Exodus 4:10

10 Moses said, Lord, I beseech (thee), I am not eloquent, that is, a fair speaker, from yesterday and the third day ago; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am of more hindered, and of slower 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 The Lord said, If they shall not believe to thee, neither shall hear the word of the former sign, either miracle, they shall believe to the word of the sign following; (And the Lord said, If they do not believe thee, nor accept the proof of the first sign, or the first miracle, then they may believe the proof of the sign that followeth;)

9 that if they believe not to these two signs, neither hear thy voice, take thou water of the flood, and shedded out it on the dry land, and whatever thing thou shalt draw up of the flood, it shall be turned into blood. (but if they do not believe these two signs, nor will listen to thy voice, then take some water from the River, and pour it out onto the dry land; and whatever water thou shalt draw up out of the River, it shall be turned into blood, when it falleth onto the ground.)

10 Moses said, Lord, I beseech (thee), I am not eloquent, that is, a fair speaker, from yesterday and the third day ago; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am of more hindered, and of slower tongue.

11 The Lord said to him, Who made the mouth of [a] man, or who made a dumb man, and deaf, seeing, and blind? whether not I? (And the Lord said to him, Who gave speech to people, or who made anyone dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? was it not I?)

12 Therefore go thou, and I shall be in thy mouth, and I shall teach thee what thou shalt speak.