Exodus 4
PAThis goodly aspect, and then of his wise discourse, immediately gave him the most beautiful of all his daughters to be his wife: not staying to inquire of any body what he was, for his own most excellent qualities sufficiently recommended him to his affection/’ (lib. i. de Vita Mosis, p. Oil.) rl73 so that they should readily furnish them with any thing they desired. Vcr. 1. HlJT behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice, &c] This seems directly to contradict what God had said unto him, (iii. 18.) " They shall hearken to thy voice." AVhich Maimonides endeavours to reconcile, by saying, that Moses was satisfied they would believe that he told them concerning the name of God who spake to him; but not believe, without further proof, that he. was sent by him, (par. i. More Nevochim. cap. 03.) But the plainest answer is, that God did not mean they would hearken to Moses immediately: but that he would so convince them by undeniable signs “and tokens, that they should give credit to him, when he said he came from God to them: such signs he now asks, and God grants, that they might believe the Lord appeared to him, and gave him commission to deliver them. [chap. i\ eases. For so Josephus tells us (lib. i. contra Appion.) the tale was told in Manetho’s history, and thence descended unto others, that Moses was driven out of the country, dia rijv Xlvpav, (see Justin, lib. xxxv. cap. 2. Tacitus, lib. v. Histor. cap. 3.) because he had the leprosy. AVhich, as Manetho, perhaps, did not maliciously devise out of his own head, so those historians from whom he borrowed his work, might have but an imperfect tradition of the truth, derived from this passage of Moses appearing with a leprous hand before Pharaoh: which was presently noised about the country, without the other part, of his being immediately cured. And thus Helladius Besantinus, an Eg3^ptian writer, in his Chresto-Mathia, mentions one who said Moses was called “AA^a, because his body, rote aX^otc KaravrtKTOG?iv, tvas marked xvith white* leprous spots. And to this lie he calls Philo to bo a witness. The very same is affirmed by Philemaeus Hephaestionis, as J. Meursius observes in his notes upon the forenamed author. grievous. For the last word (cavad) intends and increases the sense, whether it be in good or evil qualities.
Exodus 4:2
And the Lord said unto him, IVIiat is that in thy hand?. He asks this question to make way for what follows; and to move his attention to it. And he said, A. rod.] His shepherd’s staff, it is most likely. For he takes occasion from what was in his hand to confirm his faith; and he was now feeding his father-inlaw’s sheep, when God appeared unto him. The Jews have a world of fabulous stuff about this rod, not worth the remembering. Vcr. 3. And he said, Cast it on the ground, &c] As he was to do when he came before Pharaoh, (vii. 10.) that it might not be thought Moses’s hand contributed any thing to the change; but it might appear to be wrought by the power of God. Audit became a serpent.] Airfca \pvx(*>%tiaa tlpirt (as Philo speaks), immediately it was enlivened and crawled about. The word nachash comprehends all sorts of serpents; and II. Eliezer takes it to have been a flying serpent: but our’ Doctor Lightfoot thinks it was a crocodile; for which there is some reason. For that which is here called nechash (which most think signifies a common snake, or serpent), when he threw down his staff before Pharaoh (vii. JO.) is called tannin: which signifies a serpent of the largest dimensions (v7np/ity&nQ 8/oaicwv, Philo here calls it), and, as I proved upon Gen. i. 21. includes in it crocodiles, which Isaiah calls the crooked serpent, (xxvii. 1.) unto whose devouring jaws Pharaoh had exposed the Hebrew infants, when he commanded them to be cast into the river; Nile, (i. 22.) which abounded -with crocodiles. < And Moses fled from before it.] It being a very frightful sight; enough to dismay the most courageous man on earth: as God himself describes the crocodile in the book of Job,. (xii. 14, 15.) c f His teeth are terrible round about: when he raises up himself, the mighty are afraid.”
