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Selected Verse: Exodus 4:1 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ex 4:1	Strong Concordance	And Moses [04872] answered [06030] and said [0559], But, behold, they will not believe [0539] me, nor hearken [08085] unto my voice [06963]: for they will say [0559], The LORD [03068] hath not appeared [07200] unto thee.
	King James	And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
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.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

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.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
With this chapter begins the series of miracles which resulted in the deliverance of Israel. The first miracle was performed to remove the first obstacle, namely, the reluctance of Moses, conscious of his own weakness, and of the enormous power with which he would have to contend.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Moses now started a fresh difficulty: the Israelites would not believe that Jehovah had appeared to him. There was so far a reason for this difficulty, that from the time of Jacob-an interval, therefore, of 430 years - God had never appeared to any Israelite. God therefore removed it by giving him three signs by which he might attest his divine mission to his people. These three signs were intended indeed for the Israelites, to convince them of the reality of the appearance of Jehovah to Moses; at the same time, as even Ephraem Syrus observed, they also served to strengthen Moses' faith, and dissipate his fears as to the result of his mission. For it was apparent enough that Moses did not possess true and entire confidence in God, from the fact that he still raised this difficulty, and distrusted the divine assurance, "They will hearken to thy voice," Exo 3:18). And finally, these signs were intended for Pharaoh, as is stated in Exo 4:21; and to him the אתות (σημεῖα) were to become מפתים (τέρατα). By these signs Moses was installed as the servant of Jehovah (Exo 14:31), and furnished with divine power, with which he could and was to appear before the children of Israel and Pharaoh as the messenger of Jehovah. The character of the three signs corresponded to this intention. Exo 4:2-5 The First Sign. - The turning of Moses' staff into a serpent, which became a staff again when Moses took it by the tail, had reference to the calling of Moses. The staff in his hand was his shepherd's crook (מזּה Exo 4:2, for מה־זה, in this place alone), and represented his calling as a shepherd. At the bidding of God he threw it upon the ground, and the staff became a serpent, before which Moses fled. The giving up of his shepherd-life would expose him to dangers, from which he would desire to escape. At the same time, there was more implied in the figure of a serpent than danger which merely threatened his life. The serpent had been the constant enemy of the seed of the woman (Gen 3), and represented the power of the wicked one which prevailed in Egypt. The explanation in Pirke Elieser, c. 40, points to this: ideo Deum hoc signum Mosi ostendisse, quia sicut serpens mordet et morte afficit homines, ita quoque Pharao et Aegyptii mordebant et necabant Israelitas. But at the bidding of God, Moses seized the serpent by the tail, and received his staff again as "the rod of God," with which he smote Egypt with great plagues. From this sign the people of Israel would necessarily perceive, that Jehovah had not only called Moses to be the leader of Israel, but had endowed him with the power to overcome the serpent-like cunning and the might of Egypt; in other words, they would "believe that Jehovah, the God of the fathers, had appeared to him." (On the special meaning of this sign for Pharaoh, see Exo 7:10.) Exo 4:6-8 The Second Sign. - Moses' hand became leprous, and was afterwards cleansed again. The expression כּשּׁלג מצרעת, covered with leprosy like snow, refers to the white leprosy (vid., Lev 13:3). - "Was turned again as his flesh;" i.e., was restored, became healthy, or clean like the rest of his body. So far as the meaning of this sign is concerned, Moses' hand has been explained in a perfectly arbitrary manner as representing the Israelitish nation, and his bosom as representing first Egypt, and then Canaan, as the hiding-place of Israel. If the shepherd's staff represented Moses' calling, the hand was that which directed or ruled the calling. It is in the bosom that the nurse carried the sucking child (Num 11:12), the shepherd the lambs (Isa 40:11), and the