So far, the notes have been transferred from Exodus Introduction and Exodus 1–40 to individual chapters of the book of Exodus. Links to these more complete studies can be found here: Exodus Individual Chapter Links: (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). The examination of the material of Exodus is much more thorough there ➚ than below. For instance, the study of Exodus 1 below is 10 pages; whereas the exegetical study of Exodus 1 is 159 pages, which includes a word-by-word exegesis, the addition of translations taken from over 90 translations, all the notes from below, and a considerable addition of new notes.

While doing to weekly emailed studies, I have decided to start summarizing the chapters. I will be integrating those summarized chapters into this document below. So far, this is Exodus 9, 12–18 (which chapters are marked by shading). This new commentary is better and more accurate than what used to be here.

Introduction to the book of EXODUS

Introduction: This is semi-finished at the end of the Exodus series!

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps

The Location of the Sons of Israel During Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (a graphic)

Authorship: See Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. p. 112 concerning Mosaic authorship.

Outline:

I. Prelude to the Exodus

A. Historical introduction Ex. 1

B. Moses early life and training Ex. 2

C. The calling of Moses Ex 3-4:19

D. Moses travels back to Egypt and meets his people, the Jews, and his brother, Aaron. Exodus 4:20–31

E. Moses before the Pharaoh Ex. 5-

II. The exodus out of Egypt

           III. Beginning of the desert wandering

Exodus could be divided up by location as well: [1] Exodus 1:1 to Exodus 12:36, in Egypt; [2] Exodus 12:37 to Exodus 18:27, to Sinai; [3] Exodus 19:1 to Exodus 40:38, at Sinai.

The Great Metaphor of Israel being taken out of Egypt: As I was in the middle of my study of Psalm 47, I suddenly connected it to the history of Israel. Then, a lot of why’s suddenly began to be answered. God has Jacob and his family in the Land of Promise; why does He remove them from the Land of Promise, put them into Egypt, and then take them out? There are several reasons: (1) this is an unprecedented event in history, known to the entire world (both at that time and now). It was clear to the world that the God of Israel was more powerful than the gods of Egypt, the most powerful nation of the world at that time. (2) God then gave the Land of Promise to Israel, which involved the destruction of a variety of nations, show His superiority over their gods. Anyone outside the Land of Promise could hear about these events and recognize their God as the God of Creation, and believe in Him. (3) A great reason for God choosing these sets of events is also metaphorical. As men, we are born in subjection to sin with no way to remove ourselves from our slavery to sin. God makes Himself known to us and He takes those of us who believe in Him out of our slavery to sin.

After this point, some men die in the desert, not appropriating to themselves by faith what God has promised. Some seize this promise and take all that God has for them (the Land of Promise) along with the many blessings which God has for them in this life. This is the generation of believers who believe God after salvation and advance spiritually. In the book of Exodus through the book of Numbers, we will see the first generation of Jews, which I will call Gen X, who fail time and time again and who all die the sin unto death in the desert, never entering the Land of Canaan which God has promised them (well, they reach this land but they back down).

The next generation, the generation of promise, those who came out of Egypt being 20 and younger, believe God and believe His promises, and they will take the Land of Promise and all there which God has for them (houses they did not build, wells they did not dig, a land flowing with milk and honey). As believers in Jesus Christ, we are taken out of slavery to sin, but then we have a life to lead after that. Some believers fail time and time again; some believers do not believe God, and some are taken out of this life by the sin unto death. Others believe God and seize what He has promised, and end up with great prosperity and blessing.

So one does not overly romanticize the generation of promise (those who followed Moses and eventually took the land of Canaan), they will fail on many occasions (even Moses will fail on a significant occasion). There is no perfection in our life on earth, apart from the plan of God, which is always moving forward, whether we are onboard or not.

Theory Regarding Egypt: One of the problems in the exodus is the lack of corroboration of evidence from Egypt. We have no Egyptian records indicating that there was this great exodus of Jews from their land; nor one of the great devastation which occurred. In fact, we do not even know which pharaoh was the pharaoh of the exodus. I’ve got a theory, and I do not know how accurate this is, but: the Egyptians suffered an embarrassingly decisive defeat at the hands of their slaves, the Israelites. What occurred was unprecedented in human history. Slave revolts do not result in the complete decimation of the country of their masters. There is no indication that the pharaoh died—only his firstborn—my thinking is that this was such an embarrassment that the Egyptian government did everything possible to cover it up and to remove it from their history. It is even possible that the pharaoh of the exodus was expunged from Egyptian history and the pharaoh’s on both sides were given longer reigns to take up the slack. We have seen history rewritten in the United States and we have definitely seen it rewritten in the Soviet Union—so it is not a stretch to think that perhaps the rewriting of history has been done before and that is what occurred here. Also, Satan does not want records of this. He does not want us to clearly look back and see the power of God; and Satan certainly played a big part in the history and culture of Egypt, being closely tied into its religion. So, a combination of Satanic influence and human and national pride would result in events of the exodus being expunged from the history of Egypt.

We do know that the history of Joseph was removed, so that a pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. So, removing things from history can be done. Even in our schools in the United States, I grew up thinking that all of our founding fathers were gnostics and that FDR saved the United States from the Great Depression. Both of those were facts that I was taught; and both of them are false.

Fundamental Questions for the Book of Exodus:

[Just because these questions occur to me, this does not mean that I will be able to successfully answer them]

What did it mean for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart? Did God actually change his volition?

Were the plagues upon Israel miracles or natural occurrences or a combination of the two?

What did God mean in Exodus 6:2–3: And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am YHWH: and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name YHWH I wasn't known to them.

Why were all of the plagues necessary? Was there not a way to remove Israel from Egypt miraculously?

The Location of the Sons of Israel During Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (a graphic); from slideshare.net; accessed June 20, 2016.

Outline of Chapter 1:

           vv.        1–7    Introduction to the Israelite population in Egypt

           vv.        8–14  Pharaoh's first solution: enslave the Jews

           vv.       15–21  Pharaoh's second solution: command the midwives to kill the Israelite male children

           v.          22    Pharaoh's third solution: cast the Israelite male infants into the Nile

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

Introduction: The book of Exodus picks up 200–300 years after the death of Joseph and follows seamlessly the history of Israel in Egypt for another century or so. This chapter begins somewhere between 1650–1550 b.c. The Exodus took place between 1550–1440 b.c.

At some point in time, Joseph as a part of Egyptian history, which history has been lost to the Egyptians entirely. Whatever happened, whether the Hyksos dynasty followed Joseph by 50–100 years, destroying most of the records of all recent rulers, or whether this was just lost to that time period, we do not know, but there comes a point where the Egyptians recognized that they had a substantial non-Egyptian population residing in the midst of Egypt, growing incredibly fast. One of Pharaoh's solutions is to enslave the entire Jewish population. When this does not stem the tide of Jewish birth, this Pharaoh or another unofficially orders the midwives to kill the children of the Israelites. When this does not have the achieved result expected, Pharaoh then issues an official decree, demanding the death of all male Jewish babies.

Introduction to the Israelite Population in Egypt

Genesis leaves Joseph, the Prime Minister of Egypt (placed and promoted there by God), in a coffin. Joseph first came to Egypt as a slave, sold into slavery by his older brothers. Through a series of unusual events, he became the second-highest official in Egypt.

He had brought with him to Egypt, under God's direction, his brothers. The book of Exodus begins with a conjunction. It is a continuation of the previous Genesis. This conjunction means that it does not stand by itself. Exodus lists the sons of Jacob, also called Israel:

And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt—with Jacob did each man and his household had come—Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. [Exodus 1:1-4]

Jacob was their father. Jesus Christ renamed him Israel in Gen. 32:28. The sons are named in the same order as they are found in Gen. 35:22b-26. However, they are grouped differently. Whereas the author of that portion of Genesis (Joseph or Jacob) may have grouped them strictly as to their mother, the author of Exodus, Moses, groups them slightly differently. Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah are grouped together, all of whom are sons of Leah, who eventually (after the time of Moses) settled in the southern portion of the land of Canaan (with the exception of the tribe of Levi, who was scattered amongst the other tribes, as the Jews are scattered today throughout the world). We will learn more about these four tribes than the others in the remainder of the Law.

Issachar and Zebulun were born to Leah later in life after Jacob sired children through Leah and Rachel's personal servants, Bilhah and Zilpah. Leah later seduced her husband Jacob and bore him three more children.

Benjamin was the last child born to Jacob through Rachel when Rachel died in childbirth (Joseph was the first). Dan and Naphtali were Bilhah's children, and Gad and Asher were Zilpah's.

And it came to pass that all the persons who were descended from [lit., going out of the loins of] Jacob were seventy-five souls—but Joseph was already in Egypt. So then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. [Ex. 1:5-6]

For the number 75 rather than 70, see Norman Geisler and William Nix; A General Introduction to the Bible; Chicago; Moody Press, ©1968, p. 262. Consider my examination first, and then look back and take from there.

The word generation, dôwr (דּוֹר) [pronounced dohr] is used in a number of different ways in Scripture. It can mean a period of time, a generation, an age and even a dwelling, a circle, a ball; it can refer to a time in the past or in the future and to a particular group of people. In this case, it was a reference to the generations which Joseph saw. We are told that he saw the third generation of Ephraim's sons, so this refers to Joseph's children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and their contemporaries. This would place us roughly 100–150 years past the end of Gen. 50.

The Jews grew in population from seventy to two million. This indicates a lot of right man right woman relationships where there is a great deal of affection and love between the couples. Population growth conforms to the equations A_t = A₀e^kt where A₀ is the original population, A_t is the population after t years, and k is a constant (e ≈ 2.71). If we assume that a family grows from two to seven over a period of forty years (that is, they have an average of five children in each family) then the population constant k ≈ .0313. Or, if we take Jacob's family as typical, we have, over a period of fifty years, twelve children resulting from five adults; and by that time, three of the children have between them another two children, our population constant would be approximately 0.0277. These two population constants give us a time period of 300-400 years. Jacob would have been more successful and therefore more prolific (since he had his wives' maids) than the average family. This all mathematically squares with the Bible's time table of 430 years in Egypt (Ex. 12:40).

Joseph had been put on the throne of Egypt by God. Because he was second-in-command in all of Egypt, he was able to watch over his people and to protect them. However, there came a time when God's geographical will for the Jews changed, so God caused the circumstances to change. After a few generations, what has occurred in the past is, at best, history, and at worst, forgotten. Government leadership was not perpetuated in the Jewish sojourners.

But the sons of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly [lit., swarmed] and multiplied and became extremely strong (or, numerous)—that the land was filled with them. [Exodus 1:7]

We have a polysyndeton here—a repetition of and's to indicate the incredible population growth of the Jews. Combined with this, we have a synonymia [pronounced syn-o-NYM-i-a], which is a repetition of synonyms. The writer here has told us in five ways about the population explosion of the Jews. This indicates growth which even the author Moses finds surprising.

Shârats (שָרַץ) [pronounced shaw-RATS], translated increased abundantly means to swarm, or abound. It is also translated breed, creep or move. It is in the Qal imperfect. The same word is used in Gen. 1:20, 21 7:21 8:17. Simply put, the Jews had a population explosion.

Multiplied is also in the Qal imperfect and it means to multiply, to become many. The imperfect means uncompleted action, meaning that during the time this passage refers to, they were still multiplying. They were in God's geographical will and we receive blessings as a natural result of being in His will. At first, Joseph, one of their own, was on the throne as the Prime Minister. However, all things are subject to change. It was time for them to return to the land of Canaan and they will require a lot of prodding.

People often complain that they do not understand God's will or cannot determine what God's will is for their life. The Jews knew some portion of their heritage and yet they were very stiff-necked. God had to subject them to extremely unpleasant conditions in order to get them to leave Egypt.

Most people take a very dim view of slavery, particularly in the United States; however, God often used slavery to achieve His purposes. Here, a very evil, unjust brand of slavery was imposed upon the Israelites for the specific purpose of causing them to get off their duffs and move into God's geographical will. Had their misery from being enslaved not been intensified, then they would not have left Egypt under Moses. Because of the slavery which took place in the United States, there were millions of black people who were saved and will spend eternity in God's presence.

From this, we know that there are two ways: there is the easy way or the hard way. God has provided His Word and therein we find our direction in life. It is in His Word where we discover God's plan for our life; His will for our life. If we refuse to know Him and His will through His Word, then we learn it the hard way—as did the Jews in the Exodus.

Over time, anti-Semitism developed in Egypt. Under the Pharaoh who put Joseph into power, there was very little anti-Semitism. The Pharaoh put Joseph into power due to his abilities and his race and background were not issues to Pharaoh (he was known to be a foreigner at this time; no Egyptian understood Joseph to be a new race of people). However, in almost any country where there are Jews, we eventually find anti-Semitism. It is Satan's plan to try to wipe out the Jewish race so that the promises made by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could not be fulfilled. Even in areas where the Jews resemble everyone else, and there will still be pockets of anti-Semitism. On the surface level, it is one of the most unreasonable prejudices found. The Jews are generally hard-working, agreeable, prosperous and peaceful. Any nation which treats them fairly is blessed and any nation which discriminates against them or persecutes them is reduced in power and often eliminated from history.

We have a difficult time placing a date on this time period. I have heard opinions which vary from 1800's b.c to as recently as 1100's b.c. We do not have absolutely confirmed reports of the exodus in Egyptian history. We do have mention from time to time of ʿApiru (or Hapiru) peoples in the Delta region. Whereas this could be the Hebrew people, it may be a word for any outside tribal group residing within the borders of Egypt. The Hebrew word for Hebrew is ‛Ib^erîy (עִבְרִי) [pronounced ģib-REE] and we first saw it used in conjunction with Abraham; after that, it was never used until Joseph's stay in Egypt. In the Egyptian historical documents which we possess, there are several documents which refer to Hapiru peoples populating Egypt; however, these are likely different peoples living in Egypt between the years 2000 and 1200 b.c. This is simply a general word which was applied to foreigners, which eventually became synonymous with the Jewish people. It is possible that this word was first applied to the Hebrews in the early documents and then came into general usage for any and all displaced peoples in the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh's First Solution: Enslave the Jews

Then a new king, who had not known Joseph, arose over Egypt. [Ex. 1:8]

All of the kings of Egypt are referred to in the Bible by the title Pharaoh. This Pharaoh is not the Pharaoh of Exodus 5. The Pharaoh in this verse arose two to eight generations after Joseph. A country requires very little time to degenerate. A country can go from its highest to its lowest point in one generation (take the WW II and the post WW II generation in America; followed almost immediately by the hippie generation, who brought serious degeneracy into our midst). When Joseph died, his position of authority was not perpetuated by another Jew, therefore the Jews lost their position of partial power in Egypt. This was not necessarily a matter of anti-Semitism as we saw the Joseph was head and shoulders above his brothers, his father and his grandfather in the realm of spiritual growth and orientation to God's plan and to His grace (although Jacob, his father, appeared to experience some spiritual growth near the end of his life). So it is possible for the Pharaoh of Joseph and his sons to recognize the inate ability of Joseph; but to also see that this is lacking in his brothers.

This text reads arose over against Egypt. Rather than saying there arose a king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, this king is qualified by the adjective châdâsh (חָדָש) [pronounced khaw-DAWSH] means new, fresh. This word which is so common in our vocabulary, is found 50 times in the Old Testament. The preposition is ʿal (עַל) [pronounced ģahl] and it means upon, on account of, concerning, together with, beyond, over, to, towards, against. What is possibly implied here is an imposition; and definitely elevation. The verb is qûwm (קוּם) [pronounced koom] and it means to arise, to stand, to stand up; however, this is in the Qal imperfect, indicating a process, not a completed event, which could mean a dynasty. None of this is absolutely conclusive, but there is a strong indication that this is a new, foreign dynasty rising over Egypt. A reasonable guess would be that this is the Hyksos dynasty or the end of the Hyksos dynasty. The latter seems very probable since an Egyptian control would automatically be suspicious of foreigners.

So he said unto his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and mighty [lit., strong due to numbers] for us! Come, let us show ourselves wise with regard to them—so that they do not multiply so much that it would come to pass when war befalls us that they also shall join themselves unto them who hate us, and shall make war upon us, and then go up out of the land." [Exodus 1:9–10]

This Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, looked upon the Jews as an infiltration and not as a blessing. Obviously, he was not a student of Egyptian history. As was mentioned in our study of Genesis, we do not have any historical documents from Egypt for several hundred years, around the time of Joseph's rule. It is possible that this is the first Hyksos dynasty king—a foreign king who has taken over Egypt. The phrasing of this verse would easily allow for this to be from a foreign dynasty. In any case, if these records were destroyed and say 100 years had passed or this is a foreign king with no sense of Egyptian history, then this Pharaoh would have no way of knowing who Joseph was or how the Jews came to be there. This Pharaoh's concern was to control this foreign population, which seemed to grow much faster than the Egyptian population (which is the result of the lack of right man/right woman relationships).

According to this passage, the Jews were not large enough of a population at this point to be a threat to Egypt in terms of a revolution, but they were large enough and indigenous enough that if another nation came to make war with Egypt, their potential alliance with the Jews could be the determining factor in the outcome of such an attack. This Pharaoh will set the stage, but will be long gone by the time of the exodus out of Egypt. His plan of action was to enslave the Jew:

So they set over them chiefs of tribute [or, forced labor], to the end they might humiliate them with their burden—and they built store-cities for Pharaoh even Pithom and Raamses. [Ex. 1:11]

Most translations use the word taskmasters rather than princes of tribute (the literal meaning). It is two Hebrew words: sar (שַׂר) [pronounced sar] which means Lord or prince and the other is the word maç (מַס) [pronounced mahç] which properly means burden, and has come to mean tribute, tax or tribute in the form of forced labor. That is, the Jews were expected to serve the Egyptians with slave labor as a form of tribute or tax (this in exchange for living in Egypt). Burden is the plural word çib^eloth (סִבְלֹת) [pronounced sihb-LOHTH] and it refers particularly to the heavy burdens placed upon the Israelites by Egypt. This word is found only in a few passages in Exodus (Exodus 2:11 5:4, 5 6:6, 7) and could be a blend of Egyptian and Hebrew. Nevertheless, it was likely a word first used when placed under slave labor and never used again after the exodus.

The term "store-cities" is rendered elsewhere as "treasure cities" or "storage cities." It is actually two words: the feminine plural noun miç^ekênôwth (מִסכְּנְוֹת) [pronounced mihç-kehn-OATH] and it means treasure, storage, supply and the feminine plural noun construct ʿârîym (עָרִים) [pronounced ģaw-REEM] which simply means cities, towns, encampments. The construct means that it modifies or is closely related to the previous noun, so together they means cities of treasures, storage cities. The Greek word used is "fortified cities." The two would go hand in hand; if a city was used to store a lot of Egypt's wealth, then it would very likely be well-fortified. The Egyptians were degenerate but not stupid.

Pithom is mentioned only here in the Bible, but it is definitely a proper name from Egypt from at least 1300 b.c. on. It's location is disputed. Raamses [pronounced RĂ-ăm-sez] was the city where the 19^th and 20^th dynasties resided (this is circa the first half of the second millennium b.c.—not too far off from this time period). It is located in the northeast delta area, but its exact location is disputed also.

But the more they were humiliating them, the more were they multiplying, and the more were they breaking forth—so they were filled with alarm, because of the sons of Israel. [Exodus 1:12]

The Piel imperfect of ʿânâh (עָנָה) [pronounced ģaw-NAW] means to look down, to browbeat, to afflict, to humiliate. In the intensive Piel stem, we are being told that the Egypt resorted to prejudice and viciousness. Slavery is not a horrible institution; however, when it is abused, as it is here, only being in God's will with one's right-man or right-woman can counteract the affects of its cruelty.

The Egyptians tried to confine the Israelites to specific areas, to forced labor, to a humiliated state of being; yet the Jews continued to pârats (פָּרַץ) [pronounced paw-RATS], which means to break out, to break forth, to spread out. Because of the tremendous population explosion that the Jews enjoyed because of their good marital situations, the Egyptians could not confine them in any way. In fact, they, the slave owners and taskmasters feared Israel in general because their population growth far exceeded that of the free Egyptians.

And the Egyptians rigorously made the sons of Israel serve with [unusually brutal] rigor; and embittered their lives with harsh service, in clay and in bricks, and in all manner of service in the field—all their service, wherein they served them under [unusually brutal] cruelty. [Exodus 1:13–14]

Vv. 13 and 14 contain the same two words. At the end of v. 13, we have the Hiphil imperfect, 3^rd masculine plural of ʿâbad (עָבַד) [pronounced ģaw^b-VAHD] and it means to work, to serve. The Hiphil is the causative stem, meaning the Egyptians caused the Israelites to serve them. In v. 14, this verb is in the Qal perfect, 3^rd person plural, so the subject of the verb is the Israelites and this verse looks upon this as a completed action. The way in which they caused the Israelites to serve them was with rigor. We have the preposition b^e (בְּ) [pronounced beh] and this means in, into, at, by, on, with, within. Here, with is the most likely translation. Perek (פֶּרֶ) [pronounced PEH-rehk] and it means harshness, severity; its root word meaning is to break, to fracture. Therefore the translations which merely state that the Jews served with rigor leaves the cruelty and severity out of the meaning, which certainly belongs here. I have translated those last two words somewhat differently in both verses, one corresponding to the causative stem and the other to the active stem of ʿâbad.

The Jews occupied the land of Goshen, which was only a short distance away from all the building projects that the Egyptian Pharaoh's had going. King Rameses II (the Great) was a man who was deceitful and had a passion for building. His name is found on an incredible number of temples, public buildings—a number which are beyond human imagination (and these are the ones which we have uncovered). After a great deal of detective work, it became clear that many of these buildings had been built centuries before Rameses II; he just saw to it that his monogram was carved on all of them. However, it is very likely that the archeological findings of Professor Pierre Montet of Strasbourg between 1929 and 1932, with Rameses II's stamp were likely created during his reign. In this area, which is near the present fishing village named San there were found a very large number of statues, sphinxes, columns and fragments of buildings, all with his name on them. The Pharaoh's in general had a great lust for building and the Israelites were located quite nearby in the land of Goshen, on a few miles south of the new capital.

The Jews themselves were bright and learned, yet the Egyptians forced upon them hard-labor, designed for slaves. Still, because these Jews had a relationship with the one God of the universe, because they had found their right woman, and because some of them have doctrine, they did not only bear up under these pressures but they thrived. Imagine how difficult it would be to be involved in various forms of mental labor and then be suddenly thrown into hard, physically-demanding labor. This is hot, hard, and physical labor, the kind that would cause many men to buckle under. The Jews, among other things, actually built two fortified storage cities, which would certainly demand a lot of stone and brick. With today's modern equipment, that is difficult work. Then it was strenuous beyond what most men today could imagine. This took patience and trust. They waited upon God's perfect timing. In fact, they waited possibly two centuries and served Egypt as slaves for that long, waiting upon God. There is no mention of revolution or of rebellion. The Jews endured this servitude. God had not directed them to do otherwise. However, what occurred in the Jews was a certain type of mental attitude caused by being under generations of slavery. Because of this, God had to destroy that generation like a cancer before they infected their sons and daughters with their slave mentality.

Pharaoh's Second Solution: Command the Midwives to Kill the Israelite Male Children

Then spoke the king of Egypt to the Hebrew midwives—of whom the name of the one was Shiprah and the name of the other was Puah; [Exodus 1:15]

For this population, there were not only two midwives. There has been a hierarchy set up of midwives, with two women in charge, Shiprah and Puah. It would not make sense for there to be this few midwives for a population of two million Jews, nor would it make sense for all the midwives to be directly under the Pharaoh. The midwives reported to Shiprah and Puah and they reported directly to Pharaoh. In any large city, there is one district attorney—however, he is not prosecuting every criminal case. Under him you have assistant district attorneys. Don't think that those in the ancient world were so backward as to not understand levels of authority. Gleason gives these two famous women the title of administrative superintendents over the obstetrical guild of the Hebrew community.

