Moses and the Fugitive Hero Pattern

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Moses and the Fugitive Hero Pattern

The story of Moses follows a pattern that is typical of ancient Near Eastern fugitive hero
narratives. However, when Moses goes to Mount Horeb, the plot deviates from the usual
“divine encounter” feature. What does this tell us about the composition of the story of
Moses and the Burning Bush?

Prof. Ed Greenstein

‫( הגדה של פסח‬Hagadah for Passover); the ‘Sister Hagadah’. 1325-1374, Spain. British
Library. Scenes from the Life of Moses, f. 12.v and f. 13

For more than a century, Bible scholars have worked with story types from folklore studies
to better understand biblical tales. Some scholars, such as Susan Niditch, a professor of
religion at Amherst College, have argued that such an approach, which focuses on story-
type or motif, is often more productive than intertextual comparisons that look at how one
biblical text reworks another.[1] The tale of Moses’ escape and return to Egypt provides a
good example for typological analysis.[2]

The story of Moses in the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus follows a pattern that is
shared among the Bible’s major narratives, and recalls stories of the ancient Near East
from Egypt in the south, Mesopotamia in the east, and Hatti (Asia Minor) in the north:

Sinuhe the Egyptian — early second millennium B.C.E.

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 Idrimi the Syrian — mid-15 th century B.C.E.
Hattushili III the Hittite — mid-13 th century B.C.E.
Esarhaddon, King of Assyria — mid-7 th century B.C.E.
Nabonidus, King of Babylon — mid-6 th century B.C.E.

All these texts share a common fugitive narrative pattern: They tell of a national leader or
hero who is compelled to leave his homeland, spends a period in exile, receives an
instruction or encouragement from a deity to return home, achieves leadership or fame at
home, and founds or renews a cult or ritual.

The Fugitive Hero Pattern

Tales of individuals who must leave their homeland and survive a precarious exile before
returning in triumph are widespread in world literature.[3] However, the “fugitive hero
pattern,” as reflected in biblical and extra-biblical narratives, appears to be specific to the
cultures of the ancient Near East. The pattern consists of 14 basic features, listed in the
table below.

Features Stories

The Hero … Sinu. Idri. Hattu. Jacob Moses David Esar. Nabo.

(1) is a younger/ youngest brother x x x x x x

(2) emerges from a political and/or x x x x x x x x

personal crisis

(3) flees, or is in exile x x x x x x x x

(4) enjoys support of female protector x x x x x x x x

(5) marries daughter of his host in x x x x x

exile

(6) assumes a position of x x x x x ?

responsibility in the host’s household

(7) has a divine encounter x x x x x x x x

(8) is joined by kin x x x x x x x x

(9) spends a seven-year period x x x ? x

(usually in exile)

(10) repels an attack x x x x x x x x

(11) takes spoil or plunders x x x x x x ?

(12) returns home x x x x x x x x

(13) is restored to a position of x x x x x x x x

leadership and/or honor

(14) establishes or renews a cult x x x x x x x x

Story of Sinuhe
The earliest attestation of the fugitive hero pattern is a story from around 1875 B.C.E. that
deals with the Egyptian official Sinuhe, who served in Amenemhat I’s court, and was a
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bodyguard of the princess. While on campaign with prince Senwosret I (who would
succeed his father as pharaoh), Sinuhe overhears suspicious conversation, leading him to
suspect an attempted coup, and as a result, flees his home country towards Canaan, going
as far north as Lebanon. There, Sinuhe becomes a military hero, marrying the daughter of a
local chieftain named Ammunenshi (ammu-nasi, “The [Divine] Kinsman Is Chief”) [4] and
raising a family there.

When Sinuhe gets old, he seeks to return to Egypt to be buried in honor in his homeland.
With the apparent support of the princess, now queen, Sinuhe eventually returns home. The
story of Sinuhe features all characteristics of the fugitive hero pattern except for two:
Sinuhe is not known to have been a younger son, and his exile is not a multiple of seven
years.[5]

Story of Idrimi
The second-oldest example of the fugitive hero pattern is the narrative of Idrimi, who
became a Syrian king in the 15 th century B.C.E. The story tells of Idrimi’s escape from a
crisis in his native Aleppo, his seven-year exile in the land of Canaan, his muster of an army
of Syrian expatriates, and his successful takeover of Alalakh, a city west of Aleppo in
northern Syria, which he adopts as his new home. Idrimi, having long suffered from
homelessness, spends his earnings to build a palace for himself, and a dwelling for every
citizen in his town.[6]

This story, too, features all characteristics of the fugitive hero pattern, with the exception of
two: Idrimi does not marry the daughter of his host in exile, and he does not take a
responsible role in his host’s household.

