And Aaron is quite ready to do so. He is already coming to meet thee, and is glad to see thee. The statement in Exodus 4:27, where Jehovah directs Aaron to go and meet Moses, is not at variance with this. They can both be reconciled in the following simple manner: "As soon as Aaron heard that his brother had left Midian, he went to meet him of his own accord, and then God showed him by what road he must go to find him, viz., towards the desert" (R. Mose ben Nachman). - "Put the words" (sc., which I have told thee) "into his mouth;" and I will support both thee and him in speaking. "He will be mouth to thee, and thou shalt be God to him." Cf. Exodus 7:1, "Thy brother Aaron shall be thy prophet." Aaron would stand in the same relation to Moses, as a prophet to God: the prophet only spoke what God inspired him with, and Moses should be the inspiring God to him. The Targum softens down the word "God" into "master, teacher." Moses was called God, as being the possessor and medium of the divine word. As Luther explains it, "Whoever possesses and believes the word of God, possesses the Spirit and power of God, and also the divine wisdom, truth, heart, mind, and everything that belongs to God." In Exodus 4:17, the plural "signs" points to the penal wonders that followed; for only one of the three signs given to Moses was performed with the rod.

Exodus 4:21 Parallel Commentaries

wonders.

Exodus 3:20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the middle thereof...

I will harden.

Exodus 7:3,13 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt...

Exodus 9:12,35 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he listened not to them; as the LORD had spoken to Moses...

Exodus 10:1,20 And the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants...

Exodus 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel...

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh...

Deuteronomy 2:30-33,36 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate...

Joshua 11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly...

1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said to him, With which? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets...

Psalm 105:25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants.

Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes...

Isaiah 63:17 O LORD, why have you made us to err from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return for your servants' sake...

John 12:40 He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart...

Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind...

Romans 9:18 Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.

Romans 11:8-10 (According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see...

2 Corinthians 2:16 To the one we are the smell of death to death; and to the other the smell of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all delusion of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth...

1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient...