Today I published my translation of the book of Exodus on my website. It is a very interesting book, and as always there were quite a few insights this gave me about it.
One was that when God speaks to Moses in the burning bush, the original text makes it clear that it is an angel that God speaks through. Later in the book, an angel is referred to as "he" making it clear that angels were considered masculine.
Usually, when Moses parts the red sea, it is translated as the water being a wall on each side, but the word used can also mean "mound," or "edge," and I think this applies more correctly here.
There are some different words that are used for common things in Exodus compared to Genesis, suggesting that there was a shift in the language between Genesis and Exodus, arguing for an ancient source of the former.
When Moses and his wife, Zipporah, are travelling to Egypt, the text is usually translated to say that The Lord tried to kill Moses. But from the original text, it is more likely that it was the lord of the inn that wanted to kill Moses. Zipporah uses a flint knife to cut her child's foreskin, which is the first place in the bible it mentions the use of a stone knife.
I translated the sections where it says that God "made pharaoh's heart hard" as "God allowed pharaoh to be obstinate." The phrase "hardened heart" means stubborn or obstinate, as Hebrew doesn't have a word for those, and the word "made" ("asa", or "aser") has a wide variety of possible translations, among them "do", "work," and "allow." Usually when someone is forced, the word "must" ("dei") is used around this time period, but it is not used here. So it makes more sense that God allowed Pharaoh to remain stubborn. Perhaps He influenced it in some way, but it doesn't make sense that He forced Pharaoh to be stubborn.
There are two places God tried the Hebrew people through lack of water, the bitter water cleansed by the log ("marah"), and the spring in the rock ("meribah or massah") Both words apply to a single place, where Moses tapped the rock and water poured out. There are many places in Genesis that have a lot of names, and it's clear in the Hebrew that this place had both of those names, and they are not referring to two different sites.
The description of the order for the tabernacle and its furnishings is interesting, because it is essentially repeated three times. The first time it is God's order. The second time, it is a report that the craftspeople did it. The final time is a report of how it was put up.
The Hebrew word for "lamp stand" here is menorah. It just means a lamp stand. I asked a priest before why we say "lamp stand" and not menorah, if it was a menorah. He told me "because we're not Hebrew." Of course, now I think he's wrong!
Usually the name of God's tent is the "tent of meeting," but that name doesn't make sense, because the first word means "holy" or "sacred," but can also mean meeting in the right context, and the second word means "tabernacle," which is the Roman word for the commander's or leader's tent. So I used "solemn tabernacle" instead, as I thought this more accurately reflected the original Hebrew.
The Hebrew under Moses people used 29 talents of gold to make all the gold furnishings of the solemn tabernacle. Inside the tent, there were walls all around made of wood covered with gold. Virtually all the implements inside the holy of holies ("truly holy place", or "holy holy place") were made of gold or covered with gold. The menorah itself was made from one talent of gold. These days, one talent of gold is generally worth about 1 million dollars USD, and its value has stayed pretty steady for the past 100 years at least. So the Hebrew left Egypt with a lot of gold, and God didn't skimp in His directions for His house. Further, the Hebrews had a lot more gold they were continuing to give, such that Moses had to tell them to stop donating! This shows that if we give beautiful and valuable things for God's house, this is right. It shows how much we value God. It is not wrong to also give to those who need, but the provision of God's house should always be first.
There are many more interesting things to comment on, but I recommend you check it out to find more! You are all in my prayers. Glorify Christ always.
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