EXODUS 11 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

I�TRODUCTIO�

PETER PETT, "IntroductionYahweh’s Battle With Pharaoh - The Ten Plagues (Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 12:51)

In the first seven chapters we have seen how God raised up Moses to deliver His people, and how when he approached Pharaoh with a simple request that they might go into the wilderness and worship Him because He had revealed Himself in a theophany there, Pharaoh had reacted savagely and had increased Israel’s burdens.

Then Yahweh had promised to Moses that He would reveal His name in mighty action and deliver them, but had initially provided Pharaoh with a further opportunity to consider by three signs which Pharaoh had rejected. �ow He would begin in earnest.

The first nine plagues that follow were the intensification of natural occurrences that struck Egypt from time to time. Yet they came in such a way and with such effect and were so intense that they could not be described as ‘natural’, for they came when called on, ceased when Yahweh commanded, and affected only what Yahweh wanted affecting. They were thus supernaturally controlled natural phenomenon.

Because these plagues were common to natural occurrences that took place in Egypt they were connected with the gods of Egypt, for the Egyptians had gods which were connected with every part of life. Thus the very plagues meant that Yahweh was, in Egyptian eyes, in conflict with the gods of Egypt. However, it is important to recognise that the writer only mentions the gods of Egypt once (Exodus 12:12), and there only in relation to the slaying of the firstborn because at least one of the firstborn who would die would be connected with a god (Pharaoh). Thus he is drawing attention to Yahweh’s dealings with Pharaoh and the Egyptians rather than with their gods. This indicates that while the gods may have had the Egyptians as their servants, they did not have any control of the land or of nature. The writer is clearly monotheistic. To him the gods of Egypt are an irrelevance.

The Overall Pattern of the �arrative.

The first nine plagues can be divided into three sets of three as follows;

· The first three - water turned to blood (Exodus 7:14-25), plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15), plague of ticks and similar insects (Exodus 8:16-19).

· The second three - plague of swarms of flying insects (Exodus 8:20-32), cattle disease (Exodus 9:1-7), boils (Exodus 9:8-12).· The third three - great hail (Exodus 9:13-35), plague of locusts (Exodus 10:1-20), thick darkness (Exodus 10:21-27).As we have seen, the previous section of Exodus has been mainly based on a series of chiastic and similar patterns which demonstrate the unity of the narrative. Here the overall pattern changes to a more complicated one in view of the combined subject matter, but the underlying pattern is the same nevertheless.

For we should note that there is a definite pattern in these series of threes. The first and second of each of the judgments in each series is announced to the Pharaoh before it takes place, while in each case the third is unannounced. The first incident of each series of three is to take place early in the morning, and in the first and second of these ‘first incidents of three’ the place where Moses meets Pharaoh is by the �ile, in the third it is before Pharaoh. The second judgment in each series is announced in the king's palace. The third judgment in each series comes without the Pharaoh or the Egyptians being warned. As these judgments from God continue, their severity increases until the last three bring the Egyptian people to a place where life itself becomes almost impossible, and their economy is almost totally destroyed. The huge hailstones kept them in their homes and wrecked their environment, the locusts ate up what the hail had left and made life unbearable, and the thick darkness kept them in solitude even from each other. They must have wondered what was coming next.

Furthermore in the first two judgments the magicians pit themselves against Moses as they imitate the judgments of blood and frogs, but in the third judgment of the first series, that of ticks, they are forced to yield and acknowledge, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19) and from then on they withdraw from the contest. In the sixth they cannot even stand before Moses, presumably because of the effect of the boils which they could do nothing about.

It is noteworthy in this regard that while blood and frogs can easily be manipulated by conjurors, ticks are a different proposition, for they cannot be so easily controlled.

In the second series an important distinction is drawn between the Israelites and the Egyptians, for from then on only the Egyptians are affected, and not the whole land of Egypt as previously. Several times the specific protection of Israel is mentioned.

As the intensity of the plagues increases, so does the intensity of the Pharaoh's desire to secure the intervention of Moses and Aaron for deliverance from the plague (consider Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:25; Exodus 8:28; Exodus 9:27-28; Exodus 10:16-17; Exodus 10:24), and Moses becomes more outspoken.

In the first series of three judgments the staff of Aaron is used, in the second series of three no staff is mentioned and in the third series either the hand or staff of Moses is prominent. �ote also that in two cases in the second series neither Moses

nor Aaron do anything. Thus an instrument is used seven times. These overall patterns clearly demonstrate the unity of the narrative.

Another division can be made in that the first four plagues are personal in effect producing annoyance and distress while the next four inflict serious damage on property and person, the ninth is the extreme of the first four and the tenth the extreme of the second four. This further confirms the impression of unity.

The same is true of the wording and ideas used throughout. We have noted above the three sets of three plagues, and that in the first plague of each set Moses goes to Pharaoh in the early morning, either to the river or ‘before Pharaoh’, while in the second in each set Moses goes to the palace, and in the third plague in each set the plague occurs without warning. �ow we should note the intricate pattern of phrases and ideas which are regularly repeated.

We should, for example, note that God says ‘let my people go’ seven times, the divinely perfect number (although only six times before specific plagues - Exodus 5:1; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 8:20; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:3). This is significant in the light of what follows below.

We should also note that there is a central core around which each plague is described, although the details vary. This central core is:

· A description in detail of what will happen (Plague one - Exodus 7:17-18; plague two - Exodus 8:2-4; plague three - no separate description; plague four -Exodus 8:21; plague five - Exodus 9:3-4; plague six - Exodus 9:9; plague seven -Exodus 9:15; plague eight - Exodus 10:4-6; plague nine - no separate description).· The call to Moses either to instruct Aaron (three times - Exodus 7:19; Exodus 8:5; Exodus 8:16) or to act himself (three times - Exodus 9:22; Exodus 10:12; Exodus 10:21) or for them both to act (once - Exodus 9:8).· The action taken (Exodus 7:20; Exodus 8:6; Exodus 8:17; no action; no action; Exodus 9:10; Exodus 9:23; Exodus 10:13; Exodus 10:22).· And an inevitable description of the consequences, which parallels the previous description where given (Exodus 7:21; Exodus 8:6; Exodus 8:17; Exodus 8:24; Exodus 9:6-7; Exodus 9:10-11; Exodus 9:23-26; Exodus 10:13-15; Exodus 10:22-23).It may be argued that this core was largely inevitable, and to a certain extent that is true, but we should note that while there are nine plagues, there are only seven separate prior descriptions, and as previously noted seven calls to act followed by that action, but the sevens are not in each case for the same plagues. Thus the narrative is carefully built around sevens. This can be exemplified further.

For example, Pharaoh’s initial response to their approach is mentioned three times, in that Pharaoh reacts against the people (Exodus 5:5-6); calls for his magicians (Exodus 7:11); and makes a compromise offer and then drives Moses and Aaron from his presence (Exodus 10:11). It indicates his complete action but denies to him the number seven. That is retained for Yahweh and His actions as we shall see, or

for Pharaoh’s negativity overall caused by Yahweh.

One significant feature is that Pharaoh’s final response grows in intensity.

1). Yahweh hardened his heart so that he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 7:13) (Yahweh hardening him, and that he would not let the people go had been forecast in Exodus 4:21). This was prior to the plagues.2). His heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said, and he turned and went into his house, ‘nor did he set his heart to this also’ (Exodus 7:22-23).3). He entreated Yahweh to take away the plague and said that he would let the people go to worship Yahweh (Exodus 8:8), and later hardened his heart and did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 8:15).4). Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 8:19).5). He told Moses and Aaron that they may sacrifice in the land (Exodus 8:25), and then, on Moses’ refusing his offer, said that they may sacrifice in the wilderness but not go far away (Exodus 8:28) which Moses accepts, but later Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go (Exodus 8:32).6). He sent to find out what had happened and then his heart was hardened and he would not let the people go (Exodus 9:7).7). Yahweh hardened his heart and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses (Exodus 9:12).8). Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned, asked them to entreat for him, and said ‘I will let you go and you will stay no longer’ (Exodus 9:27-28). Then he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants (Exodus 9:34), and his heart was hardened nor would he let the children of Israel go as Yahweh had spoken to Moses (Exodus 9:35).9). Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned, and asked them to entreat Yahweh for him (Exodus 10:17), but later Yahweh hardened his heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go (Exodus 10:20).10). Pharaoh said that they might go apart from their cattle (Exodus 10:24), and on Moses refusing ‘Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let them go’ (Exodus 10:27), and he commanded that they leave his presence and not return on pain of death (Exodus 10:28).11). In the summary ‘Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land’ (Exodus 11:10).We note from the above that ‘Pharaoh will not listen to you’ occurs twice (Exodus 7:4; Exodus 11:9), ‘did not listen to them as Yahweh had said’ occurs four times (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15; Exodus 19); and ‘did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses’ occurs once (Exodus 9:12), thus his not being willing to listen occurs seven times in all (the phrase ‘as Yahweh had spoken to Moses’ occurs twice (Exodus 9:12; Exodus 9:35), but not as connected with not listening).

In contrast he entreats that Yahweh will show mercy four times (Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:28; Exodus 9:27; Exodus 10:17), and parleys with Moses three times (Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:25; Exodus 10:24), making seven in all. Yahweh hardened

his heart five times (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:20; Exodus 10:27; Exodus 11:10), which with Exodus 4:21 and Exodus 10:1 makes seven times. (Yahweh also hardened his heart in Exodus 14:8, but that was over the matter of pursuing the fleeing people. See also Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:17. He said that He would do it in Exodus 7:3).

His heart was hardened (by himself?) four times (Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:19; Exodus 9:7; Exodus 9:35), and he hardened his own heart three times (Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:34), again making seven times. It is said that he would not let the people go five times (Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:7; Exodus 9:35; Exodus 10:20; Exodus 11:10). With Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:14 that makes not letting the people go seven times. Yahweh told Pharaoh to let His people go seven times (Exodus 5:1; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 8:20; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:3). Thus the writer would clearly seem to have been deliberately aiming at sevenfold repetition, and this sevenfoldness is spread throughout the narrative in different ways, stressing the total unity of the passage. One or two sevens might be seen as accidental but not so many.

Taking with this the fact that each narrative forms a definite pattern any suggestion of fragmented sources of any size that can be identified is clearly not permissible. Thus apart from an occasional added comment, and in view of the way that covenants were always recorded in writing, there seems little reason to doubt that Exodus was written under the supervision of Moses or from material received from him as was constantly believed thereafter. Other Old Testament books certainly assert the essential Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (‘the Law’) demonstrating the strong tradition supporting the claim (see 1 Kings 2:3; 1 Kings 8:53; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Kings 18:6; 2 Kings 18:12). More importantly Jesus Christ Himself saw the Pentateuch as the writings of Moses (John 5:46-47), and as without error (Matthew 5:17-18), and indicated Moses’ connection with Deuteronomy (Matthew 19:7-8; Mark 10:3-5). See also Peter (Acts 3:22), Stephen (Acts 7:37-38), Paul (Romans 10:19; 1 Corinthians 9:9), and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:28).

One fact that brings out Pharaoh’s total selfishness and disregard for his people is that he only asks Moses to entreat Yahweh to remove a plague four times, in the case of the frogs, the flying insects, the hail and the locusts. These were the ones that would personally affect him the most. The narrative is totally consistent.

The Plagues In The Light Of �atural Phenomena.

We will now try to see the plagues in the light of natural phenomena, recognising that God used natural phenomena, enhancing it where necessary, to accomplish His purpose. While the land waited totally unaware of the forces that were gathering He knew exactly what was coming and what He would do with it and directed Moses accordingly.

The first nine plagues form a logical and connected sequence if we work on the basis

that in that year there was an abnormally high inundation of the �ile occurring in July and August. In Egypt too high an inundation of the �ile could be as bad as too low an inundation, and this was clearly beyond anything known. This would be caused by abnormal weather conditions in lands to the south of Egypt of a kind rarely experienced which may well have also caused the effects not produced directly by the inundation.

The higher the �ile-flood was, the more earth it carried within it, especially of the red earth from the basins of the Blue �ile and Atbara. And the more earth it carried the redder it became. The flood would further bring down with it flood microcosms known as flagellates and associated bacteria. These would heighten the blood-red colour of the water and create conditions in which the fish would die in large numbers (Exodus 7:21). Their decomposition would then foul the water further and cause a stench (Exodus 7:21). The water would be undrinkable and the only hope of obtaining fresh water would be to dig for it (Exodus 7:24). The whole of Egypt would of course be affected. This is the background to the first plague.

The result of these conditions would be that the decomposing fish would be washed along the banks and backwaters of the �ile polluting the haunts of the frogs, who would thus swarm out in huge numbers seeking refuge elsewhere (Exodus 8:3). Their sudden death would suggest internal anthrax which would explain their rapid putrefaction (Exodus 8:13-14). This is the background to the second plague.

The high level of the �ile-flood would provide especially favourable conditions for mosquitoes, which may partly explain either the ‘ken’ (ticks/lice/fleas) (Exodus 8:16) or the ‘arob (swarms) (Exodus 8:21), while the rotting carcasses of the fish and frogs would encourage other forms of insect life to develop, as would excessive deposits of the red earth which may have brought insect eggs with them. Insects would proliferate throughout the land (Exodus 8:16). These might include lice and also the tick, an eight-legged arthropod and blood-sucking parasite and carrier of disease, as well as fleas. This is the background to the third plague.

As well as mosquitoes from the �ile flood, flies would also develop among the rotting fish, the dead frogs and the decaying vegetation, including the carrier-fly, the stomoxys calcitrans (which might well be responsible for the later boils), and become carriers of disease from these sources. The ‘swarms’ may well have included both (Exodus 8:21). This is the background to the fourth plague.

The dying frogs might well have passed on anthrax, and the proliferating insects would pass on other diseases, to the cattle and flocks who were out in the open (Exodus 9:3) and therefore more vulnerable. This is the background to the fifth plague.

The dead cattle would add to the sources of disease carried by these insects, and the insect bites, combined with the bites of the other insects, may well have caused the boils (Exodus 9:9). This would occur around December/January. It may well be the background to the sixth plague.

Thus the first six plagues in a sense follow naturally from one another given the right conditions, but it is their timing, extremeness and Moses’ knowledge of them that prove the hand of God at work.

The excessively heavy hail (Exodus 9:22), with thunder, lightning and rain, may well have resulted from the previously mentioned extreme weather conditions, but it went beyond anything known and was exceptional, resulting in death and destruction, and the ruination of the barley and flax, but not the wheat and spelt which was not yet grown (Exodus 8:31-32). (This indicates a good knowledge of Egyptian agriculture). This would probably be in early February.

The excessively heavy rains in Ethiopia and the Sudan which led to the extraordinarily high �ile would cause the conditions favourable to an unusually large plague of locusts (Exodus 10:4; Exodus 10:13), which would eventually be blown down into �orthern Egypt and then along the �ile valley by the east wind (Exodus 10:13).

The thick darkness (Exodus 10:21) that could be felt was probably an unusually heavy khamsin dust storm resulting from the large amounts of red earth which the �ile had deposited which would have dried out as a fine dust, together with the usual sand of the desert. The khamsin wind would stir all this up making the air unusually thick and dark, blotting out the light of the sun. Three days is the known length of a khamsin (Exodus 10:23). This, coming on top of all that had come before, and seeming to affect the sun god himself, would have a devastating effect.

These unusual and freak events demonstrate an extremely good knowledge of Egyptian weather conditions with their particular accompanying problems, which could only have been written in the right order by someone with a good knowledge of the peculiar conditions in Egypt which could produce such catastrophes, confirming the Egyptian provenance of the record and the unity of the account.

In all this the gods of Egypt would be prominent to the Egyptians as the people were made aware that the God of the Hebrews was doing this, and that their gods could seemingly do nothing about it. Prominent among these would be Ha‘pi, the �ile god of inundation, Heqit the goddess of fruitfulness, whose symbol was the frog, Hathor the goddess of love, often symbolised by the cow, along with Apis the bull god, Osiris for whom the �ile was his life-blood, now out of control, the goddess Hatmehyt whose symbol was a fish, and of whom models were worn as charms, �ut the sky goddess, Reshpu and Ketesh who were supposed to control all the elements of nature except light, and Re the sun god. All these would be seen to be unable to prevent Yahweh doing His work and thus to have been at least temporarily defeated.

But it should be noted that that is the Egyptian viewpoint. Moses only mentions the gods of Egypt once, and that is probably sarcastically (Exodus 12:12). As far as he is concerned they are nothing. They are irrelevant.

The Tenth Plague - The Slaying of the Firstborn (Exodus 11:1 to Exodus 12:36).

This whole section is constructed on an interesting chiastic pattern:

a Israel are to ask the Egyptians for gold and jewellery, etc (Exodus 11:1-3).b All the firstborn in Egypt are to die - there will be a great cry throughout the land - Israel will be told to go (Exodus 11:4-10).c The preparation of the lamb - the sacrifice - the blood on the doorpost it -will be a memorial for ever (Exodus 12:1-14).d For seven days they are to eat unleavened bread - their houses to be emptied of leaven - the observation of the feast (Exodus 12:15-17).d The observation of the feast of unleavened bread for seven days - their houses to be emptied of leaven (Exodus 12:18-20).c The preparation of the lamb - the sacrifice - the blood on the doorpost - to be observed as an ordinance for ever (Exodus 12:21-28).b The firstborn in Egypt die - there is a great cry in Egypt - the children of Israel are told to go (Exodus 12:29-34).a Israel ask the Egyptians for gold and jewellery etc. (Exodus 12:35-36).There can be no doubt that this skilful arrangement is deliberate.

The Plague on the Firstborn

1 �ow the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

BAR�ES, "The Lord said - Or “the Lord had said.” The first three verses of this chapter are parenthetical. Before Moses relates the last warning given to Pharaoh, he feels it right to recall to his readers’ minds the revelation and command which had been previously given to him by the Lord.

When he shall let you go ... -When at last he lets you depart with children, flocks, herds, and all your possessions, he will compel you to depart in haste. Moses was already aware that the last plague would be followed by an immediate departure, and, therefore, measures had probably been taken to prepare the Israelites for the journey. In fact, on

each occasion when Pharaoh relented for a season, immediate orders would of course be issued by Moses to the heads of the people, who were thus repeatedly brought into a state of more or less complete organization for the final movement.

CLARKE, "The Lord said unto Moses - Calmet contends that this should be read in the preterpluperfect tense, for the Lord Had said to Moses, as the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth verses appear to have been spoken when Moses had the interview with Pharaoh mentioned in the preceding chapter; see Clarke’s note on Exo_10:29. If therefore this chapter be connected with the preceding, as it should be, and the first three verses not only read in the past tense but also in a parenthesis, the sense will be much more distinct and clear than it now appears.

GILL, "And the Lord said unto Moses,.... While in the presence of Pharaoh, by a secret impulse upon his mind; or he had said (m), which some refer as far back as to his appearance to him in Midian, Exo_4:23, which is too remote; rather it refers to the last time he went to Pharaoh, being sent for by him; and the words may be rendered, "for the Lord had said" (n); and so are a reason why Moses was so bold, and expressed himself with so much confidence and assurance to Pharaoh, that he would see his face no more:

yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; upon him and all his subjects, for the following one would affect all the families of Egypt, in which there was a son:

afterwards he will let you go hence; out of Egypt readily, at once, and not attempt to stop or retard your going:

when he shall let you go; declare his will, give leave and orders for it:

he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether; absolutely, entirely, without any exception or limitation, them, their wives, their children, their flocks and herds, and whatsoever belonged to them, without any restraint upon them in any respect, and without any condition of return, or fixing any time for it, but the dismission should be general, unlimited, and unconditional; or, "in thrusting he shall thrust you out" (o), with force and vehemence, with urgency and in great haste.

HE�RY 1-2, "Here is, I. The high favour Moses and Israel were in with God. 1. Moses was a favourite of Heaven, for God will not hide from him the thing he will do. God not only makes him his messenger to deliver his errands, but communicates to him his purpose (as the man of his counsel) that he would bring one plague more, and but one, upon Pharaoh, by which he would complete the deliverance of Israel, Exo_11:1. Moses longed to see an end of this dreadful work, to see Egypt no more plagued and Israel no more oppressed: “Well,” says God, “now it is near an end; the warfare shall shortly be accomplished, the point gained; Pharaoh shall be forced to own himself conquered, and to give up the cause.” After all the rest of the plagues, God says, I will bring one more.Thus, after all the judgments executed upon sinners in this world, still there is one more reserved to be brought on them in the other world, which will completely humble those whom nothing else would humble. 2. The Israelites were favourites of Heaven; for God

himself espouses their injured cause, and takes care to see them paid for all their pains in serving the Egyptians. This was the last day of their servitude; they were about to go away, and their masters, who had abused them in their work, would not have defrauded them of their wages, and have sent them away empty; while the poor Israelites were so fond of liberty that they would be satisfied with that, without pay, and would rejoice to get that upon any terms: but he that executeth righteousness and judgment for the oppressed provided that the labourers should not lose their hire, and ordered them to demand it now at their departure (Exo_11:2), in jewels of silver and jewels of gold, to prepare for which God, by the plagues, had now made the Egyptians as willing to part with them upon any terms as, before, the Egyptians, by their severities, had made them willing to go upon any terms. Though the patient Israelites were content to lose their wages, yet God would not let them go without them. Note, One way or other, God will give redress to the injured, who in a humble silence commit their cause to him; and he will see to it that none be losers at last by their patient suffering any more than by their services.

