Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, please study this chapter and then answer all 80 questions at the end of this chapter.

Exodus Chapter 3

Verses 1-6: “The angel of the Lord” who appeared to Moses is identified as “the God of thy father, the God of Abraham … Isaac … Jacob.” This is apparently the continuation of the manifestations of “the angel of the Lord” begun in Genesis 16:7. This one is more than just an angelic messenger from God. Frequently He received the respect, worship and honor reserved only for God; yet He was consistently distinguished from God (note the references in Genesis 16:7-11; 21:17; 22:11-18; 24:7, 40; 31:11; 32:24-30; 48:15-16). He carried an identity with God; yet He was also sent from Him! The patriarchs may not have regarded Him as equivalent to a Christophany, but it is sure that He was not the invisible God. And He acted and talked as the Lord.

Exodus 3:1 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, [even] to Horeb.”

“Moses kept the flock of Jethro”: Moses worked as a shepherd while living with his father-in-law, a life and occupation quite different from the privilege and prestige associated with his life in Pharaoh’s court.

“Horeb”: An alternative name for Mt. Sinai (19:11; Deut. 4:10). Traditionally, this mountain has been identified with Jebel Musa, “the mountain of Moses.” “Horeb” is the Hebrew for the non-Semitic place/name, Sinai, located in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

“The mountain of God”: This is known as such because of what took place there later in Israel’s history. This name for the mountain suggests that the book of Exodus was written by Moses after the events at Sinai. Others suggest that it was already known as a sacred mountain prior to the call of Moses; but it seems best to relate the name to what God did for Israel there.

It appears that Moses, after forty years, was still working for his father-in-law. Jethro and Reuel, as we said in the last lesson, was probably the same person. Jethro means “his excellence”, which is a title and Reuel was his name. Here we see Moses leading this flock away from so many of the neighbor’s flock, to a place where probably, very few came.

The Mount of God, called Horeb here, was probably Sinai. At least they were in the same range. This flock mentioned here, are probably sheep. We see Moses for the last forty years living a very peaceful life, settling down and having a family and actually changing from a youthful forty to an old man of eighty years. At any rate, he has had plenty of time to think about his life.

Exodus 3:2 “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed.”

“The angel of the Lord”: Literally “messenger of Yahweh” who, in context, turns out to be the Lord Himself talking to Moses (Acts 7:30).

This appearance of the “Angle of the Lord” is the first instance of direct revelation to Moses. After 80 years, Moses was now ready to fulfill the Lord’s calling. No other leader in biblical times had such a lengthy training period. Times of preparation are never wasted; God knows that, properly prepared, His servants can do more in 40 years that they could do in 120 unprepared.

This appearance here, in my opinion, was actually the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the baptism that Jesus brings is the baptism of fire, and also Jesus is the Lord. This was not a regular fire but the fire of the Spirit, because a regular fire would have burned this bush up. This had to be the fire of the Spirit.

Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and [with] fire:”

This fire I believe is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.

Exodus 3:3 “And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

Moses’ attention was drawn to a most unusual sight, that of a burning bush which was not being consumed by the fire within. A supernatural event is the only viable explanation. Natural explanations of certain types of flowers with gaseous pods or oil glands fail, in that, after 40 years of work in the desert, Moses would surely have ignored something normal.

For this shepherd, it would not have been unusual to see a bush catch on fire and burn up. But to see one on fire that did not burn up had caught Moses’ attention and he went to investigate this phenomenon.

Exodus 3:4 “And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I.”

This was so different that it aroused his curiosity and demanded further examination. God was in the bush speaking, clearly a miraculous event.

Mount “Horeb” (Sinai) is not only where Moses received his divine commission at the burning bush, but it is also the place where Yahweh would give Israel His gracious gift of the Law.

Here we see the call of Moses to a very great task. God calls to each of us but some of us do not answer, “Here am I”. Notice here, that the Spirit of God can appear in any form. God is a Spirit, We see in John 4:24 in Jesus’ own words, because it is printed red in the Bible.

John 4:24 “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”

You see, God does not have to conform to what we believe. We believe when He does it His way. We see here, the Spirit of God speaking to Moses from the bush.

Verses 5-10: See Acts 7:33-34.

Exodus 3:5 “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground.”

For these divine moments, the area near the bush was the Lord’s house because of the Lord’s presence (“holy ground”). The resulting command to “take your shoes off thy feet” reflects this. In Afro-Asian culture, people do not wear shoes inside a home.