sacred singer the many nations, from whom he has suffered reproach and injury (Psa 89:50). So Moses also carried his people in his bosom, i.e., in his heart: of that his first appearance in Egypt was a proof (Exo 2:11-12). But now he was to set his hand to deliver them from the reproach and bondage of Egypt. He put (הביא) his hand into his bosom, and his hand was covered with leprosy. The nation was like a leper, who defiled every one that touched him. The leprosy represented not only "the servitude and contemptuous treatment of the Israelites in Egypt" (Kurtz), but the ἀσέβεια of the Egyptians also, as Theodoret expresses it, or rather the impurity of Egypt in which Israel was sunken. This Moses soon discovered (cf. Exo 5:17.), and on more than one occasion afterwards (cf. Num 11); so that he had to complain to Jehovah, "Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant, that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?...Have I conceived all this people, that Thou shouldest say to me, Carry them in thy bosom?" (Num 11:11-12). But God had the power to purify the nation from this leprosy, and would endow His servant Moses with that power. At the command of God, Moses put his hand, now covered with leprosy, once more into his bosom, and drew it out quite cleansed. This was what Moses was to learn by the sign; whilst Israel also learned that God both could and would deliver it, through the cleansed hand of Moses, from all its bodily and spiritual misery. The object of the first miracle was to exhibit Moses as the man whom Jehovah had called to be the leader of His people; that of the second, to show that, as the messenger of Jehovah, he was furnished with the necessary power for the execution of this calling. In this sense God says, in Exo 4:8, "If they will not hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign." A voice is ascribed to the sign, as being a clear witness to the divine mission of the person performing it. (Psa 105:27). Exo 4:9 The Third Sign. - If the first two signs should not be sufficient to lead the people to believe in the divine mission of Moses, he was to give them one more practical demonstration of the power which he had received to overcome the might and gods of Egypt. He was to take of the water of the Nile (the river, Gen 41:1) and pour it upon the dry land, and it would become blood (the second והיוּ is a resumption of the first, cf. Exo 12:41). The Nile received divine honours as the source of every good and all prosperity in the natural life of Egypt, and was even identified with Osiris (cf. Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 109 transl.). If Moses therefore had power to turn the life-distributing water of the Nile into blood, he must also have received power to destroy Pharaoh and his gods. Israel was to learn this from the sign, whilst Pharaoh and the Egyptians were afterwards to experience this might of Jehovah in the form of punishment (Exo 7:15.). Thus Moses as not only entrusted with the word of God, but also endowed with the power of God; and as he was the first God-sent prophet, so was he also the first worker of miracles, and in this capacity a type of the Apostle of our profession (Heb 3:1), even the God-man, Christ Jesus.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Moses now started a fresh difficulty: the Israelites would not believe that Jehovah had appeared to him. There was so far a reason for this difficulty, that from the time of Jacob-an interval, therefore, of 430 years - God had never appeared to any Israelite. God therefore removed it by giving him three signs by which he might attest his divine mission to his people. These three signs were intended indeed for the Israelites, to convince them of the reality of the appearance of Jehovah to Moses; at the same time, as even Ephraem Syrus observed, they also served to strengthen Moses' faith, and dissipate his fears as to the result of his mission. For it was apparent enough that Moses did not possess true and entire confidence in God, from the fact that he still raised this difficulty, and distrusted the divine assurance, "They will hearken to thy voice," Exo 3:18). And finally, these signs were intended for Pharaoh, as is stated in Exo 4:21; and to him the אתות (σημεῖα) were to become מפתים (τέρατα). By these signs Moses was installed as the servant of Jehovah (Exo 14:31), and furnished with divine power, with which he could and was to appear before the children of Israel and Pharaoh as the messenger of Jehovah. The character of the three signs corresponded to this intention.

