EXODUS 11
<021101>Exodus 11:1-10
1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. | 1. Dixerat autem Jehova ad Mosen, Adhuc plagam unam adducam super Pharaonem, et super AEgyptum: postea dimittet vos hinc, dimittendo vos perfecte: expellendo expellet vos hinc. |
2. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. | 2. Loquere nunc in auribus populi, ut petant quisque a proximo suo, et mulier a proxima sua vasa argentea et vasa aurea. |
3. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people. | 3. Et dabit Jehova gratiam populo in oculis AEgyptiorum. Etiam vir Moses magnus erat valde in terra AEgypti, in oculis servorum Pharaonis, et in oculis populi. |
4. And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: | 4. Et dixit Moses, Sic dicit Jehova, Circiter dimidium noctis ego egrediar in medium AEgypti. |
5. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. | 5. Morieturque omne primogenitum in terra AEgypti, a primogenito Pharaonis qui sedet super solium ejus, usque ad primogenitum ancillae quae est post molam, et omne primogenitum jumenti. |
6. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. | 6. Et erit clamor magnus in tota terra AEgypti, qualis nunquam fuit, nec futurus est. |
7. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. | 7. Apud omnes autem filios Israel non movebit canis linguam suam, ab homine usque ad animal, ut sciatis quod distinctionem posuit Deus inter AEgyptios et inter Israel. |
8. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. | 8. Descendentque omnes hi servi tui ad me, et adorabunt me, dicendo, Egredere tu et totus populus qui est sub pedibus tuis: postea egrediar. Et egressus est a Pharaone in ira, vehementi. |
9. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. | 9. Dixerat autem Jehova ad Mosen, Non audiet vos Pharao, ut multiplicem portenta mea in terra AEgypti. |
10. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land. | 10. Itaque Moses et Aharon fecerunt omnia haec portenta coram Pharaone. Et roboravit Jehova cor Pharaonis, ut non dimitteret filios Israel e terra sua. |
Exodus 11:1 And the Lord said unto Moses. 1 He now relates that it was not with self-conceived confidence that he was lately so elated, as we have seen him; 2 but because he had been forewarned by divine revelation that the end of the contests was now near, and that nothing now remained but. that Pharaoh should fall by his mortal wound. This verse, then, is connected with the preceding’, and explains its cause; because Moses would not have been at, liberty to interrupt the course of his vocation, unless he had now plainly known that he was arriving at its conclusion. Nor would it otherwise agree with what follows, via, that Moses spoke to Pharaoh after he had declared that he would not appear any more in his sight, unless the subject were continued without interruption. But this sentence is introduced parenthetically, (meaning) that however obstinate Pharaoh might be, the hour was now come in which he must succumb to God. But God not, only declares that the heart of Pharaoh should be changed, so that he would not hinder the people’s departure, but that he would be himself anxious for that, which he had so pertinaciously refused; for this is the meaning of the words, he will not only send you away, but altogether thrust you out,. For in his alarm at their presence, he eagerly drove them from his kingdom.
Exodus 11:2 Speak now in the ears of the people. He repeats His command as to spoiling the Egyptians, of which mention was made in the third chapter, for it was not enough for God to rescue His people from that cruel tyranny under which their wretched lives were scarcely protracted in great poverty and distress, unless He also enriched them with large possessions, as if they were carrying away the prizes of victory from conquered enemies. This, therefore, was the consummation of His otherwise extraordinary bounty, that they departed splendidly adorned, 3 and laden with precious furniture. We have already explained how it was lawful for the Israelites to take away with them the golden and silver vessels under pretext of borrowing them. 4 Surely the sole authority of God absolves them from the accusation of theft and sinful deception. But it cannot be permitted to any mortal man to censure or cavil at anything in the commandment of God; not only because His decree is above all laws, but because His most perfect will is the rule of all laws. For neither therefore is God unanswerable to law, because: he delights in uncontrollable power; but because in the perfection of His infinite justice there is no need of law. But although the excuse which some allege is not altogether without show of reason, viz., that the very severe labors which the Egyptians had tyrannically exacted were worthy of some reward, and therefore that God had justly permitted His people to exact the compensation of which they would have been otherwise unjustly defrauded, still there is no necessity for having recourse to these subtleties; for that principle, which we have elsewhere laid down, ought to be sufficient, that God, in whose hands are the ends of the earth, to destroy and to overturn at His will its kingdoms, and to change the government of its nations, much more (has the right) so to distribute the wealth and possessions of individuals, as to enrich some and to reduce others to want.
“The rich and poor meet together, (says Solomon:) the Lord is maker of them all,” (Proverbs 22:2;)
by which words he means that the providence of God rules in the various mixing together of poor and rich. But if theft be the taking away of what is another’s, those things which it has pleased God to transfer to His own people, must not be counted the property of others. But if by the laws of war it be permitted to the victors to gather up the spoil of the enemy, why should we consider it less allowable for God to do so from the Egyptians, whom He had overcome in ten illustrious battles, before He compelled them to surrender? As to the pretense of borrowing, the reply is easy, for the Israelitish women did not lie when they asked for the vessels for the purpose of sacrifice: since God had thus commanded, in whose power it was afterwards to devote them to other uses. Still part of them were dedicated to the sanctuary, as we shall see elsewhere; for besides the altar, the censer, and the candlestick, and other vessels of that kind, each of the tribes offered vials and dishes of great value. Yet must we recollect that a particular case is here related, imitation of which, without God’s special command, would be wrong.
Exodus 11:3 And the Lord gave 5 the people favor. Because the Israelites never could have hoped that the Egyptians, who had before rapaciously stripped them of everything, would become so kind and liberal to them, Moses declares that men’s hearts are turned this way or that by God. For, as the Psalm testifies, that the Egyptians were impelled by Him “to hate His people,” (<19A525>Psalm 105:25,) that He might make way for their glorious deliverance; so He was able also to incline them in the opposite direction, that they should freely give what they had before harshly refused, and not without threats and blows. This doctrine is exceedingly useful to be known, because, when men are harsh and cruel to us, it: teaches us patience, whilst we are assured that the passions of wicked men only thus assail us, in so far as God would chastise our sins, and exercise and humble us. It affords also no little consolation to alleviate our pains, and seasonably arouses us to call upon God, that He would turn the minds of our enemies from brutality and unkindness to gentleness. It appears from many passages that this was ever the persuasion of all the pious, and unquestionably the expression of Jacob to his sons, “God Almighty give (dabit) you mercy before the man,” was founded on this general feeling. (Genesis 43:14.) But, since Scripture is full of such testimonies, let it suffice to have quoted this single one. Again, God does not always incline men to mercy, by the Spirit of regeneration, so that they should be changed from wolves to lambs; but sometimes by His secret inspiration He for a short time softens them though they know it not, as we read here of the Egyptians. In the second clause of the verse, where it is said, “Moreover the man Moses,” etc., an inferior and subordinate reason is given, which availed both to change the Egyptians as well as to encourage the Israelites, so that both of them reverently deferred to his words; for although this whole matter was governed by the power of God alone, still He did not act simply by Himself, but having chosen Moses as His minister, He assigned 6a certain charge to him. Hence the veneration which made the Egyptians as well as the Israelites obedient to him, that his labor might not be in vain. He only speaks, indeed, of the Egyptian nation, (for after having spoken of “the land” first, he adds two divisions, “Pharaoh’s servants,” i.e., the nobles and courtiers, and then “the common people,” for so in this place I understand the word “people;”) but we shall soon see that the miracles had had a good effect upon the Israelites also, that they should more readily believe and obey. But; this passage teaches us that God’s servants are often prized and honored, where yet faith in their doctrine is not possessed, for although the Egyptians reverence and highly esteem Moses, they do not therefore incline to seek 7 after piety. And thus the wicked often fear God Himself, when influenced by particular circumstances, and yet do not devote themselves to His service.
Exodus 11:4 And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord. I lately said that Moses did not go from Pharaoh’s presence until he had delivered the message of his final destruction. This denunciation is, therefore, connected with the foregoing passage. Whence it appears how courageously Moses sustained the menaces of the tyrant, whilst he willingly encounters him, and boasts that he shall be his conqueror, though he be not in his presence, by the death of his first-born son in the coming night. Nor is it to be doubted that Pharaoh was confounded with terror, since, although so cruelly repulsed, he dismissed the Prophet in safety. Assuredly, since so unreserved a threatening must; have inflicted a very bitter pang, so it would have aroused the cruelty of the raging tyrant, unless the same God who had endued His servant with admirable firmness, had also controlled the impetuosity of the savage beast. Why God, in inflicting punishment on the children, postponed till another time that of the fathers, whose sin was greater; why, in wreaking vengeance on the beasts, He spared men, it is not our province curiously to inquire, because 8 it is sinful to prescribe to God, whose incomprehensible wisdom surmounts all human understanding, what should be the rule or measure of His judgments. By bringing the children and beasts to punishment, He certainly represented clearly to the wicked despisers of His power, what they had deserved. The first-born of Pharaoh, who would have been heir of the kingdom, is placed in the first rank of victims; afterwards the whole body of humbler people is mentioned, for the maid-servants, who turned their revolving mills, occupied a very low and despised condition, as appears not only from the ancient poets, but from the testimony of Scripture itself. (1 Samuel 8:16.) If any one chooses to observe the analogy between this plague and the unjust tyranny by which the Egyptians had afflicted Israel, God’s first-born son, I make no objection. God again puts a difference between the Egyptians and his own people, when he declares that, in the midst of the great cry, the latter shall be quiet and tranquil. For this is the meaning of the figure, “A dog shall not move his tongue,”
because dogs are wont to bark at the very least noise in the night. Moreover, although such a separation between the faithful and unbelievers does not always appear, but rather do similar punishments generally involve them both together, yet in the final issue God divides them very widely one from the other. Wherefore we can never lose this felicity, that we know that all afflictions conspire unto the salvation of us, whom he has once embraced with His loving-kindness.
Exodus 11:8 And all these thy servants shall come down. Thus far Moses had reported the words of God; he now begins to speak in his own person, and announces that, by Pharaoh’s command, messengers would come from his court, who would voluntarily and humbly crave for what he had refused respecting the dismissal of the Israelites. The great asperity of these words inflicted no slight; wound on the tyrant’s mind, for it was the same as if he had said — Thus far I have entreated you to allow God’s people to depart; now, whether you will or not, I will freely go, and not even without the request of yourself and your followers. What he then relates, that he went out “in the heat of anger,” 9 or “in a great anger,” shows us that the servants of God, even when they truly and faithfully perform their duty, are so disturbed with indignation against sin, that they are by no means restrained from being affected with anger. Nor is there any question that Moses was thus excited to wrath by the impulse of the Spirit. Yet, since we are naturally too prone to impetuous passions, we must diligently beware lest our indignation exceed due bounds. The Spirit awakened in the heart of Moses this zeal, which here is mentioned, but he at the same time moderated it, so that it should contain no admixture of unregulated passion. But since it may, and often does happen that the faithful, when influenced by pious zeal, still do not sufficiently restrain themselves, nor keep themselves within due bounds, the spirit of gentleness and propriety must be asked of God, which may prevent all excesses. Yet the anger of Moses is a proof to us that God would not have us lazily and coldly perform the duties which He entrusts to us; and, therefore, that nothing is more preposterous than for certain cynics, whilst they jokingly and ridiculously philosophize concerning the doctrines of religion, and sting God’s servants with their laughing and wanton witticisms, to deride their vehemence, which is rather worthy of the highest praise.
Exodus 11:9 And the Lord said unto Moses. This seems to be a representation of the reason why Moses was so angry; viz., because he had been forewarned that he had to do with a lost and desperate man. When, therefore, after so many contests, he sees the dominion of God despised by the audacity and madness of the tyrant, deeper indignation bursts from him in their last struggle; especially because he sees before his eyes that detestable prodigy, viz., an earthen vessel so bold as to provoke God with indomitable obstinacy. But God had foretold to Moses (as we have already seen) the end of this his exceeding stubbornness, lest, having so often suffered repulse, he should faint at length. Otherwise, there might have crept in no trifling temptation, as to how it could please God to contend in vain with a mortal man. And it was absurd that the hardness of a human heart could not be either subdued, or corrected, or broken by the divine power. God, therefore, asserts that He was thus designing His own glory, which he desired to manifest by various miracles; and on this account he adds again in the next verse, that Pharaoh’s heart was again hardened by God Himself; whereby he signifies, that the tyrant thus pertinaciously resisted, not without the knowledge and will of God, in order that the deliverance might be more wonderful.
EXODUS 12
<021221>Exodus 12:21-28
21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill the passover. | 21. Vocavit ergo Moses omnes seniores Israel, et dixit ad eos, Extrahite et tollite vobis pecudem pro familiis vestris, et macate Pesah. |
22. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. | 22. Accipietis quoque fasciculum hyssopi, et theintingetis in sanguine qui erit in pelvi, et projicietis in superliminare et in utrunque postem de sanguine qui erit in vase. Vos autem non egrediemini quisque ex hostio domus suae usque mane. |
23. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. | 23. Et transibit Jehova ad percutiendam AEgyptum: ubi autem viderit sanguinem in superliminari et in duobus postibus, tunc transiliet Jehova januam illam, neque permittet vastatorem ingredi domos vestras ad percutiendum. |
24. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. | 24. Observabitis sermonem hunc in edictum, tibi et filiis tuis usque in saeculum. |
25. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. | 25. Et quum ingressi fueritis terram quam dabit Jehova vobis, sicut pollicitus est, tunc observabitis cultum hunc. |
26. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? | 26. Et erit quum dixerint vobis filii vestri, Quis est cultus hic vester? |
27. That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head, and worshipped. | 27. Tunc dicetis, Haec est oblatio Pesah Jehovae, qui transivit domos filiorum Israel in AEgypto, quum percuteret AEgyptum, et domos nostras liberavit. Et incurvavit se populus, et adoravit. |
28. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. I have here omitted what Moses has related in the beginning of the chapter up to this verse, because it pertains to the perpetual doctrine of the Law. I shall hereafter insert it in its proper place. But., since here also God gave precepts as to the observation of the Passover, I have thought it right to interweave them with the history; because Moses does not merely teach here what God would have observed by His people in all ages, but relates what He required on a particular occasion. But my readers are to be reminded that some precepts are temporary, and some perpetual, like the Law itself. Of this we may see a clear and familiar example in the chapter before us. For up to this place, Moses had explained what; would be the due observation of the Passover year by year for ever; but now he only relates historically, that, on the night in which the people went forth, they celebrated the Passover according’ to God’s command. I shall, therefore, lightly touch upon what is here repeated; since a more fitting place for a full exposition will be, when we come to the doctrine of the law. The word hsp, [^f140] pesech, means a passing-over, not of the people, (as many have falsely thought,) but of God Himself, who passed over the houses of the Israelites without harm, when He slew the first-born in all Egypt. Since, then, the wrath of God, which then like a deluge covered the whole of Egypt, left the Israelites untouched, He instituted a memorial of His passing-over, whereby they had been preserved in safety amidst the public destruction of the whole land. He is also said to have passed-over the Egyptians, whom He deprived of their first-born; but after a different manner, because He spared His chosen ones, as if they had been far away, or protected in places of sure refuge. | 28. Ablerunt itaque et fecerunt filii Israel sicut praeceperat Jehova Mosi et Aharon; sic, inquam, feterunt. |
Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders. His address is especially directed to the elders, that they might afterwards repeat it to the multitude; for he could not have been heard at the same time by so great a number of people. But, although the disorganization of the people had been terrible under that severe tyranny, still God willed that certain relics of order should be preserved, and did not suffer those, whom He had adopted, to be deprived of all government. This also had been an availing means of preserving their unity, so that the chosen seed of Abraham should not be lost. But Moses here only speaks of the sprinkling of the blood; because he had already addressed them as to the eating of the lamb. He therefore commands branches of hyssop to be dipped in the blood, which had been caught in the basin, and every one’s lintel and two side-posts to be sprinkled with this. By which sign God testified that He will preserve His people from the common destruction, because they will be discerned from the wicked by the mark of blood. For it was necessary that the Israelites should first be reminded, that by the expiation of the sacrifice, they were delivered from the plague, and their houses preserved untouched; and, secondly, that the sacrifice would profit them, only if its conspicuous sign existed among them. We elsewhere see that the Paschal lamb was a type of Christ, who by His death propitiated His Father, so that we should not perish with the rest of the world. But, already of old time, He desired to bear witness to the ancients under the Law, that He would not be reconciled to them otherwise than through the sacrifice of a victim. And there is no doubt that by this visible symbol He raised up their minds to that true and heavenly Exemplar, whom it would be absurd and profane to separate from the ceremonies of the law. For what could be more childish than to offer the blood of an animal as a protection against the hand of God, or to seek from thence a ground of safety? God, then, shows that He spares the Israelites on no other condition but that of sacrifice; from whence it follows, that the death of Christ was set before them in this ordinance, which alone constituted the difference between them and the Egyptians. But at the same time He taught that no advantage was to be expected from the blood poured forth, without the sprinkling; not that the external and visible sprinkling produced any good effect, but because by this familiar rite it was useful that the ignorant should be brought to perceive the truth, and that they might know that what was put before them Visibly must be spiritually fulfilled. It is notorious from the testimony of Peter, (1 Peter 1:2,) that our souls are sprinkled with the blood of Christ by the Spirit. This was typified by the bunch of hyssop, 10 which herb possesses great cleansing power, and therefore, was often used in other sacrifices also, as we shall hereafter see in the proper places.
