Discovery BoxExodus 12:22 
Context12:22 Take a branch of hyssop, 1 dip it in the blood that is in the basin, 2 and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out 3 the door of his house until morning.
Exodus 16:8
Context16:8 Moses said, “You will know this 4 when the Lord gives you 5 meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? 6 Your murmurings are not against us, 7 but against the Lord.”
Exodus 16:23
Context16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, 8 a holy Sabbath 9 to the Lord. Whatever you want to 10 bake, bake today; 11 whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”
Exodus 18:14
Context18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this 12 that you are doing for the people? 13 Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”
Exodus 27:21
Context27:21 In the tent of meeting 14 outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening 15 to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. 16
1 sn The hyssop is a small bush that grows throughout the Sinai, probably the aromatic herb Origanum Maru L., or Origanum Aegyptiacum. The plant also grew out of the walls in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 4:33). See L. Baldensperger and G. M. Crowfoot, “Hyssop,” PEQ 63 (1931): 89-98. A piece of hyssop was also useful to the priests because it worked well for sprinkling.
2 tn The Greek and the Vulgate translate סַף (saf, “basin”) as “threshold.” W. C. Kaiser reports how early traditions grew up about the killing of the lamb on the threshold (“Exodus,” EBC 2:376).
3 tn Heb “and you, you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house.” This construction puts stress on prohibiting absolutely everyone from going out.
4 tn “You will know this” has been added to make the line smooth. Because of the abruptness of the lines in the verse, and the repetition with v. 7, B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 273) thinks that v. 8 is merely a repetition by scribal error – even though the versions render it as the MT has it. But B. Jacob (Exodus, 447) suggests that the contrast with vv. 6 and 7 is important for another reason – there Moses and Aaron speak, and it is smooth and effective, but here only Moses speaks, and it is labored and clumsy. “We should realize that Moses had properly claimed to be no public speaker.”
5 tn Here again is an infinitive construct with the preposition forming a temporal clause.
6 tn The words “as for us” attempt to convey the force of the Hebrew word order, which puts emphasis on the pronoun: “and we – what?” The implied answer to the question is that Moses and Aaron are nothing, merely the messengers.
7 tn The word order is “not against us [are] your murmurings.”
8 tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.
9 tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.
10 tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”
11 tn The word “today” is implied from the context.
12 tn Heb “what is this thing.”
13 sn This question, “what are you doing for the people,” is qualified by the next question. Sitting alone all day and the people standing around all day showed that Moses was exhibiting too much care for the people – he could not do this.
14 tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”
15 sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.
16 sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.
