2.49–74 – (Remember) when We rescued you from the house of Pharaoh

Direct address to the “Sons of Israel” moves into a story about Israel in the past through the simple expression “and when” (wa idh). The long narrative that follows (vv. 49–73) is a series of reminders, starting with God’s deliverance of the Children of Israel from Egypt and continuing until their worship of the calf. The text slips into commentary and direct address a number of times (e.g., vv. 61, 72), as if the story is being told to a particular audience. Finally, at verse 74 the passage returns to direct address to accuse that “your hearts became hardened after that, and they (became) like stones or even harder.”

There are more stories about Moses in the Quran than about any other character. This first canonical appearance of the stories contains a number of narrative elements familiar from the biblical account of Moses. Several details in the Quran’s story are not found in the Bible – for example, the elaborate search for the right kind of cow to slaughter (vv. 67–71). An even longer Moses story in Sūra 7 parallels this first story in many details and also fills in some of the gaps (7.103–71).

2.59 – But those who did evil exchanged a word other than that which had been spoken to them

The story in verses 58–59 is unknown outside the Quran. It seems to portray a command to the Sons of Israel to enter a town in a certain posture and to say a particular word, ḥiṭṭa. Some instead pronounce a different word while entering, so Allah punishes them.

“Exchanged” translates the Arabic verb baddala, from which the expression tabdīl (“change”) comes. Perhaps for this reason, some Muslim polemicists have claimed that verse 59 accuses the Jews of falsifying the Torah (tawrāt). However, most early Muslim commentators understood the verse to refer to a verbal act during the days of Moses. This detail repeats at 7.161–62 and is briefly referred to in 4.154.