Exodus 4:18

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." ¹⁹ Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead." ²⁰ Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand. ²¹ Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. ²² You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn, ²³ and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Jethro: Heb. Jether, Exodus 3:1

Let me go: 1 Timothy 6:1

and see: Genesis 45:3, Acts 15:36

Go in peace: 1 Samuel 1:17, Luke 7:50, Acts 16:36, In the LXX and Coptic, the following addition is made to this verse: ופב הו פבע חלוסבע פבע נןככבע וךויםבע ופוכוץפחףום ן גבףיכוץע ידץנפןץ, "After these many days, the king of Egypt died." This was probably an ancient side-note, which crept into the text, as it appeared to throw light on the next verse.

Reciprocal: Exodus 2:18 - General Exodus 18:1 - Jethro Judges 1:16 - Moses' 1 Samuel 10:16 - matter 2 Kings 5:19 - Go in peace Luke 8:48 - go Acts 7:23 - to Acts 15:33 - they were

Cross-References

Genesis 5:21
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law,.... With his flock of sheep he kept, Exodus 3:1: and said unto him,

let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brethren which are in Egypt; the Israelites, who were so by nation and religion; as Jethro had been kind and beneficent to him, he did not choose to leave him without his knowledge and consent, and especially to take away his wife and children without it:

and see whether they be yet alive; it seems by this that Moses had heard nothing of them during the forty years he lived in Midian, which may be thought strange, since it was not very far from Egypt; and besides the Midianites traded in Egypt, as we learn from Genesis 37:28 but this must be ascribed to the providence of God, that so ordered it, that there should be no intercourse between him and his brethren, that so no step might be taken by them for their deliverance until the set time was come. Moses did not acquaint his father-in-law with the principal reason of his request, nor of his chief end in going into Egypt, which it might not be proper to acquaint him with, he being of another nation, though a good man; and lest he should use any arguments to dissuade Moses from going, who now having got clear of his diffidence and distrust, was determined upon it: though some ascribe this to his modesty in not telling Jethro of the glorious and wonderful appearance of God to him, and of the honour he had conferred on him to be the deliverer and governor of the people of Israel:

and Jethro said to Moses, go in peace; he judged his request reasonable, and gave his full consent to it, and wished him health and prosperity in his journey.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 4:18. Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren — Moses, having received his commission from God, and directions how to execute it, returned to his father-in-law, and asked permission to visit his family and brethren in Egypt, without giving him any intimation of the great errand on which he was going. His keeping this secret has been attributed to his singular modesty: but however true it might be that Moses was a truly humble and modest man, yet his prudence alone was sufficient to have induced him to observe silence on this subject; for, if once imparted to the family of his father-in-law, the news might have reached Egypt before he could get thither, and a general alarm among the Egyptians would in all probability have been the consequence; as fame would not fail to represent Moses as coming to stir up sedition and rebellion, and the whole nation would have been armed against them. It was therefore essentially necessary that the business should be kept secret.

In the Septuagint and Coptic the following addition is made to this verse: Μετα δε τας ἡμερας τας πολλας εκινας ετελευτησεν ὁ βασιλευς Αιγυπτου· After these many days, the king of Egypt died. This was probably an ancient gloss or side note, which in process of time crept into the text, as it appeared to throw light on the following verse.