JAMISO�, "Exo_11:1-10. Death of the first-born threatened.the Lord said— rather, “had said unto Moses.” It may be inferred, therefore, that he

had been apprised that the crisis had now arrived, that the next plague would so effectually humble and alarm the mind of Pharaoh, that he would “thrust them out thence altogether”; and thus the word of Moses (Exo_10:29), must be regarded as a prediction.

K&D, "Proclamation of the Tenth Plague; or the Decisive Blow. - Exo_11:1-3. The announcement made by Jehovah to Moses, which is recorded here, occurred before the last interview between Moses and Pharaoh (Exo_10:24-29); but it is introduced by the historian in this place, as serving to explain the confidence with which Moses answered Pharaoh (Exo_10:29). This is evident from Exo_11:4-8, where Moses is said to have foretold to the king, before leaving his presence, the last plague and all its consequences.

therefore, in Exo_11:1, is to be taken in a pluperfect sense: “had said;” and may be ַו�ּאֶמר

grammatically accounted for from the old Semitic style of historical writing referred to in the commentary on Gen_2:18-22, as Gen_2:1 and Gen_2:2 contain the foundation for the announcement in Gen_2:4-8. So far as the facts are concerned, Gen_2:1-3 point

back to Exo_3:19-22. One stroke more (ֶנַגע) would Jehovah bring upon Pharaoh and

Egypt, and then the king would let the Israelites go, or rather drive them out. ָ�ָלה ,ְ�ַׁשְ�חּו

“when he lets you go altogether (ָ�ָלה adverbial as in Gen_18:21), he will even drive you

away.”

CALVI�, "1.And the Lord said unto Moses. (131) He now relates that it was not with self-conceived confidence that he was lately so elated, as we have seen him; (132) but because he had been forewarned by divine revelation that the end of the contests was now near, and that nothing now remained but. that Pharaoh should fall by his mortal wound. This verse, then, is connected with the preceding, and explains its cause; because Moses would not have been at liberty to interrupt the

course of his vocation, unless he had now plainly known that he was arriving at its conclusion. �or would it otherwise agree with what follows, via, that Moses spoke to Pharaoh after he had declared that he would not appear any more in his sight, unless the subject were continued without interruption. But this sentence is introduced parenthetically, (meaning) that however obstinate Pharaoh might be, the hour was now come in which he must succumb to God. But God not only declares that the heart of Pharaoh should be changed, so that he would not hinder the people’s departure, but that he would be himself anxious for that, which he had so pertinaciously refused; for this is the meaning of the words, he will not only send you away, but altogether thrust you out. For in his alarm at their presence, he eagerly drove them from his kingdom.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:1. The Lord said — Or rather, had said, for this and the next verse are only a recapitulation of what had been revealed to Moses in mount Horeb, (Exodus 3:20-22, and Exodus 4:23,) and, together with the third verse, ought to be read as a parenthesis. Accordingly, it is evident that the 4th verse is a continuation of Moses’s conference with Pharaoh, mentioned in the preceding chapter. He shall thrust you out hence altogether — Men, and women, and children, and cattle, and all that you have, which he would never do before.

COKE, "Exodus 11:1. And the Lord said unto Moses— This would be rendered much more properly, now the Lord had said unto Moses: for it is evident, that the fourth verse is a continuation of Moses's conference with Pharaoh, mentioned in the last chapter; where, having said, I will see thy face again no more, Exodus 10:29 it is here added, Exodus 11:8 and he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. The first three verses, therefore, should be read as in a parenthesis, as well as in the past tense; as, what is mentioned in the second verse, had been revealed to Moses in the very first vision he had at Horeb. See ch. Exodus 3:20; Exodus 3:22 and Exodus 4:23.

ELLICOTT, "A��OU�CEME�T OF THE TE�TH PLAGUE.

(1) And the Lord said.—Rather, �ow the Lord had said. The passage (Exodus 11:1-3) is parenthetic, and refers to a revelation made to Moses before his present interview with Pharaoh began. The insertion is needed in order to explain the confidence of Moses in regard to the last plague (Exodus 11:5), and the effect it would have on the Egyptians (Exodus 11:8).

When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.—The word rendered “altogether” belongs to the first clause. Translate, when he shall let you go altogether, he shall assuredly thrust you out hence.

COFFMA�, "IntroductionThis is a transitional chapter. To this point, Moses has been dealing with Pharaoh, but, with God's judgmental punishment of Egypt about to be completed, Moses' concern (beginning with Exodus 12) will focus upon Israel. The section of Exodus ending with this chapter may be called JUDGME�T; the rest of the book may be

called DELIVERA�CE. Even the Tenth Plague prophesied here will not require the instrumentality of Aaron or Moses. Without human instrument, God will slay the first-born, and Moses will be busy with instructions concerning what Israel is to do as their deliverance approaches.

Exodus 11:1-3 is parenthetical, resulting in ambiguity unless this is discerned, but, of course, any unusual or difficult arrangement of the text is always seized upon by critical scholars as an excuse for alleging interpolations, variable sources, or contradictions. �o such things exist here. As Johnson expressed it, "The critical approach has made a great deal of unnecessary confusion in determining the proper sequence here."[1] As more fully explained below, this parenthesis is at once followed by the conclusion of the interview in progress at the conclusion of Exodus 10. There is no excuse for any scholar's misunderstanding of this, because the Samaritan text of Exodus arranges it in such a way as to prove this.[2]

Verses 1-3"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Yet one more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterward he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. And Jehovah gave the People favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people."

"And Jehovah said unto Moses ..." This means, "God HAD said unto Moses." "The Hebrew had no form for the pluperfect tense, and is consequently obliged to make up for the grammatical deficiency by using the simple preterite in a pluperfect sense."[3] It is precisely this perception that requires the understanding of these three verses as a parenthesis. Besides that, Exodus 11:4ff are clearly a "response to Pharaoh's threat (Exodus 10:29)."[4] And even beyond this, the necessity for this parenthesis appears in its utility as giving the basis for Moses' confident reply to Pharaoh's threat of death (Exodus 10:29). Moses now knew that victory was Jehovah's, and that the people would soon be delivered. Some scholars have supposed that these three verses record what was revealed to Moses during that last interview, which, of course could be true, but we think the more reasonable explanation that Moses, writing long after the events, included them here as an explanation, not only of his confident reply to Pharaoh, but also of other events such as the willingness of the Egyptians to give their treasures to the Israelites.

"When he shall let you go, he shall thrust you out hence altogether ..." The �ew English Bible's rendition of this is: "He will send you packing, as a man dismisses a rejected bride ..." Such a corrupted "translation" is an assault upon the Holy Bible. Such is not in the text! In order to get it, the scholars "emend" the Hebrew (meaning that they simply change it).[5] "Another matter - the original does not, of course, represent God as using a colloquialism such as `to send packing."[6] Both Keil and Cook preferred a rendition of this passage which would give this meaning: "When at last he lets you depart (with children flocks, herds, and all your

possessions), he will compel you to depart in haste."[7] Keil accomplished the same meaning by transfer of the word altogether, thus: "When he lets you go altogether, he will even drive you away."[8]

"Let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor ..." In Exodus 3:22 only women were mentioned as requesting treasures of the Egyptians, but here the men too are included. "This is not a contradiction, just an enlargement of the command."[9]

"Jewels of silver, and jewels of gold ..." The words and raiment should also be added to the items requested, according to "The Greek (LXX) and Samaritan versions."[10]

"And Jehovah gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians ..." Apparently, Moses offered an explanation of this in the words that followed: "The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, etc." Aside from the providential nature of the favor here mentioned, we may discern the following reasons why the Egyptians so readily parted with their possessions.

Fear must have entered into it. They had already experienced many disasters through their stubborn monarch's refusal to grant Moses' requests.

Guilt also played a part. �ot only had the population exploited shamelessly the Hebrew slaves, but, at one time, they had aided the Pharaoh in a policy of genocide by helping enforce the edict against Hebrew male infants. Both of these reasons were cited by Huey.[11]

"The circumstances of the times had exalted Moses and made him to be very great, so that there was a general inclination to carry out his wishes."[12]

"Ask of his neighbor ... ask of her neighbor ..." The unfortunate rendition of the word "ask" as "borrow" in the King James version has led to a misunderstanding here. There is not the slightest hint anywhere in this passage that any of the articles asked would ever be RETUR�ED. �either the Jews nor the Hebrews so understood this "asking." Objections to this on moral grounds are ridiculous. It was the Egyptians, not the Hebrews, whose conduct was reprehensible. The Egyptians were guilty of sin, exploitation, and enslavement. We feel a resentment against those allegations of immorality against the Hebrews found in some writings. Long, long ago, previously, God Himself had promised Abraham that his posterity would come out of their land of privations with "great substance" (Genesis 15:14), and neither genocide nor enslavement could negate the promise of God. What a phenomenal lack of discernment there is in a comment that, "The purpose of asking their neighbors for valuable possessions was to profit at the expense of the Egyptians!"[13]

The critical objection that there is anything improper or unnatural about Moses' words in Exodus 11:3 concerning himself is weak and ineffectual. Did Moses really

write this? "Why not? It was the truth. Compare the way Paul wrote of himself (2 Corinthians 10:8-14), and the way �ehemiah wrote of himself (�ehemiah 5:18-19)."[14] There is evident no vain-glory on Moses' part. His mention of his greatness in Egypt and in the sight of the Egyptians was for the purpose of explaining why "the ornaments were so generously given."[15] In addition, "It is highly improbable that any writer other than himself would have so baldly and bluntly designated Moses as the man Moses!"[16]

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague [more] upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let [you] go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.

Ver. 1. One plague more upon Pharaoh.] Who, after the hardness of his impenitent heart, treasured up to himself wrath. [Romans 2:5] God strikes still "upon the thick bosses of his buckler." [Job 15:26] When men are no whit better by afflictions, and worse with admonitions, God finds it time to strike home.

WHEDO�, "TE�TH PLAGUE PREDICTED, Exodus 11:1-10.

1. And the Lord (had) said unto Moses — This passage (Exodus 11:1-3) relates what God had previously said, and describes the influences under which the Egyptian people would be led to comply so readily with the request of the Israelites. It shows how ripe were events for the final scene, and is naturally inserted parenthetically here as showing why Moses had just said so decisively, “I will see thy face no more.” The author also wished to show the fulfilment of the prophecy of Exodus 3:21-22, concerning the spoiling of the Egyptians; and probably, also, to make it clear that he had not on his own authority, but by Jehovah’s express direction, closed his interviews with Pharaoh, since he had already revealed that the tenth judgment stroke should be the last.

He shall surely thrust you out — Literally, When he shall let you go altogether, he will actually thrust you out hence. He will no more attempt to retain the women and children, or the flocks and herds, as before, nor will he stipulate for your return at all, but will be anxious to be wholly rid of you.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 1-3The Israelites asked the Egyptians to give them the articles mentioned, not to lend them with a view to getting them back ( Exodus 11:2). [�ote: For a history of the interpretation of this controversial statement, see Yehuda T. Radday, "The Spoils of Egypt," Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute12 (1983):127-47.] The Israelites received many such gifts from the Egyptians, enough to build the tabernacle, its furniture, furnishings, and utensils, as well as the priests" garments. This reflects the respect and fear the Israelites enjoyed in Egypt following these plagues.

"The Egyptians thus are "picked clean" ( Exodus 3:22 and Exodus 12:36) by Israel as a result of yet another action by Yahweh in behalf of his people, demonstrating the power of his Presence." [�ote: Durham, p148.]

PULPIT, "Verses 1-3We have here a parenthetic statement of something that had previously happened. Before Moses was summoned to appear in the presence of Pharaoh as related in Exodus 10:24, it had been expressly revealed to him by God,

1. That one more plague, and one only, was impending;

2. That this infliction would be effectual, and be followed by the departure of the Israelites; and,

3. That instead of reluctantly allowing them to withdraw from his kingdom, the monarch would be eager for their departure and would actually hasten it. He had also been told that the time was now come when the promise made to him in Mount Horeb, that his people should "spoil the Egyptians" (Exodus 3:22), would receive its accomplishment. The Israelites, before departing, were to ask their Egyptian neighbours for any articles of gold and silver that they possessed, and would receive them (Exodus 10:2). The reasons for this extraordinary generosity on the part of the Egyptians are then mentioned, in prolongation of the parenthesis.

1. God "gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians"; and

2. The circumstances of the time had exalted Moses, and made him be looked upon as "very great" (Exodus 10:3), so that there was a general inclination to carry out his wishes.

Exodus 11:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses. Rather, "�ow the Lord had said unto Moses." The Hebrew has no form for the pluperfect tease, and is consequently obliged to make up for the grammatical deficiency by using the simple preterite in a pluperfect sense. We cannot definitely fix the time when Moses had received this revelation; but the expression, one plague more, shows that it was after the commencement of the "plague of darkness." When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out altogether. The Hebrew win not bear this rendering. It runs distinctly thus—"When he shall let you go altogether, he will assuredly thrust you out hence." As Canon Cook notes, "the meaning is—when at last he lets you depart, with children, flocks, herds, and all your possessions, he will compel you to depart in haste". It has been well noticed by the same writer that both this announcement, and the previous relentings of Pharaoh, would have caused Moses to have preparations made, and to hold the Israelites in readiness for a start upon their journey almost at any moment. �o doubt a most careful and elaborate organization of the people must have been necessary; but there had been abundant time for such arrangements during the twelvemonth that had elapsed since the return of Moses from Midian.

EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME�TARY, "THE LAST PLAGUE A��OU�CED.

Exodus 11:1-10.

The eleventh chapter is, strictly speaking, a supplement to the tenth: the first verses speak, as if in parenthesis, of a revelation made before the ninth plague, but held over to be mentioned in connection with the last, which it now announces; and the conversation with Pharaoh is a continuation of the same in which they mutually resolved to see each other's face no more. To account for the confidence of Moses, we are now told that God had revealed to him the close approach of the final blow, so long foreseen. In spite of seeming delays, the hour of the promise had arrived; in spite of his long reluctance, the king should even thrust them out; and then the order and discipline of their retreat would exhibit the advantages gained by expectation, by promises ofttimes disappointed, but always, like a false alarm which tries the readiness of a garrison, exhibiting the weak points in their organisation, and carrying their preparations farther.

The command given already to the women (Exodus 3:22) is now extended to them all--that they should ask of the terror-stricken people such portable things as, however precious, poorly requited their generations of unpaid and cruel toil. (It has been already shown that the word absurdly rendered "borrow" means to ask; and is the same as when Sisera asked water and Jael gave him milk, and when Solomon asked wisdom, and did not ask long life, neither asked riches, neither asked the life of his enemies.) They were now to claim such wages as they could carry off, and thus the pride of Egypt was presently dedicated to construct and beautify the tabernacle of Jehovah. We read that the people found favour with the Egyptians, who were doubtless overjoyed to come to any sort of terms with them; "moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." This is no unbecoming vaunt: it speaks only of the high place he held, as God's deputy and herald; and this tone of keen appreciation of the rank conceded him, compared with the utter absence of any insistence upon any action of his own, is evidence much rather of the authenticity of the work than the reverse.

By these demands expectation and faith were intensified; while the tidings of such confidence on one side, and such tame submission on the other, goes far to explain the suspicions and the rage of Pharaoh.

With this the narrative is resumed. Moses had said, "Thou shalt see my face no more." �ow he adds, "Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight" (but not on that same night, since four days of preparation for the passover were yet to come) "I will go out into the midst of Egypt." This, then, was the meaning of his ready consent to be seen no more: Jehovah Himself, Who had dealt so dreadfully with them through other hands, was now Himself to come. "And all the firstborn of Egypt shall die," from the firstborn and viceroy of the king to the firstborn of the meanest of women, and even of the cattle in their stalls. (It is surely a remarkable coincidence that Menephtah's heroic son did actually sit upon his throne, that inscriptions engraven during his life exhibit his name in the royal cartouche, but that he perished early, and long before his father.) And the wail of demonstrative Oriental agony should be

such as never was heard before. But the children of Israel should be distinguished and protected by their God. And all these courtiers should come and bow down before Moses (who even then has the good feeling not to include the king himself in this abasement), and instead of Pharaoh's insulting "Get thee from me--see my face no more," they should pray him saying, "Go hence, thou and thy people that follow thee." And remembering the abject entreaties, the infatuated treacheries, and now this crowning insult, he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. He was angry and sinned not.

The ninth and tenth verses are a kind of summary: the appeals to Pharaoh are all over, and henceforth we shall find Moses preparing his own followers for their exodus. "And the Lord (had) said unto Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord made strong Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land."

In the Gospel of St. John there comes just such a period. The record of miracle and controversy is at an end, and Jesus withdraws into the bosom of His intimate circle. It is scarcely possible that the evangelist was unconscious of the influence of this passage when he wrote: "But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord, who hath believed our report?... For this cause they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them" (John 12:37-40).

This is the tragedy of Egypt repeated in Israel; and the fact that the chosen seed is now the reprobate suffices, if any doubt remain, to prove that reprobation itself was not caprice, but retribution.

PARKER, ""One plague more."— Exodus 11:1.

God always teaches by repetition.—One plague might have been forgotten, and another and another might have gone into oblivion.—God must so assail our lives that we can never forget the tremendous onslaught.—God has to work a memory of recompense and judgment in the life of men.—�othing so easy to forget as judgment when it is overpast.—So God works with repetition and severity of scourge, so that often when the pain has departed the mark of the chastisement may remain.—God can always send one plague more. The worst has never come.—Jesus Christ said: Go thy way and sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee!—God has never dealt this heaviest stroke; the most terrible of his scourges has yet to be inflicted. God is a consuming fire;—not only a thread of fire, or a string of flame, or a spark of heat, but a fire that can destroy both body and soul.—All these plagues show the greatness of the sinner as well as the resources of God.—God does not deal thus with beasts.—It is worth while saving man even by judgment.—God will spare nothing that can be turned in the direction of reclaiming and restoring his lost image.—We see as much what estimate God sets upon the value of human nature by

the fear which he excites as by the hope which he inspires.

PARKER, "The Plagues of Egypt

Exodus 11:1

The river was turned into blood, frogs came up upon the land of Egypt abundantly, and lice and flies; beasts were destroyed, locusts covered the whole land; darkness that might be felt filled the earth, and in one awful night the firstborn died,—"from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts." And in that night of agony there "was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like any more." Some things can only be done once; some things do not permit repetition. The magicians of Egypt could do, apparently at least, or in some measure, what Moses and Aaron did in the way of miracles: they were skilled men, abundantly clever in conjuring and all manner of dexterity. The Lord seemed to take delight in developing their power so far as it would go: but there came a time when it broke down. Do not suppose that the whole race can be run by any competitor of God. For a mile you might outrun the wind, but the wind will conquer you: for a mile you might run faster than the lightning locomotive, but only for a little time. There came a day, we read, when "the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians." When the sting was in themselves they felt themselves to be but men.

Let us look at these plagues from Pharaoh"s side and from the Divine side, and learn the modern and immediate uses of these tremendous judgments.

There is a period in life when we can only see sin in the light of its punishments, that, indeed, is not to see sin at all, but that is the chronic sophism with which all high spiritual teaching has to contend, and to contend almost impotently, because of the deceitfulness of the heart. When we are in the right mind we shall not need to see hell in order to know what sin really is: we shall know it afar off, before it has shaped itself into overt evil behaviour. We should hate it as a spiritual possibility, if no stain had ever been made upon the snow of the universe. We should be so quick of spiritual imagination as to know what the sin would be—not a measurable taint to be reckoned up and named in plain inches. We should feel so sympathetically with the spirit and holiness of God as to see how one, Song of Solomon -called, little lie would darken creation and put out the very lamps of heaven and make it impossible for God to live. How far from that state are we? We have become so familiar with sin as to have broken it up into the plural number, and now we speak of sin as sins, and, once having given way to the pluralising of the word, we have missed all its gravity and all its terribleness. To speak in the plural number is to bring sin within the region of statistics. We now classify sin, distributing it into schedules and publishing what is done in separate lines; and thus we come to construct a comparative morality. When we see the punishment of sin, we think we see what sin itself really is. We must rid the mind of that most mischievous

misconception. We do not see sin from any penalty that has yet fallen upon it When Adam died, we did not see what Adam had really done. He had made the universe impossible; he had taken away for ever the happiness of God; he had made heaven an impossibility—unless there could be found in the Divine nature itself some answer profound enough, beneficent enough, to undo in some mysterious and wordless way the tremendous and infinite catastrophe. �o wonder we take light and frivolous views of human conduct, when we have turned sin into sins, because that is the first step of a process which means a comparison of one sin with another: the weighing of one sin against another, and the distribution of sins into venial and mortal. These are the clevernesses of men, the refinements of human deceit,—not permissions which have been granted by any charter Divine,—thus to trifle with law and consequence. Many would be struck by the plague who would not be impressed by the hardness of heart which it was intended to chasten,—hence you will hear more criticism about the miracle of the plague, than about the infinitely greater miracle of human obduracy. We miss the point: we wonder about the river turned into blood, and wonder not about the heart turned into stone.

