Exodus 8:28

_AND PHARAOH CALLED FOR MOSES AND FOR AARON, AND SAID, GO YE, SACRIFICE TO YOUR GOD IN THE LAND._ Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. Between impatient anxiety to be freed from this scourge, and a reluctance to part with the Hebrew bondsmen, the king followed the course of expediency: he proposed to let them free to engage in their religious rites within any part of the kingdom. But, true to his instructions, Moses would accede to no such arrangement; he stated a most valid reason to show the danger of it. Verse 26. WE SHALL SACRIFICE THE ABOMINATION OF THE EGYPTIANS BEFORE THEIR EYES ... The meaning is, not that the animals offered in sacrifice by the Israelites, being held sacred by the Egyptians, would naturally give offence to the latter; but it was the disregard of certain preparatory and accompanying rites, such as the minute...

28._And Pharaoh said, I will let you go. _When he sees that his delays and shifts avail him nothing, he professes entire obedience; not that he then proposed to deceive and lie, because he was prevented by fear; but only, because overwhelmed with a present sense of his calamity, he dared not raise his crest against God. Therefore (as I said before) he did not so much wish designedly to conciliate and frustrate Moses by falsehood, as he deceived himself. For we must observe that (like one who has a wolf by the ears) he was constrained to promise the dismissal of the people, whom he retained to his own great injury. And this is why he commends himself to their prayers, for necessity urged him to implore God’s pardon and peace: although it might have been that he desired craftily to engage their affection to himself under the pretext of religion. For by this anxious precaution for himself,...

20-32 Pharaoh was early at his false devotions to the river; and shall we be for more sleep and more slumber, when any service to the Lord is to be done? The Egyptians and the Hebrews were to be marked in the plague of flies. The Lord knows them that are his, and will make it appear, perhaps in this world, certainly in the other, that he has set them apart for himself. Pharaoh unwillingly entered into a treaty with Moses and Aaron. He is content they should sacrifice to their God, provided they would do it in the land of Egypt. But it would be an abomination to God, should they offer the Egyptian sacrifices; and it would be an abomination to the Egyptians, should they offer to God the objects of the worship of the Egyptians, namely, their calves or oxen. Those who would offer acceptable sacrifice to God, must separate themselves from the wicked and profane. They must also retire from th...

Verse Exodus 8:28. _I WILL LET YOU GO ONLY YE SHALL NOT GO VERY FAR AWAY_] Pharaoh relented because the hand of God was heavy upon him; but he was not willing to give up his _gain_. The Israelites were very _profitable_ to him; they were _slaves_ of the state, and their hard labour was very productive: hence he professed a willingness, first to _tolerate_ their religion in the land, (Exodus 8:25); or to permit them to go into the wilderness, so that they went not far away, and would soon return. How ready is foolish man, when the hand of God presses him sore, to compound with his Maker! He will consent to give up some sins, provided God will permit him to keep others. _ENTREAT FOR ME._] Exactly similar to the case of Simon Magus, who, like Pharaoh, fearing the

EXPOSITION The fourth plague moves the Pharaoh more than any preceding one. He still cannot bring himself to grant the demand of Moses; but he offers a compromise. The Israelites shall have a respite from their toils, and be permitted to hold their festival, and offer the needful sacrifices in Egypt (Exodus 8:25). When this offer is for good reasons not accepted, he yields even further—he will let the people go and sacrifice _in the wilderness_—only they must not "go far away"(Exodus 8:28). Having made this promise, he obtains for the second time the intercession of Moses and the discontinuance of the plague in consequence of it. But then, as before, when he saw that there was respite (Exodus 8:15), he retracted

AND PHARAOH SAID, I WILL LET YOU GO, THAT YE MAY SACRIFICE TO THE LORD YOUR GOD IN THE WILDERNESS,.... He does not say three days, though as he allowed them to go into the wilderness and sacrifice, they could not go and come again in less time; nor would Moses have accepted of the grant, as it seems by what follows he had, if he had obliged them to less time: ONLY YOU SHALL NOT GO VERY FAR AWAY; his meaning is, as Aben Ezra observes, that they should go no further than three days' journey; he was jealous that this was only an excuse to get entirely out of his dominions, and never return more. He might have heard of their claim to the land of Canaan, and of their talk, and hope, and expectation, of going and settling there; and so understood this motion of theirs, to have leave to go into the wilderness for three days, to sacrifice to the Lord, was only a pretence; that their real intent...

VERY FAR The second compromise is a modification merely of the first. "Do not be too unwordly." Compare (1 Samuel 15:3); (1 Samuel 15:9); (1 Samuel 15:13); (1 Samuel 15:19)....

CHAPTER 8 THE SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH PLAGUES _ 1. The demand and the plague of frogs announced (Exodus 8:1)_ 2. The plague executed (Exodus 8:5) 3. The request of Pharaoh and the frogs removed (Exodus 8:8) 4. The divine command for the third plague (Exodus 8:16) 5. The plague executed (Exodus 8:17) 6. The confession of the magicians (Exodus 8:18) 7. The renewed demand and the plague of the flies announced ...

EXODUS 7:14 TO EXODUS 12:36. THE TEN PLAGUES. How deeply this series of events imprinted itself on the mind and heart of the nation is shown by the fulness with which the three sources report them. J 1° 2° 4° 5° 7° 8° 9° 10° E 1° 7° 8° 9° 10° P 1° 2° 3° 6° 10° 1°, river turned to blood; 2°, frogs; 3°, fice (gnats); 4°, flies; 5°, murrain; 6°, boils; 7°, hail; 8°, locusts; 9°, darkness; 10°, death of firstborn. A sound historical judgment will conclude, both from this fact and from the nature of the occurrences mentioned, as well as from the need for _some_ such group of causes to account for the escape of the tribes, that the traditions have a firm foothold in real events. But since not less than four centuries intervened between the events and the earliest of our sources, it is not to b

NOT GO VERY FAR AWAY. Pharaoh's objection to Jehovah's third demand (Exodus 8:25). Note the spiritual lesson as to our worship to-day. See note on Exo 5:28 FROM. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Syriac, read "and from". THE FIFTH PLAGUE was aimed at all kinds of animal worship. Compare Exodus 12:12....