Exo 2:15-16, 18, 3:1, 4:20, 24, 18:5 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 15. Pharaoh-sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh ] How can this be reconciled with : By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king ? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and the Israelites' final departure from it, and of the bold and courageous manner in which Moses treated Pharaoh and the Egyptians, disregarding his threatenings and the multitudes of them that pursued after the people whom, in the name and strength of God, he led in the face of their enemies out of Egypt. Dwelt in the land of Midian ] A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petraea, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro . Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs . It is supposed that the Midianites derived their origin from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, thus:-Abraham, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan and Midian, Raguel, Jethro; see . But Calmet contends that if Jethro had been of the family of Abraham, either by Jokshan , or Midian , Aaron and Miriam could not have reproached Moses with marrying a Cushite , Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel. He thinks therefore that the Midianites were of the progeny of Cush , the son of Ham ; see .

‏ Exodus 2:15-16

Verse 15. Pharaoh-sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh] How can this be reconciled with Heb 11:27: By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and the Israelites' final departure from it, and of the bold and courageous manner in which Moses treated Pharaoh and the Egyptians, disregarding his threatenings and the multitudes of them that pursued after the people whom, in the name and strength of God, he led in the face of their enemies out of Egypt.

Dwelt in the land of Midian] A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petraea, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro. Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs. It is supposed that the Midianites derived their origin from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, thus:-Abraham, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan and Midian, Raguel, Jethro; see Ge 25:1. But Calmet contends that if Jethro had been of the family of Abraham, either by Jokshan, or Midian, Aaron and Miriam could not have reproached Moses with marrying a Cushite, Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel. He thinks therefore that the Midianites were of the progeny of Cush, the son of Ham; see Ge 10:6.

Verse 16. The priest of Midian] Or prince, or both; for the original cohen has both meanings. See it explained at large, See Clarke on Ge 15:18. The transaction here very nearly resembles that mentioned Gen. xxix. concerning Jacob and Rachel; see the notes there.

‏ Exodus 2:18

Verse 18. Reuel, their father] In Nu 10:29 this person is called Raguel, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the ain in is sometimes used merely as vowel, sometimes as g, ng, and gn, and this is occasioned by the difficulty of the sound, which scarcely any European organs can enunciate. As pronounced by the Arabs it strongly resembles the first effort made by the throat in gargling, or as Meninski says, Est vox vituli matrem vocantis, "It is like the sound made by a calf in seeking its dam." Raguel is the worst method of pronouncing it; Re-u-el, the first syllable strongly accented, is nearer to the true sound. A proper uniformity in pronouncing the same word wherever it may occur, either in the Old or New Testament, is greatly to be desired. The person in question appears to have several names. Here he is called Reuel; in Nu 10:29, Raguel; in Ex 3:1, Jethor; in Jud 4:11, Hobab; and in Jud 1:16 he is called Keyni, which in Jud 4:11. we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; See Clarke on Ex 3:1.

‏ Exodus 3:1

CHAPTER III

Moses keeping the flock of Jethro at Mount Horeb, the angel of the Lord appears to him in a burning bush, 1, 2.

Astonished at the sight, he turns aside to examine it, 3,

when God speaks to him out of the fire, and declares himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 4-6;

announces his purpose of delivering the Israelites from their oppression, and of bringing them into the promised land, 7-9;

commissions him to go to Pharaoh, and to be leader of the children of Israel from Egypt, 10.

Moses excuses himself, 11;

and God, to encourage him, promises him his protection, 12.

Moses doubts whether the Israelites will credit him, 13,

and God reveals to him his NAME, and informs him what he is to say to the people, 14-17,

and instructs him and the elders of Israel to apply unto Pharaoh for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord, 18;

foretells the obstinacy of the Egyptian king, and the miracles which he himself should work in the sight of the Egyptians, 19, 20;

and promises that, on the departure of the Israelites, the Egyptians should be induced to furnish them with all necessaries for their journey, 21, 22.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse 1. Jethro his father-in-law] Concerning Jethro, See Clarke on Ex 2:18. Learned men are not agreed on the signification of the word chothen, which we translate father-in-law, and which in Ge 19:14, we translate son-in-law. It seems to be a general term for a relative by marriage, and the connection only in which it stands can determine its precise meaning. It is very possible that Reuel was now dead, it being forty years since Moses came to Midian; that Jethro was his son, and had succeeded him in his office of prince and priest of Midian; that Zipporah was the sister of Jethro; and that consequently the word chothen should be translated brother-in-law in this place: as we learn from Ge 34:9; De 7:3; Jos 23:12, and other places, that it simply signifies to contract affinity by marriage. If this conjecture be right, we may well suppose that, Reuel being dead, Moses was continued by his brother-in-law Jethro in the same employment he had under his father.

Mountain of God] Sometimes named Horeb, at other times Sinai. The mountain itself had two peaks; one was called Horeb, the other Sinai. Horeb was probably the primitive name of the mountain, which was afterwards called the mountain of God, because God appeared upon it to Moses; and Mount Sinai, , from seneh, a bush, because it was in a bush or bramble, in a flame of fire, that this appearance was made.

‏ Exodus 4:20

Verse 20. His wife and his sons] Both Gershom and Eliezer, though the birth of the latter has not yet been mentioned in the Hebrew text. See Clarke on Ex 2:22.

Set them upon an ass] The Septuagint reads the word in the plural, εκιταυποζυγια, upon asses, as it certainly required more than one to carry Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer.

The rod of God] The sign of sovereign power, by which he was to perform all his miracles; once the badge of his shepherd's office, and now that by which he is to feed, rule, and protect his people Israel.