Immediately following this line of remark comes the solemn doctrine that suffering is often mistaken for penitence. The two things go inseparably together. When we think of punishment instead of thinking of sin, we are very likely to think that suffering is the equivalent of contrition. We say "the poor man seemed to be suffering intensely." So he may have been; but there may have been no contrition in his heart. It was a physical or mechanical suffering, not a moral pain; a spiritual agony, a revulsion of the soul against the terribleness of sin. Such ideas, perhaps, never occurred to the offender, but when the darkness turns creation into night, when he goes out for water, and is forced to drink blood, when he cannot put down his foot because of the abundance of the insects which cover the ground, then he begins to whimper, and to cry, and to say that things are going hard with him; and when we see him with bent head and eyes all tears, we say pensively "the poor creature did seem to be suffering so much." So he was; but the suffering was in the wrong place. He cried out because of fear; he cried because he was a coward,—not because he was a sinner. A man has done something in society which he ought not to have done: he is brought before the judge and condemned to imprisonment and servitude. The circumstances being wholly unfamiliar, the man is cowed by them,—the days are long, the nights are burdens, the whole time is charged with intensest suffering; so the man breaks down and is sorry for what he has done. That is a mistake. �o man can be made sorry by punishment, except in the narrowest and most trifling degree. We do not begin to be sorry until we feel that one false word, one wrong deed, has spoiled the universe, and grieved the Spirit of the living God, no matter what the weight is upon our heads, or the laceration upon our backs—no matter how we are overwhelmed by mere Buffering. We must distinguish between the coward and the sinner, the sinner that cries out and the soul that would repeat the offence if the punishment could be escaped. Until we get down to these vital lines we never can begin our first lesson in gospel theology. How easy it is to mistake mercy for weakness! This was Pharaoh"s mistake. The moment the Lord lifted his heavy hand from the Egyptian king, Pharaoh began to forget his oath, and vow, and promise, and to harden his heart,—saying, in effect, "He can do no more; the God

of the Israelites has exhausted himself; now that he has removed his hand he has confessed his weakness rather than demonstrated his pity." We are committing the same mistake every day: whilst the plague is in the house we are ready to do anything to get rid of it! we will say prayers morning, noon and night, and send for the holy man who has been anointed as God"s minister, and will read nothing but solid and most impressive books, listen to no frivolous conversation, and touch nothing that could dissipate or enfeeble the mind. How long will the plague be removed before the elasticity will return to the man and the old self reassert its sovereignty? �ot a day need pass. We begin to feel that the worst is past: we say it is darkest before it is dawn, "hope springs eternal in the human breast"; and so easily do we fall back into the old swing between self-indulgence and nominal homage to God. We think we have felt all the Lord can do, and we say, "His sword is no longer; it cannot reach us now that we have removed away this little distance from its range; now and here we may do what we please, and judgment cannot fall upon us." Thus we play old Pharaoh"s part day by day. He is a mirror in which we may see ourselves. There is nothing mysterious in this part of the solemn reading. However we may endeavour to escape from the line when it becomes supernatural or romantic, we are brought swiftly and surely back to it when we see these repetitions of obduracy and these renewed challenges of Divine anger and judgment.

How wonderful, too, does self-interest extinguish the sense of justice! Pharaoh will not let Israel go. He is turning away so much property, he is giving up so many opportunities of enhancing his royal dignity, or his imperial wealth. He will let them go; then he will not; he will relax his grasp a little; then he will tighten it, and make it doubly sure. What is it that is in the Prayer of Manasseh , thus making him halt, hesitate, and balance himself as between duty and not duty? It is the fiend that still reigns in human thought—its name is Self-interest, or Self-consideration—that will make any Prayer of Manasseh , king or peasant, a thief; in fact, wherever it exists it is of necessity thievish. Self-interest never considers another man"s rights. It rises early in the morning to outwit that other man; when he turns round it will encroach upon his rights if it can. It will bend in the attitude of homage and prayer, and all the time be using that posture for the promotion of its own purposes. This illustration need not take us back to ancient Egypt. We know it, we represent it, we attest it by every oath possible to earnestness. We assure ourselves of the evil sovereignty of this principle of self-interest. It is in every one of us; it cannot be got out of us here and now. Whether it must be burned out of us by fire, drained out of us by blood, are questions we may ask: but it will never be argued away. Eloquence will spend its persuasion in vain upon it, and music will lull it to that kind of sleep which will but recruit its strength.

Looking at the Divine side of these plagues we notice the variety of the Divine resources. What we have here are mere examples of what might have been. God has but to look, and the miracle is done. His chariots are twenty thousand. He can touch us at countless points. The same variety is seen to-day. We are afflicted in innumerable ways. Every man has his own peculiar plague. There may be a common likeness amongst the plagues, but every man has his own accent of sorrow,

his own particular point where things beat upon him as a blow might beat with cruel repercussion upon a wound. Why throw all these plagues away from us, as teachers and counsellors, because in their little narrowness they are said to have occurred thousands of years ago? They are occurring to-day; they are occurring in our houses, or in the secrecy of our hearts. Many a man is drinking blood when he seems to be drinking water. Many a man has countless plagues of frogs, or lice, or flies, within his soul, stinging him, annoying him, hampering him; keeping him back from the way which he would pursue. Horrible times his soul has by itself,—nights of darkness that may be felt; losses compared with which the loss of the firstborn is but a gain. If we dwell upon the mere letter, we shall begin to ask questions of curiosity, and wonder how this could be, or that could be; but, looking at the broad solemnity of the case, human life is now attesting the variety of the Divine justice, the infinity of the penalties of God.

We here see how necessary it was for God to reveal the heart to itself. That is one of the mysteries of the Incarnation of the Son of God. Men would never have known that they could have murdered God, if Christ had not been born into the world. Prophets they killed by the score. Angelic men of radiant face and eloquent tongue they had banished without compunction; and last of all, God said "I will send my Son." The treatment of the Son of God revealed the human heart to itself. We do not know what we are unless we look at what is done, not by ourselves only, but by the sum-total of humanity. But who can preach with discrimination severe and just enough on this appalling theme? �o man can separate himself from the race and claim to be a little whiter in morality than some other man. That is self-interest again; that is the self-element asserting itself over the generic and total quantity called human nature. When a man committed murder, you committed it. There is a narrow sense in which that is not true, but if you could see yourself in all the possibilities of yourself, you would see that you committed the awful crime. It is necessary that we should shudder at it; it is even necessary that we should punish it; but in doing so we should not forget to ask ourselves the solemn question: were we in the same circumstances, what should we have done? We are not made of different clay, of different sorts of flesh and blood: "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men." That being the case, there is but one heart, one human nature, and in the profoundest conception of this mystery we must look to what has been done by the whole race, if we would know what it is possible to the purest and whitest soul amongst us to do. Be afraid of any criticism that would withdraw you from these broader contemplations, and fix your attention strongly upon little moralities, and cherished virtues, which you set up in protest against being numbered with the totality of mankind.

Here we see the uselessness of punishment. If punishment could have saved the world, Christ need never have come. The world had been drowned, and yet it came up with a bolder hand to repeat its boldest iniquities. Cities had been burned, yet the sulphur had hardly emitted its last fume before the sinner returned to play the devil again. We speak of the reality of these plagues, the reality of the Divine judgments; we begin to wonder whether such and such things did really happen. What do you mean by really? What, is reality? It would be impossible for me to

believe that the plagues ever took place in Egypt after this fashion and on this scale, if I had not a witness in my own heart and life that it was quite possible for them so to be manifested and realised. What a man sees in delirium tremens is real. It is the only reality. The sober, cool mind could never see these things; it is only the mind in a given condition of wreck and debasement that can grasp these awful realities. When the suffering man sees the curtain removed and grim death looking at him, it is real. Tell him that it is some phantom of the brain; reason with him about it, and he tells you he saw it, and your reasoning is like sprinkling water upon Etna or Vesuvius, when the mountain is ablaze. When the delirious brain sees the whole bed become a nest of intertangled serpents with gleaming eyes and darting fangs and approaching cruelty, it is real. �othing ever can upon earth be so real. After that, facts become dramatic incidents, and things that can be touched, seen with the bodily eyes, are but theatrical commonplaces. We see with the inner eyes; we see with the soul"s vision. In some moments God connects us with the eternities, and if we shrink back from them, he is the false teacher who tells us that our experiences are not real. The man who speaks so is a narrow teacher; he is limited within arbitrary lines; he does not touch the agony and the Divinity of things.

Song of Solomon , allowing all that may be called romantic, supernatural, to fall off from this story of the plagues, there remains all that God wanted to remain—three things:—first, the assertion of the Divine right in life. God cannot be turned out of his own creation: he must assert his claim, and urge it, and redeem it. The second thing that remains is the incontestable fact of human opposition to Divine voices. Divine voices call to right, to purity, to nobleness, to love, to brotherhood; and every day we resist these voices, and assert rebellious claims. The third thing that remains is the inevitable issue. We cannot fight God and win. "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Why smite with feeble fist the infinite granite of the infinite strength? who will lose? The certain result will be the overthrow of the sinner: the drowning of every Pharaoh who hardens himself against the Divine will and voice. Stripped, therefore, of everything of the nature of romance—if you will import that word into criticism so solemn—there remains the threefold fact that God has rights amongst us; that man resists those rights; that the battle comes, and the battle ends in but one way—"The Lord reigneth."

�ow that I come to think of it, have not all these plagues followed my own obstinacy and hardness of heart in relation to things Divine? We speak of the plagues of Egypt as though they began and ended in that distant land, and we regard them now as part of an exciting historical romance. I will think otherwise of them. The local incident and the local colour may be dispensed with, but the supreme fact in my own consciousness is that God always follows my obstinacy with plagues. The plagues he can indeed vary, because his understanding is infinite and his resources are without bound. What is the meaning of the sleeplessness which has turned night into a longer day? What is the true interpretation of the diseases which have enfeebled my bodily strength? What is the meaning of the graves which I have dug one after another for the burial of wife, and child, and friend? What is the interpretation of every loss which has befallen my possessions? It is easy to call all these things by ordinary names and reckon them as part of the common lot of

Prayer of Manasseh , and so miss all their meaning and all their sacred pith. It is better for my soul"s health that I should regard all these circumstances as having a distinct religious application. I need not amaze my judgment or bewilder my conscience by inventing new romantic names or starting new casuistical difficulties. It will sober and elevate me to regard all the visitations which have caused my life its keenest pains as ministries originated and directed by Heaven"s beneficent wisdom. By consideration of the case in suitable temper I am able to drive away the plague which has been a burden to my life. Even now I may pray unto the Lord, and seek deliverance from the dangers which threaten my life on every hand. Dangers are rightly used when they move us to bolder prayer; losses are turned into gains when they lift our lives in an upward direction; disease is the beginning of health when it leads the sufferer to the Father"s house. Pharaoh had his plagues, many and awful; and every life has its penal or chastening visitations which for the present are full of agony and bitterness, but which may be so used as to become the beginning of new liberties and brighter joys.

�ote

"We remained two months at Khartoum. During this time we were subjected to intense heat and constant dust-storms, attended with a general plague of boils. Verily, the plagues of Egypt remain to this day in the Soudan. On the26th June (1865) we had the most extraordinary dust-storm that had ever been seen by the inhabitants. I was sitting in the courtyard of my agent"s house at about half-past four p.m.; there was no wind, and the sun was as bright as usual in this cloudless sky, when suddenly a gloom was cast over all,—a dull yellow glare pervaded the atmosphere. Knowing that this effect portended a dust-storm, and that the present calm would be followed by a hurricane of wind, I rose to go home, intending to secure the shutters. Hardly had I risen when I saw approaching, from the south-west apparently, a solid range of immense brown mountains, high in air. So rapid was the passage of this extraordinary phenomenon, that in a few minutes we were in actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind, and the peculiar calm gave an oppressive character to the event. We were in a "darkness that might be felt. Suddenly the wind arrived, but not with the violence that I had expected There were two persons with me,—Michael Latfalla, my agent, and Monsieur Lombrosio. So intense was the darkness, that we tried to distinguish our hands placed close before our eyes; not even an outline could be seen. This lasted for upwards of twenty minutes: it then rapidly passed away, and the sun shone as before; but we had fell the darkness that Moses had inflicted upon the Egyptians."—Sir S. Baker.

MACLARE�, "A LAST MERCIFUL WAR�I�GExodus 11:1 - - Exodus 11:10.The first point to be noted in this passage is that it interposes a solemn pause between the preceding ineffectual plagues and the last effectual one. There is an awful lull in the storm before the last crashing hurricane which lays every obstacle flat. ‘There is silence in heaven’ before the final peal of thunder. Exodus 11:1 - -Exodus 11:3 seem, at first sight, out of place, as interrupting the narrative, since Moses’ denunciation and prophecy in Exodus 11:4 - - Exodus 11:8 must have been

spoken at the interview with Pharaoh which we find going on at the end of the preceding chapter. But it is legitimate to suppose that, at the very moment when Pharaoh was blustering and threatening, and Moses was bearding him, giving back scorn for scorn, the latter heard with the inward ear the voice which made Pharaoh’s words empty wind, and gave him the assurances and commands contained in Exodus 11:1 - - Exodus 11:3, and that thus it was given him in that hour what he should speak; namely, the prediction that follows in Exodus 11:4 - -Exodus 11:8. Such a view of the sequence of the passage makes it much more vivid, dramatic, and natural, than to suppose that the first verses are either interpolation or an awkward break referring to a revelation at some indefinite previous moment. When a Pharaoh or a Herod or an Agrippa threatens, God speaks to the heart of a Moses or a Paul, and makes His servant’s face ‘strong against their faces.’

The same purpose of parting off the preceding plagues from the past ones explains the introduction of Exodus 11:9 - - Exodus 11:10, which stand as a summary of the whole account of these, and, as it were, draw a line across the page, before beginning the story of that eventful day and night of Israel’s deliverance.Moses’ conviction, which he knew to be not his own thought but God’s revelation of His purpose, pointed first to the final blow which was to finish Pharaoh’s resistance. He had been vacillating between compliance and refusal, like an elastic ball which yields to compression and starts back to its swelling rotundity as soon as the pressure is taken off. But at last he will collapse altogether, like the same ball when a slit is cut in it, and it shrivels into a shapeless lump. Weak people’s obstinate fits end like that. He will be as extreme in his eagerness to get rid of the Israelites as he had been in his determination to keep them. The sail that is filled one moment tumbles in a heap the next, when the halyards are cut. It is a poor affair when a man’s actions are shaped mainly by fear of consequences. Fright always drives to extremes. ‘When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.’ Many a stout, God-opposing will collapses altogether when God’s finger touches it. ‘Can thy heart endure in the days that I shall deal with thee?’Exodus 11:2 - - Exodus 11:3 appear irrelevant here, but the command to collect from the Egyptians jewels, which might be bartered for necessaries, may well have been given to Moses simultaneously with the assurance that he would lead forth the people after the next plague, and the particulars of the people’s favour and of Moses’ influence in the eyes of the native inhabitants, come in anticipatively to explain why the request for such contributions was granted when made.With the new divine command swelling in his heart, Moses speaks his last word to Pharaoh, towering above him in righteous wrath, and dwindling his empty threats into nothingness. What a contrast between the impotent rage of the despot, with his vain threat, ‘Thou shalt die,’ and the unblenching boldness of the man with God at his back! One cannot but note in Moses’ prediction of the last plague the solemn enlargement on the details of the widespread calamity, which is not unfeeling gloating over an oppressor’s misery, but a yearning to save from hideous misery by timely and plain depicting of it. There is a flash of national triumph in the further contrast between the universal wailing in Egypt and the untouched security of the children of Israel, but that feeling merges at once into the higher one of ‘the Lord’ s’ gracious action in establishing the ‘difference’ between them and their oppressors.

It is not safe to dwell on superiority over others, either as to condition or character, unless we print in very large letters that it is ‘the Lord’ who has made it. There is a flash, too, of natural triumph in the picture of the proud courtiers brought down to prostrate themselves before the shepherd from Horeb, and to pray him to do what their master and they had so long fought against his doing. And there is a most natural assertion of non-dependence on their leave in that emphatic ‘After that I will go out.’ He is not asserting himself against God, but against the cowering courtiers. ‘Hot anger’ was excusable, but it was not the best mood in which to leave Pharaoh. Better if he had gone out unmoved, or moved only to ‘great heaviness and sorrow of heart’ at the sight of men setting themselves against God, and rushing on the ‘thick bosses of the Almighty’s buckler’ to their own ruin. Moses’ anger we naturally sympathise with, Christ’s meekness we should try to copy.The closing verses, as we have already noticed, are a kind of summing-up of the whole narrative of the plagues and their effects on Pharaoh. They open two difficult questions, as to how and why it was that the effect of the successive strokes was so slight and transient. They give the ‘how’ very emphatically as being that ‘Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart.’ Does that not free Pharaoh from guilt? And does it not suggest an unworthy conception of God? It must be remembered that the preceding narrative employs not only the phrase that ‘Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart,’ but also the expression that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. And it is further to be noted that the latter expression is employed in the accounts of the earlier plagues, and that the former one appears only towards the close of the series. So then, even if we are to suppose that it means that there was a direct hardening action by God on the man’s heart, such action was not first, but subsequent to obstinate hardening by himself. God hardens no man’s heart who has not first hardened it himself. But we do not need to conclude that any inward action on the will is meant. Was not the accumulation of plagues, intended, as they were, to soften, a cause of hardening? Does not the Gospel, if rejected, harden, making consciences and wills less susceptible? Is it not a ‘savour of death unto death,’ as our fathers recognised in speaking of ‘gospel-hardened sinners’? The same fire softens wax and hardens clay. Whosoever is not brought near is driven farther off, by the influences which God brings to bear on us.The ‘why’ is stated in terms which may suggest difficulties,-’that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.’ But we have to remember that the Old Testament writers are not wont to distinguish so sharply as more logical Westerns do between the actual result of an event and its purpose. With their deep faith in the all-ruling power of God, whatever had come to pass was what He had meant to come to pass. In fact, Pharaoh’s obstinacy had not thwarted the divine purpose, but had been the dark background against which the blaze of God’s irresistible might had shone the brighter. He makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and turns opposition into the occasion of more conspicuously putting forth His omnipotence.

LA�GE, "Exodus 11:1. And Jehovah said.—According to Keil, Jehovah’s address to Moses here reported was made before the interview with Pharaoh recorded in Exodus 10:24-29, but is given here by the narrator because it explains Moses’ confident answer in Exodus 10:29. But we cannot suppose that Moses would have preännounced the tenth plague before Pharaoh’s obduracy in reference to the ninth

had showed itself. Also, it is clear from Exodus 11:8 that the announcement made in Exodus 11:4-8 immediately follows Moses’ declaration in Exodus 10:29. The difference between this announcement and the former ones consists in the fact that this last one is made immediately after Pharaoh’s obdurate answer. By a sort of attraction other particulars are added to this central part of the section: Exodus 11:9-10 as a recollection which the theocratic spirit loves to repeat. Exodus 11:1-3, however, are put before Exodus 11:4-8, evidently from pragmatic considerations; in historical order they form the immediate consequence of what is there related. Only the matter of the silver and gold articles seems to have been often talked of: the idea is advanced as early as Exodus 3:21.

PETT 1-3, "Verses 1-3The Tenth Plague - The Slaying of the Firstborn (Exodus 11:1 to Exodus 12:36).

This whole section is constructed on an interesting chiastic pattern:

a Israel are to ask the Egyptians for gold and jewellery, etc (Exodus 11:1-3).b All the firstborn in Egypt are to die - there will be a great cry throughout the land - Israel will be told to go (Exodus 11:4-10).c The preparation of the lamb - the sacrifice - the blood on the doorpost it -will be a memorial for ever (Exodus 12:1-14).d For seven days they are to eat unleavened bread - their houses to be emptied of leaven - the observation of the feast (Exodus 12:15-17).d The observation of the feast of unleavened bread for seven days - their houses to be emptied of leaven (Exodus 12:18-20).c The preparation of the lamb - the sacrifice - the blood on the doorpost - to be observed as an ordinance for ever (Exodus 12:21-28).b The firstborn in Egypt die - there is a great cry in Egypt - the children of Israel are told to go (Exodus 12:29-34).a Israel ask the Egyptians for gold and jewellery etc. (Exodus 12:35-36).There can be no doubt that this skilful arrangement is deliberate.

Yahweh’s Deliverance About To Take Place. They Are to Ask the Egyptians for Gold and Jewellery (Exodus 10:29 to Exodus 11:3)

Exodus 10:29

‘And Moses said, “You have spoken well. You will see my face no more.”This verse belongs to the last passage but we introduce with it here again so as to maintain the continuity.

The words of Pharaoh would have struck fear into many a heart. But Moses was now too strong. He was no longer afraid of Pharaoh, for he knew that something was about to happen that would shake both Pharaoh (and the whole of Egypt) to the very core of his being, to his heart (Exodus 9:14), and he was very angry. Furthermore he alone on earth knew what was about to happen. What God had promised from the very beginning was about to come about because Pharaoh had

refused to release God’s firstborn son in order that they may worship Him (Exodus 4:23). �ow Pharaoh’s own firstborn would be smitten.

“You have spoken well.” Moses wanted Pharaoh to know that he had spoken better than he knew. This would indeed be their last meeting until a broken Pharaoh called for him to tell them to go. Little did Pharaoh know what the consequence of his rejection was going to be. It would hit at the very heart of Egyptian life, at the heart of every family, and equally at Pharaoh’s very heart as well.