He said, "When you act as midwives unto the Hebrew women, then you shall observe its gender [lit., look upon the birthstool]—If it is a son, then shall you kill it. But if it is a daughter, then shall it live. [Ex. 1:16]

There are several things to note in this passage. First of all, there has been a passage of time from v. 11 to v. 15. The Jews endure slavery, they build two fortified storage cities and they continue to multiply as a race. This would cover at least a generation at least. My point here is that this is probably a new Pharaoh. This could be two or three or more generations later. Each Pharaoh warns the next Pharaoh about the Jews; or they know why the Jews are under slavery and each new Pharaoh watches them with interest. This is a new tact. Insofar as God is concerned, one anti-Semitic Pharaoh is no more important than the next, so God the Holy Spirit does not even bother to record either Pharaoh's name. In fact, there might be four or five Pharaoh's in this book and God does not distinguish one from the other. At the same time, God the Holy Spirit records the names of the midwives and their names have come down to us almost 4,000 years later. Notice the difference in their stations in life, the midwives as versus the Pharaohs, yet we can only guess as to who each Pharaoh is and God the Holy Spirit has recorded for all eternity the names of the midwives. God has a much different value system than we have. Fame and power in the human realm mean absolutely nothing to God. Personal integrity and day to day choices is much more important. How we treat the Jew is important to God.

The names of these midwives mean "Beauty" and "Splendor." Since God occasionally renames those that are His (which, incidentally, is not something that we do ourselves), this could be His viewpoint of these two women and these would be their names throughout eternity. It is also very likely that these two women did have a place of authority over the midwives throughout all of Egypt, as it was unlikely that there were just two midwives. Or they were the midwives for that particular area. In either case, they were believers in Jesus Christ and they had enough doctrine to realize when they were to obey the civil authorities over them and when they should disobey those authorities.

Also note that this is not an official decree here, as slavery was. The Pharaoh went directly to the midwives and this was to be done surreptitiously. “Here is what I want you ladies to do,” he said. So, this is not a law or a decree.

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt said unto them—but let the male children live. Then called the king of Egypt for the midwives and said to them, "Wherefore have you done this thing—that you should let the male children live?" And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, "Because not like the Egyptian women are the Hebrew women—for [possibly, but] they are full of life; and before the midwife can come in unto them they have given birth." [Exodus 1:17–19]

The Piel imperfect, 3^rd person feminine plural of châyâh (חָיָה) [pronounced khaw-YAW] means to live, to revive. Although the midwives are the subject of the verb, therefore causing the action, this is causing by way of permission; therefore the use of the word let.

Even Pharaoh realized that this was such an outrageous proposition that (1) he could not make it official policy and (2) he could not have the babies murdered right in front of their mothers. So Pharaoh went to the midwives directly and give them an unofficial directive. The midwives, while assisting the Hebrew women, were to kill the male babies but not to be so tactless is to do it right in front of them. They were to deliver the babies and tell them that the baby had been born dead if it was a male. What the midwives have done here is they have lied to the Pharaoh as opposed to lying to the mother. Even the Pharaoh realized that you cannot kill a woman's baby in front of her. So their story to the Pharaoh was that the babies were born before they could get there and born clearly alive. Therefore there was nothing that the midwives could do. It is also possible that they did not lie to Pharaoh—they could have intentionally arrived too late to the births.

In general, the Bible does not encourage civil disobedience. Paul makes it very clear in Rom. 13 that we are to obey the civil authorities over us. Jesus Christ has told us to pay our taxes ("Render unto Cæsar what is Cæsar's."). However, this is a situation which demands that the midwives, as believers in Jesus Christ, oppose the Pharaoh, and, in this situation, possibly even lie to the Pharaoh. They were not disobeying a lawful decree or an official policy. This order was directly from the Pharaoh; it was his idea (although it may have been suggested by one of his underlings) but he did not enact this into law.

Disobeying the law is generally not condoned by God; however, in this situation, these women are not disobeying the law. This is akin to a government official (even the president) commanding a woman to have sex with him, or commanding someone to assassinate another official; or demanding that we perjure ourselves in court on his behalf. Pharaoh has put them i the situation where they must either disobey his intentions or disobey the will of God. They chose to disregard Pharaoh's mandates. Therefore, their behavior is not only condoned, but these women have their names recorded forever in God's Word whereas we do not even know the exact names of the Pharaoh's involved. At best, we can make some educated guesses using archeology.

For some people, this is all the light that they need. They take a concept like this and somehow manage to distort it into bombing abortion clinics and terrorizing those who work for abortion clinics; becoming pacifists under any and all circumstances and refusing to serve their country; refusing to pay all or a portion of their taxes; maintaining an arsenal of unregistered weapons; etc. Before you ever disobey the law in any way, you need to be certain that you are on firm Biblical ground, having been taught carefully verse-by-verse on the topic at hand. Taking three or four verses out of context to support your view is not good enough. Notice exactly the action that these two midwives took: they were unofficially ordered by Pharaoh to surreptitiously kill babies that they had just delivered and they did not kill any babies. They refused to do something which was clearly wrong. And, instead of lying to dozens of mothers (which would have been necessary), they lied to Pharaoh. Rather than obey Pharaoh, they feared God.

A minor problem must be dealt with here. We have two midwives serving a population of 2,000,000 Jews in the midst of a population explosion. This does not seem possible. Well, in fact, it is not possible. According to Gleason Archer in his Difficulties of the Bible, it was common for the Egyptian to set up bureaucratic chain of command with any governmental agency or activity. We saw this with Joseph. Pharaoh okayed his plan to maintain grain repositories and then put Joseph in charge of it. Joseph would have hired a staff under him to handle this as he would have been the chief administrator of this project. The two midwives named here were the ones who were heads over all the Jewish midwives in the land of Goshen. They were the link between this medical service and the Pharaoh.

So then God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became extremely numerous. And it came to pass because the midwives feared God, that he gave them households [and families]. [Ex. 1:20-21]

In v. 20, the population explosion continues. We find the word waxed in the KJV and it is old English for became. The Hebrew word ʿâtsam (עָצַם) [pronounced ģaw-ZAHM] means "to become mighty or numerous." Probably, in this case, the best way to understand it it that the Jews became mighty because there were so many of them.

Bayith (בַּיִת) [pronounced BAH-yith], in v. 21, pertains to family, house or household. This literally says that God gave them houses. This is a metonymy where house stands for the accessories of a home—a husband and children. The midwives were often unmarried and therefore without children (as this implies) and in their work, they tended to meet mostly married couples where the wife was about to give birth. God brought to them their right men and provided for them both a household and family. This tells you that it does not matter what your vocation is or where you spend your time; God will bless us with that right person as long as we are patient and remain in His will.

In the Hebrew, one of the equivalent words for salvation was to fear or yârêʾ (יָרְא) [pronounced yaw-RAY] and it means both "to fear" and "to revere." When we find this phrase in the OT, we are speaking of people who have believed in Jesus Christ. In the OT times, deities were often very country-specific. We have a similar situation today. In certain areas, such as India, we have people who mostly believe in Hinduism and in the East we have Buddhism. These are no different (and no better) than pagan religions of the old world. However, there is but one true God and there are not many roads to find Him but just one (as Jesus said, "Narrow is the gate and few that are that find it." and "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by me."). Here, these midwives believe in Jesus Christ, the God of Israel. Furthermore, God recognizes their correct judgement and blesses them for it. Before you engage in any sort of civil disobedience, do not use this passage as an excuse, and make certain that Rom. 13 has been thoroughly exegeted for you. Christian activism is a trap and a detrimental to the cause of Christ.

Pharaoh's Third Solution: Cast the Israelite Male Infants into the Nile

Then Pharaoh commanded to all his people, saying, "Every son that is born to the Hebrews, into the river shall you cast him; but every daughter shall you allow to live." [Ex. 1:22]

Although to the Hebrews is not found in Textus Receptus, this phrase is in the western Samaritan, the Vulgate, and in several targums. Context implies this phrase even if it was not originally written here, but most modern translations insert it.

It is at this point that Pharaoh issues the official decree. He has ordered the murder of thousands of baby Hebrew boys. Here, civil disobedience is appropriate. Notice the hand of Satan behind all of this. The seed of the woman, who will crush Satan's head, shall come through the Jewish race; therefore, it is one of Satan's plans to kill the male children. Also, it has always been Satan's attempt to amalgamate the Jewish race into the population as a whole. If there is no Jewish race, then God's promises to them cannot be fulfilled. The Pharaoh has similar motives (although he has certainly been influenced by Satan). With the large male Jewish population—particularly as slaves—they could revolt at any time, which would be a messy and distressful situation. It is not that the Egyptians could not handle the Jews in war (at that point in time) but that this would disrupt the Pharaoh's rule and engage his army in what would amount to be a civil war. Furthermore, as a male, he doesn't mind having the Jewish women around and it would not be a problem if they were integrated into the Egyptian race. Satan has influenced Pharaoh to both destroy the Jewish race by killing the male population and this could in turn cause them to amalgamate into the general population.

Exodus 2:1–25

Introduction: Chapter 2 covers the birth of Moses and his young life in the palace. We are told very little about this time in his life—as royalty in training—although Moses was undoubtedly the greatest genius in Egyptian royalty.

Moses had to chose between ruling over Egypt or ruling over a group of ungracious, stiff-necked Jews, as a part of God's plan for his life. It was not a choice made all at once; it involved many small decisions, many of which are made in this chapter. There are few one-shot decisions which impact your entire life for good; in fact only salvation comes to mind.

There are a number of one-shot decisions which cause you great grief throughout your life: the choice to engage in pre-marital sex the first time; the decision to try drugs; the decision to marry the wrong person. Almost all the correct things which affect your life for the best requires you to make many correct decisions: the decision to marry the right person is a result of hundreds of decisions; the decision not to take drugs is sometimes almost a daily choice for some people (as is the decision not to drink; or not to drink too much); spiritual growth is based upon several decisions every single day of your life, the most important of which is to take in God's Word as presented by a pastor-teacher. Moses makes many of those decisions in this chapter. We will follow him from birth to almost age 80 in one chapter. The rest of the Torah cover the last 40 years of his life.

Outline of Chapter 2:

       vv.   1–10    Moses as a child

       vv.  11–14    Moses kills an Egyptian 

       vv.  15–18    Moses flees Egypt and meets his future family

       vv.  19–22    Moses moves into the house of Reuel and takes one of his daughters to wife

       vv.  23–25    God remembers Israel

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

       v.    2            Moses as a Type of Christ

       v.    10          The Intelligence of Pharaoh’s Daughter

       v.    12          Moses Commits Murder

       v.    14          The Familia Background of Moses

       v.    25          Why Did God Move Israel out of the Land of Canaan and into Egypt, and then out of Egypt and back to the Land of Canaan?

Moses as a Child

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and married [lit., took] a daughter of Levi. [Exodus 2:1]

The literal word here is house, but it stands for the lineage of Levi. Further, as we have seen in the past, the use of the word daughter means female descendant; but not necessarily daughter as we use the word.

We have already examined Levi. We have seen that in conjunction with Simeon, he had a tendency toward horrible cruelty. Together they were self-righteous and they over-reacted to a serious problem (the rape of their sister). However, even though there are a great many characteristics which are transmitted genetically, everyone has free will and people can chose not to be ruled by their emotions.

After a study of Gen. 34, we would never suspect that the Levites were to be priests to God. Because of certain denominations and one particular church (which will go unnamed), we have a lot of confused ideas about what the priesthood. We see them as religious figures; those who are closer to God in some ethereal way, those who have a particularly high ranking in the church. In the church age, the time in which we live, every believer is a priest. A priest is someone who represents man to God (whereas, conversely, the prophet represented God to man).

There has to be a go-between man and God—particularly between unregenerate man and God. This was made very clear in the Levitical priesthood laws, which we will study. They had to go through all kinds of purification rituals and there were many things which were forbidden them, because it would make them unclean. When a priest is unclean, he cannot be in God's presence or do God’s service.

Man, at this time (and throughout the Jewish Age), could not go to God either; not directly. Man is unclean. We are all stained with our personal sins; we all have a sin nature; and we all have Adam's original sin imputed to us. Moses came from this stock; from the family which were to become priests to God on behalf of the Israelites.

Moses many times represented the Jews to God and argued on their behalf. Being a man who understood God's Word, Moses was able to do this. To head off any bizarre thinking; Moses argued with God and God was glorified because Moses understood God's Word. Moses did not come up with some kind of an argument that God hadn't thought of, changed God's mind, and then God did things differently. On occasion, it appears that is what is happening, but that is simply God communicating to us by way of the language of accommodation. However, God does not change His mind (or "repent," as per the old English term).

And the woman conceived and bare a son; and she observed him, that he was a healthy child [with a good temperament], so she hid him three months. [Ex. 2:2]

We have the Qal imperfect, 3^rd person singular of râʾâh (רָאָה) [pronounced raw-AWH] which is the simple word which means to see. However, it has a wide variety of applications; here, in the imperfect (continuous sense) and considering the object, I have translated this observe. We are not made aware of the nuts and bolts of this law—whether there was a bounty on these male Hebrew babies or whether Pharaoh had commissioned his own soldiers to enforce this law, but even in the land of Goshen, which was primarily Jewish, they still had to hide their infants.

Moses, in v. 2, is described via translation variously as good, beautiful, goodly, or fine. The Hebrew word is ţôwb (טוֹב) [pronounced toh^bv] and it is used of men and women, describing them as good; but it seems to have a very wide range of meanings, translated variously as precious, joyful, kindly, cheerful, etc. It is important, in interpretation here, to remind ourselves that we are speaking of a three-month-old baby. At three months of age, few babies are into gross immorality and almost all of them appear precious to their mothers. In my very limited field of expertise here, I have noticed that what does separate some babies from others is their temperament and their health. Therefore, we might translate this, healthy (with a good temperament).

And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark [made out] of papyrus-reeds, and covered it over with bitumen and with pitch, and put therein the child and laid it among the papyrus reeds, upon the bank [lit., lip] of the river. Then did his sister station herself at a distance; to see what would be done with him. [Exodus 2:3–4]

I very much enjoyed the KJV that the ark was covered with "slime and pitch." That would make a wonderful Mother's Day sermon. How many mothers are going to allow their child to get anywhere near "slime"? Perhaps the translator was the kind of man who liked to chide the ladies? The Greek word used in the Septuagint is ἄσφαλτος, which, transliterated, is asphaltos. This is bitumen, which boiled up from the subterranean fountains not far from Babylon and from the bottom of the Dead Sea. It hardens in the sun and is gathered up on the surface of the water (Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies). "Tar" is a better rendering. The bitumen is very easily melted and is very brittle when cold; however, when it is combined with the tar, it becomes a strong cement once it sets up. The ark itself was made from papyrus reeds, very plentiful along the banks of the river.

Did the mother of Moses have a source for this idea? She knew about Noah and his ark and how it saved him and his small family, the only uncorrupted humans of the antediluvian race. She had an uncorrupted baby and she was going to put him in the ark for God to save him. The Hebrew word here and in Genesis are the same word (however, it is not the same word as found in the ark of the covenant). In each case, the ark held God's super grace hero of his generation in the midst of turmoil all around. Vv. 5-6: the bulrushes, rushes or the flags, as they are called in some translations, where the ark was placed, are papyrus reeds.

Furthermore, the mother of Moses was very authority oriented. It had been the command of Pharaoh to cast all of the male babies into the Nile. This is exactly what she did. She cast Moses into the Nile—however, it was in an ark—something which Pharaoh’s edict did not address. Pharaoh did not specify that Hebrew male children could not be placed in a container of sorts.

So then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe by the river, and her maidens were walking by the side of the river—where she saw the ark in the midst of the papyrus reeds, and sent her handmaiden and get it. And she opened and examined the child, and saw [the] infant weeping, so she took pity on him and said, "Of the children of the Hebrews is this." [Ex. 2:5-6]

I have taken a lot of liberties with the translation of this verse. Râʾâh (רָאָה) [pronounced raw-AWH], which we recently saw is the verb to see, I have translated examined. The word for child is naʿar (נַעַר) [pronounced NAH-ģahr] and it can be translated boy, lad, youth, male-child, and in this situation, infant. For some reason, the KJV particles Lo, behold sound too dated for modern English. Instead of translating it as a demonstrative particle, I translated it saw.

The intention of the Pharaoh's daughter to bathe in the river tells us that even she lacked indoor plumbing (which did exist later in Rome). Whereas public bathing for orientals today, it is quite acceptable to the ancient Egyptians. We have actual pictures from monuments of women of rank bathing, attended to by four female servants.

When she picked the baby Moses up, she immediately knew that this was a Hebrew child because he had been circumcised (when a baby is crying, we all know one of the first things a mother will check for).

Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call for you a woman who is nursing, of the Hebrew women—that she may nurse for you the child?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the maid went and called the mother of the child. [Exodus 2:7–8]

Miriam, Moses' sister, has been watching from the background. Even though she is very young, she seems to know that right time to make herself known.

Notice that there will be a bit of protocol here. The Pharaoh's daughter is not a stupid woman; she carries the genes of the Pharaoh, and therefore has to have a reasonable amount of intelligence and training. She knows that this woman who is potentially offered up to nurse the child is not simply some random woman that this young girl will go out and find. And when the daughter meets the woman (assuming that she does), by her size, age and health, it is unlikely that she is the mother. The Pharaoh's daughter probably immediately surmised that this young girl is the boy's sister. Everyone there knows that the woman offered up to nurse the boy is actually the child's mother. None of this is ever stated outright to protect the mother and to protect the child.

The verb yânaq (יָנַק) [pronounced yaw-NAHK] in the Qal means to suck but in the Hiphil, it means to cause a baby to nurse or simply to nurse. It is often translated in the KJV, to give suck, however, our modern term to nurse is more than adequate.

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her [the mother], "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed it. [Ex. 2:9]

Note that nothing is said about the true parents of the child; no one is acknowledging that they are doing anything illegal. Miriam, Moses' sister—which she never admits to—just happens to be passing by, and she just happens to know someone who could nurse this child.

Furthermore, the woman, Moses' mother, is paid by the Pharaoh's daughter to nurse the child on her behalf. All of these points of protocol protect the mother and the child. If she is ever caught with the child and questioned, she need only say that she is being paid by the Pharaoh's daughter to nurse it for her. All of this could be verified and the child would remain safe. If the Pharaoh's daughter is questioned with regards to her own lawfulness, she simply discovered an abandoned child–how was she to know it was condemned to death? If this matter were pursued, then she would appeal to her father.

Satan has been warned from the beginning of human history that the seed of the woman would crush his head. Although Satan is not omnipresent, he still has a huge demon force which keeps him informed as to what is occurring throughout the world. Satan is a genius and is able to process a great deal of information; more than we could imagine. He does not know what exactly the savior/deliverer of Israel is going to be; who the seed of the woman who will crush his head will be. He looks for certain signs and is a better student of the Bible than 99.9% of all Christians. So when the time is right, Satan will make an attempt to kill this child before it has grown. He did that here and when Christ was born. And notice: he was not going to take any chances but he would attempt to kill an entire generation, if possible. However, Satan's plans, no matter how genius they are, are no match for God's plans. To those few confused individuals who think that Satan is always after them; first of all, he isn't, and secondly, God is far greater than Satan and God's plan is far greater than Satan's. If you are alive, God has a plan for your life and this plan is far greater than anything Satan could devise. Even if you are a believer and believe (rightly so) that demons plague you; they are a part of Satan's plan and God's plan is far greater. There is no suffering or disaster or persecution or demonic attack that can befall us that God has not made provision for in eternity past. What is usually the case is that a believer, very negative toward God's word and God's plan, has made a total mess out of his own life and now thinks that it is irreparable. Even David with his escapade with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband; that was terrifically bad judgement and one sin compounded after another; and God not only blessed David (after the discipline) but the line of Jesus Christ came through Bathsheba because she was David's right woman. Can you imagine that? After all that David did, God even gave him his right woman and restored the kingdom to him. Don't get any foolish ideas; David was a great man who loved God's Word and grew daily by it. Furthermore, he received discipline which would crush any other person. God blessed David despite his shortcomings. This is how God treats a super grace believer. Had he not married all those other women, he would have met and married Bathsheba and have needed no other woman. But, I digress.

As the child grew, and she (the mother) brought him in to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, "For out of the water I drew him." [Exodus 2:10]

One of the explanations given for Moses' name is that it is a combination of the word for son (mos) and the name of an Egyptian river God; further, it is stated that this woman may have thought he had been given birth to by the river-god. This is nonsense—she knows that he is an Hebrew and has said so. She is a bright, observant young woman who was raised in the palace whose superstitions are probably not too different from our own. Furthermore, she tells why she named him what she did.

Moses was not an unusual name for an Egyptian. In fact, several Pharaoh's names were compounded based upon that root. "Rameses" is actually "Ramose" and "Thutmose" is based upon that root word. The Egyptians and the Jews grew up side-by-side for 400 years. During that time, although the Hebrews kept themselves relatively isolated, genetically and socially, they would still have a strong influence upon each other's language. In the Hebrew, Moses is Mosheh (מֹשֶה) [pronounced moh-SHEH] and the word for to draw out is mâshâh (מָשָה) [pronounced maw-SHAW]. Môsheh also means to draw out of the water. It is very possible that mâshâh is Hebraized Egyptian, seeing that the Pharaoh's daughter named Moses and not his own mother. This word is not found but here in in two much later passages (2Sam. 22:17 Psalm 18:16).

The Pharaoh's daughter, by the syntax of the sentence, emphasizes out of the water, using two very Hebrew words, min (מִן) [pronounced min] and mayim (מַיִם) [pronounced mah-YIHM]. My guess is that she spoke in Egyptian, not using these latter two words but words which were Egyptian for water-saved. Very likely, this was a word of intersection or similarity between the two languages and, the Pharaoh's daughter being as brilliant as she is, rightfully deemed this the most appropriate name for Moses. The name of Moses certainly has elements of Hebrew and Egyptian both in it; which is very appropriate and is one way that we recognize the genius of Moses' adopted mother.

She could provide him the protection that he needed when he was young and the proper training once he has reached an age where he can tell right from wrong (somewhere between 2 and 4). During this time of youth, her brilliance with the languages of the two races would be one way that Moses would develop his ability to think and to reason. Afterward, after Moses has gone through perhaps the most important stage of child growth, he would be exposed to education and training that no other child, other than his step-brother, would have access to. Not every person can appreciate this kind of training and upbringing. No one else would have benefitted by this as much as Moses did. A prime example of the same opportunities is his step-brother.

We all have free will and our free will reacts differently to the same stimuli. With two million complainers and stragglers and reversionists, God need to have the right person in leadership. God raised up a leader who knew what to do, although almost everyone in his generation opposed him in some way or another. It was like Noah: Noah taught the gospel for 120 years without a single convert other than his own family and daughter's-in-law. Not only would most people view Noah is an extraordinarily failed evangelist, but no one in his shoes could have taught God's Word for 120 days even, without some sort of positive response. It is human viewpoint to think that there must be a good response to indicate that we created in God's will. Both Moses and Noah faced very negative responses. Again, to head off those who take everything wrong; who see a little light at the end of the tunnel and race for it. Just because you are stubborn and hard-headed and you make everyone in your periphery angry; this does not mean that you are in God's will or that you are doing god's work. While that is a possibility, is highly unlikely. God only chooses the very best men to lead in the face of constant adversity. These are men of His Word.

We find out about Moses growing up from Acts 7:22: "Now Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds." We find that Moses was treated, as we would expect, just like royalty in his youth from Hebrews. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. (Acts 7:24–26) I know that some people are concerned when I mention Jesus Christ in the Old Testament and when Y^ehowah Elohim appears to a patriarch, I tend to call Him Jesus Christ. I take this cue from the writer of Hebrews, this passage. These passages tell us that (1) Moses was raised in the palace; (2) he was given a royal education; (3) his intellectual power was great, as were the things that he did; (4) he chose between a relatively easy life in the castle and a life of hardship leading the Israelites out of Egypt; (5) when it reads that he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, this is renouncing his royal claim to the throne of Egypt.

