THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT, AND THEIR OPPRESSION BY A NEW KING. (1) NOW THESE ARE THE NAMES. — The divisions between the _“_books “of the Pentateuch are not arbitrary. Genesis ends naturally and Exodus begins at the point where the history of the individuals who founded the Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
(3-4) REUBEN... — The sons of the legitimate wives are placed first, then those of the concubines. Leah has precedence over Rachel; Bilhah over Zilpah. The children of each wife and concubine are given in order of seniority. The omission of Joseph from the list is explained in the last clause of Exo... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE SOULS... were seventy souls. Comp. Genesis 46:8. The number is made up as follows: — Jacob himself, 1; his sons, 12; his daughter, Dinah, 1; his grandsons, 51; his grand-daughter Serah, 1; his great-grandsons, 4 — Total, 70. His daughters, except Dinah, and his sons’ daughters, except Serah,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE FRUITFUL. — A _great_ multiplication is evidently intended. Egypt was a particularly healthy country, and both men and animals were abnormally prolific there. Grain was so plentiful that want, which is the ordinary check on population, was almost unknown. The Egyptian kin... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE AROSE UP A NEW KING. — A king of a new dynasty might seem to be intended. Some suppose him to be Aahmes I., the founder of the eighteenth dynasty of Manetho; others suggest Rameses II., one of the greatest monarchs of the nineteenth. The present writer inclines to regard him as Seti I., the fa... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAID UNTO HIS PEOPLE. — It is not intended to represent the Egyptian monarch as summoning a popular assembly, and addressing it. “His people.” Is antithetical to “the people of the children of Israel,” and simply marks that those whom he addressed were of his own nation. No doubt they were his no... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US DEAL WISELY. — Instead of open force, the king proposes stratagem. He thinks that he has hit upon a _wise_ scheme — a clever plan — by which the numbers of the Israelites will be kept down, and they will cease to be formidable. The nature of the plan appears in Exodus 1:11. WHEN THERE FALLET... [ Continue Reading ]
TASK-MASTERS. — Heb., _chiefs of tributes._ The Egyptian system of forced labour, which it was now resolved to extend to the Israelites, involved the appointment of two sets of officers — a lower class, who personally overlooked the labourers, and forced them to perform their tasks, and a higher cla... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MORE THEY AFFLICTED THEM, THE MORE THEY MULTIPLIED AND GREW. — This result was not natural. It can only be ascribed to God’s superintending Providence, whereby “the fierceness of man” was made to “turn to his praise.” Naturally, severe and constant labour exhausts a nation, and causes its number... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH RIGOUR. — Forced labour in Egypt was of a very severe character. Those condemned to it worked from morning to night under the rod of a task-master, which was freely applied to their legs or backs, if they rested their weary limbs for a moment. (See _Records of the Past,_ vol. viii. p. 149; Chab... [ Continue Reading ]
IN MORTER AND IN BRICK. — It has been questioned whether the Egyptians used brick as a material for building. No doubt temples, palaces, and pyramids were ordinarily of stone; but the employment of brick for walls, fortresses, and houses, especially in the Delta, is well attested. (See the _Quarterl... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEBREW MIDWIVES. — Or _the midwives of the Hebrew women_ (ταῖς μαίαις τῶν Έβραίων, LXX.). The Hebrew construction admits of either rendering. In favour of the midwives being Egyptians is the consideration that the Pharaoh would scarcely have expected Hebrew women to help him in the extirpation o... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON THE STOOLS. — Literally, _upon the two stones._ It has been suggested that a seat corresponding to the modern _hursee elwilâdeh_ is meant. This is a “chair of a peculiar form,” upon which in modern Egypt the woman is seated during parturition. (See Lane, _Modern Egyptians,_ vol. iii. p. 142.) B... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MIDWIVES FEARED GOD. — The midwives, whether Hebrews or Egyptians, believed in a God who would punish wrong-doing, and therefore resolved not to obey the Pharaoh.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEBREW WOMEN ARE NOT AS THE EGYPTIAN WOMEN. — This was probably true; but it was not the whole truth. Though the midwives had the courage to disobey the king, they had not “the courage of their convictions,” and were afraid to confess their real motive. So they took refuge in a half truth, and p... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE GOD DEALT WELL WITH THE MIDWIVES. — Heb., _and God dealt well,_ &c. The reason is stated in Exodus 1:21. It was not because they equivocated and deceived the king, but because they feared God sufficiently to disobey the king, and run the risk of discovery. If they had been discovered, thei... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE THEM HOUSES. — God rewarded those who had showed tenderness to young children, by giving them children of their own, who grew up, and became in their turn fathers and mothers of families. There is no indication that the “houses” spoken of were Hebrew ones.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY SON THAT IS BORN. — The LXX. add “to the Hebrews,” but without any necessity, since the context shows that only Hebrew children are meant. YE SHALL CAST INTO THE RIVER. — Infanticide, so shocking to Christians, has prevailed widely at different times and places, and been regarded as a trivial... [ Continue Reading ]