But Moses did not as yet leave, for he had more to say. Exodus 11:1-3 is simply an interlude explaining why Moses now had such confidence in the face of what must have seemed a great disappointment. It tells us that Yahweh had shown Moses that this was finally to be the last of the plagues, that soon all would be over, and what the consequences were going to be for the children of Israel as far as wealth was concerned. And it declared what the status was that Moses now had in Egypt, not just as a prince but as having divine powers. This being in Moses’ mind the conversation would continue. It was an assurance to him and to Israel at what must have seemed their darkest moment of the certain victory that was to be theirs. They were about to leave Egypt burdened with riches. We are justified in seeing it as expressing the thoughts which were buoying him up as he faced Pharaoh,

The Command To Spoil the Egyptians (Exodus 11:1-3).

Exodus 11:1-3

‘And Yahweh had said to Moses, “I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt, afterwards he will let you go from here. When he lets you go he will surely thrust you out from here altogether. Speak in the ears of the people and let them ask every man of his neighbour and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And Yahweh gave the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.’We can analyse this as follows:

a One more plague is to be brought on Egypt and on Pharaoh, and afterwards he will let Moses and Israel go (Exodus 11:1 a).b Afterwards he will certainly let them go, indeed will thrust them out altogether (Exodus 11:1 b).c Thus they are to speak in the ears of the people and ask for jewels of silver and jewels of gold as offerings to Yahweh (Exodus 11:2).b And when they did so Yahweh gave them great favour in the eyes of the Egyptians (Exodus 11:3 a).a Moreover Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the aristocratic leadership, and in the sight of the people (Exodus 11:3 b).�ote the parallels which unite the text. In ‘a’ one more devastating plague will achieve Yahweh’s object through Moses, and in the parallel Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, admired by all but Pharaoh. Great in the eyes of all indeed to

achieve this mighty object. In ‘b’ we have the promise that they will actually be thrust out by Pharaoh, and in the parallel that they had great favour in the eyes of the Egyptians. It is now great Pharaoh who stands alone. And central to all is that Yahweh’s people will not crawl out of Egypt with their tails between their legs, nor will they flee leaving everything behind, they will go out loaded with wealth and spoils.

To those who know the story, these verses break into the dramatic confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. But they were necessary in order to demonstrate how Yahweh had prepared Moses for the final rejection by Pharaoh, how much alone Pharaoh now was in his opposition, and how Yahweh had fulfilled His own promises (Exodus 3:19-22). To the writer far more important than the drama was the necessity to keep Yahweh and not Moses as pre-eminent.

It was important that Yahweh should be seen to be the victor. To us the receiving of wealth from the Egyptians may have seemed a secondary matter. To us what would have mattered was the freedom. But in those days the spoils went to the victor, and the writer was therefore careful to demonstrate that the children of Israel were to receive the spoils of victory. This had been emphasised in Exodus 3:19-22 when God was outlining what lay ahead. �ow it is described in order to show that things had now reached their climax. Here was an indication that the victory of Yahweh was now certain, and the ‘spoils of war’ are given prominence. They had been told from the beginning that they would not have to flee like dogs with their tails between their legs, that they would leave as triumphant victors. �ow this was to come to fulfilment. Thus the plagues come to their climax with this promise of glorious victory.

But we must not forget that Israel had been steadily impoverished by the Egyptians. They had had to work on their building projects and on their canals and irrigation systems for nothing except possibly food. Some of them had suffered terribly. Their own interests had had to be neglected. And they would be leaving behind their houses and any possessions that they could not take with them. It was therefore just that they now be reimbursed. This was not robbery. It was seeking just treatment.

And thirdly, it is brought out that Moses himself was to be vindicated, and restored to more than his former greatness. He had set aside greatness, and now no one on earth was greater than he.

“And Yahweh had said to Moses.” Hebrew verbs do not necessarily apply chronologically. They simply say that something happened, not when it happened. They had no way of representing the pluperfect. It had to be gathered from the sense. Here then we are being taken back to something Moses had been told before this ‘final interview’.

“Yet one more plague.” From the beginning Yahweh had known what it would take to bring Pharaoh to his knees (Exodus 4:23) and to such a state that he would finally seek to get rid of the children of Israel altogether once and for all. For this was

always His plan (see Exodus 3:19-22). �ow Moses could know that the end had been reached. At last they would be sent away to freedom.

“Thrust you out from here.” The words are forceful. Pharaoh will be made to do what Yahweh wishes and he will do it forcefully. He will be glad to let them go.

“Speak now in the ears of the people --.” From the beginning Yahweh had promised that when the children of Israel received their freedom they would leave in triumph. They would receive the ‘spoils of war’. But it was stressed that these would not have to be forced from the Egyptians they would be given freely. Such is the wonder of God’s ways. They would ask for, and would receive, gold and silver jewels (compare Exodus 3:22), and these would be bestowed on them generously and given to them gladly, in order to encourage them to go. It was little recompense for all that they had suffered, but it was better than nothing and would ease their way in the future, as well as enabling them to furnish Yahweh’s Dwellingplace.

The gifts came from both men and women. All would wear golden ornaments of one kind or another.

“And Yahweh gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians.” Just as He had said He would from the beginning (Exodus 3:21), He ensured that they were treated with favour. These slaves would now be treated as those who deserved great honour. Pharaoh still looked on them with a jaundiced eye, but his people would see them otherwise. Whether the gifts were to appease this dreadful God Who did such things, or whether they were given in friendship, or whether they were given in gratitude because they had heard of what was happening elsewhere and recognised that they had been saved the worst because they lived among the Israelites in Goshen, or whether they hoped that by giving the gifts they would win favour with Yahweh, does not matter. The motives were probably varied. But the point is being made that they freely gave, and loaded God’s people with wealth.

“Moreover the man Moses was very great --”. Moses, who had once been a prince of Egypt and had then slipped to being a tribal princeling, had now become more than a prince, he had become like a divinity (Exodus 7:1), both to the high officials of the land and to the Egyptians and to Pharaoh. He who had once said, “Who am I?” (Exodus 3:11) was now in a position of the highest honour. So Yahweh’s triumph is complete. �ote the contrast, ‘the man Moses’. (This in contrast to the god Pharaoh). We are being reminded that he is only a man. ‘Was very great --’. That was how the Egyptians saw him, as one of the great ones. This was not in order to boost Moses, it was in order to boost Yahweh who had made him seem so great in their eyes. And that is a further reason why the Egyptians gave so generously and abundantly.

This mixture of humility and yet recognition in wonder of what Yahweh had of made him smacks of Moses having written it in own words. Who else would have insisted that he was but the man Moses?

And at this point we now renew the meeting with Pharaoh following Moses’ words,

‘You will not see my face again’ (Exodus 10:29)

BI, "One plague more.

One more plague

I. Heaven will terribly plague the sinner. And the one plague more to come upon the impenitent sinner will be awful, it will be just; it will be the natural outcome of a wicked life, and will be inflicted by God.

II. It shows that heaven has a great resource of plagues with which to torment the sinner. The material universe, in its avery realm, is the resource of heaven for the plaguing of men. Men ask how God can punish the sinner in the world to come. He will not be at a loss for one plague more whereby to torment the finally impenitent. How foolish of man to provoke the anger of God!

III. It shows that heaven gives ample warning of the plagues it will inflict upon the sinner. Men do not walk ignorantly to hell.

IV. It shows that heaven has a merciful intention even in the infliction of its plagues. It designed the moral submission of Pharaoh by the threatened plague, and also the freedom of Israel. And so God plagues men that He may save them, and those whom they hold in the dire bondage of moral evil. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

One effort more

The old astronomer with his trusty glass is searching the heavens for a star, “a lost star,” he says. “It ought to be there!” he murmers, looking along the jewelled lines of some constellation. Not finding his diamond, he shakes his head, and is about to give up the search. “Just one trial more!” he murmers. He directs his glass towards the sky, and lo, there it is! Out of the dark depths of space flashes the pure, bright face of the lost star. “Found!” he cries. “It was one effort more that did it.” Yes, it is true in nature and in the world of grace that it is the one effort more that often restores to its orbit the lost star. It was the one more reaching out of the world of Christian sympathy that by a friendly tap and a kindly word arrested a drunkard and gave to temperance a star orator, Gough. A Sunday-school teacher touches on the shoulder and kindly asks a young man about his soul, and this one effort more of the Church of God brought Dwight L. Moody to the Saviour. God uses varied instruments:—One day, seeing some men in a field, I made my way to them, and found they were cutting up the trunk of an old tree. I said, “That is slow work; why do you not split it asunder with the beetle and wedges”? “Ah, this wood is so cross-grained and stubborn that it requires something sharper than wedges to get it to pieces.” “Yes,” I replied; “and that is the way God is obliged to deal with obstinate, cross-grained sinners; if they will not yield to one of His instruments, you may depend on it He will make use of another.” (G. Grigg.)

2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to

ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

BAR�ES, "Every man - In Exo_3:22 only women were named; the command is more explicit when the time has come for its execution.

Borrow - “ask.” See Exo_3:22 note.

CLARKE, "Let every man borrow - For a proper correction of the strange

mistranslation of the word שאל shaal in this verse, see Clarke’s note on Exo_3:22.

GILL, "Speak now in the ears of the people,.... This cannot be understood of the whole body of the people being gathered together, but of some of the principal ones, who should communicate it to others, and so from one to another, until all the heads and masters of families became acquainted with it:

and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold; to ornament themselves with at the feast they were going to keep: the Samaritan and Septuagint versions add, and clothing or raiment, and such it is certain they did borrow, Exo_12:35 or vessels (p) of different forms, made of gold and silver, such as were fit and proper to be used at sacrifices and feasts, and which will account for the vessels given by princes, Num_7:1for the doing of which the divine authority was sufficient; though there seems to be a reason for it in justice, that they might be paid for their hard service they had been made to serve for so many years, without having a proper reward for it: the word may be rendered, "let every man ask", &c.

JAMISO�, "Speak now in the ears of the people— These verses, describing the communication which had been made in private to Moses, are inserted here as a parenthesis, and will be considered (Exo_12:35).

K&D 2-3, "In this way Jehovah would overcome the resistance of Pharaoh; and even more than that, for Moses was to tell the people to ask the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, for Jehovah would make them willing to give. The renown acquired by Moses through his miracles in Egypt would also contribute to this. (For the discussion of this subject, see Exo_3:21-22.) The communication of these instructions to the people is not expressly mentioned; but it is referred to in Exo_12:35-36, as having taken place.

CALVI�, "2.Speak now in the ears of the people. He repeats His command as to spoiling the Egyptians, of which mention was made in the third chapter, for it was not enough for God to rescue His people from that cruel tyranny under which their

wretched lives were scarcely protracted in great poverty and distress, unless He also enriched them with large possessions, as if they were carrying away the prizes of victory from conquered enemies. This, therefore, was the consummation of His otherwise extraordinary bounty, that they departed splendidly adorned, (133) and laden with precious furniture. We have already explained how it was lawful for the Israelites to take away with them the golden and silver vessels under pretext of borrowing them. (134) Surely the sole authority of God absolves them from the accusation of theft and sinful deception. But it cannot be permitted to any mortal man to censure or cavil at anything in the commandment of God; not only because His decree is above all laws, but because His most perfect will is the rule of all laws. For neither therefore is God unanswerable to law, because: he delights in uncontrollable power; but because in the perfection of His infinite justice there is no need of law. But although the excuse which some allege is not altogether without show of reason, viz., that the very severe labors which the Egyptians had tyrannically exacted were worthy of some reward, and therefore that God had justly permitted His people to exact the compensation of which they would have been otherwise unjustly defrauded, still there is no necessity for having recourse to these subtleties; for that principle, which we have elsewhere laid down, ought to be sufficient, that God, in whose hands are the ends of the earth, to destroy and to overturn at His will its kingdoms, and to change the government of its nations, much more (has the right) so to distribute the wealth and possessions of individuals, as to enrich some and to reduce others to want.

“The rich and poor meet together, (says Solomon:) the Lord is maker of them all,” (Proverbs 22:2;)

by which words he means that the providence of God rules in the various mixing together of poor and rich. But if theft be the taking away of what is another’s, those things which it has pleased God to transfer to His own people, must not be counted the property of others. But if by the laws of war it be permitted to the victors to gather up the spoil of the enemy, why should we consider it less allowable for God to do so from the Egyptians, whom He had overcome in ten illustrious battles, before He compelled them to surrender? As to the pretense of borrowing, the reply is easy, for the Israelitish women did not lie when they asked for the vessels for the purpose of sacrifice: since God had thus commanded, in whose power it was afterwards to devote them to other uses. Still part of them were dedicated to the sanctuary, as we shall see elsewhere; for besides the altar, the censer, and the candlestick, and other vessels of that kind, each of the tribes offered vials and dishes of great value. Yet must we recollect that a particular case is here related, imitation of which, without God’s special command, would be wrong.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:2. Let every man ask — (not borrow!) of his neighbour —The Israelites, who at first lived distinctly by themselves, when they were greatly multiplied, and Pharaoh began to cast a jealous eye upon them, and to take cruel counsels against them, were more mixed with the Egyptians, as appears from Exodus 12:12-13, and many other passages; and this either by their own choice, that they might receive protection and sustenance from them; or rather by Pharaoh’s

design, who placed many of his own people among them to watch and chastise them, (Exodus 1:12,) and perhaps removed some of them from Goshen to the parts adjoining, which were inhabited by his people. Jewels of silver, or vessels, as the Hebrew word כלי , chelee, properly signifies. For they might plausibly ask, and the Egyptians would more readily give them vessels, which might be both proper and useful for their sacrifices and feasts, than jewels, for which they had neither present need nor use. This was the last day of their servitude, when they were to go away, and their masters, who had abused them in their work, would now have defrauded them of their wages, and have sent them away empty; and the poor Israelites were so fond of liberty that they themselves would have been satisfied with that without pay: but he that executeth righteousness and judgment for the oppressed, provided that the labourers should not lose their hire. God ordered them to demand it now at their departure, in vessels of silver and vessels of gold; to prepare for which, God had now made the Egyptians as willing to part with them upon any terms, as before the Egyptians had made them willing to go upon any terms.

ELLICOTT, "(2) Let every man borrow.—See the comment on Exodus 3:22. The directions to “ask” the Egyptians for presents is extended here from the women alone to both women and men. Egyptian obduracy and Israelitish loss through some of the plagues may have caused the enlargement of the original instruction.

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.

Ver. 2. Borrow of his neighbour.] This was an extraordinary command, and may not be made a precedent but in the same case, and upon the same warrant. The Lawgiver only can dispense with his own law. Ordinarily it is "the wicked" that "borroweth, and payeth not again." [Psalms 37:21]

WHEDO�, "2. Let every man borrow — ,ask, demand, (Septuagint, Vulgate ׁשאלLuther, De Wette, Ewald, Knobel.) See on chap. 52:22. Of course the Egyptians could have expected no return of the gold and silver, when they urged them to go wholly out of the land. This was no “borrowing” or purloining, but these “spoils” were gifts obtained by moral constraint. The terror-stricken Egyptians were glad to give them any thing so they would but go in peace. If this despoiling the Egyptians were not so particularly described we should find much difficulty in accounting for the quantity of gold and jewelry which we find in the possession of the Hebrews when they went out of servitude. A large amount of gold was used in the manufacture of the calf in Horeb; and, after this idol had been destroyed, we find the men and women bringing freewill offerings of “bracelets, and earrings, and (signet) rings, and tablets, (necklaces,) all jewels of gold,” (Exodus 35:22,) for the ornamentation and furnishing of the tabernacle, whose beams were all plated with gold, and all whose vessels were gold. It would be hard to account for such an extraordinary amount of the precious metal in the possession of a nation just emerged from bondage were not this unusual means of supply set before us. It was fit that the oppressor who had so long luxuriated on their unrequited toil should

repay; it was proper that they should go in festal attire to Jehovah’s feast; and it was the crown of their triumph that the Egyptians willingly loaded them with their costly garments and jewels, freely bidding them go, and praying, Bless us also.

PULPIT, "Every man … every woman. In Exodus 3:22 only women had been mentioned. �ow the terms of the direction were enlarged. It is worthy of notice that gold and silver ornaments—ear-rings, collars, armlets, bracelets, and anklets, were worn almost as much by the Egyptian men of the Rameside period as by the women. Borrow. On this faulty translation, see the comment on Exodus 3:22. Jewels. Literally, "articles." The word is one of a very wide meaning, and might include drinking-cups and other vessels; but from the statement in Exodus 3:22, that they were to "put them on their sons and on their daughters" it is clear that personal ornaments are especially meant.

3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

CLARKE, "The man Moses was very great - The miracles which Pharaoh and his servants had already seen him work had doubtless impressed them with a high opinion of his wisdom and power. Had he not appeared in their sight as a very extraordinary person, whom it would have been very dangerous to molest, we may naturally conclude that some violence would long ere this have been offered to his person.

GILL, "And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians,.... So that they freely and willingly lent them the things they asked of them; which seems to be said by way of anticipation, for this was not done until the following plague was inflicted, see Exo_12:35,

moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt; his name was

famous throughout the whole land, because of the signs and wonders, and miracles wrought by him; they took him to be a very extraordinary person, as he was, and had him in great esteem, because at his entreaty the plagues were removed from them, when they had been wrought on them; and this made them the more willing to lend the above things to the people of Israel when they asked them of them, because of their great respect to Moses, and whom, if they did not cordially love, yet they feared, and might imagine that if they did not comply with the request of his people, he might resent it, and employ his power against them; and thus he stood, either beloved or feared, or both:

in the sight of Pharaoh's servants; his ministers, courtiers, and counsellors: and in the sight of the people; the common people, the inhabitants of the land of Egypt.

HE�RY, " The high favour Moses and Israel were in with the Egyptians, Exo_11:3. 1. Even the people that has been hated and despised now came to be respected; the wonders wrought on their behalf put an honour upon them and made them considerable. How great do they become for whom God thus fights! Thus the Lord gave them favour in the sight of the Egyptians, by making it appear how much he favoured them: he also changed the spirit of the Egyptians towards them, and made them to be pitied of their oppressors, Psa_106:46. 2. The man Moses was very great. How could it be otherwise when they saw what power he was clothed with, and what wonders were wrought by his hand? Thus the apostles, though otherwise despicable men, came to be magnified, Act_5:13. Those that honour God he will honour; and with respect to those that approve themselves faithful to him, how meanly soever they may pass through this world, there is a day coming when they will look great, very great, in the eyes of all the world, even theirs who now look upon them with the utmost contempt. Observe, Though Pharaoh hated Moses, there were those of Pharaoh's servants that respected him. Thus in Caesar's household, even Nero's, there were some that had an esteem for blessed Paul, Phi_1:13.

CALVI�, "3.And the Lord gave (135) the people favor. Because the Israelites never could have hoped that the Egyptians, who had before rapaciously stripped them of everything, would become so kind and liberal to them, Moses declares that men’s hearts are turned this way or that by God. For, as the Psalm testifies, that the Egyptians were impelled by Him “to hate His people,” (Psalms 105:25,) that He might make way for their glorious deliverance; so He was able also to incline them in the opposite direction, that they should freely give what they had before harshly refused, and not without threats and blows. This doctrine is exceedingly useful to be known, because, when men are harsh and cruel to us, it: teaches us patience, whilst we are assured that the passions of wicked men only thus assail us, in so far as God would chastise our sins, and exercise and humble us. It affords also no little consolation to alleviate our pains, and seasonably arouses us to call upon God, that He would turn the minds of our enemies from brutality and unkindness to gentleness. It appears from many passages that this was ever the persuasion of all the pious, and unquestionably the expression of Jacob to his sons, “God Almighty give (dabit) you mercy before the man,” was founded on this general feeling. (Genesis 43:14.) But, since Scripture is full of such testimonies, let it suffice to have quoted this single one. Again, God does not always incline men to mercy, by the Spirit of regeneration, so that they should be changed from wolves to lambs; but

sometimes by His secret inspiration He for a short time softens them though they know it not, as we read here of the Egyptians. In the second clause of the verse, where it is said, “Moreover the man Moses,” etc., an inferior and subordinate reason is given, which availed both to change the Egyptians as well as to encourage the Israelites, so that both of them reverently deferred to his words; for although this whole matter was governed by the power of God alone, still He did not act simply by Himself, but having chosen Moses as His minister, He assigned (136) a certain charge to him. Hence the veneration which made the Egyptians as well as the Israelites obedient to him, that his labor might not be in vain. He only speaks, indeed, of the Egyptian nation, (for after having spoken of “the land” first, he adds two divisions, “Pharaoh’s servants,” i.e., the nobles and courtiers, and then “the common people,” for so in this place I understand the word “people;”) but we shall soon see that the miracles had had a good effect upon the Israelites also, that they should more readily believe and obey. But; this passage teaches us that God’s servants are often prized and honored, where yet faith in their doctrine is not possessed, for although the Egyptians reverence and highly esteem Moses, they do not therefore incline to seek (137) after piety. And thus the wicked often fear God Himself, when influenced by particular circumstances, and yet do not devote themselves to His service.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:3. The man Moses was very great — The Egyptians all held him in great esteem and veneration, as a person that had an extraordinary power with God. This seems to be mentioned as the reason why Pharaoh did not attempt any thing against his person; and also why he and the Israelites found so much favour in the sight of the Egyptians.

