Acts 7:19

κατασοφισάμενος : in Exodus 1:10 we have the same verb “let us deal wisely with them” here translated “deal subtilly”; Vulgate, “circumveniens,” cf. Rhemish version: “circumventing our stock” (γένος, as in Acts 4:36); cf. Jdt 5:11; Jdt 10:19, in both passages the same verb is used, translated (R.V.), Acts 5:11, “dealt subtilly” the Syriac, probably nearest to the Hebrew, “ dealt wisely with them,” i.e., the Egyptians dealt so with the Hebrews. In the second passage, R.V., word is rendered “might deceive”; same verb in Syriac as in Exodus 1:10, Heb.; Speaker's Commentary, “Apocrypha,” i., p. 290. Josephus and Philo use verb in same sense as in text; see for the force and meaning of κατά here, Page and Rendall. ἐκάκωσε, cf. Exodus 1:11, where the same word is used of task-masters afflicting the people with burdens. For other ways in which Pharaoh is said to have afflicted the people, see Jos., Ant., ii., 9, 1. τοῦ ποιεῖν κ. τ. λ., “that they [or he, margin] should cast out their babes,” R.V. But a comparison with Exodus 1:22 (LXX) justifies us in taking these words, as in R.V. margin, as describing the tyranny of Pharaoh, not as declaring that the parents themselves exposed their children. For the construction see Blass, Grammatik, p. 231; cf. 1 Kings 17:20, etc., genitive of result, see Page on Acts 3:12, and in loco, and Burton, N. T. Moods and Tenses, p. 157. ἔκθετα : only here in N.T. and not in LXX, but used with γόνος in Eur., Andr., 70. εἰς τὸ : expressing the purpose, cf. Luke 5:17. ζωογονεῖσθαι : in the active the verb is used three times, in Exodus 1, of the midwives saving the Hebrew children alive, Acts 7:17-18; Acts 7:22 (cf. Judges 8:19, etc.), vivum conservare. In the N.T. the word is only used by St. Luke here and in his Gospel, chap. Acts 17:33, and once by St. Paul, 1 Timothy 6:13 (see R.V. margin). St. Chrysostom comments on the thought that where man's help was despaired of, and the child was cast forth, then God's benefit did shine forth conspicuous, Hom., xvi.