Exodus 4:6

6 And Yahweh said to him again, "Put your hand into the fold of your garment." And he put his hand into the fold of his garment, and he took it out, and, {to his surprise}, his hand [was] afflicted with a skin disease, like snow.

Exodus 4:6 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 4:6

And the Lord said furthermore unto him
Continued his discourse, and gave him another sign: put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom;
within his coat, under that part of the garment next to his breast: and when he took it out, behold, his hand [was] leprous as snow;
that is, white as snow, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, through the leprosy that was upon it; it was a leprosy of the white sort, and which is reckoned the worst and most difficult to be cured, see ( Leviticus 13:3 Leviticus 13:4 ) ( Numbers 12:10 ) . It is highly probable that this gave rise to the story told by several Heathen writers, as Manetho ^F13, Lysimachus {n}, Trogus ^F15, and Tacitus ^F16, that Moses and the Israelites were drove out of Egypt by the advice of an oracle, because they had the leprosy, itch, and other impure diseases upon them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 26.
F14 Apud. ib. c. 34.
F15 Justin e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2.
F16 Hist. l. 5. c. 3.

Exodus 4:6 In-Context

4 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and grasp [it] by its tail"--" (And he reached out his hand and grabbed it, and it became a staff in his palm.)--

5 "so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

6 And Yahweh said to him again, "Put your hand into the fold of your garment." And he put his hand into the fold of his garment, and he took it out, and, {to his surprise}, his hand [was] afflicted with a skin disease, like snow.

7 And he said, "Return your hand to the fold of your garment." And he returned his hand to the fold of his garment, and he took it out from the fold of his garment, and, {to his surprise}, it was restored like the rest of his body.

8 "{And} if they do not believe you and they will not listen to the voice of the former sign, [then] they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "look" or "behold"