Exodus 4:4
And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand and take it by the tail, &c. This shews Moses’s faith to have been great, which overcame his fear. Most think this to have been an apt representation of the condition ofthe Israelites in Egypt, and of their deliverance there, R. Eliezer, in his Pirke, (cap.xl.) hath hinted the best ex-, plication of it, if it have any such meaning, when he saith, As a serpent bites and kills those on whom it seizes, so did Pharaoh and his people bite and kill the Israelites: or rather he should have said, So shall the Egyptians be afflicted and tormented by the rod which Moses carries in his hand.
Exodus 4:5
That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, &c. The meaning is, Thou shalt do thus before them, if they doubt whether I have appeared to thee (as he feared they would, ver. 1.) to convince them oHt. Ver. G. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put noio thy hand into thy bosom, &c] He did not ask for a new sign, but the Lord was graciously pleased to grant him a further confirmation of his faith; or rather, of the faith of the Israelites. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, it tvas leprous as snow J] It was a wonderful thing, that out* of the same place should come both the disease and the cure (as we read in the next verse, that by putting his hand into his bosom again it became sound), and it was the greater wonder, because the leprosy was a disease that was very hard to be cured. 11. Eliezer, in the place forenamed, doth not give so good a reason for this sign as for the former: though it is not a bad one. For, he making a question, Why God should give them a sign by an unclean thing,, and not by a clean? makes this answer to it; because, as a leper is unclean, and makes others so, in like manner Pharaoh and the impure Egyptians had defiled the Israelites: but God shewed by Moses’s drawing his hand out of his bosom again pure and clean, that he’ would deliver and purge the Israelites from the filthiness of the Egyptians. I should think rather, that the leprosy represented God’s smiting the Egyptians with his plagues; and the cure of it, God’s removal of those plagues at Moses’s prayer. But there is no end of such conceits. Therefore I shall rather observe, that God commanding him to work all these wonders before Pharaoh, (ver. 21.) it is very probable, this gave occasion to the fabulous story which was invented in future ages, that Moses was a leper, and the Israelites infected with that, and other scabby dis-
Exodus 4:7
And he pinched it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. A manifest token (as Con. Pellicanus rightly takes it) that God could, with as much ease, restore his oppressed people to perfect liberty..
Exodus 4:8
And it shall come to jyass, if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign. Here he gives the reason why he was pleased to add another sign to the former, that he might overcome the incredulity which he foresaw would be in many of them. That they will believe the voice of the latter sign.] Yield their consent to that which is plainly taught them by both these signs, viz. that God had appeared to him, and ordered him to say what he did. And he saith they would believe; because it was rational to suppose they would: though he likewiso supposes, in the next verse, some might still remain incredulous; and therefore he adds another.
Exodus 4:9
Thou shalt take of the water of tlie river, and pour it upon tlie dry land; and tlie water shall become blood. This sign was not wrought now, when God talked with him, as the two former were: for he was in the desert, far from the river here spoken of, and near no river at all. Therefore, in case the Israelites did not believe.upon the sight of the two former signs, this is ordered to be wrought, when he came into Egypt, for their conviction, by taking the water of Nilus, and turning it into blood. Which; might be well looked upon as an indication that God was able to spoil that water, which was the great instrument of the fertility of that country, and make their land barren. And also put them in mind that the cry of the innocent blood of their infants, which had been drowned in that river, was come up to God. There was a necessity that Moses should be instructed with all these powers, because he came with an unusual commission: which would not have been credited, if he had not brought such extraordinary proof of it. All the prophets after him did not work miracles, which were necessary only when some great change was to be made in the world; as there was now at their bringing out of Egypt. f After which they were to be put into a new form and order, by a body of peculiar laws, both civil and religious; which when they were notoriously violated, God was pleased, by such wonders as Moses wrought, to turn their hearts back again; as he did in the days of Elijah, (1 Kings xviii. 37.)
