22 October 2022 draft-bible
William Propp assigns verses 1-18 to E, 24-26 to J, and the closing of the chapter to E again, along with various more detailed comments on the remaining verses which can be read in his commentary on Exodus in the Anchor Bible series.
3. ran away from. Hebrew wayyanas. In many translations, this word is translated as “fled” or “ran”, but there is also a view that the Hebrew verb involved is broad enough to also include jumping back or recoiling. Thus, NJPS reads “recoiled”, while NRSV reads “drew back from”.
6. into your bosom. Hebrew bᵉḥeiqeka. WEB reads “in your cloak”, but ḥeiq means “bosom”, not cloak. This move seems similar to WEB’s tendency to replace “loins” with “body” or other indirect expressions, as in Genesis 35:11, 46:26; and Exodus 1:5.
6. leprous. Biblical texts many times refer to a skin condition, in Hebrew ṣaraʿat, which was considered to cause ritual impurity, and to cause patches of skin to become white. Unfortunately, the term has no perfect English equivalent, as there does not seem to be a currently existing disease which perfectly matches the biblical descriptions. Traditionally, the term has been translated in English as “leprosy”, although the condition described in the Bible is not the same as the modern disease of the same name. Instead of attempting to fix this issue by some sort of creative re-wording, I shall simply rely on the reader to keep in mind that “leprosy” in the biblical sense is a different matter from Hansen’s disease.
7. bosom. As in verse 6.
13. send by the hand of whom you will send. As Driver interprets it, “Moses assents, but unwillingly and ambiguously” (Exodus, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, p. 28). As WEB interprets it, Moses is disagreeing – “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.” Many translations opt for the interpretation “send someone else”. However, taken literally, Moses is telling God to send whomever God chooses, although the addition of “O Lord, please” would seem to indicate that he is less than enthusiastic (cf. Driver, Propp). Propp even speculates that perhaps the idem per idem construction and wording of Moses’ reply may constitute a flippant or disrespectful response – a sort of exhasperated “Fine. Send whoever you want.”
14. And Yahweh’s anger burned. Hebrewwayyiḥar af YHWH. The word af is literally “nose”, while ḥry is considered by BDB to mean “burn with anger”. Thus, we might read literally “Yahweh’s nose burned with anger”. Though Propp expresses some doubts as to whether the verb literally refers to “burning” (the verb is always used for anger rather than physical burning), it is clear in any case that the Hebrew text is describing Yahweh as becoming furious. In fact, the only cases where Yahweh’s anger is described by this verb which do not result in violence are Job 42:7 and this use (see Propp, Exodus 1-18, Anchor Bible, 1999).
14. your brother, the Levite. Prop reads this as “your brother Levite”, which he takes to mean, “your fellow Levite”. As he sees it, in Elohist material, including 4:1-17, Aaron and Moses are not described as literal brothers, but simply as fellow Levites. If Propp is wrong, why would this verse describe Aaron to Moses first as “your brother” and then as “the Levite”? As Moses himself is a Levite, he would not need to be informed that his own brother is also a Levite – it would follow obviously from their shared parentage.
14. I know that he can speak well. Hebrew yadaʿti ki dabber yᵉdabber. There is in fact to term for “well” or “fluently” in the sentence, but simply an emphatic repetition of the verb “speak”. It is perhaps the majority opinion that this should be taken to mean “speak well” or “speak fluently”, but Propp takes this not as referring not to the quality of Aaron’s speech, but simply that Yahweh knows Aaron will be more cooperative – “I know that he will speak”.
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