Exodus 4:10

The Appointment of Aaron

10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and 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 And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.

9 But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”