Exodus 4:10
And Moses said vnto the Lord, O my Lord. This is a form of speech, whereby he declines this great employment, and desires to be excused. The reason of which follows. I am not eloquent.] In the Hebrew, Am not a man. of words; i.e. not a good speaker, or not accustomed to make speeches; or, as some take it, a man of few words, and therefore unfit to be sent to the Israelites, and much more to the king of Egypt, to whom none but. great orators make addresses. Clemens, in his epistle to tho Corinthians, makes this an argument of Moses’s humility, and saith, he added these words (from I know not what author), lytb dpi drfxlc ** X” T P a G> I am a reek from a pot. • Neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant] This hath been always my imperfection, that I could not speak fluently: nor do I find that I am altered, since thou hast been pleased to appear to me, and give me, this commission. But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.] Cannot bring forth my words readily, nor pronounce them well. The Jews think he had some impediment in his speech, so that he could not pronounce some letters or words exactly; at least not without such difficulty, that it was long before he could bring them foTth. But the LXX. understand these words, slow of speech, as if he had but a weak, small, or slender voice; speaking voce gracili et exili (as it may be translated in Latin), which made him very unfit, he thought, to be an ambassador. And this doth not disagree with what St. Stephen saith, that he was mighty in ivords, as well as deeds, (Acts vii. 22.) for the sense of what he spake was great and weighty, though his pronunciation was not answerable to it. Nor did his ill or weak pronunciation, nor his slowness in bringing forth his words, hinder him from being an excellent judge, and deciding causes from morning to night; as we read Exod. xviii. In the determination of which there was no need of oratory; but of a quick apprehension, exact judgment, and proper language; which he never wanted. One would think, also, that by use and exercise he grew prompt in the delivery of his mind; for he made several very long speeches to the people, and especially an incomparable discourse before his departure out of the world, in the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy. In the latter end of which, his song shews that he wanted no eloquent words, when he pleased to use them.
Exodus 4:11
And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth, &c. Cannot I, who formed all the organs of speech, and made the rest of men’s senses, and when I please deprive them of their use, take away this impediment of which thou complainest, and make thee to speak as roundly and gracefully as any man living? The author of tho Lifo of Moses (who makes Pharaoh to have condemned Moses for killing the Egyptian, &c. see ii. 15.) fancies, that God puts him in mind of his deliverance at that time: as if he had said, Who taught thee to make thy defence, when thou wast arraigned before Pharaoh? Who made the king dumb, that he could not urge and press thy execution? AYho made the executioner deaf, that he could not hear the sentence when pronounced? And who made them all blind, that they could not see, when thou madest thy escape? Which is very ingeniously invented; but we have no assurance of the, truth of this explication. Digitized by microsoft ® CHAP. IV.]
Exodus 4:12
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. Excuse thyself no longer, but obey the commission I have given thee: and I will both help thy speech, and suggest to thy mind what thou shalt deliver. This doth not signify, as I take it, that -if he had without further disputing gone about his business, God would have given him a better elocution: but that he would have made his words as powerful, as if they had been pronounced with the greatest advantage. Or the meaning may be, that he should never want either words or thoughts, to instruct his brother Aaron, whom God always intended to send along with him.
Exodus 4:13
And he said, O my Lord. The same form of speech with that ver. 10. Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.’] The Vulgar Latin having translated the word Schilo, (Gen. xlix. 10.) qui mittendus est, him that is to be sent, it hath inclined several great men to think, that Moses here desires God to send the Messiah. And several of the ancient fathers (Just. Mart. Tertull. and St. Cyprian, &c.) were of this mind: as many later interpreters, both of the Roman and of the reformed churches, have been, particularly Flaccius Illyricus (in his Clavis upon the word Mitto) thus explains this passage: " Manda id functionis, &c. commit this office to the true Messiah, or blessed Seed; whom thou hast resolved to send: who will discharge this trust far better than I can do," &c. But there have been and arc other very considerable persons, who think Moses means no more than this; Send a more proper person, one fitter for this employment than lam. And the truth is, such speeches as these in Scripture, do not denote any certain person or thing; but signify something indefinite, and in general. Examples of which wo have in 1 Sam. xxiiL 13. 