Exodus 4:20 - Exposition

His sons . Gershom, already mentioned ( Exodus 2:22 ), and Eliezer ( Exodus 18:4 ), who was probably an infant. Set them upon an ass . Literally, "the ass," i.e . the one ass that belonged to him. The word might best be translated " his ass." When Moses is said to have "set them upon" the animal, we need not understand "all of them." Probably Zipporah and her baby rode, while Gershom walked with his father. Though horses were known in Egypt before this, they could not be used in the Sinaitic peninsula, and the employment of an ass by Moses is thoroughly appropriate. Returned . I .e. "set out to return." Took the rod of God in his hand . This is of course the "rod" of Exodus 4:2 , which had become "the rod of God" by the miracle of Exodus 4:3 and Exodus 4:4 , and which God had commanded him to take to Egypt ( Exodus 4:17 ).