Exodus 4:10

10 And Moses sayde vnto the Lorde: oh my Lorde. I am not eloquet, no not in tymes past and namely sence thou hast spoken vnto thy seruaunte: but I am slowe mouthed and slowe tongued.

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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Exodus 4:10 In-Context

8 Yf they will not beleue the nether heare the voyce of the first token: yet will they beleue the voyce of the seconde toke

9 But and yf they will not beleue the two signes nether herken vnto thy voyce, then take of the water of the riuer and poure it vpon the drye lond. And the water which thou takest out of the riuer shall turne to bloude vpon the drie londe.

10 And Moses sayde vnto the Lorde: oh my Lorde. I am not eloquet, no not in tymes past and namely sence thou hast spoken vnto thy seruaunte: but I am slowe mouthed and slowe tongued.

11 And the Lorde sayde vnto hi: who hath made mas mouth, or who hath made the domme or the deaff, the seynge or the blynde? haue not I the Lorde?

12 Go therfore and I wilbe with thy mouth and teach the what thou shalt saye.