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The supposition that it means “father-in-law” has led to the identification of Jethro with Reuel, which is very unlikely. He was more probably Reuel’s son, and Moses’s brother-in-law. His father having died, he had succeeded to his father’s position, and was at once priest and sheikh of the tribe.<p><span class= "bld">To the backside of the desert.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">behind the desert</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>to the fertile tract which lay behind the sandy plain stretching from the Sinaitic range to the shore of the Elanitic gulf.<p><span class= "bld">The mountain of God</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>Sinai. See <a href="/exodus/18-5.htm" title="And Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:">Exodus 18:5</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/19-2.htm" title="For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.">Exodus 19:2-23</a>, &c.<p><span class= "bld">Even Horeb.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">towards Horeb, </span>or <span class= "ital">Horeb way. </span>Horeb seems to have been the name of the entire mountain region; Sinai of the group or mass known now as Jebel Musa.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-2.htm">Exodus 3:2</a></div><div class="verse">And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush <i>was</i> not consumed.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">The angel of the Lord.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">an angel of Jehovah. </span>In <a href="/exodus/3-4.htm" title="And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.">Exodus 3:4</a> the angel is called both “Jehovah and “Elohim,” whence it is concluded, with reason, that it was the Second Person of the Trinity who appeared to Moses.<p><span class= "bld">Out of the midst of a bush.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">out of the midst of the acacia. </span>As the <span class= "ital">seneh, </span>or acacia, is very common in the Sinaitic region, we can scarcely suppose that a special tree, growing alone, is intended. Probably the article is one of reference, and the meaning is, “the bush of which you have all heard.” (Comp. <a href="/john/3-24.htm" title="For John was not yet cast into prison.">John 3:24</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-3.htm">Exodus 3:3</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">I will now turn aside.</span>—A minute touch, in dicating that Moses is the writer. He remembers that the bush did not grow on the track which he was pursuing, but lay off it, and that he had to “turn aside,” in order to make his inspection.<p><span class= "bld">This great sight.</span>—The phenomenon was strange and unusual—worthy of note, whatever might be the cause.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-4.htm">Exodus 3:4</a></div><div class="verse">And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here <i>am</i> I.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">When the Lord saw . . . God called.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">When Jehovah saw, Elohim called. </span>The German theory of two authors of Exodus, one Jehovistic and the other Elohistic, is completely refuted by this passage; for it is impossible to ascribe one clause of a sentence to one author, and the next to another. If originally the same term had been used in both places, a reviser would not have altered one without altering both.<p><span class= "bld">Moses, Moses.</span>—Comp. <a href="/genesis/26-11.htm" title="And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.">Genesis 26:11</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/3-10.htm" title="And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for your servant hears.">1Samuel 3:10</a>; and <a href="/acts/9-4.htm" title="And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?">Acts 9:4</a>. The repetition marks extreme urgency.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-5.htm">Exodus 3:5</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest <i>is</i> holy ground.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Put off thy shoes.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">thy sandals. </span>It is doubtful whether shoes were known at this early date. They would certainly not have been worn in Midian. Egyptians before the time of Moses, and Orientals generally, in ancient (as in modern) times, removed their sandals (or their shoes) from their feet on entering any place to which respect was due, as a temple, a palace, and even the private house of a great man. It is worthy of notice that God Himself orders this mark of respect to be shown to the place which His Presence has hallowed. On the reverence due to holy places, see the Note on <a href="/context/genesis/28-16.htm" title="And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.">Genesis 28:16-17</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-6.htm">Exodus 3:6</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover he said, I <i>am</i> the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">The God of thy father.</span>—It is generally agreed that “father” is put collectively here for “forefathers.” (Comp. <a href="/genesis/31-42.htm" title="Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely you had sent me away now empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.">Genesis 31:42</a>.) Hence St. Stephen, quoting the passage, renders it, “I am the God of thy fathers” (<a href="/acts/7-32.htm" title="Saying, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold.">Acts 7:32</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The God of Abraham.</span>—Primarily, no doubt, the meaning was, <span class= "ital">the God who was worshipped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; </span>but the form of the expression, “the God of Abraham,” &c., indicated the continued existence of the patriarchs after death, since He can only be the God of existent, and not of nonexistent things. (See <a href="/matthew/22-32.htm" title="I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.">Matthew 22:32</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Moses hid his face, </span>with the same feeling which made Jacob exclaim, “How dreadful is this place” (<a href="/genesis/28-17.htm" title="And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.">Genesis 28:17</a>). Though nothing was to be seen but an appearance as of material fire, the knowledge that God was there rendered the fire awful.