Exodus 12:23 For the Lord will pass through. He forbids them to go out during the night, lest they should mix themselves with the Egyptians, but commands them to keep quietly under the protection of the blood. By this sign they were admonished that they also were exposed to destruction, if they did not separate themselves from the unbelievers under the safeguard of the blood. Afterwards the promise: is added, that, provided this were done, the angel would pass them over, and inflict no injury upon them, because God would acknowledge the houses so marked as His own. Wherefore, it is again repeated, that they should alone be safe by the blessing of the blood, who should not neglect to sprinkle themselves with it; because faith alone confers upon us the salvation which is obtained by the slaughter of the victim. The angel, whom God had delegated for afflicting Egypt, is here undoubtedly called “the destroyer;” and, although He often executes His judgments by evil angels, it is to be gathered from other passages that this was one of the elect angels, who also was the minister of the people’s deliverance under Christ as the Head.
Exodus 12:25 When ye come into the land. He now adds that this rite must be annually observed, in order that the memory of this extraordinary grace might never perish. But since a commandment is given respecting the continual observation 11 of the Sabbath, I postpone its explanation to a more appropriate place; except I would cursorily remark, that the proclamation of the blessing is annexed to the sign; because otherwise it would be an empty and unmeaning proceeding. God, therefore, would have the fathers proclaim it unto their children, so that the knowledge of their redemption, being handed down by tradition, may flourish in all ages. The word db[, 12 gnebod, some have improperly rendered “work,” whereas it is rather used for “worship;” as in many passages to serve God means the same as to worship Him. We too, in French, call whatever relates to the exercises of piety “God’s service.” Finally, Moses adds that the people professed their faith and obedience by solemn adoration. This indeed they had already done from the beginning, but with little constancy, because they had been so harassed by their afflictions as to neglect their duty; but now they correct the fault of ingratitude. Therefore, they not only declare their feelings of seriousness by bowing the head, but give actual proof of them; for it is expressly said, that they diligently performed whatever was commanded.
<021229>Exodus 12:29-39
29. And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. | 29. Et factum est in medio noctis ut percuteret Jehova omne primogenitum in terra AEgypti, a primogenito Pharaonis sedente super solium ejus, ad primogenitum captivi qui erat in carcere: et omne primogenitum bestiae. |
30. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt: for there was not a house where there was not one dead. | 30. Surrexit ergo Pharao nocte, ipse et omnes servi ejus, et omnes AEgyptii: fuitque clamor magnus in AEgypto, quoniam nulla erat domus ubi non esset mortuus. |
31. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. | 31. Vocavitque Mosen et Aharon nocte, et ait, Surgite, et exite e medio populi mei tam vos quam filii Israel: ite et asservite Jehovae secundum sermonem vestrum. |
32. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone: and bless me also. | 32. Etiam greges vestros, etiam armenta vestra accipite: sicuti dixistis: et ite, ac benedicite etiam mihi. |
33. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead | 33. Et vehementer instabant AEgyptii erga populum ut festinanter eos emitterent e terra: quia dicebant, Omnes sumus mortui. |
34. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. humerum suum. | 34. Tulit ergo populus conspersionem suam antequam fermentaretur, cibos suos ligatos in vestibus super humerum suum. |
35. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. | 35. Fecerunt autem filii Israel secundum sermonem Mosis, ut postulatent ab AEgyptiis vasa argentea, et vasa aurea, et vestes. |
36. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required: and they spoiled the Egyptians. | 36. Et dedit Jehova gratiam populo in oculis AEgyptiorum, et commodaverunt eis: itaque spoliaverunt AEgyptios. |
37. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children. | 37. Profectique sunt filii Israel e Ramesses in Sucoth circiter sexcenta millia peditum et quidem virorum, praeter parvulos. |
38. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. | 38. Atque etiam mixtio multa ascendit cum eis, et pecudes et boves, pecus copiosum valde. |
39. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. | 39. Et coxerunt conspersionem quam extulerant ex AEgypto, placentas infermentatas, quia non erat fermentatum, eo quod ejecti fuissent ex AEgypto, nec potuissent morari, ideoque cibum non paraverant sibi. |
40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. | 40. Habitatio autem filiorum Israel, qua habitaverunt in AEgypto, triginta fuerunt anni et quadringenti anni. |
41. And it came to pass, at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. | 41. Factumque est a fine triginta et quadringentorum annorum, ipsa eadem die egressi sunt omnes exercitus Jehovae e terra AEgypti. |
42. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. Nox observabilis (Hebrews observantiarum, vel custodiarum) haec est Jehovae, qua eduxit eos e terra AEgypti: nox inquam haec observanda est Jehovae apud omnes filios Israel per aetates suas. 50. Thus did all the children of Israel: as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. | 42. Et fecerunt omnes filii Israel sicuti praeceperat Jehova Mosi et Aaron, sic fecerunt. |
50. Thus did all the children of Israel: as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. | 50. Et fecerunt omnes filii Israel sicuti praeceperat Jehova Mosi et Aaron, sic fecerunt. |
51. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. | 51. Et factum est ut ipsa eadem die educeret Jehova filios Israel e terra AEgypti per exercitus suos. |
17. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: | 17. Factum est autem quum emitteret Pharao populum, ut non duceret eos Deus per viam terrae Philistim, quia propinqua erat. Nam dixit Deus, Ne forte poeniteat populum quum viderint praelium et revertantur in AEgyptum. |
18. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea. And the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. you. | 18. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with Circunduxit ergo Deus populum per viam deserti, per Mare Rubrum: et dispositi ascenderunt filii Israel e terra AEgypti. |
19. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. | 19. Et tulit Moses ossa Joseph secum. Adjurando enim adjuraverat filios Israel, dicendo, Visitando visitabit vos Deus, et tolletis ossa mea hinc vobiscum. |
20. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. | 20. Itaque profecti sunt e Suchoth, et castrametati sunt in Ethan, in extremitate deserti. |
21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night. | 21. Jehova autem praecedebat eos interdiu in columna nubis, ut deduceret eos per viam; noctu vero in columna ignis, ut luceret eis, ut ambularent die et noctu. |
22. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. | 22. Non abstulit columnam nubis interdiu, neque columnam ignis noctu a facie populi. |
Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight. Lest the hand of God should be hidden in this miracle, as well in the preservation of the people as in taking vengeance upon the Egyptians, Moses sets forth its power by many circumstances. For he both relates that the destruction took place at midnight, which was the time prescribed by God, and then adds, that all the first-born of the land were smitten, from the son of the king to the son of the captive in the dungeon. It is thus that he indicates proverbially the most abject persons, as he had said before, “unto the first-born of the maidservant that is behind the mill.” For it could only be by an extraordinary miracle that this calamity could affect every house without exception, at the same hour, especially when it extended even to the beasts. Thirdly, he recounts that all the Egyptians were aroused suddenly, and manifestly convinced that the God of Israel was wroth with them. Fourthly, that Pharaoh humbly prayed of Moses to lead forth the people in haste; nay, that he even importunately thrust them out. Yet not even by such clear and solid proofs has the dishonesty and impudence of some been prevented from attempting to upset by their falsehoods this memorable work of God. The calumnies are too well known which Josephus refutes in his reply to Apion the Grammarian; and it appears from Justin 13 that they were generally received. Nor can we wonder that the devil should have employed all sorts of artifices, so that by the introduction of various fables he might efface from men’s minds the redemption of the Church. But here also was manifested the admirable wisdom of God, that the futility of these absurdities refutes itself, without the use of any arguments against them. Perhaps there was no intention to deceive on the part of profane writers, when they reported these frivolous and silly stories about the Jews; for doubtless Strabo 14 desired to give the true history of the origin of circumcision when he wrote his foolish and unfounded fables. Nor did even Cornelius Tacitus, 15 although he wrote with malignant and virulent feelings, intentionally put himself to shame; but when by the impulse of Satan they obscured God’s glory, they were smitten with blindness and folly, so that their ridiculous want of truth might be discovered even by children; from whence, however, some sparks of fact may still be elicited, because God would not suffer so memorable an operation to be altogether forgotten, of which these blind men were the proclaimers, when the devil was using their aid to obliterate its memory.
Exodus 12:31 And he called for Moses. It is not probable that God’s servants were recalled into the presence of Pharaoh; but the sense of this passage must be sought for in the prediction of Moses. Pharaoh, therefore, is said to have called them, when, by sending to them his chief courtiers, he compelled their departure. And this is sufficiently proved by the context, because it is immediately added, that the Israelites were by the Egyptians compelled to go out: in haste. Therefore, although Pharaoh never should have seen Moses from the time that he threatened him with death if he came to him again, there is nothing absurd in saying that he called for him when he sent his nobles to him with his command. The perturbation of an alarmed and anxious person is expressed to the life in these words, — “Rise up, get you forth, both ye and your children; go, serve the Lord; also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said.” For he takes no less precaution lest he should give any occasion for delay, than he had before been diligent in bargaining. Whilst, then, he hastily cuts off all objections, the change in the man betrays itself, for the same God who had before hardened his iron heart has now broken it. Hence, too, that cry — the signal of despair — “We be all dead men;” hence, too, their readiness to give willingly of their substance, and to dress up in spoils those whom they had pillaged before. Nor indeed does he without reason repeat that this favor proceeded from divine inspiration, since there would never have been such liberality in robbers as willingly to proffer whatever precious things their houses possessed, and to give them to the Israelites, now ready to depart, whom they knew to be justly hostile to them on account of so many injuries. And that the children of Israel should be so prompt to obey, who before had been either slow, or inconstant, or sullen, or rebellious, was brought about by the guidance of the Spirit, who turned their hearts in a moment; since God well knew how to dispose opportunely all the springs of action.
Exodus 12:37 And the children of Israel journeyed. Although it is probable that they were more widely dispersed, since that district could not have contained so great a multitude, especially when the Egyptians occupied it together with them; still because the recollection of the promise remained among them, from whence some hope of their redemption always was preserved, it is not wonderful that they should have preferred to be kept within narrow bounds, to their great inconvenience, rather than, by seeking other habitations, to separate from the main body. That this was the peculiar abode of the nation is plain also from what has gone before, where Moses related that they were forced to servile tasks in building those fortified cities wherein they might be shut up, as in prison. In the number of men which he reports, he commends the incredible miracle of God’s favor in increasing and multiplying their race. Thus is the effrontery of the impious refuted who think it a sufficient ground for their sneers, that this great people could not in so short a time have naturally proceeded from a single family; and therefore they burst out into unrestrained and blasphemous laughter, as if Moses were simply relating what had happened, and not rather extolling the extraordinary power of God in the sudden increase of His Church. But we know that it was no more a matter of difficulty for the Creator of the whole world to exceed the ordinary course of nature, in the multiplication of a particular nation, than at the beginning to produce speedily many people from one man and woman; and again, after the deluge, to renew the human race by a miraculous augmentation. Now, this is the peculiar character of the Church, that in producing and preserving it, God exerts unusual power, that it may be separated from the common condition of mankind; for although it sojourns on earth, yet is its nature in a manner heavenly, that the work of God may shine forth more brightly in it. No wonder then if, contrary to usual custom, it should emerge, as it were, from nothing, if it grows in the same way and makes continual progress. Such an example does Paul set before us in Romans iv., in the person of Abraham. But whilst the impious despisers of God betray their stupidity in their wicked audacity, when they estimate this work of God by their own senses and by common reason, so, too, do they foolishly err who attempt to defend Moses by philosophical arguments; for his intention was very different, viz., to show that the promises were not unfulfilled, “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore,” (Genesis 22:17, and Genesis 12:2, and Genesis 15:5,) the effect of which promises was beyond human comprehension.
Exodus 12:38 And a mixed multitude. Although Abraham possessed many servants, yet is it scarcely probable that in the famine Jacob maintained any other persons in his family besides his own children, whom he could hardly so sustain as to preserve them from dying of hunger. And since Moses, in relating their coming into Egypt, does not mention any servants, we may conjecture that they brought no great number, because necessity compelled them to be content at any rate with a few. From hence we gather that the mixed multitude, which united themselves with the Israelites, were either the offspring of Egypt, or had migrated from the neighboring countries to take up their habitation there; as fertile lands often attract many strangers to them by the pleasures of abundance. The same expression is used in Nehemiah 13:3, where it is said that “the mixed multitude” was separated from the true Israelites, lest all should promiscuously arrogate to themselves the same dignity, and, thus the Church should be polluted by a confused admixture, But if any should think it absurd that ungodly men, with no better hope before them, would voluntarily forsake a rich and convenient habitation in order to seek a new home as wanderers and pilgrims, let him recollect that Egypt had now been afflicted by so many calamities that by its very poverty and devastation it might easily have driven away its inhabitants. A great part of the cattle had perished; all the fruits of the earth were corrupted; the fields were ravaged and almost desert; we need not, therefore, wonder if despair should have caused many sojourners to fly away, and even some of the natives themselves. It may be also that, having been inhumanly treated, they shook off the yoke of tyranny when a way to liberty was opened to them.
