Exodus 4:10

10 Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, ¹I have never been eloquent *, neither recently * nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

Exodus 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 4:10

And Moses said unto the Lord
Notwithstanding the above miracles, he seems unwilling to go on the Lord's errand to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, and therefore invents a new objection after all his other objections had been sufficiently answered: I am not eloquent;
or "a man of words" ^F19, that has words at command, that can speak well readily, and gracefully; such an one, he intimates, was proper to be sent to a king's court, that was an orator, that could make fine speeches, and handsome addresses, for which he was not qualified: neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant;
neither in his younger years had he ever been an eloquent man, nor was there any alteration in him in that respect, since God had given him this call: but I [am] slow of speech, and of a slow tongue;
had some impediment in his speech, could not freely and easily bring out his words, or rightly pronounce them; so Lucian ^F20 the Heathen calls Moses slow tongued, or one slow of speech, and uses the same word the Septuagint does here, which version perhaps he had seen, and from thence took it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Myrbd vya) "vir verborum", Paguinus, Montanus, Piscator, Ainsworth.
F20 In Philopatride.

Exodus 4:10 In-Context

8 "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.

9 "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

10 Then Moses said to the LORD , "Please, Lord , I have never been eloquent , neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

11 The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD ?

12 "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say."

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 6:12; Jeremiah 1:6

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "a man of words"
• [b]. Lit "yesterday"
• [c]. Lit "heavy"
• [d]. Lit "heavy"