Exodus 5:21

Ye have made our savour to be abhorred. — Heb., to stink. An idiom common to the Hebrews with the Egyptians (Comp. Genesis 34:30; 1 Samuel 13:4; 2 Samuel 10:6, &c, with Papyr. Anastas. 1:27, 7), and very expressive. The English idiom, “to be in bad odour with a person,” is similar, but lacks the force of the Hebrew phrase.

In the eyes. — Mixed metaphors occur in all languages, and may generally be accounted for by the literal meaning of some familiar expression having come to be forgotten. In Heb., liphney, “in the face of,” and be’eyney, “in the eyes of,” were mere prepositions, having the force of “before,” “with,” “in regard to.”

A sword... to slay us. — This was not, perhaps, mere Oriental hyperbole. The officers may have feared that their inability to enforce the Pharaoh’s impracticable demands would ultimately lead to their execution.