But although God gave His people a ready departure, still He did not choose to let them go out altogether without any inconvenience; for they go not out satiated with food, nor having delicately supped, but are compelled to carry in their bags unbaked masses of dough, that they may eat bread burned or toasted on the embers in their journey. By this example we are taught that God’s blessings are always mingled with certain inconveniences, lest too great delight should corrupt the minds of the godly.
Exodus 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel. The beginning of this period is not reckoned from the coming down of Jacob, for it is very clear from other passages, that, from the time that Jacob entered into Egypt to the Exodus, not more than 230 years at most had passed. 16 The Jews generally only reckon 210; but Moses includes also the period during which Abraham and his children were not in possession of the promised land. The meaning therefore is, that from the time that the inheritance of the land of Canaan was given to Abraham, the promise was suspended for 400, years before his posterity enjoyed their right. For Paul also thus explains this difficulty, (Galatians 3:1,) where he says, that God had confirmed his covenant with Abraham 430 years before the law was promulgated. Moses, therefore, dates the commencement of this period from the sojourning of Abraham, when he was still the lord of the land of Canaan by the just title of donation. With respect to the omission of the thirty years in the 15th chapter of Genesis, in this there is no contradiction, because the land had already been promised to Abraham some years previously, though, so far from obtaining dominion over it, he had scarcely been permitted to occupy it as “a stranger.” Therefore God apprizes him, that 400 years still remained before he would put his descendants into possession of it; and, consequently, that the little time which had elapsed was not sufficient for the trial of his patience, but that both for himself and for his posterity there was need of extraordinary endurance, lest they should faint under the weariness of the long delay. Moreover, there is no departure from the usual manner of speaking, in His not exactly reckoning the number of years. More than 400 years, some twenty, or thereabouts, indeed, remained; but, since God had no other object than to exhort His people to patience, He does not accurately compute or define the exact number of years, because it was sufficient to put before them 400 years in a round sum. In the same way, it is added in the next verse, “at the end of 430 years,” viz., from the time that Abraham had begun to be the legitimate lord of the land; for Moses wished to show, that although God had long delayed the fulfillment of His promise, still His truth and faithfulness were certainly proved, not only because He had precisely performed what He had proraised, but because He had observed the: foreappointed time. He calls the people, weak as they were, by an honorable title, “the hosts of the Lord,” both to enforce again the power of God’s blessing, and to give due honor to His grace in ruling and marshalling so confused a band. Although soldiers may be accustomed to obedience, and have learnt from exercise to keep their ranks; although they may have generals, commandants, and captains, and banners also under which to range themselves, still it is a very difficult thing to march an army of 20,000, or 30,000 men by night without. confusion, and in good order; how great a miracle was it, then, for 600,000 men, with women and children, much baggage, herds, and flocks, and other encumbrances, to pass by night through the midst of enemies, and all to escape safely without a single exception! To the same effect, Moses repeats in the last verse of this chapter, that “the Lord did bring the children of Israel out — by their armies,” as much as to say, that there was no confusion in that immense multitude; since God performed the part of an incomparable Leader in His marvelous power.
Exodus 12:42 It is a night to be much observed. He shows that the Israelites have good cause for sacrificing to God with a solemn ceremony year by year for ever, and for celebrating the memory of that night; and that the Passover was instituted in token of their gratitude. But this admonition was very useful, in order that the Israelites should retain the legitimate use of this solemn feast-day, and that it might not grow into a mere cold ceremony, as is often the case; but that rather they might profitably, and to the advancement of their piety, exercise themselves in this emblem of their redemption. At the same time, he teaches that this so inestimable a benefit was not to be celebrated in one, or two, or three generations, but that as long as the people should remain it was worthy of eternal remembrance, and that it might never be forgotten, the Passover was to be sacredly observed.
Moreover we must remark, that the generations of the ancient people were brought to an end by the coming of Christ; because the shadows of the Law ceased when the state of the Church was renewed, and the Gentiles were gathered into the same body.
Exodus 12:50 Thus did all the children of Israel. This chiefly refers to the slaying of the Paschal lamb with its adjuncts, although I do not deny that allusion is also made to the other circumstances attending their sudden departure. But it is not so much their promptitude and alacrity which are praised, as the wondrous power of God in fashioning their hearts, and directing their hands, so that, in the darkness of the night, amidst the greatest disturbances, in precipitate haste, with nothing well prepared, they were so active and dexterous. Meanwhile, Moses concludes, from the obedience of the people, that nothing was done without the command and guidance of God; from whence it is more clearly manifest that He was the sole author of their deliverance.
EXODUS 13
Exodus 13:17 And it came to pass when Pharaoh. Moses here assigns the reason why God did not immediately lead His people by the more direct way into the land of Canaan, which would have been just as easy to Him, but preferred to bring them round through the desert, by a long and difficult and dangerous journey; viz., lest, if perhaps they had met with enemies to contend against, a ready means of return would have encouraged them to go back into Egypt. We know how great was the supineness and cowardice of this people, as soon as any difficulty presented itself; and how quick they were to revolt from the divine government, as often as a heavier burden than they liked was imposed upon them. We know how often they repented of having followed God as their leader, and thus were prepared to throw away by their ingratitude the grace offered to them. When, therefore, they were powerless in the use of arms, and were altogether without experience of military tactics, with what courage would they have engaged with an enemy, if any should have advanced against them within a few days of their coming out? Assuredly they would not have borne up against a single assault, but would have been willing rather to submit themselves to the Egyptians, with humble supplications for forgiveness. Lest, then, any desire of return should steal over their hearts, God was willing to set up a barrier behind them in the difficulty of the journey. Besides, if in their departure from Egypt they had immediately encountered the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in war, greater troubles would have awaited them; for the Egyptians would by no means let them alone, but., being aided by the subsidies and forces of so many peoples, would have endeavored to avenge themselves, and, having entered into alliances on every side, would have hemmed in the unhappy Israelites. Wherefore, God provided excellently for them, by leading them through inaccessible paths, and by their very weariness shutting the door against their ever desiring to return into Egypt; while afterwards He gradually restored their’ confidence, before they came to fight, and had to sustain the attacks of their enemies. I admit, indeed, that God might have otherwise obviated all these evils; but since He is often wont to deal with His people on human principles, He chose to adopt the method which was most suited to their infirmity. Moses now commends this His admirable design, in order that we may know that nothing was omitted by Him which was for the safety and advantage of His people. For this “God said,” which he mentions, refers to His providence; as much as to say, that the easier and more ordinary passage was not undesignedly rejected, but that because God knew it to be more expedient, He thus advisedly obviated the temptation.
Exodus 13:18 The children of Israel went up harnessed. The word µyçmj, 17 chemishim, is derived from “Five,” from whence some have explained it, that they were furnished with five kinds of arms, but this is too absurd. The Hebrews, because they could conjecture nothing better or more probable, almost with one consent would understand it, that they were armed under the fifth rib. But whence were there so many military corselets ready for the Israelites? But I reject so forced and improbable a meaning, and doubt not that the word is one of number; as though Moses had said, that they went out in ranks of five; because, if each individual in so great a multitude had tried to advance, they would have been in each other’s way. I have therefore thought fit to translate it “dispositi,” (in ranks.) The idea of the Greeks about “the fifth generation,” is very foreign to the present narrative. But in the sense I have given it, there is nothing obscure or doubtful; for it readily appears that God’s favor is celebrated also in this particular, because He led forth His people in order. For, although they came out confusedly and hastily, still He restrained there, as it were, under His banner, and in companies, lest any disturbance should occur.
Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Hence it appears, that even in their adversity the memory of their promised deliverance had never departed from the people, for had not the adjuration of Joseph been currently spoken of in common conversation, Moses would never have been able to imagine it; but he expressly states that he acted in obedience to the holy patriarch in carrying away his bones. It is, therefore, probable that they were so deposited, that the hope of the people might be kept alive by seeing daily the urn or coffer which contained them, as if the holy man even after death uplifted from his tomb a sign of their deliverance; for although by this symbolical act he cherished his own faith, when he desired that, though dead, he might enter on the possession of the promised land, yet there is no doubt that he had more regard to his brethren and the whole posterity of the holy race. 18 For, having known by experience their apathy and the weakness of their faith, he naturally feared lest in a longer lapse of time they should grow more and more indifferent, and at length should despise the proraise, and give themselves up altogether to listlessness about it. And certainly it must have been this mistrust of them which urged him not to be contented with a simple injunction, but to bind their minds more strongly by an oath. In Acts 7:16, Stephen seems to assert that the other eleven sons of
Jacob were also buried in Sichem; and it may be probably conjectured, that they were led piously to emulate the example of their brother Joseph. Assuredly the faith of the departed Joseph, even in his dry bones, preached loudly to his descendants of the promised deliverance, lest they should grow careless from the long delay; and when at length the Israelites were led forth, the bones or ashes of the twelve Patriarchs were like so many standard-bearers, going before the several tribes to encourage their confidence. Wherefore the cowardice of the people was still more detestable, so often basely turning their backs upon their journey, when they had in sight so eminent a ground for confidence. The words of Joseph, which Moses reports, “God will surely visit you,” etc., confirm the expression of the Apostle, (Hebrews 11:22,) that “by faith — he gave commandment concerning his bones,” because he thus takes upon himself the character and office of their surety, to exhort his nation to embrace the promise. How far the silly superstition of the Papists in worshipping the relics of saints differs from this object we may gather from hence without difficulty, viz., that they studiously catch at every means whereby they may be withdrawn further from the word of God.
Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them. Moses here proclaims another of God’s mercies, that, having redeemed His people, He was their constant leader and guide; as the Prophet also in the Psalms distinctly makes reference to both. (Psalm 77:15; and 78:14.) It was indeed a marvelous act of loving-kindness that, accommodating Himself to their ignorance, he familiarly presented Himself before their eyes. He might, indeed, have protected them in some other way from the heat of the sun, and directed them in the darkness of the night; but, in order that His power might be more manifest, He chose to add also His visible presence, to remove all room for doubt. But, although the words of Moses seem in some measure to include the Lord in the cloud, we must observe the sacramental mode of speaking, wherein God transfers His name to visible figures; not to affix to them His essence, or to circumscribe His infinity, but only to show that He does not deceitfully expose the signs of His presence to men’s eyes, but that the exhibition of the thing signified is at the same time truly conjoined with them. Therefore, although Moses states that God was in the cloud and in the pillar of fire, yet does he not wish to draw Him down from heaven, nor to subject His infinite glory to visible signs, with which His truth may consist without His local presence. 19 But execrable is the mad notion of Servetus, who pretended that this cloud was uncreated, as though it were the Deity of Christ, for he substituted this One Person for the Three, as if there had then been a corporeal Deity, which he calls the “figurative Son,” who was afterwards made flesh; not that He put on flesh, but because He appeared as man, compounded of three uncreated elements, and of the seed of David. But, soon after, Moses calls this same being an Angel, to which he now assigns the name of the eternal God. And with good reason, because our heavenly Father then led the Israelites only by the hand of His only-begotten Son. Now, since He is the eternal guardian of His Church, Christ is not less truly present with us now by His power than he was formerly manifest to the fathers. When, therefore, Isaiah prophesies His coming, he recounts amongst others this divine blessing, that “the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night,” — that there might be
“a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain,” (Isaiah 4:5, 6;)
as if he had said, that He would really and substantially fulfill what then was seen under a figurative symbol. And surely that promise, —
“The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night,” (<19C106>Psalm 121:6,)
refers not to a single day, but to all ages. The statement of Moses, then, that “He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night,” is a blessing which God extends to us, as well as to them, except only the visible symbol, which was temporary, on account of the infirmity of the people. As to his saying’ that God always appeared to them, that they might march by night as well as by day, he does not mean that they went on continually without any rest, since he had just before mentioned that their first station was in Succoth, from whence they encamped in Etham, but merely informs us that the flow of God’s grace was continual, since the token of His favor and protection shone forth no less amidst the darkness of the night than at midday itself.
EXODUS 14
<021401>Exodus 14:1-9
1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, | 1. Et loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo. |
2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. | 2. Loquere ad filios Israel, ut redeant, et maneant e regione Pihahiroth inter Migdol et inter mare, e regione Baalsephon, contra ipsum castrametentur juxta mare. |
3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. | 3. Dicet enim Pharao de filiis Israel, Irretiti sunt in terra: conclusit illos desertum. |
4. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am, the Lord. And they did so. | 4. Et roborabo cor Pharaonis, ut persequatur eos: et glorificabor in Pharaone, et in universo exercitu ejus: scientque AEgyptii quod ego Jehova. Et fecerunt sic. |
5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? | 5. Nuntiatum est autem regi AEgypti quod fugisset populus: Et versum est cor Pharaonis et servorum ejus in populum, et dixerunt, Cur hoc fecimus ut dimitteremus Israel, ne serviret nobis? |
6. And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. | 6. Et aptato curru suo populum assumpsit secum. |
7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. | 7. Tulit itaque sexcentos currus electos, omnes currus AEgypti, et duces super quenque illorum. |
8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. | 8. Et roboravit Jehova cor Pharaonis regis AEgypti, et persequutus est filios Israel. Filii autem Israel egressi erant in manu excelsa. |
9. But the Egyptians pursued after them, (all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army,) and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon. | 9. Et persequuti sunt AEgyptii illos, apprehenderuntque eos quum castra haberent juxta mare, omnis equitatus curruum Pharaonis, et equites ejus, et exercitus ejus, juxta Pihahiroth, e regione Baalsephon. |
Exodus 14:1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses. God, by closing up all the ways by which the Israelites might have escaped, now opens a course for His wonderful power, and by bringing them for one moment to despair, provided for the safety of His Church through a long period of time. This final act, then, marvelously illustrated the grace of God, so that the people, however ungrateful and disaffected they might be, should still acknowledge God as their deliverer; besides, its consequence was, that the forces of Egypt not only being broken, but the whole nation being destroyed, or, at least, the flower of it extinguished, it brought no further trouble upon the people until they were established in the land of Canaan. If they had freely and peacefully gone forth, with the king and the people of Egypt quiet, the former miracles would not have sufficiently availed to testify their redemption; but when, being everywhere shut in, they see nothing but death before them, whilst the sea suddenly and unexpectedly affords them a passage, and overwhelms their enemies pressing on them from behind, they are obliged to confess that they were not only saved from death but from the deepest abysses by the hand of God. But it appears that, when they were commanded by Moses to cast themselves, and, as it were, to ingulf themselves in the narrow passage, of which mention is made, they were astonished by the miracles, and like them that dream, since they obeyed without hesitation, although the very aspect of the place must have inspired them with horror. For, if they had apprehended danger, their readiness to obey would not have been so great, as we shall presently see. Wherefore it was the intention of Moses not so much to praise them, as the providence of God. For it is plain, that unless they had been amazed by the miracles, of which they had seen so many, they scarcely could have been induced willingly to throw themselves into. defiles from whence there was no retreat. From the word ldgm, migdol, we may conjecture that a fortress was built on the rock to prevent access to it. I do not quite understand the meaning of tryjh 20 hachiroth, nor do I see why the Greeks should have translated it “the mouth of the valley;” yet from the word signifying “a mouth,” it may be probably conjectured that it was contracted by piles. Because the word rwj, chor, signifies a cave or hole, I know not whether the place might not have obtained its name, as the mouth of the holes or caverns; for the letter w, vau, is often converted into y, yod, and the change of the gender in the plural number is frequent with the Hebrews. Or perhaps some may think it more likely, that though it was written twryjh, hachiroth, the letter j crept in in place of h from its similarity. If we so take it, the feminine gender is put for the masculine, and it will be “the mouth of the mountains.” But although we may be ignorant of the etymology of the second word, the word “mouth” makes it certain that the defile was inclosed by rocks, and of narrow access. Although, if I may tender my own judgment in a doubtful matter, I rather consider that it is derived from the word trj charath, which means to engrave, or to furrow, because the rocks were cut as by a mallet. But on the opposite side, the place was surrounded by the sea, as though the Israelites had been cast into a sepulcher.
