Exodus 4:20

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 4:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 4:20

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: 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.

Exodus 4:20 In-Context

18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead."

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.