This is a continuation of my review of the Lord’s patience with the 24,000 killed by Moses, Phineas and the judges or tribes of Israel after joining themselves to Baal of Peor. At Marah He taught them to trust Him and his word more than their own experience or assessment of a situation (Exodus 15:22-27 ESV).

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

A note (68) in the NET following and the Lord showed him reads:

U. Cassuto notes that here is the clue to the direction of the narrative: Israel needed God’s instruction, the Law, if they were going to enjoy his provisions (Exodus, 184).

tn The verb is וַיּוֹרֵהוּ (vayyorehu, “and he showed him”). It is the Hiphil preterite from יָרָה (yarah), which has a basic meaning of “to point, show, direct.” It then came to mean “to teach”; it is the verb behind the noun “Law” (תּוֹרָה, torah).

In another essay I mentioned that Rashi, “Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Shlomo Yitzhaki)…one of the most influential Jewish commentators in history,”¹ understood “the allegory of the vineyard as a reference to…Adam.”² His commentary on Isaiah 5:6 (following 5:7 in The Complete Jewish Bible) reads:

(6) And I made it a desolation. I made him dwell in desolation, for I did not give the Torah in his days.
It shall neither be pruned nor hoed. They will learn from him neither merit nor good deeds.
The shamir and desolation will come up. Temptation ruled over him and his posterity, to perform corrupt deeds.
And I commanded the clouds. I appointed guards over him to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

Steve Rodeheaver in an article titled, “Exodus 15:22-27: Bitter Water and Sweet Wood” on The Voice online, wrote:

The journey takes place externally and internally. The external journey is the obvious one…

The internal journey is less obvious, but it is the one on which the text focuses. Our English translations obscure this focus because of the difficulty in translating the verb for Yahweh “showing” or “directing” Moses to a tree/piece of wood. The verb used actually means to instruct or teach. Yahweh instructed/taught Moses a tree. That does not make much sense, but it is important to note because this verb is the root verb of the word “Torah”. Torah means instruction, and it specifically refers to the instruction/law that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai for how the Israelites were to live in covenant with this God who brought them up out of Egypt. We might say that Yahweh “torah-ed” Moses a tree.

I found Mr. Rodeheaver’s article searching for something else instead, and might have missed this because of my tendency to go deeper when the Masoretic text and Septuagint diverge. But since Israel and the 24,000 are on the way to “Mount Sinai” to hear and receive “the instruction/law that God gave Moses…for how the Israelites were to live in covenant with this God who brought them up out of Egypt,” I’ll consider the word וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ, a form of יָרָה (yārâ), in some detail.

The first two occurrences of forms of יָרָה (yārâ) in Exodus are found in Moses’ final objections to doing what the Lord called him to do (Exodus 4:10-12 ESV).

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

A more detailed table of Exodus 4:12 follows.

The Greek verb συμβιβάσω is a 1^st person singular form of συμβιβάζω in the active voice and indicative mood. In other words, as far as the rabbis who translated the Hebrew into Greek in the Septuagint were concerned, the Lord promised Moses: “I will prove logically, teach, instruct, bring together, reconcile, put together, compare, examine, advise, guide, conclude, deduce, infer, figure and decide you.” It’s quite an excellent translation of וְהֽוֹרֵיתִ֖יךָ, a 1^st person singular Hiphil stem of יָרָה (yārâ) according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon [scroll down the page].

According to articles on Biblical Hebrew online:

The Hiphil stem in Biblical Hebrew primarily conveys a causative action. It allows the speaker or writer to express that the subject causes someone or something else to perform an action or be in a certain state. This causative nuance makes the Hiphil one of the most dynamic and versatile verb stems in the Hebrew language.³

The Hiphil stem in Biblical Hebrew is causation carved into grammar—giving speakers the power to transform simple verbs into agents of divine action, historical change, and theological intensity. With its hallmark morphology and presence across all verbal forms, Hiphil makes subjects into instigators: from causing cherubim to dwell in Eden (Genesis 3:24) to divinely hardening Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 10:1). More than just linguistic architecture, Hiphil is the syntax of sovereignty—where YHWH doesn’t simply act, but sets events in motion, declares deliverance, and redefines reality through causative verbs.⁴

The הִפְעִיל (Hiphil) stem in Biblical Hebrew expresses causative action, often turning a simple verb into one that makes another perform the action.⁵

Did Moses understand the Hiphil stem (Exodus 4:13-16 ESV)?

But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both (וְהֽוֹרֵיתִ֣י, another 1^st person singular Hiphil form of יָרָה, yārâ; Septuagint: καὶ συμβιβάσω ὑμᾶς) what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.