Exodus 14:3 For Pharaoh will say. God here explains to Hoses His design; although, in His engagements with Pharaoh, he had so often gained glorious victories, that the last act still remained to overwhelm him and his army in the sea. He says that Pharaoh, then, will be caught in riffs snare, so as to rush upon his destruction. For, if the people had come into the land of Canaan by a direct course, they could not have been so readily pursued; therefore God, for the sake, of magnifying His glory, set a bait to catch the tyrant, just as fish are hooked. The word here used µykbn, 21 nebukim, some render “perplexed,” others “entangled;” but it may be well explained, that they were to be “confounded in the land,” because they would find no way of egress; as being on all sides hemmed in in the narrow passage, with the sea behind them. And where He speaks of the intentions of Pharaoh, He does not, as men do, conceive a mere probability, but; He declares the secret mind of the tryrant, as of a thing which He well knew, since it is His attribute to discern our hearts. Afterwards He goes still further; for he signifies not only that He foresaw what would happen, but again repeats what we have so often observed before, that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he should follow after the people. Whence it follows, that all this was directed by tits will and guidance. But He did not testify this to Hoses only in private, but would have them all previously admonished, lest, being terrified by the sudden assault of their enemies, they should despair of safety. But this admonition was less useful to them than it should have been; because, being soon after surprised, they are not less alarmed than as if they had been brought into danger through the error of God and the ignorance of Moses.
Exodus 14:5 And it was told the king. Moses does not simply mean, that the king then first heard of the flight of the people, which had been anything but secret; but that the circumstances were reported to him, which stirred him up to make an attack upon them. When, then, he hears that the people fled in haste, he thinks that they may be retained by the slightest obstacle. Nor is he alone influenced by this foolish thought, but all his courtiers blame their own inertness for letting the people go. They inquire among themselves, Why they have let the children of Israel depart? as if they had not endeavored in every way to prevent their free exit — as if their pertinacity had not been ten times divinely overcome — as if God had not at length torn the people from them, in spite of their reluctance. But this is the stupidity of the wicked, that they only dread God’s present hand, and immediately forget all that they have seen. They were worn out by the fierce and dreadful punishments; but now, as if nothing had happened, they discuss why they had not resisted God even to the end, when he had compelled them to submit with extreme reluctance, after they had ten times found out that they struggled against Him in vain. But such is the pride by which the reprobate must be blinded, that they may be driven onwards to their own destruction, while they are persuaded that there is nothing difficult to them, and fight against. God.
Exodus 14:6 And he made ready his chariot. Moses briefly describes the warlike preparation of Pharaoh, not only to magnify the greatness of God’s power in delivering the people, but also to show with what violent and obstinate audacity the wicked go forwards, when they give way to their depraved and criminal lusts. Just now the Egyptians were almost frightened to death, and cried out that all was over with them; scarcely has a day passed, when they collect a powerful army as if their forces were uninjured. If any object that 600 chariots, and even many more, although filled with armed men, were insufficient to conquer 600,000 men: I reply, that, since they knew that the battle would be with an unwarlike multitude, amongst which, too, women and children were mingled, they relied on this consideration, and hoped that they would have no difficulty in routing this enormous number, since it was both inexperienced and undisciplined. Nor would their hope have been disappointed, had not God been against them. But the event, proved how truly Solomon says,
“There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord,” (Proverbs 21:30;)
and how justly Isaiah defies the enemies of the Church:
“Associate yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand.” (Isaiah 8:9, 10.)
For this presumption brings the wicked to naught; and, whilst they rush forward with unbridled violence, they conceive not that God has a secret bridle to restrain their lusts.
Exodus 14:8 And the children of Israel went out. 22 Moses indirectly reproves their too great security, which had freed them altogether from care and fear; and whence even the desire of calling on God had grown cold in them, as security always produces drowsiness and an idle spirit. Hence it came to pass, that this great danger, which they had not expected. produced the greater fear. But, on the other hand, Moses exalts God’s grace, because he so opportunely and so critically came to the help of the wretched Israelites exulting in their foolish joy; for otherwise, being suddenly overtaken, they would have fallen at once into confusion at the first shout of the enemy. Thus are we admonished by this example, that, while we are safe under God’s protection, the dangers, which might happen, are to be apprehended, not that we may be anxious and alarmed, but that we may humbly repose under His wings, and not be uplifted with inconsiderate joy. In the next verse Moses briefly relates, how formidable a sight presented itself to the Israelites, when they saw themselves shut in on one part by the sea, ingulfed, as it were, on both sides by the jaws of the defile, and the army of Pharaoh at the same time pressing upon them. He expressly mentions the strength of this army, in order that the glory of the aid divinely afforded them might more fully appear from the opposition.
<021410>Exodus 14:10-18
10. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. | 10. Quumque applicuisset their Pharao, levaverunt filii Israel oculos suos, et ecce, AEgyptii iter faciebant post eos. Itaque timuerunt valde, et clamaverunt filii Israel ad Jehovam. |
11. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? | 11. Et dixerunt ad Mosen, Nunquid (vel, An quia) quia non erant sepulchra in AEgypto, tulisti nos ut moreremur in deserto? Quare sic fecisti nobis, ut educeres nos ex AEgypto? |
12. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. | 12. Nonne hoc est verbum quod diximus tibi in AEgypto, dicentes, Dimitte nos, ut serviamus AEgyptiis. Melius enim nobis erat servire AEgyptiis quam mori in deserto. |
13. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. | 13. Et dixit Moses ad populum, Ne timueritis: state et videte salutem Jehovae quam hodie faciet vobis. Nam quos vidistis AEgyptios hodie, non estis visuri post hac in saeculum. |
14. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. | 14. Jehova pugnabit pro vobis, et vos quiescetis. |
15. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: | 15. Dixerat autem Jehova ad Mosen, Quid clamas ad me? Alloquere filios Israel ut proficiscantur. |
16. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. | 16. Tu vero attolle baculum tuum, et extende manum tuam super mare, et scinde illud, et ingrediantur filii Israel per medium maris in arida. |
17. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. | 17. Et ecce, ego roborabo cor AEgyptiorum, ut sequantur illos, glorificaborque in Pharaone, et in toto exercitu ejus, in curribus ejus, et in equitibus ejus. |
18. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. | 18. Et scient AEgyptii quod ego Jehova, quum glorificatus fuero in Pharaone, in quadrigis ejus, et in equitibus. |
Exodus 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh. Moses implies that the alarm was greater from its suddenness, because no messenger had preceded, so that a very short time indeed was given them for preparation. There was, then, just ground for fear even in the bravest hearts, unless there had been something very extraordinary about them. But they sinned doubly; because both the hope of divine assistance had abandoned their hearts together with the recollection of God’s mercies; and they advanced to such an extent of ingratitude as to revolt insolently against God and Moses. Although there is an appearance of two contrary facts being here reported, viz., that they cried out unto the Lord, and mutinied against His minister; yet we may easily gather that this cry neither arose from faith nor from serious and! well-ordered affections, but that it was extorted by a confused impulse; since the natural sense impels all men, in their adversity, promiscuously to offer their prayers to God, although they neither embrace His mercy nor rely on His power. Thus David, in <19A701>Psalm 107, says that all the distressed have recourse to God when any trouble oppresses them; because God, by the leadings of nature and by secret instinct, draws them to Him in their danger, in order that the most careless and most profane may be rendered more inexcusable. Yet in this way do they not render due honor to God, although by the utterance of their mouths they ask for safety from Him. It is, then, little to be wondered at, that the Israelites being reduced to such sore anxiety should have offered prayers and vows accompanied with God’s name; especially since He had recently manifested Himself to them in so many miracles, and they always had in sight the cloud, or the pillar of fire. But their insane cries against Moses were plain proof that, as in amazement, they had thoughtlessly hastened to call upon the name of God. For the exposition 23 is unreasonable which some give, that certain of them piously prayed to God, whilst others of the multitude wickedly mutinied against Moses; because these two statements are made in conjunction, and cannot be referred to different persons.
Exodus 14:11 Because there were no graves. This 24 is the more proper sense; for the double negative is put for a single one. It is a bitter and biting taunt; for, not contented with preferring the graves of Egypt to the death which they feared, they scoffingly inquire how he could have thought of bringing them into the wilderness, as if the land of Egypt was not large enough to bury them in. But God had openly and clearly proved Himself to be the leader of their departing; and, again, it was basely insensible of them to forget that they were not long since like dead men, and had been miraculously brought out of the grave. Their madness is wilder still, when they daringly call to remembrance the impious blasphemies which should have been a matter of shame and detestation to themselves. For how sad was their ingratitude in rejecting the proffered favor of deliverance, and in shutting the door against the advances of God, in order that they might rot in their misery! True, that God had pardoned this great depravity; but it was their part unceasingly to mourn, and to be as it were overwhelmed with shame, that their crime might be blotted out before God’s judgmentseat. But now, as if God and Moses were accountable to them, they boastfully and petulantly reproach them for not believing them, when they would have prudently prevented the evil. Hence are we taught how far men’s passions will carry them, when fear has extinguished their hopes, and they wait not patiently for God’s aid.
Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people. Although with his characteristic kindness Moses courteously exhorts them to be of good hope, yet it is not probable that he passed over in silence those wicked cries with which he saw that God was atrociously assailed. I conceive, then, that he discharged the duty of a faithful teacher by freely chastising their insolence, which was intolerable; and since he spoke under the inspiration of the preventing Spirit of God, there is no doubt but that God himself severely reproved their blasphemies, lest, by indulgence, they should grow worse. But Moses omits the reproof, and only shows that God’s loving-kindness went beyond the execrable impiety of the people, giving them consolation to assuage their grief and to calm their troubled hearts. Moreover, by bidding them not to fear, and “to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” he implies that, as long as fear has possession of our minds, they are blinded, and confounded in their stupidity so as not to receive the help of God. By the expression, “stand still,” he means “keep quiet;” as much as to say, that there was no occasion for any one to move a finger, because God alone would preserve them, though they were quiet and unmoved; and this he confirms in the next verse, where God promises to conquer for them whilst they hold their peace. But, in my opinion, it is not that he exhorts them to be quiet; but intimates that in God alone there would be strength enough to prevail, although they might be torpid like men entranced.: Now the Israelites, when, though preserved by God’s hand, they reject as much as possible His proffered grace, are an example to us how many repeated salvations are necessary for us, in order that God may bring us to perfect salvation; because, by our ingratitude, we nullify whatever He has given us, and thus should willfully perish, if God did not correct our apathy by the power of His Spirit.
Exodus 14:15 And the Lord 25 said. I have used the praeter-pluperfect tense for the sake of avoiding ambiguity; for the reason is here given why Moses so confidently reproved the hesitation of the people, and promised that they should be safe under the present help of God; viz., because he had already been assured by divine revelation that God was willing to aid His people, and had in readiness a new means for their preservation. For he could not have been the proclaimer and witness of their safety if he had not received the promise. Therefore he relieves his confidence from the imputation of rashness, since he advanced nothing which he had not already heard from the mouth of God himself. These words, “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” some interpreters extend to the whole people, whose representative Moses was; but this sense is too far-fetched, and I have recently observed, that the prayers of the people were by no means directed to God. I doubt not., therefore, that the holy man had prayed apart in the insurrection of the people. Nor is this pious duty disapproved of in the passage; but rather shows that he had not spent his labor in vain, nor poured forth his words into the air. The sense, then, is, “Weary not yourself by crying any more; the event will prove that you are heard. Lift up your rod, then, whereby you may divide the sea, so that the children of Israel may go dry shod through the midst of it.” This passage shows that they are guilty of rashness who promise anything either to themselves or others, as to particular blessings, without the special testimony of God.
Exodus 14:17 I will harden. God once more affirms, for the greater exaltation of His own power, that He will harden the Egyptians, so that, as if devoted to destruction, they may cast themselves into the midst of the sea; which they certainly would never have done, unless He had guided their hearts by his secret influence; because it could not have escaped them that a passage for the Israelites was opened by His special gift, from whence they might gather that the elements were at war with them. Therefore they would never have dared to enter the sea, which they saw to be armed against them, unless they had been blinded by God. Whence it appears how unworthy is the imagination of those who pretend that there was but a bare permission here, where God would make His power conspicuous. It would have been enough that after the Israelites had passed over to the opposite shore the sea should have returned to its place and prevented the Egyptians from following; but God was willing, by a double miracle, to consult for the security of His people for a long’ time to come. And this, indeed, came to pass; for the flower of the whole nation being destroyed, the Egyptians were unable to recruit their army; especially when the heir to the throne had already been slain, and the king himself was now taken away. On this account it is said, that the Egyptians should know that the God of Israel was the Lord; because in this last act they found that the power of rebellion was altogether taken from them.
<021419>Exodus 14:19-25
19. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. | 19. Profectus est itaque angelus Dei qui praecedebat castra Israel: coepitque ire a tergo ipsorum, et columna nubis quae praecedebat eos, fuit illis a tergo. |
20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. | 20. Ac ingressus est inter castra AEgyptiorum et inter castra Israel. Et fuit nubes et caligo: et illuminavit noctem, nec appropinquavit alter alteri tota nocte. |
21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. | 21. Porro extendit Moses manum suam super mare: et Jehova fecit mare abire per ventum orientalem vehementem tota nocte; posuitque mare in siccitatem, quia divisae erant aquae. |
22. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. | 22. Tunc ingressi sunt filii Israel in medium maris in sicco: et aquae illis erant quasi murus a dextra et sinistra eorum. |
23. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. | 23. Et insequuti sunt AEgyptii, et venerunt post illos totus equitatus Pharaonis, currus ejus, et equites ad medium maris. |
24. And it came to pass, that, in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. | 24. Et factum est custodia matutina ut respiceret Jehova ad castra AEgyptiorum in columna ignis et nube: et turbavit castra AEgyptiorum. |
25. And took off their chariotwheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. | 25. Et abstulit rotas curruum ejus, et violenter vexit eum. Unde dixit AEgyptius, Fugiam a facie Israel: quia Jehova pugnat pro eis contra AEgyptios. |
Exodus 14:19 And the angel of God. A sudden change which occurred to prevent a battle is here described; for the angel:, who used to go before the Israelites to show the way: turned to the other side, that he might be interposed between the two camps; and this, in two respects, because the pillar of fire shone upon the Israelites to dissipate the darkness of the night, whilst thick darkness held the Egyptians as it were in captivity, so that they were unable to proceed further. Thus did God both prevent them from advancing, and also held out a torch for His people all night to light them on their way. He, who has been called “Jehovah” hitherto, is now designated by Moses “the Angel;” not only because the angels who represent God often borrow His name, but because this Leader of the people was God’s only-begotten Son, who afterwards was manifested in the flesh, as I have shown upon the authority of Paul. (1 Corinthians 10:4.) It may be remarked, also, that he is said to have moved here and there, as He showed some token of His power and assistance. Most clearly, too, does it appear, that the glory of God, whilst it enlightens the faithful, overshadows the unbelievers, on the other hand, with darkness. No wonder, then, if now-a-days the brightness of the Gospel should blind the reprobate. But we should ask of God to make us able to behold His glory.
Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out. We have already said that the passage was free and convenient for the Israelites by night, since the pillar of fire replenished their side with light: and certainly so great a multitude could not reach the opposite shore in an hour or two. The Israelites then passed over from evening even till dawn; and then the Egyptians having discovered that they were gone, hastened to follow that they might fall upon their rear. Now, though Moses uses no ornaments of language in celebrating this miracle, yet the bare recital ought to be sufficient; and, therefore, is more emphatic to awaken our admiration than any rhetorical coloring and magnificent eloquence. For who would desire sounding exclamations, in order to be ravished to the highest admiration of the divine power, when he is told simply and in a few words that the sea was divided by the rod of Moses; that space enough for the passage of the people was dry; that the mighty mass of waters stood like solid rocks on either side? Designedly, then, has he set the whole matter before our eyes bare of all verbal splendor; although it will both be celebrated soon after, in accordance with its dignity, in the Canticle, and is everywhere more splendidly magnified by the Prophets and in the Psalms. In this passage let us learn, just as if Moses were leading us to the actual circumstance, to fix our eyes on the prospect of God’s inestimable power, which cannot be sufficiently expressed by any number or force of words. But Moses is very careful not to arrogate more than enough for himself, so as to detract from the praise of God. He had been before commanded to divide the sea with his uplifted rod; he now changes the form of expression, viz., that the waters went back by the command of God. Thus, content with the character of a minister, he makes God alone, as was fit, the author of the miracle. But although it was competent for God to dispel the waters without any motion of the air, yet, that He might show that all nature was obedient to Him, and governed at His will, He was pleased to raise the strong east wind. Meanwhile it is to be remembered, that the sea could not be dried by arty wind, however strong, unless it had been effected by the secret power of the Spirit, beyond the ordinary operation of nature. On which point see my previous annotations on chap. 10:13 and 19.
Exodus 14:24 And it came to pass, that, in the morning-watch. In the morning the angel began to look upon the Egyptians, not that they had escaped his sight before; but for the purpose of destroying them by sudden submersion, though he had seemed previously to forget them, when hidden by the cloud. 26 And first, He opened their eyes, that too late they might see whither their mad impetuosity had brought them; and also that they might perceive how they were contending not with man only, but with God; and that thus, being overwhelmed with sudden astonishment, they might not be able to escape to the shore in time; for they were on this account overtaken in the midst of the sea, because terror had thrown them into utter confusion, when they perceived that God was against them. They saw that there was no greater hope of safety than to retreat, because God fought for Israel; but being in complete disorder, they could make no way, and whilst they rather proved hindrances to each other, the sea ingulfed them all.
<021426>Exodus 14:26-31
26. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. | 26. Et ait Jehova ad Mosen, Extende manum tuam super mare, ut revertantur aquae super AEgyptum, super currus ejus et quires ejus. |
27. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. | 27. Et extendit Moses manum suam super mare, et reversum est mare quum mane illuxisset, secundum vim suam: fugeruntque AEgyptii ad occursum ejus. Et impulit Jehova AEgyptios in medium maris. |
28. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them: there remained not so much as one of them. | 28. Et redeuntes aquae operuerunt quadrigas et equites in toto exercitu Pharaonis, qui ingressi erant post. illos in mare: nec unus fuit ex ipsis residuus. |
29. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. | 29. Filii autem Israel ambulaverunt in sicco per medium maris: et aquae erant illis quasi murus a dextra eorum et a sinistra eorum. |
30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. | 30. Liberavit ergo Jehova in die illa Israelem a manu AEgyptii. Et vidit Israel AEgyptium mortuum super littus maris. |
31. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses. | 31. Et vidit Israel potentiam magnam quam fecit Jehova contra AEgyptios. Et timuit populus Jehovam, et crediderunt Jehovae et Mosi servo ejus. |
Exodus 14:26 And the Lord said unto Moses. Moses here relates how the sea, in destroying the Egyptians, had no less obeyed God’s command than when it lately afforded a passage for His people, for it. was by the uplifting of the rod of Moses that the waters came again into their place, as they had been before gathered into heaps. The Egyptians now repented of their precipitate madness, and determined, as conquered by God’s power, to leave the children of Israel, and to return home; but God, who willed their destruction, shut up the way of escape at this very crisis. But, that we may know how evident a miracle was here, Moses now adds the circumstance of time, for he says that the morning then appeared, so that the broad daylight might show the whole transaction to the eyes of the spectators. The waters, indeed, were heaped up in the night; but the pillar of fire, which shone on the Egyptians, and pointed out their way, did not allow God’s blessing to be hidden from them. The case of the Egyptians was otherwise: therefore it behooved that they should perish by day, and that the sun itself should render their destruction visible. This also tends to prove God’s power, because, whilst they were endeavoring to fly, He openly urged them on, as if they were intentionally drowning themselves.
Exodus 14:28 And the waters returned. In these two verses also Moses continues the same relation. It plainly appears from Josephus and Eusebius what silly tales Manetho 27 and others have invented about the Exodus of the people; for although Satan has attempted by their falsehoods to overshadow the truth of sacred history, so foolish and trifling are their accounts that they need not refutation. The time itself, which they indicate, sufficiently convicts them of ignorance. But God has admirably provided for our sakes, in choosing Moses His servant, who was the minister of their deliverance, to be also the witness and historian of it; and this, too, amongst those who had seen all with their own eyes, and who, in their peculiar frowardness, would never have suffered one, who was so severe a reprover of them, to make any false statements of fact. Since, then, his authority is sure and unquestionable, let us only observe what his method was, viz., briefly to relate in this place how there was not one left of Pharaoh’s mighty army; that the Israelites all to a man passed over in safety and dry-shod; that, by the rod of Moses, the nature of the waters was changed, so that they stood like solid walls; that by the same rod they were afterwards made liquid, so as suddenly to overwhelm the Egyptians. This enumeration plainly shows an extraordinary work of God to have been here, for as to the trifling of certain profane writers 28 about the ebb and flow of the Arabian Gulf, it falls to nothing of itself. From these things, therefore, he at last justly infers, that the Israelites had seen the powerful hand of God then and there exerted.
Exodus 14:31 And Israel saw. After he has said that the Israelites saw the dead bodies spread upon the seashore, he now adds that in this spectacle God’s hand, 29 i.e., His power, appeared, because there was no difficulty in distinguishing between God’s wrath and His fatherly love, in preserving so miraculously an unwarlike multitude, and in destroying in the depths of the sea an army formidable on every account. Moses, therefore, does not unreasonably conclude here that the Divine power was conspicuous in the deliverance of the people. He afterwards adds, that, not without their profit, did the Israelites see God’s hand; because they feared Him, and believed Him, and His servant Moses. “Fear” is here used for that reverence which kept the people in the way of duty, for they were not only affected by dread, but also attracted to devote themselves to God, whose goodness they had so sweetly and delightfully experienced. But although this pious feeling was not durable, at any rate with the greater number of them, it is still probable that it rooted itself in some few of them, because some seed ever remained, nor was the recollection of this blessing entirely destroyed. By the word “believed,” I think that the principal part of fear is marked, and I understand it to be added expositively, as if it were said, “that they reverenced God, and testified this by faithfully embracing His doctrine and obediently submitting themselves to Moses.” I understand it that they were all generally thus affected, because the recognition of God’s hand bowed them to obedience, that they should be more tractable and docile, and more inclined to follow God. But this ardor soon passed away from the greater number of them, as (hypocrites 30) are wont to be only influenced by what is visible and present; although I hold to what I have just said, that, in some small number, the fear of God, which they had once conceived from a sense of His grace, still abode in rigor. Meanwhile, let us learn from this passage that God is never truly and duly worshipped without faith, because incredulity betrays gross contempt of Him; and although hypocrites boast of their heaping all kinds of honor upon God, still they inflict the greatest insult upon Him, by refusing to believe His revelations. But Moses, who had been chosen God’s minister for governing the people, is not unreasonably here united with Him, for although God’s majesty manifested itself by conspicuous signs, still Moses was the mediator, out of whose mouth God willed that His words should be heard, so that the holy man could not be despised without God’s own authority being rejected. A profitable doctrine is gathered from hence, that whenever God propounds His word to us by men, those who faithfully deliver His commands must be as much attended to as if He himself openly descended from heaven. This recommendation of the ministry ought to be more than sufficient to refute their folly, who set at naught the outward preaching of the word. Let us, then, hold fast this principle, that only those obey God who receive the prophets sent from Him, because it is not lawful to put asunder what He has joined together. Christ has more clearly expressed this in the words, —
“He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.” (Matthew 10:40.)
But it is more than absurd, that the Pope, with his filthy clergy, should take this to himself, as if he was to be heard when he puts forward God’s name; for (to pass over many other reasons which I could mention) it will be, first of all, necessary that he should prove himself to be God’s servant, from whence I wish he was not so far removed. For here the obedience of the people is praised on no other grounds but because they “believed the Lord,” and, together with Him, “His servant Moses.”
EXODUS 15
<021501>Exodus 15:1-10
1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. | 1. Tunc cecinit Moses et filii Israel canticum hoc Jehovae, et dixerunt, Cantabo Jehovae, quoniam se magninifice extulit (Heb., hathmagnificando magnificatus est): equum et ascensorem ejus projecit in mare. |
2. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. | 2. Fortitudo mea et canticum Deus, et fuit mihi in solutem. Deus meus et decorabo eum: Deus patris mei, et extollam |
3. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. | 3. Jehova vir bellicosus: Jehova nomen ejus. |
4. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he east into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. | 4. Currus Pharaonis et exereitum ejus projecit in mare: et electi duces ejus demersi sunt in mari Suph. |
5. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. | 5. Abyssi operuerunt eos: descenderunt in profunda, quasi lapis. Dextera tua Jehova excelluit fortitudine, dextera tua Jehova fregit inimicum. |
6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. | 6. Dextera tua Jehova excelluit fortitudine, dextera tua Jehova fregit inimicum. |
7. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. | 7. Et in magnitudine magnificentiae tuae subvertisti insurgentes contra te. Misisti furorem, consumpsit eos quasi stipulam. |
8. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the foods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. | 8. Et per fiatum narium tuarum coacervatae sunt aquae, steterunt fluenta sicuti acervus: coagulatae sunt voragines in corde maris. |
9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them: I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. | 9. Dixerat hostis, Persequar, apprehendam, dividam spolia, implebitur illis anima mea, exseram gladium, perdet eos manus mea. |
10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. | 10. Flavisti vento tuo, operuit cos mare, demersi sunt quasi plumbum in aquis validis. |
Exodus 15:1 Then sang Moses. Moses introduced this song not only in testimony of his gratitude, but also in confirmation of the history; for the song which he dictated to the Israelites was not concerning an unknown event, but he brought them forward as eye-witnesses, that all ages might know that nothing thus far had been written which had not openly been declared by 600,000 men, besides their wives and children. Moses, therefore, set the example in accordance with his office, whilst the people, by singing with him, testified their approbation in a manner which admits of no contradiction. For’ to whom could they have lied, since they were each other’s witnesses, and the song was listened to by no strangers? Moses seems to mark their confidence by the repetition in the Hebrew, they “spoke, saying.” On this account, too, their confession, pronounced by all their mouths, deserves more credit, because the greater part of them soon after yielded to ingratitude: from whence we gather that it was only on compulsion that they gave God glory. But, although Moses was the author of the song, yet he does not say “I will sing” in his own person, but prescribes to all what each individual ought heartily to do.
Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength. In this expression they acknowledge that they have a sufficient defense in God; and afterwards they add, that His grace furnishes them with just ground for praise. The sum is, that they were strong in God, and had not conquered their enemies by their own bravery; and that, therefore, it is not lawful to glory save in God alone. But we must observe that the help of God is conjoined with His praise, because this is the end of all His benefits, that we should hold our salvation as received from Him, which is here mentioned in the third place, for to say that God had “become their salvation,” was as much as to say that the people were saved by His grace. In the second clause there is an antithesis between the true God and all false ones; for there is much emphasis in the declaration, “he is my God,” as by it Moses excludes all that multitude of gods which then were everywhere worshipped in the world. To the same effect he adds, “my father’s God,” thus distinguishing the faith of Abraham from all the superstitions of the Gentiles. The faithful then declare that it is safe for them to repose in this One God, and that His praises are worthy of celebration. Isaiah imitates this figure. Isaiah 25:9,
“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him.”
What follows in the next verse — “The Lord is a man of war,” is to the same purpose, for although at first sight the phrase may seem a harsh one, still it is not without beauty: that God is armed in military attire, to contend with all the forces of His foes. Therefore, says Moses, the name of the Lord belongs to Him alone, because His hand awaits to destroy whatever lifts itself up against Him.
Exodus 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots. Moses in these words only meant to assert, that the drowning of Pharaoh was manifestly God’s work. Therefore, he now illustrates in more glowing terms the transaction which he had before simply narrated; as also when he compares the Egyptians to stones and lead, as if he had said that they were hurled by God’s mighty hand into the deep, so that they had no power to swim out. On this score, he repeats twice the mention of God’s “right hand;” as much as to say that such a miracle could not be ascribed either to fortune or to the efforts of man. We must take notice of what he soon after says, that the Egyptians “rose up against” God; because they had treated His people with injustice and cruelty. Thence we gather, that God’s majesty is violated by the wicked, whenever His Church, whose safety He has undertaken to preserve by His faithful patronage, is assailed by them. “Thou sentest forth thy wrath,” and “with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together,” are to be read in conjunction; for their meaning is that God, without any instrumentality, but by His simple volition, and in manifestation of His wrath, had brought the enemy to. destruction.
Exodus 15:9 The enemy said. He relates the boast of Pharaoh not merely in exultation over him, but to magnify the miracle, whereby God gives over to destruction this wolf intent upon his prey. But there is more force in the language when he introduces the Egyptians as speakers, than as if he had described their plans; for thus does the marvelous catastrophe more strikingly affect our minds, when the Egyptians, brought as it were on the stage, not only trumpet forth their victory, but insolently give vent to their arrogance and cruelty. But, presently, the Lord is introduced on the other side, dissipating by a single blast their terrible audacity. For whence came this great confidence to the Egyptians, promising themselves that they should be satisfied with the spoils, and that they should have nothing more to do in order to put the people to death than to draw their swords, but from the fact of their being very well armed against this unwarlike multitude? Hence, then, God’s power shone forth more brightly, when He put them out of the way by “blowing with His wind.”
