וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר מֹשֶׁ֔ה לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר הֵ֤ן בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֹֽא־שָׁמְע֣וּ אֵלַ֔י וְאֵיךְ֙ יִשְׁמָעֵ֣נִי פַרְעֹ֔ה וַאֲנִ֖י עֲרַ֥ל שְׂפָתָֽיִם׃ (פ)
E Moshe falou perante o Senhor, dizendo: Eis que os filhos de Yisrael não me ouviram, e como me ouvirá o Faraó, sendo eu incircunciso de lábios? {פ}
That the Worse is wont to Attack the Better
[38] Do you not see that Moses fights shy of the sophists in “Egypt,” that is, in the body? He calls them “magicians,” because good morals are spoiled by the tricks and deceptions of sophistry acting on them like the enchantments of magic. Moses’ plea is that he is not “eloquent” (Exod. 4:10), which is equivalent to saying that he has no gift for the oratory which is but specious guesswork at what seems probable. Afterwards he follows this up by emphatically stating that he is not merely not eloquent but absolutely “speechless” (Exod. 6:12). He calls himself speechless,” not in the sense in which we use the word of animals without reason, but of him who fails to find a fitting instrument in the language uttered by the organs of speech, and prints and impresses on his understanding the lessons of true wisdom, the direct opposite of false sophistry.