Exodus 3:5

3:5 God ¹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ³  ground.” ⁴ 

Exodus 4:24

4:24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, ⁵  the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. ⁶ 

Exodus 10:23

10:23 No one ⁷  could see ⁸  another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Exodus 15:13

15:13 By your loyal love you will lead ⁹  the people whom ¹⁰  you have redeemed;

you will guide ¹¹  them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

Exodus 19:17

19:17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain.

Exodus 21:13

21:13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, ¹²  but it happens by accident, ¹³  then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

Exodus 23:20

The Angel of the Presence

23:20 ¹⁴ “I am going to send ¹⁵  an angel ¹⁶  before you to protect you as you journey ¹⁷  and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 31:11

31:11 the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you.”

Exodus 35:19

35:19 the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests.”

Exodus 40:18

40:18 When Moses set up the tabernacle and put its bases in place, he set up its frames, attached its bars, and set up its posts.

---

¹ tn Heb “And he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.

³ sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different – it was holy.

⁴ tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”

⁵ tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”

⁶ sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son – but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.

⁷ tn Heb “a man…his brother.”

⁸ tn The perfect tense in this context requires the somewhat rare classification of a potential perfect.

⁹ tn The verbs in the next two verses are perfect tenses, but can be interpreted as a prophetic perfect, looking to the future.

¹⁰ tn The particle זוּ (zu) is a relative pronoun, subordinating the next verb to the preceding.

¹¹ tn This verb seems to mean “to guide to a watering-place” (See Ps 23:2).

¹² tn Heb “if he does not lie in wait” (NASB similar).

¹³ tn Heb “and God brought into his hand.” The death is unintended, its circumstances outside human control.

¹⁴ sn This passage has some of the most interesting and perplexing expressions and constructions in the book. It is largely promise, but it is part of the Law and so demands compliance by faith. Its points are: God promises to send his angel to prepare the way before his obedient servants (20-23); God promises blessing for his loyal servants (24-33). So in the section one learns that God promises his protection (victory) and blessing (through his angel) for his obedient and loyal worshipers.

¹⁵ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with the active participle indicates imminent future, something God is about to do.

¹⁶ sn The word is מַלְאָךְ (mal’akh, “messenger, angel”). This angel is to be treated with the same fear and respect as Yahweh, for Yahweh will be speaking in him. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 305-6) says that the words of the first clause do not imply a being distinct from God, for in the ancient world the line of demarcation between the sender and the sent is liable easily to be blurred. He then shows how the “Angel of Yahweh” in Genesis is Yahweh. He concludes that the words here mean “I will guide you.” Christian commentators tend to identify the Angel of Yahweh as the second person of the Trinity (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:446). However, in addition to being a preincarnate appearance, the word could refer to Yahweh – some manifestation of Yahweh himself.

¹⁷ tn Heb “protect you in the way.”

¹⁸ tn The form is the Hiphil perfect of the verb כּוּן (kun, “to establish, prepare”).