COKE, "Exodus 11:3. And the Lord gave— This, perhaps, might be better rendered, the Lord will give. The Vulgate, Samaritan, Houbigant, &c. render it in the future. Some imagine that the clause following was mentioned as the reason why Pharaoh did not attempt any thing against the person of Moses; whom all his people now considered as the immediate messenger of GOD, and, consequently, held in most high veneration.

REFLECTIO�S.—They who despised Moses at first, begin to fear and honour him at last. God gives him his last directions. Israel had served for no wages long enough; God will now repay them in the jewels of Egypt. Some way or other, they who suffer for him shall obtain their reward. God has a short work to do: one stroke more, and then they shall be as earnest to thrust them out, as before to hold them prisoners. �ote; There is one judgment yet to come after this life against sinners, which shall humble them, in a bad sense, if nothing else does.

ELLICOTT, "(3) The Lord gave the people favour—i.e., when the time arrived. (See below, Exodus 12:36.)

The man Moses.—At first sight there seems a difficulty in supposing Moses to have

written thus of himself. “The man” is not a title by which writers of any time or country are in the habit of speaking of themselves; but it is far more difficult to imagine any one but Moses giving him so bald and poor a designation. To other writers he is a “prophet (Deuteronomy 34:10; Luke 24:27; Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37), or “a man of God” (Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6; Psalms 90, Title; Ezra 3:2), or “the servant of the Lord” (Joshua 1:1; Hebrews 3:5); never simply “the man.”

Very great.—It has been said that this expression does not comport well with the “meekness” of Moses. But it is the mere statement of a fact, and of one necessary to be stated for the proper understanding of the narrative. Moses, in the course of his long contention as an equal with Pharaoh, had come to be regarded, not only by the courtiers, but by the Egyptians generally, as a great personage—a personage almost on a par with the Pharaoh, whom they revered as a god upon earth. The position to which he had thus attained exerted an important influence on the entire Egyptian people at this time, causing them to be well-inclined towards his countrymen, and willing to make sacrifices in order to help them and obtain their good-will.

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:3 And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses [was] very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.

Ver. 3. Was very great in the land of Egypt.] Great he was both in gifts and authority; so that for his sake the Israelites might have what they would of the Egyptians. It was not here as once at Rome, Calamitas nostra Magnus est. Sic Mimus olim de Pompeio, plaudente populo Romano tam eleganti soloecismo.

WHEDO�, "3. And the Lord gave the people favour… the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt — At this crisis the Egyptians had become so panic-stricken that they gave the Israelites whatever they asked, and Moses, Jehovah’s dread messenger, overwhelmed them with awe and terror. The author does not here refer to any moral or intellectual greatness of Moses, but simply to the impression which he had produced upon the Egyptians.

PULPIT, "And the Lord gave the people favour—i.e. When the time came. See below, Exodus 12:36. Moreover the man Moses, etc. It has been supposed that this is an interpolation, and argued that Moses, being so "meek" as he was (�umbers 12:3), would not have spoken of himself in the terms here used. But very great here only means "very influential;" and the fact is stated, not to glorify Moses, but to account for the ornaments being so generally given. Moreover, it is highly improbable that any other writer than himself would have so baldly and bluntly designated Moses as the man Moses. (Compare Deuteronomy 33:1; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:1, Joshua 1:13, Joshua 1:15; Joshua 14:6, Joshua 14:7; Joshua 22:2, Joshua 22:4; etc.) The "greatness" which Moses had now attained was due to the powers which he had shown. First of all, he had confounded the magicians (Exodus 8:18, Exodus 8:19); then he had so far impressed the courtiers that a number of them took advantage of one of his warnings and thereby saved their cattle and

slaves (Exodus 9:20). Finally, he had forced the entire Court to acknowledge that it lay in his power to destroy or save Egypt (Exodus 10:7). He had after that parleyed with the king very much as an equal (Exodus 10:8-11; Exodus 16:1-36 -18). It is no wonder that the Egyptians, who regarded their king as a "great god," were deeply impressed.

4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.

BAR�ES, "And Moses said - The following words must be read in immediate connection with the last verse of the preceding chapter.

About midnight - This marks the hour, but not the day, on which the visitation would take place. There may have been, and probably was, an interval of some days, during which preparations might be made both for the celebration of the Passover, and the departure of the Israelites.

CLARKE, "About midnight will I go out -Whether God did this by the ministry of a good or of an evil angel is a matter of little importance, though some commentators have greatly magnified it. Both kinds of angels are under his power and jurisdiction, and he may employ them as he pleases. Such a work of destruction as the slaying of the first-born is supposed to be more proper for a bad than for a good angel. But the works of God’s justice are not less holy and pure than the works of his mercy; and the highest archangel may, with the utmost propriety, be employed in either.

GILL, "And Moses said,.... To Pharaoh before he left him, when he had told him he should see his face no more; for the three preceding verses are to be read in a parenthesis, being placed here by the historian, as giving some light to this last discourse and transaction between Moses and Pharaoh:

thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt; perhaps to the capital and metropolis of it, which might stand in the midst of it, as usually does the royal city; or it may only signify that he would go into the very heart of it, and steer his course all around in every part and quarter of it, slaying the firstborn everywhere in all towns and cities throughout the kingdom, as follows; in order to which he is said to go out, either from the place where Moses used to go and pray to him, and where he met him and gave him his orders and instructions, or out of the land of

Goshen, where he dwelt among the Israelites; or rather it only signifies the manifestation of himself in some work and action of his, the exertion of his power in inflicting punishment for sin: thus God is sometimes said to go forth out of his place when he is about to exercise judgment in the earth; for this must be understood consistent with his omnipresence, see Isa_26:21 and this was to be done about midnight, the middle of the night following the present day, which was the fourteenth of the month of Abib or Nisan; it was in the morning of that day Moses had this discourse with Pharaoh, and in the evening of it the passover was kept, and about the middle of the night the firstborn were slain, as follows.

HE�RY 4-10, "Warning is here given to Pharaoh of the last and conquering plague which was now to be inflicted. This was the death of all the first-born in Egypt at once, which had been first threatened (Exo_4:23, I will slay thy son, thy first-born), but is last executed; less judgments were tried, which, if they had done the work would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath, and how willing to be met with in the way of his judgments, and to have his anger turned away, and particularly how precious the lives of men are in his eyes: if the death of their cattle had humbled and reformed them, their children would have been spared; but, if men will not improve the gradual advances of divine judgments, they must thank themselves if they find, in the issue, that the worst was reserved for the last. 1. The plague itself is here particularly foretold, Exo_11:4-6. The time is fixed - about midnight, the very next midnight, the dead time of the night; when they were all asleep, all their first-born should sleep the sleep of death, not silently and insensibly, so as not to be discovered till morning, but so as to rouse the families at midnight to stand by and see them die. The extent of this plague is described, Exo_11:5. The prince that was to succeed in the throne was not too high to be reached by it, nor were the slaves at the mill too low to be taken notice of. Moses and Aaron were not ordered to summon this plague; no I will go out, saith the Lord, Exo_11:4. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; what is hell but this? 2. The special protection which the children of Israel should be under, and the manifest difference that should be put between them and the Egyptians. While angels drew their swords against the Egyptians, there should not so much as a dog bark at any of the children of Israel, Exo_11:7. An earnest was hereby given of the difference which shall be put in the great day between God's people and his enemies: did men know what a difference God puts, and will put to eternity, between those that serve him and those that serve him not, religion would not seem to them such an indifferent thing as they make it, nor would they act in it with so much indifference as they do. 3. The humble submission which Pharaoh's servants should make to Moses, and how submissively they should request him to go (Exo_11:8): They shall come down, and bow themselves. Note, The proud enemies of God and his Israel shall be made to fall under at last (Rev_3:9), and shall be found liars to them, Deu_33:29. When Moses had thus delivered his message, it is said, He went out from Pharaoh in a great anger, though he was the meekest of all the men of the earth. Probably he expected that the very threatening of the death of the firstborn would have induced Pharaoh to comply, especially as Pharaoh had complied so far already, and had seen how exactly all Moses's predictions hitherto were fulfilled. But it had not that effect; his proud heart would not yield, no, not to save all the firstborn of his kingdom: no marvel that men are not deterred from vicious courses by the prospects given them of eternal misery in the other world, when the imminent peril they run of the loss of all that is dear to them in this world will not frighten them. Moses, hereupon, was provoked to a holy indignation, being grieved (as our Saviour afterwards) for the hardness of his heart,Mar_3:5. Note, It is a great vexation to the spirits of good ministers to see people deaf to all the fair warnings given them, and running headlong

upon ruin, notwithstanding all the kind methods taken to prevent it. Thus Ezekiel went in the bitterness of his spirit (Eze_3:14), because God had told him that the house of Israel would not hearken to him, Exo_11:7. To be angry at nothing but sin is the way not to sin in anger. Moses, having thus adverted to the disturbance which Pharaoh's obstinacy gave him, (1.) Reflects upon the previous notice God had given him of this (Exo_11:9): The Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken to you. The scripture has foretold the incredulity of those who should hear the gospel, that it might not be a surprise nor stumbling-block to us, Joh_12:37, Joh_12:38; Rom_10:16. Let us think never the worse of the gospel of Christ for the slights men generally put upon it, for we were told before what cold entertainment it would meet with. (2.) He recapitulates all he had said before to this purport (Exo_11:10), that Moses did all these wonders, as they are here related, before Pharaoh (he himself was an eye-witness of them), and yet he could not prevail, which was a certain sign that God himself had, in a way of righteous judgment, hardened his heart. Thus the Jews' rejection of the gospel of Christ was so gross an absurdity that it might easily be inferred from it that God had given them the spirit of slumber, Rom_11:8.

JAMISO�, "Thus saith the Lord, About midnight— Here is recorded the announcement of the last plague made in the most solemn manner to the king, on whose hardened heart all his painful experience had hitherto produced no softening, at least no permanently good effect.

will I go out into the midst of Egypt— language used after the manner of men.

K&D 4-8, "Moses' address to Pharaoh forms the continuation of his brief answer in Exo_10:29. At midnight Jehovah would go out through the midst of Egypt. This midnight could not be “the one following the day on which Moses was summoned to Pharaoh after the darkness,” as Baumgarten supposes; for it was not till after this conversation with the king that Moses received the divine directions as to the Passover, and they must have been communicated to the people at least four days before the feast of the Passover and their departure from Egypt (Exo_12:3). What midnight is meant, cannot be determined. So much is certain, however, that the last decisive blow did not take place in the night following the cessation of the ninth plague; but the institution of the Passover, the directions of Moses to the people respecting the things which they were to ask for from the Egyptians, and the preparations for the feast of the Passover and the exodus, all came between. The “going out” of Jehovah from His heavenly seat denotes His direct interposition in, and judicial action upon, the world of men. The last blow upon Pharaoh was to be carried out by Jehovah Himself, whereas the other plagues had

been brought by Moses and Aaron. ִמְצַרִים � in (through) the midst of Egypt:” the“ ְ תּוְך

judgment of God would pass from the centre of the kingdom, the king's throne, over the whole land. “Every first-born shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh, that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid that is behind the mill,” i.e., the meanest slave (cf. Exo_12:29, where the captive in the dungeon is substituted for the maid, prisoners being often employed in this hard labour, Jdg_16:21; Isa_47:2), “and all the first-born of cattle.” This stroke was to fall upon both man and beast as a punishment for Pharaoh's conduct in detaining the Israelites and their cattle; but only upon the first-born, for God did not wish to destroy the Egyptians and their cattle altogether, but simply to show them that He had the power to do this. The first-born represented the whole race, of which it was the strength and bloom (Gen_49:3). But against the whole of

the people of Israel “not a dog shall point its tongue” (Exo_11:7). The dog points its tongue to growl and bite. The thought expressed in this proverb, which occurs again in Jos_10:21 and Judith 11:19, was that Israel would not suffer the slightest injury, either in the case of “man or beast.” By this complete preservation, whilst Egypt was given up to death, Israel would discover that Jehovah had completed the separation between them and the Egyptians. The effect of this stroke upon the Egyptians would be “a great cry,” having no parallel before or after (cf. Exo_10:14); and the consequence of this cry would be, that the servants of Pharaoh would come to Moses and entreat them to go out with all the people. “At thy feet,” i.e., in thy train (vid., Deu_11:6; Jdg_8:5). With this announcement Moses departed from Pharaoh in great wrath. Moses' wrath was occasioned by the king's threat (Exo_10:28), and pointed to the wrath of Jehovah, which Pharaoh would soon experience. As the more than human patience which Moses had displayed towards Pharaoh manifested to him the long-suffering and patience of his God, in whose name and by whose authority he acted, so the wrath of the departing servant of God was to show to the hardened king, that the time of grace was at an end, and the wrath of God was about to burst upon him.

CALVI�, "4.And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord. I lately said that Moses did not go from Pharaoh’s presence until he had delivered the message of his final destruction. This denunciation is, therefore, connected with the foregoing passage. Whence it appears how courageously Moses sustained the menaces of the tyrant, whilst he willingly encounters him, and boasts that he shall be his conqueror, though he be not in his presence, by the death of his first-born son in the coming night. �or is it to be doubted that Pharaoh was confounded with terror, since, although so cruelly repulsed, he dismissed the Prophet in safety. Assuredly, since so unreserved a threatening must; have inflicted a very bitter pang, so it would have aroused the cruelty of the raging tyrant, unless the same God who had endued His servant with admirable firmness, had also controlled the impetuosity of the savage beast. Why God, in inflicting punishment on the children, postponed till another time that of the fathers, whose sin was greater; why, in wreaking vengeance on the beasts, He spared men, it is not our province curiously to inquire, because (138) it is sinful to prescribe to God, whose incomprehensible wisdom surmounts all human understanding, what should be the rule or measure of His judgments. By bringing the children and beasts to punishment, He certainly represented clearly to the wicked despisers of His power, what they had deserved. The first-born of Pharaoh, who would have been heir of the kingdom, is placed in the first rank of victims; afterwards the whole body of humbler people is mentioned, for the maid-servants, who turned their revolving mills, occupied a very low and despised condition, as appears not only from the ancient poets, but from the testimony of Scripture itself. (1 Samuel 8:16.) If any one chooses to observe the analogy between this plague and the unjust tyranny by which the Egyptians had afflicted Israel, God’s first-born son, I make no objection. God again puts a difference between the Egyptians and his own people, when he declares that, in the midst of the great cry, the latter shall be quiet and tranquil. For this is the meaning of the figure, “A dog shall not move his tongue,” because dogs are wont to bark at the very least noise in the night. Moreover, although such a separation between the faithful and unbelievers does not always appear, but rather do similar punishments generally involve them both

together, yet in the final issue God divides them very widely one from the other. Wherefore we can never lose this felicity, that we know that all afflictions conspire unto the salvation of us, whom he has once embraced with His loving-kindness.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:4. I will go out into the midst of Egypt — By an angel, who, as appears from Exodus 12:23, was ordered to do this execution. The whole series of the narration shows that this verse connects with the end of the preceding chapter, and that the following denunciation was pronounced by Moses at that time, before he went out from Pharaoh.

COKE, "Exodus 11:4. And Moses said, &c.— The whole context proves, that Moses said this to Pharaoh before he left his presence. The Samaritan text adds here what we read in the 22nd and 23rd verses of the 4th chapter: and it is most probable, that these words were now used by Moses; as otherwise we read not of their having been delivered at all to Pharaoh, according to God's denunciation. When God says, I will go out into the midst of Egypt, it is generally understood, that he would do so by the ministry of a destroying angel. See 2 Samuel 24:16. Exodus 12:23 comp. with Exodus 12:12 and Amos 5:17.

ELLICOTT, "(4) And Moses said.—In continuation of the speech recorded in Exodus 10:29, face to face with Pharaoh, Moses makes his last appeal—utters his last threats. The Pharaoh has bidden him “see his face no more” (Exodus 10:28), and he has accepted the warning, and declared “I will see thy face again no more” (Exodus 10:29). It is the last interview—the last interchange of speech. Moses had to deliver himself of a message. Hardened as his heart is, Pharaoh is yet to be allowed “a place for repentance” God announces to him, by the mouth of Moses, the coming destruction of the firstborn—emphasizes the terrible nature of the impending calamity by the announcement that through all Egypt there would be “a great cry”—contrasts with their despair the absolute immunity of the Israelites—and finally warns the Pharaoh that he and his people will shortly urge the departure which they now refuse to permit. If Pharaoh had even now relented, it was not too late—the great blows might have been escaped, the death of the firstborn and the destruction of the armed force in the Red Sea. But he had “hardened himself,” and then “been hardened,” until, practically, the time for relenting was gone by. He remained obdurate, and “would not let the children of Israel go out of his land” (Exodus 11:10).

About midnight.—The particular night was not specified; and the torment of suspense was thus added to the pain of an unintermittent fear. But the dreadful visitation was to come at the dreadest hour of the twenty-four—midnight. Thus much was placed beyond doubt.

COFFMA�, "Verses 4-8"And Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle. And there shall be a great cry

throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, nor shall be any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how Jehovah doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger."

Here is resumed the conversation between Moses and Pharaoh that was broken off for the parenthesis of Exodus 11:1-3. Pharaoh had just threatened Moses with death, and Moses, now knowing that total victory was assured, responded, "Very well", but before leaving, he thundered one more word from Jehovah.

"About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ..." What midnight was this? All guessing here is useless, for it is not revealed. If the preparations for the institution of the Passover had already been made by Israel, which certainly could have been true, then that midnight could have been that of the very day Moses prophesied the final plague, but, on the other hand, if the detailed instructions for the slaying and eating of the Passover lamb were given to the people by Moses following this final interview with Pharaoh, then that midnight could well have been five or ten nights later. It seems more reasonable to us to suppose that the exact midnight was unspecified, leaving Pharaoh to be afraid and tremble every midnight until the fatal blow came. Certainly, all scholars agree that we do not know WHICH midnight was meant. "What midnight is meant cannot be determined."[17]

"All the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die ..." The critical canard that this widespread death of the first-born was merely a fabrication by later generations of Jews whose telling and retelling of the story changed some kind of a general epidemic into what is related here - that canard is as unreasonable as it is preposterous! Cannot anyone see that a general epidemic would never have resulted in Pharaoh's releasing a whole nation of slaves? In such an instance, he would have needed slaves more than ever. Such postulations are merely the mental reflexes of immoral and unbelieving minds. What is recorded here is truth. Pharaoh had continued to refuse the right of God's first-born (Israel) to worship Him (Exodus 4:22,23), and, "He will now experience the appropriate judgment, the death of his and Egypt's first-born, including even cattle."[18] We can only marvel at the notion advocated by some that because of the omission of this disaster from the monuments and records of pagan Egypt, it must not have been "anything remotely resembling the momentous event"[19] as presented in Exodus. Such a speculation is refuted by the fact the nation of Israel stands even yet as a living memorial to the tremendous event, and that the omission of it from Egyptian records was due solely to every people's reluctance to memorialize their shame and defeat. Did the first-born of Pharaoh really die? Yes, indeed. And, "If Tothmosis II was the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus, the death of his first-born could have been the reason that he was succeeded by his widow!"[20]

"And there shall be a great cry ..." "The writer here sees the Exodus as an illustration of the eschatological victory of Yahweh,"[21] that is, as a type of the

eternal judgment. Once the Israelites had cried under the whips of the slave-masters, but now the oppressors cry from the judgment inflicted by God.

"�ot a dog shall move his tongue against man or beast (in Israel) ..." This is said to be a proverbial expression meaning either that "not a dog would bark," or that "no dog would harm." If it means the former, what a marvel this is? What prevented dogs from barking on a night when thousands of people were weeping and wailing all over Egypt? That God indeed controls, not merely, all men, but all animals is likewise seen in His stopping the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den.

"That ye may know how that Jehovah doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel ..." These words could hardly have been addressed to any other than Pharaoh and are further proof that these verses are a continuation of the narrative interrupted by the parenthesis (Exodus 11:1-3).

"And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee ..." Pharaoh had forbidden Moses ever again to appear in his presence, but Moses' blunt reply is, "Very well, then let your servants appear in my presence." This of course happened, with even Pharaoh himself joining in the begging (Exodus 12:30-33).

"Shall come down ..." Rawlinson pointed out that, "Going from a nobler place to one of less distinction is called descending."[22]

WHEDO�, "4. And Moses said — Unto Pharaoh, not unto Israel. The speech of Exodus 10:25-26, interrupted by the parenthesis of Exodus 11:1-3, is here resumed.

About midnight — It is probable that the midnight following this interview is here meant, and that this was the fourteenth day of the month �isan, when the Passover was afterwards celebrated in Israel. From Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:6, we see that the paschal lamb was to be selected on the tenth and killed on the fourteenth of that month. The lamb might have been selected when the plague of darkness commenced, and during those three days that the Israelites alone had light in their dwellings they might have waited in solemn anticipation for the final stroke of deliverance, which on the fifteenth day set them free.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 4-8The first-born sons, who were not old enough to be fathers themselves, would die ( Exodus 11:5). This is a deduction supported by the following facts. First-born sons were symbolic of a nation"s strength and vigor (cf. Genesis 49:3). First-born sons were also those through whom the family line descended. Sons old enough to be fathers who had themselves fathered sons were members of the older generation. The younger generation was the focus of this plague. It was the male children of the Israelites that Pharaoh had killed previously ( Exodus 1:15-22). When God later claimed the tribe of Levi in place of Israel"s first-born whom He spared in this plague ( �umbers 3:12-13; cf. Exodus 22:29; Exodus 34:20), He chose only the

males.

