Psalms 105:18

105:18 The shackles hurt his feet; ¹ 

his neck was placed in an iron collar, ² 

Exodus 2:23-24

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ³ During ⁴  that long period of time ⁵  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁶  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ⁷  because of their slave labor went up to God. 2:24 God heard their groaning, ⁸  God remembered ⁹  his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,

Exodus 2:2

2:2 The woman became pregnant ¹⁰  and gave birth to a son. When ¹¹  she saw that ¹²  he was a healthy ¹³  child, she hid him for three months.

Exodus 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, ¹⁴  the way a person speaks ¹⁵  to a friend. Then Moses ¹⁶  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. ¹⁷ 

Job 36:8-9

36:8 But if they are bound in chains, ¹⁸ 

and held captive by the cords of affliction,

36:9 then he reveals ¹⁹  to them what they have done, ²⁰ 

and their transgressions,

that they were behaving proudly.

Lamentations 3:6-7

3:6 He has made me reside in deepest darkness ²¹ 

like those who died long ago.

ג (Gimel)

3:7 He has walled me in ²²  so that I cannot get out;

he has weighted me down with heavy prison chains. ²³ 

Romans 6:20-21

6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

6:21 So what benefit ²⁴  did you then reap ²⁵  from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

[105:18]  ¹ tn Heb “they afflicted his feet with shackles.”

[105:18]  ² tn Heb “his neck came [into] iron.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with the suffix could mean simply “he” or “his life.” But the nuance “neck” makes good sense here (note the reference to his “feet” in the preceding line). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 38.

[2:23]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ⁷ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[2:24]  ⁸ sn The word for this painfully intense “groaning” appears elsewhere to describe a response to having two broken arms (Ezek 30:24).

[2:24]  ⁹ sn The two verbs “heard” and “remembered,” both preterites, say far more than they seem to say. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’, “to hear”) ordinarily includes responding to what is heard. It can even be found in idiomatic constructions meaning “to obey.” To say God heard their complaint means that God responded to it. Likewise, the verb זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) means to begin to act on the basis of what is remembered. A prayer to God that says, “Remember me,” is asking for more than mere recollection (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], 1-8). The structure of this section at the end of the chapter is powerful. There are four descriptions of the Israelites, with a fourfold reaction from God. On the Israelites’ side, they groaned (אָנַח [’anakh], נְאָקָה [nÿ’aqah]) and cried out (זָעַק [za’aq], שַׁוְעָה [shav’ah]) to God. On the divine side God heard (שָׁמָע, shama’) their groaning, remembered (זָכַר, zakhar) his covenant, looked (רָאָה, ra’ah) at the Israelites, and took notice (יָדַע, yada’) of them. These verbs emphasize God’s sympathy and compassion for the people. God is near to those in need; in fact, the deliverer had already been chosen. It is important to note at this point the repetition of the word “God.” The text is waiting to introduce the name “Yahweh” in a special way. Meanwhile, the fourfold repetition of “God” in vv. 24-25 is unusual and draws attention to the statements about his attention to Israel’s plight.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “conceived” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn A preterite form with the vav consecutive can be subordinated to a following clause. What she saw stands as a reason for what she did: “when she saw…she hid him three months.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn After verbs of perceiving or seeing there are frequently two objects, the formal accusative (“she saw him”) and then a noun clause that explains what it was about the child that she perceived (“that he was healthy”). See GKC 365 §117.h.

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Or “fine” (טוֹב, tov). The construction is parallel to phrases in the creation narrative (“and God saw that it was good,” Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 17, 21, 25, 31). B. Jacob says, “She looked upon her child with a joy similar to that of God upon His creation (Gen 1.4ff.)” (Exodus, 25).

[33:11]  ¹⁴ tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

[33:11]  ¹⁵ tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:11]  ¹⁷ sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.

[36:8]  ¹⁸ tn Dhorme thinks that the verse is still talking about kings, who may be in captivity. But this diverts attention from Elihu’s emphasis on the righteous.

[36:9]  ¹⁹ tn The verb נָגַד (nagad) means “to declare; to tell.” Here it is clear that God is making known the sins that caused the enslavement or captivity, so “reveal” makes a good interpretive translation.

[36:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “their work.”

[3:6]  ²¹ tn The plural form of the noun מַחֲשַׁכִּים (makhashakkim, “darknesses”) is an example of the plural of intensity (see IBHS 122 §7.4.3a).

[3:7]  ²² tn The verb גָּדַר (garad) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “to build up a wall” with stones, and (2) “to block a road” with a wall of stones. The imagery depicts the Lord building a wall to seal off personified Jerusalem with no way of escape out of the city, or the Lord blocking the road of escape. Siege imagery prevails in 3:4-6, but 3:7-9 pictures an unsuccessful escape that is thwarted due to blocked roads in 3:7 and 3:9.

[3:7]  ²³ tn Heb “he has made heavy my chains.”

[6:21]  ²⁴ tn Grk “fruit.”

[6:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “have,” in a tense emphasizing their customary condition in the past.