Exodus 4, Preparation

YHWH has appeared to Moses in the desert.  He has an assignment for Moses.  Moses raised two objections to YHWH's plan in the previous chapter; more objections are coming.

Exodus 4:1-5, Moses is timid

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, `The LORD did not appear to you'?"

    

Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" 

    

"A staff," he replied.

    

The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." 

    

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

    

Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." 

    

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

    

"This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you."

YHWH demonstrates his control over nature by performing a supernatural trick.  The serpent is significant in the culture of Egypt and appears in myriads of Egyptian artwork of that age. Many of the images are of a cobra. 

Exodus 4:6-9, One more sign

Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." 

    

So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

    

"Now put it back into your cloak," he said. 

    

So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

    

Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

Moses is given three signs, one of a serpent, one of a skin disease (translated "leprous" here) and finally a river turned to blood.

(In verse 6, the Hebrew word translated here as "leprous" was used for various diseases affecting the skin. It need not indicate modern leprosy.)

Exodus 4:10-12, "But I am not eloquent!"

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

    

The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Now God does not appear to be quite as “human” – he reminds Moses that He is the Creator. Creator of all things. Moses should not worry the Creator about the mouth He gave Moses!

Exodus 4:13-17, Desperation

But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

    

Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

    

But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

The debate is coming to an end.  YHWH has already anticipated Moses's objection and has Aaron on his way.

Exodus 4:18-23, Moses to return to Egypt

Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive." 

    

Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."

    

Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

    

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

    

The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, `This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"

Moses clearly sees himself as part of the Hebrew people.

YHWH's instructions include the eventual death of the first-born son and, eventually, the Passover (Pesach.) The statement about the death of the firstborn prepares us for the event that follows.

Exodus 4:24-26, Circumcision of Moses's son

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it."Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said.

    

So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

This is a strange passage!  Moses must circumcise his (firstborn) son. This description is both brutal and, in the text, confusing and unmotivated. A Hebrew pronoun "him" in verses 24 and 25 is translated as "Moses" but it is possible that in one or both incidences, it refers to Moses's son. If it is the son of Moses, not Moses, that is threatened, then we see a need for the protection of Moses's firstborn. 

Imes, in her class on Exodus, also suggests the word "foot" is sometimes a Hebrew euphemism for penis.  Replacing the word "feet" by "penis" seems to fit better in this context, for it is possible that by circumcising her son, Zipporah is putting herself, and her son, under the Covenant. (See this note on feet and erotica in the Bible.) The Midianite, Zipporah, by saying "you are a bridegroom of blood to me", is saying, "This bloody circumcision makes you and your son parts of the covenant -- and I am also part of that covenant since you are my husband."

Imes argues that this entire chapter is a tightly constructed literary unit, preparing Moses and his family for the confrontations to occur in the next chapters.

Exodus 4:27-31, Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt

The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." 

    

So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

    

Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Moses communicates both the words and the miraculous signs given him. The Israelites are awed, and enthusiastic – at the moment.  They worship the God of their forefathers.

This sequence, first seeing signs and then worshiping, will recur later in various ways, including in the New Testament.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is nachash,

נָחָשׁ

a masculine noun, translated "serpent". That word first appears in Genesis 3:1-5 describing the creature that tempted Adam and Eve.

Some Random Thoughts

The nachash is one of three Hebrew words (the other two being tannin תַּנִּין, leviathan לִוְיָתָן) that, in places, represents the "chaos dragon." The serpent that appears in this chapter might remind one both of the temptation in Genesis 3 and also prepare one for the coming confrontation with the empire of Egypt, represented by the cobra. The Bible Project has a number of videos on the Chaos Dragon. Here is a short summary video of their study.

In Egyptian mythology, the deity Apophis was a snake that represented the underworld. 

A drawing of Apep, from the tomb of Rameses I, found at Wikipedia here.

