9:29 Moses said to him, “When I leave the city 1 I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 2
9:33 So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.
15:17 You will bring them in 3 and plant them in the mountain 4 of your inheritance,
in the place you made 5 for your residence, O Lord,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
29:10 “You are to present the bull at the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to put 6 their hands on the head 7 of the bull.
32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with 14 the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.
32:19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. 15 He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. 16
1 tn כְּצֵאתִי (kÿtse’ti) is the Qal infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’); it functions here as the temporal clause before the statement about prayer.
sn There has been a good deal of speculation about why Moses would leave the city before praying. Rashi said he did not want to pray where there were so many idols. It may also be as the midrash in Exodus Rabbah 12:5 says that most of the devastation of this plague had been outside in the fields, and that was where Moses wished to go.
2 sn This clause provides the purpose/result of Moses’ intention: he will pray to Yahweh and the storms will cease “that you might know….” It was not enough to pray and have the plague stop. Pharaoh must “know” that Yahweh is the sovereign Lord over the earth. Here was that purpose of knowing through experience. This clause provides the key for the exposition of this plague: God demonstrated his power over the forces of nature to show his sovereignty – the earth is Yahweh’s. He can destroy it. He can preserve it. If people sin by ignoring his word and not fearing him, he can bring judgment on them. If any fear Yahweh and obey his instructions, they will be spared. A positive way to express the expositional point of the chapter is to say that those who fear Yahweh and obey his word will escape the powerful destruction he has prepared for those who sinfully disregard his word.
3 tn The verb is imperfect.
4 sn The “mountain” and the “place” would be wherever Yahweh met with his people. It here refers to Canaan, the land promised to the patriarchs.
5 tn The verb is perfect tense, referring to Yahweh’s previous choice of the holy place.
6 tn The verb is singular, agreeing with the first of the compound subject – Aaron.
7 sn The details of these offerings have to be determined from a careful study of Leviticus. There is a good deal of debate over the meaning of laying hands on the animals. At the very least it identifies the animal formally as their sacrifice. But it may very well indicate that the animal is a substitute for them as well, given the nature and the effect of the sacrifices.
8 tn “turn to sweet smoke.”
9 tn “them” has been supplied.
10 tn Heb “and [then] they will wash.”
11 tn The verb is “it will be.”
12 tn Heb “for his seed.”
13 tn Or “for generations to come”; it literally is “to their generations.”
sn The symbolic meaning of washing has been taught throughout the ages. This was a practical matter of cleaning hands and feet, but it was also symbolic of purification before Yahweh. It was an outward sign of inner spiritual cleansing, or forgiveness. Jesus washed the disciples feet (Jn 13) to show this same teaching; he asked the disciples if they knew what he had done (so it was more than washing feet). In this passage the theological points for the outline would be these: I. God provides the means of cleansing; II. Cleansing is a prerequisite for participating in the worship, and III. (Believers) priests must regularly appropriate God’s provision of cleansing.
14 tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.
15 tn Heb “and the anger of Moses burned hot.”
16 sn See N. M. Waldham, “The Breaking of the Tablets,” Judaism 27 (1978): 442-47.