God reneweth his promise. The genealogies of Ruben, Simon and Levi, down to Moses and Aaron.
God reueling himselfe more to Moyses then he had done to former Patriarches, 6. commandeth him to tel the children of Israel, that he seeing their miseries, wil deliuer them from Aegypt, and geue them possession of Chanaan. 14. The genealogies of Ruben, Simeon, and especially of Leui are recited, 26. to shew the origin of Moyses and Aaron.
1And the Lord said to Moses: Now thou shalt see what I will do to Pharao: for by a mighty hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he cast them out of his land.E il Signore disse a Mosè: Or tu vedrai quel ch'io farò a Faraone: perocché forzato da man forte li lascerà andare, e forzato da man gagliarda li caccerà dalla sua terra.AND our Lord said to Moyses: Now thou shalt see what thinges I wil doe to Pharao: for by a mightie hand shal he dismisse them, and in a strong hand shal he cast them out of his land.Dixitque Dominus ad Moysen: Nunc videbis quæ facturus sim Pharaoni: per manum enim fortem dimittet eos, et in manu robusta ejiciet illos de terra sua. 2And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the LordE il Signore parlò a Mosè, dicendo: Io il Signore,And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying: I am the LordLocutusque est Dominus ad Moysen dicens: Ego Dominus 3That appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty: and my name ADONAI I did not shew them.Il quale apparì ad Abramo, a Isacco, e a Giacobbe qual Dio onnipotente: e non rivelai ad essi il mio nome Adonai.that appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Iacob, as God almightie: and my name ADONAI I did not shew them.qui apparui Abraham, Isaac et Jacob in Deo omnipotente: et nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis. 4And I made a covenant with them, to give them the land of Chanaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.E fermai con essi il patto di dar loro la terra di Chanaan, la terra del loro pellegrinaggio, e in cui furono forestieri.And I made a couenant with them, to geue them the Land of Chanaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.Pepigique fœdus cum eis, ut darem eis terram Chanaan, terram peregrinationis eorum, in qua fuerunt advenæ. 5I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed them: and I have remembered my covenant.Io ho uditi i gemiti dei figliuoli d'Israele per la oppressione, che soffron dagli Egiziani, e mi son ricordato del mio patto.And I haue heard the groning of the children of Israel, wherwith the Aegyptians haue oppressed them: and I haue remembred my couenant.Ego audivi gemitum filiorum Israël, quo Ægyptii oppresserunt eos: et recordatus sum pacti mei. 6Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work-prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage: and redeem you with a high arm, and great judgments.Per questo di' tu a' figliuoli d'Israele: Io il Signore, il quale trarrovvi di sotto al giogo degli Egiziani, e vi libererò dalla schiavitù: e vi riscatterò, steso il mio braccio, con grandi vendette.Therfore say to the children of Israel: I the Lord who wil bring you forth out of the worke-prison of the Aegyptians, & wil deliuer you from seruitude: and redeme you in a high arme, and great iudgements.Ideo dic filiis Israël: Ego Dominus qui educam vos de ergastulo Ægyptiorum, et eruam de servitute, ac redimam in brachio excelso et judiciis magnis.
7And I will take you to myself for my people, I will be your God: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the work-prison of the Egyptians:E voi prenderò per mio popolo, e io sarò vostro Dio: e conoscerete, che io sono il Signore Dio vostro, che vi avrò tratti di sotto al giogo degli Egiziani;And I wil take you to me for my people, and I wil be your God: and you shal know that I am the Lord your God, that brought you forth out of the worke-prison of the Aegyptians:Et assumam vos mihi in populum, et ero vester Deus: et scietis quod ego sum Dominus Deus vester qui eduxerim vos de ergastulo Ægyptiorum, 8And brought you into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and I will give it you to possess: I am the Lord.E v'introdurrò nella terra, la quale, alzata la mia mano, io giurai di dare ad Abramo, a Isacco, e a Giacobbe: e la darò a voi in dominio, io il Signore.and brought you into the land, ouer which I lifted vp my hand to geue it to Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob: and I wil geue it you to possesse, I the Lord.et induxerim in terram, super quam levavi manum meam ut darem eam Abraham, Isaac et Jacob: daboque illam vobis possidendam. Ego Dominus. 9And Moses told all this to the children of Israel: but they did not hearken to him, for anguish of spirit, and most painful work.E Mosè raccontò ogni cosa ai figliuoli d'Israele: i quali non si acquietarono a motivo dell'affanno del loro cuore, e delle fatiche gravissime.Moyses then told al to the children of Israel: who did not hearken vnto him, for anguish of spirit, and most painful worke.Narravit ergo Moyses omnia filiis Israël: qui non acquieverunt ei propter angustiam spiritus, et opus durissimum. 10And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:E il Signore parlò a Mosè, e disse:And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: 11Go in, and speak to Pharao king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.Va', e parla a Faraone re d'Egitto, che lasci partire dalla sua terra i figliuoli d'Israele.Goe in, and speake to Pharao the king of Aegypt, that he dismisse the children of Israel out of his land.Ingredere, et loquere ad Pharaonem regem Ægypti, ut dimittat filios Israël de terra sua. 12Moses answered before the Lord: Behold the children of Israel do not hearken to me: and how will Pharao hear me, especially as I am of uncircumcised lips?Rispose Mosè al Signore: Tu vedi, come i figliuoli d'Israele non mi danno retta: e come mi darà retta Faraone, particolarmente essendo io inetto a parlare?And Moyses answered before our Lord: Behold the children of Israel heare me not: and how wil Pharao heare, especially wheras I am of vncircumcised lippes?Respondit Moyses coram Domino: Ecce filii Israël non audiunt me: et quomodo audiet Pharao, præsertim cum incircumcisus sim labiis ?
13And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and he gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharao the king of Egypt, that they should bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.E il Signore parlò a Mosè, e ad Aronne; e gli spedì a' figliuoli d'Israele, e a Faraone re d'Egitto, affinché essi conducessero via dall'Egitto i figliuoli d'Israele.And our Lord spake to Moyses and Aaron, and he gaue them commandement vnto the children of Israel, & vnto Pharao the king of Aegypt, that they should bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Aegypt.Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, et dedit mandatum ad filios Israël, et ad Pharaonem regem Ægypti ut educerent filios Israël de terra Ægypti. 14These are the heads of their houses by their families. The sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel: Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.Questi sono i capi delle tribù secondo la famiglia di ciascheduno. Figliuoli di Ruben primogenito d'Israele: Henoch, e Phallu, Hesron, e Charmi.These are Princes of their houses by their families. The sonnes of Ruben the first begotten of Israel: Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.Isti sunt principes domorum per familias suas. Filii Ruben primogeniti Israëlis: Henoch et Phallu, Hesron et Charmi: 15These are the kindreds of Ruben. The sons of Simeon, Jamuel and Jamin, and Ahod, and Jachin, and Soar, and Saul the son of a Chanaanitess: these are the families of Simeon.Queste son le famiglie di Ruben. I figliuoli di Simeon: Jamuel, e Jamin, e Ahod, Jachin, e Soar, e Saul figliuolo d'una Chananea. Questa la progenie di Simeon.These are the kinreds of Ruben. The sonnes of Simeon: Iamuel and Iamin, and Ahod, and Iachin, and Soar, and Saul the sonnes of the Chananitesse, these are the progenies of Simeon.hæ cognationes Ruben. Filii Simeon: Jamuel, et Jamin, et Ahod, et Jachin, et Soar, et Saul filius Chananitidis: hæ progenies Simeon. 16And these are the names of the sons of Levi by their kindreds: Gerson, and Caath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty-seven.E questi sono i nomi de' figliuoli di Levi secondo le loro famiglie: Gerson, e Caath, e Merari. Gli anni, che visse Levi, furono cento trenta sette.And these are the names of the sonnes of Leui by their kinreds: Gerson and Caath and Merari. And the yeares of the life of Leui were an hundred thirtie seuen.Et hæc nomina filiorum Levi per cognationes suas: Gerson, et Caath, et Merari. Anni autem vitæ Levi fuerunt centum triginta septem.
17The sons of Gerson: Lobni and Semei, by their kindreds.Figliuoli di Gerson: Lobni, e Semei colle loro famiglie.The sonnes of Gerson: Lobni and Semi, by their kinreds.Filii Gerson: Lobni et Semei, per cognationes suas. 18The sons of Caath: Amram, and Isaar, and Hebron and Oziel. And the years of Caath’s life, were a hundred and thirty-three.Figliuoli di Caath: Amram, e Isaar, ed Hebron, e Oziel: e gli anni, che visse Caat, furono cento trentatré.The sonnes of Caath: Amram, and Isaar, and Hebron and Oziel. the yeares also of Caaths life, were an hundred thirtie three.Filii Caath: Amram, et Isaar, et Hebron, et Oziel; anni quoque vitæ Caath, centum triginta tres. 19The sons of Merari: Moholi and Musi. These are the kindreds of Levi by their families.Figliuoli di Merari: Moholi, e Musi: questi i posteri di Levi secondo le loro famiglie.The sonnes of Merari: Moholi and Musi. these be the kinreds of Leui by their families.Filii Merari: Moholi et Musi: hæ cognationes Levi per familias suas. 20And Amram took to wife Jochabed his aunt by the father’s side: and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of Amram’s life, were a hundred and thirty-seven.Amran prese per moglie Joehabed, figliuola di suo zio paterno, la quale partorì a lui Aronne e Mosè. E gli anni, che visse Amram, furono cento trentasette.And Amram tooke to wife locabed his aunt by the fathers side: who bare him Aaron and Moyses. And the yeares of Amrams life were an hundred thirtie seuen.Accepit autem Amram uxorem Jochabed patruelem suam: quæ peperit ei Aaron et Moysen. Fueruntque anni vitæ Amram, centum triginta septem. 21The sons also of Isaar: Core, and Nepheg, and Zechri.I figliuoli d'Isaar: Core, e Nepheg, e Zechri.The sonnes also of Isaar: Coree, and Nepheg, and Zechri.Filii quoque Isaar: Core, et Nepheg, et Zechri. 22The sons also of Oziel: Mizael, and Elizaphan, and Sethri.I figliuoli di Oziel: Misael, ed Elisaphan, e Sethri.The sonnes also of Oziel: Mizael, and Elizaphan, and Sethi.Filii quoque Oziel: Misaël, et Elisaphan, et Sethri. 23And Aaron took to wife Elizabeth the daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nahason, who bore him Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.E Aronne prese per moglie Elisabeth, figliuola di Aminadab, sorella di Nahasson, la quale partorì a lui Nadab, e Abiu, ed Eleazar, e Ithamar.And Aaron tooke to wife Elizabeth the daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nahason, who bare him Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.Accepit autem Aaron uxorem Elisabeth filiam Aminadab, sororem Nahason, quæ peperit ei Nadab, et Abiu, et Eleazar, et Ithamar.