Exo 4:2-5

The First Sign. - The turning of Moses' staff into a serpent, which became a staff again when Moses took it by the tail, had reference to the calling of Moses. The staff in his hand was his shepherd's crook (מזּה Exo 4:2, for מה־זה, in this place alone), and represented his calling as a shepherd. At the bidding of God he threw it upon the ground, and the staff became a serpent, before which Moses fled. The giving up of his shepherd-life would expose him to dangers, from which he would desire to escape. At the same time, there was more implied in the figure of a serpent than danger which merely threatened his life. The serpent had been the constant enemy of the seed of the woman (Gen 3), and represented the power of the wicked one which prevailed in Egypt. The explanation in Pirke Elieser, c. 40, points to this: ideo Deum hoc signum Mosi ostendisse, quia sicut serpens mordet et morte afficit homines, ita quoque Pharao et Aegyptii mordebant et necabant Israelitas. But at the bidding of God, Moses seized the serpent by the tail, and received his staff again as "the rod of God," with which he smote Egypt with great plagues. From this sign the people of Israel would necessarily perceive, that Jehovah had not only called Moses to be the leader of Israel, but had endowed him with the power to overcome the serpent-like cunning and the might of Egypt; in other words, they would "believe that Jehovah, the God of the fathers, had appeared to him." (On the special meaning of this sign for Pharaoh, see Exo 7:10.)

Exo 4:6-8

The Second Sign. - Moses' hand became leprous, and was afterwards cleansed again. The expression כּשּׁלג מצרעת, covered with leprosy like snow, refers to the white leprosy (vid., Lev 13:3). - "Was turned again as his flesh;" i.e., was restored, became healthy, or clean like the rest of his body. So far as the meaning of this sign is concerned, Moses' hand has been explained in a perfectly arbitrary manner as representing the Israelitish nation, and his bosom as representing first Egypt, and then Canaan, as the hiding-place of Israel. If the shepherd's staff represented Moses' calling, the hand was that which directed or ruled the calling. It is in the bosom that the nurse carried the sucking child (Num 11:12), the shepherd the lambs (Isa 40:11), and the sacred singer the many nations, from whom he has suffered reproach and injury (Psa 89:50). So Moses also carried his people in his bosom, i.e., in his heart: of that his first appearance in Egypt was a proof (Exo 2:11-12). But now he was to set his hand to deliver them from the reproach and bondage of Egypt. He put (הביא) his hand into his bosom, and his hand was covered with leprosy. The nation was like a leper, who defiled every one that touched him. The leprosy represented not only "the servitude and contemptuous treatment of the Israelites in Egypt" (Kurtz), but the ἀσέβεια of the Egyptians also, as Theodoret expresses it, or rather the impurity of Egypt in which Israel was sunken. This Moses soon discovered (cf. Exo 5:17.), and on more than one occasion afterwards (cf. Num 11); so that he had to complain to Jehovah, "Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant, that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?...Have I conceived all this people, that Thou shouldest say to me, Carry them in thy bosom?" (Num 11:11-12). But God had the power to purify the nation from this leprosy, and would endow His servant Moses with that power. At the command of God, Moses put his hand, now covered with leprosy, once more into his bosom, and drew it out quite cleansed. This was what Moses was to learn by the sign; whilst Israel also learned that God both could and would deliver it, through the cleansed hand of Moses, from all its bodily and spiritual misery. The object of the first miracle was to exhibit Moses as the man whom Jehovah had called to be the leader of His people; that of the second, to show that, as the messenger of Jehovah, he was furnished with the necessary power for the execution of this calling. In this sense God says, in Exo 4:8, "If they will not hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign." A voice is ascribed to the sign, as being a clear witness to the divine mission of the person performing it. (Psa 105:27).

