I am not eloquent. — Heb., No man of words am I. Moses, still reluctant, raises a new objection. He is not gifted with facility of speech. Words do not. come readily to him; perhaps, when they come, he has a difficulty in uttering them. According to a Jewish tradition, he was unable to pronounce the labials, b, f, m, p, v. According to his own expressions at the end of the verse, he was “heavy” or “slow of speech,” and “heavy” or “slow of tongue.”
Neither heretofore. — Heb., neither yesterday, nor the day before. It is a Hebrew idiom to make these words cover past time generally. (See below, Exodus 5:7-8; Exodus 5:14; and comp. Genesis 31:2; Genesis 31:5, and 2 Samuel 3:17.)
Nor since thou hast spoken. — Converse with God had not cured his defect of utterance, whatever it was. He remained “slow of speech and slow of tongue” — unready, i.e., and hesitating.