Exodus 4:9

_AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ALSO THESE TWO SIGNS, NEITHER HEARKEN UNTO THY VOICE, THAT THOU SHALT TAKE OF THE WATER OF THE RIVER, AND POUR IT UPON THE DRY LAND: AND THE WATER WHICH THOU TAKEST OUT OF THE RIVER SHALL BECOME BLOOD UPON THE DRY LAND._ Take ... water ... out of the river - Nile. Those miracles, two of which were performed then, and the third was to be performed on his arrival in Goshen, were at first designed to encourage himself as satisfactory proofs of his divine mission, and to be repeated for the special confirmation of his embassy before the Israelites. The impression they were calculated to make upon the beholders is well described by Dr. Pearson ('On the Creed,' Art. 1):-`They who saw in Moses' hand God's omnipotency, could not suspect in his tongue God's veracity, insomuch that when Aaron became to Moses instead of a mouth, and Moses to Aar...

1-9 Moses objects, that the people would not take his word, unless he showed them some sign. God gives him power to work miracles. But those who are now employed to deliver God's messages to men, need not the power to work miracles: their character and their doctrines are to be tried by that word of God to which they appeal. These miracles especially referred to the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belonged to Him only, to cast the power of the devil out of the soul, and to heal the soul of the leprosy of sin; and so it was for Him first to cast the devil out of the body, and to heal the leprosy of the body....

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 IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ALSO THESE TWO SIGNS,.... Performed before their eyes; for these were done over again when Moses came into Egypt to the Israelites, and yet some of them might still remain unbelievers to his commission, and so to the voice of these signs, which loudly called for their faith: NEITHER HEARKEN UNTO THY VOICE; affirming he came from God, and was sent to be the deliverer of them: THAT THOU SHALT TAKE OF THE WATER OF THE RIVER; of the river Nile, when he should come into Egypt; wherefore Josephus q is mistaken when he intimates that this was done at the same time with the other signs; and was water he took near at hand and poured on the ground: but Philo r truly refers this to Egypt, where it was done, as it ought to be: AND POUR [IT] UPON THE DRY LAND, AND THE WATER WHICH THOU TAKEST OUT OF THE RIVER SHALL BECOME BLOOD UPON THE DRY LAND;...

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 4:1 J (following Exodus 3:18). MOSES'S THIRD DIFFICULTY Israel's unbelief. To overcome it, he is enabled to authenticate his mission by three signs the rod that became a serpent and again a rod (Exodus 4:2), the leprosy of his hand that came and went (Exodus 4:6), and the turning of water into blood (Exodus 4:9). The first is in P a sign to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8), and the third is in E and P the first plague ...

THESE TWO SIGNS. See note on Exodus 7:17....

Exodus 3:1 TO EXODUS 4:17. Moses commissioned by Jehovah at Horeb to deliver His people. The dialogue between Jehovah and Moses, as in other cases (cf. Delitzsch on Genesis 12:1), must be pictured, not as one audible externally, but as giving expression, in _words_which are naturally those of the narrators, to Moses" mental communings with God, through which he was gradually taught by Him that, in spite of the difficulties which he saw before him, he was nevertheless to be His appointed agent for accomplishing Israel's deliverance (cf. the dialogue in Jeremiah 14-15). See further, on the sense in which God is to be understood as -speaking" to a man, the Introduction, p. xlvii f....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 4 And Mo-ses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Je-ho-vah hath not appeared unto thee. (2) And Je-ho-vah said unto him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod. (3) And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Mo-ses fled from before it. (4) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail (and he put forth is hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand); (5) that they may believe that Je-ho-vah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of I-saac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. (6) And Je-ho-vah said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. (7)...

SIGNS ATTESTING THE COMMISSION OF MOSES. HIS RETURN TO EGYPT Moses still hesitates, and now objects that the péople will not believe him when he tells them that Jehovah has sent him. He is granted the power of working three signs by way of substantiating his commission....