“Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”
My Notes
What Does Exodus 3:9 Mean?
"Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them." God tells Moses at the burning bush: the cry has reached me AND I've seen the oppression. Two senses engaged: hearing (the cry) and seeing (the oppression). God doesn't just know about Israel's suffering abstractly. He has heard the specific cries and seen the specific methods of oppression. The knowledge is sensory, personal, and detailed.
The phrase "is come unto me" (ba'ah elai — has arrived at me, has reached me) describes the cry as a traveler that has completed a journey: the suffering that was in Egypt has arrived in heaven. The distance between the slave pit and the divine throne has been crossed by the sound of groaning.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What cry from your world has 'come unto' God that might be producing a sending?
- 2.How does God engaging with suffering through multiple senses (hearing, seeing) change your sense of his awareness?
- 3.Where is the connection between God's hearing/seeing and God's sending operative in your calling?
- 4.What oppression are you currently witnessing that God is also currently seeing — and what might he be commissioning?
Devotional
The cry has reached me. I've seen the oppression. God speaks at the burning bush as someone who has received information through two channels: ears (the cry) and eyes (the oppression). He's not speculating about Israel's condition. He's reporting on it.
The cry of the children of Israel is come unto me. The cry has traveled — from the brick pits of Egypt to the throne of heaven. The groaning that left human mouths arrived at divine ears. The journey wasn't instant (four hundred years of accumulation). But it arrived. Is come — ba'ah — past tense: it's here. The cry is in God's presence. He's holding it. It completed the journey.
I have also seen. Also — in addition to hearing, I've seen. God's engagement with Israel's suffering is multi-sensory: he hears the cries AND sees the methods. The oppression isn't an abstract concept God evaluates theologically. It's a specific reality God has observed: the beatings, the quotas, the murdered infants, the labor without rest. He's seen all of it.
The oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. The doubling (oppression/oppress) emphasizes the severity: the lachats (pressure, crushing, squeezing) of Egypt is relentless. The Egyptians oppress — present tense, ongoing, continuing right now while God speaks to Moses. The oppression hasn't stopped. It's still happening. And God is describing a current situation, not a historical one.
God speaks this to Moses — the man who will be sent to address what God has heard and seen. The hearing and seeing aren't passive: they produce the sending. God heard → God saw → God sends Moses. The information that arrives at God's throne produces the mission that departs from God's throne. The same ears that receive the cry send the deliverer. The same eyes that see the oppression commission the liberator.
The burning bush is the intersection: God's hearing and seeing produce Moses' calling. Everything that follows in Exodus — the plagues, the Passover, the Red Sea, the wilderness, the law, the tabernacle — starts here: the cry came to me. I've seen the oppression. Now: go.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me,.... See Exo 2:23,
and I have also seen the…
Now that Moses had put off his shoes (for, no doubt, he observed the orders given him, Exo 3:5), and covered his face,…
Exo 3:1 to Exo 4:17. Moses commissioned by Jehovah at Horeb to deliver His people. The dialogue between Jehovah and…
Cross References
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