# Hebrew Help



## Guest (Feb 17, 2004)

Exo 6:30 And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I [am] of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? 


What is meant by [b:90e6798753]awrale sepheth [/b:90e6798753] ? ?

Is Moses speaking of his lack of eloquence or a propensity to profanity ? ? Or both ? ?


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## SolaScriptura (Feb 17, 2004)

[quote:e7004e2ce7][i:e7004e2ce7]Originally posted by Visigoth[/i:e7004e2ce7]
Exo 6:30 And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I [am] of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? 


What is meant by [b:e7004e2ce7]awrale sepheth [/b:e7004e2ce7] ? ?

Is Moses speaking of his lack of eloquence or a propensity to profanity ? ? Or both ? ? [/quote:e7004e2ce7]

Well, in Exodus 4:10 Moses says that he is &quot;heavy of mouth&quot; and &quot;heavy of tongue&quot; (Hebrew idioms indicating that he isn't very good with words.)

So, when we look at Exodus 6:30 (and, by the way, the exact same figure of speech is used in 6:12)... we see how because of it (that is, having &quot;uncircumsied lips&quot he is wondering how/why Pharoah is going to listen to him... I think that the translators of the NASB got it right by translating it as &quot;unskilled in speech.&quot; He's basically saying &quot;I'm not eloquent, I'm not a skilled speaker... Pharoah, on the other hand, is a king! He's surrounded by the finest rhetoricians and only the most gifted ambassadors appear before him... I'm a nobody! Why would he listen to me?!&quot; (My loose and extended paraphrase!)
This leads into 7:1 where God tells Moses that He would make him (Moses) like God to pharoah. In other words, Moses isn't going to be a &quot;nobody.&quot;

Furthermore, BDB agrees that the phrase is a figure of speech for not being able to speak.

So in sum, we have textual evidence (4:10) showing that Moses isn't a good speaker... we have BDB agreeing that this is a figure of speech referring to lack of speaking ability... Given the context I think that this is the most credible understanding of 6:30 (and 6:12).



[Edited on 2-18-2004 by SolaScriptura]


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2004)

Thanks Sola. 

I do agree that he seems to be reiterating in a sense his complaint before the burning bush. The awesome thing is that he obeys in spite of great discouragement. Neither the Israelites nor Pharoah seem to believe him. Yet He keeps doing what God tells him. Something I struggle with often.


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