Hello all,
I am sure there may be an easy explanation that I am just simply over looking and would appreciate anyone who can help me out. It would seem in Ex 3:18 that God’s intention was to just have Israel leave for three days (Mount Sinai) and return? But just a few verses earlier in Ex 3:8 (and as we look back in hind sight) it seems like God actually never intended for Israel to return at all??? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Erich <>< (I’m not on my usual computer)
Exodus 3:8 vs. 3:18?
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_Anonymous
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Exodus 3:8 vs. 3:18?
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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_Les Wright
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Hi Erich,
I had not really thought about it, until I came across the following, which I modified from the IVP commentary on Exodus (see below). The main point was that Pharoah knew Moses wasn't coming back, which is why he bargained by slowly raising the stakes each time...
v18 three days journey - There are three possibilities here: 1) either Sinai was regarded as a three-day march from Goshen by the direct road; 2) ‘three days’ is used loosely of a vague period of time, or 3) God told Moses to use the term as a cover/ruse to escape from Egypt. Was God telling Moses to lie, since Moses was never intending to return? Or is he off the hook because he didn’t say he was coming back! Abraham and Jacob (Gn 12 & 27) and many other biblical characters lied to attain their purposes, although they are never commended for it, and in these two cases the Bible makes plain the harvest of suffering that deceit brings. But here, there is no necessity to assume actual deceit by Moses. True, it is unlikely that he ever intended to return, else he would not have pressed for women and children, flocks and herds, to accompany the men on this journey (Ex 10:9). That Pharaoh never expected them to return is clear from his violent reaction. The whole process is in fact a complicated piece of Oriental bargaining, like Abraham’s conversation with Ephron the Hittite (Gn 23). Moses’ demand for complete freedom, though couched in polite words, is there from the start. Pharaoh gradually raises his offers: sacrifice within Egypt (Ex 8:25); not too far away (Ex 8:28); adult males along may go (Ex 10:11); all but the flocks may go (Ex 10:24). To make a moral issue of such bargaining, or to use it as an ethical yardstick, is to misunderstand Eastern customs. This is a gusty folk narrative, like that of Jacob and Laban (Gn 30): we may pass moral judgments on it, but it is doubtful if the original narrator did. This was not the purpose of the story.
Hope that helps.
Les
I had not really thought about it, until I came across the following, which I modified from the IVP commentary on Exodus (see below). The main point was that Pharoah knew Moses wasn't coming back, which is why he bargained by slowly raising the stakes each time...
v18 three days journey - There are three possibilities here: 1) either Sinai was regarded as a three-day march from Goshen by the direct road; 2) ‘three days’ is used loosely of a vague period of time, or 3) God told Moses to use the term as a cover/ruse to escape from Egypt. Was God telling Moses to lie, since Moses was never intending to return? Or is he off the hook because he didn’t say he was coming back! Abraham and Jacob (Gn 12 & 27) and many other biblical characters lied to attain their purposes, although they are never commended for it, and in these two cases the Bible makes plain the harvest of suffering that deceit brings. But here, there is no necessity to assume actual deceit by Moses. True, it is unlikely that he ever intended to return, else he would not have pressed for women and children, flocks and herds, to accompany the men on this journey (Ex 10:9). That Pharaoh never expected them to return is clear from his violent reaction. The whole process is in fact a complicated piece of Oriental bargaining, like Abraham’s conversation with Ephron the Hittite (Gn 23). Moses’ demand for complete freedom, though couched in polite words, is there from the start. Pharaoh gradually raises his offers: sacrifice within Egypt (Ex 8:25); not too far away (Ex 8:28); adult males along may go (Ex 10:11); all but the flocks may go (Ex 10:24). To make a moral issue of such bargaining, or to use it as an ethical yardstick, is to misunderstand Eastern customs. This is a gusty folk narrative, like that of Jacob and Laban (Gn 30): we may pass moral judgments on it, but it is doubtful if the original narrator did. This was not the purpose of the story.
Hope that helps.
Les
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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