Exodus 3:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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.
to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
deliver
לְהַצִּיל֣וֹle.ha.tzi.Lo
H5337
to snatch away · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
מִיַּ֣דmi.Yad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Egyptians
מִצְרַ֗יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
bring
וּֽלְהַעֲלֹתוֹ֮u.le.ha.'a.lo.To
H5927
to ascend · conjunction + preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
land
הָאָ֣רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abra…
Genesis 15:18-21 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great ri…
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…
Exodus 13:5 And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the…
Deuteronomy 1:25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land w…
Deuteronomy 8:7-9 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills…
Jeremiah 11:5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then a…
Numbers 13:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 3:7-10
Now that Moses had put off his shoes (for, no doubt, he observed the orders given him, Exo 3:5), and covered his face, God enters upon the particular business that was now to be concerted, which was the bringing of Israel out of Egypt. Now, after forty years of Israel's bondage and Moses's banishment, when we may suppose both he and they began to despair, they of being delivered and he of delivering them, at length, the time has come, even the year of the redeemed. Note, God often comes for the salvation of his people when they have done looking for him. Shall he find faith? Luk 18:8.
Here is, I. The notice God takes of the afflictions of Israel (Exo 3:7, Exo 3:9): Seeing I have seen, not on…
I am the God . . . come down to deliver--The reverential awe of Moses must have been relieved by the divine Speaker (see Mat 22:32), announcing Himself in His covenant character, and by the welcome intelligence communicated. Moreover, the time, as well as all the circumstances of this miraculous appearance, were such as to give him an illustrious display of God's faithfulness to His promises. The period of Israel's journey and affliction in Egypt had been predicted (Gen 15:13), and it was during the last year of the term which had still to run that the Lord appeared in the burning bush.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 3:8
And I am come down to deliver them - This is the very purpose for which I am now come down upon this mountain, and for which I manifest myself to thee.
Large - land - Canaan, when compared with the small tract of Goshen, in which they were now situated, and where, we learn, from Exo 1:7, they were straitened for room, might be well called a large land. See a fine description of this land Deu 8:7.
A land flowing with milk and honey - Excellent for pasturage, because abounding in the most wholesome herbage and flowers; and from the latter an abundance of wild honey was collected by the bees. Though cultivation is now almost entirely neglected in this land, because of the badness of the governm…
I ask whether we should take the land flowing with milk and honey spiritually, since, according to the proper sense, this phrase does not describe the land that was being given to the people of Israel. Or is it a figure of speech that is used to praise the richness and sweetness of the land?
Indeed, unless that land which was styled the land that flowed with milk and honey signified something great, through which, as by a visible token, he was leading those who understood his wondrous works to invisible grace and the kingdom of heaven, they could not be blamed for scorning that land, whose temporal kingdom we also ought to esteem as nothing, that we may love that Jerusalem which is free, the mother of us all, which is in heaven, and truly to be desired.
… Jesus Christ was to introduce the second people (which is composed of us nations, lingering deserted in the world previously) into the land of promise, "flowing with milk and honey" (that is, into the possession of eternal life, than which nothing is sweeter). This had to come about not through Moses (that is, not through the law's discipline) but through Joshua (that is, through the new law's grace), after our circumcision with "a knife of rock" (that is, with Christ's precepts, for Christ is in many ways and figures predicted as a rock). Therefore the man who was being prepared to act as an image of this sacrament was inaugurated under the figure of the Lord's name, even so as to be named Jesus.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bush — In which Jehovah appeared to Moses in the wilderness (Ex. 3:2; Acts 7:30). It is difficult to say what particular kind of plant or bush is here meant. Probably it was the mimosa or acacia. The words…
Canaanites — The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence “spread to the west,…
Honey — (1.) Heb. ya’ar, occurs only 1 Sam. 14:25, 27, 29; Cant. 5:1, where it denotes the honey of bees. Properly the word signifies a forest or copse, and refers to honey found in woods. (2.) Nopheth,…
Jebusites — The name of the original inhabitants of Jebus, mentioned frequently among the seven nations doomed to destruction (Gen. 10:16; 15:21; Ex. 3:8, 17; 13:5, etc.). At the time of the arrival of the…
Kenizzite — (1.) The name of a tribe referred to in the covenant God made with Abraham (Gen. 15:19). They are not mentioned among the original inhabitants of Canaan (Ex. 3:8; Josh. 3:10), and probably they…
Milk — (1.) Hebrew halabh, “new milk”, milk in its fresh state (Judg. 4:19). It is frequently mentioned in connection with honey (Ex. 3:8; 13:5; Josh. 5:6; Isa. 7:15, 22; Jer. 11:5). Sheep (Deut. 32:14) and…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Perizzite, The — and Per’izzites (belonging to a village), one of the nations inhabiting the land of promise before and at the time of its conquest by Israel. (B.C. 1450.) They are continually mentioned in the…
Perizzites — Villagers; dwellers in the open country, the Canaanitish nation inhabiting the fertile regions south and south-west of Carmel. “They were the graziers, farmers, and peasants of the time.” They were…
Plagues, The Ten — The occasion on which the plagues were sent is described in Exod 3-12.
