HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 35
4.18–31 The anticipation of the tenth plague—slaying Egypt’s firstborn (v. 23)—provides background to the assault on Moses or his firstborn (vv. 24–26). The perilous meeting with the Lord en route to Egypt contrasts with Aaron’s meeting Moses (v. 27): the return to Egypt is hazardous; the journey away is smooth; cf. Deut 17.16.
4.18–20 In v. 19 the Lord orders Moses back to Egypt as though the preceding dialogue has not taken place; it implies that Moses’ reluctance to return stems from the same fear that led to his flight (2.15). The language of 3.1 suggests that Moses has gone to the mountain for a purpose. Vv. 18–20 may reflect a different tradition from 3.1–4.17, one in which Moses, like other fugitive heroes (see note on 2.11–22), goes to Sinai/Horeb seeking an oracle to learn if it is safe to go home to Egypt and see his kin (4.18).
4.18 Jethro. The Hebrew has the variant “Jether” see note on 2.18. Kindred, lit. “brothers” see note on 2.11.
4.19 See 2.23.
4.20 Sons. The birth of only one of Moses’ sons has been reported (2.22); see 18.2–6. Apart from the episode in vv. 24–26, Moses’ Midianite family plays no role in the exodus story. Staff of God, apparently the wondrous one given to him, or magically transformed, by the deity (v. 17).
4.21 Wonders, better “signs” (so too 7.3, 9; 11.9–10), synonymous with the Hebrew word translated sign in 4.8–9, 30, not the same as wonders in 3.20, a word from a different Hebrew root. Your power, lit. “your hand” the three signs given in vv. 2–9 are all indeed performed by one hand. Harden his heart. In 3.19 the Lord says that Pharaoh will be stubborn, but here the Lord claims responsibility for “stiffening” the Egyptian’s will; as the story unfolds Pharaoh’s heart will “stiffen” or “grow heavy” (see note on 4.10) by Pharaoh’s own will (7.13–14, 22–23; 8.15, 19, 32; 9.7, 34–35) or it will be stiffened, made heavy, or hardened by the Lord (9.12; 10.1, 20, 27; 11.10; 14.8). The hardening prolongs the plagues and ensures that Egypt will suffer the punishment it deserves and witness the Lord’s power; see note on 1.22; cf. 7.3–5; 14.4.
4.22–23 The metaphor of Israel’s election as the Lord’s firstborn son (see Jer 31.9; Hos 11.1) lends the tenth plague a quality of poetic justice. Worship, the same Hebrew verb as “to serve, work, act-as-a-slave” (see note on 2.23); the Hebrews are to be the Lord’s servants, not Pharaoh’s (cf. Lev 25.42, 55).
4.24–26 The unmotivated divine assault is made even stranger by its ambiguous use of pronouns: it remains unclear whether Moses or his son is the victim. The juxtaposition with Pharaoh’s firstborn son (v. 23) suggests that Moses’ son may be the one at risk. The episode runs against the larger narrative sequence in which Moses has two sons (4.20; 18.2–6). The seeming obstruction of Moses’ divine mission by God recalls a similar about-face in the commission of Balaam (Num 22).
4.24 At a place…night. The laconic Hebrew has only “at-the-lodging-place” (bammalon). Tried, the same Hebrew verb used of “seeking” Moses’ death in v. 19.
4.25 In the context of Exodus the ritual blood produced by the circumcision protects against destructive divine power, like the blood of the paschal lamb (12.7, 12–13, 21–27). Zipporah, a priest’s daughter, may be acquainted with ritual procedures. Flint, sharpened stone used in circumcision; e.g., Josh 5.2–3. Cut off, not the Hebrew term “to circumcise.” Moses’ feet, lit. “his feet” (see text note a), possibly a euphemism for the genitals (e.g., 2 Kings 18.27; Isa 6.2; 7.20), Moses’ or his son’s. Bridegroom, either Moses (since among certain Semites a bridegroom was circumcised by his father-in-law; the Hebrew term for “father-in-law” means “one who circumcises”) or his son (since among some Semites a boy undergoing circumcision is called a bridegroom).
4.26 He, the Lord. Let him alone, more precisely “let him loose.” A bridegroom…circumcision, an apparent byword, the meaning of which, like the historical sense of the episode, has been lost.
4.27 He met him. See note on 4.18–31. Mountain of God, Sinai/Horeb (see note on 3.1). Kissed him evokes Gen 33.4; 45.14–15.