Moses Kills an Egyptian

And it came to pass in those days when Moses grew up that he went out unto his brethren and looked [with sympathy] on their burdens—and saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew—of his brothers. [Exodus 2:11]

It is Stephen, in Acts 7, who tells us that Moses was almost 40 at this time. "But when he was approaching forty, it entered his thinking [lit., heart] to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel." (Acts 7:23)

In v. 11, the verb for looked is our friend râʾâh, which means to see or to observe but there is some emotion involved. In this situation, because he sees his fellow Hebrews and observes their burden, this emotion is sympathy.

Moses was aware of the fact that he was an Hebrew. At what point in time he found this out, we are not told; nor do we know who told him. His adoptive mother knew this; all of her slave women knew this; and no doubt, many others in the Egyptian palace knew this. Still, we have no idea when Moses was made aware of this—whether as a child or as a young adult (or most recently).

To get the proper picture, you must understand that from Moses' infancy up, he was raised in the palace as the son of the Pharaoh's daughter. This would put him in line for the throne of Egypt. Therefore, he received the best training and education. In examining his life, we will see that Moses was a genius in many categories and this was due to his innate ability which was fostered and challenged by a royal education.

As a youth, Moses had been brought up to take Hebrew slavery for granted—and few of us realize just how much we simply accept or take for granted simply because this is what we are born into.

Being in the palace, Moses was likely exposed to a great deal of anti-Semitism (not from his adoptive mother, naturally, but from others).

We do not know when Moses’ contact with his birth mother was cut off—did it happen after he had stopped nursing.

There is certainly a great deal of speculation that we might have. Did Moses’ adoptive mother hear him make one too many anti-Semitic remarks and decide to set him straight? Perhaps she told him just a few days prior to this? Perhaps because Moses was now fully an adult, he had been sat down by his adoptive mother and told that he was a Hebrew and told the circumstances of his birth. Or did Moses figure this out early on in his life because he was circumcised? Such information would give any young man pause for thought and serious introspection.

From a distance, Moses had seen Hebrews doing slave labor and this was just a part of life. Then, at some point, he finds that these are his people; not some foreign race which just happened to be there. Consequently, Moses takes a day to more closely examines the lives of his brothers and the slavery that they endure. This moved Moses so that he reacted when he saw one of his brothers being treated cruelly at the hands of an Egyptian.

So he turned this way and that, and, when he saw that there was no man he struck the Egyptian, and hid his body [lit., him] in the sand. [Ex. 2:12]

It sounds as though Moses waited until after the beating; when he believed that he and the Egyptian were alone, and then he killed him with his bare hands. Obviously, Moses was a very powerful man, his physical body being trained as well as his mind in the palace.

In what follows, we are dealing with a narrative and the specific renderings of each word is not quite as important to understand what is going on.

And he went out on the second day, and saw two Hebrews quarreling together; so he said to him that did the wrong, "Why are you striking your companion?" And he said, "Who has set you for a man as a chief and a judge over us? Are you intending [lit., saying in your heart] to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then was Moses afraid and said [to himself] "Surely this matter has become known!" [Ex. 2:13-14]

The Hebrews under slavery are not of possessors of high moral character themselves. The one who is in the wrong attacks Moses, verbally (he would not do it physically). Despite the fact the Moses acted on behalf of another Hebrew, he has something on Moses and he uses it. This man here may even be the person who sees to it that this becomes known to Pharaoh (see the next verse).

Furthermore, the bully here lacks any sort of respect for Moses as royalty (which could suggest that Moses was not dressed in such a way as to call attention to his royal upbringing). No matter how Moses is dressed, his people recognize him and this man here knows who Moses is.

Moses falls immediately into mental attitude sinning (fear). At no time do we hear Moses appealing to YWHW or calling on God's name. This possibly indicates that Moses is an unbeliever or out of fellowship for a long time.

We'll need to do some reconstruction here and attempt to cover some details not covered in these verses:

Moses Flees Egypt and Meets His Future Family

So Pharaoh heard about this matter and sought to kill Moses; and Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and sat down by the well. [Ex 2:15]

Even as the heir to the throne, Moses was subject to the laws of the land and Pharaoh would have had him executed. Moses fled quite a distance, dressed as an Egyptian (but not as royalty) so that he could slip out of Egypt undetected. There was obviously very little physical difference between the Jews and the Egyptians, as the daughters of Midian will identify Moses immediately as an Egyptian (this is probably based upon his clothing and accent). He ended up southeast of the promised land.

Midian was one of Abraham's sons through his concubine Keturah. She had six sons by him and Midian had five more sons. Abraham sent these sons away (along with his other progeny by his concubines) into the east (Gen. 25:1-6).

Now the priest of Midian [had] seven daughters and they came and drew [water from the well] and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then came the shepherds and drove them away, so Moses rose up and helped them and watered their flock. [Exodus 1:16–17]

There was a priesthood which existed prior to the priesthood of Aaron. A priest represented man to God. This was often a family priesthood and this indicates that this man and his seven daughters are very likely all believers in Jesus Christ. A priest-father would certainly be found in a family of believers, such as this one; however, Midian was not a country of believers. There will be later dealings between Israel and Midian which will reveal great animosity and enmity (Num. 22:4 25:18 31 Isa. 9:4 10:26).

Usually in the Bible, the sons of a woman are mentioned and the daughters are excluded. Here is an exception. It appears as though this priest (obviously not celibate) had seven daughters and very likely no sons. They were handling the work that his sons would have done. There was not much water in the well and there had been some dispute between them and the shepherds in that area. Whereas the shepherds should have been supporting the priest and growing under his ministry, they were in fact not doing either, indicating that they were a group of unbelievers (hence, the general spiritual degeneracy of Midian). Obviously they were a group of bullies and possibly very immature men. An intelligent believer in Jesus Christ would want to know and ingratiate himself to the daughters of a priest. Not these men.

Moses, again and again, is portrayed physically as a very powerful man. He stood his ground against these shepherds and they backed down. His presence and authority and physical prowess were enough to cause these three or more shepherds to back off.

Watering a flock of sheep took a great deal of time and even with seven women, it still took a lot of strength to drop the bucket and pull up the water. This caused their chores to take time. Moses was able to cut this time simply based upon his superior strength.

Then they went in to their father, Reuel, and he said, "Why have you returned so early today?" [Exodus 2:18]

What may have been a factor in the quick return (and I am speculating here) is that, having met Moses, these young women were a bit more focused and returned home quickly, without having to go shopping, or whatever they would do when feeding their flock. Moses was a different kind of man. They had been harassed by the unbelieving shepherds for possibly years (perhaps a result of bullying; perhaps because of a territorial dispute over this well). This was finally a man who stood up for them.

What has occurred up until this time is that it was difficult for them to water their cattle due to the dispute with the other shepherds, who behaved like bullies. They would have to take their cattle there surreptitiously and water them either before or after the other shepherds had been there. Often times they would be chased off, as the shepherds had begun to do that day and they would have to wait for a more opportune time to water their herd. Furthermore, they were not as strong as Moses and could not fetch the water as quickly. Therefore, today, with the help of Moses, they finished watering their cattle much faster than they normally would have. They explain the reason that they have returned so early from watering the flock; they left out the part about running back to their house.

Moses Moves into the House of Reuel and Takes One of His Daughters to Wife

So they said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds. Moreover also he drew [water from the well] for us and watered the flock." And he said to his daughters, "And where [is] he? Why [is] it [that] you left the man [there]. Call him, that he may eat bread." [Exodus 1:19–20]

These women had never met anyone like Moses before; they were reasonably shy around him and must have jumped at the chance to go back to get him. Even shy people, under orders from their father, lose a great deal of their shyness. They returned, brought Moses home for dinner, and Moses was invited to stay with the family.

The father may have had some ulterior motives were (1) to evangelize Moses; (2) to get much needed help with the cattle; and, (3) for Moses to marry one of the daughters. Like any good father, this priest would like for his daughters to marry someone of character and strength. This was perhaps the first man in that area that he had met who had these qualities. The other males in that area were weak, overbearing, thick, contentious, herd-bound and petty.

The protocol exhibited by this family was as it should have been. Certainly they thought of asking Moses to eat with them at their father's house, but that would have been too forward and presumptuous. Instead, they raced back, told their father, and, under orders from him, returned to ask Moses to dinner.

It is possible that Moses left Egypt as an unbeliever. Although Joseph's bones were a heritage to the Jews and one of the things in their life which they associated with the Revealed God, Moses had not been brought up under that environment. Instead, he was brought up in the palace, very likely cut off from his birth mother prior to the age two (or so), and would have had no reason to have believed in the Revealed God.

Actually, we do not know if there were many believers among the Egyptians (some will join the Jews when they leave Egypt). Based upon what is coming in the future, there appear to be very few Egyptian believers at this time (there were quite a few when Joseph was prime minister of Egypt). Many of the Egyptians were probably evangelized through the mighty works of God.

At the same time, it appears that almost all of the Hebrews at this time and at the time of the exodus believed in the Revealed God. Here is how we know this: when the Passover is instituted, the Hebrews have to splatter blood on their door sills to keep their firstborn safe from God—generally speaking, this is a ritual that you will participate in if you are a believer.

In growing up, Moses may have been prejudiced against the Jews, and therefore against their God. This priest, on the other hand, is a believer in Y^ehowah, as were his daughters.

Did Moses believe at this time, under their influence? Or did Moses believe in the God of the Jews, but experience greater spiritual growth while in Midian with this family? When Moses speaks to the Burning Bush, he is clearly a believer in the Revealed God. It seems reasonable that Moses experience some spiritual growth when with this family (otherwise, why else would God guide Moses to this particular place?).

Here is another example of a believer in Jesus Christ with a public ministry which had practically no response. This priest had a congregation of eight—his seven daughters and Moses. He had been unable to even evangelize the shepherds in his periphery. He had one convert outside of his family that we are aware of; a spiritual failure by anyone's standards today. Yet it was his witness to Moses and his teaching to Moses which gave Israel its greatest leader. "Who has despised the day of small things?" (Zech. 4:10) Moses' late conversion may have been one of the reasons that God spared him judgement for killing the Egyptian. Our sins from the past are wiped out once we become believers in Jesus Christ. This is not way made what Moses did right nor does it mean that we should set free prisoners who believe in Jesus Christ. They have a ministry to others who are in jail.

And Moses was well-pleased to dwell with thie man; and he gave Zipporah, his daughter, to Moses. And she bare a son and he called his name Gershom, for he said, "I am a alien in a foreign land." [Ex. 2:21-22]

Generally speaking, the father of the bridegroom would make the official proposal of marriage to the father of the prospective bride. However, in this case there was no father of the bridegroom to consult so tradition was reversed here and it is implied that the father of the bride did the proposing. This did occur in other instances (Joshua 15:16–17 1Sam. 18:27)

Gershom is Gêr^eshôwm (גֵּרְשוֹם) [pronounced gay-rehsh-OHM]. The Hebrew word for alien is gêr (גֵר) [pronounced gare]. A related word is gârash (גָּרַש) [pronounced gaw-RASH] and it means to drive out, to cast out. The KJV reads I am a stranger in a strange land. Moses has a second son, not mentioned until Exodus 18:4. Some ancient translations have Moses’ second son listed in this verse.

Moses spent 40 years living with this family (Acts 7:30). This was Moses' extended vacation. He had a completely different kind of family, doctrine was taught to him by his father-in-law and God prepared him for forty plus years struggling with a group of hard-headed, obstinate Jews. It is possible that his father-in-law had portions of Scripture from prior to Abraham. We have no idea how it was transmitted during that time period. The popular theory is that it was handed down almost in its entirety as oral tradition, committed to writing by Moses. Here Moses was prepared and trained for what he was about to do. Since the Midianites were sent out during the time of Abraham, this man would have had no information on the Jewish race and the immediate heritage of Moses. Certainly he would not have had the last 35 chapters of Genesis. At best, and this is even doubtful, he had the first ten chapters of Genesis, or a reasonable knowledge of the events that took place during those years. What I am saying is that we do not know the nuts and bolts of Moses' spiritual growth (and we have bare bones information concerning his growth in the human realm as a leader of men). We can only intimate that it occurred during this time as he had the ability to lead the Jews once he left Midian.

God Remembers Israel

And it came to pass during those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed because of the[ir] slavery and lamented; and their cry for help, because of [their] slavery, went up to God. [Exodus 2:23]

As long as the Pharaoh, Moses' adoptive grandfather, was alive, Moses could be prosecuted and executed for murder. However, at this point, the statute of limitations ran out.

The cruel treatment of the Jews by the Egyptians continued and escalated. It was so cruel that the words used here are during those many days. The emphasis of this cruelty is further seen with the use of the polysyndeton (the use of several and's) along with synonyms (sighed, lamented, cry). That is, the life of the Jews was so difficult, that their lives were seen in terms of days and not years.

We often do not see God's plan in our lives or in the lives of others because of some suffering. God had to move a population of 2,000,000+ Jews from Egypt to the land of Canaan. You would think that a simple command from God would do the trick; but then you would think that all it would take is for the Bible to forbid pre-marital sex, and that would take care of that issue for all Christians. The Bible does forbid pre-marital sex (1Cor. 7:1 Heb. 13:4) and as you certainly know, millions of Christians ignore this simple command. In the same way, no matter what God did by way of appealing to the Jewish people as a matter of reason, they would not have moved. It took decades of cruel slavery to cause the Jews to leave Egypt—and even then, they still desired to return to the leeks and garlic of Egypt (Num. 11:4–5).

It is a sad fact but the only way God can reach many of us is through pain and discipline. For those who are parents, you may have two different children, one of whom does what he is told and the other who can only learn something after being spanked. We are the same way. Some of us learn and are guided by God's Word and others of us have no interest in the Scriptures and our only part in God's plan is a recipient of discipline.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob; so then, God looked upon the sons of Israel and God knew [their plight]. [Exodus 2:24–25]

That God is aware of His covenant with the Jews, the Hebrew reads and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God's response includes the use of an anaphora (the repetition of the word with); a polysyndeton, and synonymia [pronounced syn-o-NYM-i-a], which is the use of synonymous terms. This emphasizes the closeness of God's observation of the situation and His divine concern.

Obviously, God does not have ears, so He does not hear as we do; and, He doesn't forget us or our problems. This is called language of accommodation. When this verse reads God remembered, this is an anthropopathism. God does not forget. He did not get busy on the other side of the universe, suddenly snap His fingers and say, Omigosh, I forgot all about those Jews; I'd better take care of them right away. God did not put the Jews into slavery, get busy with some other divine project, and then suddenly remember that He needs to do something about this situation. This is you or me, but not God. God has to allow the proper amount of time to pass in order to fulfill His plan.

The Jews, because of their negative volition, had to reach a point of almost unbearable suffering before they would listen to Moses. As we have seen, 40 years ago, Moses was not ready to lead them and they were certainly not ready to follow him. The Jews have been enslaved for about four hundred years. God is fully cognizant of this. He knew it in eternity past and made provision for it. However, to us, four hundred years seems like an inordinately long time. Therefore, to us, it seems as though God has forgotten about this situation and, when He finally intervenes, it seems to us as though He has suddenly remembered. That is an anthropopathism; taking divine action, thought and motivation and expressing it in terms of human thoughts.

God’s Person is spoken of 4 times in this one passage. Despite the awful oppression of slavery, God is right here, with His people, knowing all about the suffering that they were enduring.

The last word in v. 25 is yâdaʿ (יָדַע) [pronounced yaw-DAHĢ], is translated quite a number of different ways. It means to know by seeing or by observation and care can be inferred by the use of this word. What has happened is that the Jews prospered and multiplied, and the Egyptians became increasingly more tyrannical This passage indicates that it had gotten to a point when the Jews as a whole were severely burdened by this slavery. As we will see by their comments throughout Exodus, the Jews needed to be placed in a position where this was almost more than they could bear; otherwise, they would not have left Egypt. Just as there are times in our lives when God must place pressure upon us so that we can depend upon Him to make the right choices. However, the more of God's Word that you know, the less often it is that God has to put pressure upon you to make the correct choices.

Exodus 3:1–22

Outline of Chapter 3:

       Vv. 1–9         Moses encounters the burning bush

       Vv. 10–22     God gives Moses his marching orders

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

Links to Doctrines on the Preincarnate Christ

God’s Preparation of Moses

                            How Should We Deal with the Pronunciation of JHWH?

Introduction: For approximately 40 years, Moses has been living in the land of Midian, married to a priest’s daughter. We do not know when Moses believed in the Revealed God. It is possible that this occurred while Moses was living in the land of Midian. Certainly Moses has experienced some spiritual growth during this time period, although it is difficult to gauge how much, as he will resist God in the next chapter.

Moses’ new father-in-law (Jethro) was a priest, but we have no idea if he had any sort of a following or the only ones interested in what he had to say were his daughters and Moses. It is my estimation that, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had a congregation (of sorts) which consisted of his daughters and no men, other than Moses. The reason for this assumption is, when Moses stood up to the shepherds who harassed Jethro’s daughters, Jethro immediately sent his daughters back to get Moses and he married the eldest daughter. This would suggest that, whatever Jethro’s ministry was, it probably did not include any young males.

Therefore, all of Moses’ training and preparation took place in a congregation of approximately nine persons. Whatever this early training was, Jethro prepared Moses to the point where God was ready to use Him.

Furthermore, in God's eternal record, His Word, we will have recorded permanently the name of this priest living out in the middle of an Arabian desert, unknown and seemingly unimportant. On the other hand, God treats the Egyptian Pharaohs all as though they are the same person. Their names are not recorded because they received all the glory that they will ever get in their lifetimes as Pharaohs. Now they are persons lost to us in history. We can at best make educated guesses as to the identities of the Pharaoh's during Moses' time.

Moses Encounters the Burning Bush

Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian; so he led forth the flock behind the desert and came in unto the mountain of God; to Horeb. [Exodus 3:1]

Moses' father-in-law obviously had two names, both Reuel (or Raguel) in Ex. 2:18 and Jethro in Ex. 3:1 (see also Ex. 4:18 and Num. 10:29). For anyone who has had a brother nicknamed Junior or Bubba, or anyone who went by their middle name instead of their first name, this is easily understood.

Apparently, It was not abnormal for a shepherd to take the flock for a very long distance away, being gone for months at a time. They did not stay in their immediate area because there was room around them and so they did not use up the land and its resources. As Freeman points out, the Midianites with their borders along the eastern portion of Edom, took their flocks as far north as Gilgead and Bashan and as far south as the Ælanitic Gulf.

Chôrêb (חֹרֵב) [pronounced kho-RABE] means waste, desert, desolation, desert. Not much of a mountain to go to for scenery. It may have been called the mountain of God because of the following incident.

Then appeared the messenger of JHWH unto him, in a flame of fire, from the midst of the thorn bush. So he looked and saw [lit., lo] the thorn bush burning with fire and yet the thorn bush was not consumed. And Moses said, "Please, let me turn aside and see this great sight—why the thorn bush does not burn up." [Ex. 3:2-3]

Jesus Christ is the burning bush. This can be seen in many passages, but from comparing Exodus 3:2 with vv. 4, 6 and 7, it is easy to see that the messenger (or angel) of YHWH = YHWH = God.

Exodus 3:1–7 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. And the angel of Y^ehowah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and noticed that the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

And when Y^ehowah saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. And he said, Don't come any closer: take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God. And Y^ehowah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;... (Updated Bible Version 2.16; emphasis mine)

There are three persons in the Godhead, three equal in essence and perfection yet different in personality and function. God is one in essence, yet three in person. It has occurred to me, as I am certain that it has to many people, that perhaps the concept of the trinity is an anthropopathism and that we are better able to understand the function of God by seeing Him as three persons. However, the trinity is portrayed in the Bible again and again, both Old Testament and New, to where, if anything, the early revelation of the trinity in the Old Testament, as it is revealed here, for instance, would do more to confuse the reader than to clarify. Furthermore, there are passages which indicate that this is a great truth, rather than language of accommodation (Isa. 48:16 reads: "Come Near to Me, listen to this; from the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now, Lord YHWH has sent Me, and His Spirit.").

The trinity is composed of God the Father, who is not seen or felt, who has planned our salvation. Jesus Christ is the revealed member of the trinity, who is YHWH in the Old Testament, when YHWH is anything visible or tangible to man. He is the creator of the universe, the One Who accomplished our salvation, the one Who came to earth as a man and lived among us. The Holy Spirit is the person in the trintiy Who is not seen, but, in some instances, felt. He restored the earth; He indwells us, providing us power and self-restraint; He accomplishes God's will within us. The Holy Spirit does not glorify Himself but God the Father and God the Son. When it comes to language of accommodation, the description of the three members of the Godhead as God the Father and God the Son is language of accommodation. God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are co-eternal and co-infinite.

For more information, see The Trinity in the Old Testament (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

There is a portion of The Emphasized Bible which appears to be unique among the various translations in v. 3. It is translated that Moses turns aside and prays. I cannot find another translation which contains the word "pray" in this passage. Certainly, what comes to my mind, is that Moses turns aside, prays, and then looks to the bush. However, this is the Hebrew noun nâʼ (נָא) [pronounced naw] which means is a particle of incitement or entreaty. Is is often translated [I] pray [thee] or [I] beseech [thee] (see Ex. 4:18, for instance). It is also rendered now or then. Moses, in speaking to someone else, might use this term as an entreaty to them; here he is using this term as an entreaty to himself, while talking to himself. When this word is used as directed toward someone else, it is very similar to our use of the word please. To oneself, it is more or less an order or a decision or an act of volition which begins in the mind and is verbalized and then carried out. It is as though Moses is saying to himself, "Okay, Moses, please, get up your nerve and turn aside and look at this marvelous sight." Or, he is saying to himself, “Now I will turn aside and look at this marvelous sight.” Moses is telling himself what to do as he is somewhat afraid. It is an imperative to oneself. I mention this so that if anyone else is reading the Emphasized Bible, they do not become confused over its translation here. Moses is not going to stop and pray about this. What he feels is some normal apprehension, if not healthy fear.

Now, I want you to notice something which is evident throughout Scripture. God calls out to Moses. God does all of the work in our salvation. God searches us out and God speaks to us. No doubt, you have heard of this or that person who gets together a rucksack and goes out into the forest or the desert or to a hill and looks for God. This is human arrogance! You aren't going to go off somewhere and find God. When it is the right time, God will reveal Himself to you, just as He reveals Himself to Moses (or to any other prophet of the Old or New Testament). When Jesus chose His disciples, did they all search Him out? Jesus searched them out and He chose them. The exceptions to this would be one person witnessing to another and leading him to Jesus (John 1:35–42). There is always a calling by God or the witness of another person (which is God calling to us). No one in Scripture ever goes off on a spiritual search for God. That is man's arrogance thinking that he can find God and man's arrogance thinking that he can recognize God when he finds Him.

And YHWH saw that he turned aside to look, so God called to him, out of the midst of the thorn-bush, and said, "Moses, Moses" And he said, "I am here [lit, behold me]." [Exodus 3:4]

This is God's call to Moses. It is one of the very few times that God has called a man using his name twice. We saw it with Abraham (Gen. 22:11) and with Jacob (Gen. 46:2). Moses has been under preparation for God's calling for some time. He is now almost eighty years old (Ex. 7:7); he's been under preparation for eighty years and now God calls him.

And He said, "Do not come any closer; take off your sandals from your feet because the place where you are standing is holy ground." [Exodus 3:5]

Do not come any closer is the negative and the Qal imperfect of qârab (קָרַב) [pronounced kaw-RAB] and it means to approach, to come near. It is a very common verb used extensively in the Old Testament. This is folowed by the adverb of place hălôm (הֲלֹם) [pronounced hal-OME] and it means hither in the old English and here in normal person English. Do not come any closer gives a good English rendition of what has been said here.

