Commentary on Exodus, Commentary · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
Verſe 1. AND the LORD ſaid unto Moſes.] It is uncertain, when the LORD ſpake this. I ſuppoſe it was, as ſoon as he came out from Pharaoh, at the end of the three days Darkneſs: which continued the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth of the Month Abib; and on the fourteenth, in the Morning, Moſes received this new Revelation.
Yet I will bring one Plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.] The killing of their Firſt-born; which was the laſt Plague inflicted on them in Egypt.
Afterwards he will let you go hence, &c.] Not only conſent to diſmiſs you intirely; but be earneſt with you, and urge you to depart. So we find it came to paſs XII. 31, 33.
Thrust you out altogether.] Perfectly and compleatly, with ſome kind of compulſion.
Ver. 2. Speak now in the ears of the Children of Iſrael.] Give order therefore to the Iſraelites, as I formerly promiſed to direct, III. 21, 22.
And let every Man borrow of his Neighbour, &c.] See III. 21, 22. Unto which this may be added, that ſome of the ancient Fathers lookt upon this as a piece of Juſtice, that they ſhould be paid their Wages, for the Labour they had undergone, in the Service of the Egyptians; which God orders in this manner. So Epiphanius in his Ancoratus, Num. CXII, CXIII. where he gives this account of the Iſraelites ſpoiling the Egyptians, that they had ſerved them a long time for Nothing (he makes account CCXV. years) and therefore foreign, &c. was it not juſt, both before God and Man, that their Wages ſhould be paid them before they left the Country? See Petavius on that place. And Haereſ. LXVI, LXXI, LXXXIII. and Irinaeus L. IV. c. 49. Tertull. adv. Marcion L. II. c. 20. And ſo the Author of the Book of Wiſdom took it, X. 17. where he ſaith, the Lord gave the Iſraelites the Goods of the Egyptians, foreign, the Reward of their Labours. See more XII. 35.
Ver. 3. And the LORD gave the People favour in the ſight of the Egyptians.] According to his Promiſe III. 21.
Moreover the man Moſes was very great, &c.] This ſeems to be given as a reaſon, both why the Court durſt not meddle with Moſes, though he had brought ſo many Plagues upon them; and why the People were forward to grant the Iſraelites what they deſired, becauſe they all highly eſteemed him, and had him in great reverence, as a Perſon that had extraordinary power with God: From whence ſome think it credible, that their Poſterity might give him Divine Honours, as is reported by ſome ancient Writers.
Ver. 4. And Moſes ſaid, Thus ſaith the LORD.] It is manifeſt (from v. 8.) that theſe words were ſpoken from the LORD to Pharaoh; but it is a great queſtion, when they were ſpoken. It is commonly thought that Moſes ſaid this, when he laſt parted with Pharaoh, and told him, he would ſee his face no more, X. 29. And then the firſt words of this Chapter, muſt be tranſlated in the time paſt, the LORD had ſaid unto Moſes, that he would bring one Plague more upon the Egyptians: which he now denounced to Pharaoh, becauſe he ſaid he ſhould not have the liberty of being admitted to him again. Or elſe Pharaoh, contrary to his peremptory Reſolution, ſent once more to ſpeak with Moſes; as it is plain he did, after the Firſt-born were ſlain, XII. 31.
About midnight.] About the midſt of the following Night. For they having kept the Paſſover, in the Evening of this fourteenth day of Abib, the Firſt-born were ſlain in the middle of that Night. Not preciſely (the Hebrew indicates) but it might be a little before or after Midnight. See Theodorick Haeſpan, of ſuch kind of Speeches. Diſput. de locut. Sacris. N. IV.
Will I go out.] By an Angel, who was ſent from the SCHECHINAH, (which reſided in ſome part of the Land of Goſhen) and ordered to go and do this Execution.
Into the midst of Egypt.] Perhaps he means the Royal City; where he began this Execution, and then ſmote the whole Country round about.
Ver. 5. And all the First-born in the Land of Egypt ſhall die.] This was the ſoreſt Plague that had been hitherto inflicted; Nothing being ſo dear to Parents as their Children, eſpecially their Firstborn.
From the First-born of Pharaoh, &c.] i. e. From the higheſt to the meaneſt Perſon in the Kingdom.