11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? | 11. Quis sicut tu in diis, Jehova? quis sicut tu, magnificus in sanctitate, terribilis laudibus, faciens mirabilia? |
12. Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. | 12. Extendisti dexteram tuam, deglutivit eos terra. |
13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. | 13. Duces in tua misericordia populum hunc quem redemisti, duces in fortitudine tua ad habitaculum sanctitatis tuae. |
14. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. | 14. Audient populi et contremiscent: dolor apprehendet habitatores Philisthim. |
15. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them: all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Chanann. | 15. Tunc terrebuntur duces Edom, et robusti Moab: apprehendet eos tremor, dissolventur omnes habitatores Chanann. |
16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them: by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. | 16. Cadet super eos tremor et pavor: in magnitudine brachii tui conticescent quasi lapis, donec pertransierit populus tuus, Jehovae: donec pertransierit populus iste quem acquisiisti. |
17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. | 17. Introduces eos et plantabis eos in monte haereditatis tuae, in loco quem praeparasti, Jehova, ut sedeas. Sanctuarium, Domine, stabilierunt manus tuae. |
18. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. | 18. Jehova regnabit in saeculum et in perpetuum. |
19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. | 19. Quoniam ingressus est equus Pharaonis cum curribus ejus et equitibus ejus in mare, et reduxit Jehova super eos aquas maris: filii autem Israel ambulaverunt in sicco per medium maris. |
20. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women out after her with timbrels and with dances. | 20. Sumpsit etiam Maria prophetissa soror Aharon tympanum in manu sua: et egressae sunt omnes mulieres post eam cum tympanis et choris. |
21. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. | 21. Et respondebat illis Maria, Cantate Jehovae, quoniam se magnifice extulit, equum et ascensorem ejus projecit in mare. |
Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee? Moses concludes this song of praise with an ejaculation, because the grandeur of the subject transcends the power of words. The interrogation expresses more than as if he had simply asserted that none can be compared with God; because it marks both admiration and assured confidence in the truth of what he says; for he exclaims, as if overwhelmed with astonishment, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord?” The notion of some that by the word “gods” he means the angels, is more suitable to other passages; for instance, (Psalm 89:6,) “Who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord; who among the sons 31 of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?” for it immediately follows, “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.” (Ver. 7, etc.) The meaning then is, 32 that, although there be excellence in the angels, still God is exalted far above them all; but here it may be more properly referred to idols, for Moses (as has been said) is professedly contrasting’ the one true God, whose religion and worship existed among the children of Abraham, with the delusions of the Gentiles. The word “sanctitas,” holiness, expresses that glory which separates God from all His creatures; and therefore, in a manner, it degrades all the other deities which the world has invented for itself; since the majesty of the one only God is thus eminent and honorable. He adds, “fearful in praises;” because He cannot be duly praised, without ravishing us with astonishment. Moses afterwards explains himself, by saying that God’s works are wonderful. In my opinion, their explanation is a poor one, who think that He is said to be “fearful in praises,” because He is to be praised with fear; and theirs is farfetched, who say that he is terrible, even when he is praised.
Exodus 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led them forth. 33 The verb in Hebrew is indeed in the past tense; but, since it is plain from the context that their hope for what was to come was founded on God’s former mercies, I have preferred making the meaning clearer by translating it in the future. 34
Moses, therefore, exhorts the people to proceed to their promised land boldly and joyfully; because God will not forsake His work in the midst of it. And on this account he expressly mentions their redemption; as though he had said, that the people were not in vain delivered from impending death, but that God, as He had begun, would be their constant guide. David uses the same argument, (Psalm 31:5,)
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”
For, as the beginning of their redemption has proceeded from God’s mere mercy, so he says that for this same reason He will lead them even to their promised inheritance. But, since the many obstacles might impress them with alarm, he at the same time sets before them the “strength” of God; for the whole praise is given to God, who had both been freely gracious to His people, and, asking assistance from no other source, but contented with His own power, had supplied what would have been otherwise incredible.
Exodus 15:14 The people shall hear. Again in this place I have not scrupled to change the tenses; for it is plain that Moses is speaking of things future; although I do not deny, that by verbs of the past tense he confirms the certainty of the matter; which is a common figure with the Prophets. This boast depends on the mention of God’s “strength;” for it was impossible for the Israelites to make their way through so many adverse nations into the land of Canaan, unless God had, as it were, put forth His hand from heaven and fought for them. Lest, then, their numerous difficulties should dishearten them, Moses declares that, although many powerful enemies should endeavor to oppose them, terror shall possess them all from heaven, so that, in their confusion and astonishment, they shall have no power of resistance.
Exodus 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them. Some read this in the optative mood, but with little probability, as it seems to me; for Moses is not so much expressing wishes or prayers, as animating the Israelites to have a good hope, and to be firmly convinced that God would not make an end until He had finished the course of His grace. And this we may fairly apply to ourselves at this time, viz., that God will continue His calling in the elect, until they are brought on to the goal. For the heavenly inheritance, (to which we are called,) answers to “the mountain” of His holiness. 35 The same reason, which was just before advanced, is again repeated, viz., that God would not fail His people until the end, because He had “purchased” them to Himself. For the translation “which thou hast possessed” is not so suitable; because although Moses signifies that they are God’s peculiar people, yet is their deliverance undoubtedly alleged as the cause of their full redemption; as if he had said, that the people whom God had once undertaken to protect would always be dear to Him.
Exodus 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in. The metaphor of planting denotes a firm habitation; as also in Psalm 44:2, “Thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plantedst” our fathers, and causedst them to take root. Moreover, by his commendatory allusion to the temple, Moses excites in the people’s hearts a desire for the land, which was to be God’s “Sanctuary;” and by this secret thought attracts them, indifferent as they were, to seek the enjoyment of this great blessing. He also prophesies of Mount Sion many ages before the temple was erected there; from whence we gather that it was not chosen by man’s will, but consecrated by the eternal counsel and predestination of God. For it behooved that the gratuitous favor of God should manifest itself as to this place, as well as to men’s persons. Thus, in Psalm 78:67, it is said,
“He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; but chose the of Judah,” etc.
Elsewhere also, (<19D213>Psalm 132:13, 14,)
“For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation: this is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.”
But the stability of the temple is also foretold; as in another passage, 36
“Thy hand hath founded Zion.” (Psalm 87:1.) And God himself declares by Isaiah that He will not suffer Jerusalem to be laid waste, (Isaiah 37:26,) because of ancient times He had formed it. But although the whole land of Canaan is elsewhere called God’s rest, and the people was never collected into one city, yet, because God blessed the whole nation and land out c f His sanctuary, therefore is special mention made of His holy mountain. But this prophecy was very needful for the support of their minds, because Jerusalem only came into their power at a late period; and doubtless their posterity would have been still more slow to take possession of it had not their hearts been stimulated by this promise. A short sentence follows concerning God’s eternal reign, on which the perpetuity of the Church is founded. Thus David, (<19A227>Psalm 102:27,) after having said that God would always be the, same, and His years would have no end, thus concludes, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their deed shall be established before thee.” (Ver. 28.) Moses, then, would extend the hope of the people to all ages, because of God’s kingdom there is no end.
Exodus 15:19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in. This verse does not; seem to be suited to the song, and therefore I am rather of opinion that Moses returns here to the history, and assigns the reason why the Israelites so magnificently celebrated the praises of God. For the sake of avoiding ambiguity, it would perhaps be better thus to render it, — “For the horse of Pharaoh had gone in, and the Lord had brought again the waters of the sea upon them, but; the children of Israel had gone on dry land.” 37
Exodus 15:20 And Miriam the prophetess. Moses here introduces in his song the ἀντιστροφὴ, such as were constantly used by the lyric poets. For God would have not only men to be the proclaimers of this great miracle, but associated the women with them. When, therefore, the men had finished their song, the women followed in order. Although it is not certain whether the first verse was intercalary, (as the sacred history testifies the following sentence to have been in a solemn hymn: — “For his mercy endureth for ever,” 1 Chronicles 16:34, which is also intercalated in <19D601>Psalm 136), or whether the women repeated alternately what the men had sung. It little matters which opinion you prefer, except that the former is more probable. But although Moses honors his sister by the title of “prophetess,” he does not say that she assumed to herself the office of public teaching, but only that she was the leader and directress of the others in praising God. The beating of timbrels may indeed appear absurd to some, but the custom of the nation excuses it, which David witnesses to have existed also in his time, where he enumerates, together with the singers, “the damsels playing with timbrels,” (Psalm 68:25,) evidently in accordance with common and received custom. Yet must it be observed, at the same time, that musical instruments were among the legal ceremonies which Christ at His coming abolished; and therefore we, under the Gospel, must maintain a greater simplicity. 38
<021522>Exodus 15:22-27
22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea; and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. | 22. Et eduxit Moses Israelem e mari Suph: et egressi sunt in desertum Sur: ac quum perrexissent tribus diebus per desertum, non reperiebant aquas. |
23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. | 23. Post venerunt in Marah, nec poterant bibere aquas e Marah: quia amarae erant: ideo vocatum est nomen ejus Marah. |
24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? | 24. Et populus murmurantes Mosen, dixerunt, Quid bibemus? |
25. And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, | 25. Tunc clamavit ad Jehovam: et indicavit illi Jehova lignum, quod projecit in aquas: et dulces redditae sunt aquae. Ibi posuit ei statutum et judicium, ibique tentavit eum. |
26. And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. | 26. Et dixit, Si obediendo obedieris voci Jehovae Dei tui, quod rectum est in oculis ejus feceris et auscultaveris praeceptis ejus, custodierisque omnia statuta ejus, universum languorem quem posui in AEgypto non ponam super te: quia ego Jehova sanans te. Venerunt autem in Elim, ubi erant duodecim fontes aquarum, et; septuaginta palmae: et manserunt ibi juxta aquas. |
27. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters. | 27. erant duodecim fontes aquarum, et; septuaginta palmae: et manserunt ibi juxta aquas. |
Exodus 15:22 So Moses brought. Moses now relates that, from the time, of their passage through the sea, they had been suffering for three days from the want of water, that the first they discovered was bitter, and that thence the name was given to the place. This was indeed no light temptation, to suffer thirst for three days in a dry land, and nowhere to meet with relief or remedy. No wonder, then, that they should have groaned with anxiety; but grief, when it is full of contumacy, deserves no pardon. In such an emergency, they should have directed their prayers to God; whereas they not only neglected to pray, but violently assailed Moses, and demanded of him the drink which they knew could only be given them by God. But because they had not yet learnt to trust in Him, they fly not to Him for aid, except by imperiously commanding Him, in the person of His servant, to obey their wishes; for this interrogation, “What shall we drink?” is as much as to say, “Arrange with God to supply us with drink.” But they do not directly address God, of whose assistance they feel that they have need, because unbelief is ever proud.
Exodus 15:25 And he cried. Hence we gather that Moses alone duly prayed when the people tumultuously rose against him, and that they who were not worthy of the common air itself were abundantly supplied with sweet water. Herein shone forth the inestimable mercy of God, who deigned to change the nature of the water for the purpose of supplying such wicked, and rebellious, and ungrateful men. He might have given them sweet water to drink at first, but He wished by the bitter to make prominent the bitterness which lurked in their hearts. He might, too, have corrected by His mere will the evil in the waters, so that they should have grown sweet spontaneously. It is not certain why He preferred to apply the tree, except to reprove their foolish impiety by showing that He has many remedies in His power for every evil. A question also arises as to the tree, whether it inherently possessed the property which it there exercised. But although probable arguments may be adduced on both sides, I rather incline to the opinion that there was indeed a natural power concealed in the tree, and yet that the taste of the water was miraculously corrected; because it would have been difficult so speedily to collect a sufficient quantity of the tree for purifying a river; for 600,000 men, together with their wives and children and cattle, would not have been contented with a little streamlet. But I am led by no trifling reason to think that this property was previously existing in the tree; because it is plain that a particular species was pointed out to Moses, yet does not that prevent us from believing that a greater efficacy than usual was imparted to it, so that the waters should be immediately sweetened by its being put into them. What follows in the second part of the verse admits of a double signification, viz., either that, whereas God had there ordained a statute, yet that He was tempted by the people; or, because God was tempted by the people, therefore He had ordained the statute. If the first sense be preferred, their crime will be augmented by the comparison; for the impiety of the people was all the worse because, being taught by the voice of God, yet in the very same place they gave the reins to their rebellious spirit. But I rather embrace the latter sense, viz., that God chastised the sin of the people by whom He had been tempted. It was in fact a kind of tempting of God, because they not only doubtingly inquired who should give them water, but in these words manifested their despair. But because in the same context it is said, “there he made for them a statute, and there he tempted (or proved) them,” the name of God appears to be the subject in both clauses, and it is predicated of the people that they received the ordinance and were proved. Thus the meaning will be, that after God had tried His people, by the want of water, He at the same time admonished them by His word, that hereafter they should submit themselves more teachably and obediently to His commands.
Exodus 15:26 If thou wilt diligently hearken. Moses now unfolds what was the statute or ordinance which God promulgated. For here the reference is not to the whole law which was afterwards given on mount Sinai, but to the special admonition which served to chastise the wickedness of the people. The sum of it is, that if the Israelites were tractable and, obedient to God, He on the other hand would be kind and. bountiful to them. And it is an implied rebuke, that they might know whatever troubles they experienced to be, brought upon them by their sins. He proposes the Egyptians to them as an example, whose rebellion they had seen punished by God with such severe and heavy calamities. “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” is immediately added in confirmation, as if he had said, that the Israelites were liable to the same plagues which had been inflicted on the Egyptians, and were only exempt from them because God performed the office of a healer. And truly whatsoever diseases afflict the human race, we may see in them, as in so many mirrors, our own, miseries, that, we may perceive that there is no health in us, except in so far as God spares us. We are also taught in this verse that this is the rule of a good life, when we obey God’s voice and study to please Him. But because the will of God was soon after to be proclaimed in the law, He expressly commands them to “give ear to His commandments, and to keep His statutes.” 39 I know not whether there is any force in the opinion of some who distinguish the word µyqj, chokim, (which it is usual to translate “statutes,”) from precepts, as if they were mere declarations of His pleasure to which no reason is attached. Let it suffice that God’s law is commended under many names, to take away all pretext of ignorance.
Exodus 15:27 And they came to Elim. Moses here relates that a more pleasant station was granted to the people, when they were led to a well-watered spot, even planted with palm-trees, which do not usually grow in a dry soil. But we learn from what precedes, that this was a concession to their infirmity, because they had borne their thirst so impatiently.
