Exodus 1:10

_COME ON, LET US DEAL WISELY WITH THEM; LEST THEY MULTIPLY, AND IT COME TO PASS, THAT, WHEN THERE FALLETH OUT ANY WAR, THEY JOIN ALSO UNTO OUR ENEMIES, AND FIGHT AGAINST US, AND SO GET THEM UP OUT OF THE LAND._ Let us deal wisely with them, х_ NITªCHAKªMAAH_ (H2449)] - let us show ourselves cunning, let us deceive, overreach them (cf. Psalms 105:25; Ecclesiastes 7:16). [Septuagint, Katasofisoometha (cf. Acts 7:19).]...

8-14 The land of Egypt became to Israel a house of bondage. The place where we have been happy, may soon become the place of our affliction; and that may prove the greatest cross to us, of which we said, This same shall comfort us. Cease from man, and say not of any place on this side heaven, This is my rest. All that knew Joseph, loved him, and were kind to his brethren for his sake; but the best and most useful services a man does to others, are soon forgotten after his death. Our great care should be, to serve God, and to please him who is not unrighteous, whatever men are, to forget our work and labour of love. The offence of Israel is, that he prospers. There is no sight more hateful to a wicked man than the prosperity of the righteous. The Egyptians feared lest the children of Israel should join their enemies, and get them up out of the land. Wickedness is ever cowardly and unjust...

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 were of the same occupation, (viz., _shepherds_,) the jealous, cruel king found it easy to attribute to them the same motives; taking it for granted that they were only waiting for a favourable opportunity to join the enemies of Egypt, and so overrun the whole land....

ANY WAR - The Northeastern frontier was infested by the neighboring tribes, the Shasous of Egyptian monuments, and war was waged with Egypt by the confederated nations of Western Asia under the reigns of the successors of Amosis. These incursions were repulsed with extreme difficulty. In language, features, costume, and partly also in habits, the Israelites probably resembled those enemies of Egypt. OUT OF THE LAND - The Pharaohs apprehended the loss of revenue and power, which would result from the withdrawal of a peaceful and industrious race....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 1:7-2 Here the real narrative of Exodus begins. The history of the Israelites from and after the death of Joseph is entered on. The first point touched is THEIR RAPID MULTIPLICATION. The next their falling under the dominion of a NEW KING. The third, HIS MODE OF ACTION UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. It is remarkable that the narrative contains no notes of time. How long the increase continued before the new king arose, how long it went on before he noticed it, how long the attempt was made to cheek it by mere severity of labour, we are not told. Some considerable duration of time is implied, both for the multiplication (verse 7) and for the oppression (verse 11-14); but the narrator is so absorbed in the matters which he has to communicate that the question what time these matters occupied does

COME ON,.... Which is a word of exhortation, stirring up to a quick dispatch of business, without delay, the case requiring haste, and some speedy and a matter of indifference: LET US DEAL WISELY WITH THEM; form some wise schemes, take some crafty methods to weaken and diminish them gradually; not with open force of arms, but in a more private and secret manner, and less observed: LEST THEY MULTIPLY; yet more and more, so that in time it may be a very difficult thing to keep them under, and many disadvantages to the kingdom may arise from them, next observed: AND IT COME TO PASS, THAT WHEN THERE FALLETH OUT ANY WAR, THEY JOIN ALSO UNTO OUR ENEMIES; their neighbours the Arabians, and Phoenicians, and Ethiopians: with the latter the Egyptians had wars, as they had in the times of Moses, as Josephus p relates, and Artapanus q, an Heathen writer, also: Sir John Marsham r thinks these enem...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. ISRAEL'S DELIVERANCE OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE EGYPTIANS 1. The House of Bondage CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The names of the children of Israel; their increase (Exodus 1:1)_ 2. The new king and his policy (Exodus 1:8) 3. The continued increase (Exodus 1:12) 4. Their hard bondage (Exodus 1:13) 5. The midwives commanded (Exodus 1:15) 6. Their disobedience and God's reward (Exodus 1:17) 7. Pharaoh's charg

EXODUS 1:8 J, EXODUS 1:13 P, EXODUS 1:14 A ( TO FIELD) J, EXODUS 1:14 B P. REPRESSION OF ISRAEL. Forced labour was the first device for checking Hebrew increase. The new king is probably Rameses II (1300- 1221 B.C., pp. 56, 63, so Petrie). The phrase has no reference to a change of dynasty, as some have supposed, but to the beginning of an epoch affecting Israel. In Exodus 1:9 read _mg.;_ to represent Israel as stronger than the Egyptians would have been absurd, but such a people might easily grow too strong for their dependent position and clo

LET US DEAL WISELY. He proposed to proceed craftily. The course he pursued was not really wise. Injustice never is. SO GET THEM OUT OF THE LAND. This is important as the first indication of. motive which determined the policy of Pharaoh, in dealing with the Israelites. He had doubtless heard that the idea prevailed that Egypt was not their permanent home; that they were to migrate to Palestine, and he apprehended. loss of revenue and power from the withdrawal of. peaceful, prosperous and industrious race. This notice shows that the Israelites had not forgotten the promise of the God of their fathers, and still cherished the hope of, at some day, entering into possession of the promised land....

COME ON, LET US, &C.— It is not to be conceived that the Egyptians could be ignorant of the Israelites' intention to return and settle in Canaan. Sensible therefore of the advantages arising to the community from such a body of people, yet fearful lest their great increase might render them too powerful, they determined, with subtle policy, to prevent that increase, and so weaken their power. _Let us deal subtilely with them therefore,_ say they, (_ne crescant amplius,_ observes Houbigant,) _lest they should increase still more,_ and so, upon any occasion, join the enemies of Egypt, and assert their own liberty....