1Mosche antwortete, er sprach: Da aber, sie werden mir nicht vertrauen und auf meine Stimme nicht hören, denn sie werden sprechen: Nicht hat ER von dir sich sehen lassen. 2ER sprach zu ihm: Was ist das in deiner Hand? Er sprach: Ein Stab. 3Er aber sprach: Wirf ihn auf die Erde! Er warf ihn auf die Erde, und er wurde zur Schlange, Mosche floh vor ihr. 4ER sprach zu Mosche: Schick deine Hand aus! greif sie am Schwanz! - er schickte seine Hand aus, er packte sie, und sie wurde in seiner Faust zum Stab - 5damit sie vertrauen, daß ER, der Gott ihrer Väter, Gott Abrahams, Gott Jizchaks, Gott Jaakobs, von dir sich hat sehen lassen. 6Weiter sprach ER zu ihm: Lege doch deine Hand in deinen Busen! Er legte seine Hand in seinen Busen, er zog sie hervor, da war seine Hand aussätzig, wie Schnee. 7Er aber sprach: Tu deine Hand wieder in deinen Busen! - Er tat seine Hand wieder in seinen Busen, er zog sie aus seinem Busen hervor, da war sie wieder wie sein Fleisch. - 8Seis denn, daß sie dir nicht vertrauen und auf die Stimme des frühern Zeichens nicht hören, werden sie der Stimme des spätern Zeichens vertrauen. 9Und seis nun, daß sie auch diesen beiden Zeichen nicht vertrauen und auf deine Stimme nicht hören, dann nimmst du von dem Wasser des Flusses und schüttest es auf das Trockne, und dann wird das Wasser, das du aus dem Flusse nahmst, zu Blut wird es auf dem Trocknen. 10Mosche sprach zu IHM: Ach, mein Herr, ich bin nicht ein Mann von Reden, auch vortags auch ehgestern auch nun, seit du zu deinem Knechte redest, sondern ich bin schwer von Mund und schwer von Zunge. 11ER sprach zu ihm: Wer hat einen Mund dem Menschen gemacht oder wer macht stumm oder taub oder klaräugig oder blind? bins nicht ICH? 12Und nun geh! Ich selber werde dasein bei deinem Mund und dich weisen, was du reden sollst. 13Er aber sprach: Ach, mein Herr, schick doch, durch wen du schicken magst! 14SEIN Zorn entflammte wider Mosche, er sprach: Ist da nicht Aharon, dein Bruder, der Lewit - ich weiß, daß er beredt reden wird, und da zieht er schon dir entgegen, sieht er dich, wird er in seinem Herzen sich freuen. 15Rede zu ihm, lege die Rede in seinen Mund! Ich selber werde dasein bei deinem Mund und bei seinem Mund und euch weisen, was ihr tun sollt. 16Er also rede für dich zum Volk, und so seis: er, er sei dir zu einem Mund und du, du seist ihm zu einem Gott. 17Und diesen Stab nimm in deine Hand, mit dem du die Zeichen tun sollst. 18Mosche ging und kehrte zu Jitro seinem Schwäher und sprach zu ihm: Ich will doch gehn und zu meinen Brüdern, die in Ägypten sind, kehren, daß ich sehe, ob sie noch leben. Jitro sprach zu Mosche: Geh in Frieden! 19ER aber hatte zu Mosche in Midjan gesprochen: Geh, kehre nach Ägypten, denn all die Leute, die dir nach dem Leben trachteten, sind gestorben. 20Mosche nahm sein Weib und seine Söhne und ließ sie auf dem Esel reiten, ins Land Ägypten zu kehren. Und den Gottesstab nahm Mosche in seine Hand. 21ER sprach zu Mosche: Da du gehst, nach Ägypten zu kehren, sieh: All die Beglaubigungen, die ich in deine Hand lege, wirst du vor Pharao tun, ich aber werde sein Herz stärken, daß er das Volk nicht freischickt. 22Dann aber wirst du zu Pharao sprechen: So hat ER gesprochen: Mein Erstlingssohn ist Jissrael, 23ich sprach zu dir: Schicke meinen Sohn frei, daß er mir diene, und du hast dich geweigert, ihn freizuschicken. nun bringe ich deinen Erstlingssohn um. 24Aber unterwegs, im Nachtlager, geschah, daß ER auf ihn stieß und trachtete ihn zu töten. 25Zippora nahm einen Kiesel und riß die Vorhaut ihres Sohnes ab, die strich sie an seine Beine und sprach: Im Geblüte Hochzeiter so du mir! 26Alsdann ließ er von ihm. Im Geblüte Hochzeiter hat sie damals gesagt auf die Beschneidungen. 27ER hatte zu Aharon gesprochen: Geh Mosche entgegen in die Wüste! Er ging, stieß auf ihn am Berge Gottes und küßte ihn. 28Mosche meldete Aharon alle SEINE Reden, mit denen er ihn schickte, und all die Zeichen, mit denen er ihn entbot. 29Mosche ging und Aharon, sie luden alle Ältesten der Söhne Jissraels, 30Aharon redete alle die Reden, die ER zu Mosche geredet hatte, er tat die Zeichen vor den Augen des Volks. 31Das Volk vertraute. Sie hörten, daß ER zugeordnet hatte den Söhnen Jissraels, daß er angesehen hatte ihre Bedrückung, sie bückten sich und warfen sich nieder.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 MIRACULOUS CHANGE OF THE ROD, &c. (Exo. 4:1-31)
But, behold--Hebrew, "If," "perhaps," "they will not believe me."--What evidence can I produce of my divine mission? There was still a want of full confidence, not in the character and divine power of his employer, but in His presence and power always accompanying him. He insinuated that his communication might be rejected and he himself treated as an impostor.