The ground being called holy is only because there is a manifestation of God there—Jesus Christ. His presence makes the ground holy. Holy is the word qôdesh (שקֹדֶ) and it means apartness, holy, sacredness. It is ground and not holy which is in the construct. The construct is a noun which acts like a genitive; even as an adjective to a certain degree. When we translate this holy ground or even a ground of holiness, we have it exactly backwards; it should be that holy is the primary noun and it should be translated sacredness. Ground is more of the modifier. Everywhere around there is holy; the ground is because it happens to be in the periphery. For where you are standing upon—holy it [is] the ground. Another way to render this verse is the recognize that holy is a noun and it is being emphasized.

Removing one's shoes before entering a temple or any other place of worship is a typical Oriental custom. This is a mark of respect. We find something similar in Joshua 5:15. Once Moses realized what he was seeing, a manifestation of the living God, he became extremely frightened. We read about some of this in Acts 7:30–33: “And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of a buring thorn bush. And when Moses saw it, be marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look closely, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God Of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ And Moses shook [in fear] and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place one which you are standing is holy ground.’ “ (Exodus 3:6b, 5).

And he said, "I am the God of your father, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. [Ex. 3:6]

God tells Moses that He is the God of his father. Moses possibly doesn’t even know who his real father is or has had no contact with him. His mother played a part in his infancy, but possibly none whatsoever in his youth. His father has never been mentioned except as a Levite in Ex. 2:1. We do not know if his mother was known to him at all during his youth or adulthood. And recall that this is written by Moses. It is possible when he wrote Exodus 2:1, he placed in that verse the sum total of his knowledge concerning his mother and father.

Moses is not being evangelized at this point. He has already been evangelized and he has responded. He has been under the training of his priest father-in-law. We do not know how much he learned about his true genetic heritage when in the palace of Pharaoh. He obviously knew about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; otherwise this reference would have been lost on him (and it would have been less likely for him to record it). What I have said about his life in the palace concerning his training is reasonable conjecture.

We do not know at what point that Moses learned of his true heritage; we do not know if he heard this out and then went out to his people, the Hebrews, a day or so later; or if this was known to him for years before he acted upon that knowledge.

It is possible that the Pharaoh's daughter (Moses’ adopted mother) knew enough to instruct him concerning his lineage (this she would have learned from Moses' birth mother as her father was a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph).

Reuel, Moses' father-in-law, would have known some information about the Jews in general and he may have even known something about the promises which God had made to Abraham (he was, after all, descended from Abraham). As a priest, Reuel may have had some portion of the book of Genesis (maybe all of it); and some portion of the book of Job.

The point here is, Moses had to have a frame of reference here for what God said to him. When God said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” Moses did not ask, “So, who are those guys?”

Moses behaves as he should in the presence of God. He is not arrogant and he recognizes his own inadequacies. He doesn't feel as though he must first respect himself and then he can respect God. He doesn't treat God as his best friend and buddy. He respects and fears JHWH and recognizes His power and authority. We have moved so far away from the fear mentioned in the Bible (which we, in fact, like to associate with the Old Testament, but it is found throughout the New) that we no longer possess any sort of respect for God our Father.

Then said JHWH, "I have seen the humiliation of my people who are in Egypt and their outcry. I have heard away from the face of their task-masters, so I know their sufferings." [Exodus 3:7]

The second sentence in this verse is a bit confusing as to its sentence structure. It begins with the Qal perfect of shâmaʿ (שָמַע) [pronounced shaw-MAHĢ] is the simple word for to hear. The perfect tense means that God has known about this from eternity past—He is not in the process of learning a little bit at a time. This is followed by the preposition min (מִן) [pronounced min] which attaches itself to a noun or to a verb and carries with it the idea of separation. It can mean out from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not. Then we have the noun for face. This is most commonly translated from the face of, from the presence of, from before are common renderings of this combination. It can be translated as by reason of, because, which is the route most translators took. This could be translated I have heard away from the face of their task-masters, although other translations are quite different. The Emphasized Bible reads by reason of their task-masters and the NASB reads because of their taskmasters.

Then we have a conjunction and the Qal perfect for I know and the direct object, with the 3^rd masculine singular suffix, their sufferings.

"Therefore I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to take them up out of that land into a land good and large, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite." (Ex. 3:8)

The Canaanite was descended from Canaan, a son of Ham (one of Noah’s 3 sons). However, Canaanite is also used as a general term for the peoples who inhabit Canaan. They are further subdivided into Hittites, Amorites, and Hivites in Gen. 10:15, 17. The Perizzites, although an early grouping of peoples, are not mentioned in any of the genealogical lists—they spring forth as a tribe in full form in Gen. 13:7 15:20 34:30. Sometimes those who occupied the land prior to the Jews are called the Canaanites and the Perizzites, thus covering all of the different peoples in the land (Gen. 13:7). This is the first mention of the Hivites, who seem to always be grouped with the Jebusites and/or the Perizzites.

There is a right time for everything. God has perfect timing. He knew when the Jews were at a point at which they would be willing to leave Egypt. Prior to this, they were relatively happy (despite being enslaved) and quite prolific. Obviously, this people found their right man or their right woman and that was enough to keep them contented under moderately brutal slavery. It was not until their slavery became even more cruel and unjust that they cried to their God in pain.

So, here they are, God's people, serving godless heathen. God is going to give the Jew the land, the land flowing with milk and honey. God also prepares Moses by mentioning the tribes of people who are in the land. This land is large enough to support at least six different warring tribes or factions. This indicates that Israel both has their work cut out for them; but what they will receive will be a large chunk of real estate. The timing is also ideal for the tribes which presently occupy the land of Canaan. God had to wait until their degeneracy had reached such a severe level that they would have to be wiped out like a cancer.

It is fairly easy to determine when the Bible is to be taken literally and when it is to be taken figuratively. When God speaks of a land flowing with milk and honey, this does not mean that there will be literal floods of milk and honey. Zûwb (בז) [pronounced zoob] is used in four relatively distinct ways. (1) It means to flow away [with hunger] as we would use the expression pine away [with hunger] as we have in Lam. 4:9. (2) It means to flow or to issue from a woman (Lev. 15:25); it can also refer to the act of discharging from a man (2Sam. 3:29). (3) Zûwb can mean to flow out or to gush out as Psalm 78:20 105:41 Isa. 48:21. (4) And this word is always used in the Qal participial form when describing the promised land. In all four instances, the concept of to flow, to gush is there. Milk and honey speak of prosperity, of wonderful additions to the diet; and here, what is implied is an overabundance of such things, indicating that this will be a land of abundance, prosperity, luxury and divine blessing. This expression is used several times throughout the Bible, as in Num. 13:27 14:8 Deut. 6:3 11:9 Joshua 5:6 Ezek. 20:8 etc. Sometimes the words oil, figs, or butter are added.

"Now therefore, lo, the outcry of the sons of Israel has come in to me; moreover, I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. [Exodus 3:9]

The Israelites had also reached a point at which they appear to be turning to God for help. Their pain and suffering had reached crisis levels. Someone there had God's Word, as much as had been assembled up to that point, but the majority of the Jews, having found their right woman and begun huge families, were too satisfied for a long time to become concerned about God's plan for their lives.

God Gives Moses His Marching Orders

Now, therefore, come, that I may send you unto Pharaoh, so that you might bring forth my people—the sons of Israel—out of Egypt." [Ex. 3:10]

In verse 10, God uses the 2^nd person masculine singular vocative three times (He says, "Come (you)."). God is telling Moses to step forward and to come to attention. He is calling Moses into service. God makes it very clear by using the 2^nd person singular three times that it is Moses and no one else that He is drafting into service. Moses very likely had long ago decided that he would grow old and die in the desert of Midian with his wife and children and in-laws.

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go unto the Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" [Ex. 3:11]

Only in the Hebrew or with a very literal translation can you appreciate this. God has used the 2^nd person singular, referring to Moses, three times. Moses responds by using the 1^st person singular three times. "You, step forward, and I will send you to the Pharaoh and I will have you bring forth the children of Israel." So Moses answers, "Who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh; that I should bring out the children of Israel?"

This is the beginning of the show me a sign mentaility that the Jews fell into. Moses was the first. He sees a burning bush which does not burn up, he recognizes with fear and respect that this is God. Now he wants to know how will he actually know that he is really the person for this job. For gosh sakes, man, you are talking to God right now—is that not sign enough.

This verse is an example of erotesis [pronounced ER-ō-TEE-sis], which is a question which is not used as a question per se—that is, to illicit information. It is used here in the expostulatory sense; that is, to reason earnestly with someone else. Moses is asking God why would he be chosen for a responsibility such as this; implying that he is not qualified. Moses has been out of the palace for forty years now and has been a shepherd and a family man all of this time. He doesn't even look upon is time in the palace as being important as he was only there through adoption and not by birth.

And He said, "I will be with you and this to you shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you bring forth the people out of Egypt you shall do service unto God upon this mountain." [Exodus 3:12]

God has always had a sense of humor. Notice that Moses is asking for some substantiation as to God's choice of him to deliver Israel from the hands of Egypt. He is living a very comfortable life with very few pressures, an okay wife and two sons, and a great family (Moses did have problems with his wife, but those problems may have been related to her not wanting to be a part of God’s plan for Moses’ life).

So he asks God are you sure it's me you wanted? As if God has made a mistake or has got Moses mixed up with someone else. So God gives him a sign: after Moses goes to the Pharaoh, after he leads his people out of Egypt, then God will give Moses a sign that God has chosen the right person for this job. The sign that God promises Moses is, Moses will lead the Jews by this mountain and they will worship here. That will be the sign to Moses; after leading the people to the point, he will worship God at Mount Horeb. This is after the job has been done the God will give Moses a sign to let him know that God did not make a mistake (when Moses leads the people by the mountain there, obviously God has not made a mistake; because Moses has accomplished what God has sent him to do—or at least, part I; God has not yet clued Moses into Part II; 40 years of wandering through the desert).

And Moses said to God, "Lo, as surely as I go in to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you' they will certainly say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" [Ex. 3:13]

Not every nation had a direct line to God. Nations were not given their own gods who were equal to the true God, the God of Israel. There has never been an all roads lead to Rome insofar as God is concerned. Sincerity and religious fervor mean nothing to God. God has set up one program; there is one God, existing in three persons; and there is no other. Exclusivity has always been a part of God's plan. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12). God chose to come to a race of people and to work through that race of people in Old Testament times. He chose to do it that way and not to communicate directly to the other races and nations which inhabited the earth at that time. The Hebrews will not follow just any religious or military leader. It is important that Moses is representing the true God. So he asks God for some sort of identification. Here God is providing a miracle for Moses, the burning bush; a miracle that has caused Moses to be filled with fear and respect and now Moses wants to make certain that this is really God.

And God said to Moses, "I AM the One Who keeps on being." And He said, "Thus you will say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" [Ex. 3:14]

The Hebrew copyist reverently transcribed the letters JHWH or YHWH, which is the personal name of any of the three individual members of the Godhead. These are not two different Hebrew forms but two different English forms. Such reverence for God's name (also called the Tetragrammaton) is clearly refreshing to the familiarity used with the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this Jewish reverence for God's name turned into legalism. The reader of the Scriptures was enjoined to never pronounce this sacred name, but to use a less sacred name, Adonai or Elohim, instead when speaking aloud. In this way, the Sacred Name never reached the ears of a listener, leaving the pronunciation lost forever. The Septuagint further concealed this Sacred Name by using the Greek word κύριος (kurios, meaning "Lord") to translate YHWH [it is significant to note here that Jesus Christ did not anywhere concern Himself with the correct way to pronounce YHWH; He most naturally accepted the title "Lord' (κύριος). The Latin Vulgate did the same thing as do most of our English translations (however, there are visual clues in the English translations: when we find the words "Lord" or "God" written in small caps, this is the translation of YHWH).

To further add to the confusion, although YHWH occurs approximately 7,000 times in the Old Testament, it is translated Jehovah less than a dozen times in the RSV and in the AV.

There are actually two problems when it comes to the correct pronunciation of the name of God. First of all, there is no J in the Hebrew (or in the Greek). Even though there are dozens of names like Jacob, Joshua, Judah, Jedediah, James, Jude, etc. there is no letter J in either language. This J has bee inserted instead of a Y (and, occasionally, instead of other letters). In the original Hebrew manuscripts, the words were in all capital consonant letters. When read, the vowels were put in, but not with the tetragrammaton, which was not read. Therefore, the pronunciations has been lost forever to history. The vowel points were added well after the birth of Christ, millennia after some of the Scriptures were written. Now the vowel points are put in, but it is too late. What has been done is the vowel points for "Adonai" have been placed within JHWH for the present day translation Jehovah. This occurred as late in history as 1520 ad by Galatinus. Even several of his contemporaries objected to this pronunciation as being historically and grammatically inaccurate. Most scholars prefer the pronunciation/translation Y^ehowah.

"Y^ehowah is almost always regarded as the 3^rd person, singular, masculine, imperfect tense from the root hawah, an old form of the root hayah" [The Emphasized Bible].

Hâyâh (הָיָה) [pronounced haw-YAW] means to be, to exist, to become. Some scholars do not believe that this name for God is tied to the imperfect tense [The New Bible Dictionary by J.D. Douglas, p.478] but regard it as strictly a substantive built upon the word hāwâ. When God told Moses to say I AM has sent you, this is written ’eh^eyeh (אֶהְיֶה) [pronounced ’e-h^e-YEH] (the superscript e is sometimes the way that the Hebrews indicated that there was not to be a vowel there). This is not the same as the tetragrammaton YHWH (יהוה). As Rotherham pointed out, this is closer to the verb become, which is hâwâh (הָוָה) [pronounced haw-WAW or haw-VAW].

One of the unfortunate results of this confusion about God's name is that Jehovah's Witnesses have distorted this loss and have touted it as though they had suddenly discovered it. Then they have distorted JHWH and do not realize (even as the Jews did not realize) that Jesus Christ is JHWH. Strictly speaking, as Douglas points out, this is the only name for God used in the Old Testament. When anyone would "call upon the name of...", the last word would always be YHWH. God will say, "This is My Name forever" [Ex. 3:15]. In the incarnation, we now call on the name of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

God's name is tied directly to this passage of Scripture. In the authorized version, this is translated "I am that I am." In The Emphasized Bible this is translated "I will become whatsoever I please." The verb hâyâh in this verse is repeated, twice in succession then at the end of the verse. It means to be, to exist, to become. Verbs are repeated in the Hebrew to give great significance to their meaning. This could be translated, I am that I am; I am the one existing [eternally]; I keep on being the one existing [eternally].

What will help us in this translation is an examination of John 8:58. Of all the disciples, he seemed to be the only one to have a grasp as to what was occurring during our Lord's earthly ministry. He may well of been one of the simplest disciples, or, at the very least, the least literate (his Greek is simple enough for the first year Greek student to translate), yet he understood that Jesus Christ claimed to be equal with God and he understood that the cross was necessary. These two points eluded the other disciples during our Lord's earthly ministry, therefore we find His deity emphasized primarily in John's gospel. John 8:57-59 reads: The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said unto them, "Truly truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple. One important significance of this passage is, this is a clear reference to Jesus in the New Testament to JHWH in the Old. Certainly, many do not grasp this, but the Jews understood, and saw this statement as blasphemy, and took up stones with which to stone our Lord.

A portion of the Greek from this passage reads: πρὶν ̓Aϐραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἱμί (or, prin Abraam genesthai ego eimi). Γίνομαι is in the aorist middle infinitive, meaning a point int time. It is a deponent verb, which is why it is called the middle voice. The infinitive often states purpose. The word itself, in its most simple derivation means to become; however, to be born or to come into existance are also accurate renderings. The point in time referred to was Abraham's lifetime. Ego is "I" and it is added for emphasis, because grammatically it is not needed. The final word is the absolute status quo verb "to be" in the present active indicative., which is continuous action in the present time. This puts our Lord outside of time, prior to Abraham and continuing up until that moment. Literally, this reads, "Prior to Abraham coming into being, I [even I] AM [or, I kept on existing]." In the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament, when Moses asked our Lord what is His name so that he could give this to the Hebrews, God said, "̓Eγώ εἱμι ὁ ῎Ων." The additional two Greek words are the definite article and the present participle of I am. The participle is a verbal adjective, which, in this case, functions as a substantive. Or, "I, even I, keep on being the one being." Or, "I, even I, am, the I am." Or, "I, even I, keep on being the one who exists [eternally]."

And God said yet further to Moses, "Thus you will say to the sons of Israel: 'Y^ehowah, [the] God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob has sent me to you.' This is my name to times age-abiding, and this my memorial to generations after generation. [Exodus 3:15]

God's Word is God's Word. We often forget that when witnessing to people. We often do not believe in the power and reality of God's word so we think that we must prove that it is true We feel as though we must somehow back up that it is God's Word. I am not knocking apologetics—it is a favorite field of study for me—but the power is in God’s Word, not in apologetics. That is, no matter how good your arguments are, if someone refuses to be convinced, then they will not be convinced.

God had prepared the Israelites for their deliverance. All Moses has to do is to return to Egypt and to take control. God has already handled all the nuts and bolts of the situation. On the other hand, this does not mean that we begin witnessing or that we take much of an active part in God's plan in the beginning of our new birth.

Don't forget that Moses was prepared for perhaps eighty years prior to going into action. Then, after he was prepared, God used Moses. Youthful exuberance is wonderful and is, at times, far preferable to the older Christian who has lost his love of the Word, who is not growing, who is dead in his Christian life. Certainly, a newborn baby is far preferable to a 40 year old man who is still 15 in his lifestyle and thinking. But, a mature person is far superior to the newborn. And he has got the capacity for life, the vision, the direction and the drive. A Christian needs to grow and an emotional lift every Sunday is not enough. Even good Bible teaching every Sunday is not enough. Grounding in the Word is a daily process and God designed, for this dispensation, for pastor-teachers to take us to maturity. Self Bible-study is not a part of the New Testament plan for our growth. Moses learned from his Father-in-law, a priest. We learn and grow through a pastor-teacher. No new baby can pack a lunch box and go off to work and make it in the world at age four weeks. He requires eighteen to twenty-five years of training until he can do this. As Christians, we are the same way. We require the growth and the training. Then, when God opens up a significant role in His plan for us, then we move into position.

"Go, and you will gather together the elders of Israel and you will say to them, 'Y^ehowah, [the] God of your fathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, saying, "I am concerned [lit., in visiting, I have visited you] for you and for what is done to you in Egypt" [Exodus 4:16]

The last sentence is called a zeugma [pronounced ZEUG-ma] and it means of unequal yoke (ζεύγμα = yoke). This is where there are two subjects and one verb. Here, what we actually have is the lack of a second subject and a second verb; where there is a second direct object. What is even more unusual is that the verb visit is found here twice, first in the Qal infinitive absolute and secondly in the Qal perfect. As the Qal infinitive absolute, it can stand alone as a verbal noun or it can be used to intensify the meaning of the verb, as it does here. Pâqad (פָּקַד) [pronounced paw-KAD] means to visit, to attend to, to muster.

When God is the subject of the verb visit, two things are implied: this is much more that casual observation; God is not in heaven, He looks down and notices that the Jews are having a rough time of it and decides to do something about it. God realizes completely what is occurring to the Jews and this verb emphasizes the amount of empathy that He feels for Israel. Secondly, God the Holy Spirit liked to use this word visit as God the Son would actually take up residence on this earth and walk among us, visiting us, an event of 33 years which divides history and stands out as an event like no other—God visiting man on earth; taking part in man's sufferings and day-to-day activities. This continual use of the word in the Old Testament where God is the subject foreshadows the first advent of our Lord (Gen. 21:1 50:24, 25 Exodus 3:16 4:31 13:19 etc.).

"There I say [that] I will bring you up out of the humiliation of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite, and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey."' [Exodus 3:17]

Moses is standing there dumbfounded. God has told him in v. 15 exactly what to do. Since it did not seem to sink in, God tells Moses again just exactly what to do in v. 16. He is to go directly to the elders of Israel and tell them that he is there as a representative of the God of their fathers.

"So they will listen to your voice; and you will go in—you and the elders of Israel—to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'Y^ehowah, God of the Hebrews, has fallen in with us. Now therefore, let us go, we politely ask you, a journey of three days, into the desert, that we may sacrifice to Y^ehowah, our God.'" [Exodus 3:18]

In v. 18, we have the phrase "we pray thee." This is the same word used for "pray" back in v. 3.It is a polite request and "pray thee" is too old English to communicate what is being said.

A fascinating verb that we have in that verse: the 3^rd person, masculine singular, Niphal perfect of qârâh (קָרָה) [pronounced kaw-RAW], which means to encounter, to meet, to befall. The Niphal stem is usually the passive stem; what it indicates here is a chance encounter, one which has not been prearranged. The Niphal can be used in other ways, such as progress or development of the action, but the perfect tense runs counter to that. This stem often emphasizes the action of the verb upon the individual members of the group. Moses is telling Pharaoh that they have had a chance encounter with God (a chance encounter insofar as he, Moses, was concerned—the encounter was known to God from eternity past). God is the subject of this sentence, not Moses or the Hebrews.

"But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go—not [even if compelled] by a firm [or, mighty] hand." [Exodus 3:19]

The last phrase is a bit difficult and several translators differ as to its sense. We have a negative and a prepositional phrase; no verb. The prepositional phrase is by a mighty hand. Rotherham, the literalist, translates this: not even by a firm hand. Owen: unless compelled by a mighty hand. The NASB: except under compulsion with the alternate reading, except by a strong hand. Both renditions can be appropriately interpreted. The Pharaoh would not let the people go, not even under the mighty hand of Moses. It will only be after God puts forth His hand and smashes Egypt with signs and wonders that Pharaoh will allow the Jewish people to leave.

Bullinger, in his marvelous Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, gives us a different slant on this last phrase. He calls this an epitasis [pronounced e-PIT-a-sis], which is primarily a figure of speech found in the Greek. It means to stretch and it is an addition to the original phrase for emphasis. This means that the Pharaoh will not just initially say no to Moses, but he will continually say no, even when faced with God's mighty hand. The next verse indicates that this is God's mighty hand that we are speaking of.

God gives Moses a short explanation of the game plan. Most of us have heard the story of the Exodus, or have seen the movie, and realize that this is a bare bones summary. But this is all that Moses needs to know. Most of us, if we knew every detail of our future, could not face it. God, however, as our future unfolds, provides for us and provides the strength to move through it. God has told Moses everything that he needs to know. Ideally, the plan would be for the Jews to first go to the desert and receive instruction from God as to their next move.

"So then, I will put forth my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof; and, after that, he will send you forth." [Ex. 3:20]

An issue brought up here is the "wonders" which God will perform. Since we are mostly acquainted with the more spectacular portions of the Bible, we seem to think that the Christian life should be fraught with miracles and signs and wonders. We should walk out our front doors and there should be a cloud in the sky indicating that we should make a left turn or a right turn. How did we ever become so foolish? Firstly, our lives our filled with supernatural activity that we will never recognize until we have passed into phase three of the Christian life. However, the kinds of signs and wonders which we associate with the Christian life did not occur on a regular basis throughout history. These things were the exception to human experience.

Every thousand years or so, there might be a short period of time when there would be signs and miracles and wonders. These things all occurred when God was making an important change in the way he dealt with man. Or they would occur at a particular cross roads. When God went from dealing with mankind through all families and centered in on the race of the Jews, there were some miraculous things which occurred, but miraculous to Abraham and Sarah only, and not to the outside world. When designating exactly what that line would be, God played a significant role in that family through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The bulk of their lives, including the portion with Joseph, were not filled with miracles. After this, we find that there will be miracles on the exodus because God is not going to work through a nation (which was the natural outgrowth of the family of Abraham). There will be some miracles associated with Elijah and some unusual things which will occur in David's life. Then there will be a host of miracles and wonders associated with our Lord Jesus Christ and the foundation of the church (because that indicates a complete change in God's plan). However, in between those times are long periods of time where God's hand is present and fully recognizable (which it should be in our lives today) but there are a dearth of signs and miracles and wonders. [see the doctrine of signs and wonders...not finished yet!!]