‏ Exodus 4:24

Verse 24. By the way in the inn] See Clarke on Ge 42:27. The account in this and the following verse is very obscure. Some suppose that the 23d verse is not a part of the message to Pharaoh, but was spoken by the Lord to Moses; and that the whole may be thus paraphrased: "And I have said unto thee, (Moses,) Send forth shallach, my son, (Gershom, by circumcising him,) that he may serve me, (which he cannot do till entered into the covenant by circumcision,) but thou hast refused to send him forth; behold, (therefore,) I will slay thy son, thy first-born. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, (when he was on his journey to Egypt,) that Jehovah met him, and sought (threatened) to kill him (Gershom.) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut away the foreskin of her son, and caused it to touch his feet, (Jehovah's, who probably appeared in a bodily shape; the Septuagint call him the Angel of the Lord,) and said unto him, A spouse by blood art thou unto me. Then he (Jehovah) ceased from him (Gershom.) Then she said, A spouse by blood art thou unto me, because of this circumcision." That is, I who am an alien have entered as fully into covenant with thee by doing this act, as my son has on whom this act has been performed.

The meaning of the whole passage seems to be this:-The son of Moses, Gershom or Eliezer, (for it does not appear which,) had not been circumcised, though it would seem that God had ordered the father to do it; but as he had neglected this, therefore Jehovah was about to have slain the child, because not in covenant with him by circumcision, and thus he intended to have punished the disobedience of the father by the natural death of his son. Zipporah, getting acquainted with the nature of the case and the danger to which her first-born was exposed, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son. By this act the displeasure of the Lord was turned aside, and Zipporah considered herself as now allied to God because of this circumcision. According to the law, (Ge 17:14,) the uncircumcised child was to be cut off from his people, so that there should be no inheritance for that branch of the family in Israel. Moses therefore, for neglecting to circumcise the child, exposed him to this cutting off, and it was but barely prevented by the prompt obedience of Zipporah. As circumcision was the seal of that justification by faith which comes through Christ, Moses by neglecting it gave a very bad example, and God was about to proceed against him with that severity which the law required.

The sharp stone mentioned Ex 4:25 was probably a knife made of flint, for such were anciently used, even where knives of metal might be had, for every kind of operation about the human body, such as embowelling for the purpose of embalming, circumcision, &c. Ancient authors are full of proofs of these facts. See Clarke on Ge 50:2.

It is probable that Zipporah, being alarmed by this circumstance, and fearing worse evils, took the resolution to return to her father's house with her two sons. See Ex 18:1, &c.

‏ Exodus 18:5

Verse 5. Jethro-came with his sons] There are several reasons to induce us to believe that the fact related here is out of its due chronological order, and that Jethro did not come to Moses till the beginning of the second year of the exodus, (see Nu 10:11,) some time after the tabernacle had been erected, and the Hebrew commonwealth established, both in things civil and ecclesiastical. This opinion is founded on the following reasons:-

1. On this verse, where it is said that Jethro came to Moses while he was encamped at the mount of God. Now it appears, from Ex 19:1, 2, that they were not yet come to Horeb, the mount of God, and that they did not arrive there till the third month after their departure from Egypt; and the transactions with which this account is connected certainly took place in the second month; see Ex 16:1.

2. Moses, in De 1:6, 9, 10, 12-15, relates that when they were about to depart from Horeb, which was on the 20th day of the second month of the second year from their leaving Egypt, that he then complained that he was not able to bear the burden alone of the government of a people so numerous; and that it was at that time that he established judges and captains over thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens, which appears to be the very transaction recorded in this place; the measure itself being recommended by Jethro, and done in consequence of his advice.

3. From Nu 10:11, 29, &c., we find that when the cloud was taken up, and the Israelites were about to depart from Horeb, that Moses addressed Hobab, who is supposed to have been the same as Jethro, and who then was about to return to Midian, his own country, entreating him to stay with them as a guide while they travelled through the wilderness. It therefore seems necessary that the transaction recorded in this chapter should be inserted Num. x. between the 10th and 11th verses. Nu 10:10-11.

4. It has been remarked, that shortly after they had departed from Sinai the dispute took place between Miriam, Aaron, and Moses, concerning the AEthiopian woman Zipporah whom he had married, (see Nu 12:1, &c.;) and this is supposed to have taken place shortly after she had been brought back by Jethro.

5. In the discourse between Moses and Jethro, mentioned in this chapter, we find that Moses speaks of the statutes and laws of the Lord as things already revealed and acknowledged, which necessarily implies that these laws had already been given, (Ex 18:16,) which we know did not take place till several months after the transactions mentioned in the preceding chapters.

6. Jethro offers burnt-offerings and sacrifices to God apparently in that way in which they were commanded in the law. Now the law respecting burnt-offerings was not given till after the transactions mentioned here, unless we refer this chapter to a time posterior to that in which it appears in this place. See Clarke on Ex 18:12.

From all these reasons, but particularly from the two first and the two last, it seems most likely that this chapter stands out of its due chronological order, and therefore I have adjusted the chronology in the margin to the time in which, from the reasons above alleged, I suppose these transactions to have taken place; but the matter is not of much importance, and the reader is at liberty to follow the common opinion. As Moses had in the preceding chapter related the war with Amalek and the curse under which they were laid, he may be supposed to have introduced here the account concerning Jethro the Midianite, to show that he was free from that curse, although the Midianites and the Kenites, the family of Jethro, were as one people, dwelling with the Amalekites. See Jud 1:16; 1Ch 2:55; 1Sa 15:6. For although the Kenites were some of those people whose lands God had promised to the descendants of Abraham, (see Ge 15:18, 19,) yet, in consideration of Jethro, the relative of Moses, all of them who submitted to the Hebrews were suffered to live in their own country; the rest are supposed to have taken refuge among the Edomites and Amalekites. See Calmet, Locke, &c.