Keluaran 3:21

3:21 “I will grant this people favor with ¹  the Egyptians, so that when ²  you depart you will not leave empty-handed.

Keluaran 3:2

3:2 The angel of the Lord ³  appeared ⁴  to him in ⁵  a flame of fire from within a bush. ⁶  He looked ⁷  – and ⁸  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ⁹ 

1 Samuel 24:14

24:14 Who has the king of Israel come out after? Who is it that you are pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea?

1 Samuel 24:2

24:2 So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find ¹⁰  David and his men in the region of ¹¹  the rocks of the mountain goats. ¹² 

1 Korintus 1:3

1:3 Grace and peace to you ¹³  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

[3:21]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.” This idiom usually means that someone will be treated well by the observer. It is unlikely that it means here that the Egyptians will like the Hebrews. Rather, it means that the Egyptians will give things to the Hebrews free – gratis (see 12:35-36). Not only will God do mighty works to make the king yield, but also he will work in the minds of the Egyptian people so that they will be favorably disposed to give Israel wealth.

[3:21]  ² tn The temporal indicator (here future) with the particle ki (וְהָיָה כִּי, vÿhaya ki) introduces a temporal clause.

[3:2]  ³ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ⁴ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ⁶ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ⁸ tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ⁹ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[24:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to search [for].”

[24:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[24:2]  ¹² tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).

[1:3]  ¹³ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”