We owe God the first fruits of our labors because He is the source of all life and fruitfulness.

"In common with the rest of the ancient �ear East, the Hebrews believed that the deity, as lord of the manor, was entitled to the first share of all produce. The firstfruits of plants and the firstborn of animals and man were his. The Lord demonstrated that he gave Egypt its life and owned it by taking its firstborn." [�ote: Bruce K. Waltke, "Cain and His Offering," Westminster Theological Journal48:2 (Fall1986):368.]

Some critics of the Bible have challenged God"s justice in putting to death so many "innocent" children. Looked at one way, a priori, whatever God does is right because He is God. Looked at another way, God as the giver and sustainer of life is righteous in withdrawing life from any creature at any time because life belongs to Him. He can take it as well as give it at will. Furthermore the fact that humans are all sinners and sin results in death means that God is just in requiring the punishment for any individual"s sin at any time. We do not have any claim on God"s grace. God graciously did not kill all the Egyptians.

Moses" anger reflected God"s wrath against Pharaoh for his stubborn rebellion ( Exodus 11:8).

"To be in the presence of evil and not be angry is a dreadful spiritual and moral malady." [�ote: Kaiser, " Exodus ," p370.]

LA�GE 4-5, "Exodus 11:4-5. At midnight.—The day is not fixed, only the dreadful hour of the night. Keil correctly observes, in opposition to Baumgarten, that the institution of the feast of the Passover does not come till after the announcement of the last plague, and in accordance with this direction at least nine[F�1] days, according to Exodus 12:3, must have preceded the Passover. Also the indefinitely protracted expectation of the stroke must have heightened the fear in Egypt, and made the stroke the more effectual. At midnight will I go out.—The servant with his symbolic action retires; Jehovah will Himself step forth from His hidden throne, and march through the whole of hostile Egypt in judicial majesty. The judgment will be so severe that even Moses with his rod must reverently retire, all the more, as in this last scene there is to be made manifest on Israel’s part also a relative complicity in guilt, which can be expiated only by the blood of the paschal lamb. Moses must here retire on account also of the infliction of death on the first-born children of Egypt.—The maid-servant that is behind the mill.—From the king’s son down to the lowest female slave. A still stronger expression is used for the latter extreme in Exodus 12:29.[F�2]—All the first-born.—The firstborn are the natural heads, representatives, priests, and chief sufferers, of families; and to the first-born as priests correspond the first-born of beasts as offerings (vid. Exodus 13:2). Here, it is true, the offering spoken of is the curse-offering, ֶחֶרם. According to Keil, the beasts also are mentioned because Pharaoh was going to keep back the men and the cattle

of the Israelites. But this judgment goes so deep that the firstborn Israelitish children must likewise be atoned for; therefore also faultless lambs must be offered. The first-born among lambs cannot have been meant.

PULPIT, "The writer returns here to his account of the last interview between Moses and Pharaoh, repeating the introductory words of Exodus 10:29—"and Moses said." Having accepted his dismissal, and declared that he would not see the face of Pharaoh any more (ibid.), Moses, before quitting the presence, proceeded to announce the last plague, prefacing the announcement, as usual (Exodus 7:17; Exodus 8:2; Exodus 9:1, Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:3), with the solemn declaration, which showed that he acted in the matter merely as God's instrument—" Thus saith Jehovah." He makes the announcement with the utmost plainness, noting the exact Lime of the visitation (Exodus 10:4)—its extent (Exodus 10:5)—the terrible "cry" that would follow (Exodus 10:6) the complete exemption of the Israelites (Exodus 10:7)—the message which Pharaoh would send him by his servants, to depart at once—and his own intention of acting on it (Exodus 10:8). Then, without waiting for a reply, in hot anger at the prolonged obstinacy of the monarch, he went out.

Exodus 11:4

About midnight.—Compare Exodus 12:29. It would add to the horror of the infliction that it should come in the depth of the night. Probably the night intended was not the next night, but one left purposely indefinite, that terror and suspense might work upon the mind of Pharaoh. Shall I go out. The word "I" is repressed in the original, and is emphatic. This crowning plague Jehovah inflicts by no instrumentality, but takes wholly upon himself. (See Exodus 12:12, Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:23, Exodus 12:27, Exodus 12:29.)

PETT, "Verses 4-10Moses Declares That All The Firstborn In Egypt Will Die And Stalks Out (Exodus 11:4-10).

a Yahweh says that He will go out into the land of Egypt (Exodus 11:4).b As a result all the firstborn of Egypt will die from highest to lowest (Exodus 11:5).c There will be a great cry throughout Egypt such as there has never been nor will be again (Exodus 11:6).b But against any of the children of Israel not even a dog whet his tongue because Yahweh makes a difference between them and the Egyptians (Exodus 11:7)a And Moses tells Pharaoh, “All your great grandees will come and bow down to me and say, ‘Get out and all the people who follow you’. And after that I will go out.” And Moses left Pharaoh’s presence abruptly in hot anger.�ote again the contrasts thrown up by the sequence. In ‘a’ Yahweh will go majestically out into the land of Egypt, while in parallel a cringing Pharaoh will see all his grandees bowing to Moses, while Moses goes out in hot anger. In ‘b’ All the firstborn of Egypt will die from the house of Pharaoh to the house of the lowest of all, while in parallel Israel will be so untouched that not even a dog will lick them.

And in the midst of all this will be the great cry that goes up throughout the land of Egypt.

Exodus 11:4-7

‘And Moses said, “Thus says Yahweh, about midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn from the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of cattle, and there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as none has been like it, nor shall be like it ever again. But against any of the children of Israel not a dog will whet his tongue against man or beast, that you may know that Yahweh makes a difference between the Egyptians (literally ‘Egypt’ as a people) and Israel.” ’This is the first threat which has spoken of inescapable death. Previously death had been escapable but now it would be so no longer. It would be experienced by every family in Egypt. And it would take place during a night in the very near future. And Yahweh Himself would do it. And no one else would have any part in it.

“About midnight.” We must not think of this as being exact. �o exact time was recorded in ancient days. Thus it means during the middle of the night. And each night, according to Egyptian teaching, the sun fought and killed the snake Apophis who symbolised the hostile darkness, so that the sun could shine again. But this night it would not be the sun, but it would be Yahweh Who would go forth and he would slay, not the snake Apophis, but all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, including the firstborn of the house of Pharaoh who was himself destined to become an incarnation of the sun. Everything would be turned upside down. The gods of Egypt would be put into disarray.

“All the firstborn.” These were those who were looked on as most favoured, those who were to be heads of families, those who were seen as most important of the future generation.

“The firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne.” The most important of all was the future god Horus, son of Osiris, incarnated in the Pharaoh, although it is possible that Pharaoh’s son was away fighting, and that it was therefore his son’s son who would die. He too could be called the firstborn of Pharaoh for he was a firstborn in the house of Pharaoh. This would explain why there was no Egyptian record of a firstborn son of Pharaoh dying unusually. However it was the way of the Egyptians not to record anything that told against them. The least important would be the firstborn of the maidservant who was behind the mill. But all would die from highest to lowest.

“The maidservant who is behind the mill.” This is a typical Egyptian phrase not found outside Egypt and is describing the lowest of the low. Her job was to grind the grain daily with the mill, rubbing the top stone against the bottom. This was an arduous and unthankful task and to grind the grain was seen as the lowest occupation an Egyptian woman had to undertake, and was regularly reserved either

for destitute women, slaves or for prisoners undergoing penal servitude (Judges 16:21; Isaiah 47:2).

“And all the firstborn of cattle.” Even the cattle would be affected.

“There will be a great cry --.” �o day will ever have been like it. Every household would suffer bereavement. Every chief mother would lose a son. It would hit at the heart of Pharaoh and at the heart of Egypt. The whole of Egypt would be in mourning.

“Shall not a dog whet his tongue.” A proverbial expression, see Joshua 10:21. �ot even a dog will threaten Israel or point his tongue at them.

“That you may know that Yahweh puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” The whole point at issue has been the honouring of Yahweh as God of the whole earth. Those who honoured Him would be safe (and this would apply even if they were Egyptians if they followed His instructions), those who refused to honour Him would experience His judgment. �ote the use of ‘Israel’. What was happening was separating them off as a people. But the contrast was with ‘Egypt’ as representing the Egyptians. Thus Israel is an abbreviation here for ‘the children of Israel’.

Exodus 11:8

“And all these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves to me, saying, ‘Get yourself out, and all the people who follow you’. And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.”“All these your servants.” The scene is awesome. There in the throne room of Pharaoh Moses looked around at all the high officials in Pharaoh’s court and indicated them. They were standing there horrified and angry and possibly a little apprehensive at the effrontery of Moses, and totally subservient to Pharaoh. The last thing they had in mind was bowing to Moses. But he pointed out that despite themselves they would shortly ‘come down’, that is they would descend from their stately pride, and they would bow to him and would plead with him to leave Egypt along with all his people. And then, once they had done that, he would go.

We can imagine how they must have felt at that moment. They hated this man and what he had done to Egypt, but they were also terrified of him. For they had experienced what power he had. Yet they knew that Pharaoh had endured through it all and was still adamant, and they dared not oppose Pharaoh. What then could he possibly do to change Pharaoh’s mind? And yet in their heart of hearts there must have been fear at some unknown that they could not conceive of which might yet strike Egypt. And it was because they were not sure what he could do, that they let him go.

“And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.” It was not only Pharaoh who was angry (Exodus 10:28). The contest was between equals. This was no longer the timid

Moses. He was now equal to Pharaoh, no, even above him. And he was angry at all Pharaoh’s duplicity. Pharaoh had constantly made promises and then reneged on them. His word could no longer be trusted. Furthermore Moses himself had suffered the humiliation earlier of being hustled out of Pharaoh’s presence, no doubt with little ceremony. And that had been a humiliation for Yahweh too, for Moses was His ambassador. And so Moses strode out in hot anger without another word leaving Pharaoh bristling on his throne. But it was the righteous anger of Moses that would prevail.

BI 4-10, "All the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die.

The last plague threatened

It was to be.

I. Solemn in its advent. “About midnight.”

II. Fatal in its issue. “All the firstborn . . . shall die.”

III. Comprehensive in its design. “From the firstborn of Pharaoh,” etc.

IV. Heartrending in its cry. “None like it.”

V. Discriminating in its infliction. “The Lord doth put a difference,” etc. Piety is the best protection against woe. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

A contrast

1. The wicked crying—the good quiet.

2. The wicked dead—the good living.

3. The wicked frightened—the good peaceful.

4. The wicked helpless—the good protected. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Separating the precious from the vile

I. The difference.

1. Eternal.

2. Most ancient. Ordained of God from before foundation of world.

3. Vital. An essential distinction of nature between righteous and wicked.

4. This difference in nature is followed by a difference in God’s judicial treatment of the two classes.

5. This distinction is carried out in providence. To the righteous man every providence is a blessing. To the sinner all things work together for evil.

6. This difference will come out more distinctly on the judgment day.

II. Where is this difference seen?

1. In the Temple.

2. In the whole life.

3. In time of temptation.

4. In the hour of death.

III. Why should this difference be seen? Put your finger on any prosperous page in the Church’s history, and I will find a little marginal note reading thus: “In this age men could readily see where the Church began and where the world ended.” Never were there good times when the Church and the world were joined in marriage with one another. But though this were sufficient argument for keeping the Church and the world distinct, there are many others. The more the Church is distinct from the world in her acts and in her maxims, the more true is her testimony for Christ, and the more potent is her witness against sin. We are sent into this world to testify against evils; but if we dabble in them ourselves, where is our testimony? If we ourselves be found faulty, we are false witnesses; we are not sent of God; our testimony is of none effect. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Church and the world

Originally there was “no difference” between the Egyptians and Israel; both were descended from one source, both were tainted with sin. So too, originally, there was no difference between the Church and the world. St. Paul enforces this

(1) as between Jew and Gentile (Rom_10:12);

(2) as between individual members of the human family (Rom_3:22). Consider—

I. The nature of the difference. There can be no doubt but there was a difference—that the Lord “put” one—between the Egyptians and Israel, and “that the Lord doth put” one between the world and the Church. What is this difference? God’s choice. He chose Israel, He did not choose the Egyptians; He has chosen the Church, He has not chosen the world. Herein lies the “difference”; and because it is not a visible or even, in itself, a demonstrable one, the world now, as the Egyptians then, decline to believe in it, and a sign becomes in some sense necessary.

II. The reason for the difference. Not merit on Israel’s part, or sin on Egypt’s part; but—

1. God’s love for Israel’s fathers (Deu_4:37).

2. God’s oath (based upon God’s love) to Israel’s fathers (Deu_7:7-8). So the Church was chosen because God loved her; though why God loved her, or how He loved her, in a certain sense we cannot tell.

III. The sign of the difference. As said above, Pharaoh declined to believe in the difference, or, whilst tacitly acknowledging it, refused to act in accordance with it. A sign was given, in order that he might “know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” That sign consisted in the triumphant exodus of Israel without casualty of any kind, as contrasted with the family distress and national disaster which were about to happen to the Egyptians. Observe that the deliverance was a sign of the difference, not the difference itself. So salvation, in the ordinary but very partial sense of deliverance from future punishment, will be but a “sign” and a consequence of the choice which God has already made, of the “difference” which the Lord has already “put”; a choice and a “difference” about the existence of which the world is sceptical, but the reality of which all will be forced to acknowledge when the sign is given. (E. Armstrong

Hall, M. A.)

The importance of the firstborn

The importance of the firstborn may be thus explained: the firstborn naturally enjoyed both precedence and preeminence over the rest, he was the firstling of his father’s strength (Gen_49:3), the first-fruit of his mother. As the firstborn, he stood at the head of the others, and was destined to be the chief of whatever family might be formed by the succeeding births. As he stood at the head of the whole he represented the entire nation of the Egyptians. Hence the power which slew all the firstborn in Egypt was exhibited as a power which could slay all that were born then, and, in the slaughter of the whole of the firstborn, the entire body of the people were ideally slain. (J. H. Kurtz, D. D.)

The Church and the world

I. The nature of the difference.

1. Not a difference of understanding.

2. Not a difference of physical development.

3. Not even a difference in moral nature. The Israelites were quite as prone to evil, lust, sin, idolatry, as the Egyptians.

4. The difference was that God chose Israel to be His people, He took them for His own, hedged them by special regulations, laws, discipline.

So He has chosen the Church.

II. The reasons for the difference.

1. That God might have a faithful people even in this world of sin.

2. That Christ might not die in vain.

3. That God might fulfil His promise to the patriarchs.

III. The sign of the difference. Deliverance from the sin and bondage of the world. (Homilist.)

Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee.

A people’s efforts for freedom successful

We learn from Professor Bischoff that the steam of a hot spring at Aix-la-Chapelle, although its temperature is only from 133° to 167° F., has converted the surface of some blocks of black marble into a doughy mass. He conceives, therefore, that steam in the bowels of the earth, having a temperature equal to or even greater than the melting point of lava, and, having an elasticity of which even Papin’s digester can give but a faint idea, may convert rocks into liquid matter. These wonderful facts might suggest useful thoughts to the despots of the world. Despotism interdicts the expression of political convictions, and seeks to bury them under the adamantean weight of oppressive decrees and colossal cruelty. But it is an unerring moral taw that the warm aspirations of a virtuous people shall—like the subtle subterranean gases—arise to freedom, and, despite

all impediments, dissolve in due time even the hard and hoary foundations of injustice. (Scientific Illustrations.).

5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

CLARKE, "There shall be a great cry - Of the dying and for the dead. See more on this subject, Exo_12:30 (note).

GILL, "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt,.... Of parents for the loss of their firstborn sons, their heirs, the support and glory of their families; children for the loss of their elder brethren; and servants for the loss of the prime and principal in their masters' houses; and all in a dreadful fright, expecting instantly death themselves:

such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more; for though the later destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea might be a greater loss, yet not occasion greater mourning; since that was only a loss of military persons, and did not affect at least so many families as this; and though their king was lost also, it might not give them so much concern, since through his ill conduct, his hardness and obstinacy, he had been the means of so many plagues inflicted on them.

JAMISO�, "shall be a great cry throughout all the land— In the case of a death, people in the East set up loud wailings, and imagination may conceive what “a great cry” would be raised when death would invade every family in the kingdom.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:5. The death of the firstborn had been threatened, Exodus 4:23, but is last executed, and less judgments are tried; which, if they had done the work, would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath, and how willing to be met in the way of his judgments, and to have his anger turned away! That sitteth upon his throne: the maidservant behind the mill — The poor captive slave, employed in the hardest labour. It was the custom then, as it is with the Arabs at

present, to grind their corn with hand-mills, turned by their women-servants, who, for that purpose, stood behind the mill.

COKE, "Exodus 11:5. From the first-born—unto—the maid-servant that is behind the mill— That is, from the highest to the lowest. It was usual for the lowest slaves to be employed in the drudgery of the mill; and, therefore, the prophet Isaiah uses this idea, to express the abject state of slavery to which Babylon should be reduced: Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, take the millstones and grind meal, Isaiah 47:1-2. Dr. Shaw observes, that most families in those countries still grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable mill-stones for that purpose; the uppermost whereof is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron, which is placed in the rim. When this stone is large, or expedition is required, then a second person is called in to assist; and as it is usual for the women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over-against each other, with the mill-stones between them; we may see not only the propriety of the expression in this verse, of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, Matthew 24:41 that two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Travels, p. 231.

All the first-born of beasts— The beasts were involved in this common calamity, most probably, for the reason we have assigned upon another occasion; namely, their subserviency to the cause of idolatry.

ELLICOTT, "(5) All the firstborn . . . shall die.—The Heb. word translated firstborn is applied only to males; and thus the announcement was that in every family the eldest son should be cut off. In Egypt, as in most other countries, the law of primogeniture prevailed—the eldest son was the hope, stay, and support of the household, his father’s companion, his mother’s joy, the object of his brothers’ and sisters’ reverence. The firstborn of the Pharaoh bore the title of erpa suten sa, or “hereditary crown prince,” and succeeded his father, unless he died or was formally set aside during his father’s lifetime. Among the nobles, estates were inherited, and sometimes titles descended to the firstborn. �o greater affliction can be conceived, short of the general destruction of the people, than the sudden death in every family of him round whom the highest interests and fondest hopes clustered.

The maidservant that is behind the mill marks the lowest grade in the social scale, as the king that sits upon his throne marks the highest. All alike were to suffer. In every family there was to be one dead (Exodus 12:30).

All the firstborn of beasts.—The aggravation of the calamity by its extension to beasts is very remarkable, and is probably to be connected with the Egyptian animal-worship. At all times there were in Egypt four animals regarded as actual incarnations of deity, and the objects of profound veneration. Three of these were bulls, while one was a white cow. It is not unlikely that all were required to be “firstborns;” in which case the whole of Egypt would have been plunged into a religious mourning on account of their deaths, in addition to the domestic mourning that must have prevailed in each house. The deaths of other sacred animals, and of

many pet animals in houses, would have increased the general consternation.

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that [is] behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

Ver. 5. That sitteth upon his throne.] As co-partner in the kingdom. Our Henry II crowned his eldest son Henry while he was yet alive. But this young king, through discontent, fell into a fever, whereof he died before his father; who cast him away first by his indulgence, and after by his rigour, not suffering him to be what himself had made him. Mr Knox, in his "History of Scotland," reporteth of one Sir John Hamilton, murdered by the king’s means, that he appeared to him in a vision with a naked sword drawn, and struck off both his arms with these words, Take this before thou receive a final payment for all thine impieties; and within twenty-four hours two of the king’s sons died.

That is behind the mill.] The hand mill which they drove before them. [ 16:21 Isaiah 47:2 Matthew 24:41]

WHEDO�, "5. And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die — Israel consecrated all its firstborn to God, and Egypt’s firstborn were taken in wrath, as were Israel’s in mercy. The firstborn is the flower, the glory, of the nation, and thus the choice victims were taken from all ranks of men and from all kinds of beasts. The maidservant that is behind the mill, behind the two millstones. Here the specified ranks are from the king to the maidservant, and in Exodus 12:29, from the king to the captive.

The handmill in common use in Egypt, as in the East, generally consists now, as then, of two round stones, from one and a half to two feet in diameter, the lower one being convex upon its upper surface, which fits into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. The corn is dropped through a hole in the upper stone, which is revolved by means of an upright handle. It is usually worked by two women sitting on the ground, facing each other, with the mill between them, both holding the handle and pushing and pulling in alternation. See illustration at Matthew 24:41. The Egyptians had also larger mills worked by asses or cattle.