This to me is something that we all forget from time to time. In the presence of God is holy ground. I feel that our place of worship is a holy place and should be approached with great respect. The actual room in the church where the preaching takes place I believe, should be treated with great respect. There should be no eating or drinking, or even really loud talking. This one place I believe, should be set aside as a special place to come and talk with God. Our society has gotten far too casual with God. God deserves our respect and worship.

Exodus 3:6 “Moreover he said, I [am] the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”

“I am the God of thy father”: God’s opening words, although important for Moses to hear, point the reader back to 2:24, showing that the God of Israel has remembered His people and has begun to take action (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37; Acts 3:13; 7:32).

“Moses hid his face”: A fitting reaction of reverent fear in the presence of the Divine was modeled by Moses.

Here again, we see that this was probably the one we know as Jesus because He is the God of the faithful. Abraham was the father of the faithful, as we see in Galatians.

Galatians 3:6-7 “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”

Probably Moses had been taught by his Hebrew mother to reverence God. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Verses 7-22: The significance of the name of God given in verse 14, “I AM THAT I AM,” constitutes the idea that the “I AM” (in Exodus 3), reveals God as the Being who is absolutely self-existent, and who, in Himself, possesses essential life and permanent existence. To the Hebrew, “to be” doesn’t just mean to exist, but to be active, to express oneself in active being. God is the One who acts. The imperfect tense of the verb becomes clear. God’s manifestation to Israel is yet future at the time of the burning bush incident. The “I AM” or “I will be” is God’s promise that He will redeem the children of Israel.

The people wanted to be reassured that this God would meet them in their time of need, proving His character and promises. The phrase “no, not by a mighty hand” may best be understood as “not by a strong hand [of man] but by a divine agency” as expressed (in 6:1): “Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for … with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.” Several other translations have “unless a mighty hand compels him” and “except under compulsion.”

Exodus 3:7 “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which [are] in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;”

“I have surely seen … have heard their cry”: An emphasis on God’s having been aware of the desperate situation of Israel.

The Lord was telling Moses that He was aware of the terrible cruelty these taskmasters had shown the Israelites. God is not unaware of our problems. He not only knows, but cares. If we cry out to Him for help, He is always there to answer. In the case of these Israelites, they were a long time asking but now God had heard them and was about to free them.

Exodus 3:8 “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

The result of God’s hearing them (in verse 7). Here He promised to deliver them from Egyptian oppression. Here, and in the next two verses, the repetitive manner in describing what God saw and would do, served to underscore all the more, His personal involvement in the history of His people whom He had sent into Egypt.

“I am come down to deliver them” were words for Israel, but they also point to the future incarnation of Jesus (John 1:14).

“Unto a good land…large, unto a land … unto the place”: Three descriptions of the land to which Israel was going to be taken emphatically underscored the land promise of the Abrahamic Covenant.

“Flowing with milk and honey”: This was a formal and graphic way of describing a fertile and of bounteous provision.

 “The Canaanites and the Hittites”: A specific identification of the territory to which Israel was going; her Promised Land was currently inhabited by other peoples.

Notice here, that it was God who would deliver them. Moses was the instrument God used, but it was God who delivered. This desert land of Egypt had become a real heartache. By this time, they had cultivated the land around Goshen to the extent that the land was not producing like it first did. God was promising these descendants of Abraham a better life. This Promised Land that God was promising is about 11,000 square miles, and would be large enough to handle this approximately three million people.

However, it is a very small area compared to other countries. It is approximately the size of one of the smaller states here in the U.S. This land, when God was speaking to Moses, was already occupied by ungodly people. This was however, the land that God promised Abraham a few hundred years before. God had given these people who were in the land, a space to repent of their evil ways; and they had not and now the Israelites were to claim their inheritance.

Exodus 3:9 “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”

God notices the afflictions of Israel. Their sorrows; even the secret sorrows of God’s people are known to him. Their cry; God hears the cries of his afflicted people. The oppression they endured; the highest and greatest of their oppressors are not above him. God promises speedy deliverance by methods out of the common ways of providence. Those whom God, by his grace, delivers out of a spiritual Egypt, he will bring to a heavenly Canaan.

Exodus 3:10 “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

I will send thee”: The divine summons made Moses both leader/deliverer of Israel and ambassador of God before Pharaoh.

