Heavy of Tongue

The Hebrew word c'vad literally means "heavy." The idea is weightiness, usually implying glory of some kind. In fact, "glorious" is usually a good translation (from my limited experience, anyway). Our God is c'vad, heavy.

But in some contexts, weightiness is bad. Isaac's eyes were c'vad; weighted down.

Which brings me to Moses. In Exodus 4:10, Moses told God, "I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." But to be a bit more precise, Moses used the word c'vad: "I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue." At the time, Moses meant this in a bad way; my tongue is weighed down and slow! But in retrospect, I believe it can take on an ironic double-meaning. Moses became the man of the glorious tongue, speaking personally before God and writing the Pentateuch. A heavy tongue, indeed.