PULPIT, "All the first-born. The law of primogeniture prevailed in Egypt, as among most of the nations of antiquity. The monarchy (under the �ew Empire, at any rate) was hereditary, and the eldest son was known as erpa suten sa, or "hereditary Crown Prince." Estates descended to the eldest son, and in many cases high dignities also. �o severer blow could have been sent on the nation, if it were not to be annihilated, than the less in each house of the hope of the family—the parents' stay, the other children's guardian and protector. Who sitteth. "Sitteth" refers to "Pharaoh," not to "first-born." The meaning is, "from the first-born of the king who occupies the throne to the first-born of the humblest slave or servant. This last is represented by the handmaid who is behind the mill; since grinding at a mill was

regarded as one of the severest and most irksome forms of labour. The work was commonly assigned to captives (Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:2; 16:21). It was done by either one or two persons sitting, and consisted in rotating rapidly the upper millstone upon the lower by means of a handle. All the first-born of beasts. �ot the first-born of cattle only, but of all beasts. The Egyptians had pet animals in most houses, dogs, apes, monkeys, perhaps cats and ichneumons. Most temples had sacred animals, and in most districts of Egypt, some beasts were regarded as sacred, and might not be killed, their death being viewed as a calamity. The loss of so many animals would consequently be felt by the Egyptians as a sensible aggravation of the infliction. It would wound them both in their domestic and in their religious sensibilities.

6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

CLARKE, "There shall be a great cry - Of the dying and for the dead. See more on this subject, Exo_12:30 (note).

GILL, "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt,.... Of parents for the loss of their firstborn sons, their heirs, the support and glory of their families; children for the loss of their elder brethren; and servants for the loss of the prime and principal in their masters' houses; and all in a dreadful fright, expecting instantly death themselves:

such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more; for though the later destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea might be a greater loss, yet not occasion greater mourning; since that was only a loss of military persons, and did not affect at least so many families as this; and though their king was lost also, it might not give them so much concern, since through his ill conduct, his hardness and obstinacy, he had been the means of so many plagues inflicted on them.

JAMISO�, "shall be a great cry throughout all the land— In the case of a death, people in the East set up loud wailings, and imagination may conceive what “a

great cry” would be raised when death would invade every family in the kingdom.

ELLICOTT, "(6) There shall be a great cry.—The shrill cries uttered by mourners in the East are well known to travellers. Mr. Stuart Poole heard those of the Egyptian women at Cairo, in the great cholera of 1848, at a distance of two miles (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii., p. 888). Herodotus, describing the lamentations of the Persian soldiers at the funeral of Masistius, says that “all Bœotia resounded with their clamour” (Exodus 9:24). The Egyptian monuments represent mourners as tearing their hair, putting dust upon their heads, and beating their breasts (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii., p. 138).

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

Ver. 6. A great cry.] Because in every house there shall be a dead corpse, and so a Conclamatum est. They had made Israel cry: and God usually retaliates spoil to spoil, [Ezekiel 39:10] number to number, [Isaiah 65:11-12] choice to choice, [Isaiah 66:3-4] cry to cry, [James 5:1; James 5:4] &c.

PULPIT, "There shall be a great cry. The violence of Oriental emotions, and the freedom with which they are vented are well known. Herodotus relates that the Egyptians stript themselves and beat their breasts at funerals (2:85) �o doubt they also uttered shrill lamentations, as did the Greeks (Lucian, De Luetu, § 12) and the Persians (Herod. Exodus 9:24). With bitter mourning in every house, the "cry" might well be one, such as there had been none like before, neither would there be any like again.

7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

BAR�ES, "Shall not a dog move his tongue - A proverb expressive of freedom

from alarm and immunity front assault.

CLARKE, "Not a dog move his tongue - This passage has been generally understood as a proverbial expression, intimating that the Israelites should not only be free from this death, but that they should depart without any kind of molestation. For though there must be much bustle and comparative confusion in the sudden removal of six hundred thousand persons with their wives, children, goods, cattle, etc., yet this should produce so little alarm that even the dogs should not bark at them, which it would be natural to expect, as the principal stir was to be about midnight.

After giving this general explanation from others, I may be permitted to hazard a conjecture of my own. And,

1. Is it not probable that the allusion is here made to a well-known custom of dogs howling when any mortality is in a village, street, or even house, where such animals are? There are innumerable instances of the faithful house-dog howling when a death happens in a family, as if distressed on the account, feeling for the loss of his benefactor; but their apparent presaging such an event by their cries, as some will have it, may be attributed, not to any prescience, but to the exquisite keenness of their scent. If the words may be understood in this way, then the great cry through the whole land of Egypt may refer to this very circumstance: as dogs were sacred among them, and consequently religiously preserved, they must have existed in great multitudes.

2. We know that one of their principal deities was Osiris, whose son, worshipped under the form of a dog, or a man with a dog’s head, was called Anubis latrator, the barking Anubis. May he not be represented as deploring a calamity which he had no power to prevent among his worshippers, nor influence to inflict punishment upon those who set his deity at naught? Hence while there was a great

cry, גדלה��tseakah צעקהgedolah, throughout all the land of Egypt, because of the mortality in every house, yet among the Israelites there was no death, consequently no dog moved his tongue to howl for their calamity; nor could the object of the Egyptians’ worship inflict any similar punishment on the worshippers of Jehovah.

In honor of this dog-god there was a city called Anubis in Egypt, by the Greeks called Cynopolis, the city of the dog, the same that is now called Menich; in this he had a temple, and dogs, which were sacred to him, were here fed with consecrated victuals.

Thus, as in the first plagues their magicians were confounded, so in this last their gods were put to flight. And may not this be referred to in Exo_12:12, when Jehovah says: Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment? Should it be objected, that to consider the passage in this light would be to acknowledge the being and deity of the fictitious Anubis, it may be answered, that in the sacred writings it is not an uncommon thing to see the idol acknowledged in order to show its nullity, and the more forcibly to express contempt for it, for its worshippers, and for its worship. Thus Isaiah represents the Babylonish idols as being endued with sense, bowing down under the judgments of God, utterly unable to help themselves or their worshippers, and being a burden to the beasts that carried them:

Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are

gone into captivity; Isa_46:1, Isa_46:2. The case of Elijah and the prophets of Baal should not be forgotten here; this prophet, by seeming to acknowledge the reality of Baal’s being, though by a strong irony, poured the most sovereign contempt upon him, his worshippers, and his worship: And Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; For He Is A God: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked; 1Ki_18:27. See the observations at the end of Exodus 12. See Clarke’s note at Exo_12:51.

The Lord doth put a difference - See on Exo_8:22 (note). And for the variations between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuch in this place, see at the end of the chapter. See Clarke’s note at Exo_11:9.

GILL, "But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,.... That is, as no hurt should be done to man or beast among them, to the firstborn of either of them, so there would be no noise or cry in their dwellings, but the profoundest silence, stillness, and quietness among them; though this is generally understood of what would be their case when on their march departing out of Egypt, which was immediately upon the slaying of the firstborn; and, if literally understood, it was a very extraordinary thing that a dog, which barks at the least noise that is made, especially in the night, yet not one should move his tongue or bark, or rather "sharpen" (u) his tongue, snarl and grin, when 600,000 men, besides women and children, with their flocks and herds, set out on their journey, and must doubtless march through many places where dogs were, before they came to the Red sea; though it may also be interpreted figuratively, that not an Egyptian, though ever so spiteful and malicious, and ill disposed to the children of Israel, should offer to do any hurt either to the Israelites or their cattle, or exclaim against them on account of the slaughter of their firstborn, or say one word against their departure, or attempt to stop them, but on the contrary would hasten their going, and be urgent for it:

that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel; by preserving them and theirs, when the firstborn of Egypt were destroyed, and by causing stillness and quietness among them when there was an hideous outcry and doleful lamentation among the Egyptians; and by bringing Israel quietly out from among them, none offering to give the least molestation.

JAMISO�, "against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue— No town or village in Egypt or in the East generally is free from the nuisance of dogs, who prowl about the streets and make the most hideous noise at any passers-by at night. What an emphatic significance does the knowledge of this circumstance give to this fact in the sacred record, that on the awful night that was coming, when the air should be rent with the piercing shrieks of mourners, so great and universal would be the panic inspired by the hand of God, that not a dog would move his tongue against the children of Israel!

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:7. Shall not a dog move his tongue — A proverbial expression, importing all should be peace and quietness among the Israelites, far from any frightful outcry: that in that memorable night they should meet with

nothing to molest or disturb them.

COKE,"Exodus 11:7. Against any of the children of Israel, &c.— Observe here, again, the Lord's distinction of the Israelites. The phrase, a dog shall not move his tongue, is proverbial; and imports, that they should depart with the utmost peace and quietness. See Judith 11:19.

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

Ver. 7. Shall not a dog move his tongue.] And yet how many dead dogs do now-a-days bark and snarl (a) at the Israel of God! Which, nevertheless, is not without God, [2 Samuel 16:9-10] who will one day make iniquity to stop her mouth, [Job 5:16] Why should this dead dog curse? said Abishai.

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO�ARY, "Differences in Character

Exodus 11:7

That there are diversities in human character and conduct, in human fortune and destiny, no one questions. The atheist sees in such diversities the result of circumstances and, since in his view there is no controlling mind in the universe, of inexplicable caprice. The Christian, on the contrary, believes that in these diversities there exists, though it is not alway discoverable, the operation of Divine Wisdom of Solomon , and even of Divine benevolence. The providence of God and the moral nature of man are sufficient, if both were fully understood, to account for all.

1. What is Implied in this Difference?—1. Divine wisdom.—What is inexplicable is not arbitrary, but is the outworking of a wisdom beyond the human. Why the Almighty chose Israel to be the depository of a revealed truth, and left Egypt to work its own way unaided save by the light of nature, we cannot tell. But so it was; and Israel was informed by Jehovah that this election was owing to no native moral excellence in the object of Divine choice.

2. Difference in religious position.—There was, however, in the case before us, a difference in the religious position of the two nations. The Egyptians were idolaters; the Hebrews , with all their ignorance, carnality, and obstinacy, were worshippers of Jehovah. Israel was thus called to a higher platform of probation. Apostasy in Israel was a fouler sin than polytheism in Egypt. Life is not always according to privilege, and higher privilege often, alas! becomes the occasion of sorer condemnation. Yet to be trained in a Christian land and in the knowledge of the Christian faith is in itself a "difference" for which it behoves us to offer daily thanks.

3. Difference in the Purposes of God.—There was a difference in the purpose which God had in view regarding the two peoples. It would be childish to suppose that the

providence of God had no appointed place for Egypt in the world"s great plan, but it would be unreasonable as well as unbelieving to fail to recognize in Israel"s vocation the counsels of the Omniscient Ruler. Alike for individuals and for communities there is appointed by God"s wisdom a special work. One Prayer of Manasseh , one nation, cannot step into another"s place.

II. What Results from this Difference?—1. A difference in Divine treatment.—Jehovah treated the Egyptians in one way, the Israelites in another. The Scripture narrative points out the hand of God in this. It is well and wise when the ways of Providence perplex us to say, "It is the Lord."

2. A difference in human responsibility.—There are degrees in men"s knowledge of the Lord"s will, and there are corresponding degrees in the measure of accountability.

3. A difference in the ultimate issues of probation.—There is no reason to believe in a dead level of uniformity among spiritual beings in the future any more than in the present.

References.—XI:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. �o305.

SIMEO�, "GOD PUTS A DIFFERE�CE BETWEE� HIS PEOPLE A�D OTHERS

Exodus 11:7. Know, how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

A PRI�CIPAL intent of God in the various dispensations of his providence is, to make himself known unto the world. By some of his works he makes known his natural perfections of wisdom and power; by others, his moral perfections of goodness and truth. In his dealings with Pharaoh in particular, we are expressly told that he had this end in view [�ote: Exodus 10:1-2.]. The exercise of his sovereignty was in that instance intended to be displayed [�ote: Romans 9:17-20.] ; as also in the whole of “the difference which he put between the Israelites and the Egyptians:” but if we consider these two nations as types or representatives of the friends and enemies of God, we shall be rather led to contemplate the equity of all his dispensations towards them. It is in this light that we propose to dwell upon the words before us.

“Know ye then that the Lord doth put a difference between his own people and others”—

I. He did so from the beginning—

[Go back to the antediluvian world [�ote: How different his conduct towards the two first men that were born into the world! Genesis 4:3-5. What singular honour did he confer on Enoch! Hebrews 11:5. What distinguished mercy did he vouchsafe

to �oah! Genesis 6:9-13.] — — — Consult the patriarchal age [�ote: How different his regards to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from any that he shewed to those amongst whom they dwelt!] — — — Look at the history before us [�ote: From the latter plagues, the flies, the murrain, the darkness, and the slaughter of the first-born, the Israelites were exempt. The cloud also was dark to one, but light to the other: and the sea was both a passage and a grave.] — — —Search the records of all succeeding ages [�ote: It is impossible to read the history of David or Elijah in the Old Testament, or of the Apostles in the �ew, and not see this written as with a sunbeam.] — — — The annals of the whole world conspire to establish this important truth.]

II. He does so at this present hour —

[If we have been attentive observers of what passes around us, or within our own hearts, we shall not need to be told that God does at this time, no less than in former ages, distinguish his people from others. He does so in the dispensations [�ote: He not unfrequently interposes to screen them from calamities, (Job 5:19-24.) and always to sanctify the calamities he sends. Romans 8:28. His very presence with them in trouble is equivalent to a deliverance from it. Psalms 31:20. (The full import of that verse will, when discovered, richly repay our meditations upon it.)] of his providence — — — and in the communications of his grace [�ote: Whence is it that the Lord’s people are enabled to triumph, as they do, over the world, the flesh, and the devil? Is it not that they are strengthened by Christ, (Philippians 4:13.) and that “his grace is sufficient for them?”] — — —]

III. He will do so to all eternity—

[If we would know the full extent of that difference which he will put between his people and others, we must go up to heaven, and taste all the glories of it — — —and go down to hell, and experience all its miseries — — — �ever till then shall we be adequate judges of this momentous subject.]

Questions—

1. Do you believe this truth?

[Many think that “God will not do good or evil,” and that he will neither reward nor punish. Whether they be conscious of such infidelity or not, their life too plainly proves its dominion over them — — — Beware of such atheistical sentiments; and seek that, whatever becomes of others, ye may be monuments of his love and favour — — —]

2. Do you live under the influence of it?

[Happy were it for us, if we could always bear in mind this solemn truth! How importunate would be our prayers, how ardent our praises, how indefatigable our exertions! — — —Let us contemplate the separation which God will make in the

day of judgment [�ote: Malachi 3:18; Matthew 25:33; Matthew 25:46.] ; and labour incessantly, that we may be numbered amongst his most favoured saints [�ote: Malachi 3:16-17.] — — —]

LA�GE, "Exodus 11:7. �ot a dog sharpen his tongue.—A proverbial expression, signifying that not the slightest trouble could be experienced. Hence, too, not even the cattle of the Jews were to suffer the least disturbance (vid. Judith 11:19). The proverbial expression may seem strange in this connection; but the thought readily occurs, that the Egyptians, in this great calamity which they had to experience on account of the Israelites, might come against them with revengeful purpose. But even this will so little be the case that rather all of Pharaoh’s servants will fall at Moses’ feet and beg

PULPIT, "Shall not a dog move his tongue. So far from a sudden destruction coming upon them, there shall not so much as a dog bark at them- They shall incur no hurt—no danger. (Compare Joshua 10:21.) That ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference—i.e; "that both ye courtiers and all Egypt may know how great a difference God puts between us—his peculiar people-and you wretched idolaters."

8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

CLARKE, "And all these thy servants shall come - A prediction of what actually took place. See Exo_12:31-33.

GILL, "And all these thy servants,.... Pharaoh's nobles, ministers, courtiers and counsellors, who were then in his presence, and stood about him, to whom Moses pointed:

shall come down unto me; from Pharaoh's palace, which might be built on an eminence, to the place where Moses had dwelt during the time he had been in Egypt, which might lie lower; or these should come from Zoan, or from Memphis, whichever of them was now the royal city, to the land of Goshen, which lay lower than the other part

of Egypt; or it may only denote the submission of Pharaoh's, servants, that they should in the time of their distress be so humble and condescending as to come themselves to Moses, and as it follows:

and bow down themselves unto me; in the most obsequious manner, humbly entreating, and earnestly begging him:

saying, get thee out, and all the people that follow thee; or "are at thy feet" (w), that were at his beck and command, and under his power, as Aben Ezra; or that followed his counsel and advice, as Jarchi, that did as he directed them, and went after him as their leader and commander, even everyone of them; they that brought up the rear, he, and all of them, would be desired to depart, and not a man remain behind: this was fulfilled, Exo_12:31,

and after that I will go out; out of the land of Egypt, Moses, and all the children of Israel:

and he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger; as soon as he had said the above words, because he had bid him be gone from him, and had threatened him with his life, if ever he saw his face more; and because he was so rebellious against God, whose zeal inspired the heart of Moses with indignation against him, though the meekest man on earth, and for whose glory he was concerned; though some understand this of Moses going out from Pharaoh, when he and not Moses was in great anger, because of what Moses had now threatened him with, and told him what would be the issue of things, the submission of him and his nobles, and the dismission of Israel; but this sense is not favoured by the accents.

JAMISO�, "all these thy servants shall ... bow down themselves unto me—This would be the effect of the universal terror; the hearts of the proudest would be humbled and do reverential homage to God, in the person of His representative.

went out ... in a great anger— Holy and righteous indignation at the duplicity, repeated falsehood, and hardened impenitence of the king; and this strong emotion was stirred in the bosom of Moses, not at the ill reception given to himself, but the dishonor done to God (Mat_19:8; Eph_4:26).

CALVI�, "8.And all these thy servants shall come down. Thus far Moses had reported the words of God; he now begins to speak in his own person, and announces that, by Pharaoh’s command, messengers would come from his court, who would voluntarily and humbly crave for what he had refused respecting the dismissal of the Israelites. The great asperity of these words inflicted no slight; wound on the tyrant’s mind, for it was the same as if he had said — Thus far I have entreated you to allow God’s people to depart; now, whether you will or not, I will freely go, and not even without the request of yourself and your followers. What he then relates, that he went out “in the heat of anger,” (139) or “in a great anger,” shows us that the servants of God, even when they truly and faithfully perform their duty, are so disturbed with indignation against sin, that they are by no means restrained from being affected with anger. �or is there any question that Moses was thus excited to wrath by the impulse of the Spirit. Yet, since we are naturally too

prone to impetuous passions, we must diligently beware lest our indignation exceed due bounds. The Spirit awakened in the heart of Moses this zeal, which here is mentioned, but he at the same time moderated it, so that it should contain no admixture of unregulated passion. But since it may, and often does happen that the faithful, when influenced by pious zeal, still do not sufficiently restrain themselves, nor keep themselves within due bounds, the spirit of gentleness and propriety must be asked of God, which may prevent all excesses. Yet the anger of Moses is a proof to us that God would not have us lazily and coldly perform the duties which He entrusts to us; and, therefore, that nothing is more preposterous than for certain cynics, whilst they jokingly and ridiculously philosophize concerning the doctrines of religion, and sting God’s servants with their laughing and wanton witticisms, to deride their vehemence, which is rather worthy of the highest praise.

BE�SO�, "Exodus 11:8. All these thy servants — Thy courtiers and great officers: The people that follow thee — That are under thy conduct and command.

When Moses had thus delivered his message, he went out from Pharaoh in great anger, though he was the meekest of all the men of the earth. Probably he expected that the very threatening of the death of the firstborn should have wrought upon Pharaoh to comply; especially he having complied so far already, and having seen how exactly all Moses’s predictions were fulfilled. But it had not that effect; his proud heart would not yield, no, not to save all the firstborn of his kingdom. Moses hereupon was provoked to a holy indignation, being grieved, as our Saviour afterward, for the hardness of his heart, Mark 3:5.

COKE, "Exodus 11:8. All these thy servants shall come down unto me— Shall come by thy order and immediate appointment: sent, humbly to sue to me, by thee, when in the greatest consternation. This was fulfilled, ch. Exodus 12:31 and confirms our interpretation of ch. Exodus 10:29.

ELLICOTT, "(8) All these thy servants—i.e., the high officers of the Court who were standing about Pharaoh. These grandees would come to Moses when the blow fell, and prostrate themselves before him as if he were their king, and beseech him to take his departure with all his nation. The details are given more fully and more graphically in this place than in the subsequent narrative (Exodus 12:31).

In a great anger.—Heb., in heat of anger: i.e., burning with indignation. Moses had not shown this in his speech, which had been calm and dignified; but he here records what he had felt. For once his acquired “meekness” failed, and the hot natural temper of his youth blazed up. His life had been threatened—he had been ignominiously dismissed—he had been deprived of his right of audience for the future (Exodus 10:28). Under such circumstances, he “did well to be angry.”

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

Ver. 8. In a great anger.] Heb., In heat of anger; wherewith in the cause of God he was blessedly blown up. Meekness here had been but mopishness.

WHEDO�, "8. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down — Pharaoh and all his courtiers would be utterly paralyzed with terror, and humbly entreat the people whom they had crushed so long to depart in peace.

In a great anger — As Jehovah’s messenger, representing his judicial wrath.