The Fugitive Hero Pattern in the Moses Story

Examining the narrative of Moses in light of the fugitive hero pattern promises to explain
both the trajectory and purpose of this story as well as some of its curious details.

Feature 1: The hero is a younger/ youngest brother

In the early part of his story, Moses is watched over by his older sister (Exod 2:4-8); and he
is later said to be three years younger than his brother Aaron (7:7).

The Bible favors younger siblings over older ones—this is one way of showing that heroes
and leaders are elected by God and not by the neutral legal norm of primogeniture. Fugitive
heroes are always chosen by a deity, and that is one reason for formulating a hero’s tale
according to the fugitive hero pattern.

Features 2+3: As the result of a political and/or personal crisis the hero flees or is exiled
Moses feels compelled to flee from Egypt once word of his slaying of an Egyptian
taskmaster reaches the pharaoh (Exod 2:15) and Moses is wanted for murder.

Feature 4: Support of a female protector

When Moses reaches Midian, to the east, he is brought home by the daughters of the local
priest, and probably the chieftain, Reuel/Jethro (Exod 2:18-20). This was not the first time

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Moses enjoyed the protection of women. He was spared a genocidal edict of the pharaoh
at birth by having been hidden by his mother and sister and adopted by the daughter of
Pharaoh (Exod 2:2-10).

Features 5+6: The hero marries the daughter of his host in exile, and assumes a position
of responsibility in the host’s household
As a guest in Reuel’s house, Moses is given his daughter Zipporah as wife (Exod 2:21), and
he is placed in charge of at least some of his flocks (Exod 3:1).

Feature 7: A divine encounter

The most elaborate part of Moses’ story, from the perspective of the fugitive hero pattern,
concerns the divine encounter. Whereas some elements in the narrative pattern are
optional, the divine encounter, like the flight itself, is de rigueur. In the case of Idrimi of
Alalakh, for example, the hero performs two types of divination in order to learn if the
storm-god has shown him favor and allows him to return to northern Syria in triumph.

In the case of Moses, the deity draws him in with a marvelous sight—a bush that is burning
but not consumed (Exod 3:2-4). Then, by way of a protracted dialogue with God (‫אלהים‬,
later identified as ‫אהיה‬, “I am [with you]” or ‫הוה‬-‫ ;י‬Exod 3:14-15), [7] Moses is commissioned
to return to Egypt and liberate the Hebrews from servitude there.

Here, the story of Moses veers somewhat from the usual narrative pattern of an oracle that
allows the hero to return. Moses never brings up his fear of being executed for the crime he
committed, nor does God tell him that this is no longer something he needs be concerned
about. This is a significant deviation from the fugitive hero pattern and will be treated
below.

Feature 8: The hero is joined by kin

A second extraordinary event that occurs as Moses heads back to Egypt is striking for its
utter lack of drama. According to the pattern, the hero is met by family. In most of the
stories, this encounter occurs prior to the staving off of an attack, but in the Moses
narrative, it occurs afterwards (the attack in Exod 4:24, and the meeting in Exod 4:27).
Moses’ brother Aaron is ordered by YHWH to go out to the wilderness and greet Moses.

‫הי ם‬
ִ ‫ל‬
ֹ ‫א‬
ֱ ‫ה‬ ַ ּ ְ‫שׁהו ּב‬
ָ ‫הר‬ ֵ ּ ְ ‫ שמות ד כז ו ַי ֵ ּל ֶך ְ ו ַֽיִ ּפ ְג‬Exod 4:27 … He met him at the Mountain of God, and he kissed
ַ ּ ּ ‫ ו ַיִ‬him.[8]
‫שׁק־לֹו‬

There is little if any real purpose to this encounter, prior to Moses’ arrival in Egypt, but it
follows the elements of the fugitive hero pattern. Aaron is meant to serve as Moses’
mouthpiece when he speaks in Egypt (Exod 4:15-16), but Aaron could have taken on this
duty later in the narrative, once Moses has already returned to Egypt.

Feature 9: A seven-year-period (usually of exile)

Moses spends a relatively long period of exile. However, the length of the exile is
unspecified, and thus, does not conform explicitly to the usual 7-year-theme of the fugitive
hero pattern.