4.29 According to the instructions in 3.16.
4.30–31 Aaron’s role (v. 30) answers to Moses’ fourth objection (vv. 10–17), and the people’s acceptance (v. 31) obviates the need for the signs provided in response to Moses’ objection in vv. 1–9. The reverse (chiastic) sequence closes the passage; cf. note on 3.22.
4.31 People, not only the elders (v. 29). Worshiped, lit. “prostrated themselves,” signifying obedience to God (see 12.27).
EXODUS 5
Bricks without Straw
1Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’” 2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” 3Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.” 4But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!” 5Pharaoh continued, “Now they are more numerous than the people of the landa and yet you want them to stop working!” 6That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, 7“You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.”
10So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.’” 12So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. 13The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.” 14And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?”
15Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.”b 17He said, “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.” 20As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. 21They said to them, “The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22Then Moses turned again to the LORD and said, “O LORD, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? 23Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.”
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a Sam: Heb The people of the land are now many
b Gk Compare Syr Vg: Heb beaten, and the sin of your people
5.1–6.1 Pharaoh reacts to Moses and Aaron by making matters worse, vindicating the Lord’s prediction (3.19) and further justifying the plagues.
5.1 Moses and Aaron. The elders are not included as the Lord ordained (3.18). The LORD, the first time in this story that the Lord’s name is announced in Egypt; cf. v. 23. Celebrate a festival, one verb in Hebrew; the Hebrew cognate noun chag (cf. Arabic haj) denotes a pilgrimage. They do not yet ask for three days’ leave
(as in 3.18; 5.3).
5.2 Who is the LORD, an echo of what Moses said in 3.11. Heed him, lit. “listen to his voice,” an echo of what Moses said in 4.1. I do not know. Cf. 1.8. To know the Lord is a main theme of the succeeding narrative (e.g., 7.5, 17; 8.10; 9.14; 14.18).
5.3 A recapitulation of 3.18 with the addition or (“lest”) he will fall…sword, an ironic hint of the plagues that will beset Egypt; pestilence is used of the fifth plague (9.3); sword foreshadows the quasi-battle at the sea (see 15.9).
5.4 King of Egypt. By avoiding “Pharaoh” here a pun in Hebrew is averted on the verb taking…away from. Labors, imposed in 1.11.
5.5 More numerous. See 1.9. You want them to stop, lit. “you are stopping them.” The Hebrew verb translated stop is the root of “sabbath” (see note on 16.23); the Lord, in contrast to Pharaoh, ordains a weekly break from labor (see Deut 5.12–15).
5.6 Taskmasters, lit. “oppressors,” used in 3.7 and below in vv. 10, 13, 14, not the term rendered taskmasters in 1.11. Egyptian art depicts laborers being overseen, and sometimes beaten, by rod-wielding taskmasters. Supervisors, apparently Israelites (see v. 14).
5.7 As before. Only brick making was assigned in 1.14.
5.9 Deceptive words, rather “lies,” that the Hebrews’ God has appeared to Moses.
5.11 Lessened, translated diminish in v. 8. Your work…in the least, lit. “not a thing will be removed from your work.”
5.14 Were beaten. Cf. 2.11.
5.15 Cried connotes complaining, as in 14.15 and perhaps 5.8. Servants, the same term as that for the slaves they oversee.
5.16 You are unjust, rather “you sin against,” as in 9.27.
5.17 Cf. v. 8.
5.19 Trouble, lit. “bad, evil.”
5.21 You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh, lit. “You have made our smell stink in the eyes of Pharaoh.” Bad odor will attend the first two plagues (see 7.21; 8.10).
5.22 Turned again, returned to Mount Sinai. Mistreated, of the same Hebrew root as the word translated trouble in v. 19.
5.23 Your name and your people stress the Lord’s responsibility and evoke Moses’ diffidence at the burning bush (chs. 3–4); cf. 32.7, 11.
6.1 Mighty hand. Cf. 3.19–20.
Asiatic captives making bricks under Thutmose III, ruler of Egypt in the fifteenth century BCE, for the temple of Amon at Thebes. Line drawing of an illustration from the tomb of Rekhmara. (From S. R. Driver, The Book of Exodus.)
EXODUS 6
Israel’s Deliverance Assured
1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2God also spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. 3I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty,a but by my name ‘The LORD’b I did not make myself known to them. 4I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. 5I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6Say therefore to the Israelites, ‘I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’” 9Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.
10Then the LORD spoke to Moses, 11“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.” 12But Moses spoke to the LORD, “The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?”c 13Thus the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.