2 Sam. xv. 20. upon which phrase [vado quo vado] I go whither I may, the same Flaccius observes, that it denotes an uncertain motion. In like manner, Moses here determines his desire to no particular person: but only wishes God would send any body rather than himself. And that he did not think of the Messiah, there is this argument: that he had no Teason to believe he was now born: and yet God’s promise was to send one immediately to relieve the Israelites. Upon which errand also, if he had prayed God to send him, it would argue Moses to have been in the same error with the present Jews, that the Messiah was to be a temporal deliverer. Ver. 14; And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.] These words seem to import, that God was highly displeased with him; and consequently that he had very much offended him. Yet some of the fathers, particularly St. Jerome and St. Basil, impute his backwardness to serve in this employment to his great modesty, humility, and a deep sense of his own infirmities: of which the wisest and best men are far more sensible than other persons. And then this anger amounts to no more than such a displeasure as a father hath at his child when he is too diffident, notwithstanding all that he hath said and done to breed in him a just confidence. And therefore no punishment followed his anger (unless we think, as R. Solomon doth, that because of his backwardness God preferred Aaron’s family above his, or that this was the cause he would not cure his imperfection of speech), but only a chiding: which wo may suppose went before the following UPON EXODUS. question, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? which carries something of sharpness in it. And indeed this may be said in Moses’s excuse, that the most excellent persons are the least forward to embrace the offers of great advancement. According to the observation of Plato, lib. i. de Republ. (which I find Eusebius also hath noted out of him, lib. xii. Praep. Evang. cap. 9.) that no magistracy being designed for the profit of him that governs, but of those that arc governed; I must needs conclude, saith he, firjSiva WiXuv Ikovtu apx^v, that no man (who is considerate, he means) will voluntarily take upon him the government of a people; but he must be hired to it: or he must be punished if he will not undertake it. For he that will use his power well, ov§£7ro0’ iavrtj) to j3eXnorov irparru, aXXa rtj> apx°f*£v
Exodus 4:15
And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth. Tell him from me what he is tospcak. And I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth.] Thou shalt have directions from me what to say to him: and I will enable him to speak to the people and to Pharaoh. And will teach you what you shall do.] Instruct you in all your proceedings.
Exodus 4:16
And he shall be thy spokesman to the people. Acquaint them with what thou hast to deliver to them. And he shall be, even he to thee.’] IIo doubles the words, to denote that he should need no other assistance but Aaron: who being his brother, he might the more securely rely on his fidelity. Instead of a mouth J] To speak what (hou canst not so well deliver thyself. And thou shall be to him instead of God.] Deliver my mind and will to hiin. The Chaldee translates the Hebrew word Elohim, in this place, a prince or a judge: who hath the power of life and death; (see Grotius in Acts vii. 35. and L. de Dieu in vii. 1.) For Moses by God’s order and appointment executed all those judgments upon Pharaoh which Aaron pronounced. (See Selden, lib. i. de Synedr. cap. ult.) If Justin Martyr did not misapprehend Diodorus Siculus, he saith the Jews called Moses a God. For so he reports Diodorus’s words, (Adhort. ad Grascos, p. 10.) wapa TOig y lov$a(oig Mcoutxtjv rbv tcaXoitfitvov Otov: which now are otherways in the books of Diodorus, (edit. Steph. p. 59.) where, mentioning several lawgivers, that pretended to receive their laws from God, or some good angel, he names Moses among the rest, nana Se roig’IouSa/ote MwvaTjv rbv y law iTTiKaXovfitvov Qtbv, ivho received his from the God called Jao: so they pronounced that name which we call Jehovah.
Exodus 4:17
And thou shalt take this rod in thy hand. The rod mentioned ver. 2. which is, ver. 20. called the rod of God; because it was an ensign of Divine authority and power; by which all the wonders were wrought. JFIierewith thou shalt do signs.] By stretching out so mean a thing as this rod, at God’s command, great miracles followed; which demonstrated the power of God and not of man.
