1Ug si Moises mitubag ug miingon: Apan ania karon, sila dili motoo kanako, dili usab magapatalinghug sa akong tingog, kay magaingon sila: Wala magpakita kanimo si Jehova. 2Ug si Jehova miingon: Unsa ba kana nga anaa sa imong kamot? Ug siya mitubag: Usa ka sungkod. 3Ug siya miingon kaniya: Ibalibag kana sa yuta. Ug iyang gibalibag sa yuta, ug kadto nahimo nga usa ka bitin: ug si Moises milikay gikan niini. 4Unya miingon si Jehova kang Moises: Tuy-ora ang imong kamot ug kupti siya sa ikog (ug iyang gituy-od ang iyang kamot, ug gikuptan niya kini, ug kini nahimong sungkod sa iyang kamot); 5Aron motoo sila nga nagpakita kanimo si Jehova, ang Dios sa ilang mga ginikanan, ang Dios ni Abraham, ang Dios ni Isaac, ug ang Dios ni Jacob. 6Ug si Jehova miingon pa gayud kaniya: Isulod karon sa imong dughan ang imong kamot. Ug gisulod niya ang iyang kamot sa iyang dughan, ug sa iyang gikuha kini, ania karon, ang iyang kamot gisanla ug naputi ingon sa niebe. 7Ug miingon siya: Ibalik mo sa pagsulod ang imong kamot sa imong dughan. (Ug iyang gibalik sa pagsulod ang iyang kamot sa iyang dughan; ug sa gikuha niya kini gikan sa iyang dughan, ania karon, naulian ingon sa iyang lain nga unod.) 8Ug kini mahitabo nga kong sila dili motoo kanimo, ni mamati sa tingog sa una nga ilhanan, sila motoo sa tingog sa ulahi nga ilhanan. 9Ug kini mahitabo nga kong sila dili pa gayud motoo niining duha ka mga ilhanan, ni magapatalinghug sa imong tingog, kumuha ka sa mga tubig sa suba, ug ibubo mo sa mamala nga yuta; ug ang tubig nga pagakuhaon mo sa suba mahimo nga dugo sa ibabaw sa mamala nga yuta. 10Ug si Moises miingon kang Jehova: Ginoo! dili ako ang tawo nga madanihong mosulti bisan hangtud karon, bisan sukad nga ikaw misulti sa imong ulipon; kay ako mahinay nga mamulong ug yongit sa dila. 11Ug si Jehova mitubag kaniya: Kinsa man diay ang nagbuhat sa baba sa tawo? kun kinsa ba ang nagbuhat sa tawo nga mama, kun bungol, kun sa makakita, kun sa buta? Dili ba ako man, si Jehova? 12Busa karon lumakaw ka, kay ako magauban sa imong baba, ug magatudlo kanimo kong unsa ang imong igasulti. 13Unya siya miingon: Oh Ginoo! ipadala, nagaampo ako kanimo, pinaagi sa iyang kamot sa imong pagasugoon. 14Ug si Jehova nasuko batok kang Moises, ug miingon siya: Wala ba diha ang imong igsoon nga lalake nga si Aaron nga Levihanon? Nahibalo ako nga siya makasulti ug maayo. Ug usab, ania karon, siya moanhi sa pagsugat kanimo, ug kong siya makakita kanimo mahinangop siya sa iyang kasingkasing. 15Ug ikaw magasulti kaniya, ug magabutang sa mga pulong sa iyang baba ug ako magauban sa imong baba, ug sa iyang baba, ug ako magatudlo kaninyo sa inyong pagabuhaton. 16Ug siya mahimo nga imong magsusulti alang kanimo sa atubangan sa katawohan; ug mahitabo nga siya magasilbi nga imong baba, ug ikaw mahimo kaniya ingon sa Dios. 17Ug ikaw magabitbit niining sungkod sa imong kamot, nga uban niini magabuhat ka ug mga ilhanan. 18Ug si Moises milakaw ug mipauli ngadto kang Jetro nga iyang ugangan, ug miingon kaniya: Palakta ako, nagaampo ako kanimo, ug papaulia ako ngadto sa akong mga igsoon nga atua sa Egipto, ug motan-aw ako kong mga buhi pa ba sila. Ug si Jetro miingon kang Moises: Lumakaw ka sa pakigdait. 19Ug si Jehova miingon kang Moises didto sa Median: Lumakaw ka, pumauli ngadto sa Egipto, kay nangamatay na ang tanan nga mga nanagtinguha sa imong kinabuhi. 20Unya gikuha ni Moises ang iyang asawa ug ang iyang mga anak nga lalake, ug gipakabayo sila sa usa ka asno, ug mipauli siya sa yuta sa Egipto: ug gibitbit ni Moises ang sungkod sa Dios sa iyang kamot. 21Ug si Jehova miingon kang Moises: Sa paghibalik mo sa Egipto, tan-awa nga buhaton mo sa atubangan ni Faraon ang tanan nga kahibulongan nga gibutang ko sa imong kamot: apan ako magapagahi sa iyang kasingkasing, ug siya dili motugot sa pagpalakaw sa katawohan. 22Ug magaingon ka kang Faraon: Si Jehova nag-ingon niini: Ang Israel akong anak nga lalake, ang akong panganay. 23Ug ako nag-ingon kanimo: Tugotan mo sa paglakaw ang akong anak, aron siya mag-alagad kanako; ug ikaw nagdumili sa pagpalakaw kaniya: ania aron, pagapatyon ko ang imong anak nga lalake, ang imong panganay. 24Ug nahatabo didto sa dalan sa usa ka balay nga abutanan nga migula si Jehova nga misugat kaniya, ug buot mopatay kaniya. 25Unya si Sephora mikuha ug usa ka mahait nga santik, ug giputol niya ang panit sa iyang anak nga lalake, ug gisalibay kini sa tiilan ni Moises nga nagaingon: Sa pagkamatuod ikaw mao ang usa ko ka bana sa dugo. 26Tungod niini inyong gitugotan siya sa pagpalakaw. Ug si Sephora miingon: Ikaw mao ang bana sa dugo tungod sa circuncicion. 27Ug si Jehova miingon kang Aaron: Umadto ka sa kamingawan sa pagsugat kang Moises. Ug siya miadto ug misugat kaniya sa bukid sa Dios ug mihalok kaniya. 28Ug si Moises misugilon kang Aaron sa tanan nga mga pulong ni Jehova nga tungod niini gisugo siya, ug sa tanan nga mga ilhanan nga tungod niini gitugyanan siya. 29Ug ming-adto si Moises ug si Aaron, ug nanagtigum sa tanan nga mga anciano sa mga anak sa Israel: 30Ug misulti si Aaron sa tanan nga mga pulong nga gisulti ni Jehova kang Moises, ug mibuhat ug mga ilhanan sa atubangan sa mga mata sa katawohan. 31Ug ang katawohan mitoo: ug sa pagkadungog nila nga si Jehova midu-aw sa mga anak sa Israel, ug nga nakita niya ang ilang kalisdanan, unya giduko ang ulo ug misimba sila.
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.