Discovery BoxExodus 1:14 
Context1:14 They made their lives bitter 1 by 2 hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service 3 in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. 4
Exodus 2:11
Context2:11 5 In those days, 6 when 7 Moses had grown up, he went out to his people 8 and observed 9 their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking 10 a Hebrew man, one of his own people. 11
Exodus 7:22
Context7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same 12 by their secret arts, and so 13 Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, 14 and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron 15 – just as the Lord had predicted.
Exodus 8:19
Context8:19 The magicians said 16 to Pharaoh, “It is the finger 17 of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, 18 and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.
Exodus 9:7
Context9:7 Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, 19 and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, 20 and he did not release the people.
1 sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.
2 tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).
3 tn Heb “and in all service.”
4 tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”
5 sn Chapter 1 described how Israel was flourishing in spite of the bondage. Chapter 2 first told how God providentially provided the deliverer, but now when this deliverer attempted to deliver one of his people, it turned out badly, and he had to flee for his life. This section makes an interesting study in the presumption of the leader, what Christian expositors would rightly describe as trying to do God’s work by the flesh. The section has two parts to it: the flight from Egypt over the failed attempt to deliver (vv. 11-15), and Moses’ introduction to life as the deliverer in Midian (vv. 16-22).
6 sn The expression “those days” refers to the days of bondage.
7 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next and main idea of the verse. This is the second use of this verb in the chapter. In v. 10 the verb had the sense of “when he began to grow” or “when he got older,” but here it carries the nuance of “when he had grown up.”
8 tn Heb “brothers.” This term does not require them to be literal siblings, or even close family members. It simply refers to fellow Hebrews, people with whom Moses has begun to feel close ties of kinship. They are “brothers” in a broad sense, ultimately fellow members of the covenant community.
9 tn The verb רָאָה (ra’a, “to see”) followed by the preposition bet (ב) can indicate looking on something as an overseer, or supervising, or investigating. Here the emphasis is on Moses’ observing their labor with sympathy or grief. It means more than that he simply saw the way his fellow Hebrews were being treated (cf. 2:25).
sn This journey of Moses to see his people is an indication that he had become aware of his destiny to deliver them. This verse says that he looked on their oppression; the next section will say that the
10 tn The verb מַכֶּה (makkeh) is the Hiphil participle of the root נָכָה (nakha). It may be translated “strike, smite, beat, attack.” It can be used with the sense of killing (as in the next verse, which says Moses hid the body), but it does not necessarily indicate here that the Egyptian killed the Hebrew.
11 tn Heb “brothers.” This kinship term is used as a means of indicating the nature of Moses’ personal concern over the incident, since the appositional clause adds no new information.
12 tn Heb “thus, so.”
13 tn The vav consecutive on the preterite introduces the outcome or result of the matter – Pharaoh was hardened.
14 tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.
15 tn Heb “to them”; the referents (Moses and Aaron) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “and the magicians said.”
17 tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).
sn The point of the magicians’ words is clear enough. They knew they were beaten and by whom. The reason for their choice of the word “finger” has occasioned many theories, none of which is entirely satisfying. At the least their statement highlights that the plague was accomplished by God with majestic ease and effortlessness. Perhaps the reason that they could not do this was that it involved producing life – from the dust of the ground, as in Genesis 2:7. The creative power of God confounded the magic of the Egyptians and brought on them a loathsome plague.
18 tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.
19 tn Heb “Pharaoh sent.” The phrase “representatives to investigate” is implied in the context.
20 tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.