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Feature 10: The hero repels an attack
Moses packs up his family and makes his way back to Egypt. While he is en route, he is
attacked. Usually, according to the pattern, this would be a military action by which the hero
and his troops must fend off hostile armies. But in Moses’ case, he is attacked by God:

-‫שׁהו ְּי‬
ֵ ּ ְ ‫מלֹון ו ַיִ ּפ ְג‬ ִ ְ ‫שמות ד כד ו ַי‬
ָּ ּ ַ‫הי בֶַד ּר ֶך ְ ב‬ Exod 4:24 It
happened on the way, at the night-lodge, that YHWH met
‫מיתֹו‬ ִ ‫ה‬
ֲ ‫ש‬ ׁ ּ‫ק‬ ֵ ַ‫הו ָה ו ַי ְב‬
ֹ him and he sought to kill him.

A similar attack by a divine being confronted Jacob, another fugitive hero, when he was
returning from Aram to Canaan (Gen 32:25).[9] Once again the hero Moses is saved by a
female—his wife Zipporah, who, as a priest’s daughter, knows how to ward off harm by
spilling ritual blood.[10] This event happens in precisely the place where the narrative pattern
would predict it to occur.

Feature 11: Spoil or plunders

Moses does not gather loot on the way back to Egypt. But once Moses returns to Egypt and
leads the Hebrews out, he turns the entire Israelite nation into a fugitive hero. His own
narrative melds with that of his people. And so, when the Israelites flee Egypt, they take
with them, at Moses’ instruction, “silver vessels and gold vessels and garments” which
they had “borrowed from Egypt” (‫מצ ְר ַיִם‬ ִ ּ ‫א לו‬
ִּ ‫מ‬ ְׁ ּ ִ ‫ ;ו ַי‬Exod 12:35)—and “they exploited
ֲ ‫ש‬
(despoiled) Egypt” (‫מצ ְר ָיִם‬ ֶ ּ ‫ ;ו ַינְ ַצ ְ ּלו‬Exod 12:36).
ִ ‫את‬

Features 12-14: The hero returns home, is restored to a position of leadership and/or
honor, and establishes or renews a cult
The Moses story continues to follow the fugitive hero pattern: Moses makes it back to
Egypt; he takes charge as the leader of the Hebrews; and he inaugurates a covenant replete
with rituals, which the bulk of the Torah delineates.

If we stopped here, we would miss out on the distinctiveness of Moses’ story from other
fugitive hero narratives. It is not where the Moses story follows, but where it deviates from
the pattern that explains curious details in the text.

The Deviation in Feature 7

In most of the fugitive hero tales, the hero seeks the sanction of his deity to help him
return. Idrimi, as mentioned above, practices divination. Sinuhe, living in exile and afraid to
return, appeals to the divine:

Whatever god decreed this flight, have mercy, bring me home! Surely you will let me see the
place in which my heart dwells![11]

Moses, unlike Idrimi or Sinuhe, never asks the personal question regarding his return home
at his divine encounter (see above, feature 7). Nevertheless, the narrative does open with
Moses arriving at the Mountain of God:

‫צאן יִתְרֹו‬ ֹ ‫את‬ ֶ ‫ﬠה‬ ֶ ‫ר‬

ֹ ‫הי ָה‬ ָ ‫שׁה‬ ֶ ‫מ‬ ֹ ּ ‫א ו‬:‫שמות ג‬ Exod 3:1
As Moses was herding the sheep and goats of his father-in-
‫חר‬ַ ‫א‬ַ ‫צ אן‬
ֹּ ‫ה‬ַ ‫את‬ ֶ ‫הג‬ ַ ְ ‫מְדי ָן ו ַיִ ּנ‬ִ ‫הן‬ ֵ ‫כ‬
ֹּ ‫חתְנֹו‬ ֹ law Jethro, Priest of Midian, he drove the sheep and goats into the
.‫חר ֵבָה‬ֹ ‫הי ם‬ִ ‫ל‬ ֹ ‫א‬
ֱ ‫ה‬
ָ ‫הר‬ ַ ‫אל‬ ֶ ‫בא‬ ֹ ּ ָ ‫מְדבָ ּר ו ַי‬
ִּ ‫ה‬ ַ wilderness and he came to the Mountain of God, to Horeb.

Why did Moses go to the Mountain of God, Horeb?

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Future Mountain of God
One approach is to suggest that he did not know that it was the Mountain of God. In other
words, the mountain is called this not by Moses and his contemporaries, but by the (future)
Israelites reading the story, because this is where God’s revelation in the wilderness took
place. In other words, it is an anachronistic term, familiar to the author and reader, but not
to the protagonist of the story.

