_AND AFTERWARD MOSES AND AARON WENT IN, AND TOLD PHARAOH, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, LET MY PEOPLE GO, THAT THEY MAY HOLD A FEAST UNTO ME IN THE WILDERNESS._ Moses and Aaron went. As representatives of the Hebrews, they were entitled to ask an audience of the king, and their thorough Egypti... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND PHARAOH SAID, WHO IS THE LORD, THAT I SHOULD OBEY HIS VOICE TO LET ISRAEL GO? I KNOW NOT THE LORD, NEITHER WILL I LET ISRAEL GO._ Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? - rather, "Yahweh." Lord was a common name applied to objects of worship; but Yahweh was a name the king of Egypt had never heard of.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THEY SAID, THE GOD OF THE HEBREWS HATH MET WITH US: LET US GO, WE PRAY THEE, THREE DAYS' JOURNEY INTO THE DESERT, AND SACRIFICE UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD; LEST HE FALL UPON US WITH PESTILENCE, OR WITH THE SWORD._ The God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Instead of being provoked into reproaches or... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THE KING OF EGYPT SAID UNTO THEM, WHEREFORE DO YE, MOSES AND AARON, LET THE PEOPLE FROM THEIR WORKS? GET YOU UNTO YOUR BURDENS._ Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works .... Without taking any notice of what they had said, the king treated them as turbulent demagogue... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND PHARAOH SAID, BEHOLD, THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND NOW ARE MANY, AND YE MAKE THEM REST FROM THEIR BURDENS._ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND PHARAOH COMMANDED THE SAME DAY THE TASKMASTERS OF THE PEOPLE, AND THEIR OFFICERS, SAYING,_ Pharaoh commanded. It was a natural consequence of the high displeasure created by this interview that he should put additional burdens on the oppressed Israelites. TASKMASTERS - Egyptian overseers, ap... [ Continue Reading ]
_YE SHALL NO MORE GIVE THE PEOPLE STRAW TO MAKE BRICK, AS HERETOFORE: LET THEM GO AND GATHER STRAW FOR THEMSELVES._ Ye shall no more give the people straw. The making of bricks appears to have been a government monopoly, as the ancient bricks are nearly all stamped with the name of a king, and they... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THE TALE OF THE BRICKS, WHICH THEY DID MAKE HERETOFORE, YE SHALL LAY UPON THEM; YE SHALL NOT DIMINISH OUGHT THEREOF: FOR THEY BE IDLE; THEREFORE THEY CRY, SAYING, LET US GO AND SACRIFICE TO OUR GOD._ Tale - an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their labour were to be no longer suppl... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THERE MORE WORK BE LAID UPON THE MEN, THAT THEY MAY LABOUR THEREIN; AND LET THEM NOT REGARD VAIN WORDS._ No JFB commentary on these verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_SO THE PEOPLE WERE SCATTERED ABROAD THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT TO GATHER STUBBLE INSTEAD OF STRAW._ So the people were scattered. It was an immense grievance to the labourers individually, but there would be no hindrance from the farmers whose fields they entered, as almost all the lands of... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THE TASKMASTERS HASTED THEM, SAYING, FULFIL YOUR WORKS, YOUR DAILY TASKS, AS WHEN THERE WAS STRAW._ Taskmasters hasted ... officers ... beaten. Since the nearest fields were bared, and the people had to go further for stubble, it was impossible for them to meet the demand by the usual tale of... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THEY MET MOSES AND AARON, WHO STOOD IN THE WAY, AS THEY CAME FORTH FROM PHARAOH:_ They met Moses ... The Lord look upon you, and judge. Thus the deliverer of Israel found that his patriotic interference did, in the first instance, only aggravate the evil he wished to remove, and that instead o... [ Continue Reading ]