24The sons also of Core: Aser, and Elcana, and Abiasaph. These are the kindreds of the Corites.Figliuoli di Core: Aser, ed Elcana, e Abiasaph: queste le famiglie de' pastori di Core.The sonnes also of Core: Aser, and Elcana, & Abiasaph. these be the kinreds of the Corites.Filii quoque Core: Aser, et Elcana, et Abiasaph: hæ sunt cognationes Coritarum. 25But Eleazar the son of Aaron took a wife of the daughters of Phutiel: and she bore him Phinees. These are the heads of the Levitical families by their kindreds.Eleazar poi figliuolo di Aronne prese per moglie una delle figliuole di Phutiel, la quale gli partorì Phinees. Questi sono i capi delle famiglie Levitiche colle loro discendenze.But Eleazar the sonne of Aaron tooke a wife of the daughters of Phutiel: who bare him Phinees. these are the heads of the Leuitical families by their kinreds.At vero Eleazar filius Aaron accepit uxorem de filiabus Phutiel: quæ peperit ei Phinees. Hi sunt principes familiarum Leviticarum per cognationes suas. 26These are Aaron and Moses, whom the Lord commanded to bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.Questo è quell'Aronne, e quel Mosè, a' quali il Signore ordinò di trarre i figliuoli d'Israele dalla terra d'Egitto, spartiti nelle loro bande.This is Aaron and Moyses, whom our Lord commanded that they should bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Aegypt by their troupes.Iste est Aaron et Moyses, quibus præcepit Dominus ut educerent filios Israël de terra Ægypti per turmas suas. 27These are they that speak to Pharao, king of Egypt, in order to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron,Questi son quelli che parlarono a Faraone re d'Egitto per trarre fuori d'Egitto i figliuoli d'Israele: questi sono Mosè, e Aronne.These are they that spake to Pharao the king of Aegypt, that they might bring forth the children of Israel out of Aegypt: this is Moyses, and Aaron,Hi sunt, qui loquuntur ad Pharaonem regem Ægypti, ut educant filios Israël de Ægypto: iste est Moyses et Aaron, 28In the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt.E avvenne, che nel giorno, in cui il Signore fe' parola a Mosè nella terra d'Egitto,in the day when our Lord spake to Moyses in the land of Aegypt.in die qua locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, in terra Ægypti. 29And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I am the Lord; speak thou to Pharao, king of Egypt, all that I say to thee.Il Signore disse allo stesso Mosè: Io il Signore: esponi a Faraone d'Egitto tutto quello che io ti dico.And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying: I the Lord: speake to Pharao the king of Aegypt, al thinges which I speake to thee.Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: Ego Dominus: loquere ad Pharaonem regem Ægypti, omnia quæ ego loquor tibi.
30And Moses said before the Lord: Lo I am of uncircumcised lips, how will Pharao hear me?E Mosè disse al Signore: Tu vedi, come io sono inetto a parlare: come mi ascolterà Faraone?And Moyses said before our Lord: Loe I am of vncircumcised lippes, how wil Pharao heare me?Et ait Moyses coram Domino: En incircumcisus labiis sum, quomodo audiet me Pharao ?
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Year of the World 2513.
Said, in answer to his prayer.
Haydock
Cast out, so eager he will be to have you dismissed, after he has repeatedly felt my hand, Exodus 3:19. (Haydock)
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Challoner
My name Adonai. The name which is in the Hebrew text, is that most proper name of God, which signifieth his eternal self-existing being, (Exodus 3:14,) which the Jews, out of reverence, never pronounce; but instead of it, whenever it occurs in the Bible, they read Adonai, which signifies the Lord; and therefore they put the points or vowels, which belong to the name Adonai, to the four letters of that other ineffable name, Jod, He, Vau, He. Hence some moderns have framed the name Jehovah: unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians: for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in the Hebrew texts, by long disuse, is now quite lost. (Challoner)
Menochius
This name was first clearly revealed to Moses, that he might have confidence in his special protection and love. (Menochius)
Du Hamel
To know one by his name is to treat him with familiarity and distinction, Exodus 33:17. The pronunciation of the name of God might be known to Abraham, etc., but it was not so fully explained, nor the power and excellence of it declared in such a stupendous manner, as it was to Moses. (Du Hamel)
Calmet
Or perhaps Moses made use of this name in the history of the patriarchs, because he wrote his account of them after this revelation. (Calmet)
Worthington
The Septuagint always put Kurios, "the Lord," instead of the ineffable name; and our Saviour and his apostles, citing text where it occurs, follow their example. (Matthew 4:7, 10; Romans 15:11.) (Worthington)
Calmet
Philo informs us, that it was death to pronounce it out of the temple; and since that was destroyed, it has never been heard. (Calmet)
Haydock
Galatinus, who wrote in 1518, is supposed to have invented the word Jehovah, (see Amama Antib. p. 319,) the year after the pretended reformation began. (Haydock)
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Menochius
God, Elohim, who will pass sentence in your favour, as a just judge. (Menochius)
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Hand; swearing. (Chap. 14:22; 2 Esdras. 9:15.)
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Menochius
Anguish: Septuagint, "pusillanimity." They would not even hope for a change. (Menochius)
Kennicott
The Samaritan copy records the speech which they made to Moses. (Kennicott, p. 313.)
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Challoner
Uncircumcised lips. So he calls the defect he had in his words, or utterance. (Challoner)
Tirinus
The Hebrews call the heart, etc., uncircumcised, when it has any natural or moral defect, Acts 7:15. (Tirinus)
Onkelos
"I do not speak the language in its purity." Sym.[Symmachus?], "I express my sentiments with difficulty," Exodus 4:10. (Onkelos.)
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Calmet
These. From this place to ver. 26, is written in a kind of parenthesis: the remainder of the chapter is a recapitulation of what had been said. (Calmet)
Haydock
Moses intends to give his own genealogy, and the state of affairs when he began to afflict Egypt. (Haydock)
Menochius
He mentions three tribes, which Jacob had rebuked, lest any one might think they had forfeited their title to some distinctive tribes. (Menochius)
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Calmet
Aunt: Hebrew Doda is applied to various degrees of kindred. The Chaldee says, Jochabed was daughter of Amram's sister, the Septuagint assert of his brother, and consequently his own cousin. But she might be his aunt, Exodus 2:1. (Calmet)
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Aaron is sometimes placed first, as the elder; sometimes last, as inferior in dignity, ver. 27.
Calmet
Companies, or bands, in order of battle, Exodus 13:18. (Calmet)
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My name Adonai.... The name, which is in the Hebrew text, is that most proper name of God, which signifieth his eternal, self-existent being, Ex. 3.14, which the Jews out of reverence never pronounce; but, instead of it, whenever it occurs in the Bible, they read Adonai, which signifies the Lord; and, therefore, they put the points or vowels, which belong to the name Adonai, to the four letters of that other ineffable name Jod, He, Vau, He. Hence some moderns have framed the name Jehovah, unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians; for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in the Hebrew text, by long disuse, is now quite lost.
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Uncircumcised lips.... So he calls the defect he had in his words, or utterance.
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3. My name Adonai] Here and in manie other places of holie Scripture in the Hebrew text, is that name of God of foure letters, which the Iewes say is ineffable Yet sure it is, that Moyses heard it pronounced, and afterwards writte it as he did the rest in Hebrew letters (which are al consonants) without In place of the name of God counted ineffable, is commonly redde Adonai. vowels. But the Rabbins that long after put points or vowels to al other words, put none to this. For al then redde Adonai in place therof. And so the Latin, and al vulgar Catholique versions, keepe the same word vntranslated. The Septuagint in Greke translate KYPIO•, which in Latin is Dominus, in English Mat. 4. v. 7, 10. Rom. 15. v. 11. Lord. So also al ancient Fathers, and (which is most of al) our Sauiour, and his Apostles, alleaging sentences of the old Testament, where this name is contained, stil expresse it by wordes that signifie Lord. Only certaine late writers haue framed a new word, by putting the points of Adonai, to the proper letters of this vnknowen name, which are Iod, He, Vau, He, and so sound it Iehouah: Iehouah is not the right name of God. S. Dionyse. S. Hierom. Theodoret. Damas⸢cus⸣. which was scarse heard of before an hundred yeares. As Bishop Genebrard, Cardinal Bellarmin, and F. Pererius proue, for that neither ancient Fathers, writing whole Treatises de Diuinis nominibus, nor the elder Rabbins, nor later most learned Hebricians, as Rabbi Moyses, Aben Ezram, Lira, Paulus Burgensis and others, neuer mention Iehouah amongst the Names or titles of God.
Adonai is not the name here vttered to Moyses but is redde in place of the vnknowen name.
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Ioseph died first of the twelue bretheren. Gen. 50. Leui liued lōgest and so the yeares of their liues are recorded in holie Scriptures, & not of the rest. Chronolog. 〈◊〉.
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Concordance See Num. 26. v. 59.
patr••• lem pr• patrua, quae latine non d〈…〉r.
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It perteined not to Moyses present purpose, to prosecute the genealogies of Iacobs other sonnes, being come to the origin of the Priestlie tribe in Leui the third sōne. •. Aug. q. 15. in Exod.
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 17.3
… And the men with whom God was well pleased, them He called, My sons, and My friends. When He chose Moses His friend and His beloved and made him chief and teacher and priest unto his people he called him God. For He said to him:— I have made thee a God unto Pharaoh .
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 61.4
… So also acted the blessed Moses, writing all the history about himself as if it concerned another, and saying, “The Lord said unto Moses.”
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 126
… For Moses says somewhere in Exodus the following: ‘The Lord spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, being their God; and my name I revealed not to them, and I established my covenant with them.’
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 6.31
… For He was instructed by her, and initiated and indoctrinated into the great mystery of the Father and of the Æons, and divulged this to none. This is, as he says, what (God) declares to Moses: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and my name I have not announced to them;”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 7.13
… But (in reality) the Hebdomad was king and lord of this quarter of the universe, and the Ogdoad is Arrhetus, whereas the Hebdomad is Rhetus. This, he says, is the Archon of the Hebdomad, who has spoken to Moses, and says: “I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and I have not manifested unto them the name of God”
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Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 10.4.6
6. But now as we no longer perceive the lofty arm
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 12
… then at last he introduces the discussion on the difference [of the two dispensations] to ears in their full vigor. For he who is depressed in spirits would not be a ready hearer. And that you may understand this, hear the Scripture saying, “They hearkened not to Moses for anguish of spirit.” (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 10
… “Who hath given a mouth to man? and who hath made the stammerer? and who the deaf man? and who the seeing, and the blind man? Have not I, the Lord God? And now go, and I will open thy mouth, and will instruct thee what thou shalt say.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 11.2
… and Thou seest into my heart, that so it is. I would sacrifice to Thee the service of my thought and tongue; and do Thou give what I may offer unto Thee. For “I am poor and needy,” Thou rich unto all that call upon Thee, who free from care carest for us. Circumcise from all rashness and from all lying my inward and outward lips.
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Julius Africanus † AD 240 Julius Africanus 1.1
… Let us not therefore descend to such religious trifling as to establish the kingship and priesthood of Christ by the interchanges of the names. For the priestly tribe of Levi, too, was allied with the kingly tribe of Juda, through the circumstance that Aaron married Elizabeth the sister of Naasson,
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.1
… “Unto the end, unto understanding, for the sons of Korah.” For though there were three sons of Korah whose names we find in the Book of Exodus,
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Julius Africanus † AD 240 Julius Africanus 1.1
… Let us not therefore descend to such religious trifling as to establish the kingship and priesthood of Christ by the interchanges of the names. For the priestly tribe of Levi, too, was allied with the kingly tribe of Juda, through the circumstance that Aaron married Elizabeth the sister of Naasson, and that Eleazar again married the daughter of Phatiel,
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 127
“These and other such sayings are recorded by the lawgiver and by the prophets; and I suppose that I have stated sufficiently, that wherever God says, ‘God went up from Abraham,’ or, ‘The Lord spake to Moses,’
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1. AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, praying and invoking God, as is evident from the preceding chapter, verse 22: He said, namely, either through an angel appearing in visible form and speaking with a loud voice; for God dealt familiarly with Moses, as is evident from Numbers XII; or through hidden and internal inspiration, as He is accustomed to speak and respond to prophets. And this seems more true, both because no form, shape, or symbol of God is expressed here, as is done in chapter III, verse 2, and chapter IV, verse 24; and because it is not credible that God appeared visibly to Moses here so many times, namely in each plague; and because God here responded to Moses in the manner that Moses is said to have gone and consulted the Lord, in the preceding chapter, verse 22. But Moses did not go to the Lord appearing visibly, but either in his chamber and oratory he spiritually went to God and consulted Him. NOW THOU SHALT SEE. That is to say, I will not delay, behold I prepare myself for the work, that I may free you from Pharaoh. WHAT THINGS I WILL DO TO PHARAOH, what evils, what plagues I will inflict upon him; hence he himself, "with a strong hand," that is, compelled by the strong hand of God, "shall cast them out," not merely let them go, but shall compel the Hebrews to depart, and that hastily, that he may remove from himself the hand of God avenging.
