CHAPTER IV. lieve me, nor hearken unto my AND Moses answered and said, voice; for they will say, The LORD But, behold, they will not be hath not appeared unto thee. kelë. The present rendering no doubt restricts too much the meaning of the original, which properly includes vessels, implements, utensils, of any kind made of gold or silver. The term is here equivalent to valuable effects. These they were to put upon their sons and upon their daughters,' by which would naturally be understood from our translation, that they were to put them upon their children as ornaments. But would the sons wear female ornaments? A much more probable supposition is, that they were to lay them upon the young people as a burden to be carried. If the original term meant nothing but jewels, the former interpretation would no doubt be entirely plausible. But we have seen that it includes every kind of gold and silver articles. They were therefore put upon their sons and daughters, not to be worn, but to be carried. selves of the jewels and raiment of stranger.' The implication would seein their enemies, and to 'spoil' them, they to be, that the Egyptians in some cases did not take them by rapine and stealth, occupied tenements which belonged to but as spoils voluntarily given up to the Israelites, or at any rate that they them by the Egyptians; in a word, that lived very closely intermingled togethere is no ground in the import of the ther, a circumstance which gave them a original for accusing the Israelites of better opportunity to despoil their opfraud or injustice. Without anticipat-pressors of their effects.-¶ Jewels ing the fuller canvassing the subject of silver and jewels of gold.' Heb. which we there propose, we may here remark, that the term 'borrow' has been somewhat unhappily adopted in our translation, as it implies a promise of return. But this is not the sense of the original shaal. This signifies to ask, demand, petition, request, and is the very word employed Ps. 2. 8, 'Ask ( sheal) of me the heathen for thine inheritance,' &c.; although in two passages, Ex. 22. 14, and 2 Kings, 6. 5, it cannot perhaps be doubted that its import is that of borrowing. But for borrow in the more strict and genuine sense of the word, the Heb. has entirely another term lavah, which occurs among other places, Deut. 28. 12, 'Thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow ( hilvitha).' Neh. 5. 4, 'There were also that said, We have borrowed (3 lavinu) money for the king's tribute.' Prov. 22. 7, The borrower ( malveh) is servant to the lender.' Is. 24. 2, And it shall be, as with the lender, so with the borrower ( malveh).'-¶ Of her that sojourneth in her house. Heb. miggarath bethah. Gr. συσκηνου αυτής, her fellow-dweller. Chal. 'From her who is a near neighbor to her house.' But this is not an exact rendering of the Heb. nor does it differ sufficiently from the preceding term. The original properly signifies an indweller, as in Job, 19. 15, They that dwell in mine house ( garë bëthi), and my maids count me for a CHAPTER IV. 1. Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me. Heb. ve-hen, and behold. The Gr. we incline to believe has the most correct rendering ɛav, if, making it a hypothetical instead of an absolute affirmation of Moses. Thus too the Arab, 'Perhaps they will not believe me.' The original term is expressly so rendered, Jer. 3. 1, They say if (hen) a man put away his wife, and she go from him,' &c. It cannot indeed be questioned 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, a A rod.: Jehovah ? a ver. 17. 20, 2. What is that in thine hand? The drift of this question is simply to wake up and direct Moses' attention to the miracle about to be wrought. It is as if he had said, 'Take particular notice, and see that there is no illusion in the matter. Be sure that what you see is really what you take it to be.' When God questions his creatures it is not for the sake of learning, but of teaching. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent: and Moses fled from before it. that Moses was reluctant to be employed on the embassy to Pharaoh and intended in these words to urge an objection, but the phraseology appears to present it in a conditional form. Otherwise, it may be asked, on what authority did he make the assertion? How did he know that the elders would not believe him, when God had ex-ing, and what to human view more conpressly assured him, ch. 3. 18, that they temptible than a rustic keeper of sheep would? Would he adventure upon such coming forth from the desert, where he a pointed contradiction of the words of had been accustomed to encounter only wild beasts of prey, and oppose his simple crook to the sceptre of a powerful king? Would not this be a very significant mode of teaching that however destitute of human means of intimidation, the shepherd of Midian should notwithstanding be rendered dreadful to a throned oppressor, when the rude staff that he carried in his hand should be a more destructive instrument than a thousand swords? His own affrightment on the occasion would tend to give him a deeper sense of the hidden power of that terror which Omnipotence could strike into the inmost spirit of his adversary, and he could not but infer that there was no need of numerous forces or great preparations when he carried in his hand an implement the bare sight of which was able to smite the monarch with consternation. It may be proper, however, to observe that the Jewish commentators are disposed to consider the serpent as representing Pharaoh rather than Moses. As the original nahash, as remarked on Gen. 3. 