Exo 4:9

The Third Sign. - If the first two signs should not be sufficient to lead the people to believe in the divine mission of Moses, he was to give them one more practical demonstration of the power which he had received to overcome the might and gods of Egypt. He was to take of the water of the Nile (the river, Gen 41:1) and pour it upon the dry land, and it would become blood (the second והיוּ is a resumption of the first, cf. Exo 12:41). The Nile received divine honours as the source of every good and all prosperity in the natural life of Egypt, and was even identified with Osiris (cf. Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 109 transl.). If Moses therefore had power to turn the life-distributing water of the Nile into blood, he must also have received power to destroy Pharaoh and his gods. Israel was to learn this from the sign, whilst Pharaoh and the Egyptians were afterwards to experience this might of Jehovah in the form of punishment (Exo 7:15.). Thus Moses as not only entrusted with the word of God, but also endowed with the power of God; and as he was the first God-sent prophet, so was he also the first worker of miracles, and in this capacity a type of the Apostle of our profession (Heb 3:1), even the God-man, Christ Jesus.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
They will not hearken to my voice - That is, they would not take his bare word, unless he shewed them some sign. He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would be so again.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
They will not believe me - As if he had said, Unless I be enabled to work miracles, and give them proofs by extraordinary works as well as by words, they will not believe that thou hast sent me.

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¹ Wherefore [3606], holy [40] brethren [80], partakers [3353] of the heavenly [2032] calling [2821], consider [2657] the Apostle [652] and [2532] High Priest [749] of our [2257] profession [3671], Christ [5547] Jesus [2424];

¹⁵ Get [03212] thee unto Pharaoh [06547] in the morning [01242]; lo, he goeth out [03318] unto the water [04325]; and thou shalt stand [05324] by the river's [02975] brink [08193] against he come [07125]; and the rod [04294] which was turned [02015] to a serpent [05175] shalt thou take [03947] in thine hand [03027].

⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end [07093] of the four [0702] hundred [03967] [08141] and thirty [07970] years [08141], even the selfsame [06106] day [03117] it came to pass, that all the hosts [06635] of the LORD [03068] went out [03318] from the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].

¹ And it came to pass at the end [07093] of two full [03117] years [08141], that Pharaoh [06547] dreamed [02492]: and, behold, he stood [05975] by the river [02975].

⁹ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe [0539] also these two [08147] signs [0226], neither hearken [08085] unto thy voice [06963], that thou shalt take [03947] of the water [04325] of the river [02975], and pour [08210] it upon the dry [03004] land: and the water [04325] which thou takest [03947] out of the river [02975] shall become blood [01818] upon the dry [03006] land.

²⁷ They shewed [07760] his signs [0226] [01697] among them, and wonders [04159] in the land [0776] of Ham [02526].

⁸ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe [0539] thee, neither hearken [08085] to the voice [06963] of the first [07223] sign [0226], that they will believe [0539] the voice [06963] of the latter [0314] sign [0226].

¹¹ And Moses [04872] said [0559] unto the LORD [03068], Wherefore hast thou afflicted [07489] thy servant [05650]? and wherefore have I not found [04672] favour [02580] in thy sight [05869], that thou layest [07760] the burden [04853] of all this people [05971] upon me?
¹² Have I conceived [02029] all this people [05971]? have I begotten [03205] them, that thou shouldest say [0559] unto me, Carry [05375] them in thy bosom [02436], as a nursing father [0539] beareth [05375] the sucking child [03243], unto the land [0127] which thou swarest [07650] unto their fathers [01]?

¹⁷ But he said [0559], Ye are idle [07503], ye are idle [07503]: therefore ye say [0559], Let us go [03212] and do sacrifice [02076] to the LORD [03068].

¹¹ And it came to pass in those days [03117], when Moses [04872] was grown [01431], that he went out [03318] unto his brethren [0251], and looked [07200] on their burdens [05450]: and he spied [07200] an Egyptian [04713] [0376] smiting [05221] an Hebrew [05680], one of his brethren [0251].
¹² And he looked [06437] this way [03541] and that way [03541], and when he saw [07200] that there was no man [0376], he slew [05221] the Egyptian [04713], and hid [02934] him in the sand [02344].

