MOSES, TENDING THE FLOCK ETC. The Holy One, blessed be He, appeared to him and commanded him to return to Egypt, and Moshe did not want to do so, because he was afraid until the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, "all the men who sought to kill you are dead" -- this is Par'oh, who had died. That is why it says (Exod. 2:23), "the king of Egypt died," to testify to what the Holy One, blessed be He, said, that "all the men ... are dead." This is similar to (Gen. 9:18) "Ham being the father of Canaan."

איננו אוכל. Even at the point where the flame came forth from the bush there was no evidence of coal or ash.

וירא ה', the angel, who is called “G’d,” seeing he is carrying out G’d’s assignment.

של!, throw off!. The word is from the root נשל, meaning a form of removal, as in Deuteronomy 7,1 ונשל גוים רבים, “He dislodges many nations, etc.”

ואת צעקתם שמעתי מפני נוגשיו, their outcry which was prompted because the taskmasters are constantly harassing them, I have heard.

וארד, to this bush in order to speak to you so as to save them from the Egyptians.

והוצא את עמי בני ישראל ממצרים, as a result of what you will tell Pharaoh in My name.

ויאמר משה מי אנכי?, anyone who wants to truly understand the plain meaning of this sequence will heed my exegesis carefully. My predecessors were quite wrong. Moses replied to two things G’d had requested from him. He had been asked to go to Pharaoh, and he had been asked to take the Jewish people out of Egypt at Pharaoh’s command. In respect of G’d’s first instruction he answered:

מה אמר אליהם?, seeing that I do not know Your specific name.

ויאמר אלוקים אל משה, if you do not know My name, I will tell you that I am the Eternal. This means that I can fulfill any promise I make. Now that I have told you that My name is “the Eternal,” כה תאמר, thus you shall say to the Children of Israel, “the One Who is the Eternal has sent me to you.”

ויאמר עוד אלוקים, to Moses “it is not fitting that when referring to Me the Israelites should always do so by calling Me by this name (title), just as it is not fitting for people always to refer to their regional king by his most illustrious title. It is good enough for you to refer to Me as אלוקי אבותיכם,ה', “the G’d of your patriarchs, etc.” This name includes within it that G’d is master and king. When one addresses a king of flesh and blood, one does not spell out his full titles, but contents oneself with saying: “long live the King!” (Samuel I 10 24) Or, when referring to an order given by the king, one simply says: “the King commanded me etc.,” without adding the King’s other titles (Samuel I 21,3).

זה שמי לעולם וזה זכרי לדור ודור, the name אהיה אשר אהיה, “the Eternal” which I told you in verse one (14) is My most illustrious title, a reference to My essence, (the ineffable name) whereas the name(s) I told you in verse two (verse 15) is a description of My being Royalty. [The author continues to remind us that it is in the nature of things that G’d refers to Himself slightly differently from the way His creatures refer to Him even when using the same basic “name.” Whereas G’d refers to Himself in the first person, i.e. starting with the letter א, when His creatures refer to Him by the same “name,” they must commence the spelling of that name with the letter י as one refers to a third person. In addition, by using the alphabet in reverse order i.e. ת-ש ר.ק. G’d would spell His own name אהי'ה as תצמ'ץ, and all the other names of G’d with which we are familiar would similarly appear with the letters based on starting with the letter ת in a descending order. Ed.]

(3) THIS MY APPELLATION. "Adonai," which is mentioned in the second verse, which is an expression of kingship, and in this matter, we mention the kings, and not by their name. And what is written with "Yah," I will explain in AT-BaSH [a substitution code where Alef becomes Tav, Bet becomes Shin, etc.]: [He calls Himself "Ehyeh," but we call Him "Yihyeh" [[should be "Yahveh"]], "vav" in place of "yod," as in (Eccl. 2:22), "What does a man get [mah hoveh la'adam]?"] This is the essential deep plain meaning of these texts, and we do not reveal them except to the discreet.

אלוקי העברים, seeing that we originated on the far side of the river Euphrates, we have to worship the gods who have their kingdom in that region.

ואני ידעתי וגו', but I am perfectly aware that initially he will not grant you permission to follow My instruction to dismiss the Jewish people. This will not be due to his own innate toughness as he is quite powerless against Me, but I shall reinforce his obstinacy to give Myself a chance to display My might first. Only after that will the Egyptians come to realise that I am the only G’d and that all power resides within Me.

ושאלה אשה משכנתה, as an outright gift. After all, G’d had encouraged the people to ask for these gifts, the Torah telling us in verse 21 that G’d would make the people favourably disposed towards the Israelites so that they would not refuse such requests. The expression שאל in the same sense as here occurs also in Psalms 2,8 שאל ממני ואתנה גוים נחלתך, “Ask it of me, and I will make the nations your domain.” This is the principal meaning of the verse and it effectively silences the heretics who speak of the Jews borrowing and not giving back these trinkets.

כלי כסף וכלי זהב, ornaments in honour of the festival that they would celebrate in the desert. ושמתם על בניכם, same as ושמתם אותם על בניכם “you will garb your children with them.”

(3) AND YOU WILL PLACE them ON YOUR CHILDREN.