1, is occasionally interchanged with tannin, dragon, the very word in fact which occurs Ex. 7. 10, And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent (1 tannin),' and as Pharaoh, king of its exhibition. In what this consisted it may not be easy confidently to affirm. Calvin suggests with great plausibility, that the drift of it was to intimate the formidableness of Moses to Pharaoh, notwithstanding his comparatively abject and despised condition. The staff was the ensign of the shepherd's call -T And he said, a rod. Heb. matteh, a rod, or staff, as it is rendered Gen. 38. 18; i. e. such a rod or crook as is used by shepherds in tending their flocks. Thus Mic. 7. 14, Feed thy people with thy rod the flock of thine heritage.' In v. 20, it is called the 'rod of God' from the miraculous effects which it was instrumental in working. Comp. v. 20. 3. And it became a serpent. Heb. yehi lenahash, it became to a serpent. It will probably answer all the demands of the text to consider this as simply a miraculous sign intended to authenticate the mission of Moses. We are not required to seek or assign a reason why this particular sign was adopted rather than any other, yet we may without extravagance suppose that there was some intrinsic adaptedness in the sign selected to the purpose of 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand : 5 That they may bbelieve that e the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, b ch. 19. 9. c ch. 3. 15. Egypt, is termed, Ezek. 29. 3, 'The great dragon ( tannim) that lieth in the midst of his rivers,' they suggest that the rod converted into this reptilemonster, (perhaps the crocodile, as Lightfoot believes), was designed to represent Pharaoh in all the terrors of his cruelty and oppression; while on the other hand his being seized by the hand of Moses, and converted into an innocuous rod, indicated the ease with which, under the mighty working of God, he should be subdued, despoiled of his power to harm, and even brought to confess himself to be at the mercy of Moses, as a rod is wielded by the hand of its possessor. Thus, Eliezer, a Jewish commentator: As the serpent biteth and killeth the sons of Adam, so Pharaoh and his people did bite and kill the Israelites; but he was turned and made like a dry stick.' and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous das snow. d Numb. 12. 10. 2 Kings 5. 27. ites, and of overawing the obstinacy of Pharaoh. The incident goes evidently on the ground that miracles are a certain and satisfactory proof of the divinity of the mission and doctrine of a prophet. They constitute the proper credentials of one sent of God. They are a divine testimony both to the commission of the messenger and to the truth of the message. The principle on which miracles are wrought is clearly and distinctly recognised in the words of the woman of Sarepta to the prophet who had raised her son to life, 1 Kings, 17. 24, Now by this I know thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord by thy mouth is truth.' This is the language of nature and of common sense. 6. Put now thine hand into thy bosom, &c. That is, into the open part of the tunic, a long outer robe, above the gir 5. That they may believe, &c. The dle. The drift of this second sign was sentence is apparently imperfect, re- similar to that of the first, for with quiring some such preliminary clause, these miraculous voices God speaketh as 'Do this, that they may believe, &c.' once, yea twice,' though it is too often For a similar omission, and the manner the case that 'man regardeth it not.' As in which it is to be supplied, compare far as the intrinsic significancy of the Mark, 14.49, ' I was daily with you in the sign is concerned, it was evidently cal. temple teaching, and ye took me not:culated to teach that whatever is now but the Scriptures must be fulfilled,' with Matt. 26. 55, 56, I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.' The miracle was not only exhibited on this occasion to Moses, but the power conferred upon him of working it himself, both for the purpose of acquiring credence among the Israel 6 vigorous, vital, and flourishing may at once be withered at the nod of Omnipotence; and again with equal facility restored to its pristine condition. The effect of a leprosy was to banish the subject of it from the abodes of men to solitary seclusion. As far as the miracle had relation to the person of Moses, an emblematic leprosy was upon him when he went out as a shunned and | 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy port, meaning, drift, of the first sign. See Note upon the sense of the word 6 hated fugitive from the palace of Pharaoh, and led his flock over the rough, sandy, and arid places of the Midian' voice,' Gen. 21. 17. The sign is said desert, and among sapless thorns and to have a 'voice,' because it speaks thickets. After passing forty years in that to the eye which words do to the this desolate state, cast out as a with ear. On the contrary, that which is ered branch, without name, without re-addressed to the ear is sometimes reprepute, without power, he suddenly re-sented as if exhibited to the eye; thus covers all he had lost, and comes forth Gal. 3. 1, 'Before whose eyes Jesus as a messenger of God, clothed in all Christ hath been evidently set forth the honors of a divine commission. crucified among you;' i. e. who have With a slight modification, the same heard this fact declared in the preachsign may be considered as shadowing ing of the gospel. The Psalmist probaforth the contrast between the condition bly alludes to the phraseology of the of the Israelites, wasted and worn out text, Ps. 105. 