God is always in sympathy with the oppressed. He was even more in sympathy with the Israelites, for they were His covenant people. God is always against those who are cruel to others, and that certainly was the case here. These Egyptian taskmasters had been very cruel. Here we see God telling Moses exactly what his (Moses’), call was. He was to go to Pharaoh and represent all the Israelites. Moses was commanded of God to bring them out of Egypt.

Sometimes the things that God calls us to do seems very near impossible to carry out; but we must remember that when God calls us to do a task, He will see to it that it is possible for us to do it.

Exodus 3:11 “And Moses said unto God, Who [am] I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Moses typified human response when God calls someone to what seems beyond them (“Who am I), yet the success of any divine mission is never dependent on human abilities.

The first response is an objection from Moses to the divine summons, an expression of inadequacy for such a serious mission. It sounded reasonable, for after 40 years of absence from Egypt, what could he, a mere shepherd in Midian, do upon return?

Here, we see Moses, humble, believing that he was not capable of doing this job that God had called him to do. Some have called Moses the humblest man who ever lived, except for Jesus. One of the reasons God calls anyone to service for Him, is because He realizes that within themselves they cannot do the job. God doesn’t call someone to work for Him, because he can already do whatever He has called him for. God wants to work through us. The only thing we need to do is be willing to be used of God.

God just wants a willing vessel. He will furnish the ability and power (from Him), to accomplish the task. All He wants us to say is “Here am I, send me”. A willing, humble heart is what God is looking for. If we are proud of ourselves and self-sufficient, He can’t use us. The nearer we are to God, the more we feel capable of doing the things He has called us to. In our weakness, God is strong. Our sufficiency is of God, and not ourselves. I cannot say it enough. We are not capable within ourselves to do anything for God. We must allow the Holy Spirit of God to work in us and through us. The power is God’s power, not our own.

Exodus 3:12 “And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this [shall be] a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”

“Certainly I will be with thee”: The divine promise, one given also to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, should have been sufficient to quell all the chosen agent’s fears and sense of inadequacy for the task.

“Ye shall serve God upon this mountain”: A second divine promise signified the future success of the mission, suggesting that Israel would not be delivered simply out of bondage and oppression, but rescued to worship (Acts 7:7).

The Lord’s words “I will be with thee” were intended to focus Moses on the true Source of his future success.

Here we see God’s encouraging reply to Moses. God promised that He would be with Moses. God gave even more encouragement to Moses when He spoke of Moses bringing the children out, as if it had already happened. He even let Moses know that he would live through all of this, in the fact, that Moses would worship on this very mountain. There are no “ifs” at all in any of these statements God made to Moses. This alone should fire Moses up to go. This was God (not man), making this promise and that made it a fact.

Exodus 3:13 “And Moses said unto God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? what shall I say unto them?”

“And Moses said”: Was Moses at this point crossing the line from reasonable inquiry to unreasonable doubt? God’s patient replies instructing Moses on what He would do and what the results would be. Including Israel’s being viewed with favor by the Egyptians (3:21), ought to caution the reader from hastily classifying Moses’ attitude as altogether wrong from the very beginning of the interaction between him and the Lord. A response of divine anger comes only (in 4:14), at the very end of Moses’ questions and objections (see note on 4:1).

“What is his name”: Moses raised a second objection. Israel might ask for God’s name in validation of Moses’ declaration that he had been sent by the God of their fathers. Significantly, the question was not “Who is this God?” The Hebrews understood the name Yahweh had been known to the patriarchs (which Genesis well indicates). Asking “what”, meant they sought for the relevancy of the name to their circumstances. Asking “Who”, sought after title, name and identity. Whereas “What?”, inquired into the character, quality or essence of a person.

There are three primary names of God: Elohim (God), Jehovah or Yahweh (usually printed as Lord in the KJV), and Adonai (Lord). Each of these names emphasizes a different aspect of the nature of God. The name Elohim occurs 31 times (in Genesis 1), where it emphasizes His strength and creative power. The name Yahweh is most often used to express God’s self-existence, particularly in relation to humanity. Adonai means “master” and underscores the authority of God.

When Moses objected to returning to Egypt, one of his excuses was that he did not know God’s name. By that he meant that he did not understand enough about God’s authority. God solved this problem by revealing Himself as the “I AM”, that is, Yahweh. Because God reveals Himself in His names, Christians should understand them to better serve Him.