Exodus 4:18
And Moses went and returned. From Horeb, where he had all this converse with God, he returned to the place where his father-in-law lived. (See ver. 1.) To Jethro.] In the Hebrew his name is written Jether. And the tradition is, in Semoth Rabba, that he was once a gentile, and then his name was JeMer: but being proselyted to the true religion, there was a letter added to his name, as there was to Abraham’s, and he was called Jethro. And Mr. Selden observes he is called a proselyte in the Gemara of Babylon; and the first we find mentioned in Scripture, (lib. ii. de Jure N. ct G. cap. 2.) And said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee.] He did not think it honest to leave his service without his consent; especially since he entertained him, and gave him his daughter, when he was a stranger to him. And return unto my brethren, which are in Egypt.] To his kindred and countrymen (who called one another brethren), whom he had not seen many years. And see whether they be yet alive.] He concealed his main design from Jethro; not thinking it safe, perhaps, to trust him (who, though a good man, was not a Hebrew) with his commission; or, fearing that he might discourage him from an undertaking, which he had already too much declined, but now was fully resolved upon: and therefore loath to be again disheartened. It may seem strange that Moses in so long a course of time as forty years, should not have heard of the state of his relations and friends: but it is to be considered, that, as he wjis afraid, perhaps, it should be known where he was, so intercourse with nations, though not very far distant, was not so easy then, as it is now-^.-days. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.] He dismissed him kindly, and wished him a prosperous journey.
Exodus 4:19
And the Lord said to Moses in Midian. Some translate it, the Lord had said, &c. to shew the reason why he now desired to have leave to visit his friends in Egypt. However that be, it is plain, this was a distinct appearance of God to him from that in Horeb: for this was in Midian. Where God (who had set him no precise time before) enjoins him to be gone presently: and assures him, that there were none left in Egypt who designed to be revenged of him for the slaughter of the Egyptian. So it follows: For all the men are deadtvhich sought thy life.] This is an encouragement, which God reserved as a reward of his obedience: having said nothing of it during the time of his hesitancy and reluctance.
Exodus 4:20
And Moses took his wife and his sons. We read hitherto but of one son born to him: but it is plain he had another from xviii. 4. He carried his whole family with him, to let his brethren see he was so confident of their deliverance, that he ventured not only himself, but his dearest relations in their society. And set them upon an ass.] One ass could not carry them all, with every thing necessary for their removal; therefore the singular number (as is very usual) is put for the plural: though one ass might perhaps carry her and two children, one of which, if not the other, was very small (see Drusius, Quasstiones per Epistol. 86. and Simeon de Muis in his Varia Sacra): asses are vile creatures here with us, but they were not so in those countries: for the noblest persons anciently rode on them; as appears by a great many places of Holy Scripture, Gen. xxii. 1. Numb. xxii. 21.. 2 Sam. xix. 6. and several others, which arc reckoned up by Bochart, (par. i. lib. ii. cap. 13. Hierozoic.) And he returned to the land of Egypt.] Set out, and began his journey to that country. And Moses took the rod of God.] So called, because God ordered him to carry it with him, (ver. 17.) and had appointed it to be the instrument wherewith he should work wonders. In his hand.] As a sign of his authority. So Conr. Pellicanus hath not unfitly explained it: he returned with the rod of God, signo apostolatus et ducatus, a sign or token of his embassy and government.
Exodus 4:21
And the Lord said vnto 3Ioses, When thou goest to return into Egypt. When thou art come thither. See that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh.] The signs mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, with which he was to begin. Wliich I have put in thy hand.] Given thee power to do. But I will harden his heart, &c] The meaning is not, that God would harden his heart at the first, as soon as Moses began to work his signs: no more than that he wot!d, at the first, slay his first-born, as he threatens, ver. 23. But, as at last’ he intended to slay his first-born, if ho would not be humbled by other plagues; so in conclusion he resolved to harden his heart, after Pharaoh had often hardened it himself. There are three distinct words used * in this story about this matter: the first is chazak, the next is kashah, and the third is cavad. Which seem to signify a gradual increase of his obstinacy, till at last it grew very
Exodus 4:22