The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron
14The following are the heads of their ancestral houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben. 15The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul,d the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. 16The following are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon,e Kohath, and Merari, and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years. 17The sons of Gershon:f Libni and Shimei, by their families. 18The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred thirty-three years. 19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their genealogies. 20Amram married Jochebed his father’s sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years. 21The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites. 25Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites by their families.
26It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.” 27It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, the same Moses and Aaron.
Moses and Aaron Obey God’s Commands
28On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.” 30But Moses said in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am a poor speaker,g why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
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a Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai
b Heb YHWH; see note at 3.15
c Heb me? I am uncircumcised of lips
d Or Saul
e Also spelled Gershom; see 2.22
f Also spelled Gershom; see 2.22
g Heb am uncircumcised of lips; see 6.12
6.2–13 Cf. the parallel passage, chs. 3–4, which scholars trace to a different tradition. In context, the present passage presupposes the Israelites’ discouragement after the initial confrontation with Pharaoh (v. 9), and the divine charge to go to Pharaoh (v. 11) is a reassurance.
6.2 Also, not in the Hebrew.
6.3 Almighty. Etymologically the name suggests “One of the Mountain,” appropriate for a deity who reveals himself on Horeb/Sinai; cf. Gen 17.1; 28.3; 35.11. The LORD. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each use this name (Gen 12.8; 26.22; 32.10); the present passage seems to know a different tradition.
6.4 Resided as aliens. In this context merely “resided” might be more accurate (cf. Gen 26.3). The verse echoes Gen 17.7–8.
6.5 This verse echoes 2.24.
6.6 Free. See 3.10, where the same Hebrew verb is rendered bring…out. The Hebrew word translated burdens is rendered forced labor in 1.11; 2.11 and labors in 5.4. Redeem connotes the ransom of indentured kin; cf. Lev 25.47–49.
6.7 Know. See note on 5.2. The relationship between God and Israel is expressed in terms of legal adoption (cf., e.g., 2.10; 2 Sam 7.14) and/or matrimony (cf., e.g., Lev 26.12).
6.8 Bring you, like a bride into a new home (cf., e.g., Deut 21.10–12). I swore, expressed idiomatically in Hebrew by a gesture of oath taking, “I have raised my hand” (e.g., Deut 32.40).
6.9 Broken spirit, lit. “shortness of breath,” frustration perhaps. Cruel slavery, the same phrase translated hard service in 1.14.
6.11 Tell, the substance of the preceding revelation. To let, rather “so that he (Pharaoh) will let.”
6.12 Poor speaker. See note on 4.10.
6.13 Aaron. Cf. 4.14.
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6.14–27 The narrative is interrupted by a genealogy that places Moses and Aaron within the lineage of the Israelite tribes and among the various levitical clans. Vv. 26–27 repeat the contents of vv. 10–13 and resume the narrative. The genealogy breaks off after Levi, giving the impression that the text is excerpted from a fuller list, such as Gen 46.8–27. See the more ramified genealogy in Num 26.
6.14 Ancestral houses, lit. “fathers’ houses,” a technical term for tribal divisions.
6.16 Merari, an Egyptian name. One hundred thirty-seven. The limit of 120 years (Gen 6.3) only applies from Moses’ generation on.
6.20 Father’s sister. See note on 2.1. This is incest according to Lev 18.12. Heroes’ births are often marked by the illicit; cf. the birth of Isaac from a brother and half-sister (Gen 20.12), David from a Moabite (Ruth), and Solomon from the once adulterous couple David and Bathsheba. Aaron and Moses. Some versions add here “and Miriam their sister” (see Num 26.59).
6.23 Elisheba, “Elizabeth” in the Greek version. Amminadab, clan head of Judah (Num 1.7). Sister of Nahshon. An unmarried woman is sometimes identified by her eldest brother, who may play a role in arranging her marriage (see Gen 24); cf. Ex 15.20; Gen 25.20; 28.9. Nahshon is the military chieftain of Judah (Num 2.3). Nadab…Ithamar, the Hebrew couples “Nadab and Abihu” and “Eleazar and Ithamar” the older pair will die (Lev 10.1–5) and the younger will succeed to priestly leadership; cf. note on 7.7.
6.24 Korah, rebel (Num 16) and namesake of the Second Temple gatekeepers (1 Chr 9.19).
6.25 Putiel, an Egyptian name; cf. Potiphar (Gen 39.1), Potiphera (Gen 41.45). Phinehas, an Egyptian name.