Apophis (or Apep) was "the Lord of Chaos" and in Egyptian mythology was opposed by the sun god, Ra. Recall, from Genesis 41:45, that Joseph's father-in-law was a priest Potiphera, whose name meant"he whom Ra has given." As Joseph's father-in-law opposed this serpent deity, YHWH will use the serpent/staff to display His power over Egypt.

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First published March 4, 2023; updated March 4, 2026

Exodus 3, A Bush That Does Not Burn

Moses is an exile in Midian, having fled from the previous pharaoh. Back in Egypt, the Israelites continue to plead to God to rescue them from the oppression of the Egyptians.

Exodus 3:1-6, A burning bush

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the LORD appeared to him flames of fire from within a bush.  Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight -- why the bush does not burn up."  

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses!  Moses!"

    

And Moses said, "Here I am."

    

"Do not come any closer," God said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."  

    

At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

A strange site in the desert -- a bush (or tree) on fire. And the bush continues to burn, without being consumed.  YHWH has previously appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, confirming a covenant with them and their descendants. Suddenly, after a break of several centuries, He appears to Moses in the desert and identifies Himself as the same God.

Imes, in her class on Exodus, notes an Eastern Orthodox tradition of equating the burning bush with Mary, the mother of Jesus, for Mary too possessed the image of God within her womb, but was not consumed. I include, below, a mural from an Eastern Orthodox church in Greenville, South Carolina, painted by Seraphim O'Keefe.

The mother of Jesus painted as a burning bush

In this chapter Moses' father-in-law is named Jethro. He is named Reuel in the previous chapter. The "mountain of God" is called Horeb; it is probably the same as Mount Sinai of Exodus 19:1-2.

Exodu 3:7-10, Go to Pharaoh!

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 

So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Notice how “human” God is, in a way. He listens, reacts to cries that reach him. Although the Israelites have been oppressed for some time, only recently do we hear of their cries to YHWH and now Moses will be part of YHWH's response.

Alter identifies "milk and honey", with goats milk and "a sweet syrup extracted from dates." He suggests that the phrase is a pair of synecdoches representing good herds and successful crops.  Thus a land overflowing with milk and honey is a land with large flocks and bountiful harvests.

Exodus 3:11-14, Moses argues

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

    

And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

    

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

    

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'"

Moses, despite his strong sense of justice, does not want this assignment! He echoes the questions others have asked, "Who am I?" (that is, who is Moses?)

(NIV footnotes: In verse 12, the Hebrew in "you will worship" is plural -- in the future many more than just Moses will worship YHWH on the mountain at Horeb. In verse 14, God's name might be translated "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.")

Moses has an identity crisis -- YHWH does not. YHWH's answer is almost a trivial, "I AM" the only One that matters, the only One who created all things. He will give a similar answer to Job in Job 38-39. culminating in Job 40:2, when the answer (essentially) to the existence of suffering and evil is "'I AM' beyond you, beyond anything you can conceive."

Exodus 3:15-18, The conflict to come

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD,  the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

    

"Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey.'

    

"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.'

   

YHWH identifies Himself to both Moses and the Hebrews as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the significance of the Genesis story already told -- it explains the covenant setting that prepares the people of Israel for a return to their own land.

(NIV footnote; In verse 15 the Hebrew for LORD may be derived from the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14.  I will use YHWH or YaHWeH to represent the name given by the four Hebrew consonants in that name.)

Exodus 3:19-22, The conflict to come 

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

But Pharaoh will resist. YHWH describes what will happen next.

These answers will not satisfy Moses, who has various objections.... We look at his objections in the next chapter.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is hayah,

הָיָה

the verb "to be", appearing more than 3500 times in the Old Testament. In the first person singular this becomes ehyeh  (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה). YHWH's answer to Moses, in the Hebrew of verse 14 is ehyeh asher ehyeh, (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה), I am who I am or I will be who I will be. (There is no distinction in the Hebrew between present tense and future tense.) In verse 15 the name is explicitly given as YHWH/Yahweh (יְהוָֹה). Alter (p. 321) suggests that this name comes from “the causative or Hiph’il form” of hayah.