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2 and 3. I AM THE LORD WHO APPEARED TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB IN GOD ALMIGHTY. In Hebrew it is El Shaddai, that is, in God strong and bountiful, or liberal; already "in God," is in the manner of God, or as God liberal; for bet the Hebrews often take for the cognate kaph, which is the note of similitude. Note: Shaddai signifies God as it were breasted, who bestows all sufficiency and abundance as it were, as I have said at length in Genesis XVII, 1. To which add that Shaddai, secondly, can be derived from shadad, that is to plunder, so that God is called Shaddai, that is, plundering and laying waste whatever pleases Him, to which Isaiah alludes, chapter XIII, verse 6, when he says: "As a desolation from the Almighty" (in Hebrew as a desolation from shod, from Shaddai, that is, as a desolation from God laying waste) "shall come;" and Job chapter XXIII, verse 16, when he says in Hebrew, Shaddai has troubled me. Now the sense of this place is, that is to say, I am God with your fathers, namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I dealt, and conversed as God Shaddai, that is, I showed myself to them as omnipotent and munificent, I showed them that I have abundance of riches to enrich them: for I took away the riches of the Canaanites, the Gerashites, the Sodomites, Laban, Esau and others, and gave them to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as is evident from Genesis. Mystically, God Shaddai appears to the Saints, whom He makes content with their lot, even if miserable, and whom He loads with His grace and spiritual gifts, and especially whom He makes liberal toward others. St. Aegidius, companion of St. Francis, being asked who was blessed, answered: "He who loves and does not desire to be loved: who serves, and does not wish to be served: who conducts himself well toward others, yet not for the end that they conduct themselves well toward him in return." For he imitates God Shaddai, of whom the Psalmist says, Psalm XV, 2: "I said to the Lord: Thou art my God, for Thou hast no need of my goods." For God communicates Himself and His things to all, and receives or expects nothing from anyone. AND MY NAME ADONAI I DID NOT MAKE KNOWN TO THEM. In Hebrew it is not Adonai, but the name tetragrammaton, consisting of four letters, namely, yod, he, vau and he. Because this is ineffable, hence the Interpreter, after the manner of the ancients, substituted the name Adonai for it; for otherwise God revealed the name Adonai to the patriarchs in Genesis, and calls Himself Adonai. By the way, note here that Adonai is trisyllabic, not quadrisyllabic; for the last is a diphthong ai, and therefore this name is to be pronounced thus A-do-nai, not A-do-na-i.
The Ten Names of God St. Jerome notes, in epistle 136 to Marcella, that there are ten names of God. The first is El, that is, strong, as Aquila translated it. The second is Eloah, which signifies God as providing, governing, judging and avenging, as I said in Genesis I, 1. The third is Elohim, which is the plural of the name Eloah. The fourth is Sabaoth, that is, of hosts or armies, as Aquila translated it: this is not a name, but a cognomen of God; hence it is always joined with another name of God: for it is said Adonai Sabaoth, that is, Lord of virtues or hosts. The fifth is Elyon, that is, the Most High, Genesis XIV, 22. We venerate a threefold height and sublimity in God: the first of being, because God is the first and supreme being; the second of causality, because God is the first cause, on which all other causes depend; the third of perfection, because God is the supreme and infinite perfection. The sixth name is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, that is, I am who I am, or He who is. Hence in Exodus III, it is said: "He who is, sent me." The seventh is Adonai, that is, Lord. The eighth is Yah, which is an abbreviation of Jehova, and sounds in Hallelujah. For Hallelujah is composed of hallelu, that is, praise, and yah, that is, God. The ninth is Shaddai, that is, munificent, liberal, almighty. The tenth is the tetragrammaton and ineffable, which commonly they pronounce Jehova.
Question 1: Why the Name Tetragrammaton is Called Ineffable It is asked here first, why the name tetragrammaton by the ancients and St. Jerome is called ανεκφώνητον, that is ineffable, by Theodoret άφραστον, that is inexpressible, and by Damascus απαρρητον, that is unspeakable. Some think that this name was truly ineffable, because it consists of only four consonants and lacks vowels, without which we cannot pronounce and utter consonant letters. But this is improbable; for God himself pronounced this name of his when he revealed it, and spoke it before Moses. Again, Moses himself uttered it before the Israelites, and before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh himself repeatedly repeated this name pronounced by Moses in answering. Finally, this name would be distinguished in vain by four letters, unless those letters had their silent points, or vowels, so that by them it could be read, uttered, pronounced, just as happens in other names of God, men and angels. I say therefore that this name is called ineffable, because it was held by the Hebrews as most sacred and supremely venerable, as the primary, proper and essential name of God, which would be the foundation and root of all other names of God, because this name signifies the very immense essence and incomprehensible and ineffable majesty of God, from which all other things proceed. For this reason also Plato, as Eusebius testifies, lib. XI De Praeparat. cap. VIII, said that the name of God is not utterable. For God, says Plato, is ασωματος, and αφραστος, and ανωνόματος, that is incorporeal, inexpressible and unnamed. Again Plato in the Parmenides: "To God," he says, "no name is given, God cannot be defined, cannot be grasped by knowledge, cannot fall into our senses, no opinion can be had of him; wherefore he can neither be named, nor be said, nor be comprehended by knowledge, nor be known, nor be perceived by any being." And St. Dionysius: "God," he says, "is ineffable in all speech, beyond all word, good." Hence there were so many opinions and errors of the Philosophers concerning God. Anaximander thought the stars and heavenly bodies were gods. Anaximenes thought God was infinite air. Democritus: God, he says, is fiery mind and the soul of the world. Prodicus established the four elements as gods. Diogenes of Apollonia: God, he says, is air endowed with divine reason. Chrysippus held that God is fate or divine necessity. Parmenides thought God was a crown, or the sphere that encircles heaven. Xenophanes: Everything, he says, endowed with infinite mind is God. Straton said nature is God. Epicurus constituted his gods from atoms, and made them corporeal and of human form. Heraclides said the earth and heaven are gods. M. Varro thought the world is God. Pliny thought either the sun, or no one is God. Heraclitus believed gods were made of fire: whence the Athenians punished Anaxagoras with death, because he said the sun was an ignited stone. Cleanthes placed the aether as the supreme God. Finally, for this reason, says Pierius, hieroglyph. 17, the stork is a hieroglyph of God; for the stork, lacking speech, signifies that God accomplishes all things in silent silence, and we ought not to speak about him, whom no power of human genius is sufficient to admire. The same is the reason why God was shadowed forth by the crocodile, says the same, hieroglyph. 29. Truly therefore and deservedly Chrysostom, hom. 28 in Matthew: "Just as," he says, "he who attempts to navigate the unnavigable Ocean, since he cannot cross it, must necessarily return by the same way by which he entered: so the ancient Philosophers, striving to inquire into the nature of God, were overcome in genius, failed in speech, and in the end confessed that they could find nothing further, except that God is unknowable." Hence it came to pass that the Hebrews, out of religious reverence, did not dare to utter and pronounce the name of God; except the priests or pontiffs, who in sacred matters, namely in sacrifices, and in the solemn blessing of the people, and especially in entering into the Holy of Holies, pronounced it, as Philo says in his book On the Life of Moses. Whence also Josephus says that it is neither lawful nor right for him to speak this name. When therefore this name occurred to the Hebrews in reading Scripture, they read Adonai in its place, or, if it concurred with Adonai, they read Elohim in its place. Hence it came to pass that the Masoretes, who placed points, or vowels, under the Hebrew Bibles, placed under the name of the tetragram points foreign to the name Adonai (as Bellarmine demonstrates by four reasons in his grammatical exercise on Psalm XXXIII, at verse 1), namely sheva (which in the name Adonai is composed with patach, on account of the guttural aleph), cholem and kamets, so that they might indicate out of reverence that not the tetragram, but Adonai should be read and pronounced, which custom of their times was followed not only by the Septuagint translators, rendering κύριος, and our Interpreter, equally as Origen in his tetraplae and hexaplae, substituting the name Adonai for the tetragram; but also by Christ and the Apostles, who whenever they cite Hebrew Scripture, in which the name of the tetragram is found, substitute the name "Lord" in its place. Whence it came to pass that the Jews do not know how that name should be pronounced, or how God, Moses and the priests pronounced it, and they relate that the last priest who pronounced this name of God was Simeon the Just, who received Christ in his arms in the temple, and that afterwards by no one has this name been pronounced, and that they are ignorant how it ought to be pronounced; but when the Messiah shall come, by him they are to be taught the true pronunciation thereof. Thus they themselves. On account of this reverence and religion for his name, the high priest wore it inscribed on a golden plate in his tiara, which Alexander the Great, meeting the priest Jaddua, reverently adored by prostrating himself on the ground, as Josephus testifies. Hence also Lucan, speaking of the God of the Hebrews, says: "Judaea uncertain of God," namely that they worshipped an unknown God, whose name they knew not. Behold here how great was the reverence of the Hebrews of old for the divine name, which many Christians profane by rash oaths, naming it everywhere; nay, even modern Jews never dare to swear expressly by the name of the tetragram, but they swear by it with this formula, and that rarely and only when compelled: I swear by yod, he, vau, and yod (which are the four letters of the name of the tetragram), which oath is held among them as supreme and most sacred: thus it was not lawful for the Gentiles to name the name of their false god, Demogorgon; and if anyone had done so, the deity, or rather the demon, showed itself offended by an earthquake, as Lucan testifies in book VI, and Boccaccio in book I of his Genealogy of the Gods, chapter II.
