“Moses said to the Lord: Please my Lord, I am not a man of words, neither yesterday, nor the day before, nor since You spoke to Your servant; for I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). “Moses said to the Lord: Please my Lord [Adonai].”31The name of the Lord is spelled alef, dalet, nun, yod. Moses said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘You are the lord [adon] of the world, and it is me you want to be an emissary?
“I am not a man of words…”’ The Sages said: Seven days previously, the Holy One blessed be He was inducing Moses to go on His mission, but he did not want to go until the incident at the bush. That is what is written: “I am not a man of words,” one; “yesterday,” two; “neither [gam],” three; “the day before,” four; “nor [gam],” five; “since,” six; “You spoke,” seven. “The Lord said to him: Who makes a man's mouth, or makes a man mute, or deaf, or sighted, or blind?
Is it not I, the Lord? Now, go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak” (Exodus 4:11-12). Rabbi Pinḥas HaKohen said; Moses said: ‘I am not a man of words, and I do not see [how] words [can be effective] here, because the person to whom I am going [Pharaoh]32Presumably, Pharaoh is regarded as a slave because Ham is the ancestor of Egypt and the descendants of Ham are cursed with slavery.
See Genesis 9:25. Alternatively, “the man” refers to the typical Israelite slave. is a slave and he does not accept admonition, as it is stated: “A slave will not be admonished with words” (Proverbs 29:19). <variant reading:="" if="" i="" am="" not="" going="" to="" afflict="" him,="" i="" will="" not="" go,="" immediately:="" “the="" lord="" said="" [to="" him:="" who="" makes="" a="" man's="" mouth,="" or="" makes="" a="" man="" mute,="" or="" deaf,="" or="" sighted,="" or="" blind?="" is="" it="" not="" i,="" the="" lord?]”="">. If I am going to afflict him I will go immediately.’