Exodus 4:10

_AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD, O MY LORD, I AM NOT ELOQUENT, NEITHER HERETOFORE, NOR SINCE THOU HAST SPOKEN UNTO THY SERVANT: BUT I AM SLOW OF SPEECH, AND OF A SLOW TONGUE._ I am not eloquent. It is supposed that Moses laboured 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. Verse 14. THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED. The Divine Being is not subject to ebullitions of passion; but His displeasure was manifested by transferring the honour 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 ...

10._O my Lord. _Moses catches at every word of escape, so as to force himself from the task imposed on him, not that he desires to refuse the command, but because he trembles at its importance. It is this distrust of his own powers which makes him so hesitating and timid. The remedy was obvious, that he should assure himself, since he well knew that he was undertaking nothing rashly, that God, whose command he obeyed, would supply him with ample strength. In this, then, lay the fault, that he did not cast all his cares on God, and, setting aside his own weakness, hope against hope, like Abraham, who “considered not his own body now dead; neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb; being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:18.) It was an act of modesty in him to reflect on the defect which he mentioned, if he had but asked for s

10-17 Moses continued backward to the work God designed him for; there was much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief in him. We must not judge of men by the readiness of their discourse. A great deal of wisdom and true worth may be with a slow tongue. God sometimes makes choice of those as his messengers, who have the least of the advantages of art or nature, that his grace in them may appear the more glorious. Christ's disciples were no orators, till the Holy Spirit made them such. God condescends to answer the excuse of Moses. Even self-diffidence, when it hinders us from duty, or clogs us in duty, is very displeasing to the Lord. But while we blame Moses for shrinking from this dangerous service, let us ask our own hearts if we are not neglecting duties more easy, and less perilous. The tongue of Aaron, with the head and heart of Moses, would make one completely fit for this erra...

Verse Exodus 4:10. _I AM NOT ELOQUENT_] לא איש דברים _lo ish debarim, I am_ _not a man of words_; a periphrasis common in the Scriptures. So Job 11:2, איש שפתים ish sephathayim, a man of lips, signifies one that is _talkative_. Psalms 140:11, איש לשון ish lashon, a _man of tongue_, signifies a _prattler_. But how could it be said that Moses was _not eloquent_, when St. Stephen asserts, Acts 7:22, that he was _mighty in words_ as well as in _deeds_? There are _three_ ways of solving this difficulty: 1. Moses might have had some natural infirmity, of a late standing, which at that time rendered it i

ELOQUENT - See the margin. The double expression “slow of speech (Ezekiel 3:5 margin) and of a slow tongue” seems to imply a difficulty both in finding words and in giving them utterance, a very natural result of so long a period of a shepherd’s life, passed in a foreign land. SINCE THOU HAST SPOKEN - This expression seems to imply that some short time had intervened between this address and the first communication of the divine purpose to Moses....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 4:1 The reluctance of Moses to undertake the part of leader, indicated by his first reply at his first calling, "Who am I that I should go?" etc. (Exodus 3:11), was not yet overcome. God had promised that he would succeed; but he did not see how he could succeed, either with the people or with Pharaoh. It was not enough for him that God had declared, "They (the people) shall hearken unto thy voice" (Exodus 3:18); he does not, cannot believe this, and replies: "Behold, they will not believe, neither hearken unto my voice" (Exodus 4:1). This was plain want of faith; but

AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD,.... Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered: I AM NOT ELOQUENT; or "a man of words" s, that has words at command, that can speak well readily, and gracefully; such an one, he intimates, was proper to be sent to a king's court, that was an orator, that could make fine speeches, and handsome addresses, for which he was not qualified: NEITHER HERETOFORE, NOR SINCE THOU HAST SPOKEN TO THY SERVANT; neither in his younger years had he ever been an eloquent man, nor was there any alteration in him in that respect, since God had given him this call: BUT I [AM] SLOW OF SPEECH, AND OF A SLOW TONGUE; had some impediment in his speech, could not freely and easily bring out his words, or rightly...

CHAPTER 4:1-28 MOSES' OBJECTIONS, JEHOVAH'S ANSWER AND THE RETURN TO EGYPT _ 1. The first objection (Exodus 4:1)_ 2. The two signs and Jehovah's assurance (Exodus 4:2) 3. The second objection (Exodus 4:10) 4. Jehovah's answer (Exodus 4:11) 5. Moses' request (Exodus 4:13) 6. Jehovah's anger and answer (Exodus 4:14) 7. The command to return to Egypt (Exodus 4:18

EXODUS 4:10 J. MOSES'S FOURTH DIFFICULTY slowness of speech. This is met by a promise of prophetic inspiration, the fulfilment of which not only Deuteronomy 34:10, but the whole representation of J, endorses. It is followed here by a further exhibition of unreadiness, which evokes Yahweh's wrath. The association of Aaron with Moses has been compared to Deborah's co-operation with Barak. But since Aaron may only say what Moses tells him, this arrangement is no very clear mark of Divine anger. Moreover, in J, Moses habitually acts and speaks alone, and not by the mouth of Aaron, except in Exodus 4:29 f.*, which obviously follows this passage. Perhaps, therefore, the reference to Aaron has been inserted by a somewh

MY LORD. Should be "Jehovah". One of the 134 places where "Jehovah" in the Primitive Text was altered to "Adonai". App-32. NOT ELOQUENT. Hebrew "not. man of words "(Hebrew. _'ish._ App-14.) Supposed to contradict Acts 7:22, but eloquence is no necessary part of "wisdom". With "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" he had not the wisdom needed for his work. The latter had to be learned at "the backside of the desert". SLOW. But "mighty". Compare Acts 7:22....