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-7.htm">Exodus 3:7</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which <i>are</i> in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;</div>(7) <span class= "bld">The Lord said.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Jehovah said. </span>The “God” of <a href="/exodus/3-6.htm" title="Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look on God.">Exodus 3:6</a> is “Jehovah” here, and again “God” in <a href="/exodus/3-11.htm" title="And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?">Exodus 3:11</a>. (See the Note on <a href="/exodus/3-4.htm" title="And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.">Exodus 3:4</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">I have surely seen.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">seeing I have seen. </span>It is not so much certainty as continued looking that is implied. (Comp. <a href="/exodus/2-25.htm" title="And God looked on the children of Israel, and God had respect to them.">Exodus 2:25</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Taskmasters.</span>—A different word from that similarly translated in <a href="/exodus/1-11.htm" title="Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.">Exodus 1:11</a>, and one that implies cruel usage. It is sometimes rendered “oppressors” (<a href="/zechariah/9-8.htm" title="And I will encamp about my house because of the army, because of him that passes by, and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with my eyes.">Zechariah 9:8</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-8.htm">Exodus 3:8</a></div><div class="verse">And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">I am come down.</span>—By condescension to human infirmity, which conceives of all things under the limitations of time and space, God is spoken of as dwelling ordinarily in heaven, or “the heaven of heavens,” whence sometimes He “comes down” to manifest Himself to men. That this was not understood literally, even by the Jews, appears from such passages as <a href="/1_kings/8-27.htm" title="But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?">1Kings 8:27</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/137-7.htm" title="Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.">Psalm 137:7-9</a>; <a href="/proverbs/15-3.htm" title="The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.">Proverbs 15:3</a>, &c.<p><span class= "bld">A good land and a large.</span>—The land promised to Abraham (<a href="/genesis/15-18.htm" title="In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:">Genesis 15:18</a>) well deserves this description. Besides Philistia, and Palestine on both sides of the Jordan, it included almost the whole of Syria from Galilee on the south, to Amanus, Taurus, and the Euphrates on the north and north-east. This tract of country is 450 miles long, and from sixty to a hundred and twenty miles broad. Its area is not much less than 50,000 square miles. Although some parts are unproductive, it is, on the whole, a region of great fertility, quite capable of forming the seat of a powerful empire.<p><span class= "bld">A land flowing with milk and honey.</span>—This expression, here used for the first time, was already, it is probable, a proverbial one, denoting generally, richness and fertility. (See <a href="/numbers/13-27.htm" title="And they told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.">Numbers 13:27</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The Canaanites. . . . —</span>See the comment on Gen. (<a href="/context/exodus/10-15.htm" title="For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.">Exodus 10:15-17</a>; <a href="/exodus/13-7.htm" title="Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven seen with you in all your quarters.">Exodus 13:7</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-11.htm">Exodus 3:11</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses said unto God, Who <i>am</i> I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Who am I, that I should go?</span>—The men most fit for great missions are apt to deem themselves unfit. When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, his reply was, “O Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child” ( <a href="/jeremiah/1-6.htm" title="Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.">Jeremiah 1:6</a>). St. Ambrose fought hard to escape being made Archbishop of Milan. Augustine was loth to undertake the mission to England. Anselm was with difficulty persuaded to accept the headship of our Church in the evil days of Rufus. The first impression of a fit man selected for a high post generally is, “Who am I?” In Moses’s case, though there were some manifest grounds of fitness—<span class= "ital">e.g., </span>his Egyptian training and learning, his familiarity with the court. his knowledge of both nations and both languages—yet, on the other hand, there were certain very marked (apparent) disqualifications. Forty years of exile, and of a shepherd’s life had at once unfitted him for dealing with a court, and made him a stranger to his brethren. Want of eloquence seemed to be a fatal defect in one who must work mainly by persuasion. Even his age (eighty) might well have seemed to him unsuitable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-12.htm">Exodus 3:12</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this <i>shall be</i> a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Certainly I will be with thee.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">since I will be with thee. </span>An answer addressed not to the thing said, but to the thing meant. Moses meant to urge that he was unfit for the mission. God’s reply is, “Not unfit, <span class= "ital">since </span>I will be with thee.” I will supply all thy defects, make good all thy shortcomings. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”<p><span class= "bld">This shall be a token unto thee.</span>—It is in accordance with the Divine economy to give men "tokens,” which are future, and appeal to faith only, (Comp. <a href="/1_samuel/2-34.htm" title="And this shall be a sign to you, that shall come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.">1Samuel 2:34</a>; <a href="/2_kings/19-27.htm" title="But I know your stayed, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.">2Kings 19:27</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-13.htm">Exodus 3:13</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses said unto God, Behold, <i>when</i> I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What <i>is</i> his name? what shall I say unto them?