Exodus 4:20

20 Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them on an ass, and he turned again into Egypt, and he bare the rod of God in his hand. (And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and put them on donkeys, and he returned to Egypt, holding 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, and turned again to Jethro, his wife's father, and said to him, I shall go, and turn again to my brethren into Egypt, that I see, whether they live yet. To whom Jethro said, Go thou in peace. (Then Moses went, and returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, I shall go now, and return to my brothers in Egypt, so that I can see if they be alive or not. To whom Jethro said, Go in peace.)

19 Therefore the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go thou, and turn again into Egypt; for all they be dead that sought thy life. (And so the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go thou, and return to Egypt, for all those who sought thy life have now died.)

20 Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them on an ass, and he turned again into Egypt, and he bare the rod of God in his hand. (And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and put them on donkeys, and he returned to Egypt, holding the staff of God in his hand.)

21 And the Lord said to him turning again into Egypt, See, that thou do all the wonders, which I have put in thine hand, before Pharaoh; I shall make hard his heart, and he shall not deliver the people; (And the Lord said to him as he returned to Egypt, See, that thou do all the miracles before Pharaoh, which I have put in thy hand; but I shall harden his heart, and he shall not let the people go;)

22 and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, My first begotten son is Israel (Israel is my first-born son);