And she bare Mm a sou, and he called his name Gershom, &c. This word Gershom signifies a desolate stranger; which he made the name of this child, because he was born, not only in a foreign country, remote from his own people, but in a place where he had nothing but what ho earned by his labour. For it is not to be thought, that in a hasty flight he could bring any great matter with him into Midian. Either this son was born long after his marriage, or he did not marry till he had been long in this country: for when he left it, after forty years’ stay in it, his children were but young, as appears from iv. 20. But every woman shall borrow.] The word shaal is of a doubtful meaning: for it signifying, in general, to ask or to pray, one may pray another, either to give or to lend. And if the Israelites asked their neighbours to bestow such things upon them as are here mentioned, and they, out of a desire to be rid of them, or hoping speedily to recover.their goods, granted their requests, no wrong was done to them. And if they borrowed them of the Egyptians, it was by the authority of God, whose the world is and the fulness thereof: and who doth no man any wrong when he is pleased to transfer what he enjoys unto another. (See more xi. 2. xii. 35.) Of her neighbour, and of her that sojoumeth in her house.] By this it appears that the Egyptians were intermixed with the Hebrews, in’*the land of Goshen: and so might the more easily go along with them when they left Egypt; as many of them did, (xii. 38.) Jewels of silver, &c] Rather, vessels of silver, &c. AVhich were of greater use to them than jewels; unless they pretended to deck up themselves for the feast they were to keep. (See more xi. 2. xii. 36.) And ye shall spoil the Egyptians.] Not by rapine or stealth, but by their own consent. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh.’] In this God begins to fulfil his promise to Moses, that he would teach him what he should say, ver. 12. and 15, 16. TJinssaith the Lord.] This shews he came-to Pharaoh in the name and by the authority of God. Israel is my son, even my first-born.] Most dear to’me; and beloved above all people (as the first-born son commonly is above the rest of the children), God having chosen and adopted them to be his peculiar people; onwhom he bestowed.singular privileges and blessings. Thus God speaks of David, Psalm lxxxix. 28. And Aben Ezra’s interpretation of this phrase is not improper; that their ancestors from the beginning had been worshippers of him the true God.
Exodus 4:23
And it came to pass, in process of time. After many days (as it is in the Hebrew), i e. years: for this king reigned a long time. (See ver. 15.) The king of Egypt died.] That king from whom Moses fled, viz. Orus. After whom Eugebius makes Acenceres to have reigned: and after him Achrois: both which died before’Moses returned into Egypt. And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage.] Their cruel servitude did not end with the life of Orus; but the new king, who succeeded him, was so far from giving them any ease, that he laid more heavy burdens upon them.. t And they cried.] This signifies they lay under the most grievous oppression; which grew intolerable. And their cry came tip unto God.] A cry that comes vp unto God, signifies, Jn the holy language, the loudest and sorest cry. (See Gen. xix. 13.) By reason of the bondage.] This may be referred both to their cry, and its coining up to God: who resolved speedily to free thera from such insupportable burdens. And I say tinto thee.] I command and require thee (so the word say here signifies). Let my son go, that he may serve me.] Not to keep my people in thy servitude any longer, but to dismiss them that they may worship me, as my servauts ought todo; And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay Jhy son, even thy first-born.] Not upon his first refusal, (see ver. 21.) but after a long course of other judgments, which would end, if he were not reformed by them, in this at last. With which he therefore terrifies him, that he might prevent it.
Exodus 4:24
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant, &c. There are four different words in these two last verses, (viz. heard, remembered, looked upon them, had respect unto them,) which, every one of them, signify God’s kind intention towards them; but seem also to me to denote that the Divine Providence determined to proceed gradually in the deliverance of the children of Israel from their cruel servitude. For when he saith, God heard their groaning, the meaning is, he favourably condescended to grant their petition; which was the first step to their deliverance. And then, He remembered Jus covenant with Abraham, &.C.] This gives the reason of it, because he was mindful of his ancient promises to their forefathers; which was a further assurance of his favour. And then he Looked upon them.] i. e. Took notice of their affliction and hard labour, (as Maimonides explains it, More Nevoch. par. i. cap. 48.) which was another motive to relieve them. And in the la^t place, God had respect to them.] Which imports that he determined to have mercy upon f/*ewi(and that includes all blessings in it). For so this phrase to respect another signifies, as Bochart hath shewn from many instances, particularly Psal, xxv, 12. Isai. lxvi. 2. (Hierozoic. par. i, lib. ii. cap. And it came to pass by the way.] To Egypt, in the inn where they took up their lodging at night. That the Lord met him.] TheSchechinah, I suppose, appeared to him, from whence an angel was dispatched, to do as follows. And so boththe LXX. and the Chaldee interpret it, The angel of the Lord; because the Lord sent an angel to execute what is here Telated. And sought to kill him.] Appeared in such a manner/ as. if lie intended to fall upon him (with a drawn sword, perhaps, as he did.to Balaam and David), which threatening posture could not but very much affright him, and put him into disorder. Others imagine he inflicted a sudden disease upon him; or. made as if he would strangle him. They that interpret this of killing his child, as manydo, (sec Mr. Sclden, lib. i. de Synedr. cap. vi. p. 88.) seem.te me to have no reason on their side: therebeing no mention of a child in the foregoing story, but only^of his sons. Therefore Chaskuni hath rightly observed that this verse ■ is connected with the last words of the 20th (the three following coming by a parenthesis), and can refer to none but Moses. All the difficulty is to find, why the angel of the Lord should put him in fear of present death, when he, was going upon God’s message. The resolution of which’seems to be contained in the following words.