Some Random Thoughts

Let's look at the Name that God gives Himself. The phrase "I am who I am," carries primality and distinction. He is "The One" and there is no other. He will be Whoever He chooses to be. There is a good Wikipedia article on this phrase. In Exodus 6:2-5, we will learn that in this statement God is revealing more about himself than he did to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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First published March 3, 2023; updated March 3, 2026

Exodus 2, A Savior is Born

The tribe of Israel has grown dramatically in several centuries in Egypt and is now perceived as a threat by an Egyptian king who has been oppressing them. As the oppression grows, God prepares a savior.

Exodus 2:1-4, Birth of Moses
Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.  But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.  Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

What does it mean, “he was a fine child”?  (Surely she will protect her child like any mother!) Imes argues that there is an echo of "it is good" from Genesis 1.

Notice how we have shortened time. Moses is not the first child of this couple. Moses has a brother, Aaron, older by three years (Exodus 7:7.) He also has an older sister, a girl old enough to stand nearby and watch the basket amongst the reeds. Later (Exodus 15:20) a sister will be identified as Miriam.

The reeds will show up again, as the Israelites later cross a sea of reeds.

Exodus 2:5-7, Rescue
Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank.  She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it.  She opened it and saw the baby.  He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.  "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.   

Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"

A shrewd question.  The question "May I go?" will be one of several questions that echo throughout this book.

Exodus 2:8-10, A nurse is found

"Yes, go," she answered.  

And the girl went and got the baby's mother.  

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you,"  so the woman took the baby and nurse him.  

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son.  She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

Note the beautiful irony, an example of God's sovereignty: the frightened mother of a three-month-old boy will be paid by the Pharaoh's daughter to nurse her son!  (It must have been very scary to the young Hebrew mother -- who, by the way, had at least one more son: Aaron.)

The Hebrew name Moses (Mosheh, משֶׁה) has the same consonants as mashah (מָשָׁה), a verb meaning "to draw out". Moses was drawn out of the reeds; later he will "draw out" the people of Israel.  Dr. Carmen Imes says that the word also sounds like the Egyptian word "son of".  One can see versions of the syllables "moses" or "meses" in the names of pharaohs such as Rameses II. Imes suggests that we will see Moses challenged as to his identity -- of whom is he a son?

Exodus 2:11-14, Murder and discovery

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor.  He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.  Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting.  He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"

The man said, "Who made you rule and judge over us?  Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?"  Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known." 

We move quickly from childhood to adulthood and then to murder. Moses displays a strong sense of justice but is challenged -- who are you? Is he an elite arrogant Egyptian? Or a humble, oppressed Israelite? The question "Who are you?" will be asked of Moses many times. He may not always know the answer.

Exodus 2:15-17, Exile in Midian

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.  Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.  Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

Moses's sense of justice shows up again, as he defends the women.

An ancient cultural theme appears here (points out Dr. Imes): a well in the desert is a good place to meet a future spouse!

Exodus 2:18-22, Welcomed to the house of Reuel

When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"  

  

They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds.  He even drew water for us and watered the flock."

        

"And where is he?" he asked his daughters.  "Why did you leave him?  Invite him to have something to eat."

    

Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."

The name Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for "an alien there". The name Zipporah is very close to the name Shiprah, the name of one of the midwives of chapter 1.  Imes says that the names are close enough that they are identical in the Septuagint (much like one might confuse Mary and Maria in my culture.)

Exodus 2: 23-25, God hears the cries of the Israelites

During that long period, the king of Egypt died.  The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

This is the first time we hear of the people of Israel crying out. God “remembers” his covenant and hear the groaning of the Israelites.  Earlier we see God rewarding the midwives with their own families. God is clearly active and responding to humans. (But from a human viewpoint, the timing can seem long and torturous.)