In v. 22, the Jews will spoil the Egyptians. This is outdated language which does not communicate. We associate that with buying Nintendo games for a six-year-old. Here, the Jews are merely taking what is rightfully theirs for services performed while under slavery to the Egyptians. It is payment due for services rendered.

"Then I will give grace to this people in the eyes of the Egyptians; so it will come to pass that when you do go, you will not go empty [-handed] but every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that live in her house, jewels [possibly, articles] of silver and jewels [possibly, articles] of gold and clothing; and you will put them upon your sons and upon our daughters; so shall you recover [or, take] from the Egyptians." [Exodus 3:21-22]

We first must deal with the specific words in v. 22; then we can handle the interpretation. The KJV translates the word shâ’al (שָאַל) [pronounced shaw-AL] as borrow. It does not mean that; it means to ask, to inquire. It is in the Qal perfect, meaning that once they ask and once they leave, that is it. They have worked as faithful slaves on behalf of these Egyptians and for these Egyptians for over a century.

The word often translated spoil or plunder is nâtsal (נָצַל) [pronounced naw-TSAL] and it means to snatch away (in a good or a bad sense) and it is often translated pluck, preserve, deliver, recover, rescue, save. Here, recover contextually fits; although take is a reasonable translation also. This is in the Piel perfect, which is a completed action and the Piel stem is intensive. At that point in time, the plagues upon Egypt and the circumstances surrounding their leaving will be very intense.

The Jews have worked for years under the hands of the Egyptians and have produced and built and slaved for the country as a whole and for individual families. God has allowed that and has not said anything about the evils of slavery. However, it is now time for the Jews to become established and God will see to it that they are paid for what they have done. The amount of compensation that they will receive will be small compared to what they have done on behalf of Egypt; but it will be a beginning. When the salves were freed here in the United States, every slave-owner should have given that slave some seed money or some land or something with which to begin a life. We will see in Exodus 12:33 that the Egyptians wanted the Jews to leave, as they were afraid of the dire consequences if they remained. This is one of the few places in the Bible where it is implied that there is a price for keeping slaves and that the Egyptians did owe the Israelites something for their years of slavery.

We may wonder why the Jews needed any kind of jewelry in their circumstances; it was an Oriental custom to wear fine jewelry when going to a sacred festival. This way they did not displease the deities. It is also common for us today to dress up for Sunday church. However, this jewelry and the like was payment for services rendered. It was also somewhat like a savings account. It could be bartered when in difficult circumstances.

You may have certainly noticed the poor place in which this chapter got divided from chapter 4. Moses continues speaking to God in Exodus 4:1 and God continues speaking to and being patient with Moses. There should have not have been a chapter break until between vv. 19 & 20 of Exodus 4.

EXODUS 4

Exodus 4:1–31

Outline of Chapter 4:

       Vv.  1–17    God continues to reassure Moses

       Vv. 18–23    Moses and his family begin to travel to Egypt

       Vv. 24–26    Moses under the sin unto death

       Vv. 27–31    Moses meets Aaron and the elders of Israel

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

       v.    21          What is wrong with the hyper-Calvinist view of hardening Pharaoh’s heart

Introduction: As we have noted, the chapter breaks are not inspired and this is particular chapter break is a good example of a bad chapter break. We are still observing the conversation between Moses and the Revealed God (Jesus Christ). Then, suddenly, in mid-conversation, the chapter suddenly ends. Chapter 3 should have been continued as far as Exodus 4:17, which is the end of the conversation between Jesus Christ and Moses and chapter 4 should have begun with Exodus 4:18, when Moses takes his family and returns to Egypt.

The reason I do not re-do the chapters and set them up properly is, I make these documents to match up with the common English Bible translation. If someone is studying Exodus 4:1–5, then I prefer for them to find that information under Exodus 4, even though those verses are properly placed at the end of Exodus 3.

During this return, Moses is required to circumcise his children (who are grown men now) and this duty is relegated to his wife, who finds the experience repugnant. This portion of God's Word is amusing because we have the very bitchy opinion of the wife of Moses given to the man who would lead two million Jews out of Egypt. We will also have the opportunity to meet Moses' brother Aaron.

God Continues to Reassure Moses

Moses is still not going for it. He voices another objection: In Ex. 3:18, God has told Moses that the people will listen to him. Still, despite what God says, Moses finds reason to object.

Then Moses responded, and he said, "And look [lit., lo], they will not believe me, neither [will they] listen to my voice; for they will say 'Y^ehowah has not appeared to you.'" [Exodus 4:1]

Moses is taken aback by all of this. He has no idea how he can pull this off. He does not see himself as a messenger of God but, at this point in time, can only see this from the human viewpoint. He would just be some fool from the Midian desert who comes to the people of Israel alleging that he has spoken to God. He appears to discount the fact that God would be with him.

God told Moses that the people will listen to him; Moses says that they won't. God's word is filled with promises and mandates that we often find ourselves contradicting. Whereas, it is crystal clear in the Bible that sex is allowed only on the playing field of marriage between a man and a woman and not until after the marriage, how many Christians adhere to this? Here is one place where you have the opportunity to compare yourself to one of the greatest men who ever lived. God said one thing; Moses told God that He is wrong. God has given you specific mandates; you have told God that He is wrong.

Some people have no concept of how inconsequential their opinion is. As a young person, one of the very few areas where my viewpoint lined up with God's was with respect to school. During my tenure at high school, the latest thinking was to ask us students how we felt about this issue or that. I personally was quite uncomfortable with this; I was going to school in order to gain the knowledge to someday have an opinion and I did not have enough information at that time to have an opinion on those things I was expected to have an opinion on. How arrogant we are to have any opinion which is in opposition to God. How much smaller it makes us appear. However, luckily for Moses, God will entertain Moses' concern.

Along these lines, I recently saw a video on Watters’ World where high school students had a massive walkout over Trump’s temporary and limits immigration ban. When Jesse Watters interviews the students, it became apparent that they did not really have a clue why they were protesting, but it was also clear that they were sincere and passionate about it. No knowledge but lots of emotion. The Communists called such people useful idiots.

And Y^ehowah said to him, "What is this in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Then said he, "Cast it to the earth." And he cast it to the earth and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from the face thereof. [Ex. 4:2-3]

As Scofield points out, a staff or rod, in Scripture, is often indicative of power and authority (Psalm 2:9 11-:2 Rev. 2:27). Cast down (that is, held in the carnal, earthly realm, it becomes a serpent striking fear in the hearts of all those under it. Taken up by the man of God, it becomes a rod of God (Ex. 4:20).

What exactly was extent at that time in terms of the Scriptures, we do not know; and we know even less about what Scriptures Moses was familiar with. Perhaps Moses was aware of a prototype Genesis (from which Moses got his information) existed and possibly Job, or maybe he knew the entire book of Genesis and Job. However, we have no clear indication that Moses had access to either of those books at this time—apart from the references by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Moses never said, “Who are those guys you keep talking about?”).

For the next 40 years, Moses’ primary source of revelation will come directly from God. Today, our primary source of revelation (99.99999%) comes from the written word. When someone tells me that God has spoken to them or has spoken to their heart or has let them know something, I personally have serious doubts in this area. If we are filled with His Word and filled with the Spirit, we do not require a cloud overhead telling us should we make a right or a left turn. However, at this time, there was very little if any written revelation. There certainly was a system of sacrifice, which taught salvation and rebound (definitely the former and very likely the latter). Information about what has happened in history and God's relationship to man over the previous 1000 years or so has been passed down orally.

Moses' father-in-law has certainly passed on to Moses whatever he knew and Moses has experienced some growth. As unusual as this might sound, it is important to realize that we have the opportunity to know more and have an impact equal to Moses in God's history because we have the entire Word of God and the opportunity to know the entire Word of God. Moses is speaking directly, face-to-face with the living God, Jesus Christ, and he is telling Him, "I don't know; I don't think Your idea is going to work. I think that Your plan has several flaws." Because of the lack of divine revelation in Moses' soul God will have to work with Moses using some signs and wonders. Afterwards, as Moses becomes further and further entrenched in His Word (this will be by divine revelation and by writing God's Word) there will be fewer and fewer signs for Moses himself. However, there will be a great many signs for the children of Israel.

Back to the passage itself; God did not ask Moses what was in his hand because God was not sure. He asked Moses so that Moses would have no doubt in his mind as to what he was holding. The miracle which was performed was nothing. It was a very small thing for God to do. The less that we require in the way of miracles, the better off we are. Miracles and wonders do not ground one in the faith. Similarly, Christian apologetics, although they have their place, do not appreciably cause one to grow. Moses will in later life not hearken back to this miracle and find strength and power in it. This miracle was good for a few hours; or, at best, a few days.

And Y^ehowah said to Moses, "Put forth your hand and take it by its tail."—so he put forth his hand and laid hold of it and it became a staff in his hand— "that they may believe that Y^ehowah, God of their fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, has appeared to you." [Exodus 4:4–5]

God is performing some minor miracles for Moses which will do two things: (1) it will give Moses a place to temporarily place his faith until he becomes more inculcated with God's Word; and (2) it shows Moses what miracles he will be capable of when he meets with his people, the Jews. This way, just in case they do not believe him, Moses will realize that there are certain things that he can do by way of miracles to show that he really did speak with God. Moses is concerned first of all that the Jews will not believe him (Exodus 4:1); and God performs this miracle so that he will see what he is capable of doing before his own people the Jews. These same miracles will also be performed for the Egyptian Pharaoh. As we will see, the elders of the Hebrews will appear to accept Moses immediately (Exodus 4:31) and these signs would be used more extensively later on (Exodus 7:8–13).

Then said Y^ehowah to him, yet again, "Bring, if you would, your hand into your bosom." So he brought his hand into his bosom, and took it out and lo, his hand was leprous, like snow. And He said, "Put your hand back into your bosom." And he put back his hand into his bosom and lo, it had come again, like his own flesh. [Ex. 4:6-7]

The heart is what we are and the hand is what we do as a result of what we are. Moses had both a corrupt and an honorable heart; when he put his hand near his heart and took it out, what was revealed was his dishonorable, leprous heart; a heart filled with excuses and negative volition. However, Moses was also saved and he did have some doctrine. So when he put his hand back inside his cloak it came out whole again. A passage in the New Testament which deals with this issue would be Luke 6:43-45.

Again, these are just miracles which are done to impress Moses enough to give him the courage to do what God has told him to do. As amazing as it may seem, this will not be enough to convince Moses to go ahead with God's plan. He has had some training, but we have no idea how much Scripture Moses has learned.

Moses will, when he receives God's Word on the Mount Sinai, become much more grounded and that will prepare him for the forty years of living in the desert with a bunch of spiritual degenerates.

"Thus it shall come to pass: if they will not believe you nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, then will they believe the voice of the next sign. And it shall come to pass if they will not believe even those two signs nor hearken to your voice, then shall you take of the water of the river and pour it out on the dry land; and the water which you have taken from the river shall certainly become blood on the dry land." [Ex. 4:8-9]

God is telling Moses that there is a backup plan to the backup plan. Moses is still thinking about the elders of Israel believing him and God is giving Moses the contingency plan when Pharaoh refuses to let the people go. God is a couple steps ahead of Moses. God knows what He is doing and will perform whatever miracles need to be performed in order to accomplish His purposes.

Moses has another objection. Moses is a very bright man and can come up with a lot of objections.

The Moses said to Y^ehowah, "Pardon, O My Lord, [but] I am not an eloquent man [lit., a man of words]; neither, heretofore, nor since You have spoken to your servant, for heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue am I." [Exodus 4:10]

Moses is thinking of excuses why he cannot participate as quickly as he possibly can. It does not occur to him to just trust God and go with God's program. So Moses thinks about this—even though he can perform a couple of miracles, he still has to speak to the men of Israel and he is not accustomed to public speaking. He may have had some training in this decades ago, but apparently he has never had to put it into practice.

Then Y^ehowah said to him, "Who appointed a mouth for man or who appointed him to be dumb or deaf or seeing or blind. Is it not I, Y^ehowah?" [Exodus 4:11]

Moses’ objection is not an excuse to God. God has chosen Moses. It is God who has decided who can speak and who cannot. This is not Moses' prerogative to second guess what God has provided for him.

"Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth so will I direct you, what you will speak." [Exodus 4:12]

Y^ehowah has made it quite clear that Moses has a mouth (by divine design) and that God will tell him what to say. What more does he need? Jesus Christ told His disciples the same thing fifteen hundred years later. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak. For it is not you who is speaking but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." (Matt 10:16-20; also see Mark 13:11 Luke 21:12-17).

Some have taken this verse or the passage just quoted from Matthew out of context. You cannot claim either of these passages in lieu of learning God's Word. When the time comes, we cannot simply open our mouths and God will just speak for us. God chose the disciples who were, for the most part, spiritually weak. Jesus Christ told them time and time again about the cross and they later remembered that when writing Scripture, but did not seem to know about it when the time came.

Jesus knew when He spoke these words to them that they were for all intents and purposes, without resources. Under circumstances of pressure; the eleven disciples would fall apart. He therefore promised them that they would be able to communicate His Word as they should be able to even under pressure. Most, if not all of the disciples, would develop the doctrinal resources in their souls and be able to speak God's Word under tremendous pressure through the power of the Holy Spirit to the courts and rulers that they will be brought before.

Today, we have the entire Word of God and the ability to grasp its meaning and intention. We claim such a promise in cognizance, not in ignorance. God can and does prepare us to a point where we are not robots but our souls take an active part in what we say and think. This is certainly not a full exposition of these three passages, which actually were spoken on two occasions, the first time spoken to all the disciples as a near prophecy, and the second time as a near and far prophecy said to only certain Apostles.

In this context, Moses was still coming up with excuses and God was answering those excuses. God has a plan for our lives and we should fall into this plan willingly. It is not some obscure maze that we have to continually pray about and ask for miracles to direct us. In Moses' case, God spoke to him directly because (1) there was a dearth of Scripture and, (2) because God had an extremely important and individual job for Moses to do. Once we learn some doctrine, what God wants us to do is often too clear; and we, due to negative volition and not due to ignorance, will choose against His plan.

And he said, "Pardon, O my Lord, send [your message], if you would please, by the hand of him whom you will send." [Ex. 4:13]

Moses is saying, "Please, if You would, send someone else." The hand is the agency by which something is done. Whereas this verse literally reads: "And he [Moses] said, O Lord, send I pray you by the hand You will send." In other words, accomplish Your work through any agency except me. God has all the patience in the world; a thousand years is as a day to Him.

God does not have anger as an emotion. The next verse is put in terms of language of accommodation. It is put on a level which we can understand. At this point in time, even we should start becoming impatient with Moses.

Then the anger of Y^ehowah was kindled against Moses, and He said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he is certainly able to speak [lit., in speaking, he can speak]. Moreover, also, I see [lit., lo], he himself is coming forth to meet you as surely as he sees you, so sure will he rejoice in his heart." [Exodus 4:14]

God knew in eternity past that there was no one else for this job other than Moses. He was the perfect person to perform these miracles and to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He was also aware that Moses would refuse to lead the children of Israel and that Moses would refuse to stand up to Pharaoh. Moses needs someone there to hold his hand. So God provided Aaron, the brother of Moses, in eternity past. The way that this is expressed is somewhat humorous: "What about your brother, Aaron? I know that he can speak."

Actually, the Hebrew word is our common word for speaking: dâbar (דָבַר) [pronounced daw-BAR]. This is first found in the Piel infinitive absolute and then in the Piel imperfect. The double use of this word means that Aaron can undoubtedly speak. Normally the Piel tense would stand out as being quite intensive, but dâbar is found in the Piel much more often than in any other stem. We will see that, although Aaron is enthusiastic and eager to please, he does not have what it takes to stand up to Pharaoh or to lead the Israelites. As Thieme paints this picture, Aaron will be the spokesman for Moses until Moses finally gets tired of listening to him handle it the wrong way so that he finally pushes Aaron aside and speaks directly to Pharaoh.

There is an important shadow here. Aaron becomes a part of God’s plan by virtue of the fact that he is related to Moses. There are a number of greater men in Israel than Aaron—however, only Aaron is the brother of Moses. Aaron will become a High Priest and all those who are descended from him will be priests or high priests. They are so designated because of their relationship to Aaron and he is so placed in God’s plan because of his relationship to Moses. Here’s the deal: we have nothing whatsoever to recommend ourselves to God. We are in absolute opposition to God. We should expect condemnation. However, because we are in Christ—because of our relationship to Christ Jesus, we are accepted in the beloved. In fact, we are a nation of priests. What we have is a parallel situation. Moses is representative of Christ—the Great Prophet Who would come. Aaron has a place in God’s plan, as do all of his descendants, simply because of his relationship to Moses. We have our place in God’s plan simply because of our relationship to Christ Jesus. We have nothing else to recommend us.

"Then you will speak to him and will put the words in his mouth, so I will direct you [as to] what you will do. And he will speak for you unto the people; and is shall come to pass that he will become a spokesman [lit., a mouth] on your behalf [lit., for you] and you will become to him as God." [Exodus 4:15–16]

V. 16 may not be translated completely correctly. We have the absolute status quo verb to be hâyâh (הָיָה) [pronounced haw-YAW] used twice here. It is first in the Qal perfect with a subject which is not altogether clear; and it immediately follows in the Qal imperfect. We could also translate this as: he has become and he will continue to become a mouth on your behalf and you will be to him as God.

So God will speak to Moses; Moses will tell Aaron what to say, and Aaron will speak to Pharaoh, on behalf of God. What Moses says to Aaron will be just as though God is speaking to Aaron—therefore, Moses will become as God to Aaron. Although this is God's second choice as to how things should be done; He does allow Moses his free will. What God would prefer (and it will eventually occur this way) is that there will be one man between Himself and Pharaoh; one mediator speaking God's Word to Pharaoh. That sets up a better shadow image of Jesus Christ revealing God to man and the perfect God-man, the One Mediator between God and man. Throughout the Old Testament, God will continually use spiritual men who both act in the process of His plan and also act as a shadow of good things to come.

"And this staff, take it in your hand; with this you shall perform the signs." [Ex. 4:17]

When Moses' mother, the queen, told him of his background, she possibly told him about his real family. There is no indication that they had ever met prior to this. Very likely, his birth-mother kept in touch with the queen and would inquire as to Moses and his life.

It seems reasonable that Moses’ entire family knows about him all the time that he is in the Pharaoh’s palace. Recall that Miriam, his older sister, watched the ark the Moses was in until the Pharaoh’s daughter took up Moses; and then she retrieved her mother to feed the child until he was weaned.

God certainly knew Moses' entire background and at this point, we do not know how much about it that Moses knew. It is my educated guess (yet, at this point it is just a theory) that Moses did not fully grasp his familial background until a day or so before he went out among the Jews to observe them in slavery. He behaved as if he was seeing them in a new light, although, at forty years old, he could remember Jews being slaves under Egypt and under the authority of the palace for his entire life.

Based upon his actions when he had gone out among the Hebrew people, it does not appear that Moses fully appreciated his heritage and his people until then—and it is possible that he was not aware of it until a short time prior his going out that day.

When he went out to observe the Jews, he may have been told more details of his family and perhaps not. Since no intention of meeting his family was mentioned and since he goes out into the Jews twice without a mention of his family, it is my educated guess that he did not know any of the specifics of his birth at that time. However, his first visit out to the Jews in Exodus 2:11 mentions the word brothers twice; indicating that he knew at least at this time that these were his relatives by birth. Exodus 4:14 and the following verse indicates that Moses at this time knew who his family was.

Moses and His Family Begin to Travel to Egypt

So Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, "Let me go, I ask of you, and return to my family who are in Egypt, that I may see whether they are yet alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go and prosper." [Ex. 4:18]

I've taken some liberties with the translation; Moses asks to return and see his brothers. Also, I ask of you is actually I pray thee. It is interesting to note that Moses says nothing of his encounter with the burning bush to his own father-in-law, who is a priest.

A guess on my part is that Moses will go half-heartedly to Egypt, first to see his family, and then he might go and speak to Pharaoh. He is still possibly going to play this by ear.

Notice that this parting is much better than the one between Laban and Jacob. Jethro recognizes the importance of Moses returning to Egypt to see his family and does not do anything untoward to make him stay. There is a mutual respect between Moses and Jethro, so Moses does not feel that he needs to hide what he is going to do.

And Y^ehowah said to Moses in Midian, "Go and return to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were seeking your life." [Ex. 4:19]

How God spoke to Moses this second time, we do not know. This could have been a reference to Mount Horeb because that is in Midian, near the border of Midian and Egypt. If God did come to Moses a second time, then we are given no specifics whether He came in a dream or a vision or as another phenomenon of nature. Moses originally left Egypt because his life was in danger and now he can return since the statute of limitations has run out (which, in this case, is the fact that those who remembered the crime and intended to prosecute Moses had died).

So Moses took his wife and his sons and caused them to ride upon the donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the staff of God in his hand. [Exodus 4:20]

This staff was the staff which Moses had used for years to walk with and to herd his cattle and sheep with. However, when God caused it to change into a serpent and back into a staff, it became the staff of God.

And Y^ehowah said to Moses, "When you go to return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go." [Exodus 4:21]

Moses likely recorded all of this years later. It is possible that he recorded his conversation with God at Mount Horeb, and as he records his steps from Midian to Egypt, he recalls other things which God had said to him. It is also possible that God had again appeared to Moses, possibly several times, reassuring Moses in little steps.

When we get further along in this, we will examine God hardening Pharaoh's heart. At some point in time, we will cover the Doctrine of The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart. A problem with the Calvinists, as it is with many theological positions, is this "all or nothing" mindset. On the one hand we have the Armenian way of thinking, which emphasizes man's free will as over ruling God's sovereignty; and the hyper-Calvinists on the other hand seeing God's sovereignty as overruling man's free will. Furthermore, they see man's free will as being illusionary at best when it comes to things spiritual. The theological conclusions of both positions are dangerous. The Armenian believes that everything depends upon them. However, everything depends upon God. The hyper-Calvinists become fatalistic. However, the Bible asserts our free will throughout the Old and New Testaments. Both positions are theological ones and it may not seem to be that important to the reader, but that theological position seeps into their Christian life and into their way of thinking. Their participation in God's plan is confused and contradictory. Their motivation is confused and their actions are confused. However, when the time is right, we will straighten all of this out.

What might help to allay your troubles temporarily is that the Hebrew sometimes has a verb denoting action which expresses not the doing of the thing, but the permission to do so. Bullinger points out several passages where this is done: Gen. 31:7 Jer. 4:10 Ezek. 14:9 20:25 etc. God is not forcing Pharaoh to harden his heart, but He is permitting him to do so. More of that later.

"Then shall you say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says Y^ehowah, My Son—my firstborn—is Israel. Therefore, I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me But, if you refuse to let him go, behold, I am going to slay your son, your firstborn.'" [Ex. 4:22-23]

Whether God is appearing to Moses on several different occasions or whether Moses is recalling these things to his mind as he sets off toward Egypt, the implication is clear: Moses, on this trip, is thinking doctrine and is being exposed to doctrine. Doctrine is God's Word and Moses has doctrine now pervading his soul. This is the only way to approach one's spiritual service. God has given Moses the overview of what will occur (the Pharaoh will ot listen to Moses) and what the final ultimatum to the Pharaoh will be. the death of the first born.

Under Egyptian bondage, it is possible that circumcision among the Israelites had been neglected by some (however, not by Moses' parents because his adoptive mother recognized that he was a Hebrew immediately in Exodus 2:6). We do know, however, that Moses did neglect the circumcision of his own children—at least his youngest.