⁵⁰ Remember [02142], Lord [0136], the reproach [02781] of thy servants [05650]; how I do bear [05375] in my bosom [02436] the reproach of all the mighty [07227] people [05971];

¹¹ He shall feed [07462] his flock [05739] like a shepherd [07462]: he shall gather [06908] the lambs [02922] with his arm [02220], and carry [05375] them in his bosom [02436], and shall gently lead [05095] those that are with young [05763].

¹² Have I conceived [02029] all this people [05971]? have I begotten [03205] them, that thou shouldest say [0559] unto me, Carry [05375] them in thy bosom [02436], as a nursing father [0539] beareth [05375] the sucking child [03243], unto the land [0127] which thou swarest [07650] unto their fathers [01]?

³ And the priest [03548] shall look [07200] on the plague [05061] in the skin [05785] of the flesh [01320]: and when the hair [08181] in the plague [05061] is turned [02015] white [03836], and the plague [05061] in sight [04758] be deeper [06013] than the skin [05785] of his flesh [01320], it is a plague [05061] of leprosy [06883]: and the priest [03548] shall look [07200] on him, and pronounce him unclean [02930].

⁶ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] furthermore [05750] unto him, Put [0935] now thine hand [03027] into thy bosom [02436]. And he put [0935] his hand [03027] into his bosom [02436]: and when he took [03318] it out, behold, his hand [03027] was leprous [06879] as snow [07950].
⁷ And he said [0559], Put [07725] thine hand [03027] into thy bosom [02436] again [07725]. And he put [07725] his hand [03027] into his bosom [02436] again [07725]; and plucked [03318] it out of his bosom [02436], and, behold, it was turned again [07725] as his other flesh [01320].
⁸ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe [0539] thee, neither hearken [08085] to the voice [06963] of the first [07223] sign [0226], that they will believe [0539] the voice [06963] of the latter [0314] sign [0226].

¹⁰ And Moses [04872] and Aaron [0175] went in [0935] unto Pharaoh [06547], and they did [06213] so as the LORD [03068] had commanded [06680]: and Aaron [0175] cast down [07993] his rod [04294] before [06440] Pharaoh [06547], and before [06440] his servants [05650], and it became a serpent [08577].

² And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto him, What is that in thine hand [03027]? And he said [0559], A rod [04294].

² And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto him, What is that in thine hand [03027]? And he said [0559], A rod [04294].
³ And he said [0559], Cast [07993] it on the ground [0776]. And he cast [07993] it on the ground [0776], and it became a serpent [05175]; and Moses [04872] fled [05127] from before [06440] it.
⁴ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Moses [04872], Put forth [07971] thine hand [03027], and take [0270] it by the tail [02180]. And he put forth [07971] his hand [03027], and caught [02388] it, and it became a rod [04294] in his hand [03709]:
⁵ That they may believe [0539] that the LORD [03068] God [0430] of their fathers [01], the God [0430] of Abraham [085], the God [0430] of Isaac [03327], and the God [0430] of Jacob [03290], hath appeared [07200] unto thee.

³¹ And Israel [03478] saw [07200] that great [01419] work [03027] which the LORD [03068] did [06213] upon the Egyptians [04714]: and the people [05971] feared [03372] the LORD [03068], and believed [0539] the LORD [03068], and his servant [05650] Moses [04872].

²¹ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Moses [04872], When thou goest [03212] to return [07725] into Egypt [04714], see [07200] that thou do [06213] all those wonders [04159] before [06440] Pharaoh [06547], which I have put [07760] in thine hand [03027]: but I will harden [02388] his heart [03820], that he shall not let the people [05971] go [07971].

¹⁸ And they shall hearken [08085] to thy voice [06963]: and thou shalt come [0935], thou and the elders [02205] of Israel [03478], unto the king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and ye shall say [0559] unto him, The LORD [03068] God [0430] of the Hebrews [05680] hath met [07136] with us: and now let us go [03212], we beseech thee, three [07969] days [03117]' journey [01870] into the wilderness [04057], that we may sacrifice [02076] to the LORD [03068] our God [0430].