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Exodus 3:1
New English Translation
Exodus 3:1
New English Translation
3 Now Moses[a] was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert[b] and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.[c]
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- Exodus 3:1 sn The vav (ו) disjunctive with the name “Moses” introduces a new and important starting point. The Lord’s dealing with Moses will fill the next two chapters.
- Exodus 3:1 tn Or “west of the desert,” taking אַחַר (ʾakhar, “behind”) as the opposite of עַל־פְּנֵי (ʿal pene, “on the face of, east of”; cf. Gen 16:12; 25:18).
- Exodus 3:1 sn “Horeb” is another name for Mount Sinai. There is a good deal of foreshadowing in this verse, for later Moses would shepherd the people of Israel and lead them to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.
Exodus 4:18
New English Translation
Exodus 4:18
New English Translation
The Return of Moses
18 [a] So Moses went back[b] to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return[c] to my relatives[d] in Egypt and see[e] if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
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- Exodus 4:18 sn This last section of the chapter reports Moses’ compliance with the commission. It has four parts: the decision to return (18-20), the instruction (21-23), the confrontation with Yahweh (24-26), and the presentation with Aaron (27-31).
- Exodus 4:18 tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys, the second verb becoming adverbial in the translation: “and he went and he returned” becomes “and he went back.”
- Exodus 4:18 tn There is a sequence here with the two cohortative forms: אֵלְכָה נָּא וְאָשׁוּבָה (ʾelekhah nnaʾ veʾashuva)—“let me go in order that I may return.”
- Exodus 4:18 tn Heb “brothers.”
- Exodus 4:18 tn This verb is parallel to the preceding cohortative and so also expresses purpose: “let me go that I may return…and that I may see.”
Exodus 18:1-2
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Exodus 18:1-2
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,
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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 18:5-6
New English Translation
Exodus 18:5-6
New English Translation
5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’[a] sons and his wife, came to Moses in the wilderness where he was camping by[b] the mountain of God.[c] 6 He said[d] 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 18:5 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….’”
Exodus 18:12
New English Translation
Exodus 18:12
New English Translation
12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought[a] a burnt offering and sacrifices for God,[b] and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food[c] with the father-in-law of Moses before God.
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- Exodus 18:12 tn The verb is “and he took” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). It must have the sense of getting the animals for the sacrifice. The Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate have “offered.” But Cody argues because of the precise wording in the text Jethro did not offer the sacrifices but received them (A. Cody, “Exodus 18, 12: Jethro Accepts a Covenant with the Israelites,” Bib 49 [1968]: 159-61).
- Exodus 18:12 sn Jethro brought offerings as if he were the one who had been delivered. The “burnt offering” is singular, to honor God first. The other sacrifices were intended for the invited guests to eat (a forerunner of the peace offering). See B. Jacob, Exodus, 498.
- Exodus 18:12 tn The word לֶחֶם (lekhem) here means the sacrifice and all the foods that were offered with it. The eating before God was part of covenantal ritual, for it signified that they were in communion with the Deity, and with one another.
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