27, They showed his in their bondage, and the state of pros- signs among them.' Heb. 'They showperity and glory to which they were ed the words of his signs.' They were about to be raised as the elect people words spoken to the ear of reason, if of Heaven. This view is sufficient to not of sense. They will believe the show the pertinency of the sign, without voice of the latter sign. This is not requiring us to fix upon any more re- perhaps to be understood as a positive condite import. It was plainly adapted affirmation, for the next verse intimates to teach the general salutary lesson, the possibility that they may require that every thing human stands or falls, still farther evidence. The words apflourishes or fades, according to the pear designed to express the intrinsic good pleasure of God; that it is his adaptedness of the signs to produce beprerogative to weaken and abase the lief, or the effect which might be reasonstout, the hardy, the lofty, and his to ably anticipated from their exhibition. restore the decayed and fallen to life, The circumstance strikingly shows the activity, and vigor.- ¶ Leprous as extent of the divine indulgence. The snow. As snow is not leprous, refer- perverse rejection of the first sign alone ence must be intended to the color of would clearly show them unworthy of the flesh. Accordingly the Chal. has being favored with another. But God correctly, As white as snow.' This multiplies mercies, even when judgwas the worst kind of leprosy, in ments are most richly deserved. He which the body not only assumes the gives sign upon sign, as well as line hue of dead and bloodless flesh, but be- upon line. comes covered with white scales, attended with a most tormenting itch. 8. If they will not hearken to the voice of the first sign. That is, to the im 9. Take of the water of the river. That is, of the river Nile. This, it would appear, was a miracle to be wrought for the confirmation of Moses' calling voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land and fthe water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. f ch. 7. 19. before the Israelites and not before the Egyptians, for in that mentioned, ch. 7. 17, the waters in the river were to be turned into blood, here the water taken out of the river. The sign imported, perhaps, that the time was now at hand when God would judge the Egyptians for the death of the Hebrew infants, whose blood they had shed in the waters. 10. O my Lord, I am not eloquent. Heb. N ish debarim, a man of words. Thus, Job, 11. 2, A man of lips,' i. e. a talkative man; Eng. 'a man full of talk.' Job, 22. 8, Man of arm;' i. e. mighty man. Ps. 140. 11, man of tongue;' i. e. prattler, or, perhaps, slanderer. The Gr. has ook kavos ειμι, I am not sufficient. We cannot but wonder at the backwardness of Moses, although we are forced to admire the fidelity of the historian in thus frankly recording his own incredulity and perverseness. Though it is doubtless true that nothing becomes a man so much as humility, yet diffidence may degenerate into distrust, and carry us into a criminal disobedience of the positive commands of God. He who calls us into the field of action can give us both wisdom and strength to perform the work which he has laid upon us. When Moses expressed his inherent inability to execute the mighty charge, he did well; but when he resisted the appointment, after so many promises and signs, he failed in his duty, and betrayed a spirit of the most culpable unbelief. But even this was borne with. 10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. g ch. 6. 12. Jer. 1. 6. general. See Note on Gen. 31. 2. Some have supposed that Moses labored under a natural defect of utterance, and that he declined the commanded service from an apprehension that the ef fect of his message might be defeated in the delivery of it. He is supposed therefore to intimate in the present passage, that as the infirmity of which he speaks had been of long standing, and as he perceived no alteration in himself for the better in this respect during the present interview, he knew not any reason to think that the difficulty was likely to be obviated; for if at this time, while God was speaking to him, who had power at once to remove all impediment of speech, his defective articulation continued, much more was it likely to continue afterward. But whether his objection was founded upon this, or upon the want of that ready and copious command of language which constitutes the powerful orator, we have not the means of ascertaining. He was soon however taught that he who made the mouth could make it eloquent. Slow of speech and of a slow tongue. Heb. 1737 kebad peh u kebad lashon, heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue. Gr. 'Of a small voice and of a slow tongue.' Chal. Of a heavy speech and of a deep tongue.' As the words are rendered in our translation, it would be difficult, perhaps, to mark the distinction between 'slow of speech,' and of a slow tongue;' but from the the force of the original we gather, that the former is more appropriate to an T Neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken. Heb. 'Since yester-imperfect elocution, occasioned by some day, and since the third day.' A usual defect in the action of the organs of form of speech to intimate time past in speech; the latter, to a want of aptness |