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 9:6

9:6 And the Lord did this ³  on the next day; ⁴  all ⁵  the livestock of the Egyptians ⁶  died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died.

Exodus 15:20

15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances. ⁷ 

Exodus 18:25

18:25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Exodus 27:3

27:3 You are to make its pots for the ashes, ⁸  its shovels, its tossing bowls, ⁹  its meat hooks, and its fire pans – you are to make all ¹⁰  its utensils of bronze.

Exodus 29:24

29:24 You are to put all these ¹¹  in Aaron’s hands ¹²  and in his sons’ hands, and you are to wave them as a wave offering ¹³  before the Lord.

Exodus 39:33

39:33 They brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings, clasps, frames, bars, posts, and bases;

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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 Heb “this thing.”

⁴ tn Heb “on the morrow.”

⁵ tn The word “all” clearly does not mean “all” in the exclusive sense, because subsequent plagues involve cattle. The word must denote such a large number that whatever was left was insignificant for the economy. It could also be taken to mean “all [kinds of] livestock died.”

⁶ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

⁷ sn See J. N. Easton, “Dancing in the Old Testament,” ExpTim 86 (1975): 136-40.

⁸ sn The word is literally “its fat,” but sometimes it describes “fatty ashes” (TEV “the greasy ashes”). The fat would run down and mix with the ashes, and this had to be collected and removed.

⁹ sn This was the larger bowl used in tossing the blood at the side of the altar.

¹⁰ tn The text has “to all its vessels.” This is the lamed (ל) of inclusion according to Gesenius, meaning “all its utensils” (GKC 458 §143.e).

¹¹ tn Heb “the whole” or “the all.”

¹² tn Heb “palms.”

¹³ tn The “wave offering” is תְּנוּפָה (tÿnufah); it is, of course, cognate with the verb, but an adverbial accusative rather than the direct object. In Lev 23 this seems to be a sacrificial gesture of things that are for the priests – but they present them first to Yahweh and then receive them back from him. So the waving is not side to side, but forward to Yahweh and then back to the priest. Here it is just an induction into that routine, since this is the ordination of the priests and the gifts are not yet theirs. So this will all be burned on the altar.