Exodus 4:17-23 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 4:10-17

Moses still continues backward to the service for which God had designed him, even to a fault; for now we can no longer impute it to his humility and modesty, but must own that here was too much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief in it. Observe here, I. How Moses endeavours to excuse himself from the work. 1. He pleads that he was no good spokesman: O my Lord! I am not eloquent, Exod. 4:10. He was a great philosopher, statesman, and divine, and yet no orator; a man of a clear head, great... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 4:18-23

Here, I. Moses obtains leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt, Exod. 4:18. His father-in-law had been kind to him when he was a stranger, and therefore he would not be so uncivil as to leave his family, nor so unjust as to leave his service, without giving him notice. Note, The honour of being admitted into communion with God, and of being employed for him, does not exempt us from the duties of our relations and callings in this world. Moses said nothing to his father-in-law (for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:17

And thou shall take this rod in thine hand ,.... Which he then had in his hand, and was no other than his shepherd's staff: wherewith thou shall do signs : wondrous things, meaning the ten plagues inflicted on Egypt. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:18

And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law ,.... With his flock of sheep he kept, Exodus 3:1 , and said unto him: let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brethren which are in Egypt ; the Israelites, who were so by nation and religion; as Jethro had been kind and beneficent to him, he did not choose to leave him without his knowledge and consent, and especially to take away his wife and children without it: and see whether they be yet alive ; it seems by this that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:19

And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian ,.... After he had obtained leave of his father-in-law to quit Midian, but before he left it: go, return into Egypt : that is, directly, immediately; before he had only given him a commission at large to go thither, but had not fixed the time when he should go; but now he orders him to set forward at once: for all the men are dead which sought thy life ; to take it away, the king of Egypt, and his ministers, and the friends of the Egyptian Moses... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:20

And Moses took his wife, and his sons ,.... Gershom and Eliezer; by which it appears that he intended to stay in Egypt, and that he believed that God would work deliverance by him: and set them upon an ass : which though with us a mean creature, yet in those times and countries were rode upon by great personages; and these, as Aben Ezra says, were reckoned in Egypt more honourable than mules. It may be the singular is put for the plural, and that each of them was set upon an ass, with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:21

And the Lord said unto Moses ,.... At the same time he appeared to him in Midian, and ordered him to go into Egypt, even before his departure thither: when thou goest to return into Egypt ; and when got thither; for before the thing directed to in the next clause could not be done: see that thou do all these wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand ; not the three signs or wonders, related in the preceding part of the chapter, for they were to be done not before Pharaoh,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:22

And thou shall say unto Pharaoh ,.... When arrived in Egypt, and in his presence: thus saith the Lord ; he was to declare to him that he came in his name, and by his orders, and, as an ambassador of his, required the dismission of the children of Israel out of Egypt: Israel is my son, even my firstborn ; as dear to him as a man's firstborn is, or as his only son: adoption is one of the privileges peculiar to Israel after the flesh, even national adoption, with all the external... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:23

And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me ,.... Worship God according to his will in the place he had designed for him, and where he might be safe and free; and which service was due from him as a son, and to be performed not in a servile way, but in a filial manner, and therefore as a servant he could demand his dismission, and much more as his son; and this is required in an authoritative way, for saying is here commanding, insisting on it as a point of right to be done: ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 4:17

Thou shalt take this rod - From the story of Moses's rod the heathens have invented the fables of the thyrsus of Bacchus, and the caduceus of Mercury. Cicero reckons five Bacchuses, one of which, according to Orpheus, was born of the river Nile; but, according to the common opinion, he was born on the banks of that river. Bacchus is expressly said to have been exposed on the river Nile, hence he is called Nilus, both by Diodorus and Macrobius; and in the hymns of Orpheus he is named Myses,... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 4:10-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 4:18-23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 4:23

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 4:17

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