EXODUS 16
<021601>Exodus 16:1-8
1. And they took their journey from Elim; and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. | 1. Profectae autem ab Elim cunctae turmae filiorum Israel, venerunt in desertum Sin, quod est inter Elim et Sinai, quinto decimo die mensis secundi post eorum exitum e terra AEgypti. |
2. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. | 2. Et murmuraverunt omnes turmae filiorum Israel contra Mosen et contra Aharon in deserto. |
3. And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full! for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. | 3. Et dixerunt ad eos filii Israel, Quis det ut mortui essemus per manum Jehovae in terra AEgypti, quando sedebamus juxta ollam carnis, et quando comedebamus panem in saturitate? Nam eduxistis nos in hoc desertum, ut interficeretis congregationem hanc fame. |
4. Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate everyday, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. | 4. Tunc ait Jehova ad Mosen, Ecce, ego vobis pluam panem e coelo, et egredietur populus, et colligent summam diei die suo, ut probem eum, ambuletne in lege mea an non. |
5. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. | 5. In die autem sexto parabunt quod inferant, et erit duplum prae eo quod colligent quotidie. |
6. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: | 6. Et dixit Moses et Aharon ad universos filios Israel: Vespere scietis quod Jehova eduxerit vosa terra AEgypti. |
7. And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? | 7. Mane autem videbitis gloriam Jehovae, quia audivit murmur vestrum contra Jehovam. Etenim nos quid sumus, ut murmuretis contra nos? |
8. And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. | 8. Et dixit Moses, Quum dederit vobis Jehova vespere carnem ad comedendum et panem mane ad saturitatem, ex quo audivit Jehova murmurationes vestras, quibus murmurastis contra eum. Quid enim? non contra nos murmurastis sed contra Jehovam. |
Exodus 16:1 And they took their journey. Moses relates, that, when after a month the people came to the wilderness of Sin near Mount Sinai, and when their provision failed, they rebelled against God and Moses, and manna, a new and unusual kind of food, was given them from heaven. It is uncertain with what foods they were sustained in the meantime. Some conjecture that they brought sufficient flour from Egypt for their supply; but to me it seems probable that other kinds of food were used in addition; for the barrenness of the country through which they passed was not so great but that it produced at least fruits and herbs. Besides, we may readily suppose, from the battle, in which it will soon be related that they conquered the Amalekites, that they were not far from an habitable territory. But, when they were carried away farther into the desert, all their provision began to fail, because they had no more commerce with the inhabitants. Hence their sedition was increased, because hunger pressed upon them more than usual. For, although we shall afterwards be able to gather from the context that there was some previous disturbance in the camp, still famine, which now began to affect them more, because in these uncultivated and miserable regions the barrenness on all sides alarmed them, gave strength to their murmurs and impatience.
Exodus 16:2 And the whole congregation. Moses says not that some of the people only murmured, but that they were all gathered into mobs as in a conspiracy, or, at any rate, as they were arranged by hundreds and thousands, that they murmured with one consent. Yet the universal term admits of exception; nor need we suppose that all to a man were comprehended in this impious rebellion. The best remedy for their hunger would have been to pray to God, whom they had found to be in all respects a bountiful Father, and whom they had heard to have wonderfully provided for their parents, when the Egyptians and inhabitants of Canaan were wasting with hunger in such rich and fertile places. If they had only been persuaded that the earth is made fertile by God’s blessing, it would at the same time have occurred to them, that it is His peculiar office to feed the hungry, and immediately they would have directed their prayers to Him; now, their unbelief betrays itself in their turbulent clamor. It is indeed astonishing that wretched men, whom their necessity should have humiliated, rose insolently against God, and that their hunger, so far from bending their hearts to gentleness, was the very incentive of their arrogance. But this is too common with the wicked, (because they do not trust that God is reconciled to them,) to neglect prayer, and to cry out in confusion, to utter their curses, and to rush, like mad dogs, furiously here and there. This was the case of the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin. The want of all things, which presents itself to them, is an invitation to them from God, that they may feel His power, by which He created the world out of nothing, to be independent of all foreign assistance for the maintenance of mankind. But despair seizes upon their faithless minds, so that they reject His aid and beneficence. And not only so, but their malignity and ingratitude instigates them to quarrel with Moses; and this is the sum of their complaint, that they were dragged away from abundance of bread and meat, that they might perish in the desert of hunger. Therefore they call Moses and Aaron, by whose hand and means they had been delivered, their murderers.
Exodus 16:4 Then said the Lord unto Moses. It is probable that Moses passes over much in silence, because it is not consistent that the insolence of the people was left without even a single word of chastisement. For, although God in His extraordinary kindness gave food to these depraved and wicked men, who were unworthy of the sunlight and the common air, still He was without doubt unwilling to foster their sin by His silence, and, whilst He pardoned their ingratitude, sharply reproved their forwardness. But Moses, passing over this, proceeds to a history especially worthy of narration, how God fed this wretched people with bread from heaven, when He made the manna to fall from the clouds like dew. I call it “the bread of heaven,” with the Prophet, (Psalm 78:24,) who honors it with this magnificent title, and extols God’s bounty towards His people, as if they had been admitted to the tables of angels. For St. Paul calls the manna “spiritual meat,” (1 Corinthians 10:3,) in another sense, viz., because it was a type of the flesh of Christ, which feeds our minds unto the hope of eternal life. The Prophet, however, makes no allusion to that mystery, but alleges in this circumstance an accusation against the people, because they not only despised the food which springs from the earth, but also were disgusted with that bread, for which they saw the heavens in a manner opened. But on this point somewhat must be hereafter repeated. God now declares that He will give them daily their allowance, as it were, that in this way He may prove the obedience of His people. Though on this latter head interpreters are not agreed; for some understand it as if God, by kindly providing food for the Israelites, would bind them to obedience by His bounty; as though He should say, “I will try whether they are altogether intractable or submissive; for nothing shall be wanting to retain them in the way of duty.” But others confine the meaning of the word to “their daily food;” for that this was the proof of their fear and reverence, that they should not desire more than was given them, but that they should he contented with their daily provision, and thus depend on the providence of God. The former sense pleases me best, and I have endeavored to explain it more clearly than it can be understood from others. There is no occasion to enter into controversy about the word “Law,” 40 for (as we shall soon see) it is used to express the measure or rule of a pious and just life. Therefore, He says, that He will know whether they are disposed to honor Him, and to submit themselves to His command. But if any one prefer to embrace the other sense, I leave him to enjoy his own opinion.
Exodus 16:5 And it shall come to pass. Because mention is immediately made of the Sabbath, some would confine to its observance what is said respecting the law, and extract this sense from it, that God made the experiment whether the people would faithfully observe the rest enjoined to them on each seventh day. But there is a poorness in this explanation. The fact is, that after God had promised daily supplies to His people, He now adds the exception, viz., that on the sixth day they should collect a double quantity, and lay aside half of it for the use of the Sabbath. Thus the seventh day was really hallowed before the promulgation of the Law, although it is questionable whether it had already been observed by the patriarchs. It appears probable that it was; but I am unwilling to make it a matter of contention.
Exodus 16:6 And Moses and Aaron said. The statement that the people should know that their coming out of the land of Egypt was the Lord’s work, is opposed to their wicked taunt, in which they had complained of being betrayed by Moses and Aaron, when they had been brought into the wilderness. They therefore answer, that God would openly show that He was the author of their deliverance, that they should make no more complaints against His ministers. But although a sharp reproof is implied, still it is joined with a promise of God’s continued favor. They therefore admonish them, that by this event it would be proved that God was the Leader and Deliverer of the Israelites, because he does not leave the work of His hands unfinished. (<19D808>Psalm 138:8.) The continuance, then, of His favor, shows that the same God, who proceeds in the prosecution of His powerful work, had from the first begun what He carries on even to the end. The knowledge, which they were to receive in the evening, refers to the quails, in which God gave an instance of His power; but, because it shone forth more brightly next day in the manna, Moses says, that in the morning they should see the glory of the Lord. But, lest they should be induced by this favor to think highly of themselves, and should flatter themselves in their iniquity, he reminds them that this was not given them in return for their sins, but that God contended after this manner with their obstinate perversity; as much as to say that God would appear to them, so that, beholding by the brightness of His countenance their own impiety, they might altogether be filled with shame, and feel the profaneness of the rebellion with which they had dared to insult Him. And, lest they should prevaricate, and say that they had only made an attack upon Moses and Aaron, he gives the reason why he declares them to have waged war against God Himself, viz., because neither he nor his brother had acted of themselves, nor had personally assumed anything in the matter; for this is the meaning of the words, “what are we, that ye murmur against us?” as if he disclaimed any separation from God. Now, since by this testimony he proves himself to have been a faithful servant; of God, we gather that none may rightly claim honor for themselves in the Church, so as to be accounted lawful pastors, but those who are divinely called, and thus have God. as the authorizer of their office, and who advance nothing of themselves, but only execute what is commanded them. Whilst such as these 41 may not be despised without dishonoring God, whose person they represent, so do they, who exercise dominion with no authority but their own, vainly alarm the simple in God’s name, and 42 instead of the truth, are only wearing’ an empty mask. The eighth verso merely contains an exposition of the same sentiment, except that he goes on to say in connection, that the Israelites, when in the evening they shall have been filled with flesh, and when bread shall have been given them in the morning, would perceive that God is their Deliverer. Then comes the antithesis, “Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”
<021609>Exodus 16:9-18
9. And Moses spoke unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord: for he hath heard your murmurings. | 9. Et dixit Moses ad Aharon, Dic ad universum coetum filiorum Israel, Accedite in conspectum Jehovae quia audivit murmurationes vestras. |
10. And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, mid, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. | 10. Et factum est quum loqueretur Aharon ad universum coetum filiorum Israel, ut respicerent versus desertum: et ecce, gloria Jehovae apparuit in nube. |
11. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, | 11. Loquutus enim fuerat Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo, |
12. I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall he filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. | 12. Audivi murmurationes filiorum Israel: alloquere eos, dicendo, Inter vesperas comedetis carnem, et mane saturabimini pane: itaque scietis quod ego sim Jehova Deus vester. |
13. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. | 13. Factum est ergo vespere ut ascenderet coturnix, et operiret castra, mane autem esset descensio roris circum castra. |
14. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground. | 14. Et quum evanesceret descensio roris, ecce in superficie deserti minutum rotundum, minutum quasi pruina super terram. |
15. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. | 15. Et videntes filii Israel, dixerunt quisque ad proximum suum, Est Man. Nesciebant enim quid esset. Et dixit Moses ad eos, Hic est panis quem dedit Jehova vobis comedendum. |
16. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. suo accipite. | 16. Hoc est edictum quod mandat Jehova, Colligite ex eo quisque in mensuram victus sui homer, pro summa numeri animarum vestrarum: quisque pro iis qui sunt in tabernaculo |
17. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. | 17. Atque ita fecerunt filii Israel et collegerunt, alii multum, alii exiguum. |
18. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack: they gathered every man according to his eating. | 18. Et quum metirentur per homer, non exeedebat is qui multum collegerat, nec minus habebat qui parum collegerat: quisque ad mensuram victus sui colligebat. |
Exodus 16:9 And Moses spoke unto Aaron. There is no question but that he here cites them as criminals before the tribunal of God, as if he had said that they were mistaken, if they thought that their murmurings were unobserved. Nevertheless, he alludes also to the cloud, which was the visible symbol of God’s presence; and thus reproves their folly in not hesitating to provoke a God, who was so near, and almost; before their very eyes. First, then, we must remark, that they were in a manner drawn from their hiding-places, that their pride might be broken; and, secondly, that their stupidity was rebuked, for not reverencing God though present. And this is made more clear by the context, where it is said, that the glory of the Lord appeared “toward the wilderness,” by which word I imagine the less habitable region to be indicated. For, although the country on all sides was barren, and uninhabited, yet on one side the Amalekites were near, and other tribes, as we shall soon see. The glory of God I suppose to mean, not that which they saw daily, but which was now manifested to them in an unusual manner to inspire alarm; because they were hardened against its ordinary manifestations.
Exodus 16:11 And the Lord spoke 43 unto Moses. Moses here shows that he had done nothing without God’s command, but had faithfully and modestly discharged the office of a minister. And, surely, unless he had spoken according to God’s word, he would have been rash in promising what we have already seen. Therefore, this is put last in order, though it happened first; and, consequently, I have used 44 the causal particle instead of the copula. The sum is, as before, that God will vindicate His own glory, which the people had impiously impugned, and that He would do good to them, unworthy as they were, in order to glorify His name; as if He had said, After you shall have been convicted of ingratitude, you will then be obliged to confess that I am really the only God, and at the same time your Father.
Exodus 16:13 And it came to pass. We shall afterwards see, that, when from weariness of the manna they began to desire meat, quails were again given them; but, while they were yet in their mouths, a terrible punishment was inflicted upon their gluttony. When here they had only complained of their want of food, God for once satiated them with flesh, that He might show them that He has in His hand all kinds and quantity of meats. Yet, it was His will that they should be content with one single sort; for, although they had complained that they were deprived of flesh, at the pots of which they had formerly sat, yet it was not reasonable that He should comply altogether with their unholy desires. Besides, it was profitable for them that certain bounds should be set, that they might learn dependence on His will.
Exodus 16:14 And when the dew that lay was gone up. The shape of the manna is here briefly described, viz., that it was like the dew condensed into small round grains. Its taste will be also mentioned elsewhere; but here it was sufficient to show, that this fecundity was not natural, but miraculously given to the clouds, so that they should daily rain manna. For as to the idle talk of certain profane persons, 45 that the manna falls naturally in certain countries, who would thus display the force of their genius, as if they convicted Moses of falsehood, because he mightily extols a mere trifle, — it! is all an absurdity which may be easily refuted. It is indeed true, that in certain parts of the world they collect white grains, to which the name of manna has been vulgarly given, but 46 which one of the Rabbins will have to be Arabic; but it is neither a food, nor does it drop daily from the clouds, nor has it anything in common with this food, which the Prophet properly dignifies with the title of “angels’ food,” because God, who opens the bowels of the earth for the ordinary food of man, at that time made provision for the nourishment of His people from heaven. And that it may appear beyond a doubt that this food was then created miraculously, and contrary to the order of nature, these points are to be taken into consideration. First, It did not appear in the wilderness before the hour assigned by Moses in obedience to God’s command. Secondly, No change of weather prevented the manna from dropping in a regular measure; neither frost, nor rain, nor heat, nor winter, nor summer, interrupted the course of its distillation. Thirdly, A quantity sufficient for the immense multitude was found every day, when they took up an omer for every individual. Again, on the sixth day, the quantity was doubled, that they might lay by a second omer for their Sabbath food. Fifthly, If they preserved any beyond their due allowance, it was subject to putrefaction, whereas, on the Sabbath day, the second portion remained good. Sixthly, Wherever they were, this blessing of God always accompanied them, whilst the neighboring nations lived on corn, and the manna was only known in their camp. Seventhly, As soon as they entered a fruitful and corn-growing country, the manna ceased. Eighthly, That portion, which Moses was commanded to lay up in a vessel, did not grow corrupt. Let these points be well weighed, and the miracle will be more than sufficiently conspicuous, and will disperse all the clouds of objection by its intrinsic brightness.