Some Hebrew vocabulary

The Hebrew word translated "basket" in verse 5, above, is tebah,

תֵּבָה

a feminine noun meaning "box." It is the same word used for "ark" in Genesis 6.  This Hebrew word only appears in two places in the Old Testament, once to describe the box that Noah builds to survive the flood, the other time here for the box that saves Moses. (See this article on "ark".)

Some Random Thoughts

There is considerable wordplay in this chapter, even possibly some foreshadowing. The savior of the future nation of Israel will be protected from the Nile waters by an ark, just as Noah was saved by an ark from the waters in Genesis 6-8. Moses (whose Hebrew name means "draw out") will be drawn out of the reeds along the Nile, just as later he will draw out the people of Israel across the Sea of Reeds. Even the Egyptian meaning of the name Moses ("son of") raises questions. To whom is Moses committed? Is he a son of a pharaoh? Or is he a Hebrew?

First published March 2, 2023; updated March 2, 2026

The Ancient Near East

The five books of Moses come out of a time and culture far different from ours. Over 3500 years ago, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, ... and Moses, lived in a culture now called the Ancient Near East (ANE.) The culture of the ANE flows throughout the background of the Old Testament. An understanding of that culture is important for interpreting the Old Testament.

The Ancient Near East

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers (mentioned in Genesis 2!) flow out of mountains in eastern Turkey, through modern Syria and Iraq, and into the Persian Gulf. The region between the rivers (Mesopotamia) had fertile soil that promoted early agriculture, possibly as far back at 12,000 years ago. The Neolithic Revolution apparently began there, as humans moved from a predominantly hunter-gatherer society to one based on agriculture. This region was home to some of the most ancient civilizations.

As one moves west of Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent forms an arc that moves through ancient Canaan  (with the Jordan River) to Egypt. This region was home to ancient peoples who spoke a semitic language of which Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic are examples. An ancient language of which we have cuneiform writings was Arkkadian, spoken in ancient Babylon.

As humanity moved from a hunter-gatherer society to one based on agriculture, we see a transition from wandering bedouins with their flocks to people settling down on the land. We can see some of that throughout the story of Genesis. Abraham is a wanderer. His descendants settle Canaan.

A Patriarchal Society

The ANE was intensely patriarchal. This was driven by basic survival needs. In order to survive and produce future generations, a man accumulated flocks and crops. And women and children. Women looked to a powerful man as a protecter and a provider, and so often rich men had numerous wives and concubines, and therefore many children, who themselves would grow up to have many children and provide the important work with the flocks and in the fields. The Old Testament writings swim in the ocean of this culture. It is a grave error to read the Old Testament passages as endorsing the ANE culture. The Old Testament, written in an ancient language within an ancient culture, should not be seen as endorsing either the language or the culture. (We will say more about this as we get into the wilderness wanderings and the Mosaic Covenant.)

The Bronze Age

Sometime around 3500 BC, humans realized that in their kilns they could get copper and tin hot enough to melt and so they could create hard, durable alloys we now call bronze. The Bronze Age allowed better building materials and stronger weapons. The people of Sumer were one of the first societies to develop bronze. Abraham came out of the Sumerian city of Ur during the Bronze Age.

Egypt

One of the most ancient empires was just west of the western end of the fertile crescent, where the Nile River flowed into the Mediterranean. There the civilizations of the Nile valley coalesced into the Egyptian Empire around 3100 BC, at the merging of two civilizations called "Upper Egypt" and "Lower Egypt." (The terms "upper" and "lower", like everything Egyptian, describe the regions in relation to the Nile river. Lower Egypt was further down the Nile, at its delta, as it entered the sea.) The Egyptian empire lasted, with occasional interruptions, throughout the Bronze Age. This society relied on accurate predictions of Nile flooding and developed significant mathematics and astronomy.