Question 2: How the Name Tetragrammaton Ought to Be Pronounced It is asked secondly, how this name ought to be pronounced, or what vowels ought to be substituted for it? Certain Greeks, says St. Jerome to Marcella, reading this Hebrew name in Greek books, according to Greek letters, to which these four Hebrew letters are similar, read it as pipi. Secondly, St. Justin, Against Trypho, fol. 58, for the name tetragrammaton read and understood the name Jesus. Thirdly, Isidore pronounces this name Jediod. For he says this name is made up of the double letter jod. But all these depart from or err concerning the Hebrew letters of the name tetragrammaton. Fourthly, Irenaeus brings it forth as Jaoth, which, he says, signifies a predetermined measure; or, if it be written with an omicron, him who gives flight to evils. Thus also the gentiles appear to have pronounced this name. Whence Diodorus Siculus, lib. III, says Moses received the law from God Jao; and Apollo Clarius, when asked who was the God Jao, answered: Say that Jao is the highest of all the gods. Macrobius is witness, lib. I of the Saturnalia, cap. XVIII. Fifthly, Theodoret here, Question XV: The name tetragrammaton, he says, is called by the Samaritans Jave, by the Hebrews Ja. Sixthly, some of the moderns for about a hundred years, pronounce this name according to the points placed under it by the Masoretes, as Jehova. But these points, as I said above, are not points of the name tetragrammaton, but of the name Adonai: whence also the Masoretes themselves, and all Hebrews, for the name tetragrammaton read Adonai. They err therefore who derive from Jehova or Jova (by crasis) Jove the highest God of the Gentiles: for this has a Latin name, not Hebrew, and is said from helping. Varro also erred, who, as St. Augustine testifies, lib. I On the Harmony of the Gospels, cap. XXII, thought that the Jews worshipped Jove the God of the Romans; but Varro thought this, not because he had heard from the Hebrews that God was called Jehova or Jove; but because he believed that the Jews worshipped the highest God, whom he himself did not think to be other than Jove. It should be noted, however, that the name Jehova is not so much a verb as a name derived from a verb: for Jehova is the proper name of God; just as therefore commonly in other names derived from a verb, namely from the third person of the future, a name is formed signifying what kind of thing it is, or what kind of thing he will be to whom this name is given, as Jacob signifies a supplanter, and him who will supplant Esau; Israel signifies one who rules, and him who will rule God; Isaac signifies one who laughs, and him who will make his parents laugh: so also Jehova is a name, having the same termination as the future kal of the verb haia, and signifies being, and him who is and will be. For the letter jod, first in the name Jehova, is heemantica, or formative of the name, as it is in the names already mentioned and many others: for although the same jod is also a letter, or characteristic of the verb in the future, nevertheless in names it is heemantica, that is formative of the name, and thus transfers the future of the verb into a name. This same thing is confirmed from the fact that the name or verb Jehova is found precisely not in cap. III, vers. 14, but in this chapter in Hebrew. For in cap. III, vers. 14, where we have, "he that is sent me," in Hebrew it is not Jehova, but eie, that is, I am, as if to say, Whose name is "I am who am," he sent me. Hence again it follows that it should rather be said Jehova than Jeheve: for thus the name is usually distinguished from the future of the verb by the point camets, as is evident in the name Israel, which is distinguished from the future iisre, that is, he will rule, by camets: for names are accustomed to end not in segol, but in camets. I say therefore that it is most probable that this name ought to be pronounced iive or ieheve, that is, is or will be. It is proved, because this name is the same as that which God imposed upon himself, cap. III, vers. 14, saying: "Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He that is sent me unto you;" but "he that is" in Hebrew is said iie or iive, or iehere: therefore that same is the name tetragrammaton; for it is not credible that God gave himself two names here, but one only, and therefore that, "he that is," imposed upon himself in cap. III, he repeats here, so that he might encourage Moses, and so that he might teach him to prefer it to his embassy to Pharao and to the Hebrews. Thus think Bellarmine above, Genebrard in the Preface to the Psalms, and Pererius here, and this will be more evident from the following question. Our Aleazar, however, in the Apocalypse, chapter 1, verse 4, contends with many arguments that Jehova is compounded from four letters, each of which signifies a complete word. Jehova therefore, he says, is the same as ihie, hovie, vehaia, that is, "who will be, who is, who was." Whence Jehova is the same as what John says, Apocalypse 1, 4: "Who is, and who was, and who is to come," and therefore this name is called the tetragrammaton and ineffable: because each of its letters cannot express the complete word which they represent. But this etymology is not literal, as he himself contends, but symbolic, or rather cabalistic, concerning which more at Apocalypse 1, 4. That the name Jovis has been derived from the name Jehova, Marinus in the Dictionary, Masius in his letter to Arias Montanus, prefixed to his Psalms, and Marianus Victorius in his notes on St. Jerome, epistle 136, believe. But from this conjecture St. Augustine recoils, book VI On the City of God, chapter VI, and book VII, chapter V, and Galatinus, book II, chapter X.
Question 3: What the Name Tetragrammaton Signifies It is asked thirdly, what does the name tetragrammaton signify? Oleaster derives it from the root hava, that is, to crush, whence hova is crushing, as if Jehova were the same as crusher, namely of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. This is an allusion of the name, but not its origin: for Moses alludes to this etymology in chapter XV, verse 3, when he says: "The Lord" (in Hebrew it is the name tetragrammaton Jehova) "as a man of war; Almighty is his name." But others rightly and genuinely derive this name from the root haia, that is, is, or was, so that Jehova is the same as who is, but in various senses. First, R. Solomon, Lipomanus and Vatablus thus explain it, "who is," namely constant, keeping faith, truthful in promises, as if to say, I am already Jehova, that is, I shall now bring to pass what I promised, namely that I will lead you out of Egypt into Chanaan, whence it follows: "And I made a covenant with them, to give them the land of Chanaan." Second, Rupertus and Burgensis thus explain it, "who is," namely terrible, glorious and working miracles. Third, Jerome Prado in Ezekiel, chapter I, page 47, believes that the name Jehova, that is "who is," does not signify the essence of God: for this Abraham and the other Patriarchs knew; but the operation of God outwardly, namely the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, as if to say, I am who I am, that is, who shall be, namely the redeemer of Israel, I am whom you shall already experience as the avenger of your liberty; for this is what follows in verse 6: "I am the Lord who will bring you out of the slavery of the Egyptians." Similar passages are Isaiah III, 3, and Psalm LXVII, 5. But I say that this name tetragrammaton Jehova signifies the essence of God, and the very abyss of divine essence, and an immense sea; for this is what the name "who is" signifies, as I said in chapter III, which is the same as the tetragrammaton name. Jehova therefore, says Masius, is the same as "who exists from eternity, and is himself his own essence, and on whom the essence of all things depends." Thus Aristotle in book I On the Heavens calls God aei ona, as it were aei ona, that is, always being and existing; because God is a sea of essence, and the principle of all essence, which gives being to all things. And Trismegistus: "God," he says, "has no need of a name, for he is ho on anonumos," that is, being without a name. Vilalpando notes in chapter XXVIII of Ezekiel that the name Jehova or Jeheva signifies the essence of God in itself, or inwardly, just as Adonai signifies the same by reason of works outwardly: for this reason the Prophets are accustomed to join both these names together, saying: "Thus says the Lord God;" in Hebrew Adonai Jehova. Jehova, that is God, namely the majesty of God in itself; Adonai, that is Lord and sustainer of all things which he created. You will ask whether the name tetragrammaton signifies the essence of God, as it is in itself? Scotus and Gabriel in I Sentences, distinction 22, believe that men, especially the learned and acute, can know God in himself as he is, and consequently can impose upon him a name signifying him as he is, and such is the name tetragrammaton, which is therefore proper, essential and adequate to God. But better does St. Thomas, I part., Question XIII, believe that it is impossible for man in this life to know and name God in himself. The reason is: First, because in this life no one can know God intuitively; therefore no one can know him in himself as he is, fully and perfectly. Second, even if someone could know God in himself as he is; yet he would know only this much in God himself, by seeing and beholding him: but the name which he would impose upon him would be outside God and God's essence, who cannot be seen, named, signified and known by any created sign as he is in himself. Yet it is true that among all the names of God which we have, none is so proper and so substantial to him as Being, or Jehova, that is, "who is," as the Damascene teaches, book I On the Faith, chapter XII, and St. Thomas I part., Question XIII, and St. Dionysius, book On Divine Names, chapter I.
Question 4: The Meaning of the Place "I Have Not Made Known to Them My Name Adonai" It is asked fourth, what is the meaning of this place: "I am the Lord who appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in God almighty, and my name Adonai I have not made known to them?" First, Bede reads it interrogatively, "have I not made known to them?" that is to say, I have altogether made known to them this name of mine; but this dissents from the common reading of all the Hebrew, Greek and Latin codices, which lack the mark of interrogation, and read this assertively, namely that God asserts that He has not made known to them this name of His. Second, others explain it thus, "I have not made known to them my name Adonai," that is, Lord, that is to say, I did not show to them the full and most high dominion of mine over all things, by which I can turn and convert all things at will through miracles and prodigies into whatever other things I wish; but this I shall now show through you, O Moses, in the plagues which I shall bring upon Egypt. But these err: First, in the name Adonai, that is, Lord; for in Hebrew it is not Adonai, but the name of the tetragrammaton Jehova. Second, because God showed this dominion of His to the patriarchs sufficiently before Moses in the flood, in the overthrow of Sodom, in the dispersion of Babel. Third, R. Solomon, Vatablus and Lipomanus give this meaning: I have not made known to the patriarchs my tetragrammaton name, Jehova, that is, "I am who I am," namely I am constant and truthful in promises: because I did not exhibit to the patriarchs my promises concerning Canaan to be delivered to them; but I shall now grant them to you, O Moses, and to yours: whence I shall show to you in fact that I am Jehova, that is, that I am faithful in promises. But the tetragrammaton name does not signify faithfulness, but the very "being" of God. Fourth, Rupertus and Burgensis explain it thus: "I have not made known to the patriarchs the name Adonai," namely of how great power and virtue it is, how terrible, how glorious, how miraculous, and operative of plagues, as I shall now show and make manifest through you, O Moses, by multiplying prodigies and plagues. Fifth, Oleaster: The tetragrammaton name, he says, Jehova, is the same as the crusher, that is to say, I did not show to the patriarchs that I am Jehova, that is, the crusher of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but this I shall now show to you, O Moses. Sixth, Lyranus following St. Augustine thinks that Moses in rapture, Exodus XXXIII, saw the essence of God, and then the tetragrammaton name was revealed and declared to him: for this signifies the essence of God; but it is more true that Moses did not see the essence of God, as I shall say at chapter XXXIII. Add: that vision was later than the revelation of the tetragrammaton name; for this was revealed to Moses here and at chapter III. But Moses, if he saw the essence of God, did not see it except at chapter XXXIII. I say therefore that the plain and genuine meaning of this place is this: I God was known and worshipped by the patriarchs as El Shaddai, that is, God strong and liberal; but my proper name Jehova I did not make known to them, but I reveal it first to you, O Moses, and at the same time with the name I communicate to you a clearer knowledge of the thing signified, namely of my essence and divinity; and I do this for this purpose, that I may raise you and the people afflicted by Pharaoh into hope of my aid about to come; inasmuch as I now make myself so familiar to you and the Hebrews, and to be called and known from my proper name, that you may know that you are now more a care and concern to me than before. Hence it is clear that the tetragrammaton name was first revealed to Moses. It is clear second, that Moses received here a clearer knowledge of divinity than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob received. The meaning therefore is, as if He said: I God was known and called by the patriarchs Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, that is Lord, Governor, strong, liberal, almighty (which names signify a certain form and perfection like a quality in God); but to you, O Moses, I reveal my essential name, which signifies my very substance in itself, and the essence of mine which is the source and cause of all things, and an immense ocean. That this is the meaning is proved first, because this tetragrammaton name is the same as that at chapter III: "I am who I am," as I have already shown. For God speaks here of this name, not as if it were first imposed at this place; but of it as already known to Moses from the first appearance, chapter III, verses 14 and 15. Therefore this name does not signify God as truthful, avenging or crushing, but as containing all the fullness of being, or as the very subsisting being, immense, immutable, eternal and infinite. It is proved secondly, because it is false that God did not appear to the fathers as a subduer in the flood and Sodom; or as truthful: for God appeared truthful to Noah, when He afterwards prevented the flood, as Noah had promised, Genesis cap. IX, vers. 15. God appeared likewise truthful in the protection of Abraham, Genesis cap. XVII, vers. 7 and 10; in the birth of Sarah, ibid., vers. 16 and 21; in blessing Isaac, Genesis XXVIII, vers. 15. It is proved thirdly, because otherwise the same thing would seem to be said, and therefore the latter part of the sentence would conflict with the former, if you should explain it thus: I appeared to the fathers as strong, but not as subduing; I appeared to the fathers as generous, but not as faithful and truthful: for if God is generous, much more is He faithful, and tenacious of His promise. It is proved fourthly, because from this revelation Moses became so desirous of knowing the divinity, or even of seeing it, that we shall see in cap. XXXIII, vers. 18. Hence also from this peculiar revelation of this name made to Moses, this most august and most holy name has always been held in such esteem, that in Scripture it is attributed to none except to the true God, or to one so esteemed. Whence this name is throughout Scripture attributed to God alone, whereas the other names of God are also attributed to angels and to chief men. It is proved fifthly, because this is the simplest and plainest interpretation; and therefore the Fathers explain this passage concerning a clearer revelation of the divinity and divine essence, whether open or enigmatic, made to Moses. Thus St. Gregory, hom. 16 in Ezech., Procopius, Theodoret, Cyril, Philo, Abulensis, Cajetan, Pererius and others here. You will say: This name was revealed to the fathers long before Moses; for in Genesis it is repeated very often, and the fathers invoked God by this name, as Enoch did, Genesis IV, 26, and Abraham, Genesis cap. XV, vers. 8. Some respond, as Cajetan, Lyra and Pererius, that this name indeed as to the word and letters was revealed to the fathers, but as to the clear and full signification, it was first revealed to Moses. But Scripture here plainly signifies that this name was first revealed to Moses not only as to its signification, but also as to the very word and name itself, and the Hebrew makes this clearer, which thus reads: And by my name Jehovah I was not known to them. I respond therefore that the fathers before Moses did not know, nor did they use the name Jehovah, but called God Adonai, Elohim, Shaddai, just as even now the Jews everywhere read Adonai or Elohim for Jehovah: but Moses, who wrote Genesis, after receiving this name, used it in Genesis, because it signifies the same God, and is as it were proper to God; for Moses rendered not the words, but the sense of the prayers of Enoch and Abraham. Thus the city Bala is called Segor, which was not called Segor then, but afterwards; and Dan is called a city, which was afterwards called Dan, but was then called Lais. See Can. 3.
