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 “t...