Exodus 4:25
Then Zipporah. His wife* presently apprehended what was the cause of Moses’s daughter, viz. because her child (of whioh she is supposed to have been not long ago delivered) was not circumcised. And therefore she immediately dispatched th&t work: her husband being in-such u consternation; that he could. not do it himself; but (as Kimchi will have it), called to her to do it; or she of herself went about it> having been the cause that it was not done before. Tdok a sharp stone.] Ora sharrp knife mado of a fliht: for such they used; which Justin Martyr (in his dialogue Digitized with Trypho) calls ir^ivaq fiaxalpag. And so the LXX. and the Jews say, that such knives were commonly used in, this work. And cut the foreskin of her son.] But how came Moses to neglect this duty? Most say his wife was unwilling to it: not because she abhorred this rite, as cruel arid unnatural (for she was of a race which came from Abraham, who first received this command of circumcising all his children; and she understood, it appears, how to do it readily, without endangering the child, which had scarce] been possible, if she had been a stranger to it), but because the Midianites, perhaps, did not circumcise so soon as the Israelites; but imitated their neighbours the Ishmaelites, who deferred it till their children were thirteen years old, at which age Ishmael was circumcised; (Geni xvii. 25.) or’ rather, because they were about to make a journey, when she thought it might be omitted; till they came to be settled among the Israelites. And truly, this seems to have been a good reason, to defer circumcision beyond’ the eighth day; motion being dangerous when the child was sore. But such, a man as Moses should have trusted God to take care of his child; and not have been afraid of the consequence, if he had performed his duty. And because he followed the tender inclination of his wife, rather than a plain precept, (Gen. xvii. 12,13, &c.) he fell into this great danger. Many other accounts are given of this (for the truth is, the wholematter is very obscure), but I see none more probable, than what I have mentioned. And cast it at his feet.] It is uncertain at whose feet she cast it: whether at her husband’s, or the child’s, or the” angels. Thefirst seems most probable; if the next words be spoken to Moses, as they seem to me to be. And said, Surely a bloody husband art thou tome.] If the foregoing interpretation be true; these are not the words of an angry woman; but spoken with great affection: signifying that she had espoused him again; having saved his life by the blood of her son. Our famous Mr. Mede, indeed, (Discourse xiv.) carries the sense quite another way: because a husband, he saith, is never called chatan after * the marriage solemnity was over. Which, if it be true, makes nothing against what I have said; because she looked upon herself as a second time espoused (or married) to him by this act, which had restored him to her, when his life was in danger. It must be granted that the word chatan doth not signify only a spouse, but sometimes a son-inlaw: but why Zipporah should call her own child by this name, I do not see. Yet so Mr. Mede understands it; and adds, that the rabbins tell us it was the custom of the Hebrew women to call their children, when they were circumcised, by the name of chatan (i. e. spouse), as if they were now espoused unto God. And, indeed, Aben Ezra saith so: but I cannot find that this was an ancient notion * among therm If it were, his interpretation might be the more easily embraced, which is this: that these were a solemn fornr of words used at circumcision; signifying as much, as I pronounce thee to be a member of the church by circumcision. Thus Val. Schindlcr also expounds it, (in his Lexic. Pentaglot. p. G77.) a child was called chatan upon the day of his circumcision, " because then he was first • joined to the people of God, and as it were espoused unto God." And he thinks the Targum countenances this sense, when it thus expounds th^e words, “by this blood of cir- 2 A by Microsoft ® [chap, v/ cumcision a spouse is given to us.” Which may as well be understood of Moses being given to her, as of the child: for he was, as I said, restored to her and to his family, upon the circumcision of the child: so it follows in the next verse. They that have mind to see (he sense of an eminent writer of our church concerning this passage, may consult Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity, book v. in the latter end of the sixtysecond section, where he thus far agrees with me, that these words were spoken a out of the flowing of abundance of commiseration and love," with her hands laid under his feet. For so ho thinks these words, she cast it at Ms feet, import.