PULPIT, "All these thy servants—i.e; all these courtiers here present. Shall come. Literally, "shall descend." Kalisch observes that by the Hebrew idiom "going from a nobler place to one of less distinction is called descending". And bow down. Make obeisance to me, as if I were a king. The last of the plagues would cause the courtiers to look on Moses as the real king of the land, and pay him royal honours. All the people that follow thee. Literally, as in the margin, "that is at thy feet;" i.e; that follows and obeys thee." The Egyptians looked on Moses as king, or at any rate prince of his nation. In a great anger. Literally, "in heat of anger." The abrupt dismissal (Exodus 10:28), the threat against his life (ibid.) and the announcement that no more interviews would be granted him moved the indignation of Moses, who was not conscious to himself of having done anything to deserve such treatment. He had answered the king calmly and temperately (Exodus 10:29; Exodus 11:4-8); but knew what his feelings had been, and here records them.

9 The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”

CLARKE, "Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you - Though shall and will are both reputed signs of the future tense, and by many indiscriminately used, yet they make a most essential difference in composition in a variety of cases. For instance, if we

translate ישמע��lo לאyishma, Pharaoh Shall not hearken, as in our text, the word shall strongly intimates that it was impossible for Pharaoh to hearken, and that God had placed him under that impossibility: but if we translate as we should do, Pharaoh Will not hearken, it alters the case most essentially, and agrees with the many passages in the preceding chapters, where he is said to have hardened his own heart; as this proves that

he, without any impulsive necessity, obstinately refused to attend to what Moses said or threatened; and that God took the advantage of this obstinacy to work another miracle, and thus multiply his wonders in the land.

Pharaoh Will not hearken unto you; and because he would not God hardened his heart - left him to his own obstinacy.

To most critics it is well known that there are in several parts of the Pentateuch considerable differences between the Hebrew and Samaritan copies of this work. In this chapter the variations are of considerable importance, and competent critics have allowed that the Samaritan text, especially in this chapter, is fuller and better connected than that of the Hebrew.

1. It is evident that the eighth verse in the present Hebrew text has no natural connection with the seventh. For in the seventh verse Moses delivers to the Israelites what God had commanded him to say: and in the eighth he appears to continue a direct discourse unto Pharaoh, though it does not appear when this discourse was begun. This is quite contrary to the custom of Moses, Who always particularly notes the commencement of his discourses.

2. It is not likely that the Samaritans have added these portions, as they could have no private interest to serve by so doing; and therefore it is likely that these additions were originally parts of the sacred text, and might have been omitted, because an ancient copyist found the substance of them in other places. It must however be granted, that the principal additions in the Samaritan are repetitions of speeches which exist in the Hebrew text.

3. The principal part of these additions do not appear to have been borrowed from any other quarter. Interpolations in general are easily discerned from the confusion they introduce; but instead of deranging the sense, the additions here made it much more apparent; for should these not be admitted it is evident that something is wanting, without which the connection is incomplete - See Calmet. But the reader is still requested to observe, that the supplementary matter in the Samaritan is collected from other parts of the Hebrew text; and that the principal merit of the Samaritan is, that it preserves the words in a better arrangement.

Dr. Kennicott has entered into this subject at large, and by printing the two texts in parallel columns, the supplementary matter in the Samaritan and the hiatus in the Hebrew text will be at once perceived. It is well known that he preferred the Samaritan to the Hebrew Pentateuch; and his reasons for that preference in this case I shall subjoin. As the work is extremely scarce from which I select them, one class of readers especially will be glad to meet with them in this place.

“Within these five chapters. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, are seven very great differences between the Hebrew and Samaritan Pentateuchs, relating to the speeches which denounced seven out of the ten judgments upon the Egyptians, viz., waters into blood, frogs, flies, murrain, hail, locusts and destruction of the first-born. The Hebrew text gives the speeches concerning these judgments only once at each; but the Samaritan gives each speech Twice. In the Hebrew we have the speeches concerning the five first as in command from God to Moses, without reading that Moses delivered them; and concerning the two last, as delivered by Moses to Pharaoh, without reading that God had commanded them. Whereas in the Samaritan we find every speech Twice: God commands Moses to go and speak thus or thus before Pharaoh; Moses goes and denounces the judgment; Pharaoh disobeys, and the judgment takes place. All this is perfectly regular, and exactly agreeable to the double speeches of Homer in very ancient

times. I have not the least doubt that the Hebrew text now wants many words in each of the seven following places: Exodus 7, between Exo_7:18 and Exo_7:19; end of Exodus 7; Exodus 8, between 19 and 20;; Exodus 10, between 2 and 3; Exo_11:1-10, at Exo_11:3and Exo_11:4. The reader will permit me to refer him (for all the words thus omitted) to my own edition of the Hebrew Bible, (Oxford 1780, 2 vols. fol)., where the whole differences are most clearly described. As this is a matter of very extensive consequence, I cannot but observe here, that the present Hebrew text of Exo_11:1-10 did formerly, and does still appear to me to furnish a demonstration against itself, in proof of the double speech being formerly recorded there, as it is now in the Samaritan. And some very learned men have confessed the impossibility of explaining this chapter without the assistance of the Samaritan Pentateuch. I shall now give this important chapter as I presume it stood originally, distinguishing by italics all such words as are added to or differ from our present translation. And before this chapter must be placed the two last verses of the chapter preceding, Exo_10:28-29 : And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast well spoken, I will see thy face again no more.

GILL, "And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Not at this time when he went out from Pharaoh, but some time before this, for the words may be rendered, "the Lord had said" (x), for so he had, as is related, Exo_7:3, but the historian makes mention of it here, to show that Moses was not ignorant of the event of things; he knew that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened from time to time, and that one plague after another must be inflicted, before he would let the people go; and therefore when he prayed for the removal of any, it was not in expectation that he would abide by his promise, but to do the will of God, and the duty of his calling:

Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; to Moses and Aaron, and let the people of Israel go as required of him:

that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt; which Jarchi interprets of the smiting of the firstborn, dividing the waters of the Red sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it; but since these words were said before any of the plagues, were inflicted, it may refer to them all.

K&D, "In Exo_11:9 and Exo_11:10 the account of Moses' negotiations with Pharaoh, which commenced at Exo_7:8, is brought to a close. What God predicted to His messengers immediately before sending them to Pharaoh (Exo_7:3), and to Moses before his call (Exo_4:21), had now come to pass. And this was the pledge that the still further announcement of Jehovah in Exo_7:4 and Exo_4:23, which had already been made known to the hardened king (Exo_11:4.), would be carried out. As these verses

have a terminal character, the vav consecutive in ַו�ּאֶמר denotes the order of thought and not of time, and the two verses are to be rendered thus: “As Jehovah had said to Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt, Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

CALVI�, "9.And the Lord said unto Moses. This seems to be a representation of

the reason why Moses was so angry; viz., because he had been forewarned that he had to do with a lost and desperate man. When, therefore, after so many contests, he sees the dominion of God despised by the audacity and madness of the tyrant, deeper indignation bursts from him in their last struggle; especially because he sees before his eyes that detestable prodigy, viz., an earthen vessel so bold as to provoke God with indomitable obstinacy. But God had foretold to Moses (as we have already seen) the end of this his exceeding stubbornness, lest, having so often suffered repulse, he should faint at length. Otherwise, there might have crept in no trifling temptation, as to how it could please God to contend in vain with a mortal man. And it was absurd that the hardness of a human heart could not be either subdued, or corrected, or broken by the divine power. God, therefore, asserts that He was thus designing His own glory, which he desired to manifest by various miracles; and on this account he adds again in the next verse, that Pharaoh’s heart was again hardened by God Himself; whereby he signifies, that the tyrant thus pertinaciously resisted, not without the knowledge and will of God, in order that the deliverance might be more wonderful.

COKE, "Exodus 11:9. And the Lord said unto Moses— These verses, being added as a kind of close to the foregoing chapters, we should certainly read (as the original will allow us) the Lord had said unto Moses, &c.

REFLECTIO�S.—The blow was long suspended. �ow it descends. God tries lesser chastisements first, to bring men to repentance; but when they are found incorrigible, then vengeance overtakes them to the uttermost.

1. The judgment is denounced; the time fixed, at dead of night; the extent of it, from the prince to the slave: Israel alone is exempted. In their dwellings there shall be life and joy, while death and mourning shall fill the houses of the Egyptians. �ote; Death, as the wages of sin, can never hurt those who are passed from death unto life, and live by faith on the Son of God.

2. It is foretold how suppliant the proud prosecutors would grow; and hereupon Moses with indignation leaves the devoted palace. �ote; (1.) The hardness of sinners' hearts is a bitter grief to the ministers of Christ (2.) When sin is the object of our indignation, we may be angry, and not sin.

3. The determined hardness of Pharaoh's heart, as foretold, continues. �ote; We are not to wonder at the general rejection of God's truth: it was foretold long ago.

ELLICOTT, "(9, 10) And. the Lord said . . . —The series of the nine wonders wrought by Moses and Aaron is terminated by this short summary, of which the main points are—(1) God had said (Exodus 4:21) that the miracles would fail to move Pharaoh; (2) He had assigned as the reason for this failure His own will that the wonders should be multiplied (Exodus 7:3); (3) the miracles had now been wrought; (4) Pharaoh had not been moved by them; (5) God had hardened his heart, as a judgment upon him, after he had first himself hardened it. The result

had been a series of manifestations calculated to impress the Israelites with a sense of God’s protecting care, the Egyptians and the neighbouring nations with a sense of His power to punish.

COFFMA�, "Verse 9-10"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land,"

"And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders ..." This stands as a summary of all the plagues in which Moses and Aaron had a part, namely, the first nine plagues. The Tenth Plague, the death of the first-born, was accomplished by God Himself WITHOUT human instrumentality, but nevertheless, Pharaoh never did actually let God's people go. True, God delivered them without Pharaoh's help, and in spite of him. Throughout this marvelous narrative of the plagues, the thing that stands out is the destruction of Egypt's paganism. As Rylaarsdam put it, "Its gods were dead!"[23] Again and again we have noted this, but one more summary of the impact of these wonders upon Egypt's gods is here included.

The fact that one author names some gods and other authors cite different gods is due to the fact that each wonder confronted and discredited multiple pagan deities. This is Geisler's summary:

Bloody water (Exodus 7:12), against the god �ilus, the sacred river god.

Frogs (Exodus 8:6), against Hekt, the goddess of reproduction.

Lice (gnats) (Exodus 8:17), against Seb, god of the earth.

Flies (beetles), against Khephera, the sacred scarab.

Murrain on Egyptian cattle (Exodus 9:3), against Apis and Hathor, the sacred bull and cow.

Boils on man and beast (Exodus 9:10), against Typhon, the evil-eye god.

Hail (Exodus 9:23), against Shu, the god of the atmosphere.

Locusts (Exodus 10:14), against Serapis, the protector from locusts.

Darkness (Exodus 10:22), against Ra, the sun god.

Death of the first-born (Exodus 11:5), against Plah, the god of life. Perhaps this was a blanket attack against all the gods of Egypt.[24]

It is also observable that all of the plagues without exception, and the last one

particularly, were directed squarely against Pharaoh himself, a pagan deity of top rank.

"Each night, according to Egyptian mythology, the sun fought and overcame the snake, Apophis, who symbolized the hostile darkness. As a god, Pharaoh was the incarnation of the sun, and the hostile darkness was his enemy also."[25]That approaching midnight God had just announced through Moses to Pharaoh would be the ultimate exposure and defeat of pagan god Pharaoh, who himself also would ultimately perish in the Red Sea.

This summary of the plagues is an appropriate occasion to explore some of the questions concerning them.

Why were so many plagues necessary? Egypt had many false gods, and it was necessary that all of them should have been discredited and destroyed. Also, since the plagues were actually variations of natural occurrences, it was mandatory that all explanations of them as coincidences should have been refuted. "One or two plagues could always have been explained as coincidences; but ten of them should have convinced even the most skeptical that the hand of God was in this series of calamities."[26] As Jamieson expressed it:

"The intensity, the extent, the orderly succession of these plagues, their occurrence and their cessation at the command of Moses, and the marked exemption of Goshen from the operation of the destructive visitations, prove, beyond a doubt, that they proceeded immediately from the hand of God."[27]When God stated that He would slay the first-born, does this attribute an action to God that is unworthy of Him? The answer is no. God will eventually slay the entire race of Adam, the sole exceptions being the redeemed "in Christ." God has, in the past, wiped out all mankind except for a single family, that of �oah. And such facts are fully in keeping with all that is revealed concerning the nature of God, especially His utter abhorrence of evil, and His promise of justice and vengeance on the wicked. There is no solution to what some see as a problem here by attributing the death of the first-born to some "bad" angel! The action was GOD's, whether or not a bad or a good angel acted in the actual execution of God's will.

What was the purpose of these plagues?

One purpose was the founding of the nation of Israel through their deliverance from Egyptian slavery.

Another purpose was that of striking a fatal blow against paganism.

It was also for the purpose of spreading the knowledge of the true God over a world that was already in the process of forgetting their Creator altogether.

The punishment of Egypt for their sins against Israel is also a clear purpose. And, if it should be objected that it was not the Egyptians, but only Pharaoh who sinned,

the Egyptian people were far from being innocent bystanders. "They had stood by consenting to the enslavement of Israel and therefore shared in the responsibility for their oppression ... Failure to protest injustice can be just as great a sin as sin actually committed."[28] They had also participated in the casting of Hebrew infant males into the river. God will eventually punish all sin and injustice, and such a purpose is plainly visible in this account of the plagues of Egypt.

WHEDO�, "9, 10. These verses review and recapitulate the whole series of judgments, recording the fulfilment of the prediction made when Moses was first commissioned. Exodus 7:2-3.

CO�STABLE, "Verse 9-10"These two verses are considered by many commentators as redundant or misplaced. But they can easily be explained as a summary and epilogue of the Section of the Plagues.

"In the following section not only the course of events will change, but also the background and the dramatis personae. Till now the central theme was the negotiations conducted by Moses and Aaron on the one hand, and Pharaoh and his servants on the other, in Pharaoh"s palace or its environs. But henceforth the principal hero of the drama will be the people of Israel in its totality, and the perspective will be enlarged. Moses and Aaron will no longer be sent to Pharaoh but to the Israelites, in order to prepare them for the exodus and to implement it; nor will they be enjoined again to perform acts for the purpose of bringing the plagues, for the last plague will take place of its own accord, through the instrumentality of the angel of the Lord. Since the episode about to be narrated represents a new theme, and one, moreover, of fundamental importance, it is desireable [sic] that before reading this account we should look back for a moment, and review generally the events that have taken place thus far, as well as the situation obtaining at the conclusion of those events. This review is provided for us in the verses under consideration." [�ote: Cassuto, pp134-35.]

The theological lesson that Pharaoh and the Egyptians were to learn from this plague was that Yahweh would destroy the gods that the Egyptians" gods supposedly procreated. Pharaoh was a god and so was his first-born son who would succeed him. The Egyptians attributed the power to procreate to various gods. It was a power for which the Egyptians as well as all ancient peoples depended on their gods. By killing the first-born Yahweh was demonstrating His sovereignty once again. However this plague had more far-reaching consequences and was therefore more significant than all the previous plagues combined.

"Possibly no land in antiquity was more obsessed with death than Egypt. The real power of the priesthood lay in its alleged ability to guarantee the dead a safe passage to the "Western World" under the benign rule of Osiris. This terrible visitation which defied and defies all rational explanation, showed that Yahweh was not only lord of the forces of nature, but also of life and death." [�ote: Ellison, p60.]

". . . it is by means of the account of the last plague that the author is able to introduce into the Exodus narrative in a clear and precise way the notion of redemption from sin and death. The idea of salvation from slavery and deliverance from Egypt is manifest throughout the early chapters of Exodus. The idea of redemption and salvation from death, however, is the particular contribution of the last plague, especially as the last plague is worked into the narrative by the author....

"By means of the last plague, then, the writer is able to bring the Exodus narratives into the larger framework of the whole Pentateuch and particularly that of the early chapters of Genesis. In the midst of the judgment of death, God provided a way of salvation for the promised seed ( Genesis 3:15). Like Enoch ( Exodus 5:22-23), �oah ( Exodus 6:9), and Lot ( Exodus 19:16-19), those who walk in God"s way will be saved from death and destruction." [�ote: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p258.]

This tenth plague brought Yahweh"s concentrated education of both the Egyptians and the Israelites to a climactic conclusion.

"In short, therefore, what were the essential purposes of these ten plagues? First of all, they were certainly designed to free the people of God. Second, they were a punishment upon Egypt for her portion in the long oppression of the Hebrews [cf. Genesis 15:13]. Third, they were designed to demonstrate the foolishness of idolatry. They were a supreme example both for the Egyptians and for Israel. It was by these that Jehovah revealed His uniqueness in a way that had never before been revealed ( Exodus 6:3; cf. Exodus 10:2). Finally, the plagues clearly demonstrated the awesome, sovereign power of God. In the Book of Genesis , God is described as the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all the laws of nature. In the Book of Exodus the exercise of that creative power is revealed as it leads to the accomplishment of divine goals. God"s sovereignty is not only exercised over the forces of nature, but is also revealed against evil nations and their rulers." [�ote: Davis, pp151-52.]

PULPIT, "Before proceeding to relate the last and greatest of the plagues, the author allows himself a momentary pause while he casts his eye back on the whole series of miracles hitherto wrought in Egypt, on the circumstances under which they had been wrought, their failure to move the stubborn will of Pharaoh, and the cause of that failure, the hardening of his heart, which hardening the author once more ascribes to Jehovah. With this summary he terminates the second great division of his work, that which began with Exodus 2:1-25; and which traces the history of Moses from his birth to the close of his direct dealings with Pharaoh.

Exodus 11:9

And the Lord said. Rather, "had said." God had forewarned Moses that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3), and that, in spite of all the miracles which he was empowered to perform before him, he would not let the people go (Exodus 3:19; Exodus 4:21). It was not until God took Pharaoh's punishment altogether into his own hands, and himself came down and smote all the

first-born, that the king's obstinacy was overcome, and he proceeded to "thrust the people out." That my wonders may be multiplied. Compare Exodus 3:20; Exodus 7:3. If Pharaoh had yielded at the first, or even after two or three miracles, God's greatness and power would not have been shown forth very remarkably. �either the Egyptians nor the neighbouring nations would have been much impressed. The circumstances would soon have been forgotten. As it was, the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, while it delayed the departure of the Israelites for a year, and so added to their sufferings, was of advantage to them in various ways:—

1. It gave them time to organise them elves, and make all necessary preparations for a sudden departure.

2. It deeply impressed the Egyptians, and led them to abstain from all interference with the Israelites for above three centuries.

3. It impressed the neighbouring nations also to.some extent, and either prevented them from offering opposition to the Israelites, or made them contend with less heart, and so with less success against them.

PETT, "Verse 9-10A Final Summary of What Yahweh Has Done (Exodus 11:9-10).

Exodus 11:9-10

‘And Yahweh had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you in order that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart strong and he did not let the children of Israel go out of the land.’These words summarise all that has gone before. They refer to what is past and indicate that the story is now coming to its climax. All that now remains is the final episode. The tension is mounting.

There is an indication here that Yahweh had given Egypt a unique opportunity. They had seen what He could do. They could have come to Him and sought Him. But they did not do so. Like Pharaoh their hearts were hardened. But in the end it was Yahweh Who had brought this about, so that with one last judgment He might obtain the release of His people. However much Pharaoh might have felt himself in control it was Yahweh Who had brought things to this stage in order that His great wonders might be revealed in a never to be forgotten way. For Yahweh had declared from the beginning that He would smite Pharaoh’s firstborn because of his intransigence (Exodus 4:23). And that is what happened.

Those who think that signs and wonders are the answer to bringing people to Christ should consider what happened here. There had been signs and wonders enough. But none had softened Pharaoh’s heart or convinced most of the Egyptians. People convinced by signs and wonders soon turn away once the signs and wonders are forgotten. Even the final wonder that ‘multiplied the wonders’ for it affected so

many would leave people distraught rather than believing.

10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

GILL, "And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, Which are related in the preceding chapters:

and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart: one time after another, and yet more and more:

so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land; until the last plague, the slaying of the firstborn, was brought upon him and his people, related in the following chapter.

TRAPP, "Exodus 11:10 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Ver. 10. Did all these wonders.] But all was worse than spilt upon him: he was even set in sin, and resolved never to remove. God had a hand in it.

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO�ARY, "Exodus 11:10

schylus recognizes in certain forms of mental blindness a Divine influence. There is a malady of the mind, a heaven-sent hurt, which drives the sinner to destruction. This infatuation or Ate is a clouding both of heart and of intellect; it is also both the penalty and the parent of crime. But only when a man has wilfully set his face towards evil, when; like Xerxes in the Persae, or Ajax in the play of Sophocles, he has striven to rise above human limits, or like Creon in the Antigone has been guilty of obdurate impiety, is a moral darkening inflicted on him in anger. Here schylus and Sophocles agree. As we read in the Old Testament that "the Lord hardened Pharaoh"s heart," so in schylus, "when a man is hasting to his ruin, the god helps him on". It is the dark converse of "God helps those who help themselves".

—Prof. Butcher, Aspects of the Greek Genius, p115.

PULPIT, "Moses and Aaron did all these plagues before Pharaoh. Aaron's agency is not always mentioned, and seems to have been less marked in the later than in the earlier miracles, Moses gradually gaining self-reliance. In passing from the subject of the plagues wrought by the two brothers, it may be useful to give a synopsis of them, distinguishing those which came without warning from those which were announced beforehand, and noting, where possible, their actual worker, their duration, their physical source, and the hurt which they did.