This is the approach taken by the Sages in Sifrei Devarim, as well as by Targum Onqelos:

Sifrei ,‫ו י ב א א ל ה ר ה א ל ה י ם ח ר ב ה‬ “And he came to the Mountain of God, to Horeb” – this tells
Devarim .‫מגיד שנקרא על שם סופו‬ us that it was named based on what would eventually
happen there. [12]

Onqelos ‫ﬠי ָא‬ְ ִ ‫שׁפ ַר ר‬

ְ ‫אתַר‬ ֲ ַ ‫ﬠנ ָא ל‬ָ ‫ו ְַדבַ ּר י ָת‬ And he drove his flock to a good area for grazing in the
‫תג ְּל ִי‬ְ ‫א‬ ְ ‫אתָא ל ְטו ּר ָא‬
ִ ּ‫ד‬ ֲ ַ ‫מְדבְ ּר ָא ו‬ַ ְ‫ל‬ wilderness, and he came to the mountain upon which the
‫דיּ י ָל ְחֹור ֵב‬
ַ ‫רא‬ ָ ‫ק‬ָ ְ ‫הי י‬ִ ‫ﬠלֹו‬ֲ glory of God would be revealed to him, to Horeb.

According to this, Moses could not have been going there on purpose to commune with
God, since he did not know this was God’s mountain to begin with. The “oracle scene” is an
accident, at least from Moses’ perspective.

A Mountain Known for Divine Encounters

An alternative, more straightforward explanation is that “Mountain of God” is how Horeb
was already known to the local inhabitants, the Midianites, and, consequently, to Moses.
This is the reading preferred by R. Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (ca. 1255–1340) and R.
Ovadiah Sforno (ca. 1455–1550):

Bahya ‫כ די ל ה ת בו ד ד ב נ בו א ה‬ To be alone in his prophecy.

Sforno ‫הו א ל ב דו ל ה ת בו ד ד ו ל ה ת פ ל ל‬ By himself, to be alone and to

pray.

I believe that Bahya and Sforno are correct, but for a different reason. Moses went to Horeb
to receive an oracle about whether it would be safe to return home.[13] This would be a
reasonable thing to ask an oracle about, since the reason Moses had fled to Midian was
out of fear for his life after killing an Egyptian official.

It is Safe to Return Now

Evidence for Moses’ inquiry whether the time was ripe to return home, can be found in the
answer he receives from God:

‫שׁב‬
ֻ ְ ‫מְדי ָן ל ֵך‬ִ ּ ְ‫שׁה ב‬
ֶ ‫מ‬
ֹ ‫אל‬ ֶ ‫הו ָה‬-‫מר ְי‬ ֶ ‫יט ו ַֹּיא‬:‫שמות ד‬ Exod 4:19 YHWH said to Moses in Midian: “Go return to
‫את‬ֶ ‫שׁים‬ ִ ‫ק‬
ְ ַ ‫מב‬ ְ ‫ה‬
ַ ‫שׁים‬
ִ ָ ‫אנ‬ ָ ‫מתו ּכ ָ ּל‬
ֲ ‫ה‬ ֵ ‫מצ ְר ָיִם כ ִ ּי‬ ִ Egypt, for all the people who are seeking your life have
.ָ ‫שׁך‬
ֶ ְ ‫נ ַפ‬ died.”

In its current context, coming after Moses accepts God’s command and after he took leave
of his father-in-law, this verse is problematic. Why does God command Moses to return to
Egypt after Moses has already made plans to go?[14] Why would God bring this up now, and
not during the negotiations at the burning bush?

Ibn Ezra’s Response

In his longer commentary to Exodus, Abraham ibn Ezra (1089–1167) suggests that,
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contrary to its normal usage, the expression “he (the Lord) said” is not the simple past but
rather the pluperfect — God had said this to Moses earlier.