Question 5: What This Name Jehovah Signifies Symbolically and Macrobius, book I on the Dream of Scipio, chapter vi, where among other things he says: The Pythagoreans so venerate the perfection of the soul in the quaternary among their mysteries, that they have made from it a religious obligation of oath-taking, namely this: "Not indeed by him, who has delivered the quaternary to our soul." In place of this name tetragrammaton, very many other nations have given to God a four-lettered name; for thus the Egyptians call God Theuth, the Persians Sura, the Etruscans Esar, the Arabs Allah, the Assyrians Adad, the Turks Aydi, the Greeks Theos, the Latins Deus, the Germans Godt, the Gauls Dieu, the Spanish Dios, etc. Thus Giraldus, On the Gods of the Gentiles, syntagm. 1. See more on this name among Angelus Caninus, and Galatinus, book II, chapter x, and book III at length. Finally, all these four letters of the name tetragrammaton are quiescent letters to the Hebrews, to signify that in God alone true and solid rest, and indeed eternal happiness and blessedness itself consists and finds repose. For he himself is alpha and omega, beginning and end; he himself is the center of our heart; he himself is the satisfaction and joy of all angels and the Blessed. Allegorically, Jehovah the redeemer of Israel from Egypt was a type of Jesus, who was the redeemer of the world from the captivity and tyranny of the devil; hence the name Jesus was contained and represented in Jehovah, and this was as it were his enigma, and the name Jesus itself is as it were a declaration of the name Jehovah: hence again the name Jesus is holier and more venerable than the name Jehovah, as I have demonstrated from Abulensis on Philippians II, 10. Indeed our Prado in Ezekiel contends that the name Jehovah is chiefly to be referred to the mystery of the incarnation and redemption of mankind, and asserts that it is derived from the future deed of the Word. For Jehovah, he says, is the same as I shall be who shall be, namely man and redeemer of the world, that is Jesus, that is Savior of men. This is true, but allegorical, not literal, as is evident from what has been said. It is asked fifth, what this name Jehovah signifies symbolically, and therefore why it is a tetragrammaton? The Hebrews answer that by this name is signified the Holy Trinity, and at the same time the incarnation of the Word. For the first letter yod, which is the index and beginning of the number ten, signifies the first person, namely the Father. The second he signifies the second, namely the Son; for he signifies essence and substance (from the root haia, which means to be), which the Son has in common with the Father; for he is consubstantial with the Father. Again, through the Son all created things were made, and received their essence. The third vau signifies the third, namely the Holy Spirit; for vau among the Hebrews is a copula signifying and, and: just as the Holy Spirit is the copula, union and notional love of the Father and the Son. Whence the Greek Scholiast for what we have: "And my name Adonai I have not revealed to them," translated, I have not revealed to them the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hence also the Hebrews write the tetragrammaton name by a triple yod, to which they subjoin kamets within a circle: for since yod signifies beginning, and the whole Trinity is one principle of things outside itself, in one essence and nature, hence the trinity of persons is represented by a triple yod; but the unity of essence is represented both by one and the same yod, and by a single vowel kamets. Again the second letter he, doubled in this name, signifies the two natures in the Son, divine and human; whence also this letter he, which is the index of the Son in the tetragrammaton name, was added to Abraham and Sarah, when he was called Abraham instead of Abram, she was called Sarah instead of Sarai: because from Abraham and Sarah was born and incarnate Christ. But why is this name four-lettered? I answer, the grammatical and proper cause is that perfect Hebrew names are four-lettered; for they have three letters of the theme, to which they add a fourth formative or denominative letter of the name. The symbolic cause is that the quaternary is the first perfect even number, which consists of beginning, middle and end. Second, this number constitutes a square and geometric quadrilateral, which is the most solid figure; whence of the heavenly city St. John says, Apocalypse xxi, verse 16, that it is placed in a square. Third, this number by virtue is all things, namely every number, all music, all quantity, all elements, all virtue; hence it is sacred in Scripture, as is evident in the four Cherubim, Ezekiel I, and the four animals, Apocalypse IV. These and more Philo has in On the Planting of Noah, book II, after the middle, and book III On the Life of Moses, after the beginning.
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6. I AM THE LORD WHO WILL BRING YOU OUT OF THE PRISON-HOUSE OF THE EGYPTIANS. — In Hebrew, from under the burdens of the Egyptians: thus our translator rendered it well and clearly, from the prison-house; for a prison-house is a place in which captives or slaves are forced to labor; it is called a prison-house from ἐργάζεσθαι, that is, from working and laboring. AND I WILL REDEEM YOU WITH A HIGH ARM. — In Hebrew, with an outstretched arm, namely to strike and subdue your enemies the Egyptians. An arm is attributed to God in human fashion, and signifies the power and strength of God; for man is accustomed to display this in his arm. Mystically, the arm which proceeds from the body is the Son proceeding from the Father, just as the finger proceeding from the body and arm is the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. Thus St. Jerome in chapter LII of Isaiah. AND WITH GREAT JUDGMENTS, — with great plagues, great vengeance. For judgment is taken metonymically for the effect of judgment, namely for just punishment and plague, inflicted through judgment and by the judge.
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7. And I will be your God. — In Hebrew, I will be your Elohim, that is your provider, governor, protector, leader.
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8. Upon which I have lifted up my hand, — which I swore to give to you; for those who swear are accustomed to swear with hand raised on high; the same phrase occurs in Genesis xiv, verse 22, II Esdras ix, 15. Elsewhere "to lift up the hand" is the gesture of one praying, elsewhere of one striking, elsewhere of one working. THAT I MIGHT GIVE IT TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB, — that I might give it to the descendants of Abraham, who descend through Isaac and Jacob, not those who descend through Ishmael and Esau.
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9. WHO HEARKENED NOT TO HIM FOR ANGUISH OF SPIRIT — The Septuagint translates, ἀπὸ τῆς ὀλιγοψυχίας, from pusillanimity. For they were so oppressed with burdens that they scarcely had leave to breathe, so that their spirit seemed to be cut off; and therefore it was neither permitted nor pleasing to them to think, hope or contrive anything else.
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Verse 12. HOW SHALL PHARAO HEAR ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE I AM OF UNCIRCUMCISED LIPS? — Since I labor under a defect of tongue, since I am of slower and more impeded speech. The Hebrews call uncircumcised in heart, mind, or tongue him who labors under some defect of heart, mind or tongue. For just as circumcision was the first and greatest Sacrament among the Hebrews, so to be uncircumcised was the greatest defect and disgrace; hence by uncircumcision, or by the foreskin, they signify any defect whatsoever. To this complaint of Moses the Lord will respond at the beginning of chapter vii. For from this chapter onward the following matters will be directed elsewhere, and are interwoven so that they may pave the way for the genealogy of Moses. Hence it is clear that this defect of speech remained in Moses even after his conversation with God, in his very embassy to Pharao; and this was for the exercise of humility, and so that God might show that He uses weak and unfit instruments, lest glory be given to the instruments, but to God alone. Allegorically, Moses, as it were mute, used Aaron as his interpreter, to signify that the old law, as it were silent and mute, is a shadow and figure of the new law, which clearly proclaims God and Christ.
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Verse 13. AND THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES AND AARON, AND GAVE THEM A COMMANDMENT TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. — This is a general epilogue, or a collection of all the things said before, which Moses here subjoins, so that through it he may pass on to the genealogy of himself and Aaron; and this is so that the certainty of the history of the Exodus, and of the promise fulfilled by God, concerning the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, may be established, since it is most certain that the deed was accomplished not by some outsider, but by him who was of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promise was made, namely by Moses.
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14. THESE ARE THE PRINCES OF THE HOUSES ACCORDING TO THEIR FAMILIES, that is to say, These are the princes of the families of the Israelites; for houses are called families, which elsewhere are called kinships. In Hebrew it is, these are the princes of the house of their fathers, that is, these are the princes who presided over the families of their ancestors or fathers; for each of the twelve patriarchs had and established a peculiar family, in which he himself was prince, and after him his firstborn son, for example the sons of Reuben were four, namely Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi; each of these had their own families, in which they themselves were princes.
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16. AND THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE SONS OF LEVI. — Moses sets forth in the genealogy of Levi, because from Levi were born Moses and Aaron, whose lineage the Holy Spirit especially intends to trace here, because these were the liberators and leaders of Israel. Thus St. Augustine, Questions XV. Where Note: The first son of Jacob was Reuben, the second Simeon, the third Levi; Moses traced the genealogy of only these three, both for the reason already stated, and because Jacob appeared to have cursed them, Genesis cap. xlix, vers. 3 and 5. Whence, lest these three tribes should be thought to be rejected by God, Moses wished to record many and illustrious families of these three sons of Jacob. BY THEIR KINDREDS. — In Hebrew, by their generations, that is their families. These three things therefore are the same: generation, family, kindred; and so one generation is one family, because it descends from one progenitor. AND THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF LEVI WERE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN — From what is said in Genesis xxx, it is clear that Levi was four years older than Joseph. Hence it follows first, that Levi was 43 years old when he descended into Egypt with Jacob, because then Joseph was 39 years old, as I showed in Genesis XLI. It follows secondly, that Levi died 23 years after the death of Joseph; for he died in the year of his age 110, but Levi at 137. It follows thirdly, that Levi, after Jacob's entry into Egypt, lived in Egypt for 94 years. It follows fourthly, that Levi died 121 years before the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt: for from Jacob's entry into Egypt until the exit of the Hebrews, 215 years elapsed; but Levi, after Jacob's entry into Egypt, lived there for 94 years: therefore after Levi's death until the exit of the Hebrews from Egypt, 121 years remained. It follows fifthly, that Levi died 41 years before the birth of Moses; for he was 80 years old at the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt.
