Exodus 17:4 - Exposition

And Moses cried unto the Lord. It is one of the most prominent traits of the character of Moses, that, at the occurrence of a difficulty, he always carries it straight to God. (See Exodus 15:25 ; Exodus 24:15 ; Exodus 32:30 ; Exodus 33:8 ; Numbers 11:2 , Numbers 11:11 ; Numbers 12:11 ; Numbers 14:13-19 , etc.) They be almost ready to stone me. This is the first which we hear of stoning as a punishment. It is naturally one of the easiest modes of wreaking popular vengeance on an obnoxious individual, and was known to the Greeks as early as the time of the Persian war (Herod. 9.5), to the Macedonians ( Q . Curt. Vit. Alex. 6.11, 38), and others. There is, however, no trace of it among the Egyptians.