Exodus 2:8

2:8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, do so.” ¹  So the young girl ²  went and got ³  the child’s mother. ⁴ 

Exodus 11:2

11:2 Instruct ⁵  the people that each man and each woman is to request ⁶  from his or her neighbor ⁷  items of silver and gold.” ⁸ 

Exodus 18:3

18:3 and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses ⁹  had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”),

Exodus 35:25

35:25 Every woman who was skilled ¹⁰  spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen,

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¹ tn Heb “Go” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “Go ahead”; TEV “Please do.”

² sn The word used to describe the sister (Miriam probably) is עַלְמָה (’alma), the same word used in Isa 7:14, where it is usually translated either “virgin” or “young woman.” The word basically means a young woman who is ripe for marriage. This would indicate that Miriam is a teenager and so about fifteen years older than Moses.

³ tn Heb קָרָא (qara’, “called”).

⁴ sn During this period of Egyptian history the royal palaces were in the northern or Delta area of Egypt, rather than up the Nile as in later periods. The proximity of the royal residences to the Israelites makes this and the plague narratives all the more realistic. Such direct contact would have been unlikely if Moses had had to travel up the Nile to meet with Pharaoh. In the Delta area things were closer. Here all the people would have had access to the tributaries of the Nile near where the royal family came, but the royal family probably had pavilions and hunting lodges in the area. See also N. Osborn, “Where on Earth Are We? Problems of Position and Movement in Space,” BT 31 (1980): 239-42.

⁵ tn Heb “Speak now in the ears of the people.” The expression is emphatic; it seeks to ensure that the Israelites hear the instruction.

⁶ tn The verb translated “request” is וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ (vÿyish’alu), the Qal jussive: “let them ask.” This is the point introduced in Exod 3:22. The meaning of the verb might be stronger than simply “ask”; it might have something of the idea of “implore” (see also its use in the naming of Samuel, who was “asked” from Yahweh [1 Sam 1:20]).

⁷ tn “each man is to request from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor.”

sn Here neighbor refers to Egyptian neighbors, who are glad to see them go (12:33) and so willingly give their jewelry and vessels.

⁸ sn See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity (also in the following verse).

¹⁰ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.