Keluaran 2:3

2:3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket ¹  for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. ² 

Keluaran 2:5

2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh ³  came down to wash herself ⁴  by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, ⁵  and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, ⁶  took it, ⁷ 

Keluaran 12:13

12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see ⁸  the blood I will pass over you, ⁹  and this plague ¹⁰  will not fall on you to destroy you ¹¹  when I attack ¹²  the land of Egypt. ¹³ 

Keluaran 12:22

12:22 Take a branch of hyssop, ¹⁴  dip it in the blood that is in the basin, ¹⁵  and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out ¹⁶  the door of his house until morning.

Keluaran 17:5

17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; ¹⁷  take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

Keluaran 18:22

18:22 They will judge ¹⁸  the people under normal circumstances, ¹⁹  and every difficult case ²⁰  they will bring to you, but every small case ²¹  they themselves will judge, so that ²²  you may make it easier for yourself, ²³  and they will bear the burden ²⁴  with you.

Keluaran 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ²⁵  go among us, for we ²⁶  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Keluaran 34:15

34:15 Be careful ²⁷  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ²⁸  they prostitute themselves ²⁹  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ³⁰  you will eat from his sacrifice;

Keluaran 34:20

34:20 Now the firstling ³¹  of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then break its neck. ³²  You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons.

“No one will appear before me empty-handed. ³³ 

Keluaran 35:5

35:5 ‘Take ³⁴  an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who has a willing heart ³⁵  bring ³⁶  an offering to the Lord: ³⁷  gold, silver, bronze,

[2:3]  ¹ sn See on the meaning of this basket C. Cohen, “Hebrew tbh: Proposed Etymologies,” JANESCU 9 (1972): 36-51. This term is used elsewhere only to refer to the ark of Noah. It may be connected to the Egyptian word for “chest.”

[2:3]  ² sn The circumstances of the saving of the child Moses have prompted several attempts by scholars to compare the material to the Sargon myth. See R. F. Johnson, IDB 3:440-50; for the text see L. W. King, Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings, 2:87-90. Those who see the narrative using the Sargon story’s pattern would be saying that the account presents Moses in imagery common to the ancient world’s expectations of extraordinary achievement and deliverance. In the Sargon story the infant’s mother set him adrift in a basket in a river; he was loved by the gods and destined for greatness. Saying Israel used this to invent the account in Exodus would undermine its reliability. But there are other difficulties with the Sargon comparison, not the least of which is the fact that the meaning and function of the Sargon story are unclear. Second, there is no outside threat to the child Sargon. The account simply shows how a child was exposed, rescued, nurtured, and became king (see B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 8-12). Third, other details do not fit: Moses’ father is known, Sargon’s is not; Moses is never abandoned, since he is never out of the care of his parents, and the finder is a princess and not a goddess. Moreover, without knowing the precise function and meaning of the Sargon story, it is almost impossible to explain its use as a pattern for the biblical account. By itself, the idea of a mother putting a child by the river if she wants him to be found would have been fairly sensible, for that is where the women of the town would be washing their clothes or bathing. If someone wanted to be sure the infant was discovered by a sympathetic woman, there would be no better setting (see R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 57). While there need not be a special genre of storytelling here, it is possible that Exodus 2 might have drawn on some of the motifs and forms of the other account to describe the actual event in the sparing of Moses – if they knew of it. If so it would show that Moses was cast in the form of the greats of the past.

[2:5]  ³ sn It is impossible, perhaps, to identify with certainty who this person was. For those who have taken a view that Rameses was the pharaoh, there were numerous daughters for Rameses. She is named Tharmuth in Jub. 47:5; Josephus spells it Thermouthis (Ant. 2.9.5 [2.224]), but Eusebius has Merris (Praep. Ev. ix. 27). E. H. Merrill (Kingdom of Priests, 60) makes a reasonable case for her identification as the famous Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She would have been there about the time of Moses’ birth, and the general picture of her from history shows her to be the kind of princess with enough courage to countermand a decree of her father.

[2:5]  ⁴ tn Or “bathe.”

[2:5]  ⁵ sn A disjunctive vav initiates here a circumstantial clause. The picture is one of a royal entourage coming down to the edge of a tributary of the river, and while the princess was bathing, her female attendants were walking along the edge of the water out of the way of the princess. They may not have witnessed the discovery or the discussion.

[2:5]  ⁶ tn The word here is אָמָה (’amah), which means “female slave.” The word translated “attendants” earlier in the verse is נַעֲרֹת (na’arot, “young women”), possibly referring here to an assortment of servants and companions.

[2:5]  ⁷ tn The verb is preterite, third person feminine singular, with a pronominal suffix, from לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). The form says literally “and she took it,” and retains the princess as the subject of the verb.