Circumcision is one of the things which sets the Israelites apart from surrounding heathen. Because "sons" is in the plural in v. 20, we know that Moses had two or more sons; and because "son" is in the singular in v. 25 that we have two possible scenarios: (1) Moses had all of his sons circumcised until the last one which his wife overruled; or (2) Moses did not have any of his children circumcised, and when cutting off the foreskin of the last son, his wife threw a tantrum. It is possible that Moses had suggested circumcision before but had been overruled by his wife; or it is possible that he never took this stand. Whatever the case, not all of his children were circumcised.

What God will expect from Moses is an all or nothing stance. He is about to lead two million malcontents across the desert for forty years. He is about to stand in front of Pharaoh and do what is unprecedented: demand the release of two million slaves because this is God's demand. Not only is it the demand of God, but the Pharaoh will see Him as a local god; peculiar to the Israelites. Therefore, Moses cannot follow God's plan in a half-assed way.

I need to add an OT Doctrine of Circumcision; and an abbreviated Doctrine of Circumcision here.

Moses Under the Sin Unto Death

And it came to pass on the way, in the resting place for the night that Y^ehowah fell upon him [Moses] and sought to kill him. [Exodus 4:24]

A son (or sons) of Moses has not been circumcised since birth. Now suddenly Moses is under the sin unto death. The sin unto death is a sin or sins or point of degeneracy when God requires the believer to be removed from this life painfully and under discipline. For the casual reader, the fact that God has come to Moses and has spoken to him on at least one occasion, and the fact that Moses finally decides to go along with God's plan, might become rather disconcerted by this verse. However, whereas Moses, a sheepherder out in the desert, apart from his people, can get by with not circumcising his son(s); Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, the instrument of God, the man to stand before Pharaoh and demand Pharaoh allow the Jews to leave—that Moses does not have the same leniency. As we move higher up in God's plan, we have more rewards, more happiness, more responsibility and the discipline becomes much more strict.

We have seen men of great spiritual prominence brought down by a few acts of carnality. These men do not even have to be spiritual giants; but they are perceived by many to have a great ministry and dedication to God. On the other hand, I can think of one man in particular who stands out as a very public person whose reputation is just about unimpeachable—Billy Graham. He has had a tremendous responsibility all of his life and, with God's grace, has been equal to the task. God sees that those who are leaders in the Christian community are disciplined far more than the average Christian would be.

So Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and it was cast down at his feet [Moses'], and she said, "Surely, a bridegroom of blood are you to me." [Exodus 4:25]

Foreskin, surprisingly enough, is a feminine noun. Cast down is in the Hiphil stem—the passive stem—and it is in the feminine singular. This is how we properly determine the subject of this verb.

Women do not like to see their children suffer any kind of pain, no matter what. Sometimes a child is so protected from pain, that they have no concept of what the real world is like and they have totally unrealistic expectations. Zipporah is practically never mentioned in the Bible, and she is never mentioned with regards to any great spiritual thing. Moses' life was at stake and she was concerned about a small amount of pain. She has no big picture view. She has no concept of Moses' role in history. In order for two people to have a happy life together, they need to both be growing spiritually. We may not know the full implication of what she has said, but it is clear that she is unhappy with the situation and any husband knows that there is hell to pay when the little woman is unhappy (this works both ways).

So He withdrew from him. Then that she said, "A bridegroom of blood" with respect to the circumcision. [Ex. 4:26]

God fell upon Moses, or met Moses with the intention of killing him. Because Moses had not circumcised youngest son, and was off to lead the nation Israel out of Egypt, he found himself under the sin unto death. He delegated the responsibility of circumcising the children to his wife (it is possible that he was too sick to perform this operation—again, God has not given us all the details here). Once she had done that, God allowed Moses to recover (He withdrew from him) and Zipporah was allowed her moment of bitchiness. How embarrassing to have a husband who is the single greatest man in the Old Testament and the only thing that we remember about the wife is how pouted and bitched in the face of God's plan and the possibility of the death of her husband. What a sad memorial. We must understand that this is not an indictment against all women; this is a sad piece of commentary about one woman who did not have the foresight, the spiritual growth, the personal sense of destiny that her husband possessed.

Zipporah was under a lot of pressure here. She was raised with her family out in the desert and for the past forty or so years has lived with Moses in the desert. She certainly assumed they would live out there lives together there, so she is certainly unhappy about this trip to Egypt. Even though it is unlikely that Moses has told anyone as to why he is really going to Egypt, it is certain that she suspects that this is more than just a family reunion. This circumcision is the last straw. She had thought that this issue had been settled. She had raised her children under Dr. Spock, seeing that they experience little or no pain in their lives, therefore, she would not allow circumcision to be done; and now she has found that she has been overruled. All in all, a bad day for Zipporah (which means bird.).

This issue of complete obedience was obviously of utmost importance to God. It was important enough to put Moses under the sin unto death. He was given enough time to deal with this situation properly as the man of the house, and he did. Zipporah, just in case Moses didn't hear her the first time or receive the entire impact of her statement, she calls him a bloody bridegroom twice. Because of Zipporah's failure here, we will never hear about her again. One theologian theorized that she left Moses at this time.

Moses Meets Aaron and the Elders of Israel

And Y^ehowah said to Aaron, "Go your way to meet Moses, towards the desert." So he went his way and he met him in the mountain of God and kissed him. [Exodus 4:27]

Aaron knew about his brother Moses, raised in the palace. Their sister, Miriam, saw with her own eyes what had happened. All of this was apparently kept quiet in order to preserve the life of their brother Moses. However, the time is proper and God reunites this family, speaking to Aaron and guiding both Aaron and Moses. It is not easy for one man to leave Midian with his family and another to leave Egypt and to meet one another in the midst of the desert. God had to guide both of them in order for that to happen.

And Moses told Aaron all the words of Y^ehowah, with which He had sent him, and all the signs with which He had entrusted him. [Exodus 4:28]

God sent Moses on his way with doctrine in his soul. What God said to Moses was the Word of God—it was doctrine—and we see Moses recounting this throughout this journey. When God sends us to do His work, it is with His Word—His doctrine—in our souls; that is how we are sent. Moses also told Aaron about the signs which were his responsibility. The Hebrew word is tsâvâh (צָוָה) [pronounced tsaw-VAW] and it means to lay charge [upon], to give charge [to], to command, to order, to place under one's authority or into one's responsibility. Entrusted is a reasonable one-word translation, if one infers duty and responsibility as a part of it. This verb is in the Piel perfect, meaning that God gave this once and for all to Moses and this was an intensive responsibility (meaning, solemn). This signs and wonders were a great responsibility to have. This is one of the reasons that Moses almost died the sin unto death.

So Moses and Aaron went their way, and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel. [Ex. 4:29]

The way this is written, it sounds as though Aaron did not have as much trouble with God speaking to him as Moses did. God told Aaron to go out to the desert and he did. Moses tells Aaron what God had planned for them and Aaron immediately takes Moses to the elders of Israel. We don't know how quickly Aaron consented to all of this, but the text suggests that Aaron went along with all of this almost immediately. Since Moses wrote this, we will find more details concerning his conversations with God than with Aaron's. Even though Aaron makes some serious mistakes in the future, one should not underestimate his spiritual impact. The entire Levitical priesthood began with Aaron at the head. Also, I believe that it was his influence over Moses that caused Moses to be less difficult about going through with God's plan.

This is likely the first meeting between Moses and Aaron and they are about eighty years old. Israel was operating on a family, elder system of rule. We began with a family priesthood and God worked through various family members. When the population grew, God chose a particular race to work through. This is called the age of the patriarchs ("fathers") because their primary organization was through the elder members of the tribes. The major change to occur is that God will organize them as a nation and rule over them as their king. Later on, the people of Israel will reject Jesus Christ as their king. In 1Samuel, they will reject Jesus Christ as their king and ask for a human king to lead them.

Moses did not want to speak and desired for God to chose someone else. God chose Aaron, knowing that Moses was by far the more powerful and dynamic speaker and leader. In speaking to the pharaoh, Moses will soon become frustrated when he listens to Aaron speak (while he ruminates that he should have said it this way and he should have said this or that, etc.). Finally Moses will push Aaron aside and begin doing his own speaking.

And Aaron spoke all the words which Y^ehowah had spoken to Moses, and he did the signs before the eyes of the people. [Exodus 4:30]

It is unclear in the English and in the Hebrew as to who performed these signs—whether it was Aaron or Moses. However, it would be most likely that Moses did so that the Jews were able to understand the chain of command (from God to Moses to Aaron). Furthermore, when Moses stopped communicating through Aaron, it would be important that the elders recognized that God had spoken through Moses and had called upon Moses.

And the people believed, and when they heard that Y^ehowah had concerned himself with [lit., visited] the sons of Israel, and that He had looked upon their humiliation, they then bent their heads and bowed themselves down. [Ex. 4:31]

When we are in God's plan, He opens up the doors for us. Moses spent more time objecting and asking "what if" than it took for he and Aaron to talk to the elders of Israel and convince them that God had spoken to Moses and that it was time for them to leave Egypt.

Prior to this time, and despite being enslaved, the elders and the people coped while living in Egypt. They apparently had some doctrine and the blessing of God and found their right women (or men) and they had many children and the picture of the Israelites under Egypt was one of peace and prosperity and security. However, when it was time for God to take them out of Egypt, they had suffered enough pain and degradation and humiliation to desire to leave Egypt. This is not an easy thing to do, even as a slave, when you have lived under slavery all of your life. There is a lot of security involved here. People are more than willing to bargain their freedom for a little security.

Exodus 5 has been completely reworked and expanded, including the entire word-by-word Hebrew exegesis. It is found here: (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). It is highly recommended that you go to that study instead of this one. All of the material found here is included in that study. These chapters are being completed one-by-one and will eventually supplant this very incomplete study of Exodus.

                                                              EXODUS 5

Exodus 5:1–23

Outline of Chapter 5:

       Vv. !–3          Moses and Aaron first confront Pharaoh

       Vv. 4–14       Pharaoh increases the workload of the Israelites

       Vv. 15–19     The Israelite foremen complain to Pharaoh

       Vv. 20–23     The foremen complain to Moses and Moses complains to God 

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines

                            Natural Consequences of Sin; Discipline from God

God’s Ability to Mix Everything Together for Good

Introduction: In this chapter, Moses and Aaron will go before Pharaoh. God has told Moses already that Pharaoh will not let the Jews go immediately; that signs and wonders will be required (Exodus 4:21). In fact, Y^ehowah has told Moses that He will have to go so far as to threaten the firstborn of Pharaoh (Exodus 4:23). So, as God has promised, Pharaoh does not allow the children of Israel to go (the first request would be to go to the mountains and make sacrifices to God). Chapter 5 ends with Moses complaining to God that He has brought more harm to the people of Israel than good; and that Pharaoh did not let them go.

Moses and Aaron First Confront Pharaoh

Ex. 5:1 marks the first use in the Old Testament of the phrase, "The Lord God of Israel" (literally, "Y^ehowah, God of Israel"). They are now large enough to be considered a nation and God is over them. Prior to this, it was "Y^ehowah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Now he is the God of the nation Israel. This would be the way that God sees this. On the other hand, to most people at this time—including Moses—they would understand God to be saying that He is "Y^ehowah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Y^ehowah, the God of Israel would probably understood by Moses as the shortened version of Y^ehowah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I am speculating here, somewhat. I am making the assumption that, although the people of Israel see themselves as a separate, cohesive people, they do not see themselves as a nation. Up to Exodus 3:15, we do not find the name Israel alone used as a reference to the people. We find the phrase sons of Israel instead (it is found more than 10 times). The only variance is in Exodus 3:16, 18, where we speak of the elders of Israel. The first place where they seem to be spoken of as a people called Israel (without any modifiers) is in Exodus 4:22; and then again in Exodus 5:2, where God speaks of Israel as a people. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." (Exodus 4:22–23a; ESV) But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go." (Exodus 5:2; ESV) My point being that, God saw His people as a singular people, as a nation, called Israel. The people were not yet there in their thinking.

And afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says Y^ehowah, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the desert.'" [Exodus 5:1]

The fact that Moses and Aaron could get an audience with Pharaoh is unusual enough. They come to him with the straightforward Word of God. That is the very best that we can bring to anyone. What they would like to do is châgag (חָגַג) [pronounced khaw-GAG] and it means to make a pilgramage, to keep a feast, to celebrate a feast. For some reason, my remembrance from my unbeliever days emphasized the concepts of fasting but the Old Testament more often emphasizes feasting and celebration. God asks of Pharaoh what is reasonable: to take a few days off to journey into the desert and hold a celebration-feast on behalf of the Reveal God (Who is Jesus Christ).

Then Pharaoh said, "Who is Y^ehowah that I should hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know Y^ehowah and I will certainly not let Israel go." [Ex. 5:2]

Hearken is a marvelous Old English word for which we do not have an exact one-word equivalent in Modern English. It means to listen and to obey or to listen and to comply. The Hebrew word is the Qal imperfect of shâma‛ (שָמַע) [pronounced shaw-MAH] and this word can mean to listen and comply (as in Gen. 3:17 16:2); it can simply mean to hear (Gen. 3:8, 10); or it can mean to hear and sympathize (Gen. 16:11 Exodus 2:24). These six passages make it clear that we do not have the exact same implication each time.

Israel is the name of the patriarch of the Israelites and we have his name here used by God in such a way that it stands for all of the Israelites.

Everything is going exactly as God planned it. He told Moses to speak to the elders of Israel and then to go to Pharaoh and speak to him. God gave no indication that there would be trouble with the elders, but indicated the Pharaoh would not be so inclined. Any thinking person understands the reluctance of Pharaoh, however, a stranger coming to the Israelites and telling them theat he was going to lead them out of Egypt; that is pretty phenomenal too. The Pharaoh admits to being an unbeliever. He does not know Who Y^ehowah is and has no intention of turning the Jews loose. For the past century or so, it has been the practice of Egypt to have the Jews in slavery. It is difficult for anyone to see past that. After all of the years of slavery in the United States, it was difficult for the Blacks to receive proper respect. That, however, is an entirely different topic.

Notice too that God does not speak directly to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is an unbeliever. What fellowship has darkness with light? God works through a mediator, Moses (and Aaron). Moses is a believer so he has fellowship with God. Therefore, he can speak to God and God will speak to him. However, the Pharaoh does not believe in Y^ehowah, the God of Israel, so he cannot have any sort of fellowship with God. Moses, as a believer, can speak to God, and as a man, can speak to Pharaoh. Therefore, he will act as a mediator between God and Pharaoh. Throughout the next several chapters, God will always communicate with Moses and Moses with Pharaoh.

Unbelievers do not have direct communication with God, except in one area and one area only: when God the Holy Spirit reveals the gospel to the unbeliever, the channels between him and God are opened for a short time so that the unbeliever can believe in Jesus Christ (God has the gospel revealed often by a mediator—someone like you or me—but making the gospel real to the hearer is all God the Holy Spirit). Other than this revealing of the gospel of the unbeliever and the response of the unbeliever, there is no direct communication between God and man. Furthermore, this gospel, although revealed to the unbeliever by the Holy Spirit, is still often presented to the unbeliever by means of a believer, who represents Jesus Christ to this unbeliever.

And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we ask of you, a journey of three days into the desert and sacrifice to Y^ehowah our God, lest He attack us with pestilence or with sword." [Ex. 5:3]

Moses and Aaron understand the issue; they have a job to do; to remove the people of Israel from Egypt. If they do not do this, it means the sin unto death to themselves and to Israel. Moses already knows first hand that if he does not obey God it will mean the sin unto death. What they are requesting is exactly what God told them to request (Ex. 3:18). However, God has made any threats to Israel. His threats are toward Egypt. Here, Aaron is adding to God's Word. He claims that if he does ot round up the Jews and haul them into the desert, then God will attack them with either sickness or with war (sword is a metonymy for war). This sounds better, but it is not what God told them to say (insofar as we know). Prior to the exodus, God wanted the Israelites to go out into the desert and worship him and receive divine instructions there.

Pharaoh Increases the Workload of the Israelites

And the king of Egypt said to them, "Why, Moses and Aaron, are you causing the people to refrain from their labors? Get [back] to your [own] slave-labors." [Exodus 5:4]

V. 4 has the 2^nd masculine plural, Hiphil imperfect of pâra‛ (פָּרַע) [pronounced paw-RAH] which, generally speaking, means to loose. It more properly means to let go, to let alone and in the causative stem, it means that Moses and Aaron are causing the Jews to let go of their labors. Better English is they are causing them to refrain from their labors. We have two different words for work in this verse. Ma‛ăseh (מַעֲשֶׂה) [pronounced mah-as-EH] and it means deed, work. Since it is in the plural and has on the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix with the preposition mî (-מִ), which is used with verbs of separation or removal and, in that context, means from, I have translated this phrase from their labors. The 3^rd person masculine singular suffix gathers Israel as a whole; we still translate that suffix as their.

The second word is ç^ebâlâh (סְבָלָה) [pronounced seb-aw-LAWH] and it is the word used in Exodus exclusively for their slavery. The masculine form of this is a tyrannical burden and this, in the feminine, is a burden placed upon the Israelites in slavery. Slave-labors or burdens of slavery would both be good translations of ç^ebâlâh.

And Pharaoh said, "Listen, many now are the people of the land; and are you to make them rest from their labors?" [Ex. 5:5]

In v. 5, some Bible translations use the word "lo" to begin Pharaoh's statement, and others use "behold or look." All of these are accurate, but dated. The word is hên (הֵן) [pronounced hane], is a primitive particle which means "lo!" There is a prolongation of this particle, hinnêh (הִנֵּה) [pronounced hin-NAY], which means the same thing. We have seen it continually throughout Exodus (and the rest of the Old Testament). It is a word which is supposed to grab the listener's attention. It would be close to the translations "now listen to this" or "look here (now)" or "listen up" or "pay attention to this." The only difference is that it is a particle and not the imperative of a verb. With this in mind, and to capture the brevity of it, I have translated this "listen." This is a freer, more idiomatic translation than a literal one, however, it sounds more modern, which should be one of the goals of any translator. Many modern translations use the word look.

Pharaoh is totally amazed that anyone should come into his palace and ask to let two million of his laborers rest for three days (actually, that is simply their trip into the desert-wilderness to worship God). This catches him completely off guard. God has prepared everyone for their part except Pharoah. God has allowed the pharaoh to act as he would. This is not to dissimilar to someone walking into the office of the CEO of Apple Computers and asking him to let his workers take a sudden paid seven-day vacation (the total time period if we allow only a single day for worship). You can tell that Pharaoh doesn't even know exactly what to say. He expresses his surprise twice and says the same thing twice, with different words. If it were a part of his vocabulary, the Pharaoh would have prefaced his remarks by, "You have got to be kidding!"

He is so taken back by this ridiculous (in his eyes) request, that he decides that he needs to exert some authority and make the Israelites pay for making this kind of a request. Unfortunately, up to this point in time, the Pharaoh's have added burden upon burden on the Israelites that it would be difficult to make their work any harder.

So then, Pharaoh gave command on that day to the taskmasters over the people and to their overseers, saying, "You shall not from this point on give any more straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go themselves to gather the straw." [Exodus 5:6–7]

Ancient Egyptian bricks were made of clay mixed with water, some with straw and some without, and then the mixture is put into a mold, 14.5–20" long, 4.5–7" thick and 6.5–8.75" wide. Once they had set, the mold was removed and they were placed in the sun to dry completely. These bricks were used in Egyptian homes, tombs, tower walls, fortresses, various buildings and for the sacred inclosures of temples. Often they would bear the imprint of the name of the king who was in power when they were made (which helps us to date the buildings found). The Egyptians also use stones, but they were confined to temples, quays (these are docks built out into navigable waters for loading and unloading ships) and reservoirs.

Those who had ruled over the Israelites had become cruel and unrealistic. They expected far too much of the Jews. Each ruler attempted to outdo the previous one when it came to production and increasing the burdens that the Jews bore. The Jews were already under almost unbearable cruelty. This Pharaoh, even hours later, was still taken aback by Moses and Aaron walking into his palace and demanding time off for the Israelites. He decided that the Jews must have too much time on their hands for them to be concerned about having a feast to their God. Prior to this, it was the responsibility of those over them to see that straw was provided for them to make the bricks. Now they would have the added responsibility of gathering this straw themselves.

It is here that we can see how Aaron's addition to divine revelation misled Pharaoh (about God falling upon them with sickness or war). The Israelites would not be disciplined if they didn't go out to worship God. This was not an option given to the Israelites to decide—they were commanded to go out and worship God and Pharaoh would be under grave discipline if he did not comply. You see how the slightest change or addition to God's Word, and something entirely different is perceived. Aaron made it sound as though the Jews, during their down-time, got together and decided that they had better go worship God or God would discipline them.

Now I realize that does not put it all together for everyone, that should at least help to understand God's plan, man's sin, and our responsibilities.

"Nevertheless, the fixed number of bricks which they have been making up until now you will continue to expect from them; you will not diminish [the number required] from them; for idle they are since they are crying out, saying, 'We must go our way; we must sacrifice to our God.'" [Exodus 5:8]

In this verse we have the negative plus the Qal imperfect, 2^nd masculine plural of gâra‛ (גָּרַע) [pronounced gaw-RAH] and it means to diminish, to restrain, to withdraw.

It is obvious to Pharaoh that these Jews have far too much time on their hands if they are sending reprsentatives to him to discuss time off for feasting. Moses should have told Pharaoh that God had come to him, Moses, and ordered him to take the people from Egypt to worship; and if Pharaoh didn't, then there would be hell to pay. It may not have had any different affect, but it would have been more accurate than claiming they might face sickness or war.

"The labor must be made heavy on the men, so that they may labor on it; and let them not pay attention to falsehoods [lit., to words of lying]." [Ex. 5:9]

We have yet another word for work in v. 9; the feminine singular of ‛ăbôdâh (עֲבֹדָה) [pronounced ab-o-DAWH] and it means labor, service, work. It is very similar to the Hebrew word for slave: ‛ebed (עֶבֶד) [pronounced eh-bed]. The transliteration and the pronunciation make them sound like very different words; however, the Hebrew was written originally in all consonants and in this way they are exactly the same word except that labor has an ה (he) on the end of it. The result that Pharaoh expects to have when the labor is made heavy upon the Jews is that they may ‛âsâh (עָשָׂה) [pronounced aw-SAWH] in it. This is a verb which goes way back to Gen. 1:7, 16, 25, 26, 31 2:2, 3, 4. It is a widely applied verb which generally means to do, to make, to make something out of something. They are given the materials to make brick; prior to this, they did not have enough time to fill so Pharaoh has added to their responsibilities. This verb is followed by a preposition with a 3^rd feminine singular suffix, meaning at it, on it, in it. It refers back to labor. I did a rather free translation at this point (although many other translators have also).

The point of what Pharaoh is saying is that they have too much time on their hands if they are contemplating going out into the desert-wilderness to sacrifice to their God. Because of this outrageous demand (which Pharaoh sees as having come from the people as a whole; and not as having come from God), he increases their burden. Apparently there were other workers, very possibly paid Egyptians (or possibly other slaves) who provided the straw with which to make bricks (my guess is, this was the excess produced by agriculture). That additional task was given to the Hebrews. What was expected of them was a set number of bricks from each crew; they had apparently decided that it was easier to say, "we will now require you to produce 500 bricks where you must gather the straw for these bricks, instead of 500 bricks" rather than to increase the hours. Very likely they worked from dawn to dusk as it was.

There were two sets of authority over the slaves: the taskmasters (who were Egyptians) and the overseers (who were Jews). Taskmaster is nâgas (נָגַשׂ) [pronounced naw-GAS], which means to drive [an animal, workman, debtor or army]. By implication, it means to tax, tyrannize or harass. It is a verb, found here in the Qal active participle masculine plural construct. A participle acts as an adjectival noun (that is, it is a noun which often modifies another noun) or as a verbal adjective, and in the construct it is also dependent upon another noun. The noun that this word modifies is the word for people. Taskmasters of the people is a reasonable translation and the people's taskmasters is even closer in meaning.