‫וי א מ ר – אין מו ק ד ם ו מ או ח ר‬ “And he said”—there is no chronological order in the Torah. This is its
‫ ו כ ב ר‬:‫ ה כי פי רו שו‬. ‫ב תו ר ה‬ meaning, “and he had already said.” And thus we see with (Gen 2:9): “And
‫ ו י צ מ ח י ״ י א ל ה י ם‬: ‫ ו כ כ ה‬,‫א מ ר‬ YHWH God had made plants sprout from the ground” and there are many
. ‫מן ו ר בי ם כ כ ה‬ like this. [15]

Ibn Ezra surely knew that the normal way to indicate the pluperfect in Biblical Hebrew is by
the sequence: we- (and)—subject noun-phrase—verb in the suffixed (past tense) form (e.g.,
Exod 1:5 ‫מצ ְר ָיִם‬
ִ ְ‫הי ָה ב‬
ָ ‫סף‬
ֵ ‫“ ו ְיֹו‬but Joseph was [already] in Egypt”). Here Ibn Ezra departs
from the norm, thereby indicating the problem in the narrative sequence.[16]

Reading 4:19 together with 3:1

Once we understand 3:1, in which Moses goes to the Mountain of God, as the opening to an
oracle scene, 4:19 makes sense: The command to Moses was once directly connected to
an oracle scene that opened with 3:1. Accordingly, we must conclude that the lengthy
narrative of the burning bush negotiation belongs to a separate literary layer of the text.

In the earlier layer, Moses went to Horeb to seek an oracle and received an answer. Later,
the burning bush theophany was added, almost completely overwhelming the earlier layer,
which belongs to the fugitive hero version.

So why is Moses’ quest for the oracle shunted aside, and relegated to the prologue of the
burning bush theophany (Exod 3:1) and to its epilogue (Exod 4:19)?[17]

Not a Personal Fugitive Hero

The Torah is not interested in Moses per se, but in the release of the Hebrews and their
induction into a covenant with God. Moses is an instrument for delivering the Israelites
from Egypt and forging them into a viable nation.

And so, the part of the fugitive hero pattern that involves an encounter with God—Moses
seeking and receiving an oracle—is almost obliterated in the formation of the full narrative.
Between Moses arriving in Horeb and receiving his personal oracle is a lengthy section in
which God commissions him to return to Egypt and liberate the Hebrews. This near-
deletion of Moses’ initiative in seeking an oracle is intentional. The Torah is interested not
in Moses’ personal quest but in Israel’s covenantal destiny.

Thus, discerning the fugitive hero pattern in Moses’ story enables us to contrast the
conventional expectation aroused by the ancient Near Eastern pattern with this particular
biblical variation. The story of the person is subordinated to the story of the people. Moses’
fugitive hero story is being repurposed as an exodus story.

___________________

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Prof. Ed Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Bar-Ilan
University and Head of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in
Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies there. His annotated English translation of
the Book of Job will be published this coming year by Yale University Press.
12/25/2018
[1] For a recent example of Niditch’s text-type work, see Susan Niditch,
Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams — An Israelite Type-922 Folktale , TheTorah.com
(2018).

[2] This article draws on research I have been performing for a long time (including a grant
from the Israel Science Foundation). See primarily, Edward L. Greenstein, “Interpreting the
Bible by Way of Its Ancient Cultural Milieu,” in Studies in Jewish Education IX: Understanding
the Bible in Our Times, Implications for Education, ed. Marla L. Frankel and Howard Deitcher
(Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2003), 61–73 [in Hebrew]; Greenstein, “The Fugitive Hero
Narrative Pattern in Mesopotamia,” in Worship, Women, and War: A Festschrift for Susan
Niditch, ed. John J. Collins, Tracy M. Lemos, and Saul M. Olyan, Brown Judaica Studies 357
(Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015), 17–35. The latter study includes references to related research
by other scholars, and to the sources of the various narratives that are cited. The most
comprehensive related study is J. Robin King, “The Joseph Story and Divine Politics: A
Comparative Study of a Biographic Formula from the Ancient Near East,” Journal of Biblical
Literature 106 (1987): 577–594.

[3] See Harry Slochower, Mythopoesis: Mythic Patterns in the Literary Classics (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1970); Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We
Tell Stories (London: Continuum, 2004).

[4] Compare the biblical name ‫עמינדב‬, “My (Divine) Kinsman Is Noble.”

[5] Jacob serves Laban in Aram for nearly three periods of seven years; he leaves abruptly
a year before the third period is over.

[6] See Edward L. Greenstein, “Autobiographies in Ancient Western Asia,” in Civilizations of

the Ancient Near East, ed. Jack M. Sasson (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1995),
4:2421–2432 [2425–2428], including a translation of the story.

[7] Editor’s note : See James Diamond’s “YHWH: The God that IS vs. the God that
Becomes,” TheTorah.com (2017).