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20. JOCHABED HIS KINSWOMAN, — a relative, not an aunt, as I said cap. II, 2. AND THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF AMRAM WERE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN. — Eusebius in his Chronicle relates that Amram, who was the father of Moses, begot Moses in the seventieth year of his age; whence it follows that he died when Moses was sixty-seven years old, namely 13 years before the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt; although Alexander Polyhistor, according to Eusebius, wishes Amram to have died 20 years before the exit of the Hebrews from Egypt. The Hebrews relate, as Genebrardus reports in lib. I of his Chronology, that seven men measure the entire course of ages from the beginning of the world to the end. For Adam saw Methuselah, he saw Shem, Shem saw Jacob, Jacob saw Amram, Amram saw Ahijah of Shiloh, Ahijah saw Elijah, who lives and will live until the end of the world. But they err concerning Amram; for he, as I said, died 13 years before the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt: therefore he could not have seen Ahijah of Shiloh, who is introduced as a prophet after the death of Solomon in III Kings xi. For from the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt until the fourth year of Solomon, in which the temple was built, 480 years elapsed, as is clear from III Kings vi, 1. More briefly and truly would two men measure the entire age: for Adam saw Enoch, Enoch taken up will return, and will see the end of the world. See here how fleeting is all this time of ours, how transient is this whole age. Let the Christian truly hear Laelius philosophizing in Seneca, lib. VI of Natural Questions. For when someone said to him: I have sixty years; he answered elegantly: Do you say you have these sixty years, which you do not yet have? The years, hours and ages that have passed we do not have: nor do we have those that are to come; we live through moments and points of fleeting time: from the day of life and hours we have certain points. And again: "Nor is that which is to come mine, nor that which was: I hang suspended on a point of fleeting time." For that philosopher spoke rightly, that we properly do not have time, but a point of time, namely the present moment itself: for the past is not, but was; the future is not, but will be: therefore we have only the present itself, namely the moment now. See how fleeting is our time, how thin is pleasure, and this present life.
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23. AND AARON TOOK ELIZABETH AS WIFE, DAUGHTER OF AMINADAB, SISTER OF NAHASON. — This Nahason at the departure from Egypt was the prince of the tribe of Judah, as is clear from Num. 1, 7. Note: Moses, a humble man, here carefully traced the genealogy of Aaron, his own he almost neglected, except insofar as it was necessary for understanding God's calling and the mission of a certain person.
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25. THESE ARE THE PRINCES OF FAMILIES. — Hebr., these are the princes of fathers, who namely among the fathers were princes and heads of families.
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26. THIS IS AARON AND MOSES, — namely, those who were sent to Pharaoh. "This is therefore Aaron and Moses," who were leaders of so great a deed, who like two thunderbolts of war prostrated Pharaoh and all his enemies, who like the sun and moon illuminated Israel. Behold how much one man or another can accomplish, one distinguished leader of a people. Thus one Epaminondas raised the Thebans to empire, so that Agesilaus, seeing him, although an enemy, rightly exclaimed: "O magnificent man!" Thus one Scipio ended the long war between Romans and Carthaginians over empire, and secured it for the Romans, so that Cato rightly said of him even as a soldier: "This man alone is wise, the rest wander about like shadows;" and Metellus gave thanks to the gods of Rome for the reason that Scipio did not exist elsewhere. Indeed, the Numantians, enemies of the Romans, when asked why they now fled from the Romans under the leadership of Scipio, whom they had previously put to flight, answered: "The sheep are indeed the same, but they now have another shepherd." Plutarch is witness in the Roman Apophthegms. How many years have we lived? What glorious deeds have we accomplished? Among the faithful, what did not one Moses accomplish, one Joshua, one David, one Josiah, one Elijah, one Elisha, one Daniel, one Paul, one Gregory, one Athanasius, one Chrysostom, one Jerome, one Benedict, one Francis, one Dominic, one Bernard, one Xavier? and what do we accomplish? We are a multitude. Thou hast multiplied the nation, but hast not magnified the joy. Julius Caesar wept when reading the deeds of Alexander, and said: "Behold, at the age at which Alexander conquered Darius, I have as yet accomplished nothing glorious."
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28. ON THE DAY WHEN THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. — In the Hebrew and Chaldean a new sentence begins here in this manner: "And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in this way: I am the Lord, speak to Pharaoh." Whence also the Latin codices begin from here at verse 28.
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29. SPEAK TO PHARAOH. — Here Moses resumes and continues the narrative begun at verse 14, and interrupted by the description of his genealogy.
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30. AND MOSES SAID BEFORE THE LORD, — said to the Lord, who was present, or before whom Moses stood and acted. I am uncircumcised of lips, — I am hindered in tongue, rude in speaking and unfit, as I said in chapter IV, verse 10.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Dixitque Dominus ad. Moysen. : Nunc videbis, quae facturus sim Pharaoni : per manum enim fortem dimittet eos, et in manu robusta euctet illos de terra sua ». Non solum dimittet, sed ipse eiiciet, compulsus manu Dei. Duo Iahve praestanda iam sunt : ut Hebraeorum 1n se fidem erigat, utque Moysi animos addat ad Pharaonem rursus adeundum. lllud efficere studet eloquio 6,2-9; hoc efficit altero eloquio, quod 6,10 incipit et 7,7 concluditur. dimentum Deus miraculo tolleret. Post prhmam igitur repulsam, Moyses idem desiderium manifestat, instantius etiam quam antea, cum non iam de « gravi lingua » sed de « incircumcisis labiis » loquatur, labiorum veluti cireumcisionem a Deo circumocisionis expetat. At, non Moysis facundia sed Dei potentia adigendus erat Pharao : quare Deus, exiguam Moysis fidem tacite reprehendens, iisdem fere atque ante verbis Aaronem demonstrat. Adverte tandem, licet, quae 6,2-7,7 dicantur, sint ante dictorum affinia, at longe diverso effectu proferri. 4,31 populus dictis facile credebat, 6,9 fidem denegat, dum Moyses et Aaron illis 7,6 fidem habent, ceteris uti divina electione ita virtute etiam praelucent. Qui effectus profecto dignus est, qui narretur. — De 6,13-28 infra dicemus.
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v. 2 « Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen dicens : Ego Dominus » , i. e. Ego Iahve. Eodem plane sensu dicebat Deus Gen. 17,1; 35,11: « Ego El Schaddai » (Kn.). Uti ibi nomen traditur, non natura deseribitur, ita etiam hic. Sensus non est : Ego merito vocor lahve, quia mea natura eius nominis significationi plene respondet; sed ego sum et vocor Iahve, hoc mihi nomen assumpsi, hoc nomine appellari et agnosci volo.
Arg. — Deus filiorum Israel, qui in populum excreverant, futurus peculiari titulo. deus, proprium nomen selegerat, quo ab ipsis et a cireum incolentibus nationibus tamquam eorum deus agnosceretur : nomen lahve. Lubentes hoc nomen una cum Iahve promissis, angariis oppressi 4,31 Hebraei receperant; idipsum rursus gravioribus angariis exanimati et scribarum suorum 5,21 conviciis abrepti erubescebant iamiam levique opera videbantur esse abdicaturi. Quare eloquium edit Deus, cuius summa haec est : Iahve 1dem est atque El Schaddai, et omnes promissiones ab El Schaddai factas ipse implebit. Und e colligas, 6,2-8, licet sit 3,13-17 valde affine, non esse meram 1b. dictorum repetitionem, sed membrum narrationis prorsus necessarium. Rem luce clariorem pluribus prosequi non lubet. Porro, sicut textus gravissimi 3,1^ sq. tria deprehendebamus esse membra, quorum secundum et tertium per Moysen filiis Israel, primum soli Moysi profatur Deus : ita pari omnino ratione nostri eloquii duo discernuntur membra, quorum primum 6,2-5 Deus ad solum Moysen, alterum 6,6-8 per Moysen ad populum eloquitur. Non, quod non etiam 3,1^4*et 6,2-5 Moyses universo populo retulerit, sicut ea postmodum omnium usui futura fuere descripta : sed ea forma Deus has revelationes edidit, qua Moysen prae reliquo populo honoraret eique praeter ea, quae omnium essent communia, aliqua impertiretur magis arcana, quae 1lpse cum populo quasi de suo communiearet. Verba v. 6-8 in capite et ad calcem adseriptam habent formulam Ego Iahve. Post revelatum sc. nomen Iahve passim Deus ea formula sua eloquia et mandata orditur (v. 29; 90,9; Lev. 18,2; 20,7 sq. ete.) et concludit (Lev. 11,44 sq.; 18,21. 30; 19 passim ; 20,24. 26 ; 21 sq. eto.). Est ea instar sig?//7 documento affixi eique fidem facientis. Eandem formulam habes v. 2 initio prioris huius eloquii membri, ubi ea tamen non meri sigilli rationem habet, sed simul £esserae loco est sequentibus evolvendae.
