Exodus 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back 1  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 2 

Exodus 6:16

6:16 Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records: 3  Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)

Exodus 6:20

6:20 Amram married 4  his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)

Exodus 21:30

21:30 If a ransom is set for him, 5  then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him.

Exodus 23:9

23:9 “You must not oppress 6  a foreigner, since you know the life 7  of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

1 tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

2 sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

3 tn Or “generations.”

4 tn Heb “took for a wife” (also in vv. 23, 25).

5 sn The family of the victim would set the amount for the ransom of the man guilty of criminal neglect. This practice was common in the ancient world, rare in Israel. If the family allowed the substitute price, then the man would be able to redeem his life.

6 tn The verb means “to crush.” S. R. Driver notes that in this context this would probably mean with an unfair judgment in the courts (Exodus, 239).

7 tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”