THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES CALLED EXODUS -Year before the common Year of Christ, 1706. -Julian Period, 3008. -Cycle of the Sun, 7. -Dominical Letter, F. -Cycle of the Moon, 2. -Indiction, 15. -Creation from Tisri or September, 2298. CHAPTER I _The names and number of the children of Israel th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:6. _JOSEPH DIED, AND ALL HIS BRETHREN_] That is, Joseph had now been some time dead, as also all his brethren, and all the Egyptians who had known Jacob and his twelve sons; and this is a sort of reason why the important services performed by Joseph were forgotten.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:7. _THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE FRUITFUL_] פרו _paru_, a general term, signifying that they were like _healthy trees_, bringing forth an _abundance of fruit_. _AND INCREASED_] ישרץ _yishretsu_, they increased _like fishes_, as the original word implies. See Genesis 1:20, and the note... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:8. _THERE AROSE UP A NEW KING_] Who this was it is difficult to say. It was probably _Ramesses Miamun_, or his son _Amenophis_, who succeeded him in the government of Egypt about A. M. 2400, before Christ 1604. _WHICH KNEW NOT JOSEPH._] The verb ידע _yada_, which we translate _to kn... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:9. _HE SAID UNTO HIS PEOPLE_] He probably summoned a council of his nobles and elders to consider the subject; and the result was to persecute and destroy them, as is afterwards stated.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:10. _THEY JOIN ALSO UNTO OUR ENEMIES_] It has been conjectured that Pharaoh had probably his eye on the oppressions which Egypt had suffered under the _shepherd-kings_, who for a long series of years had, according to Manetho, governed the land with extreme cruelty. As the Israelites... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:11. _SET OVER THEM TASK-MASTERS_] שרי מסים _sarey_ _missim, chiefs_ or _princes_ of _burdens, works_, or _tribute_; επιστατας των εργων, Sept. _overseers of the works_. The persons who appointed them their work, and exacted the performance of it. The _work_ itself being oppressive, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:12. _BUT THE MORE THEY AFFLICTED THEM_] The margin has pretty nearly preserved the import of the original: _And as they_ _afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they grew_ That is, in proportion to their afflictions was their prosperity; and had their sufferings been greater, their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:13. _TO SERVE WITH RIGOUR_] בפרך _bepharech_, with _cruelty, great oppression_; being _ferocious_ with them. The word _fierce_ is supposed by some to be derived from the Hebrew, as well as the Latin _ferox_, from which we more immediately bring our English term. This kind of cruelty t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:14. _THEY MADE THEIR LIVES BITTER_] So that they became weary of life, through the severity of their servitude. _WITH HARD BONDAGE_] בעבדה קשה _baabodah kashah, with grievous_ _servitude_. This was the general character of their life in Egypt; it was a life of the most painful servit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:15. _HEBREW MIDWIVES_] _Shiphrah_ and _Puah_, who are here mentioned, were probably certain _chiefs_, under whom all the rest acted, and by whom they were instructed in the _obstetric_ art. _Aben_ _Ezra_ supposes there could not have been fewer than five hundred midwives among the Heb... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:16. _UPON THE STOOLS_] על האבנים _al haobnayim_. This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jeremiah 18:3, where we translate it the _potter's wheels_. As אכי signifies a _stone_, the _obnayim_ has been supposed to signify a _stone trough_, in which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:17. _THE MIDWIVES FEARED GOD_] Because they knew that God had forbidden murder of every kind; for though the law was not yet given, Exodus 20:13, being Hebrews they must have known that God had from the beginning declared, _Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by_ _man shall his blood be s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:19. _THE HEBREW WOMEN ARE NOT AS THE EGYPTIAN WOMEN_] This is a simple statement of what general experience shows to be a fact, viz., that women, who during the whole of their pregnancy are accustomed to hard labour, especially in the open air, have comparatively little pain in _part... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:20. _THEREFORE GOD DEALT WELL WITH THE MIDWIVES: AND THE_ _PEOPLE MULTIPLIED, AND WAXED VERY MIGHTY._] This shows an especial providence and blessing of God; for though in all cases where females are kept to hard labour they have comparatively easy and safe travail, yet in a state of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:21. _HE MADE THEM HOUSES._] Dr. Shuckford thinks that there is something wrong both in the punctuation and translation of this place, and reads the passage thus, adding the 21st to the 20th verse: "And they multiplied and waxed mighty; and this happened (ויהי _vayehi_) because the mi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 1:22. _YE SHALL CAST INTO THE RIVER_] As the _Nile_, which is here intended, was a sacred river among the Egyptians, it is not unlikely that Pharaoh intended the young Hebrews as an offering to his god, having two objects in view: 1. To increase the fertility of the country by thus pro... [ Continue Reading ]