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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
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And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Exodus 4:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 17:9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”
- Numbers 20:8-9 “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.” Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him.
- Exodus 4:2 Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
- Exodus 18:3-4 and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land”. The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.”
- Numbers 20:11 Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
- Exodus 4:17 You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, caused them to ride.
Hebrew, caused them to ride.
Whereby he wrought the miracles.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his…
Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Ver. 20. Upon an ass.] This may argue his poverty, as Zec 9:9. Especially if he had but one ass for the whole family.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain His sons, Gershom, Exo 2:22, and Eliezer, Exo 18:4,…
His sons, Gershom, Exo 2:22, and Eliezer, Exo 18:4, whom he intended to carry with him; but afterwards observing that they were like to be impediments to him in his great business, and being well assured that it would not be long ere he returned to them, he sent them back to Jethro, as may seem from Exo 18:5.
Upon an ass: one ass might be sufficient for her and her two children, because one of them was but little, Exo 4:25. Or ass may be put for asses, which changes of the numbers is very frequent in Scripture.
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The rod of God; his shepherd’s rod so called, partly because it was appropriated to God’s special service, to be the instrument in all his glorious works; and partly to show that whatsoever was done by that rod, was not done by any virtue in the rod, or in Moses’s hand, but merely by the power of God, who was pleased for the greater confusion of his enemies to use so mean an instrument.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Moses took his wife, and his sons,.... Gershom…
And Moses took his wife, and his sons,.... Gershom and Eliezer; by which it appears that he intended to stay in Egypt, and that he believed that God would work deliverance by him:
and set them upon an ass: which though with us a mean creature, yet in those times and countries were rode upon by great personages; and these, as Aben Ezra says, were reckoned in Egypt more honourable than mules. It may be the singular is put for the plural, and that each of them was set upon an ass, with servants to take care of them:
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and he returned to the land of Egypt; that is, he set forward to go thither; for before he got thither, various things are related which befell him:
and Moses took the rod of God in his hand: his shepherd's staff, so called, because God ordered him to take it; and besides, he had wrought signs and wonders by it already, and would do many more.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The rod of God - His shepherd's crook so…
The rod of God - His shepherd's crook so called, as it was God's instrument in so many glorious works.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. His wife and his sons] Both Gershom…
Verse 20. His wife and his sons] Both Gershom and Eliezer, though the birth of the latter has not yet been mentioned in the Hebrew text. See Clarke on Ex 2:22.
Set them upon an ass] The Septuagint reads the word in the plural, εκι τα ὑποζυγια, upon asses, as it certainly required more than one to carry Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer.
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The rod of God] The sign of sovereign power, by which he was to perform all his miracles; once the badge of his shepherd's office, and now that by which he is to feed, rule, and protect his people Israel.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain An ass - Literally, “the ass,” which, according to…
An ass - Literally, “the ass,” which, according to Hebrew idiom, means that he set them upon asses. This is the first notice of other sons besides Gershom.
The rod of God - The staff of Moses was consecrated by the miracle Exo 4:2 and became “the rod of God.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Moses took his wife and his sons, and set…
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.
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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).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 20. And Moses took his wife — Zipporah. And…
20. And Moses took his wife — Zipporah. And his (two) sons — Gershom and Eliezer.
Set thereupon an ass — Rather, made them ride upon the ass. Probably only Zipporah and the child Eliezer rode, while Moses and Gershom walked by the side of the ass. This was an humble, an unostentatious, entry of the commander of the hosts of Israel!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20a (J). his wife, &c.] according to E Moses…
20a (J). his wife, &c.] according to E Moses went alone into Egypt, and was only joined by his wife and sons afterwards (Exo_18:5).
his sons] The birth of only one son has been hitherto mentioned (Exo_2:22); and Exo_4:25 suggests strongly that only one son was with Moses at the time: Di. and others are therefore probably right in thinking that we should read his son, the plural being an alteration due to an editor or scribe who thought that account should be taken of Exo_18:2-4.
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20b (E). the rod of God] So Exo_17:9, cf. on Exo_4:17.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) His sons.—Only one had been mentioned previously, viz.,…
(20) His sons.—Only one had been mentioned previously, viz., Gershom (Exo_2:22), unless we accept the Vulgate addition to that place. But another had been recently born to him.
