Exodus 4

5. That they may believe. Cp. John iii. 2.

10. Slow of speech. Cp. Jeremiah’s plea and the answer (Jer. i. 6, 7), and the witness of Acts vii. 22, “Moses was . . . mighty in words. . . .” See also Luke xii. 11, 12.

16 instead of God. The meaning is, “He shall be the organ of thy communications to the people, as thou shalt be of Jehovah’s.”

21. I will harden. The controlling agency of God does not interfere with the liberty of Pharaoh, nor oblige him to sin; but places him in circumstances which would influence aright a well-disposed mind, while they led a man of his character to the course of resistance and hardihood which he pursued. “As the beat of the sun moistens the wax and dries the clay, softening the one and hardening the other; so, through the long-suffering of God, some receive good and others evil, some are softened and others hardened” (Theodoret, Quest. 12 in Ex.). For similar cases see Deut. ii. 30; Josh. xi. 20; and cp. John xii. 37-40.

22. My firstborn. These terms are often used afterwards to express the love which God cherishes towards His people. The word “firstborn” especially points to the peculiar prerogative of Israel as the chosen people of God; cp. Hosea xi. 1. The threat which follows was literally fulfilled (xii. 29).

24 kill him. We learn nothing of the way in which Moses’ life was threatened (some have conjectured a sudden and serious illness), but he who would serve God and His people must himself keep Divine commands. Moses seems to have neglected, in the case of his own son, the law of Gen. xviii. 10-14. Possibly his wife Zipporah had opposed the circumcision.

25 sharp stone. Sharpened flints were anciently used instead of knives, especially in religious rites.