Keluaran 2:11

The Presumption of the Deliverer

2:11 ¹ In those days, ²  when ³  Moses had grown up, he went out to his people ⁴  and observed ⁵  their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking ⁶  a Hebrew man, one of his own people. ⁷ 

Keluaran 10:23

10:23 No one ⁸  could see ⁹  another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Keluaran 16:16

16:16 “This is what ¹⁰  the Lord has commanded: ¹¹  ‘Each person is to gather ¹²  from it what he can eat, an omer ¹³  per person ¹⁴  according to the number ¹⁵  of your people; ¹⁶  each one will pick it up ¹⁷  for whoever lives ¹⁸  in his tent.’”

Keluaran 21:33

21:33 “If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Keluaran 36:4

36:4 So all the skilled people who were doing all the work on the sanctuary came from the work ¹⁹  they were doing

[2:11]  ¹ sn Chapter 1 described how Israel was flourishing in spite of the bondage. Chapter 2 first told how God providentially provided the deliverer, but now when this deliverer attempted to deliver one of his people, it turned out badly, and he had to flee for his life. This section makes an interesting study in the presumption of the leader, what Christian expositors would rightly describe as trying to do God’s work by the flesh. The section has two parts to it: the flight from Egypt over the failed attempt to deliver (vv. 11-15), and Moses’ introduction to life as the deliverer in Midian (vv. 16-22).

[2:11]  ² sn The expression “those days” refers to the days of bondage.

[2:11]  ³ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next and main idea of the verse. This is the second use of this verb in the chapter. In v. 10 the verb had the sense of “when he began to grow” or “when he got older,” but here it carries the nuance of “when he had grown up.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “brothers.” This term does not require them to be literal siblings, or even close family members. It simply refers to fellow Hebrews, people with whom Moses has begun to feel close ties of kinship. They are “brothers” in a broad sense, ultimately fellow members of the covenant community.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn The verb רָאָה (ra’a, “to see”) followed by the preposition bet (ב) can indicate looking on something as an overseer, or supervising, or investigating. Here the emphasis is on Moses’ observing their labor with sympathy or grief. It means more than that he simply saw the way his fellow Hebrews were being treated (cf. 2:25).

[2:11]  sn This journey of Moses to see his people is an indication that he had become aware of his destiny to deliver them. This verse says that he looked on their oppression; the next section will say that the Lord looked on it.

[2:11]  ⁶ tn The verb מַכֶּה (makkeh) is the Hiphil participle of the root נָכָה (nakha). It may be translated “strike, smite, beat, attack.” It can be used with the sense of killing (as in the next verse, which says Moses hid the body), but it does not necessarily indicate here that the Egyptian killed the Hebrew.

[2:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “brothers.” This kinship term is used as a means of indicating the nature of Moses’ personal concern over the incident, since the appositional clause adds no new information.

[10:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “a man…his brother.”

[10:23]  ⁹ tn The perfect tense in this context requires the somewhat rare classification of a potential perfect.

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ¹² tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ¹³ sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ¹⁸ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[36:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a man, a man from his work”; or “each one from his work.”