to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Pharaoh
פַּרְעֹ֑הpar.'Oh
H6547
Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
saith
אָמַ֣ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽלYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
son
בְּנִ֥יbe.Ni
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
firstborn
בְכֹרִ֖יve.kho.Ri
H1060
firstborn · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
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
Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, an…
Jeremiah 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way,…
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just me…
Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all…
Deuteronomy 14:1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
Isaiah 63:16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer;…
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 4:18-23
Here, I. Moses obtains leave of his father-in-law to return into Egypt, Exo 4:18. His father-in-law had been kind to him when he was a stranger, and therefore he would not be so uncivil as to leave his family, nor so unjust as to leave his service, without giving him notice. Note, The honour of being admitted into communion with God, and of being employed for him, does not exempt us from the duties of our relations and callings in this world. Moses said nothing to his father-in-law (for aught that appears) of the glorious manifestation of God to him; such favours we are to be thankful for to God, but not to boast of before men.
II. He receives from God further encouragements and directions i…
Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass--Septuagint, "asses." Those animals are not now used in the desert of Sinai except by the Arabs for short distances.
returned--entered on his journey towards Egypt.
he took the rod of God--so called from its being appropriated to His service, and because whatever miracles it might be employed in performing would be wrought not by its inherent properties, but by a divine power following on its use. (Compare Act 3:12).
Adam Clarke on Exodus 4:22
Israel is my son, even my firstborn - That is, The Hebrew people are unutterably dear to me.
John Gill on Exodus 4:22
And thou shall say unto Pharaoh,.... When arrived in Egypt, and in his presence:
thus saith the Lord; he was to declare to him that he came in his name, and by his orders, and, as an ambassador of his, required the dismission of the children of Israel out of Egypt:
Israel is my son, even my firstborn; as dear to him as a man's firstborn is, or as his only son: adoption is one of the privileges peculiar to Israel after the flesh, even national adoption, with all the external privileges appertaining to it, Romans 9:4.
John Calvin
The Church Fathers
And is there anything more profound to say of Israel, not of nature but of grace, of whom it was written, "Israel is my firstborn son," when Israel was in dispersion? You yourself will also understand that these are the scattered children of God for whom Jesus was to die in order to gather them together into one.
Why too does he blame Pharaoh, saying, "You will not let my people go; behold, I will smite all the firstborn in Egypt, even your firstborn," and all the rest that is recorded as being said by God through Moses to Pharaoh? It is incumbent on him who believes that the Scriptures are true and that God is just, if he is a thoughtful man, to take pains to show how God, in using such expressions as these, can be clearly conceived to be just.
When you hear "firstborn," do not think of this in human fashion; for among humans the firstborn have other brothers; and it is somewhere written, "Israel is my son, my firstborn." But like Reuben, Israel was a rejected firstborn; for Reuben went up to his father's bed, and Israel cast the Son of the Father out of the vineyard and crucified him. To others also Scripture says, "You are children of the Lord your God" and elsewhere, "I said, you are gods; all of you sons of the Most High." Note "I said," not "I begot." They, from the fact that God said it, received adoption which they did not have, but he was not begotten to be other than he was before. Rather he was begotten Son from the beginning, Son of the Father, like in all things to his Genitor, begotten Life of Life, Light of Light, Truth of Truth, Wisdom of Wisdom, King of King, God of God, Power of Power.
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
Adoption — The giving to any one the name and place and privileges of a son who is not a son by birth. (1.) Natural. Thus Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses (Ex. 2:10), and Mordecai Esther (Esther 2:7). (2.)…
Father — A name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11; Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12; 2 Kings…
Adoption · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Birthright · An honorable title — An honorable title
Firstborn · .Honorable distinction of — .Honorable distinction of
Moses · General references — General references
Son · .Of a per — .Of a per
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).
on Exodus 4:18-23
Exodus 4:18-23
18. And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
18. Profectus est ergo Moses, et reversus est ad Jethro socerum suum: et dixit ad eum, Vadam nunc, et revertar ad fratres meos qui sunt in Aegypto, ut videam an adhuc ipsi vivant. Et dixit Jethro Mosi, Vade in pace.
19. And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
19. Dixerat autem Jehova ad Mosen in Midian, Vade, revertere in Aegyptum; quia mortui sunt omnes viri quaerebant animam tuam…
Return of Moses to Egypt. - Exo 4:19-23. On leaving Midian, Moses received another communication from God with reference to his mission to Pharaoh. The word of Jehovah, in Exo 4:19, is not to be regarded as a summary of the previous revelation, in which case ויּאמר would be a pluperfect, nor as the account of another writer, who placed the summons to return to Egypt not in Sinai but in Midian. It is not a fact that the departure of Moses is given in Exo 4:18; all that is stated there is, that Jethro consented to Moses' decision to return to Egypt. It was not till after this consent that Moses was able to prepare for the journey. During these preparations God appeared to him in Midian, and en…
These verses summarize the events of the next several chapters, beginning with the request to let the people go so that they could worship God (5:3) and concluding with the final plague, the death of the firstborn (11:4-6). God was preparing the rescuer for the difficult task ahead (see 11:9).
Rashi on Exodus 4:22
ואמרת אל פרעה AND THOU SHALT SAY UNTO PHARAOH — When you perceive that his heart is stubborn and that he refuses to let them go speak to him thus:
בני בכרי [ISRAEL IS] MY SON, MY FIRSTBORN — The term בכור “firstborn” denotes high dignity as, (Psalms 89:28) “I also will appoint him a בכור” (which is explained by the following words, “the highest of the kings of the earth”). This is the literal meaning; a Midrashic comment is: Here (in these words) the Holy One, blessed be He, set His seal to the sale of the birthright which Jacob had purchased from Esau (Genesis Rabbah 63:14).