This time I’m completely primed to hear, Behold my servant, whom I uphold,⁶ and all that entails regarding the old human (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον), your old self born of Adam, fathered by the devil even, and the contrast to the new human Jesus: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.⁷ The next occurrence of a form of יָרָה (yārâ) in Exodus is found in the song Moses and the people of Israel sang…to the Lord after crossing the sea on dry ground (Exodus 15:1-4 ESV).

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name [Table].

“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

Excited by the Hiphil stem I wanted to use Mr. Rodeheaver’s whimsical translation here: Pharaoh’s chariots and his host Yahweh “torah-ed” into (or “in”) the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. Now he is not God of the dead, Jesus told the Sadducees, but of the living, for all live to him.⁸ And in the one brief glimpse He offered into death, none other than Abraham speaks, to the dead on both sides of a great chasm, about Moses and the prophets: They [e.g., “the living”] have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.⁹ While Israel was on the way to be “torah-ed,” Pharoah’s…host…and his chosen officers took the low road, so to speak, through death to the same end.

But יָרָ֣ה (yārâ) in the Masoretic text of Exodus 15:4 is not a Hiphil stem. It’s practically a different word.

This is the Qal stem:

The Qal stem is the structural heart of Biblical Hebrew, anchoring verbs in their most elemental and active form. It expresses straightforward action—whether movement, speech, emotion, or creation—without added layers of causation or intensity. From כָּתַב (“he wrote”) to בָּרָא (“he created”), Qal verbs frame the narrative and theological core of the Hebrew Bible, serving as the foundation for other stems like Piel and Hiphil. By mastering Qal, one grasps not only Hebrew syntax but the pulse of biblical storytelling itself—where simplicity carries divine power and poetic depth.¹⁰

The Qal (קַל) stem is the most foundational and frequently occurring verbal stem (or binyan) in Biblical Hebrew. The term “Qal” means “light” or “simple,” reflecting its role as the base form from which other stems are derived. It typically expresses simple, active voice with no additional nuance of causation, reflexivity, or intensity—functions that are represented in other stems such as Piel, Hiphil, or Niphal.¹¹

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἔρριψεν, a form of ῥίπτω: “to throw, throw away, throw off, throw down; to scatter abroad; to put down, lay down; to bring under notice, present; to cast away, reject.” It is the same word they chose in Exodus 5:1b.

Here, however, the Hebrew word in the Masoretic text is not יָרָ֣ה (yārâ), but another Qal stem: רָמָ֥ה (rāmâ). Likewise in Exodus 15:21.

It makes me wonder about the different Qal stem in Exodus 15:4. Was it a mistake, chosen simply for variety, or intentionally placed there because the Hiphil stem of יָרָ֣ה (yārâ) “is the verb behind the noun ‘Law’ (תּוֹרָה, torah)”?¹² The last occurrence of a form of יָרָה (yārâ) in Exodus that I’ll consider here is found in words the Lord spoke to Moses after they arrived at Sinai, after God spoke all these words¹³ (Exodus 20:1-23:33), and after:

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”¹⁴

After Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel,¹⁵ the Lord said to Moses (Exodus 24:12 ESV):

“Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”

A detailed table follows:

The first Hebrew word in the Masoretic text וְאֶתְּנָ֨ה, a form of נָתַן (nāṯan), and I will give (Tanakh, NET), was translated καὶ δώσω, And I will give (NETS), and I will give (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint. Then comes לְךָ֜, thee (Tanakh), you (NET), translated σοι, you (NETS), thee (English Elpenor), which is followed by אֶת (et), a definite article the (Tanakh, NET), translated τὰ, the (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint. Then לֻחֹ֣ת, a form of לוּחַ (lûaḥ), tables (Tanakh), tablets (NET), translated πυξία, tablets (NETS), tables (English Elpenor), is followed by הָאֶ֗בֶן, a form of אֶבֶן (‘eḇen), of stone (Tanakh), stone (NET), translated τὰ λίθινα, stone (NETS), of stone (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint.

The next Hebrew word is וְהַתּוֹרָה֙, a form of תּוֹרָה (tôrâ), and the law (Tanakh), with the law (NET), translated τὸν νόμον, the law (NETS, English Elpenor), in the Septuagint. The Hebrew word תּוֹרָה (tôrâ) is the noun derived from the verb יָרָה (yārâ). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon explains that the feminine noun תּוֹרָה (tôrâ), “direction, instruction, law” comes “possibly in first instance from casting lots.” So, יָרָ֣ה (yārâ), he cast (ESV), in Exodus 5:4 was not a word choice made only for variety in a stanza praising the Lord’s casting of the lot for Israel, against their pursuers (Exodus 15:4-7 ESV).

