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In Sh'mos 4:10, after Hashem instructs him to speak to the Jews, Moshe describes himself to Hashem as not an "אִישׁ דְּבָרִים", literally "man of words", and as "כְבַד פֶּה", literally "heavy of mouth", and "כְבַד לָשׁוֹן", literally "heavy of tongue". In 6:12, after Hashem instructs him to speak to Par'o, Moshe describes himself to Hashem as "עֲרַל שְׂפָתָיִם", close-to-literally "uncircumcised of lips" (Rashi: "sealed-up of lips").

What does each of these four refer to?

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Just a random interesting thing: the Zohar says that after Matan Torah Moshe lost the speech impediment. – Hacham Gabriel Jan 19 '12 at 15:20

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According to Ibn Kaspi, "לא איש דברים" means that Moshe was not an eloquent speaker, he was literally not a man of words. This was relevant because God was asking him to be a leader, and good public speaking skills are often thought of as crucial to such a role. No one would ever get elected president or prime minster if they couldn't deliver a good speech.

"כבד פה" and "כבד לשון" on the other hand, are actual speech impediments. (According to the R' Chananel quoted in the footnote in the link, "כבד פה" would refer to the letters זרש"ץ and "כבד לשון" to the letters דטלנ"ת.)

Now, "ערל שפתים" could refer to a third speech impediment (which would be the "lip letters" בומ"ף) like the opinion of R' Yitzchak Karo quoted in @msh210's answer and what seems to be the opinion of Abarbanel, but since Moshe didn't mention it originally when talking to Hashem like he mentioned the others, I prefer the Ralbag's understanding, that it means simply that Moshe is not a good speaker in that he often has trouble expressing himself through speech, often has trouble finding the right words to express the idea he is trying to convey. In this respect, "ערל שפתים" is kind of an antonym of "איש דברים".

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Tol'dos Yotzchak (by Rabbi Yitzchak Karo, uncle of the Bes Yosef), in his commentary to 4:10, says that "כבד לשון" refers to an impediment in pronouncing the so-called tongue letters, דטלנת;‎ "ערל שפתים", the lip letters, בומף; and "כבד פה", the rest. ["לא איש דברים", then, would seem to be an all-embracing expression.]

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Then why the repetition of the language, wouldn't the last, all embracing express be enough? – morah hochman Jan 19 '12 at 13:40
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@morahhochman, well, if I'm right, then "לא איש דברים" means "not a man of words", and the other three say why not. – msh210♦ Jan 19 '12 at 16:08
Was there anything that Moshe could say? – jake Jan 19 '12 at 18:12
@jake, as you know, he spoke. Apparently, though, he was hard of speech. Perhaps his vowels were clear, though. – msh210♦ Jan 19 '12 at 18:33

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