The "interruptions" in the Egyptian dynasties, caused by invasions of other peoples, allow us to break up the Egyptian empire into three eras, the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. The famous pyramids were built in the time of the Old Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom ended around 1650 with the conquest by the Hyksos. Joseph and his family likely arrived in Egypt around this time. The Exodus dates to a time later in the New Kingdom, which began around 1550 BC.

Can we find evidence of the Israelites in Egypt?  Apparently the closest known association occurs in the Merneptah Stele which may deal with the Israelites at a time when they are already in Canaan.

We now know, through extensive archaeology, a great deal about the Egyptian empire. For most of my understanding of these ancient civilizations, I lean on Wikipedia, relying on its robust internal conversations to ensure a certain level of accuracy. Other resources are this history.com site and an Encyclopedia Britannica site.  Timelines for the Egyptian civilizations are given here and here. A list of the Pharaohs, and the dates of their reigns, is given here.  

The Iron Age

Around 1200 BC, humans had improved their kilns. Using forced air, they developed kilns powerful enough to forge iron. Over the next few centuries, the Bronze Age collapsed and the Iron Age began. We can see the slow change from Bronze Age to Iron Age at various events in the Old Testament. King Sisera (see Judges 4) is feared because he had 900 chariots "fitted with iron."  The ability to build hot forges was a sign of power. In the reign of Saul, the Philistines could forge iron but the Israelites could not. (See 1 Samuel 13:19-22.) Later King Nebuchadnezzar had a fiery furnace in Daniel 3 and used it as a weapon!

Aware of the Iron Age and the difficulties of forging iron, one should be alert for the mention of iron in the Old Testament.

Some sources on the collapse of the Bronze Age are from Wikipedia here and the Biblical Archaeology Society, here.  See also this article on the fall of the Hittite Empire.

Recommended

A number of Christian scholars have recommended this book: Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, by John Walton. I do not, at this time, have a copy of this book, but I have enjoyed Walton's commentary on Genesis.

First published March 5, 2023; updated March 1, 2026

Exodus 1, Oppression in Egypt

The book of Genesis ends with the descendants of Israel residing in Egypt.  This is to be a temporary stay; the descendants are to one day return to Canaan.  We continue that story here.

Exodus 1:1-5, Sons of Israel
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:  Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;  Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;  Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.  The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 

We have a brief review of the end of Genesis.

Exodus 1:6-11, The Israelites multiply

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,  but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

Echoing Genesis 1:26-28, we have a "fruitful" family becoming a large tribe, until the land teems with them.

Exodus 1:8-11, A new king is worried
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.  "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.  Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."  

    

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

A new king is afraid. Fear breeds disaster, eventually. This king will act rashly and eventually his descendant, another Pharaoh, will be foolish and self-destructive.

Dr. Carmen Imes see here echoes of Genesis 11:1-9, of the arrogance of the builders of the Tower of Babel.  And "Joseph" is the same word as "added to".  

This passage assumes the reader has read Genesis.

There are some similar Hebrew words, miskenoth (מִסְכְּנָה) vs mishkan (מִשְׁכָּן). The first means "store cities" for the Pharaoh cult while the second word is used for the later "tabernacle" for YHWH. 

Exodus 1:12-14, Despite oppression, the Israelites continue to multiply!
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds or work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

The king's oppression is not successful; the Israelites continue to grow and multiply.

Exodus 1:15-17, "Kill the boys!"

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live."

    

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 

Imes notes a collection of feminine endings in Hebrew, emphasizing the action of women.  She also points out that although this king is never named, the midwives are. Naming denotes significance. (Here's a Bible trivia question for you:  "Name the two Hebrew midwives of Moses' day"!)

Exodus 1:18-21,  New orders from Pharaoh
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live? 
    

The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."  So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the mid-wives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 

    

The midwives claim that the pregnant Hebrew women deliver too quickly for the midwives to intervene!

