Exodus 4:1 - Exposition

Behold, they will not believe . Attempts have been made to soften down this contradiction of God's words in Exodus 3:18 , and to represent Moses as merely saying, "What if the people will not hearken, etc. What shall I do then?" (So the LXX ; Geddes, Boothroyd, and others.) But the phrase is really emphatic and peremptory. As Rosenmuller says: "Vox est negantis et detrac-tantis officium." The Lord hath not appeared to thee . It is quite probable that the Israelites would have so spoken, if Moses had had no sign to show. There had been no appearance of Jehovah to anyone for above four hundred years. And the Israelites, who had not seen Moses for forty years, would not know whether he was a veracious person or not.