Who Saw and Called Moses

Who Saw and Called Moses

Exodus 3:4

Excerpt

‎A literal translation of both Lord and God is confusing, for it suggests that the one who saw was not the one who called. This is a literary seam, where two different traditions have been joined together, one tradition using the sacred name [YHWH] (Lord) and the other using the usual word for deity, ’[Elohim] (God). The confusion is easily avoided by using the pronoun in place of God, as in 3:4 [TEV]: “When the Lord saw … he called.” 3:4 [TEV] transfers the use of “God” to verse 5, where it fits more naturally in place of the pronoun “He.”

‎This confusion about the participants is increased with the reference to “the angel” in 3:2a. As explained above, the clause in 3:2a should be understood as a summary or preview statement, with the details of how it happened then listed in sequence. Only one participant in dialogue with Moses is intended throughout the narrative; he is called the Lord, God, and “the angel,” depending on the perspective of the tradition.

Osborn, Noel D., and Howard A. Hatton. A Handbook on Exodus. New York: United Bible Societies, 1999. Print. UBS Handbook Series.