“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

It was no mistake: ἔρριψεν, a form of ῥίπτω is a very good translation of יָרָ֣ה (yārâ), he cast (ESV), in Exodus 15:4. If I were to question the originality of one or the other, I would wonder more about ἔρριψεν as a translation of רָמָ֥ה (rāmâ), he has thrown (ESV), in Exodus 15:1 and 21, where “he has beguiled into the sea” would probably be more accurate: He beguiled them with the deceitful desires of their old human, despite their fearful knowledge that they should flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.¹⁶ But I can understand some reticence to cast the Lord as deceitful, though He proved over and over to be a man of war,¹⁷ a master of battle tactics and strategy.

The next word of the Hebrew word string in Exodus 24:12 in the Masoretic text is וְהַמִּצְוָ֔ה, a form of מִצְוָה (miṣvâ), and the commandments (Tanakh, NET), translated καὶ τὰς ἐντολάς, and the commandments (NETS, English Elpenor), in the Septuagint. This is followed by אֲשֶׁ֥ר (‘ăšer), which (Tanakh), that (NET), translated ἃς, that (NETS), which (Englsih Elpenor), and כָּתַ֖בְתִּי, a form of כָּתַב (kāṯaḇ), I have written (Tanakh, NET), translated ἔγραψα, I wrote (NETS), I have written (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint. And finally, there is לְהֽוֹרֹתָֽם, another form of יָרָה (yārâ), that thou mayest teach them (Tanakh), so that you may teach them (NET).

Though I expected this Hiphil infinitive to be translated something like συμβιβάσαι αὐτοῖς in the Septuagint, as וְהֽוֹרֵיתִ֖יךָ (another form of יָרָה, yārâ) was translated in Exodus 4:12 above (καὶ συμβιβάσω σε), it was translated νομοθετῆσαι αὐτοῖς, to legislate for them (NETS), to give them laws (English Elpenor), instead. The rabbis who translated the Septuagint were willing to recognize the “causative action¹⁸…of divine action,”¹⁹ “the syntax of sovereignty,”²⁰ in the Hiphil stem when God was teaching Moses, or Moses and Aaron, but would not extend this power to Moses teaching the people of Israel. Why not?

From the moment all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do,”²¹ one of the more monotonous themes of the Old Testament is the repetitive tale of their failure to keep that promise. As Paul wrote and the Septuagint confirms by translating a Hiphil stem with νομοθετῆσαι, a form of νομοθετέω: Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law [Table]. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith [Table]²² in God who “causes someone…else to perform an action,”²³ the Hiphil stem in action, but as if it were based on works.²⁴

And that brings me to the topic I originally intended to pursue: the misunderstandings the deceitful desires of the old human engender.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”²⁵

The old human is frustrated, disbelieving that God would lead it to Marah, to bitter water. Why not go directly to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees²⁶ in the first place? But no, the Lord showed [Moses] a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.²⁷ But Moses didn’t even name the log, so the old human can’t know what to do if it ever encounters bitter water again—except trust Moses, and God maybe.

“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”²⁸

The old human knows a quid pro quo when it hears one. A Hiphil stem? The old human scoffs, knowing that this is about potable water and disease, real stuff, not the causative grammar or sovereign syntax of some ancient language. Of course, Paul, who wrote about both the old human and the new human (Ephesians 4:17-24) not only understood the Hiphil stem in Hebrew, he lived it (Galatians 2:20 EXP11):

By means of Christ I have been crucified, but I live hereafter not I but He lives within me, Christ, so who now I live within flesh, by faithfulness I live by means of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

“Jesus is our Torah,” Steve Rodeheaver concluded, “our transforming Word from Yahweh on and for life.”²⁹ As for finding hope for those Egyptians cast into the sea³⁰ because the Hebrew word translated he cast in a song celebrating it is יָרָ֣ה (yārâ) in the Masoretic text, the verb from which the noun תּוֹרָה (tôrâ) is derived? Admittedly, that hope probably has more to do with faith that The Lord…is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance,³¹ and that the judgment of the One to whom All authority in heaven and on earth has been given³² to draw all to Himself will prevail ultimately over the deceitful desires of the old human.

Tables comparing Exodus 15:22; 15:23; 15:24; 15:25; 15:26; 15:27; Isaiah 5:6; Exodus 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; 4:14; 4:15; 4:16; 15:1; 15:2; 15:4; 15:21; 24:3; 24:9; 24:10; 24:12; 15:5; 15:6 and 15:7 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Exodus 15:22; 15:23; 15:24; 15:25; 15:26; 15:27; Isaiah 5:6; Exodus 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; 4:14; 4:15; 4:16; 15:1; 15:2; 15:4; 15:21; 24:3; 24:9; 24:10; 24:12; 15:5; 15:6 and 15:7 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.