[8] Ironically, the language used of Aaron’s meeting Moses echoes that of the divine attack
on Moses. See Exod 4:24:

ֵ ַ‫הו ָה ו ַי ְב‬-‫שׁהו ְּי‬

ׁ ּ‫ק‬
‫ש‬ ֵ ּ ְ ‫ו ַיִ ּפ ְג‬ YHWH met him and he sought to kill him.
‫מיתֹו‬ ִ ‫ה‬ ֲ

[9] This seemingly demonic move by God deserves a discussion of its own. For analysis of
these two nocturnal encounters, see, e.g., Stephen A. Geller, Sacred Enigmas: Literary
Religion in the Hebrew Bible (London: Routledge, 1996), 9–29.

[10] Compare, e.g., the commentary of R. Joseph Bekhor Shor.

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[11] Miriam Lichtheim, “The Story of Sinuhe,” in Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1: The Old
and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), 222–236 [228].

[12] Rashi reads this way as well:

‫א ל ה ר ה א ל הי ם – ע ל ש ם‬ “To the mountain of God” – [the name is] based on what would happen in
. ‫ה ע תי ד‬ the future.”

[13] Oracles are vehicles for receiving answers from the divine realm. Some are operated
by means of ritual objects such as the teraphim, the holy ark, the priest’s breastplate (the
ephod), and the Urim and Thummim; see, e.g., Ann Jeffers, Magic and Divination in Ancient
Palestine and Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 197–229. They are assumed to be operated by
specialists such as priests. Often, the method of seeking and receiving an oracle is not
described; it is simply related as “seeking (the word of) the deity” (using the verbs ‫ דרש‬or
‫ ;)שאל‬e.g., Gen 25:22-23 (asked by Rebekah); Exod 18:15 (operated by Moses); Judg 18:5-6
(operated by a private priest); 1 Sam 9:9 (operated by a seer). The oracle gives answers to
yes-or-no questions; see, e.g., 1 Sam 14:37; 2 Sam 5:1; 1 Kgs 22:5-6. Note that Moses’
reconstructed question is also of the yes-or-no type: Have the people who would want me
dead died? Editor’s note: See also, Jonathan Stökl: “Ancient Israelite Divination: Urim-ve-
Tummim, Ephod, and Prophecy,” TheTorah.com (2017).

[14] So, e.g., Samuel R. Driver, The Book of Exodus (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1911), 30. Editor’s note: See David Frankel’s “The Death of Pharaoh’s Firstborn: A
One Plague Exodus,” TheTorah.com (2018).

[15] Ibn Ezra continues:

‫ה נ ה ע ת ה ב ה שי בו צ אן י ת רו א ליו‬ For now, when he was returning Jethro’s flocks to him, God assured
‫ה ב טי חו ה ש ם שי ל ך ב לי פ ח ד א ל‬ him that he can go to Egypt without fear, for Pharaoh and his
‫ כ י מ ת פ ר ע ה ו ע ב ד י ו‬,‫מ צ ר י ם‬ servants who knew about the matter with the Egyptian, had died.
‫ וי מ ת‬:‫ ו ז הו‬. ‫היו ד עי ם ד ב ר ה מ צ רי‬ This is [the intent of the verse (Exod 2:23)]: “and the king of Egypt
‫מ ל ך מ צ רי ם כי כ ל הי מי ם ש הי ה חי‬ died.” For as long as he was alive, it would not have been fitting for
‫ל א הי ה נ כון ל היו ת מ ש ה ש לי ח א ל‬ Moses to been sent as a messenger to Pharaoh.
.‫פ ר ע ה‬

[16] This actually contradicts the reading Ibn Ezra offers in his shorter commentary, where
he suggests that some months elapsed between the theophany at Horeb/Sinai and the
command to leave Midian and return to Egypt.

‫א ח ר י מי ם ר בי ם או ח ד שי ם ש נ ר א ה ה מ ל א ך‬ Many days or months after the angel had appeared to him in

‫בסנ ה‬ the bush.

Compare, e.g., Arnold B. Ehrlich, Miqra’ Kifshuto, vol. 1 (orig. 1899–1901; New York: Ktav,
1969), 144.

[17] Conventional source criticism assigns Exod 3:1 and 4:19 to different sources (E and J,
respectively); see the meticulous discussion of my former student Jaeyoung Jeon, The Call
of Moses and the Exodus Story , FAT 60 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 138–139.

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However, the present analysis, identifying an element of the fugitive hero narrative in a
literary layer that precedes the addition of the burning bush dialogue, links these two
verses.

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