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Exodus 2:21
New English Translation
Exodus 2:21
New English Translation
21 Moses agreed[a] to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.[b]
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- Exodus 2:21 tn Or “and Moses was willing” to stay with Reuel. The Talmud understood this to mean that he swore, and so when it came time to leave he had to have a word from God and permission from his father-in-law (Exod 4:18-19).
- Exodus 2:21 tn The words “in marriage” are implied, and have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
Exodus 2:22
New English Translation
Exodus 2:22
New English Translation
22 When she bore[a] a son, Moses[b] named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.”[c]
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- Exodus 2:22 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is subordinated to the next clause, which reports the naming and its motivation.
- Exodus 2:22 tn Heb “and he called”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Exodus 2:22 sn Like the naming of Moses, this naming that incorporates a phonetic wordplay forms the commemorative summary of the account just provided. Moses seems to have settled into a domestic life with his new wife and his father-in-law. But when the first son is born, he named him גֵּרְשֹׁם (gereshom or gershom). There is little information available about what the name by itself might have meant. If it is linked to the verb “drive away” used earlier (גָּרַשׁ, garash), then the final mem (מ) would have to be explained as an enclitic mem. It seems most likely that that verb was used in the narrative to make a secondary wordplay on the name. The primary explanation is the popular etymology supplied by Moses himself. He links the name to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to live as an alien”). He then adds that he was a sojourner (גֵּר, ger, the participle) in a foreign land. The word “foreign” (נָכְרִיּה, nokhriyyah) adds to the idea of his being a resident foreigner. The final syllable in the name would then be connected to the adverb “there” (שָׁם, sham). Thus, the name is given the significance in the story of “sojourner there” or “alien there.” He no doubt knew that this was not the actual meaning of the name; the name itself had already been introduced into the family of Levi (1 Chr 6:1, 16). He chose the name because its sounds reflected his sentiment at that time. But to what was Moses referring? In view of naming customs among the Semites, he was most likely referring to Midian as the foreign land. If Egypt had been the strange land, and he had now found his place, he would not have given the lad such a name. Personal names reflect the present or recent experiences, or the hope for the future. So this naming is a clear expression by Moses that he knows he is not where he is supposed to be. That this is what he meant is supported in the NT by Stephen (Acts 7:29). So the choice of the name, the explanation of it, and the wordplay before it, all serve to stress the point that Moses had been driven away from his proper place of service.
Exodus 4:24
New English Translation
Exodus 4:24
New English Translation
24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night,[a] the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.[b]
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- Exodus 4:24 tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”
- Exodus 4:24 sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son—but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.
Exodus 4:25
New English Translation
Exodus 4:25
New English Translation
25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet,[a] and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood[b] to me.”
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- Exodus 4:25 tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).
- Exodus 4:25 sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).
Exodus 18:1-6
New English Translation
Exodus 18:1-6
New English Translation
The Advice of Jethro
18 [a] Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard about all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, that[b] the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.[c]
2 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah after he had sent her back, 3 and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom[d] (for Moses[e] had said, “I have been a foreigner[f] in a foreign land”) 4 and the other Eliezer (for Moses had said,[g] “The God of my father has been my help[h] and delivered[i] me from the sword of Pharaoh”).
5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’[j] sons and his wife, came to Moses in the wilderness where he was camping by[k] the mountain of God.[l] 6 He said[m] to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons with her.”
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- Exodus 18:1 sn This chapter forms the transition to the Law. There has been the deliverance, the testing passages, the provision in the wilderness, and the warfare. Any God who can do all this for his people deserves their allegiance. In chap. 18 the Lawgiver is giving advice, using laws and rulings, but then he is given advice to organize the elders to assist. Thus, when the Law is fully revealed, a system will be in place to administer it. The point of the passage is that a great leader humbly accepts advice from other godly believers to delegate responsibility. He does not try to do it all himself; God does not want one individual to do it all. The chapter has three parts: vv. 1-12 tell how Jethro heard and came and worshiped and blessed; vv. 13-23 have the advice of Jethro, and then vv. 24-27 tell how Moses implemented the plan and Jethro went home. See further E. J. Runions, “Exodus Motifs in 1 Samuel 7 and 8, ” EvQ 52 (1980): 130-31; and also see for another idea T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15.
- Exodus 18:1 tn This clause beginning with כִּי (ki) answers the question of what Jethro had heard; it provides a second, explanatory noun clause that is the object of the verb—“he heard (1) all that God had done… (2) that he had brought….” See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490.
- Exodus 18:1 sn This is an important report that Jethro has heard, for the claim of God that he brought Israel out of bondage in Egypt will be the foundation of the covenant stipulations (Exod 20).
- Exodus 18:3 tn The name Gershom is based on גֵּר (ger) plus שָׁם (sham), meaning “foreign [resident] there.” Another possiblility is to relate the name to the root גָּרַשׁ (garash), perhaps meaning “outcast” (from I גרשׁ) or “churning” (from II גרשׁ).
- Exodus 18:3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity (also in the following verse).
- Exodus 18:3 tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger), a foreign resident, sounds like and may be the first element of the name Gershom. But the word for “foreign” land (נָכְרִיִּה; nokriyyah) is built on a different root.
- Exodus 18:4 tn The referent (Moses) and the verb have been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Exodus 18:4 tn Now is given the etymological explanation of the name of Moses’ other son, Eliezer (אֱלִיעֶזֶר, ʾeliʿezer), which means “my God is a help.” The sentiment that explains this name is אֱלֹהֵי אָבִי בְּעֶזְרִי (ʾelohe ʾavi beʿezri, “the God of my father is my help”). The preposition in the sentiment is the bet (ב) essentiae (giving the essence—see GKC 379 §119.i). Not mentioned earlier, the name has become even more appropriate now that God has delivered Moses from Pharaoh again. The word for “help” is a common word in the Bible, first introduced as a description of the woman in the Garden. It means to do for someone what he or she cannot do for himself or herself. Samuel raised the “stone of help” (Ebenezer) when Yahweh helped Israel win the battle (1 Sam 7:12).
- Exodus 18:4 sn The verb “delivered” is an important motif in this chapter (see its use in vv. 8, 9, and 10 with reference to Pharaoh).
- Exodus 18:5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Exodus 18:5 tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).
- Exodus 18:5 sn The mountain of God is Horeb, and so the desert here must be the Sinai desert by it. But chap. 19 suggests that they left Rephidim to go the 24 miles to Sinai. It may be that this chapter fits in chronologically after the move to Sinai, but was placed here thematically. W. C. Kaiser defends the present location of the story by responding to other reasons for the change given by Lightfoot, but does not deal with the travel locations (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:411).
- Exodus 18:6 sn This verse may seem out of place, since the report has already been given that they came to the desert. It begins to provide details of the event that the previous verse summarizes. The announcement in verse 6 may have come in advance by means of a messenger or at the time of arrival, either of which would fit with the attention to formal greetings in verse 7. This would suit a meeting between two important men; the status of Moses has changed. The LXX solves the problem by taking the pronoun “I” as the particle “behold” and reads it this way: “one said to Moses, ‘Behold, your father-in-law has come….’”
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