The second word is shôţêr (שֹטֵר) [pronounced sho-TARE], which comes from an unused primitive root word which means to write. Therefore, this means writer or scribe. However, in this context it would mean an official, a foreman, a superintendent, an overseer. Egyptian slave service was organized into levels of authority over the slaves; those who were constantly with the slaves while they did their work, seeing that everything was done as expected, and people above them who gave the directives, spot checked the work and the amount of production and reported back to Pharaoh when necessary. The writing is probably related to them keeping records of what work was done (how many bricks were produced).

It is not clear from "Strong's" which word is which, but v. 10 indicates that the overseers (or foremen or officers) were out in the field with the Jewish slaves and v. 14 indicates that these overseers were taken from the men of Israel. The Egyptians had found that it was better to set up levels of authority with the Jews themselves in those levels; that would possibly set up a buffer between the slave laborers and the taskmasters themselves. The point is that the Egyptian were very organized. They had to be. With two million slaves, they could not be haphazard about this. These were not primitive, two steps away from being cavemen civilization. Egypt was a highly organized, highly civilized nation. Two million slaves requires an incredible amount of organization.

I have had my own, very small business over the past 30 years, and on occasion, it involved coordinating 4 or 5 workers at the same time. This requires great skill and organization (and, obviously, that is a very small number of workers). So, with two million slaves, there must be skilled people in the hierarchy as well as excellent organization and paperwork.

Then the taskmasters [Egyptian officials] went forth among the people and their foremen [Jewish overseers] and spoke to the people, saying, "Thus proclaims Pharaoh, I am not going to give you straw, you yourselves get straw for yourselves wherever you can find [it]. Yet there has not been a diminishing of your labor [expectations] a single thing." [Exodus 5:10-11]

The proclamation is the announcement directly to the Jews that they must obtain straw for themselves by themselves. Pharaoh, with his wording of this proclamation, is rubbing it in. In five places, the Pharaoh used the word you or the second masculine plural of the verbs. This verse also tells us who did what. The taskmasters were those who were in charge of the overseers and the slaves both. When proclamations and policies came down from the king (Pharaoh), the taskmasters and overseers announced them. The overseers then heard what they were responsible to expect from the Jews. Already, their expectations had been driven to a point where the Jews were no longer content with living in Egypt. In Ex. 1:11-14, we have seen that their labors were increased, but the Jews increased also. However, in Exodus 2:23–25, we see that their slavery had become a burden and the security which they received was no longer enough to compensate for the incredible work and degradation that they had to suffer.

The Pharaoh, like each preceding Pharaoh, increased their labors again with this proclamation Having been a teacher, I would dread the beginning of each year after the legislature had met. There would always be additional duties or changes which would make my job of teaching more and more difficult. Rarely did new legislation come down the pipe and cause us as teachers to exclaim, "This is great news." It was far worse for the Jews. With each succeeding Pharaoh, more and more burdens were imposed upon them.

As is true of all of the details in Exodus, this kind of cruelty is typical of that inflicted on slaves in Egypt. A French Egyptologist (M. Chabas) discovered some papyrus on which a story of twelve brick-making slaves who had failed to produce what was expected of them and had their work increased as punishment. This was not from this time period nor did it involve Jews; it is just corroborating evidence of the reasonableness of this narrative.

On the walls of one spacious vault there are a series of ancient paintings which depict the life of vizier Rekhmirê of Egypt. One has him overseeing the manufacturing of bricks and the workmen who are involved are light skinned as opposed to the darker skin of the Egyptians. An overseer is saying, by the inscription, "The rod is in my hand; be not idle."

So the people dispersed themselves throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw; the taskmasters, meanwhile, were urgent, saying, "Complete your work quota [lit., your works], the task of a day in its day as when the straw was provided [lit., when there was straw]." [Exodus 5:12–13]

The gathering of straw was like a second job. These Jews already had a grueling, schedule to maintain. Now they had to gather the straw. Furthermore, the taskmasters informed their foremen, and the foremen informed the Jewish slaves that the quotas must remain the same. This is not unlike a factory which has laid off half of its work force, but demands the same production of those who remain. There are times that there is fat to trim; however, with the Jews, they were already overworked. What was given to them was impossible to accomplish.

Then the foremen of the sons of Israel were beaten, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had set over them, saying, "Wherefore, you have not completed your task for making bricks as before either yesterday or today?" [Exodus 5:14]

Those in charge of production quotas were slaves also, as we see here; and when the production quotas were not met, unlike today where a bonus might be withheld, here, they were beaten. At first, these might have seemed to be the cushier jobs, but they took responsibility for the crews that they managed and for the qualitiy and quantiy of their production. When production was down, they were beaten.

The Israelite Foremen Complain to Pharaoh

Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came in, saying, "Why are you doing this to your servants? No straw is given to your servants, yet bricks—they keep saying to us—make. And notice, your servants are beaten. You, therefore, a doing wrong to your people." [Ex. 5:15-16]

The last phrase of v. 16 is a bit difficult to unravel. The NASB renders it as, "...but it is the fault of your own people." The Emphasized Bible, which tends to be fairly literal, says: "thou dost, therefore, wrong thy people." Owen wrote: "But the fault is in (are wrong) your own people." The difference in meaning is one rendering, The Emphasized Bible, the Pharaoh is doing wrong to his people, and, in the others, the fact that the Jews cannot produce the amount of bricks required is the fault of the Egpytian taskmasters. It is merely a conjunction, a verb and a noun. The verb is the 3^rd person feminine singular, Qal perfect of châţâ’ (חָטָא) [pronounced khaw-TAW] and it means to miss the mark, to sin, to do wrong, to go wrong. The problem here is the 3^rd person feminine singular. There is no relative noun to which this can refer. The Septuagint and the Syriac text indicate that this is in the 2^nd person, masculine singular, which is a pretty strong thing to say. Even though there is no emphasis here on the word you, it takes a lot of courage to go and tell the Pharaoh that he is wrong. The last word is the word for people with a 2^nd person masculine singular suffix, meaning your people. Usually, in the ancient world, in polite society, the word for servant or slave would have been used here, even if the person speaking were not a slave (see Gen. 42:10 44:16). The word used is ‛am (עַם) [pronounced am] and it means people, tribe, company. They have already called themselves slaves, but they present the Jews in general as the people of Pharaoh and Pharaoh is doing wrong to his own people.

The foremen (or, overseers), even though they were Jews, were given certain privileges. One of these was an audience with the Pharaoh. Even though this is a inhumane practice and it was daily becoming more so, the Egyptian Pharaoh still would hear his slaves out.

The foremen were a go between the Jews as a whole and the taskmasters. They were almost like labor union representatives, except that there was no striking and no collective bargaining. What Pharaoh said was the law. However, this had gotten to a point at which the impossible was expected from the Jewish slaves. This group of foremen has come to tell the Pharaoh that the task set before them has reached the point at which it is impossible to perform.

But he said, "Idle, you are idle on this account [because] you keep saying, 'We must take our journey; we must sacrifice to Y^ehowah.' Now, therefore, go labor, but straw shall not be given to you; yet the expectation of bricks shall you render." [Exodus 5:17–18]

Although this Pharaoh would allow an audience form the foremen of the Jews, he was not at all reasonable. God knew this and told Moses that Pharaoh would not capitulate easily. It is in this narrative that we see how unbending this Pharaoh is.

Then the overseers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in an evil [no-win] situation when it was said, "You will not diminish from your bricks, the task of a day in its day!" [Ex. 5:19]

This is not what the overseers wanted to hear. It was not their idea to go into the desert and worship God. And although things were not great in Egypt, because of Moses and Aaron (and ultimately, because of God), things became even more intolerable. Very possibly they thought that they could reason with Pharaoh; explain that it was literally impossible for them to do what was expected of them. However, Pharaoh puts it back on them.

Pharaoh has, essentially, put the blame back on Moses and Aaron. The Pharaoh seems to have assumed that the Jews themselves came up with this idea of going out into the desert and worshiping God. He may not have fully understood that this demand came directly from Y^ehowah to Moses and Aaron which brought this to the elders of Israel and then to the Pharaoh. Even God works through levels of authority.

The Foremen Complain to Moses and Moses Complains to God

So they fell upon Moses and upon Aaron, stationing themselves to meet them, as they came forth from Pharaoh [Exodus 5:20]

The translations sound quite different for v. 20. NASB reads: When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them. The Emphasized Bible reads: So they fell upon Moses and upon Aaron, stationing themselves to meet them,—as they came forth from Pharaoh; The verb used, pâga‛ (פָּגַע) [pronounced paw-GAW] means to meet, to encounter and it can imply friendly terms, an accidental encounter, or meeting with hostility. They refers to the foremen, as Moses and Aaron are direct objects here. They are described by the Niphal participle of nâtsab (נָצַב) [pronounced naw-TSAB] which means to take a stand, to station oneself. The participle is used as an adjectival noun, describing Moses and Aaron; the Niphal is usually the passive of the Qal, but it can be used to describe an action which is in progress or development. Moses and Aaron are to be speaking to Pharaoh; not these foremen. Moses and Aaron are just standing by waiting to hear what Pharaoh said.

This is followed by the Qal infinitive construct of qîr’ah (קִרְאָה) [pronounced keer-AWH] and it means to meet. The 3^rd masculine plural suffix allows us to add the word them. So, instead of going right back to Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron appear to be taking a secondary role, standing off to the side, and hoping that the foremen will be able to straighten things out. They are waiting for foremen to come out to find out how things went.

And they said to them, "Y^ehowah, look upon you and judge in that you have made us odious [lit., you have caused our odor to be offensive] in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, putting a sword into their hand to slay us." [Exodus 5:21]

The foremen can hardly wait to run into Moses and Aaron and give them an earful. They are extremely angry at Moses and Aaron because they have taken an intolerable situation and have made it even more intolerable. No one stops to think that God has chosen these things to occur. They are looking to place blame. The last phrase is better understood as you might as well have given them a sword to kill us with.

Very noticeable here is the incongruity of their smell being offensive to Pharaoh's eyes. This is called catachresis [pronounced CAT-a-chree-sis] or incongruity. One word is changed for another and this is contrary to the ordinary usage and meaning of it. It draws attention to the strength of the statement. On the other hand, these men could have been so upset that they just blurted this out, barely able to think of what they were saying.

This is a shadow of things to come. Moses and Aaron would face an uphill battle with the Jews for the next forty years. The Hebrews under slavery never did quite grasp the full impact of what was occurring. They never did fully understood the importance of their freedom. This is why Moses had so much trouble with them in the desert and why God made them wander the desert until of the first generation He killed them all. These foolish overseers don't see the Pharaoh as being the one out of line, but Moses and Aaron. They are short-sighted.

And Moses returned to Y^ehowah and said, "Oh My Lord, why have you caused harm to this people? Why now did you send me, seeing that since I went to the Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has caused harm to this people and in delivering, You have not delivered Your people." [Ex. 5:22–23]

When a verb is used twice in the same breath, it places great emphasis upon the assertion or the expression. In terms of verbs, it is a superlative with respect to magnitude and gravity of the action involved. Moses did not listen carefully to God and now he claims that in God's deliverance of the Jews, he did not deliver them. This is a scathing indictment levied by Moses.

Pharaoh blames the foremen and the Jewish people; the foremen and the Jewish people blame Moses and Aaron. We don't hear from spokesman Aaron, but he certainly blamed Moses, if silently. Now Moses blames God.

Also, this is a very odd place to end this chapter—God is about to answer Moses. However, that will wait for chapter 6.

Exodus 6 has been completely reworked and expanded, including the entire word-by-word Hebrew exegesis. It is found here: (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). It is highly recommended that you go to that study instead of this one. All of the material found here is included in that study. These chapters are being completed one-by-one and will eventually supplant this very incomplete study of Exodus.

                                                              EXODUS 6

Exodus 6:1–22

Outline of Chapter 6:

       Vv. 1–13       A conversation between God and Moses

       Vv. 14–26     A rather incomplete genealogy is inserted

       Vv. 27–30     The resumption of the conversation between God and Moses

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

       v.     3          The Name of God

       v.     6          The Illustration of the Slave Market of Sin

       v.     6          The Doctrine of Redemption

Introduction: Chapter 6 continues the conversation between God and Moses; God promises Moses that He will bring Israel out under compulsion and Moses still complains that Pharaoh will not listen to him because the elders of Israel will not listen to him. Then there will be an odd break in chapter 6 when the families of the patriarchs are mentioned and the conversation between the Lord and Moses will continue.

A Conversation Between God and Moses

By Ex. 6, God has already told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen to him. All of this is going just as God planned it; just as He told Moses what would happen. Moses appears to have become as short-sighted as those who met him.

Then said Y^ehowah to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh; by a strong hand he will send them out and by a strong hand he will drive them out from his land." [Exodus 6:1]

Moses is speaking to God the Father and God is speaking to Moses. Although we are told some of the specifics of their first meeting (where God manifested Himself as a burning bush); we have no idea how this meeting was initiated, or whether there is anything which Moses is actually able to see (this tends to be the rule rather than the exception when people directly interacted with God).

When it is time, God the Holy Spirit will give Moses his power and strength to produce the miracles. So it will be God the Holy Spirit Who will actually cause Pharaoh to drive the Israelites out of the land. Here, it is Pharaoh who is said to drive the people out of the land; meaning he will desire for them to leave and order Moses to take them out of Egypt. It appears that the strong hand here belongs to Pharaoh; but some might understand this to be the strong hand of God.

The NASB translates by a strong arm as under compulsion, which is an excellent rendering of the idea. There is a preposition involved here; one which is ignored by Owen and by Zodhiates; it is the preposition b^e (בְּ) which is pronounced as a part of the noun and its basic meaning is in. However, the limited number of prepositions in the Hebrew wear a great many hats. This can mean among, within, into, at, by, touching, with, by means of, through. It is the latter two uses that we have here. Pharaoh will require a little encouragement by the hand of God. Most of us have some basic understanding of the judgments/plagues/blows of God delivered against Pharaoh and against Egypt. As a result of these judgments, Pharaoh will send the people of God out of Egypt.

And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, "I am Y^ehowah; I appeared therefore to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty; although by my name Y^ehowah was I not known to them?" [Ex  6:2-3]

V. 3 has been a source of consternation for a long time. Some have wrongly theorized that because of this statement, the writer of the Exodus had not read certain portions of Genesis (therefore, he did not write it) so he wasn't aware that the name "Y^ehowah" had been used of our Lord Jesus Christ. That makes little sense. This, first of all, is God speaking, not the author of Exodus. God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land of Canaan as an inheritance forever. He was known by several names to them (as well as to all the saints from the book of Genesis) but His identifying name has always been "Y^ehowah." This is the equivalent to them as the name of Jesus Christ is to us. That was our Lord's name prior to the incarnation.

The exodus was the primary method of evangelism for the next several centuries. When people heard of it and believed in that God, this was salvation. Salvation is by faith in the Revealed God. It will be well-known throughout the world that God's power over Pharaoh is absolute. This standoff between the God of Israel and the Pharaoh of Egypt will have some symbolic references as well as literal. By this I mean that the plagues which God uses to glorify Himself all cut deeply into the religion and culture of Egypt. All that which is held sacred by the Egyptians will face God's wrath.

"Furthermore, I also established by covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan—even the land of their sojourning wherein they sojourned. [Exodus 6:4]

Moses must take the Jews out of Egypt and return them to the land of Canaan because God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He allowed them specifically to sojourn (a temporary stay) in the land that would be an inheritance to them forever.

Furthermore, I also heard the groaning of the sons of Israel whom the Egyptians were holding [lit., holding them] in servitude; and I remember My covenant." [Exodus 6:5]

God had not forgotten His covenant and then suddenly realize that He has some Jews down there and thought, "What are they up to and what can I do about it?" It would seem as though God had totally forgotten about the Jews. He certainly did not. There is a perfect time table and that is what God is staying with. There is a right time for everything. God tells Moses that He continually remembers His covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

"Furthermore, say to the sons of Israel, 'I am Y^ehowah. Therefore, I will bring you forth from under the burdens of Egypt, and will deliver you out of their service, and will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements'"; [Exodus 6:6]

At the end of this verse we have the word sh^ephâţîym (שְפָטִים) [pronounced sh^e-faw-TEEM] and it means judgements, judicial decisions, judicial renderings, divine decisions based upon God’s judicial requirements; acts of judgment, whether good or bad. It can refer to a judgement or to the actual act of deciding a case.

The Israelites must be continually reminded that God is there to take them out of their bondage to Egypt and take them to a land flowing with milk and honey. In this verse we have that marvelous word redeem: gâ’al (גָּאַל) [pronounced gaw-AHL] and it has only been used one time before this in Gen. 48:16. Here it is used in its full and proper sense. This means to purchase something. It is unusual that this word is used here because God is not purchasing anything, per se. With force, He will remove the sons of Israel from Egypt; with a strong hand and great judgements, He will redeem His people. However, this parallels the first advent of our Lord when he paid for our sins. We are sinners on the slave market of sin. There is no way that we can buy ourselves from our master and no way that we can purchase someone else. We are slaves—slaves to our desires, to our sin nature, and to the imputed sin from Adam. A slave cannot purchase himself from the slavery block. He must be purchased by someone outside the slave market of sin. Here, God tells the slaves Israel that he will pay for them to take them out of Egypt. At salvation, God pays for our redemption; He is the one outside the slave market of sin. He is the only one qualified to pay for our sins. Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Paul, Joseph Smith—none of them could pay for our sins; all of them were slaves, caught up in the same slave market as we. It requires someone outside the slave market to make this purchase. This verbiage is used because this book is authored by God the Holy Spirit and He desires that everything points toward the future coming of Jesus Christ so that there would be no mistaking His message or His death on the cross.

An interesting note on the word redeem; it has a homonym in the word gâ‛al (גָּאַל); Gâ‛al means to reject, to defile and is found in Ezra 6:6, Neh. 7:64 13:29, etc. Context clearly shows which is being used.

"'And I have taken you to myself for a people and I have become your God and you will know that I Y^ehowah am your God who brought you [or, more accurately, causing you to be brought] forth from under the burdens of Egypt.'" [Exodus 6:7]

Most translations render this verse as: And I will take you to myself for a people and will become your God and you will know that I Y^ehowah am your God who brought your forth from under the burdens of Egypt. The words take and become are both in the Qal perfect, 1^st person singular, meaning that this is looked upon by God has completed action. He chose the Jews and took them as His people in eternity past; we observed it in time when He came to Abraham and presented the Abrahamic covenant to him.

Know is in the Qal perfect, 2^nd person masculine plural. Moses is to say this to the elders of Israel. This is future from this time, which is why the other verbs are translated in the future by other translators. The Hebrew does not have a past present or future tense as we know it; time must be inferred by the passage. As far as God is concerned, He took the Jews as His people from eternity past and this is a completed action. The Jews know that there was a God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (previous generations have grown and prospered under slavery, meaning they had both doctrine and their right woman). By this generation, that God seems remote and distant—it will appear to them as though God has returned to them and will take them to Himself as His people. This is a language where the past perfect and the future tense can both be expressed by the same verbs and in this situation, depending upon whether you see this verse from the God-ward side or the man-ward side, can mean either.

"'And I will bring you into the land which I lifted up my hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it to you as an inheritance; I [am] Y^ehowah.'" [Ex. 6:8]

Will bring again is in the Qal perfect; from God's point of view, this is a completed action and from man's, it is still to come. Then we have an odd phrase which begins with the 1^st person singular, Qal perfect of nâsâ’ (נָשָׂא) [pronounced naw-SAW] and it means to lift up. The KJV translates this which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. However, this phrase here has a double meaning: (1) God will raise up his hand in power and force and give it to the Israelites; and (2) the lifting of the hand is often seen as the swearing of an oath (see Gen. 14:22 Psalm 106:26 Isa. 3:7). There is no verb in the last phrase, drawing great attention to what is said.

Even though Aaron is supposed to be the spokesman and even though God has already spoken to Aaron, Moses is God's man and God speaks directly to Moses. Most of what is said here is repetitive. God has told Moses these things already. However, God is not against repetition. Under most conditions, we need to have things repeated. We have indication of this in Deut. 6:6-9: "And these words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart, and you will teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you will bind them as a sign on your hand and they will be as frontals on your forehead. And you will write them down on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." And this is repeated in Deut. 11:18-20.

And Moses spoke this unto the sons of Israel but they hearkened not to Moses through shortness of spirit and through hard service. [Exodus 6:9]

Shortness of spirit means that the people would not listen to Moses because they were discouraged, disillusioned, and despondent; also, they were short-sighted. Their spiritual growth—which may have been nonexistent—was not enough to recognize that God had chosen Moses to lead them out of Israel and that such guidance would not be easy. All in all, the people of Israel considered Moses and his claims of speaking with God; and they considered the Pharaoh, and they considered Pharaoh greater in power.

Moses himself has to learn from the start that this will not be easy. The Jews, whom he is going to deliver, will not listen to him; not just now, but throughout 40 years of wandering in the desert. Even though God is demonstrably with him throughout this entire ordeal, this does not mean that it will be a cakewalk. The Egyptians are only a part of the problem; the sons of Israel will be nearly as difficult to guide and to deal with.

It will be much easier if Moses chooses to believe God and to do exactly as He says; but there will be continual headaches and pressures. Despite being guided by God, this does not mean that everything will be easier for Moses or for the people of Israel. Now, clearly, their escape from slavery into freedom, despite their continual complaints for 40 years, is the preferred move.

We face the same things in our lives; even though we believe in Jesus Christ and grow in His grace and in His Word, this does not mean that all of life will be easy. There will be difficult times and it will not always appear to us as though things are falling right into line as they should. Moses is finding this out. God has a plan for his life and Moses is to follow this plan. God gives him simple, step-by-step directions and Moses needs to merely follow those directions.

Our own lives are not much more difficult when it comes to divine guidance. If we spend one or more hours in the Word each and every day, rebound regularly, divine guidance will be automatic rather than esoteric. When it is time for Bible class, we know that we will be in God's geographical will if we are in Bible class. While we are there, we know that we are in His directive will as long as we are in fellowship. Throughout the day, if we avoid sins, and rebound when we do sin; and plan our schedule around Bible class, divine guidance will be a cakewalk. Life, on the other hand, is not always as easy as determining God’s will.

And Y^ehowah spoke to Moses, saying, "Go in, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land." [Exodus 6:10–11]

God knew from eternity past that the sons of Israel would not always listen to Moses. This generation in particular happened to be an extremely obstinate generation. God had to exert a great deal of pressure upon them to get them to follow Moses. God already knows that the elders of Israel did not listen to Moses (obviously, God knew this in eternity past).

And Moses spoke before Y^ehowah saying, "Look, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen, I also being of uncircumcised lips?" [Ex. 6:12]

Moses certainly went to the elders of Israel and what he said seemed to unreal to them. Shortness of spirit means discouragement, despondency and/or disheartenment. They had been exhausted and beaten down by years of slavery; slavery which had become totally unreasonable and completely tyrannical (not all slavery has to be that way).

Here, Moses does have a logical point. If the sons of Israel will not listen to him, how can he expect Pharaoh to listen to him? The word hearken means to listen and believe. I have translated it listen to move away from the King James English (similarly, I translated lo as look). Then Moses makes a remark about having uncircumcised lips. We are all thinking "well, I should hope so." The NASB gives the idiomatic translation to this: "How then will Pharaoh listen to me, seeing that I am unskilled in speech?" The New English Bible reads: "...how will Pharaoh listen to such a halting speaker as I am?" The Amplified Bible calls it "...deficient and impeded speech." That is certainly the problem when translating an idiom: do you translate what it actually says and depend upon someone to dig through the similar uses in this and other literature to arrive at what it means, or do your translate it idiomatically? We are blessed to live in an age where we can find an abundance of both kinds of translations. So you see the literal translation above and the meaning(s) below that.