Set them upon an ass.—Heb., upon the ass, i.e., cither “upon his ass,” or, according to some, “upon asses.” The singular of a substantive with the article is sometimes used for the genus (Gen_15:11).
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He returned.—Rather, set out to return (ἐπέστρεψεν, LXX.).
The rod of God.—An emphatic phrase. God’s endowment of the rod with miraculous power had made it “the rod of God.” It was the instrument by means of which most of the plagues and the other miracles were wrought (Exo_7:20; Exo_8:6; Exo_8:17; Exo_9:23; Exo_10:13; Exo_14:16; Exo_17:5; Num_20:9; &c).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain His sons. Gershom, already mentioned, (Exo_2:22) and Eliezer, (Exo_18:4)…
His sons. Gershom, already mentioned, (Exo_2:22) and Eliezer, (Exo_18:4) who was probably an infant. Set them upon an ass. Literally, "the ass," i.e. the one ass that belonged to him. The word might best be translated his ass." When Moses is said to have "set them upon" the animal, we need not understand "all of them." Probably Zipporah and her baby rode, while Gershom walked with his father. Though horses were known in Egypt before this, they could not be used in the Sinaitic peninsula, and the employment of an ass by Moses is thoroughly appropriate. Returned. Ie. "set out to return." Took the rod of God in his hand. This is of course the "rod" of ver. 2, which had become "the rod of God" by the miracle of vers. 3 and 4, and which God had commanded him to take to Egypt (ver. 17).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Returned to the land of Egypt.
Exo_4:20
Returned to the land of Egypt.
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The journey to Egypt
I. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his family with him. Never go on any good errand without your family; teach the youthful feet to walk in obedience to God.
II. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his rod with him. Never go on a journey of moral service without God. Especially if you are a minister of the gospel, take the rod on your journey to Egypt.
1. It will keep you humble. It will remind you of your humble occupation in the desert, when you are tempted to pride, in the great service to which God has called you. Every Christian worker needs to have something within his soul to inspire humility.
2. It will make you happy. When you are desponding and sad, when the work does not open up to your effort as you would wish, the rod will remind you of the vision at the bush, and of the miracles wrought at the commencement of the mission. The reason why there are so many unhappy workers in the Church, is because they have left the rod at home.
3. It will make you powerful. With this rod Moses was to work miracles. So if Christian workers had the rod of God in their hand, they would be able to show to the world much more effectively than they do, the holy tokens of their mission. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_4:20
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_4:20
THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT
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I. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his family with him. “And Moses took his wife and sons,” &c. When a man is going on the errands of God he should always take his family with him, that they may participate in his work, its responsibility, its sorrow, and its victory. Never go on any good errand without your family; it is well to teach the youthful feet to walk in obedience to God. Many a young man has learned the art, and gathered the spirit and desire for Christian service, by being taken to it by a godly parent. Are you journeying to heaven? Take your family with you.
II. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his rod with him. Never go on a journey of moral service without God. Especially if you are a minister of the Gospel, take the rod on your journey to Egypt.
1. It will keep you humble. It will remind you of your humble occupation in the desert, when you are tempted to pride, in the great service to which God has called you. Every Christian worker needs to have something within his soul to inspire humility.
2. It will make you happy. When you are desponding and sad, when the work does not open up to your effort as you would wish, the rod will remind you of the vision at the bush, and of the miracles wrought at the commencement of the mission. The reason why there are so many unhappy workers in the Church is because they have left the rod at home.
3. It will make you powerful. With this rod Moses was to work miracles. So if Christian workers had the rod of God in their hand, they would be able to show to the world much more effectively than they do, the holy tokens of their mission. To all the emancipators of the souls of men we would say, Never journey to Egypt without your rod. God has given it to you. He has consecrated it by His promise. He has made it the symbol of his power. You cannot afford to travel without it. No other rod can supply its place.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:20 he carried the staff of God: Whatever he…
4:20 he carried the staff of God: Whatever he may have said to Jethro, Moses was going to Egypt in obedience to God and in the expectation of being used by God (see 4:17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.