Exodus 4
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Summary
Moses questions the Lord, and the Lord shows him signs. He instructs Moses to show the signs to the children of Israel. The Lord selects Aaron as Moses’s spokesman, and Moses’s first son is circumcised.
| KJV | JST |
|---|---|
| (21) And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. | (21) And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. And I will prosper thee. But Pharaoh will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. |
| (24) And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. | (24) And it came to pass that the Lord appeared unto him as he was in the way in the inn. The Lord was angry with Moses, and his hand was about to fall upon him to kill him, for he had not circumcised his son. |
| (25) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. | (25) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and circumcised her son, and cast the stone at his feet, and said, Surely thou art a bloody husband unto me. |
| (26) So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. | (26) And the Lord spared Moses and let him go because Zipporah his wife circumcised the child. And she said, “Thou art a bloody husband.” And Moses was ashamed and hid his face from the Lord and said, “I have sinned before the Lord.” |
| (27) And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. | (27) And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, in the mount where God appeared unto him. And Aaron kissed him. |
Commentary
Bible Central Commentary
These free resources were developed for use in the free ScripturePlus app. Many of the contributors are professors of religion and ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.
Wally Breitenstein, “Exodus 1–6,” in Exodus, Old Testament Minute Commentary Series, ed. Taylor Halverson (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2021).
Historical Commentaries
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Historical Settings
Time
*All Dates Are Approximate, according to the narrative of the Bible. These dates may reflect literary significance as opposed to the precise dates of history.
See Biblical Chronology- 1446 BC*
Further Reading
Nathan J. Arp, “Joseph Knew First: Moses, The Egyptian Son,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-Day Saint Faith and Scholarship 32 (2019): 187–198.
Edward J. Brandt, “Aaron, Brother of Moses,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1992), 1:1.
S. Kent Brown, “The Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 30, no. 3 (1990): 111–126.
S. Kent Brown, “Trust in the Lord: Exodus and Faith,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Old Testament ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company; Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), 154–163.
Amy B. Hardison, “Theophany on Sinai,” In Ascending the Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship in the Old Testament (2013 Sperry Symposium), ed. Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Matthew J. Grey, and David Rolph Seely, 218–31. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company; Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University 2013.
George A. Horton Jr., “Insights into Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy,” in The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious Things, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Robert L. Millet (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1985), 71–88.
John S. Thompson, “The Context of Old Testament Temple Worship: Early Ancient Egyptian Rites,” in Ascending the Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship in the Old Testament, ed. Jeffery R. Chadwick, Matthew J. Grey, and David Rolph Seely (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company; Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2013), 156–83.
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