[12:13]  ⁸ tn Both of the verbs for seeing and passing over are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives: וּפָסַחְתִּי…וְרָאִיתִי (vÿra’iti...ufasakhti); the first of these parallel verb forms is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause. See Gesenius’s description of perfect consecutives in the protasis and apodosis (GKC 494 §159.g).

[12:13]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the verb is supplied in part from the near context of seeing the sign and omitting to destroy, as well as the verb at the start of verse 12 “pass through, by, over.” Isa 31:5 says, “Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.” The word does not occur enough times to enable one to delineate a clear meaning. It is probably not the same word as “to limp” found in 1 Kgs 18:21, 26, unless there is a highly developed category of meaning there.

[12:13]  ¹⁰ tn The word “plague” (נֶגֶף, negef) is literally “a blow” or “a striking.” It usually describes a calamity or affliction given to those who have aroused God’s anger, as in Exod 30:12; Num 8:19; 16:46, 47; Josh 22:17 (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 92-93).

[12:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for destruction.” The form מַשְׁחִית (mashkhit) is the Hiphil participle of שָׁחַת (shakhat). The word itself is a harsh term; it was used to describe Yahweh’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 13:10).

[12:13]  ¹² tn בְּהַכֹּתִי (bÿhakkoti) is the Hiphil infinitive construct from נָכָה (nakhah), with a preposition prefixed and a pronominal suffix added to serve as the subjective genitive – the subject of this temporal clause. It is also used in 12:12.

[12:13]  ¹³ sn For additional discussions, see W. H. Elder, “The Passover,” RevExp 74 (1977): 511-22; E. Nutz, “The Passover,” BV 12 (1978): 23-28; H. M. Kamsler, “The Blood Covenant in the Bible,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 94-98; A. Rodriguez, Substitution in the Hebrew Cultus; B. Ramm, “The Theology of the Book of Exodus: A Reflection on Exodus 12:12,” SwJT 20 (1977): 59-68; and M. Gilula, “The Smiting of the First-Born: An Egyptian Myth?” TA 4 (1977): 94-85.

[12:22]  ¹⁴ sn The hyssop is a small bush that grows throughout the Sinai, probably the aromatic herb Origanum Maru L., or Origanum Aegyptiacum. The plant also grew out of the walls in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 4:33). See L. Baldensperger and G. M. Crowfoot, “Hyssop,” PEQ 63 (1931): 89-98. A piece of hyssop was also useful to the priests because it worked well for sprinkling.

[12:22]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek and the Vulgate translate סַף (saf, “basin”) as “threshold.” W. C. Kaiser reports how early traditions grew up about the killing of the lamb on the threshold (“Exodus,” EBC 2:376).

[12:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and you, you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house.” This construction puts stress on prohibiting absolutely everyone from going out.

[17:5]  ¹⁷ tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).

[18:22]  ¹⁸ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ²² tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ²³ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ²⁴ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[34:9]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

[34:15]  ²⁷ tn The sentence begins simply “lest you make a covenant”; it is undoubtedly a continuation of the imperative introduced earlier, and so that is supplied here.

[34:15]  ²⁸ tn The verb is a perfect with a vav consecutive. In the literal form of the sentence, this clause tells what might happen if the people made a covenant with the inhabitants of the land: “Take heed…lest you make a covenant…and then they prostitute themselves…and sacrifice…and invite…and you eat.” The sequence lays out an entire scenario.

[34:15]  ²⁹ tn The verb זָנָה (zanah) means “to play the prostitute; to commit whoredom; to be a harlot” or something similar. It is used here and elsewhere in the Bible for departing from pure religion and engaging in pagan religion. The use of the word in this figurative sense is fitting, because the relationship between God and his people is pictured as a marriage, and to be unfaithful to it was a sin. This is also why God is described as a “jealous” or “impassioned” God. The figure may not be merely a metaphorical use, but perhaps a metonymy, since there actually was sexual immorality at the Canaanite altars and poles.

[34:15]  ³⁰ tn There is no subject for the verb. It could be rendered “and one invites you,” or it could be made a passive.

[34:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the one that opens [the womb of] the donkey.”

[34:20]  ³² sn See G. Brin, “The Firstling of Unclean Animals,” JQR 68 (1971): 1-15.

[34:20]  ³³ tn The form is the adverb “empty.”

[35:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from with you.”

[35:5]  ³⁵ tn “Heart” is a genitive of specification, clarifying in what way they might be “willing.” The heart refers to their will, their choices.

[35:5]  ³⁶ tn The verb has a suffix that is the direct object, but the suffixed object is qualified by the second accusative: “let him bring it, an offering.”

[35:5]  ³⁷ tn The phrase is literally “the offering of Yahweh”; it could be a simple possessive, “Yahweh’s offering,” but a genitive that indicates the indirect object is more appropriate.