2 the Lord said, . . . What is that in thine hand?--The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses.
A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
6 Put now thine hand into thy bosom--the open part of his outer robe, worn about the girdle.
9 take of the water of the river--Nile. Those miracles, two of which were wrought then, and the third to be performed on his arrival in Goshen, were at first designed to encourage him as satisfactory proofs of his divine mission, and to be repeated for the special confirmation of his embassy before the Israelites.
10 I am not eloquent--It is supposed that Moses labored under a natural defect of utterance or had a difficulty in the free and fluent expression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, which he had long disused. This new objection was also overruled, but still Moses, who foresaw the manifold difficulties of the undertaking, was anxious to be freed from the responsibility.
14 the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses--The Divine Being is not subject to ebullitions of passion; but His displeasure was manifested by transferring the honor of the priesthood, which would otherwise have been bestowed on Moses, to Aaron, who was from this time destined to be the head of the house of Levi (
1Chr 23:13). Marvellous had been His condescension and patience in dealing with Moses; and now every remaining scruple was removed by the unexpected and welcome intelligence that his brother Aaron was to be his colleague. God knew from the beginning what Moses would do, but He reserves this motive to the last as the strongest to rouse his languid heart, and Moses now fully and cordially complied with the call. If we are surprised at his backwardness amidst all the signs and promises that were given him, we must admire his candor and honesty in recording it.
18 Moses . . . returned to Jethro--Being in his service, it was right to obtain his consent, but Moses evinced piety, humility, and prudence, in not divulging the special object of his journey.
19 all the men are dead which sought thy life--The death of the Egyptian monarch took place in the four hundred and twenty-ninth year of the Hebrew sojourn in that land, and that event, according to the law of Egypt, took off his proscription of Moses, if it had been publicly issued.
20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass--Septuagint, "asses." Those animals are not now used in the desert of Sinai except by the Arabs for short distances.
returned--entered on his journey towards Egypt.
he took the rod of God--so called from its being appropriated to His service, and because whatever miracles it might be employed in performing would be wrought not by its inherent properties, but by a divine power following on its use. (Compare
Acts 3:12).
24 inn--Hebrew, "a halting place for the night."
the Lord met him, and sought to kill him--that is, he was either overwhelmed with mental distress or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous malady. The narrative is obscure, but the meaning seems to be, that, led during his illness to a strict self-examination, he was deeply pained and grieved at the thought of having, to please his wife, postponed or neglected the circumcision of one of his sons, probably the younger. To dishonor that sign and seal of the covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as a merited chastisement for his sinful omission. Concerned for her husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of aversion to the painful rite, performs herself, by means of one of the sharp flints with which that part of the desert abounds, an operation which her husband, on whom the duty devolved, was unable to do, and having brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed in the painful excitement of her feelings that from love to him she had risked the life of her child [CALVIN, BULLINGER, ROSENMULLER].
26 So he let him go--Moses recovered; but the remembrance of this critical period in his life would stimulate the Hebrew legislator to enforce a faithful attention to the rite of circumcision when it was established as a divine ordinance in Israel, and made their peculiar distinction as a people.
27 Aaron met him in the mount of God, and kissed him--After a separation of forty years, their meeting would be mutually happy. Similar are the salutations of Arab friends when they meet in the desert still; conspicuous is the kiss on each side of the head.
29 Moses and Aaron went--towards Egypt, Zipporah and her sons having been sent back. (Compare
Exod 18:2).
gathered . . . all the elders--Aaron was spokesman, and Moses performed the appointed miracles--through which "the people" (that is, the elders) believed (
1Kgs 17:24;
Josh 3:2) and received the joyful tidings of the errand on which Moses had come with devout thanksgiving. Formerly they had slighted the message and rejected the messenger. Formerly Moses had gone in his own strength; now he goes leaning on God, and strong only through faith in Him who had sent him. Israel also had been taught a useful lesson, and it was good for both that they had been afflicted.