Exodus 16:8

16:8 Moses said, “You will know this 1  when the Lord gives you 2  meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? 3  Your murmurings are not against us, 4  but against the Lord.”

Exodus 18:14

18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this 5  that you are doing for the people? 6  Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

Exodus 27:21

27:21 In the tent of meeting 7  outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening 8  to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. 9 

1 tn “You will know this” has been added to make the line smooth. Because of the abruptness of the lines in the verse, and the repetition with v. 7, B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 273) thinks that v. 8 is merely a repetition by scribal error – even though the versions render it as the MT has it. But B. Jacob (Exodus, 447) suggests that the contrast with vv. 6 and 7 is important for another reason – there Moses and Aaron speak, and it is smooth and effective, but here only Moses speaks, and it is labored and clumsy. “We should realize that Moses had properly claimed to be no public speaker.”

2 tn Here again is an infinitive construct with the preposition forming a temporal clause.

3 tn The words “as for us” attempt to convey the force of the Hebrew word order, which puts emphasis on the pronoun: “and we – what?” The implied answer to the question is that Moses and Aaron are nothing, merely the messengers.

4 tn The word order is “not against us [are] your murmurings.”

5 tn Heb “what is this thing.”

6 sn This question, “what are you doing for the people,” is qualified by the next question. Sitting alone all day and the people standing around all day showed that Moses was exhibiting too much care for the people – he could not do this.

7 tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”

8 sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.

9 sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.