Exodus 4:2
in Exodus 4And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said unto him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod.
KJV
And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
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This verse in Exodus 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA rod - מתה matteh, a staff, probably his shepherd’s crook; see Lev 27:32. As it was made the instrument of working many miracles, it was afterwards called the rod of God; see Exo 4:20.
This site's exposition
they will not believe me
on Exodus 4:1-2
Moses raises a fourth objection and it contradicts what he has just been told, since Exodus 3:18 promised that the elders shall hearken to thy voice. God answers with a question about a shepherd's stick rather than with an argument. The rod in his hand at this verse is the instrument the rest of the book runs on, at the court in 7:12, at the river in 7:20, at the sea in 14:16 and at the rock in 17:6.
This site's exposition
What is that in your hand
The LORD begins the first sign with the staff Moses already holds, a shepherd's working tool. From here on it becomes the instrument of the signs in Egypt and is called the staff of God in verse 20. Adam Clarke gives the Hebrew word as matteh and takes it as a shepherd's crook, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the question served to fix Moses' attention on it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
That staff, dearly beloved, prefigured the mystery of the cross. Just as through the staff Egypt was struck by ten plagues, so also the whole world was humiliated and conquered by the cross. Just as Pharaoh and his people were afflicted by the power of …
Let me try to explain, as far as the Lord enables me to, what these signs mean. The rod stands for the kingdom, the snake for mortality; it was by the snake that man was given death to drink. The Lord was prepared to take this death to himself. So when the rod came down to earth it had the form of a snake, because the kingdom of God, which is Jesus Christ, came down to earth. He put on mortality, which he also nailed to the cross. Your holinesses know that when that proud and stiff-necked people grumbled against God in the desert, they began to be bitten by serpents and to die of the bites. In his mercy God provided a remedy, a remedy that restored health at the time but also foretold the wisdom that was to come in the future.
But we know that prophecy expressed itself by things no less than by words. By words and also by deeds is the resurrection foretold.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Lord said unto him,....
(2.) Here was an honour put upon Moses, that this change was wrought upon his throwing it down and taking it up, without any spell, or charm, or incantation: his being empowered thus to act under God, out of the common course of nature and providence, was a demonstration of his authority, under God, to settle a new dispensation of the kingdom of grace.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
What is that in thine hand?--The question was put not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the particular attention of Moses. A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A rod - The word seems to denote the long staff which on Egyptian monuments is borne by men in positions of authority. It was usually made of acacia wood.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
BUT, BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME, NOR HEARKEN UNTO MY VOICE. “At that moment, Moses spoke improperly. The Holy One, blessed be He, had told him, And they shall hearken to thy voice, 246 Above,:18. and he said, But, behold, they will not believe me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֧אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלָ֛יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מַה־זֶּ֣ה | mah-zeh- | what [is] this? | H4100 →H2088 → | 752 times |
| בְיָדֶ֑ךָ | veyadekha | [is] in hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וַיֹּ֖אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מַטֶּֽה׃ | mateh | a staff | H4294 → | 252 times |
וַיֹּ֧אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֵלָ֛יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מַה־זֶּ֣הwhat [is] this?
בְיָדֶ֑ךָ[is] in hand your
veyadekhaH3027 →1618 times
וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מַטֶּֽה׃a staff
matehH4294 →252 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 11:4but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…
it leads to
- Revelation 19:15
And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- Malachi 4:6
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
- Job 4:9
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- Proverbs 31:8–9
Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
- Revelation 19:15
Through
Exodus 4:20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
it leads to
- Exodus 17:9
So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”
- Numbers 20:8–9
“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from…
- Exodus 17:9
Through
Psalms 110:2The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Exodus
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 6.7; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 95.5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian, ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 28.1-2.