Exodus 4:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 4:6
And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
hand
יָֽדְךָ֙ya.de.Kha
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
bosom
בְּחֵיקֶ֔ךָbe.chei.Ke.cha
H2436
the bosom (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
put
וַיָּבֵ֥אvai.ya.Ve'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
יָד֖וֹya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
bosom
בְּחֵיק֑וֹbe.chei.Ko
H2436
the bosom (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
took
וַיּ֣וֹצִאָ֔הּvai.Yo.tzi.'Ah
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
hand
יָד֖וֹya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
leprous
מְצֹרַ֥עַתme.tzo.Ra.'at
H6879
to scourge · verb, pual passive participle, feminine singular construct
snow
כַּשָּֽׁלֶגka.Sha.leg
H7950
snow (probably from its whiteness) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine 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
Numbers 12:10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold…
2 Kings 5:27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as sn…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 4:1-9
It was a very great honour that Moses was called to when God commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt; yet he is with difficulty persuaded to accept the commission, and does it at last with great reluctance, which we should rather impute to a humble diffidence of himself and his own sufficiency than to any unbelieving distrust of God and his word and power. Note, Those whom God designs for preferment he clothes with humility; the most fit for service are the least forward.
I. Moses objects that in all probability the people would not hearken to his voice (Exo 4:1), that is, they would not take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign, which he had not been yet instructed to do. Th…
Put now thine hand into thy bosom--the open part of his outer robe, worn about the girdle.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 4:6
His hand was leprous as snow - That is, the leprosy spread itself over the whole body in thin white scales; and from this appearance it has its Greek name λεπρα, from λεπις, a scale. Dr. Mead says, "I have seen a remarkable case of this in a countryman, whose whole body was so miserably seized with it, that his skin was shining as if covered with snow; and as the surfuraceous scales were daily rubbed off, the flesh appeared quick or raw underneath." The leprosy, at least among the Jews, was a most inveterate and contagious disorder, and deemed by them incurable. Among the heathens it was considered as inflicted by their gods, and it was supposed that they alone could remove it. It is certain…
And the Lord said furthermore unto him,.... Continued his discourse, and gave him another sign:
put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; within his coat, under that part of the garment next to his breast:
and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow; that is, white as snow, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, through the leprosy that was upon it; it was a leprosy of the white sort, and which is reckoned the worst and most difficult to be cured, see Leviticus 13:3. It is highly probable that this gave rise to the story told by several Heathen writers, as Manetho (m), Lysimachus (n), Trogus (o), and Tacitus (p), that Moses and the Israelites…
The Church Fathers
Just as Moses was allowed to perform miracles with a rod, so he was ordered to thrust his hand into his bosom, and when it was brought out again it was found to be leprous; then he was ordered to insert it again, and it was at once healed. This indicates that the Jewish people was to become impure by abandoning the Lord Christ but that it would recover its former health by returning to him.
It is difficult to see what this sign can symbolize for us. But since we must not stop seeking and must deliver to the reader what occurs to us as an interpretation, we will say that in many passages the hand is a symbol of deeds. Now the bosom of Moses has two meanings. The first, in accordance with the sense of the letter, makes the deed of the doer like snow, as it says in the Hebrew, and leprous. The second, however, in accordance with the spiritual law, shows that the conduct is pure and that it is restored to the will of the nature of the Word.
Again, another sign which Moses gave points to our Lord Jesus Christ. He put his hand into his bosom and drew it out again, and his hand had become as snow. A second time he put it in and drew it out, and it was again like the appearance of human flesh. This signified first the original glory of the Godhead of the Lord Jesus and then the assumption of our flesh, in which truth all nations and peoples must believe. So he put in his hand, for Christ is the right hand of God; and whosoever does not believe in his Godhead and incarnation is punished as a sinner; like that king who, while not believing open and plain signs, yet afterwards, when punished, prayed that he might find mercy.
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
Leper, Leprosy — The predominant and characteristic form of leprosy in the Old Testament is a white variety, covering either the entire body or a large tract of its surface, which has obtained the name of Lepra…
Call · .MOSES — .MOSES
Condescension Of God · Rea — Rea
Leprosy · Parts affected by: The hand — Parts affected by: The hand
Miracles · .Moses’ leprosy — .Moses’ leprosy
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Moses and Aaron: Hand made leprous — Moses and Aaron: Hand made leprous
Moses · ma — ma
Sign · .Moses — .Moses
Token · Miracles of Moses, of the divine authority of his missions — Miracles of Moses, of the divine authority of his missions
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).
Exodus 4:1-9
1. And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
1. Tunc respondit Moses, et dixit, Sed ecce non credent mihi, neque obedient voci meae quia dicent, Non apparuit tibi Jehova.
2. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? and he said, A rod.
2. Et dixit ad eum Jehova, Quid est hoc in manu tua? Et dixit, Baculus.
3. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
3. Tunc dixit, Projice eum in terram. Et projecit in terram, et factus est serpens, et fugit Moses a conspectu ejus.
4. An…
Moses now started a fresh difficulty: the Israelites would not believe that Jehovah had appeared to him. There was so far a reason for this difficulty, that from the time of Jacob-an interval, therefore, of 430 years - God had never appeared to any Israelite. God therefore removed it by giving him three signs by which he might attest his divine mission to his people. These three signs were intended indeed for the Israelites, to convince them of the reality of the appearance of Jehovah to Moses; at the same time, as even Ephraem Syrus observed, they also served to strengthen Moses' faith, and dissipate his fears as to the result of his mission. For it was apparent enough that Moses did not po…
severe skin disease: The Hebrew word underlying this phrase has traditionally been translated “leprosy.” However, the symptoms of this condition as described in the Bible are not those of the disease we know as leprosy (Hansen’s disease). The biblical term seems to describe several kinds of highly contagious inflammations and skin lesions.
Rashi on Exodus 4:6
מצרעת כשלג LEPROUS AS SNOW — It is the nature of leprosy to be white, and thus we read in reference to a leper, (Leviticus 13:4) “If the bright spot be white [in the skin of his flesh]”. By this sign, too, he indicated that he had made a slanderous statement when he said, (v. 1) “But, behold, they will not believe me”. Therefore He smote him with leprosy (Exodus Rabbah 3:13) even as Miriam was so smitten for the slander she had spoken (cf. Shabbat 97a).