Exodus 4:26
So he let him go. i. e. The angel no longer threatened Moses with death: but his wife, to her great joy, saw him restored to her in safety. From which in aftertimes sprang the (pak\o<p6pot, which were so famous among the Greeks and Egyptians, in the feasts of Bacchus and Osiris; whose stories Huetius hath lately shewn were framed out of this of Moses. From whence also, as he probably conjectures, they used remedies for diseases, informa fascini, which they hung, as amulets, about their children’s necks, (Demonstrat. Evang. propos. iv. cap. iv. n. 3.) ■ Then she said, or, when she said, A bloody husband thou art, &c] L e. As soon as Zipporah had circumcised the child, and thrown the foreskin at her husband’s feet, and said these w r ords, Moses was delivered from his danger. Or (according to our translation), as soon as her husband was safe, she repeated the foregoing words, saying, I have redeemed thy life, by circumcising thy son. They that make these words to have been spoken in a rage, because she was forced to do what she did, suppose her to have had little kindness for her husband; and as littlo regard to circumcision. I should Tather translate the words, so she let him go; L e. let Moses go to Egypt; and went back herself to her father; only repeating these words before she went, Remember me, how I have saved thy [life, and made thee my husband again (when death was at hand) by the blood of thy son, whom I have circumcised. There is only this exception to it, that the Hebrew word for let him go is of the masculine gender; which is of no great weight, because it is usual in this language wiien they speak of females, (as I observed on i. 21.) and it is certain she returned to her father; but whether in this manner nobody can certainly determine. For we are not told any where, upon what occasion she went back to Jethro (unless it be here insinuated), as we find she did, (xviii. 2.) together with her children. But it is very probable, that she fearing some other danger, into which she and her children might fall by the way, or in Egypt, might desire Moses to send her home again, till he had finished the work he went about: unto which he consented. Vcr. 27. And the Lord said nnto Aaron.] In Egypt, I suppose, he received this order from God: but wc do not know how; whether by an apparition of the Divinb Majesty to him, or in a dream, or otherways. Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.~) The wilderness was a wide place; therefore he directed him, no doubt, into what part he should go. And he went and met him in the mount of God.] He went almost to Midian; that he might have the. more time to hear what Moses’s commission was, before they came to Egypt Lord, &c] Mentioned iii. G. 8., &c. and in this chapter, 14— 1G, &c. And all the signs, &c] See ver. 2, 3, &c. which he told him to confirm his belief, that God had spoken those words to him. Vcr. 29. And Moses and Aaron went.] Came into Egypt. And gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.] The chief persons in every tribe, who bore a great sway among them. (See iii. 16.)
Exodus 4:30
And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken uirfo Moses. According to what God had promised, (ver. 15, 1G.) And did the signs.] The signs are done by Moses, as tho words were spoken by Aaron, (vcr. 17.) In the sight of all the people.] Who. came along with the elders.
Exodus 4:31
And the people believed. All the rest of the people also (to whom the elders reported what they had heard and seen) believed that God had sent Moses to bo their deliverer. And when they heard that the Lord had visited, &c] See iii. 7. 16,17. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped.] Most humbly acknowledged the goodness of God, and his faithfulness to his word.