Are there only two midwives for such a large populous? Note the delivery stool; they probably gave birth squatting on a stool. with gravity helping to deliver the baby.

The two midwives will be part of a group of five women that quietly, actively, resist the king.

Exodus 1:22,  New orders from Pharaoh

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

Note the degree of savagery in verses 15 and 22. The frightened king is willing to murder children.

Why kill the boys?  This is presumably to prevent the Israelites from having an army? And the girls will be assimilated into the Egyptian culture?

What was the root of Pharaoh's fear? The Hebrews were large enough to be a security threat.  If their monotheism was prevalent, this would have been contrary to the Egyptian religion. And maybe there was always a concern that they might return to Canaan and so remove a large slave labor force.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is eben, 

אֶבֶן

a feminine noun meaning "stone." This word shows up 273 times in the Old Testament. It has a rare dual, oben (אֹבֶן), meaning "a pair of stones." That word only shows up twice in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 18:3, it represents a potter's wheel. But here, in verse 16, the women giving birth sit on this pair of stones and so the NIV translates the word as "delivery stool."

Some Random Thoughts

Given current American culture, I cannot miss the similarities between this chapter and the fearmongering of the "Great Replacement Theory.," in which panicky Youtube podcasters warn white Americans that their race is being overwhelmed by refugees and immigrants. In this chapter, Pharaoh cries out "those Hebrews will become too numerous for us!"

In ancient Egypt it was women and mothers who quietly disobeyed the Pharaoh and saved lives. In the modern city of Minneapolis, in early 2026, the cruelty and violence of masked ICE officers was met by Signal Moms, mothers who quietly and patiently worked behind the scenes to protect families sheltering in place. I have had the privilege of meeting several of those women, modern versions of Shiphrah and Puah. In many cases, the moms were organized by Christian churches, using the Signal app for secure communication. May God bless them as He did Shiphrah and Puah!

First published March 1, 2023; updated Feb 28, 2026

Genesis 50, Funeral for Israel

Jacob has just died. After spending his final 17 years in Egypt, he blessed his sons and asked that his body be returned to Canaan. He then died quietly of old age.

Genesis 50:1-3, Egyptians mourn for Jacob

Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Joseph and the Egyptians follow Egyptian culture in the funeral services for Jacob. (Joseph has been immersed in the Egyptian culture for most of his life.)

Genesis 50:4-9, Funeral caravan to Canaan
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, "If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, `My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"

    

Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."

    

So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him--the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt-- besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.

We see here considerable prestige and honor given to Joseph's father. Many notable Egyptians will accompany Joseph and his brothers to Canaan to intern the body of Jacob. In the next book the Egyptian will represent the epitome of evil. But here, the Egyptians are good and supportive.

Genesis 50:10-13, Burial near Mamre
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father.

    

When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning." That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. 

    

So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them: They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.

In verse 11, the Hebrew word ay'-bel (ebel ,אֵבֶל) means "mourning" but abel (אָבֵל) means meadow; note the slight change in vowel pointing. "Mizraim" means "Egyptians" so Abel Mizraim either means "mourning of the Egyptians" or "meadow of the Egyptians." (The ancient texts only gave consonants, without vowel pointing, so we look to later texts, such as the Masoretic, to attempt to translate some words.)

Genesis 50:14-18, The brothers worry
After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

    

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: `This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." 

    

When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

    

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.

The brothers connive to protect themselves. (In doing so, they clearly admit that their actions were "sins and wrongs.") Do the brothers have a good reason for their concern?  After all, Joseph did seem to enjoy testing (torturing?) them when they first arrived in Egypt.

Genesis 50:19-21, Joseph forgives
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph emphasizes that they are forgiven -- that this is all for good.

Walton argues that verse 20 is the theme of Genesis -- that throughout the book, God had a good plan (a Covenant Plan) that took decades, indeed centuries in development.

Genesis 50:22-26, Death of Joseph
Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees.

     

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place." 