</div>(13) <span class= "bld">What is his name?</span>—In Egypt, and wherever polytheism prevailed, every god had, as a matter of course, a name. Among the Israelites hitherto God had been known only by titles, as <span class= "ital">El </span>or <span class= "ital">Elohim, </span>“the Lofty One; “<span class= "ital">Shaddai,</span>” the Powerful; “<span class= "ital">Jahveh, </span>or <span class= "ital">Jehovah, “</span>the Existent.” These titles were used with some perception of their meaning; no one of them had as yet passed into a proper name. Moses, imagining that the people might have become so far Egyptianised as to be no longer content with this state of things, asks God by what name he shall speak of Him to them. Who shall he say has appeared to him?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-14.htm">Exodus 3:14</a></div><div class="verse">And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">I AM THAT I AM.</span>—It is generally assumed that this is given to Moses as the full name of God. But perhaps it is rather a deep and mysterious statement of His nature. “I am that which I am.” My nature, i.e., cannot be declared in words, cannot be conceived of by human thought. I exist in such sort that my whole inscrutable nature is implied in my existence. I exist, as nothing else does—necessarily, eternally, really. If I am to give myself a name expressive of my nature, so far as language can be, let me be called “I AM.”<p><span class= "bld">Tell them I AM hath sent me unto you.</span>—I AM, assumed as a name, implies (1) an existence different from all other existence. “I am, and there is none beside me” (<a href="/isaiah/45-6.htm" title="That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.">Isaiah 45:6</a>); (2) an existence out of time, with which time has nothing to do (<a href="/john/8-58.htm" title="Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am.">John 8:58</a>); (3), an existence that is real, all other being shadowy; (4) an independent and unconditioned existence, from which all other is derived, and on which it is dependent.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-15.htm">Exodus 3:15</a></div><div class="verse">And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this <i>is</i> my name for ever, and this <i>is</i> my memorial unto all generations.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">The Lord God of your fathers.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Jehovah, God of your fathers. </span>The “I AM” of the preceding verse (<span class= "ital">‘ehyeh</span>) is modified here into <span class= "ital">Jahveh, </span>or Jehovah, by a substitution of the third person for the first. The meaning of the name remains the same.<p><span class= "bld">This is my name for ever.</span>—Jehovah is the pre. dominant name of God throughout the rest of the Old Testament. (On the meaning of the name see Note on <a href="/genesis/2-4.htm" title="These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,">Genesis 2:4</a>.) Rendered by the LXX. <span class= "greekheb">κύριος</span><span class= "ital">, </span>[“Lord”] the name appears under that form everywhere throughout the Authorised Version printed in capitals. It does not occur in the New Testament, since “Lord” takes its place. An equivalent of the name occurs, however, frequently in the Revelation of St. John, where God appears as “He which is, and which was, and which is to come” (<a href="/revelation/1-4.htm" title="John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;">Revelation 1:4</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-8.htm" title="I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.">Revelation 1:8</a>; <a href="/revelation/4-8.htm" title="And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.">Revelation 4:8</a>; <a href="/revelation/11-17.htm" title="Saying, We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.">Revelation 11:17</a>; <a href="/revelation/16-5.htm" title="And I heard the angel of the waters say, You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because you have judged thus.">Revelation 16:5</a>). Necessary, self-sustained, independent, eternal existence, must always be of his essence.<p><span class= "bld">My memorial</span>—i.e., the designation by which I shall be remembered.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-16.htm">Exodus 3:16</a></div><div class="verse">Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and <i>seen</i> that which is done to you in Egypt:</div>(16) <span class= "bld">The elders of Israel.</span>—Not so much the old men generally, as the rulers—those who bore authority over the rest—men of considerable age, no doubt, for the most part. Rosenmüller reasonably concludes from this direction that the Hebrews, even during the oppression, enjoyed some kind of internal organisation and native government (<span class= "ital">Schol, in Exod. </span>p. 58).<p><span class= "bld">I have surely visited.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Visiting, I have visited. </span>(Comp. <a href="/genesis/1-24.htm" title="And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.">Genesis 1:24</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-17.htm">Exodus 3:17</a></div><div class="verse">And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">I have said.</span>—See <a href="/exodus/3-8.htm" title="And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.">Exodus 3:8</a>. Perhaps there is also a reference to the promise made to Abraham (Gen.XV. 14).<p><span class= "bld">The affliction of Egypt.</span>—Comp. <a href="/genesis/15-13.htm" title="And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;">Genesis 15:13</a> · <a href="/context/exodus/1-11.htm" title="Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.">Exodus 1:11-12</a>; <a href="/exodus/3-7.htm" title="And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;">Exodus 3:7</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-18.htm">Exodus 3:18</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">They shall hearken.