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v. 3 « Quz apparuit Abraham , Isaac et Iacob in Deo omnipotente ». Praepositio 3 excidit apud LXX,sane quod praecedens nomen /acoó 1n eandem desineret consonantem. Illud 2 referri ad nomen : in seu sub (nomine) El Schadda, colügitur inde, quod ei in sequenti membro nomen lIahve opponatur. Sensus igitur est eum, qui se nunc lahve appellet, antea innotuissesub appellatione El Schaddai ; eundem esse Iahve, qui El Schaddai, ergo eandem auctoritatem. At cur non eodem Iahve nomine se patribus etiam manifestavit? Quaestionem praeoceupat sequens membrum : « E! nomen meum Adonat » — lege lahve — « non indicavi eis ». Cum illis nomen lahve nondum indicassem, illud pro nomine proprio nondum assumpsissem , non poteram sub eo tum nomine eos alloqui. Plana utique responsio. At cur non patribus illud nomen indieaverit Deus? Rationem erue e contextu cap. 3. Quamdiu Hebraei nondum fuerant populus a reliquis Semitis distinctus , Deum nomine proprio apud alios etiam Semitas usitato appellaverant : El Schaddai. At, ubiin populum excreverant, atque a Deo assumebantur in populum ipsi speciali prae ceteris nationibus titulo proprium, aequum erat ut Deum appellarent non nomine aliquo proprio, quo aliae item gentes, neque fortasse sine superstitione illum appellarent, sed nomine exclusive proprio, quo nullae aliae uterentur gentes. Nomen igitur lahvea Deo dicitur ewm, qua ratione alias etiam nomina evadunt personarum propria, sc. impositione vel assumptione; ergo quia Deus illud nomen sibi assumpsit, non ob etymologicam nominis rationem. Erat utique Deo indignum nomen seligere omnino inane, sonum habens, non significationem. At non requirebatur nomen divinam essentiam , quam fieri poterat, maxime proprie exprimens. Tamen id etiam liberalissimus Deus Hebraeis concessit. lgnorasse vero dicuntur patres non vocem ny, non eius vocis szgn?ficationem , sive totam sive etiam tantummodo pleniorem, sed eius a Deo factam «ppropriationem tamquam nominis. Profundiorem aliquem sensum e verbis Ex. 6,9 eruere conantur interpretes quidam : verbum v* ib. volunt non cognitionem solum denotare, sed intimiorem cognitionem; patriarchae affirmantur non ipsum quidem nomen proprium Iahve ignorasse, sed ejus nominis vim nondum satis perspexisse. . T2 : MOYSIS ACTA IN AEGYPTO. -Ex. 6,29. sQ. 13 mimus, perspicere nos quam belle Titii indoles etymologiae nominis Titius respondeat; sed illud tantummodo, nos experimento didicisse, quis sit Titius quaeque Titii indoles. Illa formula « scire, quia ego Iahve » compendio illud exprimit, quod diserte habent longiores quaedam formulae « quia ego Iahve sum Deus vester » (Ex. 6,7; 16,12; 29,46; 31,13), « quia terra est Iahve » (9,29), « quia Iahve ipse est Deus » (Ps. 99,3); quodque habent aliae formulae negativae : « ut scias, quoniam non est sicut Iahve Deus noster « (Ex. 8,10 [6]), « quod non sit similis mei in terra » (9,14) etc. Vox Zahve in formula « sciant, quia ego Iahve » non sumitur nude et secundum etymon, sed concrete et quasi vestita omnibus illis attributis et perfectionibus, quae de Iahve vere praedicari possunt. Perperam ea accersetur ad explicanda verba Ex. 6,3 « scire nomen lIahve ». Nomen Iahve Moysi primo revelatum esse agnovere Theodoret., Proc., Lap., Sylv., Calm. aliique. Ad difficultatem, nomen n" toties in Genesi scribi, respondebatur illud certe ignorasse patriarchas, at Moysen eorum aeta narrantem proleptice eo nomine ésse usum. Quibus hac responsione non erat satis factum , ii textum Ex. 6,3 cogebantur torquere. « Quaestionum hic et explanationum nullus finis » (Malv.). Perpaucea attingemus, cum textus de se sit perquam clarus et planus. Igitur Lyr., Tost., Bonfr. censebant patriarchas non nomen, sed nominis significationem ignorasse. Cai. patriarchis permittit significationis cognitionem obscuram, denegat distinctam. Eodem recidit Walafr. supplens « sicut tibi ». Rup., Hugo, Vat. putant nomen eatenus revelari Moysi, quatenus Deus secundum nominis significationem iamiam acturus sit concessa Israelitis terra promissa; ipsi sc. nomen Iahve autumant exprimere Dei promittentis fidelitatem (vide, quae diximus ad 3,14). Maxime satisfacit difficultatis solutio ea, quam in Genesi tradidimus, nomen Iahve Moysi primo esse revelatum, in Genesis textum serius irrepsisse. Qui nomen proprium lahve Moysi primo revelatum esse affirmat, debet item defendere, illud ante Moysen pro nomine divino proprio non esse adhibitum. Difficultatem faciunt pauca quaedam nomina antemosaica, quae videntur compositione illius nominis esse formata, imprimis nomen Zochabed , matris Moysis. Eam difficultatem certe non tantam esse censemus, quae interpretem compellat ab obvio Ex. 6,3 sensu recedere. Vide, quas in Comment. in Gen. p. 7 sq. solutiones suggerebamus. Veram dies diem docet, et scriptor scriptorem; solutionem planissimam suppeditavit H. Barns (Revue biblique trimestrielle II. 346, Paris 1893). Praeter formam /a/Ave n, habentur formae breviores Jahu à et Iah à. Hae virorum nominibus componendis adhibentur, illa nunquam. Has natas esse abbreviatione ilius gratis asseritur. Suggerit. igitur laudatus auctor, formam Jaw vel lao esse Moyse apud Hebraeos antiquiorem, imo adhibitam esse tamquam nomen divinum, non tamen exclusive proprium ; sieut porro Deus nomen Aóram mutavit in Abraham , et Sarai in Sara , adnexa nova significatione , ita mutasse Jaw vel Iao in Iahve, aut nova affixa significatione aut ea, quae ante fuerit, penitius declarata. Huic hypothesi favet analogia: Gen. 17,5.15; praeterea omnes ea expedit difficultates. Tuetur sensum obvium Ex. 6,3; explieat, quomodo nominis divini forma brevior in Iochabed reperiatur. Porro Iahve, cum idem sit atque El Schaddai, idem est foeder?s Deus : v. À « Pepigique foedus cum eis, ut darem eis terram Chanaan , terram peregrinationis eorum, in qua fuerunt advenae ». Cf. Gen. 11, 31;17,8;35,12. Sequens versus orditur a *2N 231 : E uunc insuper, ego idem Deus audivi etc. Loquitur Deus iisdem atque 1,13 et 2,94 expressionibus.
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v. 5 « Ego audivi gemitum filiorum Israel, quo Aegyptii oppresserunt eos , et recordatus sum pacti mei ». lamiam pacto promissa exsecutioni mandabo. Ubi tota promissio (v. 6-8) vocibus Ego lahve ineipit et clauditur (v. supra). Constat ea vero triplici membro :
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v. 6 verbis educam , eruam , redimam salutis partem negativam; v. 7 verbis assumam , ero, scietis partem positivam pandit; v. 8 salutis fructum, terrae promissae possessionem annuntiat. v. 6 « Jdeo » — LXX vade : n25 pro 125 — » dic filiis Israel : Ego. Dominus : qui educam vos de ergastulo Aegyptiorum », — Hebr. de angarüts ; notat Bonfr. significare ergastulum etiam domum, ubi laboretur, atque ita versionem Hier. sat prope ad Hebr. accedere — « et eruam de servitute, ac redimam in brachio excelso », Hebr. extento, » et tudiciis magnis », sc. plagis Aegyptiis infligendis (Bonfr.). « Est metaphora viri pugnatoris » (Tost.), cf. T,& sq. « Ego vi magna et prodigiis magnis eripiam vos » (Vat.). v.1 legebatur npsn n2, dum Deut. 4,354;5,15:7,19;11,2;26,8 (cf. 9,29) utraque scribitur expressio. An ergo diversi (De/Ím.) v. 4 et v. 6 seriptores? Nota, v. 1 subiectum esse Pharaonem, qui non extento et minanti Dei órachio, sed manu plagis inflictis cervicem prementi sit obsecuturus. v. Y « Et assumam vos mihi in populum, et ero vester Deus ». Se eorum Deum futurum, promiserat Deus Gen. 17,7; eos sibi futuros in populum , nunc tandem, ubi populus facti sunt, pronuntiat (Tost.); ad sensum expressionis cf. Gen. 28,20 sq. Specialem se profitetur eorum euram esse habiturum, speciali ab ipsis vicissim cultu honorandus. « Ef scietis » « experimento » (Ca1.), « quod. ego sum Dominus Deus vester, qui eduxerim vos de ergastulo Aegyptiorum ».
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v. 8 « Et induxerim » — omnino vertendum e£ inducam (LXX) — « in terram , super quam levavi manum meam » seu « 1uravi » (Ps. Ion., et cf. Gen. 15,18 sqq.), « ut darem eam Abraham , Isaac et Iacob; daboque illam vobis possidendam. Ego Dominus ».
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v. 9 « Narravit ergo Moyses omnia filüs Israel, qui non acquieverunt ei propter angustiam spiritus » — Hebr. brevitatem spiritus , quae Prov. 154,99; Num 21,^; Iud. 16,16; Iob 21,& ?mpattentiam sonat : ita erant malorum impatientes, ut iam sola verba despicerent. Sed illa impatientia simul erat pusi//anzmitas (LXX), defectio (Aq.) — « et opus d'rissimum ». Coordinantur, quae invicem subordinantur : angaria quippe impatientiae causa erat. Sam. (cf. Field) Hebraeos h. 1. proloquentes inducit querelas, quae 154,12 leguntur. Arg. — Deus Moysi mandat, ut rursum adeat Pharaonem. Moyses mandato se excusare studet : incassum a Pharaone, quam ipsi Hebraei recusent, fidem exspectari. Linguae rursus defectum praetendit, ratus fortasse nunc tandem illum fore miraculo tollendum. Deus praeter Aaronis societatem remedium offert nullum, tamen quae Moysis quaeque Aaronis futurae sint partes solemnius declarat, portentaque certum nactura effectum iterum promittit. Quibus penitus restituitur Moysis fides, dum Aaronis fides videtur inconcussa perseverasse. haec genealogia non iuerit inserta ante cap. 2. Fortasse, quod iam, antequam insereretur, exordio et epilogo fuerit aucta et nomina habuerit Moysis et Aaronis invicem conserta. Non ergo visa est inserenda, quo loco nulla haberetur Aaronis mentio. Inserta est post 6,12, ubi conquerebatur Moyses se ab Israelitis non audiri neque à Pharaone auditum iri. Hoc igitur loco suas Moysis et Aaronis laudes assuit levita auctor. Quem inspiratum fuisse minime negamus : potest quippe auctor in- Spiratus, uti solecismis loqui, ita loco minus apto quaedam inserere. Eum autem auctorem coniicimus a Moyse diversum ob eam potissimum rationem , quod Moyses apte et loqui et scribere assueverit. DQDAN n'3"*wN? "ON, isti sunt capita domus patrum suorum ; ubi suffixum non refertur ad Moysen et Aaron, cum plerique citandorum non fuerint horum virorum principes familiarum ; non ad Israel, cum multi alii recenserentur principes; sed ad ipsos, qui recensentur, quorum quisque princeps erat familiae suae seu familiarum suarum. TUAN 1723 non designat unice familiam, quae pars sit gentis 3 12W2, sed : 1) quandoque designat ipsam tribum, quae et ipsa à communi parente ortum ducit (Num. 17,17; Ios. 22,14); 2) saepius gentes, in quas proxime tribus subdividatur (Num. 3,24; 30,35 et cf. 1,4); aut 3) gentis subdivisiones, i. e. familias (Ex. 12,3; 1 Par. 7,7; 23,11; 24,6 etc.) Ubi expressio alteri expressioni n52w2 copulatur, ibi eam aut sequitur (Num. 1, 2. 18. 20. 22 etc.; 2,34) aut antecedit (Num. 3, 15), quo rursum clarescit expressionis sensus vagus et incertus. Dillm. Porro h. l. "AN n3 idem est atque nnpwIos cL. v. 14, 11.119. 94729. n
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« Filit Ruben, primogeniti Israelis : Henoch et Phallu, Hesron et Charm. Hae cognationes Ruben ».
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6:16
v. 16 « Et haec nomina filiorum Levi per cognationes suas : Gerson et Caath et Merari », cf. Gen. ^6,11. 2n35na non est « pro numero generatarum personarum » (RHos.), certe natae sunt filiae, probabilius filii etiam numero plures; non « secundum aetatem » (Kn.); sed « secundum generationem », qui vere e Levi geniti erant : cf. v. 19. — « Anni autem vitae Levi fuerunt centum triginta septem. ». Aliquorum virorum aetas adscribitur, non quo rationem temporum edoceamur, non enim definiuntur vitae anni, quo pater genuerit filium; sed quo discamus, in stirpe etiam Levi non defuisse exempla provectissimae aetatis, quae patriarcharum fuerat habebaturque signum specialis Dei benedictionis. Ergo anni h. l. deseripti nullam difficultatem faciunt contra ^30 annos 12,40. In genealogia Levi, Caath, Amram aliqua membra esse omissa, concedi non solum potest, sed attentis 430 illis annis aliisque rationibus etiam debet.
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v. 17 « Filii Gerson : Lobnài et Semei , per cognationes suas ».
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v. 48 « Filii Caath : Amram et Isaar et Hebron et Oziel. Anni quoque vitae Caath centum triginta tres ».v.