That ſitteth upon his Throne.] It is uncertain whether this relate to Pharaoh, or to his First-born. The LXX. ſeem to incline to the former; having left out the Pronoun his, and ſimply tranſlated it, that ſitteth upon the Throne. But the Chaldee determines it to the latter, by tranſlating it, who is to ſit upon the Throne of his Kingdom; i. e. to be Pharaoh's Succeſſor, the Heir of the Kingdom of Egypt.
The Maid-ſervant that is behind the Mill.] None were more miſerable than thoſe Slaves, whoſe Work it was to turn a Mill with their Hands, and grind Corn perpetually; eſpecially when they were condemned to this in a Priſon, nay, in a Dungeon: that ſo we are to underſtand this, appears from XII. 29. The ancient Comaedians often mention this; and we find an inſtance of ſuch Drudgery, in the Story of Sampſon, XVI Judg. 21.
Ver. 6. And there ſhall be a great Cry throughout the Land of Egypt, &c.] The Calamity being general in every Houſe, it made a general and very loud Lamentation: Men, Women, Children and Servants, bewailing the loſs of the prime Perſon in the Family.
Ver. 7. But against any of the Children of Iſrael, ſhall not a Dog move his tongue, &c.] A great wonder! that when ſo many Thouſand People were upon their March, with abundance of Cattle, &c. not a Dog ſhould ſtir; who, though never ſo gentle, yet commonly Bark when they hear the leaſt noiſe, eſpecially in the Night. All Travellers know this.
That ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Iſrael.] This was indeed a plain Teſtimony of God's ſpecial Care and Providence over the Iſraelites; that when there was ſuch a great Cry throughout all the Land of Egypt, (v. 6.) all was quiet, ſtill and ſilent among them.
Ver. 8. And all theſe thy Servants ſhall come down to me, &c.] You that now forbid me to come to you (for Pharaoh himſelf is included, it appears from XII. 31, &c.) ſhall be forced to come to me; and ſubmiſſively intreat; nay, preſs me to be gone, &c.
Come down.] It was a deſcent from that part of Egypt where the Court was, unto Goſhen: though it may ſimply ſignifie, come to me.
Get thee out, and all the People that follow thee.] In the Hebrew the words are, that is at thy feet: that is, to the very last man. For they that bring up the Rear, as we ſpeak, or march laſt after their Commander, are ſaid in Scripture, to be at their feet: As Wagenſeil hath obſerved in his Confutation of R. Lipman's Carmen Memoriale. See XLIX Gen. 10.
And after that I will go out.] When you ſhall think I oblige you, to leave your Country.
And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.] It moved the meekeſt Man on Earth to a juſt Indignation (which, it's likely, he expreſſed in his Countenance and Behaviour) to ſee Pharaoh remain ſo ſtupidly inſenſible, as not to regard this Threatning; which he might well think would be as certainly Executed, as all the reſt had been.
Ver. 9. And the LORD ſaid unto Moſes, Pharaoh ſhall not hearken unto you.] That is, I told thee at the firſt how it would be, and the reaſon of it, III. 19, 20. Of which it was very proper to put Moſes in mind at this time, when he was going to fulfil the laſt part of thoſe words; after that (after this laſt Plague) he will let you go.
That my Wonders may be multiplied in the Land of Egypt.] That he might do one Wonder after another, till he had finiſhed Pharaoh's Deſtruction. See VII. 3.
Ver. 10. And Moſes and Aaron did all theſe Wonders before Pharaoh.] This ſeems to be a Summary of what hath been ſaid hitherto, concerning the wonderful Plagues of Egypt: which, as God deſigned to inflict upon that Country, ſo he did, by Moſes and Aaron as his Inſtruments.
And the LORD hardned Pharaoh's heart, ſo that he would not let the Children of Iſrael go, &c.] The Obſtinacy of Pharaoh under ſeveral ſevere Judgments is ſo notorious, that it need be no wonder that the LORD himſelf hardned his heart, ſo that he would not ſuffer the People to depart, till what is here threatned was Executed upon him. There is nothing more agreeable to the Rules of Juſtice, than to inflict heavy Judgments upon contumacious Offenders; and no Puniſhment heavier than to let them undo themſelves by their own Wickedneſs, and blindly run on, without any ſtop, in their evil Courſes unto utter Ruin. This was the Caſe of Pharaoh; of which the Heathen had a broken Notion, when they ſaid, Quos Jupiter vult perdere, prius dementat: Thoſe whom God intends to deſtroy, he firſt infatuates.