    

So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Placing a child on one's knees was probably a ritualistic way to symbolize adoption.

Joseph, like his fathers before him, looked to the covenant promise of the land of Canaan.  He wishes that his body eventually be taken back to that land.

So ends the book of Genesis.  The book of Exodus will follow the descendants of Jacob, centuries later, as the tribe grows into a million or more.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is muth,

מוּת

a verb meaniing "to die." Used with various verbs stems, the word can also mean "to cause someone to die" or "to be caused to die."

Some Random Thoughts

Walton argues that verse 20, 

"... but God intended it for good 

to accomplish what is now being done, 

the saving of many lives,"

is the theme of Genesis. Joseph endured decades of suffering in order to bring the family of Jacob to safety in Egypt. God had a plan, but it a long one, taking decades to come to fulfillment.

In modern Christian culture, there are claims that 

"God loves you and offers a wonderful pan for your life," 

(see "Law 1" here) but that promise often comes with a suggestion that this good plan happens quickly, maybe even immediately! A favorite Bible verse in this regard is Jeremiah 29:11, 

"I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, 

“plans to prosper you ..., 

plans to give you hope and a future."

In their reciting of Jeremiah 29:11, people often ignore the context of Jeremiah, that God's plans for Judah are to bring the people back from Babylon seventy years later! Similarly, we often resist the pain of reading the book of Job because Job's suffering lasts for considerable time, despite his innocence. 

In the book of Genesis, throughout the book, God announces a good plan (a Covenant Plan) that will take decades, indeed centuries in develop and come to fruition.

First published Feb 28, 2023; updated Feb 27, 2026

Genesis 49, Twelve Blessings

Jacob is dying.  So he gathers his children for some final words. 

This chapter has the form of an ancient poem (says Alter) and some of the Hebrew words were probably antiquated even in the time of Moses. Both commentators, Alter and Walton, explain that some Hebrew words are unclear or unknown to modern translators.

Genesis 49:1-2, Jacob calls his sons
Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

Jacob has some final words for each of his twelve sons. These will be blessings; these are the wishes and expectations of Jacob, some of which were apparently unfulfilled. Although Jacob claims to explain "what will happen ... in the days to come", we have no obligation to believe Jacob was correct.

Genesis 49:3-4, Jacob speaks to Reuben

"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

Reuben, Jacob's first child, slept with one of his father's concubines, with a member of Jacob's harem.  This is not forgotten. This violation is viewed as evidence of Reuben's chaotic, undisciplined power.

Genesis 49:5-7, Jacob speaks to Simeon and Levi
"Simeon and Levi are brothers-- their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

Simeon and Levi, who massacred the inhabitants of Shechem (see Genesis 34:24-29) are men of violence. Jacob will not join in with them in their violence and cruelty.

In verse five, the meaning of the Hebrew translated "swords" is uncertain, as are the words translated here "hamstrung oxen". Both Walton and Alter see allusions to the massacre in Shechem. Walton suggests that the Hebrew mekerah, translated "swords" could also mean "to cut" and thus refers to the circumcision of the male of Shechem. Alter suggests that the phrase hamstrung oxen" alludes, metaphorically, to Simeon and Levi massacring the men of Shechem, after forcing them to be circumcised.

The words aimed at the three oldest sons are accusatory; they are curses, not blessings.

The descendants of Levi will indeed be "scattered" and "dispersed" as they will later serve as the priests, spread throughout the future nation of Israel (eg. Deuteronomy 10:9.)

Genesis 49:8-12, Jacob speaks to Judah
"Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness--who dares to rouse him?

    

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

After the criticisms of the oldest three sons, Jacob has praise for Judah. Judah will be a strong leader, a lion. Is a birthright passed on to Judah, after the criticisms of his older three brothers? 

As described in Genesis 29:35, when Leah gives birth to Judah, she identifies his name with the Hebrew word "praise." Jacob reinforces that identification.