Thus then did Y^ehowah speak to Moses and to Aaron, in fact, he gave them a mandate with regards to the sons of Israel and with regards to the Pharaoh of Egypt: to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt. [Ex. 6:13]

God has told Moses and Aaron that their path in life is simple: they are to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. That is the responsibility that God has given them. God does not give responsibility without giving the means to achieve it.

This is a summary verse. So far there is no mention of God speaking to Aaron except to go and meet Moses in the desert. However, God speaks to Aaron through Moses. This summary verse is essentially a period at the end of this paragraph and this would have been a good place to begin a new chapter, since the topic changes.

A Rather Incomplete Genealogy Is Inserted

These are the heads of the ancestral house: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. [Exodus 6:14]

In order for Moses to be a deliverer for the house of Israel, he must be from the house of Israel. Recall that Moses was raised up to become an Egyptian Pharaoh—so much of the early part of Exodus verifies that Moses is a son of Jacob. Here, Moses demonstrates his birthright as a true Jew. He lists the firstborn of Jacob (Reuben and Simeon) so that we know that this is the same family line; then he lists his own personal lineage.

The Jews, for centuries, were very careful about their genealogies. There are people who study their own genealogies today, but this was a national pastime for the Jews. Their race was separated from all of mankind. They are the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Each one of them should be able to trace their line back to one of the twelve tribes (or twelve sons) of Jacob (Israel). Why is this in the Bible? God also remembers these whose names are recorded in His Word forever. There are great kings whose names we do not know; reigns concerning which we know practically nothing. They had their day in the sun. But the people named in the Bible will be honored forever, as the Word of God is forever.

Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi are found in several genealogy lists: They are mentioned in Gen 46:9, in our present passage, in Num. 26 and 1Chron. 5:3. In the second generation out in the desert, the tribe of Reuben numbered 43,730. This census probably was probably composed of adult males only. Therefore, this is quite a bit less than half of the population to come from Reuben. Num. 26:8-10 singles out Pallu and mentions only one of his ancestors, Eliah, who is the father (or possibly grandfather) of Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram, the latter two being the ones who opposed Aaron and Moses in the desert.

And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a Canaanitess. These are the families of Simeon. [Ex. 6:15]

Simeon's line is mentioned in basically the same passages. There seem to be the most variations in the names of Simeon's six sons. Most of the variations can be attributed to vowel points (recall that the original Hebrew was consonants only without any vowels). Simeon's last son, Shaul, is followed more carefully than the rest. Simeon obviously had a wife and a mistress (or a second wife) at least and his last son, Shaul, was born of that woman, who was a Canaanite.

The Canaanites were descended, of course, from Canaan, who was one of the sons of Ham (one of Noah's three sons). The Canaanites probably ventured the furthest from Noah (Gen. 10:18). They were a degenerate group which God had to drive out of the land (Ex. 23:28). Simeon took a Canaanite woman as a wife or a mistress and she bore him Shaul. We follow Shaul's line in 1Chron. 4:24-27. Six generations of Shaul are mentioned in this passage until we come to his descendent Shimei, who is mentioned probably because he is one of the most notable of this tribe who found and married his right woman and, unlike most of those in Simeon's line, had a lot of children. He had sixteen sons and six daughters. His unnamed brothers did not have any sons listed. This is an illustration of grace, that a woman from the cursed race could become a Jew and end up being the mother of one of the more significant lines of the Simeon tribe.

The number of males in Simeon's line in the desert was only 22,200, half that of Reuben's family.

.      And these are the names of the sons of Levites by their generations: [Exodus 6:16]

When Moses adds the words by their generations, we know that this line will be followed in greater detail than the previous two lines. The Levites were the priestly tribe and the tribe from which Aaron and Moses came. This line is followed in more detail in Scripture. Whereas we followed Reuben and Simeon's line for but one generation in this passage (and followed only through a few generations in other passages), the Levites are more carefully followed. They are the priestly tribe; those who represent man to God. If one is to function as a priest, he must show his ancestors to be Levites.

"By their generations" indicates that there will be more detail forthcoming about this generation. Why mention Reuben and Simeon in the first place? It is proper protocol. Moses is showing respect toward them in writing this. Furthermore, it identifies him as a true Jew; he traces his heritage back to the Levi, of Israel.

Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were 137 years. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their families. And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were 133 years. And the sons of Morari: Hahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their generations. And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their generations. [Ex. 6:17-19]

Note first of all, the ages. I know that some people are confused by the ages of people mentioned in the Old Testament. Those listed prior to the flood lived for centuries. After the flood, there were several changes. Rain became a normal event upon the earth (prior to that, water for vegetation was but a mist from out of the ground—or, more correctly, from springs, rivers and lakes). A major change, which affected the aging process was the reduced gene pool and the infestation of bacteria. Whether bacteria existed prior to the flood, we do not know; but it became more commonplace after the flood (we know this because of Noah drinking fermented grape juice; an unprecedented occurrence in the Bible). What we have seen is reduction in the age of man over the centuries (to a low of age 30 and 40 for men in the dark ages). We think that we have extended life today, but in David and Solomon's day, the common length of life was 70 (2Sam. 5:4–5 Psalm 90:10). Today, although we might have people live into their first century, they are not as vigorous as Moses. Moses, in his eighties and nineties, led the children of Israel through the desert and occasionally had to knock heads together. How many eighty year old’s today could do that to a generation of degenerate thirty and forty-year-old’s?

Levi is mentioned as having three sons. This does not mean that this was the entire line; it is very possible that he had many daughters; these lines generally do not mention women. Gershon is mentioned many times in Numbers. There are not a lot of details about him but of his progeny. Kohath and Merari are also mentioned quite a number of times, primarily in genealogies. The genealogies also make several mentions of the Gershonites and the Kohathites, but rarely do we find the term Merarites (in fact, it is found only once). Numbers would be a better time to examine these lines, as this is where they are mentioned primarily.

In v. 20, we jump from the beginning of this family to the end of it (the end of it relative to the time of writing) and then we go back to the beginning of the line but instead of examining every sons of Levi, we hone in on Kohath's line (the second-born) and mention two of his sons, yet skip his middle born son, Hebron.

Hebron would be an interesting study. It is mentioned as a place much more often than as a person. We find it early in Genesis (chapters 13, 23, 35 and 37) long before we have a person named Hebron our context. It is certainly possible that the same name is a coincidence or that the child was named after the city (or the founder of the city; we have women today named Paris).

Even though these early chapters of Genesis precede the birth of Hebron (and precede his mention by centuries), but the city may have been known and the book of Genesis may have been known by the father of Hebron (and he took his son’s name from the name of the city).

Hebron's family is mentioned only once in 1Chron. 23:19 (there is another Hebron mentioned in 1Chron. 2). Why this is, I do not know exactly, but my guess is that his family were too tied to the world and were a family of failures. Many times, people’s names are left out when they have not believed in the Revealed God.

So, then, Amram took Jochebed, the daughter of his father's brother, to himself to wife, and she bore to him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were 137. [Ex. 6:20]

This is a sudden jump from the beginning of the line to the end of the line. We already know that Moses has an older sister, Miriam, who watched as he was taken from the Nile. We were told earlier that two Levites married and bore Moses. This causes me to think that possibly Moses wrote down Exodus 1:1 through 2:22 when he was younger; before he knew any details concerning his Jewish family. At this point in time, he has met Aaron and certainly the rest of his family and now he knows them by name.

Certainly what catches everyone's eye (for those who actually read the genealogies) in the translations based upon Textus Receptus is that is that Amram marries his aunt. It is actually his paternal cousin or second cousin as per the Septuagint, Syriac and the Latin Vulgate (which may not represent a more accurate understanding but an intentional change). In Num. 26:39 we find that she is simply a daughter of Levi, making her a Levite. This is not a problem because of the differences in the genetic pool then and now. Seth and Cain both married their sisters. Today, this would ruin the children but then there was no choice. Our genes have degenerated throughout the years, and marrying one's relatives tends to bring out the worst in the genetic pools. This would be an incredible area of study for a Christian geneticist.

Moses and Aaron are descended through the line of Kohath (Num. 26:58-59). Jochebed is mentioned again in this reference in Numbers, and we know more about her than we do about Moses' father. There are times when the woman has he dominating influence in a family (and this is not a reference to a change of authority) and the Bible mentions this. The Numbers passage also confirms, as we know, that the Bible does not include every generation in every genealogy. There are possibly several generations which fall between Kohath and Amram. However, I believe what Moses did was give the names of those three in his direct line whose lives bridged the gap between entrance into Israel and that day he first spoke to Pharaoh. Notice that by any version, the years of these three add up to approximately 400 years. Although it appears that this fulfills Gen. 15:16, it does not. We will examine all of this in more detail in Exodus 12:40.

As we see in such passages as Num. 26:28–34, it is common in the Bible to list one's genealogy by naming the tribe (Levi), the clan (Kohath) and the family group (Amram). In Num. 3:27–28, the total of the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites was 8600. This would mean that the immediate family of Moses of those his age and younger would be about 2000+. This is highly unlikely (if not impossible). Even if Moses' actual father had the name Amram, this is a different Amram here. In 1Chronicles we will see that the generations of slavery was at least nine or ten and not three. 1Chron. 7:25 gives us at least ten linking generations between Ephraim and Joshua; Bezalel, who designed the tabernacle, was at least seven generations from Jacob (Exodus 31:2–11 1Chron. 2:1, 4–5, 9, 18–20); and Elishama, who is found in Num. 1:10 is at least nine generations removed from Jacob (1Chron. 7:22–27). This fits in rather well with the 400–430 years that the Jews spent in Egypt. It yields generations which are 43 years in length (which is about right for those times; notice that Moses married at age 40); and it squares with the population of Israel at the Exodus. There is another theory which gives us 215 years in slavery to Egypt, which follows the Septuagint reading of Exodus 12:40, but that would give us about 21 years per generation, which is too short, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to squeeze out 2,000,000 adult male Jews in 215 years from 70–75 original Jews.

And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elisheba and Sithri. [Ex. 6:21-22]

The writer of Chronicles slipped a couple of completely different generations together in 1Chron. 6:1-2. He adds Amram to the sons of Kohath (as we have just seen, his sons were Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel). Moses did the same thing in Num. 3:19.

Now, Moses the writer, turns to more contemporary matters:

And Aaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon to himself to wife; and she bore to him Hadaab and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. [Ex. 6:23]

Again, we have a rare situation; a woman is mentioned, as well as the sons of Aaron. Aaron was the head of the Jewish priesthood and priest in the Old Testament had wives. Priests in the New Testament (which is every believer) had wives. So many groups of believers and church groups are completely mixed up. They cannot distinguish Israel from the church; they presume when Paul states that celibacy is the preferred state of life (because you can dedicate more of your life and time to God) that this should refer to anyone who is high up in the church or high up in spiritual things; they are confused as to what a priest is. The priesthood in the Old Testament was based upon ancestry and that requires marriage and cohabitation. There is no way to mistake this. In the New Testament, priesthood is based upon believing in Jesus Christ; we are all priests, and since the New Testament is filled with mandates concerning wives and children, that means that many of us are getting married and are going to have families.

And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanhan and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. [Exodus 6:24]

This is logically related to v. 21 but I do not know why Moses, in this writing, checkerboards the old and the new. And Moses will return to his present again:

And Eleazar, son of Aaron, took to himself one of the daughters of Putiel to himself to marry and she bore to him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites by their families. [Exodus 6:25]

The last statement in v. 25 sums up vv. 23–25; mostly Aaron's line is examined. We will hear much more about Phinehas in Num. 25.

Surprisingly, we hear nothing of Gershom, Moses' son, or of his wife. However, if Moses is having this much trouble with following God's simple commands, then it is very likely that he has lost all support of his wife and women do have the ability to turn children against their fathers. We find out later in Exodus 18 that apparently Moses' wife and children deserted him and returned to her father in Midian. The detail with which the next few chapters of Exodus are written indicates to me that Moses, at some point in time, began to keep a running diary (whether written out of whether he carried it in his head, we do not know). Part of the reason I would take this viewpoint is the lack of the mention of his wife or children here. They are out of the picture insofar as Moses is concerned and with his wife's attitude, that is just as well.

We know, not by this short genealogy, but from others, how the Levites related to Amram, Moses' father, but we do not know that from this context. At this point in time of the narrative, not of the writing of the narrative, it is very possible that all Moses knew of his progeny was written here. However, by the listing of the ages of certain of those in his line, those who likely bridge the time between Jacob entering the land and this point in time, Moses is setting up bookends which extend throughout the 400 years of captivity of the Jews.

This [is] Aaron and Moses to whom Y^ehowah said, "Bring forth the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, according to their armies." [Exodus 6:26]

This is an unusual choice of words here, because the Jews are slaves. They have no armies. God can see into their future and when they leave Egypt, they will begin to organize themselves into fighting units. God will cause them to be grouped and organized into these military divisions because once they leave Egypt, they still have a part in God's plan which involves the destruction of the Canaanites who now occupy the promised land.

An effective military requires authority and discipline and order. In order for Moses to guide the people out of Egypt and up to southern Judah, they needed to have authorities over them, as well as discipline and order.

The Resumption of the Conversation Between God and Moses

This appears to be a continuation of the conversation which was begun in Exodus 5:22 and continued through 6:13. Some place vv. 26–27 at the end of the genealogy.

They who were speaking to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron. [Ex. 6:27]

In v. 26, this is the line of Aaron and Moses; however, in v. 27 this is the line of Moses and Aaron. Very similar to the change from Barnabas and Paul to Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13.

Moses is pointing out from his very abbreviated and scattered genealogy that the Moses and Aaron descended from the tribe of Levi—this is definitely who this book speaks about. That is, there is no novel or story here that is made up; Moses and Aaron are real people with a real heritage. The latter conclusion is what God the Holy Spirit would expect us to draw.

So it came to pass that on a certain day, Y^ehowah spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt. And Y^ehowah spoke to Moses, saying, "I am Y^ehowah; Speak to the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I am saying to you." And Moses said before [lit. to the face of] Y^ehowah, "Listen, I am unskilled in public speaking [lit., of uncircumcised lips]; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?" [Ex. 6:28-30]

It was always God's plan for Moses to speak directly to Pharaoh; otherwise, He would have appeared to Aaron continually and given him orders. However, Moses, although he had a royal training forty years ago, has since lived out in the desert as a shepherd and a recluse, as it were, and lacks confidence. Who does he lack confidence in? God.

It is difficult to discern whether this is a summary of what has occurred or whether this is a new meeting between God and Moses. Moses seemed to have the same complaints again and again. This seems to pick up where v. 12 (and 13) left off. The chronology was inserted because Moses is about to deliver his country Israel. He must show that he is genetically a Jew. In the books of Matthew and Luke, a very similar genealogy is followed to show that Jesus Christ also has legal and genetic claim to the throne of David.

Whoever designed the chapter breaks in Exodus was the most confused person on this earth. This is again a time when the chapter breaks right in the middle of a conversation. Exodus 7:1 occurs immediately after 6:30; it is God’s response to what Moses said. There are also verse breaks which are illogical (between vv. 10 & 11).

Exodus 7 has been completely reworked and expanded, including the entire word-by-word Hebrew exegesis. It is found here: (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). It is highly recommended that you go to that study instead of this one. All of the material found here is included in that study. These chapters are being completed one-by-one and will eventually supplant this very incomplete study of Exodus.

                                                              EXODUS 7

Exodus 7:1–25

Outline of Chapter 7:

       Vv. 1–9         God tells Moses and Aaron to return to Pharaoh

       Vv. 10–13     Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh a second time/staff turned into a serpent

       Vv. 14–19     God commands Moses and Aaron to appear before Pharaoh a third time

       Vv. 20–25     Moses and Aaron meet Pharaoh by the Nile/water is turned to blood

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

The Doctrine of Magicians

The Secret Arts/Enchantments

Introduction: Moses and Aaron have been to see Pharaoh once before. No signs or wonders were worked before him; they made a simple request which elicited Pharaoh's wrath and Pharaoh increased the workload of the Israelites significantly. In chapter 7, they will return to Pharaoh, already having been warned by God that Pharaoh would not listen to them. They speak to Pharaoh and he is stubborn, as God had promised them. The next time they confront Pharaoh, they wait for him by the bank of the Nile and turn the river to blood; still, Pharaoh will remain hardened.

God Tells Moses and Aaron to Return to Pharaoh

It is rather peculiar where these chapter divisions occur. Obviously less than inspired. A new chapter should have begun at the end of the genealogy or after this conversation with God; but not in the middle of it. Exodus 7 should have begun with: On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, the LORD said to Moses, "I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you." But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?" (Exodus 6:28–30; ESV; capitalized). Along the same lines, Exodus 7 goes one for exactly one verse too many. Exodus 7:25 ought to have been the first verse of Exodus 8.

Then Y^ehowah said to Moses, "Observe, I have appointed you to be God unto Pharaoh; and Aaron, your brother, shall be your prophet." [Ex. 7:1]

God has always worked through intermediate sources. He has always worked through man to deal with man. This is the relationship of the prophet and the priest; the priest represents man to God and the prophet represents God to man. God does not work in any other way. Certainly, He could have gone directly to the Pharaoh and caused the Pharaoh to let His people go. However, that just is not the way that God functions in His relationship to us. In our generation, he speaks to none of us directly as He did in the Old Testament, but He speaks to us through His Word and we have intermediate agencies involved. For instance, the pastor-teacher today is the one that we look to for instruction and he looks directly to the Word. We both do so under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

So there is no misunderstanding, God does speak directly with some men. As we have studied in the book of Genesis, that does not always result with perfect results. God spoke to Abraham and Abraham, for the most part, agreed with God’s program. God spoke to Jacob, his grandson, on many occasions, and still, Jacob fought against God and God’s plan on many occasions (in fact, God immortalized Jacob’s actions with a wrestling match where God permanently injured Jacob’s leg).

I need to cover the meaning of the word prophet in the Hebrew right here. We will cover the doctrine in Deut. 18:15. Throughout the Old Testament, God has consistently set up types; that is, a person, a series of events, something which is analogous to the person and work of Jesus Christ; something which foreshadows the first advent of our Lord. We have seen that with Abraham taking his only-begotten son to sacrifice to God—the only time God has ever required anyone to present their son to Him as a sacrificial lamb; and then, before Abraham could slit the throat of his young son Isaac, God provided for him a substitute; a scapegoat, to be sacrificed in his stead. God's preference here is to have one man between Himself and Pharaoh—that man Moses to act as a mediator; to act as a prophet. However, since Moses has weenied out on speaking directly to Pharaoh, Aaron has stepped in to speak for Moses, confusing the type. God immediately sets up a type of mediatorship, a position that our Lord Jesus Christ occupies on our behalf; the God-man Who stands between us and God. God sets up the type by appointing Moses to be God unto Pharaoh; and Aaron would act as a prophet—the man who would related God's Will to man, represented by Pharaoh. Aaron would be the Christ figure, the mediator between God and man.

What God has actually said to Moses is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Moses is God's preferred spokesman to Pharaoh and Moses is hemming and hawing about it. So, instead of God speaking to Moses and sending Moses to the Pharaoh and Moses speaking God's words to the Pharaoh; Moses will speak to Aaron, send Aaron to the Pharaoh, and Aaron will speak to Pharaoh. Moses will be there, just as God will be there; silently. It is actually a fairly humorous thing which God has said to Moses. God will speak to Moses and tell Moses what to tell Aaron to say; then Moses will speak to Aaron. There will become a point where Moses just starts doing all of the talking (it happens without any fanfare, if memory serves).

One thing which is extremely important in this verse (but not to the immediate context) is the use of the word prophet. We continually look back on prophets as being rather unusual men who tell their contemporaries about the future. That is not their primary function. Their primary function is that of a mouthpiece for God. God speaks to man through the prophets. Aaron will speak the words of Moses to Pharaoh. Some of the things which he informs Pharaoh of will come to pass shortly—however, he is a prophet because he is speaking on behalf of Moses.

Interestingly enough, Aaron will become the father of the priesthood—a priest is a man who represents his fellow men to God. A prophet represents God to man. When you put these two functions together, you get a mediator between man and God—someone equal to both parties and speaking to one on behalf of the other. This very much describes the function of Jesus Christ, Who is fully man and fully God—equal to both parties—and therefore is able to mediate between the two parties.

"You will speak all that I command you and Aaron, your brother, will speak to Pharaoh and he will send the sons of Israel out of his land." [Exodus 7:2]

God specifies exactly what the duties of Moses and Aaron are. Moses is to tell Aaron each and everything that God tells Moses; then Aaron will speak to Pharaoh. Furthermore, Pharaoh will send Israel depart from Egypt. The verb used here is the Piel perfect of shâlach (שָלַח) [pronounced shaw-LAHK] and it means to send, to send away. In the Piel (intensive) stem we have more of the concept of sending away. Throughout much of Exodus, this has been translated to let go. However, the Pharaoh is in command in his country and what occurs must be as a result of a mandate from Pharaoh. He will order the people to leave the land; the intensive stem carries with it the concept of a royal command or mandate. The perfect tense means completed action; Pharaoh will eventually send the people away for good; not for just a three day feast and worship service out in the desert. However, due to the perfect tense, God has to make it clear to Moses that even though Pharaoh will do this, he will not do it immediately after the next confrontation.

"But I will allow the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and [thereby] I will [cause] to multiply the signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt." [Ex. 7:3]

The Emphasized Bible is an excellent old English translation of the Bible; and Rotherham is quite a literalist. However, there seems to be a weak point here. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a difficult topic to grasp, so Rotherham side-steps this issue by inserting the words "I will permit" (actually, "I will suffer..."). What he is doing is providing some interpretation here in the context of the Word, which is acceptable if the interpretation is accurate; but it is disastrous when the interpretation is inaccurate (such as the Jehovah Witnesses' translation of John 1:1-3, where they believe that Jesus ought to be called a god). God says, "I will harden his heart" in the autographs; which means that we had better examine the Doctrine of the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart. What we have here is the 1^st person singular, Hiphil imperfect of harden; the Hiphil is often the causative stem and the stem where the object participates in the action of the verb. In the Hebrew, the causative Hiphil does not necessarily behave like our English causative. It can include the permission to do something. Here, God has granted Pharaoh the power, the ability to harden his heart continually. My understanding of this hardening process is this: there will be times when Pharaoh is beaten down so much, that he is ready to just roll up into a ball and give up; but God gives him the strength to express his negative volition, despite his own personal feelings of helplessness.

My exegesis of this book goes back to 1996, when I was first beginning to work out my strategy and approach. What I have done over the past 5 years is far superior to this particular work. I have covered a great many things with more depth as I have moved forward in examining the Word of God. So, in the next few chapters, we have an exegetical study of the plagues which God brought against Egypt. I did a fair but incomplete job here. What I highly recommend is, sometime during your study of these chapters that you also take a look at Psalm 105 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) ( I did a lot of work on Psalm 105 in 2007), where I take another stab at the history of Israel, which includes a more in depth analysis of these plagues and of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.

The multiplication of the signs and wonders is also in the Hiphil stem, meaning that God will cause these signs and wonders through Moses and Aaron. The perfect tense means that God is seeing this as a whole; I have inserted thereby because God is explaining to Moses that (1) Pharaoh will send the people out of Egypt; (2) Pharaoh will not do that immediately; and (3) this is the reason why—so that God can multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

"And Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my armies, my people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, with great judgements." [Exodus 7:4]

God is giving Moses and Aaron a careful run through of just exactly what will happen. They will have no reason to suddenly act surprised and be perturbed because Pharaoh does not immediately acquiesce to their wishes. God warns them that, they will speak to Pharaoh, and he will respond with negative volition.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am Y^ehowah, when I have stretched forth my hand over Egypt and brought forth the sons of Israel out of their midst." [Ex. 7:5]