Here we see Moses, in effect, accepting this awesome job. He was trying to convince himself that they might even believe him, if he only could give them a name that would explain who this God was who had sent him. Why Moses was asking this name is a big question. Perhaps, it was because the Egyptians had many false gods, and they each had a specific name. Up until this time the subject of a specific name for God had not come up.

“El” was one of the names used for God. “Jehovah” was another. Actually, there are 98 or more names for God in the Bible. Each seems to be used according to the working of God at that specific time. Moses wanted to be prepared, and also, wanted to bring them something that they could not deny. In explaining who God was, Moses would probably already know Him as Jehovah, which encompasses so much. He (Jehovah), is self-existent, eternal, separate and independent from His creation, changeless, truthful and faithful to keep His promises

It is interesting that Moses would have to go to the Israelites first. They would have to be willing to be delivered, before he could deal with the Pharaoh to free them. Can you see the symbolism here? We must be willing to give up the world (Egypt), before the Lord Jesus will deliver us. We must repent and turn from this old life of bondage before Jesus can deliver us. The Israelites, just like us the believers, have to want Moses to deliver them.

Pharaoh, in this, was symbolic of Satan. Jesus had to deal with Satan, and defeat him to save us. Moses would have to deal with Pharaoh and defeat him to free the Israelites. Mankind, then or now, cannot be saved without their willingness to be saved. We are a free moral agent. We must “will” to be saved.

Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

“I AM WHO I AM”: This name for God points to His self-existence and eternality; it denotes “I am the One who is/will be,” which is decidedly the best and most contextually suitable option from a number of theories about its meaning and etymological source. The significance in relation to “God of your fathers” is immediately discernible: He’s the same God throughout the ages!

The consonants from the Hebrew word Yhwh, combined with the vowels from the divine name Adonai (Master or Lord), gave rise to the name “Jehovah” in English. Since the name Yahweh was considered so sacred that it should not be pronounced, the Massoretes inserted the vowels from Adonai to remind themselves to pronounce it when reading instead of saying Yahweh. Technically, this combination of consonants is known as the “tetragrammaton.”

When God said, “I AM WHO I AM”, he declared His eternal, unchanging, uncreated self-existence.

This is probably, the most powerful statement in the Bible. It is a fact that God exists. There is nothing before and nothing after. There is absolute presence. The word “AM” translated is Hayah. This verb means to exist, to breathe, and to be. The key to the name Jehovah/Yahweh is found in this verb. This tells us of the timelessness of God; the eternity of God. In Hebrews, we see that we all must believe this:

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

My translation of “I AM” is, the One who eternally exists, in the present tense.

Verses 15-22: Having provided Moses with His name in response to his second inquiry, God then furnished him with two speeches, one for Israel’s elders (verses 16-17), and one for Pharaoh (verse 18b). Also included was notification of the elders’ positive response to Moses’ report (verse 18a), of Pharaoh’s refusal to grant them their request (verse 19), of God’s miraculous, judgmental reaction (verse 20), and of Israel’s plundering of the Egyptians, who found themselves responding favorably to the departing nation’s request for silver, gold, and clothing (verses 21-22). The last of these harkens back to God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would come out of the land of their affliction with great possessions (Gen. 15:14).

Exodus 3:15 “And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this [is] my name for ever, and this [is] my memorial unto all generations.”

The identification of the Lord as “God of your fathers” is enormously important. Moses and the Hebrew people needed to know that this was no “new god”, the Deliverer of Israel ever is and ever will be (6:2-3; 34:5-7; Gen. 12:1; John 8:58).

Compare (Matt. 22:23; Mark 12:26; Acts 3:13).

In the original manuscript, Jehovah Elohim is the name used for God. This means Jehovah, God of your fathers. What this Scripture above was saying, was that God is the God of the present. It speaks of His eternity again. This God will never die. To obtain life everlasting we must obtain Him which is life eternal.

Exodus 3:16 “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and [seen] that which is done to you in Egypt:”

Literally “bearded ones,” which indicated the age and wisdom needed to lead.

When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were mentioned to these elders, they were being reminded that God had made covenant with this people; and that God keeps His covenant. These elders here, was not elders of a church, but elder in age. This possibly was a group of older people chosen to represent the group.

Exodus 3:17 “And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The Lord’s plan was to deliver His children from bondage so they could worship Him and be established as His chosen people.

“Land of” (see notes on 3:8).