In verse 10 the phrase translated "he comes to whom it belongs" is another questionable collection of words.  The NIV suggests it might be phrased as "until Shiloh comes" or "until he comes to whom tribute belongs."  Alter and Walton have similar suggestions on the translation. Alter says that the Masoretic text "seems to read 'until he comes to Shiloh,' a dark phrase that has inspired much messianic interpretations."  As Shiloh was occasionally viewed as a Messianic title, Christians might wonder if this is an allusion to the Messiah rising from the line of Judah. 

Genesis 49:13, Jacob speaks to Zebulun
"Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.

The tribe of Zebulun will be along the sea? When Canaan is divided late in the book of Joshua, the region of Zebulun is not coastal and there is no evidence that the tribe of Zebulun will have access to the sea. In this case, Jacob's blessing is not a prediction of the future.

Genesis 49:14-15, Jacob speaks to Issachar
"Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

NIV footnotes: "rawboned" might mean "strong"; "saddlebags" might be "campfires". Some suggest that the first sentence describes a valley between two hills. (The only thing clear here is how little we know about these blessings of Jacob and this ancient Hebrew!)

Genesis 49:16-18, Jacob speaks to Daniel
"Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

    

"I look for your deliverance, O LORD.

(NIV footnote: Dan here means "he provides justice".) The tribe of Daniel is to emphasize justice. The image of a serpent need not be negative; a serpent is quick and aggressive.

Genesis 49:19-21, Jacob speaks to Gad, Asher, Naphtali
"Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.

     

"Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

     

"Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

From the NIV footnotes: In verse 19 Gad can mean "attack" and "band of raiders". In verse 21 the phrase "bears beautiful fawns" could be "utters beautiful words". Either translation describe some type of beauty.

There is considerable alliteration in the Hebrew that describes the blessing on Gad. The Hebrew of verse 19 has four words which begin with the g (gimel, ג) of Gad:  

"gāḏ gə-ḏūḏ yə-ḡū-ḏen-nū; ... yā-ḡuḏ" (גָּ֖ד גְּד֣וּד יְגוּדֶ֑נּוּ ... יָגֻ֥ד)

which translated -- with an attempt at English alliteration suggested by Strong's Concordance -- is 

"Gad, a troop shall trample... shall triumph."

Genesis 49:22-26, Jacob speaks to Joseph
"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.

    

"Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

The blessing for Joseph continues to have strange archaic Hebrew words, say commentators. The tribe of Joseph will be fruitful and steady, protected by YHWH, consistent with the integrity Joseph has demonstrated so far. Success is identified with fruitful growth and many children. In this growth, the blessing "of the breast and womb" is certainly critical, offering a counter-balance to the patriarchal emphasis on fathers and sons!

The blessing on Joseph has a stream of names for God: Mighty One, Shepherd, Rock, Jacob's God, the Almighty.

Genesis 49:27, Jacob speaks to Benjamin
"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder."

The final child is a wolf!?

Genesis 49:28-33, Jacob dies
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him. 

    

Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.  The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites."

    

When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

The narrator now identifies these sons with the future tribes of Israel.

Jacob wants his body buried in the same region as his ancestors and Leah. He is only a sojourner, a pilgrim, in Egypt.  His body belongs in the Promised Land of Abraham and Isaac.

Jacob's words form an ancient piece of Hebrew poetry, criticizing the three oldest sons, blessing the rest, then finally seeking the return of his body to the Covenant Land.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is am,

 עַם

a masculine noun meaning "people." It occurs almost 2000 times in the Old Testament. Here, in verse 33, we see Jacob "gathered to his people", joining his ancestors in the grave.

Some Random Thoughts

Once again we have the ancient phrase "gathered to his people", indicating, presumably, joining one's ancestors in the grave, in Sheol. We have, at this point in the Old Testament, no description of an afterlife.

First published Feb 27, 2023; updated Feb 26, 2026