringing them out of Egypt, impugn the integrity of Moses and God by accusing them of bringing the people out here to die, and show a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for them.

[17:4]  ³³ tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).

[17:4]  ³⁴ tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:4]  ³⁵ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive almost develops an independent force; this is true in sentences where it follows an expression of time, as here (see GKC 334 §112.x).

[17:5]  ³⁶ tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).

[17:6]  ³⁷ tn The construction uses הִנְנִי עֹמֵד (hinni ’omed) to express the futur instans or imminent future of the verb: “I am going to be standing.”

[17:6]  ³⁸ tn Or “by” (NIV, NLT).

[17:6]  ³⁹ tn The form is a Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the future nuance of the participle and so is equivalent to an imperfect tense nuance of instruction.

[17:6]  ⁴⁰ tn These two verbs are also perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive: “and [water] will go out…and [the people] will drink.” But the second verb is clearly the intent or the result of the water gushing from the rock, and so it may be subordinated.

[17:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[17:7]  ⁴² sn The name Massah (מַסָּה, massah) means “Proving”; it is derived from the verb “test, prove, try.” And the name Meribah (מְרִיבָה, mÿrivah) means “Strife”; it is related to the verb “to strive, quarrel, contend.” The choice of these names for the place would serve to remind Israel for all time of this failure with God. God wanted this and all subsequent generations to know how unbelief challenges God. And yet, he gave them water. So in spite of their failure, he remained faithful to his promises. The incident became proverbial, for it is the warning in Ps 95:7-8, which is quoted in Heb 3:15: “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness. There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years.” The lesson is clear enough: to persist in this kind of unbelief could only result in the loss of divine blessing. Or, to put it another way, if they refused to believe in the power of God, they would wander powerless in the wilderness. They had every reason to believe, but they did not. (Note that this does not mean they are unbelievers, only that they would not take God at his word.)