good
טוֹבָה֙to.Vah
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, feminine singular absolute
land
אֶ֤רֶץ'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
a Jebusite or inhabitant of Jebus · conjunction + definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
John Gill on Exodus 3:8
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,.... Which must be understood consistent with the omnipresence of God, who is everywhere, and strictly speaking cannot be said to remove from place to place, or to descend; but such a way of speaking is used, when he gives some eminent display of his power or goodness, as here in a wonderful manner he appeared in a burning bush, and manifested himself in a way of grace and kindness to his people, signifying that he would shortly save them: so Christ in our nature came down from heaven to earth, to save his spiritual Israel out of the hands of all their enemies:
and to bring them out of that land; the land of Egypt, where th…
Exodus 3:6-9
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.
6. Ego Deus patris tui, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob. Et operuit Moses faciem suam, quia timuit aspicere ad Deum.
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;
7. Et dixit Jehovah, Videndo vidi afflictionem populi mei, qui est in Aegypto, et clamorem eorum audivi a facie exactorum ejus: certe cognovi [40] dolores ejus.
8. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand o…
Jehovah had seen the affliction of His people, had heard their cry under their taskmasters, and had come down (ירד, vid., Gen 11:5) to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up to a good and broad land, to the place of the Canaanites; and He was about to send Moses to Pharaoh to bring them forth. The land to which the Israelites were to be taken up is called a "good" land, on account of its great fertility (Deu 8:7.), and a "broad" land, in contrast with the confinement and oppression of the Israelites in Egypt. The epithet "good" is then explained by the expression, "a land flowing with milk and honey" (זבת, a participle of זוּב in the construct state; vid., Ges. 1…
God would not only rescue them but would take them to their own . . . land that he had promised to Abraham (Gen 13:14-18). • flowing with milk and honey: The land was agriculturally rich, with pasturage for cattle and crops with blooms from which bees could make honey. • Canaanites . . . Jebusites: The list of peoples who lived in Canaan indicates the importance of this strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert. As a vital crossroads for trade and communication between Egypt and the rest of the ancient Near East, it was a hotly contested prize. That Israel could end up in sole possession of it seemed an impossibility.
Rashi on Exodus 3:7
כי ידעתי את מכאביו FOR I KNOW THEIR SORROWS — The verb has the same meaning as in (Exodus 2:25) “and God knew”, signifying as much as: for I have set my heart upon noticing and understanding their sorrows, and I have not hidden my eyes from their distress, nor have I stopped my ears against their cry.
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Wine — The common Hebrew word for wine is yayin, from a root meaning “to boil up,” “to be in a ferment.” Others derive it from a root meaning “to tread out,” and hence the juice of the grape trodden out.…
Amorites, The · One of the seven nations of Canaan — One of the seven nations of Canaan
Egypt · History of Israel in: Moses sent to Pharaoh — History of Israel in: Moses sent to Pharaoh
Hittites · Their land given to the Israelites — Their land given to the Israelites
Hivites · Land of, promised to Israel — Land of, promised to Israel
Holy Land · Extremely fruitful — Extremely fruitful
Honey · Plentiful in Palestine — Plentiful in Palestine
Jebusites · Land of, given to Abraham and his — Land of, given to Abraham and his
Milk · FIGURATITE — FIGURATITE
Moses · bring them into the land of — bring them into the land of
Perizzites · Territory of, given to Abraham — Territory of, given to Abraham
Religion · .Moses — .Moses
Sorrow · .Of the Israelites — .Of the Israelites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