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19 « Filit Merari : Moholi et Must. Hae cognationes Levi per familias suas ». n inbn ignorat quidem CAaíd.; tamen cf. Num. 3,20 (sec. Hebr.) et Deut. 10,8, itemque h. l. v. 24^nmpn et v. 25 n"55. Ergo verte Levitarum. Ceterum de singulorum virorum nominibus dicemus ad Num. 3. Neglectis iam posteris Gerson et Merari, elenehus solos prosequitur posteros Caath, progenitoris Aaron et Moysis, quibus v. 20 Sam. LXX addunt et Mariam sororem eorum, Syr. et Mariam : cf. Num. 26,59. Hebron nonnisi post nostri narratoris tempora in plures videtur effloruisse familias, quarum Davidis tempore (1 Par. 23,19; cf. 15,9) numerabantur quatuor.
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v. 20 « Accepit autem. Amram uxorem Iochabed patruelem suam », « filiam Levl, quae nata est ei in Aegypto » (Num. 26,59) : an ergo fratris filio nupsit lochabed, quod coniugii genus postmodum Lev. 18,12 lex reprobavit, obtinuerit tamen antea (Gen. 20,12) quoad Abraham et Saram? Non tamen cogeris admittere, Iochabed Zmmed?ate a Levi esse procreatam, ne ob adiectum quidem Num. 26,59 « in Aegypto ». « Quae peperit ei. Aaron et Moysen. Fueruntque anni vitae Amram centum triginta septem ». LXX 132 vel 136.
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v. 21 « F?lit quoque Isaar : Core et Nepheg et Zechri ». v. 982« Filii quoque Oziel : Misael et Elisaphan et Sethri ». Nomen Sethr? (lectio LXX Xeygst) secus non occurrit. Alium porro gradum descendit elenchus, filiorum Amram solum prosequens Aaron, cum Moysis nuptiae iam ante fuerint narratae, filiorum [saar solum Core, turbis in Moysen excitatis famosum ; filiorum Aaron tandem solus explicatur Eleazar, non ob aliam sane rationem, quam ob.procreatum ab ipso Phinees ob egregie factum Num. 25 celebratum. Ergo post ila duo facta elenchus noster eam, quam nunc habet, formam induit.
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v. 9& « Filit quoque Core : Aser et Elcana et Abiasaph. Hae sunt cognationes Coritarum ». Elisabeth, uti mox Phuliel, secus non commemorantur. Pro 2x^2N Sam., uti 1 Par. 6,23 (8), zp^awN.
6:25
v. 95 « At vero Eleazar filius Aaron accepit uxorem de filiabus Phutiel, quae peperit ei Phinees ». Suggerit DilIm. Phutiel esse nomen aegyptium ad instar nominis Putiphar : « Consecratus deo El ». Ubi rursus potuit 5w suffici in locum numinis cuiusdam aegyptii. Nomen . uxoris utique noverat antiqua traditio : an illud fortasse latet in primo illo, quod abundat, *5 defigurato ex nx»? vel similis formae nomine? « Hi sunt principes familiarum Leviticarum per cognationes suas ». Tandem solemni stropha elenchus clauditur, quae orditur a formula Iste est Aaron et Moyses, et concludit formula Iste est Moyses et Aaron, ibi Aarone ob aetatis, hic Moyse ob dignitatis primatum ducente agmen (Aben Esra), celebratque viros, qui exodi mandatum a Deo acceperint et coram Pharaone audacter protulerint.
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v. 96 « Iste est Aaron et Moyses, quibus praecepit Dominus, ut educerent filios Israel de terra Aegypti per turmas suas ». Cf. 1,h.
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v. 91 « Hi sunt, qui loquuntur ad Pharaonem regem Aegypti, ut educant filios Israel de Aegypto » — Sam. LXX Syr. de terra Aegypti. « Iste est Moyses et Aaron ». Merito notat Kn., hoc encomium non ab ipso Moyse, sed ab auctore recentiore conscribi debuisse; ab eodem vel ab alio recentiore totus elenchus insertus est.
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v. 28 « In d?e, qua locutus est Dominus ad Moysen ^in terra Aegypti » — de hoc asyndeto vide, quae ante v. 13 dicebamus.
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v. 29 « Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen dicens : Ego Dominus » : — hae formula prior Dei oratio concludebatur v. 2. 6. 8; ea desideratur v. 11, qui tamen non est nisi nostri v. 29 repetitio eam formulam habentis; v. 5 eandem formulam adseriptam habet cum quadam amplifieatione. Ergo utraque divina oratio 6,2-7,5 ea formula tamquam divino sigillo ornatur. — « J/oquere ad Pharaonem regem Aegypti omnia, quae ego loquor tibi ».
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v. 30 « Et att Moyses coram Domino : En incircumcisus labiis sum , quomodo audiet me Pharao? » Hi duo versus repetunt v. 10-12 (v. p. 15). Cap. VII
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I. is the only theophoric name, before the Revelation of Sinai (Ex. 3:13 ff.; 6:2 ff.), in which the element Jā, an abbreviation of Yahweh, appears; but this element could easily have been substituted for 'El or rather for 'El.
YAHWEH. - Divine name, called the "tetragrammaton" because it has 4 letters, the most used in the Hebrew Bible (ca. 6823 times), revealed by God himself to Moses when he established his new relations with Israel, in the covenant of Sinai (Ex. 3, 13-17; 6, 2-4). God himself explains: "I am who I am" (Ex. 3, 14), that is, the eternally existing one, to whom existence belongs by nature, who assists (v. 12) his nation; immutable and therefore …
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is the fulfillment of the Hebrew revelation that prepared it (cf. Mt. 5:18). Here are some characteristics: a) progressiveness: it began with the vocation of Abraham (Gen. 12:1 ff.), but Scripture itself attests that God did not manifest himself completely to Abraham (Ex. 6:3). Historians of the Hebrew religion point out the successive developments that it underwent on three fundamental ideas: monotheism, messianism, the conception of the future life. …
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… God redeems from the slavery of Egypt (Ex. 6:6), from that of Babylon and from the hand of the strong (Jer. 31:11; Mic. 4:10). Men saved from the danger of losing their way in the desert and from diseases that threatened them are …
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… In Sacred Scripture, in fact, it is often said that God swears (e.g., Gen. 26:3; Ex. 6:8; 13:5; 33:1; Num. 32:11; Deut. 31:20; etc.); now certainly one cannot admit that God swears in the first sense indicated. …
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Jachin (Heb. Jābīn "[He] restores")
1. Son of the patriarch Simeon (Gen. 46:10; Ex. 6:15), ancestor of the Jachinites (Num. 26:12). In 1 Chron. 4:24 he is called Jarib, perhaps through an error in the transmission of the text.
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no complicity in the misdeed (ibid. 50:5-7). L. died at the age of 137, leaving the sons Gershon, Kohath (father of Amram, who had the two sons Aaron and Moses) and Merari (Ex. 6:16-20). In Judaism the figure of L. was idealized in exaltation of the priestly class (for example, in the apocrypha Liber Iubilaeorum, Assumptio Moysis).
… Merari: Gen. 46:11; Ex. 6:16, 19).
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Semei (Heb. Šim'î "[The Lord] Has Heard Me")
… David: a brother of his (II Sam. 21, 21), elsewhere called Shammah (I Sam. 16, 9; 17, 13); a partisan of Solomon during Adonijah's attempt (I Kings 1, 8); a Levite among David's singers (I Chron. 25, 3). Mention should also be made of: a grandson of Levi (Ex. 6, 17 etc.); a Simeonite famous for his numerous offspring (I Chron. 4, 26 f.); an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Luke 2, 26, Gk. ŻĘṭ). …
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… Qēhāth). - According to Exodus 6:16, Numbers 3:17, and 1 Chronicles 5:27-29 [6:1-3], the second son of Levi, born in Canaan (Gen. 46:11) and died at the age of 133 (Ex. 6:18). Among the houses of his four sons Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel, that of the first (Amram) remained famous, since from his progeny was numbered Aaron (v.), the ancestor of the …
1. Son of Kohath the Levite (Ex. 6:18, 22; Num. 3:19).
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MOHOLI. - 1. Firstborn of Merari (v.) and grandson of Levi (Ex. 6:19; Num. 3:20; 1 Chron. 6:4, 14 [Vulg. 19, 29]; 23:21; 24:26, 28); he was the ancestor of the great Levitical family of the Moholites (Num. 3:33 ff.; 26:58; 1 Chron. 24:26, 28, 31; Ezra …
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… (Gen. 46:11) and died at the age of 133 (Ex. 6:18). Among the houses of his four sons Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel, that of the first (Amram) remained famous, since from his progeny was numbered Aaron (v.), the ancestor of the pontiffs and priests (Ex. 6:20).
… She is the mother of Moses (Ex. 6:20; Num. 26:58 ff.). …
1. Sister of Moses, firstborn of Amram and Jochebed (Ex. 6:20; Num. 26:59; 1 Chron. 6:3). She watched over her little brother exposed on the waters of the Nile and cleverly managed to have his own mother given to him as a nurse by the daughter …
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CORE. - The best known of the biblical figures of this name, the first of whom is a son of Esau (Gen. 36:5, 14), is a contemporary of Moses (Ex. 6:21, 24; 1 Chron. 6:37), of the family of Levi, of which he was a great-grandson. …
1. A Levite, son of Izhar (Ex. 6:21).
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Misael (Heb. Miṭṭā'ēl « Who [is] that which is God? »)
1. A Levite, son of Uzziel (Ex. 6:22; Lev. 10:4). 2. A companion of Daniel (v.) in Babylon. …
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Aaron (Heb. 'Ahărān, of uncertain etymology)
A. had married Elisabeth, daughter of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah (Ex. 6:23; Num. 1:7), by whom he had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (v.). …
Abiu (Hebrew 'Abihû 'my father is He'; Septuagint: 'Abioû)
ABIU (Hebrew 'Abihû 'my father is He'; Septuagint: 'Abioû). - Second-born of Aaron (Ex. 6:23), he followed Moses on Sinai with Aaron and the 70 elders (Ex. 24:1-9). A. and his three brothers are the first Israelite priests. …
… The Septuagint in Ex. 6:23 and Num. 2:3 calls her 'Ελισάβεδ.
ITHAMAR (Heb.: 'Ithamar') - Youngest son of Aaron (Ex. 6:23); consecrated priest together with his brothers and Aaron (Ex. 28:1, 4, 29); he supervised the making of the sacred furnishings (Ex. 38:21). When Nadab and Abihu were struck down for …
NADAB. - Name of four biblical figures. 1. Firstborn of Aaron (Ex. 6:23; 1 Chron. 24:1 ff.).
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Elcana (Heb. 'Elqāhāh, "God Has Possessed")
Seven other E.s are mentioned in the Old Testament: 1) the second son of Korah (Ex. 6:24); 2) the son of Assir, son of Korah (1 Chron. 6:23); 3) the father of Zuph or Zophai (ibid., 6:25-35); 4) an ancestor of Beraiah, son of Asa, "who dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites" …
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Eleazar (Heb. 'El'āzār, "God Has Helped")
1. - Third son of Aaron, brother of Moses (Ex. 6:25). He was consecrated priest by Moses together with his father and his three brothers, Nadab, Abihu (v.) and Ithamar (Lev. 8:1 ff.). …
… His mother was a daughter of Phutiel, whom the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan identifies with Jethro the Midianite (Ex. 6:25). While still young, P. distinguished himself by the zeal he showed in punishing the unfaithful Jews who at Shittim took part in the licentious worship of Beelphegor (v.) or idol …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.