Here, Moses must convince them to leave and go to a better land. As bad as Egypt had been, at least they had survived here; and to go for the unknown was a big step. This was especially hard to believe, in that the land is already occupied. Here again, we can easily see symbolism of the Christian walk. There is a world out there for the believer to overcome.

So many times people are reluctant to start a new life in Christ, because they do not want to give up old friends and the worldly pleasure they had together. The believer must believe there is a Promised Land, and must be willing to turn his back on that old life, and go searching for the new. There will be hardships along the way, because we must be tried. The first step is to decide to leave the world (Egypt), behind.

Exodus 3:18 “And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.”

God also equipped Moses with the words for the “elders of Israel” as well as Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). God provides all that is needed to serve Him (2 Pet. 1:3).

“Three days’ journey”: The request for a 3 day journey to worship, in the light of: (1) direct promises of deliverance from Egypt, (2) worship at Horeb, and (3) entrance into Canaan, was not a ruse to get out and then not return, but an initial, moderate request to highlight the intransigence of Pharaoh. He just would not let these slaves leave under any conditions (verse 19).

Here, God reassured Moses that these people would accept this message of His. You see, as we said before, these Hebrews (Israelites), have to first of all be willing to follow Moses and then the next step was to convince the king of Egypt to let them go. They would go at this slowly. Now, Moses was to gain reinforcement, and take these elders with him when he appeared before the king. These Hebrews really had dropped the sacrifice while they were in Egypt, but God was saying, go out of Egypt and worship again. Here again, we see a symbol of the believers. We cannot serve God while we are caught up in the world (Egypt). We must come out of worldliness to go and worship God.

Exodus 3:19 “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.”

I know, which is more suitable, since it is God who speaks, and to Him the future is known with as absolute a certainty as the past.

“No, not by a mighty hand”: Rather, not even under a mighty hand Pharaoh, even when chastised by My mighty hand, will not voluntarily permit of your departure (see Exodus 14:5-23).

Here, He was telling Moses, it was going to be a battle. Christians too, are in warfare. Satan fights hard to keep us in worldliness, but if we persevere we can overcome Satan and the world and follow God. This king, symbolic of Satan, would fight to keep them (these Hebrews), under subjection to him.

Exodus 3:20 “And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.”

Hands are stretched out to help and save. God promises here more than He had promised before (Exodus 3:12). He shows how He will “be with” Moses. He will lend him miraculous aid, performing in his behalf “all his wonders,” and with them “smiting the Egyptians.”

“And after that he will let you go”: This is said for their encouragement, that their faith and patience might hold out, who otherwise seeing him so obstinate and inflexible, might be ready to despair of ever succeeding.

Here, we see God fighting for these Hebrews. God does the very same thing for us if we will allow Him to. Signs and wonders have been the convincing factors throughout the Bible. This time would be no exception.

Exodus 3:21 “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:”

That is, give the Israelites favor in their sight, a little before their departure, who should be ready to do anything for them, or bestow anything upon them. Or lend them what they would desire, being glad to be at peace with them, or to get rid of them. For whose sakes they would perceive all those sore calamities came upon them, that they were distressed with.

“And it shall come to pass, that when ye go, ye shall not go empty”: Destitute of what was necessary for them, but even with great substance, as was foretold by Abraham they should, and which prophecy was now about to be fulfilled (Genesis 15:14).

It is not our place to judge God or the commands He gives. Many people believe that deception takes place in this, but let us take a really good look at what it is saying. The very first line says that God Himself had put it into the hearts of the Egyptians to give freely to these Hebrews. After 100’s of years of servitude this was justice being done. Probably, some of the people of Egypt had grown fond of these Hebrews. The fight was not with the people; it was with the king. You see, we Christians are not fighting against flesh and blood but against principalities.

Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

These Hebrews were not really fighting against the Egyptian people in general, but against the hard rulership which made them slaves. In many cases, God had given them favor with some.

Exodus 3:22 “But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put [them] upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.”

Because the Hebrews were slaves with no resources, the “jewels of silver” and “gold” were necessary to finance the building of a tabernacle (see note on 12:36).

When we see the results of the tenth plague and the loss of the first born, we will also understand better why these Egyptians would give anything the Hebrews asked, and even want them to leave with whatever they asked for. It is not a natural thing for people to give away their jewelry, but remember God put it in the hearts of the Egyptians to do just that.

Exodus 3: Questions