</span>—The pronoun “they” refers to “the elders” of <a href="/exodus/3-16.htm" title="Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:">Exodus 3:16</a>. For the fulfilment of the promise, see <a href="/context/exodus/4-29.htm" title="And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:">Exodus 4:29-31</a>. The elders appear to have been persuaded easily, and at once.<p><span class= "bld">Thou and the elders.</span>—We are not told in Exodus 5 that the elders did present themselves before Pharaoh; but it is possible that they may have done so. Or Moses and Aaron, who spoke in their name, and by their authority, may have been regarded as sufficiently representing them.<p><span class= "bld">The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. </span>Pharaoh would readily comprehend this statement. He would quite understand that the Hebrews, being of a different race from the Egyptians, had a God of their own, and that this God would from time to time give intimations to them of His will. Such intimations were supposed to be given to the Egyptian kings occasionally by their gods.<p><span class= "bld">Three days’ journey.</span>—The necessity for withdrawing to so great a distance arose from that remarkable peculiarity in the Egyptian religion, the worship of animals. Cows, or at any rate, white cows, were sacred throughout the whole of Egypt, and to kill them was regarded as a crime of the deepest dye. Sheep were sacred to the inhabitants of one nome or canton, goats to those of another (Herod. ii. 42). Unless the Hebrews retired to a place where there were no Egyptians, they would be unable to perform their sacred rites without danger of disturbance, and even bloodshed. (See below, <a href="/exodus/8-26.htm" title="And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: see, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?">Exodus 8:26</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The wilderness.</span>—“<span class= "ital">The </span>wilderness” to those who dwelt in Goshen was the broad sandy and rocky tract which intervened between Egypt and Palestine—the modern <span class= "ital">El-Tih</span>—a desert reckoned at three days’ journey across (Herod. iii. 5). It is “a vast limestone plateau of irregular surface, projecting wedge-fashion into the peninsula of Sinai, just as Sinai itself projects into the Red Sea. It terminates in a long cliff or encampment, steep and abrupt on the south-western side, gradually falling away towards the south-east.”—(<span class= "ital">Our Work in Palestine, </span>p. 275.)<p><span class= "bld">That we may sacrifice.</span>—It is idle to speculate whether, if Pharaoh had granted the request, the Israelites would have returned to Egypt after sacrificing. God knew that he would not grant it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-19.htm">Exodus 3:19</a></div><div class="verse">And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">I am sure.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">I know, </span>which is more suitable, since it is God who speaks, and to Him the future is known with as absolute a certainty as the past.<p><span class= "bld">No, not by a mighty hand.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">not even under a mighty hand </span>(<span class= "ital">ne quidem valida manu castigatus, </span>Rosenmüller). Pharaoh, even when chastised by My mighty hand, will not voluntarily permit of your departure (see <a href="/context/exodus/14-5.htm" title="And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?">Exodus 14:5-23</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-20.htm">Exodus 3:20</a></div><div class="verse">And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">I will stretch out my hand.</span>—Hands are stretched out to help and save. God promises here more than He had promised before (<a href="/exodus/3-12.htm" title="And he said, Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a token to you, that I have sent you: When you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.">Exodus 3:12</a>). He shows <span class= "ital">how </span>He will “be with” Moses. He will lend him miraculous aid, performing in his behalf “all his wonders,” and with them “smiting the Egyptians.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/3-22.htm">Exodus 3:22</a></div><div class="verse">But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put <i>them</i> upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Every woman shall borrow.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">shall ask </span>(<span class= "greekheb">αἰτήσει</span>, LXX.; <span class= "ital">postulabit, </span>Vulg.). That there was really no pretence of “borrowing,” appears from <a href="/context/exodus/12-33.htm" title="And the Egyptians were urgent on the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.">Exodus 12:33-36</a>, where we find that the “jewels” were not asked for until the very moment of departure, when the Israelites were being “thrust forth,” and the people were urgent on them to be gone, certainly neither expecting nor wishing to see them again. Asking for presents is a common practice in the East, and persons who were quitting their homes to set out on a long journey through a strange country would have abundant excuse, if any had been needed, for soliciting aid from their rich neighbours.<p><span class= "bld">Of her neighbour.</span>—Egyptians were mingled with the Israelites in Goshen, as we see by <a href="/exodus/2-3.htm" title="And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.">Exodus 2:3</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Of her that sojourneth in her house.</span>—Rosenmüller supposes that Egyptians who rented houses which belonged to the Hebrews are intended; but the expression used is more suitable to lodgers or visitors, (Comp. <a href="/job/19-15.htm" title="They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.">Job 19:15</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Upon your sons.</span>—The Egyptian men of the Rameside period wore gold and silver ornaments almost as freely as the women. Their ornaments included armlets, bracelets, anklets, and collars.<p><span class= "bld">Ye shall spoil, </span><span class= "ital">i.e., </span>It shall be as if ye had conquered the Egyptians, and spoiled them. Compare the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 15, 14); and for the fulfilment, see below (<a href="/context/exodus/12-35.htm" title="And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:">Exodus 12:35-36</a>).<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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