Read Exodus 3:1-4:17 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 3:1-4:17 {p} Call of Moses: words + signs of YHVH
Strong themes of the parashah
Exo 2:23-25 {s} God acknowledged the children of Israel
Exo 3:1-4:17 {p} Call of Moses: words + signs of YHVH
i.e., Exo 2:23-4:17 {s+p} YHVH called Moses in response to Israel’s need for deliverance
Chiastic structure
1a) Exo 3:1-17 The word of YHVH which was given to Moses;
1a) Exo 3:1-12 God appeared to Moses to deliver the children of Israel from their affliction in Egypt;
1a) Exo 3:1-6 God appeared to Moses on the mountain of God, on Horeb;
1a) Exo 3:1-3, Moses turned his face to see the wonder of the burning bush;
1b) Exo 3:4 God called to him/ Moses answered, “Here am I;”
central axis) Exio 3:5 He said, “Draw not near: put off your shoes from your feet, for the place upon which you stand is holy ground;”
2b) Exo 3:6a Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
2a) Exo 3:6b Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look on God;
1b) Exo 3:7-9, YHVH: I am come down to deliver My people out of the hand of the Egyptians;
1a) Exo 3:7a YHVH said: I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt;
1b) Exo 3:7b And have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their pains;
central axis) Exo 3:8 I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good + large land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite;
2b) Exo 3:9a Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come to Me;
2a) Exo 3:9b Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them;
2b) Exo 3:10-12a YHVH: I will send you to bring forth My people Israel out of Egypt;
1a) Exo 3:10 YHVH: Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt;
1b) Exo 3:11a Moses said to God: Who am I;
central axis) Exo 3:11b Moses: That I should go to Pharaoh + bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
2b) Exo 3:12a YHVH: Certainly I will be with you;
2a) Exo 3:12b YHVH: And this shall be a token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt;
2a) Exo 3:12b YHVH: You shall serve God upon this mountain;
1b) Exo 3:13 Moses: Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you;” and they say to me, “What is His name?” What shall I say to them?
central axis) Exo 3:14a And God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM;”
2b) Exo 3:14b-15 God: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you. YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you;” this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial to all generations;
2a) Exo 3:16-17 YHVH: Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, “YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey;’”
1b) Exo 3:18 YHVH: And they shall hearken to your voice: and you + elders of Israel shall come to the king of Egypt, and say to him, ‘YHVH, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us: and now let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHVH our God;’
1c) Exo 3:19-20a YHVH: And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, except by a mighty hand. And I will put forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in their midst (YHVH will plague Egypt);
1d) Exo 3:20b YHVH: And after that he will let you go;
central axis) Exo 3:21a YHVH: And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians;
2d) Exo 3:21b YHVH: And it shall come to pass, that when you go, you shall not go empty;
2c) Exo 3:22 YHVH: But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment: and you shall put them on your sons + daughters; and you shall plunder the Egyptians (Israel will plunder Egypt);
2b) Exo 4:1 Moses: But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice: for they will say, “YHVH has not appeared to you;”
2a) Exo 4:2-17 {p} The voice of the signs of YHVH given to Moses;
1a) Exo 4:2-9 YHVH gave Moses power to do miraculous signs;
1a) Exo 4:2-4 The sign of the rod becoming a serpent + being restored;
1b) Exo 4:5 YHVH: That they may believe that YHVH, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to you;
central axis) Exo 4:6-7 The sign of the hand becoming leprous + being restored;
2b) Exo 4:8-9a YHVH: And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken to your voice;
2a) Exo 4:9b The sign of the water of the Nile becoming blood;
1b) Exo 4:10-12 Moses: O Lord, I am not a man of words, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant: but I am slow of speech + tongue. YHVH: Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes a man dumb, deaf, seeing, blind? Is it not I, YHVH? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth + teach you what you shall speak;
1c) Exo 4:13 Moses: O Lord, send, I pray You, by the hand of him whom You will send;
central axis) Exo 4:14a And the anger of YHVH was kindled against Moses;
2c) Exo 4:14b YHVH: Aaron your brother can speak well + comes forth to meet you;
2b) Exo 4:15-16 YHVH: And you shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. And he shall be your spokesman to the people: and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to you a mouth, and you shall be to him instead of God;
2a) Exo 4:17 {p} YHVH: You shall take in your hand this rod, with which you shall do the signs.
Theme of the parashah
Call of Moses: words + signs of YHVH
Finding Messiah in Torah
“I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,” Exo 3:8
The last time YHVH said He is come down was in triennial vayhee chal haaretz, in Gen 11:5. Man was trying to establish his own way to come up to God, disregarding His command, but God came down to man. And now, when His people are enslaved in the kingdom of Egypt, a prophetic type for the kingdom of darkness, He is come down to deliver them, who knows their pain (Exo 3:7, see Phi 2:5-8).
‘YHVH, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us: and now let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHVH our God;’ Exo 3:18
Three is a sign of Messiah in Torah. It is a journey of three days from slavery in the kingdom to Egypt to freedom to worship God; a prophetic type of Messiah’s journey of three days from death on a cross to resurrection life, by which we leave the kingdom of darkness and are reborn with new life, in freedom to worship God, no longer a slave to sin.
Additional readings for this parashah
Psa 42 | Isa 49 | Rom 9
Studies in triennial umoshe
exo 3 and 4, the purpose of miraculous signs
Studies off site
The relationship of Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai, Mt. Paran, and Mt. Sier – Associates in Biblical Research
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