Exodus 16:15 And when the children of Israel saw. The Israelites manifested some appearance of gratitude in calling the food given them from heaven, Man, 47 which name means “something prepared;” but if any prefer their opinion who expound it, “a part or portion,” I do not debate the matter, although the former is more correct. Yet, whichever you choose, by this word they confessed that they were dealt with bountifully, because God presented them with food without their having to labor for it; and, therefore, they indirectly condemn their own perverse and wicked murmuring, since it is much better to gather food prepared for them, than to acquire it by the laborious and troublesome culture of the earth. For although this confession was extorted from them by the incredible novelty of the thing, yet at that particular moment their intention was to proclaim God’s loving-kindness. But, since unbelief had clouded their senses, so that they saw not clearly, Moses says that “they wist not what it was.” In these words he rebukes their slowness of heart, because, although previously advertised of the miracle, they were astonished at the sight, as if they had heard nothing of it before. We perceive, then, that they did but half acknowledge God’s mercy; for their gratitude was clouded with the darkness of ignorance, and they were compelled to confess that they did not altogether understand it; and therefore their stupidity is reproved not without bitterness, when Moses tells them that this was the food promised them by God. For, if they had recognized in it the fulfillment of the promise, there was no need of recalling it to their recollection. As to the words themselves, the answer of Moses has misled the Greek and Latin translators, into rendering them interrogatively, 48 “What is this?” But their difficulty is easily removed; for Moses does not directly state that they inquired about it as of some unknown thing, but expresses their knowledge mixed with ignorance, for the matter was partly doubtful, partly clear; for the power of God was visibly manifest, but the veil of unbelief prevented them from apprehending God’s promised bounty.
Exodus 16:16 This is the thing. The exception 49 follows, that in gathering the food, they should take account of the Sabbath. A certain daily measure is prescribed; but they are commanded on the day before the Sabbath to lay up twice as much, that they may observe its rest. But, unquestionably, God so far extended His liberality as abundantly to satisfy them. It is well known that an omer is the tenth part of an ephah; 50 and perhaps we might discover its proportion to the measures which are now in use amongst us; but I am unwilling to dispute respecting’ an unnecessary point; since it is enough to be sure, that not less was given than was amply sufficient for them.
Exodus 16:17 And the children of Israel did so. I do not think that the obedience of the people is here greatly praised; since soon afterwards Moses adds that some, not contented with their due allowance, collected more than was permitted them, and that others also transgressed what was enjoined them as to the Sabbath day. But I thus paraphrase the passage, that, when they had applied themselves to the gathering of it, the whole amount was found sufficient to fill an omer for every individual. For they did not each of them collect a private store; but, when all had assisted, at length. they took their prescribed portion from the common heap Thus, as each was more especially diligent, the more he bone. flied his slower and less industrious neighbor, without any loss to himself. This is aptly applied by Paul to almsgiving, (2 Corinthians 8:14,) wherein every one bestows of what he possesses on his poor brethren, only let us remember that this is done 51 figuratively; for though there be some likeness between the manna and our daily food, yet there is a distinction between them to be observed, on which we shall elsewhere remark. Since, then, the manna was a food differing from what we commonly use, and was given daily without tillage or labor almost into their hands, it is not to be wondered that God should have called each one of the people to partake of it equally, and forbade any one to take more than another. The case of ordinary food is different; for it is necessary 52 for the preservation of human society that each should possess what is his own; that some should acquire property by purchase, that to others it should come by hereditary right, to others by the title of presentation, that each should increase his means in proportion to his diligence, or bodily strength, or other qualifications. In fine, political government requires, that each should enjoy what belongs to him; and hence it would be absurd to prescribe, as to our common food, the law which is here laid down as to the manna. And Paul, also, wisely makes the distinction, in enjoining that there should be an equality, not arising from a promiscuous and confused use of property, but by the rich spontaneously and liberally relieving the wants of their brethren, and not grudgingly or of necessity. In this way he reminds us, that whatever goods we possess, flow from the bounty of God, like the manna; but, since each now possesses privately and separately whatever is given them, the same law is not in force for the mutual communication of property, whereby God bound His ancient people. Thence it appears that the distribution of the manna, as it is related by Moses, is properly applied to almsgiving. This doctrine, too, extends still further; for Paul warns believers not to be overanxious lest they should exhaust themselves by their bounty, because no man’s provision failed, when the Israelites by God’s command divided the manna among them.
19. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. | 19. Et ait Moses ad eos, Nemo relinquat quicquam ex eo usque mane. |
20. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. | 20. Sed non audierunt Mosen: quia quidam reservarunt ex eo usque mane. Et scatere coepit vermibus, et computruit: ideoque iratus est contra eos Moses. |
21. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. | 21. Itaque collegerunt illud singulis diebus mane: quisque secundum mensuram suam: et quum sol incaluerat, liquefiebat. |
22. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. | 22. Fuit autem die sexto ut colligerent panem duplum, duo scilicet homer pro uno. Et venientes principes congregationis retulerunt Mosi. |
23. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning. | 23. Qui dixit eis, Hoc est quod loquutus est Jehova, Quies Sabbathi sancti cras est Jehovae; quod cocturi estis, coquite, et quod elixaturi estis, elixate: et quicquid residuum erit reponite vobis usque mane. |
24. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. | 24. Et reposuerunt illud usque mane, sicut praeceperat Moses: et non computruit, nec vermis fuit in eo. |
25. And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field. | 25. Dixitque Moses, Comedite illud hodie: quia Sabbathum est bodie Jehovae. Hodie non invenietis illud in agro. |
26. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. | 26. Sex diebus colligetis illud: die autem septimo est Sabbathum, non erit in illo. |
27. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. | 27. Accidit autem die septimo ut egrederentur quidam e populo ad colligendum illud: et non invenerunt. |
28. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? | 28. Tunc ait Jehova ad Mosen, Usque quo renuitis servare praecepta mea et leges meas? |
29. See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. | 29. Videte quod Jehova posuerit vobis Sabbathum: ideo ipse dat vobis die sexto panem duorum dierum; quisque apud se quiescat nec ullus egrediatur e loco suo die septimo. |
30. So the people rested on the seventh day. | 30. Quievit itaque populus die septimo. |
Exodus 16:19 And Moses said, Let no man. Moses here recounts that, when he had commanded them all not to take more than enough for their daily food, and to gather a double portion the day before the Sabbath, some were disobedient on both points. As to the former, since God would supply their food to them just as the breast is given to babes, it was a sign of perverse unbelief that they would not depend on God’s providence, but sought for a provision which would last them many days. It was also a proof of their obstinacy that they would give credit to no warnings until they were convinced by experience that they laid up in their houses nothing’ but a mass of corruption; for they were not induced to cease from their insatiable greediness till they had received their just punishment. Now, although the case of the manna and the food of our ordinary nourishment is not; altogether similar, yet the comparison holds to a certain extent, for it is so far lawful to keep our corn and wine laid up in granaries and cellars, as that all should still ask truly their daily bread of God. And this will be, if the rich do not greedily swallow up whatsoever they can get together; if they do not avariciously scrape up here and there; if they do not gorge themselves upon the hunger of the poor; if they do not, as far as in them lies, withhold the blessing of God; in a word, if they do not immoderately accumulate large possessions, but: are liberal out of their present abundance, are not too anxious as to the future, and are not troubled, if needs be, that their wealth should suffer diminution; nay, if they are ready to endure poverty, and glory not in their abundance, but repose upon the paternal bounty of God. And surely we often see that what misers collect by theft, rapine, fraud, cruelty, trickery, or meanness, is often turned into corruption. When he adds that, after they saw that their intemperate ardor profited them nothing, they submitted to the command, he implies that their obedience was not voluntary, but extorted from them, for fools are never wise except after adversity. 53 The melting of the manna when the sun waxed hot was a stimulus to correct their idleness or laziness; for, if the manna had remained entire during the whole day, they would not have been so intent upon their duty. Wherefore, by giving them only a short time for its collection, God urged them to diligence.
Exodus 16:22 And it came to pass on the sixth day. The violation of the Sabbath is not yet recounted, but only the stupidity or dense ignorance of their rulers is set forth, for although they had heard from the mouth of Moses that God would on that day give what would be sufficient for two days’ provision, still they marvel, and tell it to Moses as if it were something strange and incredible. It is plain enough that they obeyed the command, and did not spare their labor in gathering the double quantity; but their unbelief and folly betrays itself in their astonishment when they see that God has really performed what he promised. We may conjecture that they accurately observed what awakened in them so much astonishment; so that it follows that they refused to credit God’s word until its truth was effectively proved. It came to pass, then, in God’s admirable wisdom, that their wicked and perverse doubting availed both for the confirmation of the miracle and the observation of the Sabbath. Hence occasion was given to Moses again to enjoin upon them what otherwise, perhaps, they would have neglected, viz., that they should honor the seventh day by a holy rest.
Exodus 16:27 And it came to pass. This is the second transgression, that by going out on the seventh day they trenched upon its religious observance; and this monstrous greediness arose from their not believing to be true what we have just heard Moses saying, for he had plainly declared to them that they would not find the manna. They, therefore, accuse him of falsehood, refusing’ to believe anything but their own eyes. Meanwhile the obligation of the Sabbath was set at naught by them, nay, they sought to profane the day which God had hallowed, so that it should in no wise differ from other days. Therefore does God justly inveigh against them with much bitterness, for, addressing Moses, in his person He arraigns the obstinate wickedness of the whole people. Assuredly Moses was not of the number of those who had refused to obey God’s laws, but by this general charge, the multitude, who had transgressed, were more severely rebuked, and a greater obligation is laid on Moses to chastise the people, when a part of the blame is transferred to himself. By the expression “How long?” God implies the intolerableness of their perversity, because there is no end of their offenses, but, by thus provoking greater vengeance by new crimes, they prove themselves to be incorrigible.
<021631>Exodus 16:31-36
31. And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. | 31. Appellavit autem domus Israel nomen illius man: et erat quasi semen coriandri album, et gustus ejus quasi placenta mellita. |
32. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it, to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. | 32. Et dixit Moses, Hoc est verbum quod mandavit Jehova, Imple homer ex eo quod servetur in aetates vestras, ut videant panem quo cibavi vos in deserto, quando eduxi vos e terra AEgypti. |
33. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. | 33. Et ait Moses ad Aharon, Tolle urnam unam, et pone in ea homer integrum man, et repone illud coram Jehova in custodiam in aetates vestras. |
34. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. | 34. Sicut praeceperat Jehova Mosi, reposuit illud Aharon coram testimenio in custodiam. |
35. And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. | 35. Et comederunt filii Israel man quadraginta annis, donec venissent in terram habitandam: man ipsum comederunt, donec venissent ad terminum terrae Chanaan. |
36. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. | 36. Porro homer est decima pars epha. |
Exodus 16:31 And the house of Israel called. It is not without reason that Moses repeats what he had said before, that the name of Manna was given to the new kind of food which God had supplied, in order that they might be brought under condemnation for their stubborn impiety, who shall dare to raise a question on so manifest a point, since the conspicuous nature of the thing had extorted this name from people otherwise malicious and ungrateful. Its form is mentioned to prove the certainty of the miracle, viz., that its grains were round and like coriander-seed, because nothing like it had been seen before. Its taste reproves the people’s ingratitude in rejecting a food which was not only appropriate and wholesome, but also very sweet in savor.
Exodus 16:32 And Moses said. Moses does not proceed with the history in order, but by interposing these circumstances by anticipation, he the more confirms the fact that this food was then created for the people by God’s special bounty, because He desired an omer of it to be preserved as a memorial, which, undergoing no putrefaction, handed down to posterity the gloriousness of the miracle. And first, he propounds generally God’s command, and then, in the next verse, describes the manner in which it was done, viz., that Aaron put it in a bottle or pot, and laid it up by the Ark of the Covenant. Whence, too, it appears how high importance God would have attached to this His bounty, since he wished its memorial to exist in the sanctuary together with the tables of His covenant. The two expressions, conveying the same meaning, “before the Lord,” and “before the Testimony,” are used in commendation of the worship of the Law, that the people might know God’s power to be near them in the sanctuary, not as if he were shut up in that place, or wished their minds to be fixed upon the visible sign, but, desiring to provide against their weakness, He in a manner descends to them, when he testified to the presence of His power by external images. He descends to them, therefore, not 54 to occupy their minds with a gross superstition, but to raise them up by degrees to spiritual worship.
See Lat., Dixerat autem. ↩
“Tellement que sa confiance le fait parler haut;” as to be led by his confidence to use such high language. — Fr. ↩
“Chargez de bagues, meubles, et vaisselles precieuses;” laden with rings, furniture, and precious vessels. — Fr. ↩
See notes on chap. 3:22. ↩
Lat., “dabit.” ↩
“Il luy a laisse ce qui estoit de sa charge et vocation;” he left to him what pertained to his charge and calling. — Fr. ↩
“A craindre Dieu d’une droite affection.” — Fr. ↩
“Ce seroit un orgueil trop enorme;” it would be too enormous an impertinence. — Fr. ↩
Margin, A. V. ↩
There has been much discussion as to the plant to which this name is given. “In no instance,” says the Illustrated Commentary, “has any plant been suggested, that at the same time had a sufficient length of stem, to answer the purpose of a wand or pole, and such detergent qualities, as to render it a fit emblem of purification.” The author himself has no question but. that it was of the genus Phytolacca; which combines, in a remarkable manner, these two qualities. Dr. Royle, however, considers it to have been the caper-plant, (Capparis spinosa,), which possesses another important condition wanting in the Phytolacca, viz., that it still grows in the countries to which it is attributed in Scripture. ↩
The word “Sabbath,” which is not translated in the French, is probably an accidental interpolation. ↩
hdb[. Est servitus et ministerium. Hic vero accipitur pro ritu. S.M. — W. ↩
Vide Justini Hist., lib. 36 cap. 2. ↩
Vide Strabonis Geog., lib. 17 ↩
C. Tacit. Hist., 5:3, 4. ↩
This sentence is omitted in the French. The Latin is, “Hebraei communiter tantum decem recensent.” A reference, however, to R. Sal. Jarchi explains it, “you will find, (he says,) that from the arrival of the Israelites in Egypt to the time of their departure, was 210 years.” — In loco. Compare the LXX. ↩
µyçmj. Fives. The Rabbinical notions here mentioned are thus briefly stated in S. M., “Exponitur a Kimchi sic, Et accincti armis in quinta costa. Alii autem sic exponunt, Et accincti quinque armorum generibus.” In speaking of what the Greeks had imagined, C. alludes to the LXX., who entirely depart from the Hebrew, by rendering this clause, πέμπτῃ δὲ γενεᾷ, k. t. l.. “And in the fifth generation, the children of Israel went up,” etc. — W. ↩
D’Abraham. — Fr. ↩
“Sans qu’il y soit requis une presence de lieu;” without a local presence being required. — Fr. ↩
tryjhyp. C. has not borrowed anything from S.M. here. In Dr. Wilson’s “Lands of the Bible,” vol. 1:chap. 5, he has observed that if Pi-hahiroth is to be supposed to be a name given to the place, in the Hebrew tongue, it is well fitted to describe the mouth of the defiles, on emerging from which, the traveler comes in sight of the Red Sea, and enters on ground shut in between mountain barriers and that sea; but he also mentions that Gesenius has said, on the authority of Tablonski, that these syllables form the Egyptian name for a place where sedges grow. — W. ↩
µykbn. Calvin adopts the explanation given by S. M., on the authority of Aben-Ezra, “Passivum est a verbo ˚wb, quod significat animo perplexum esse, ut nescias quo te vertas.” — W. ↩
Exierant. — Dathe. ↩
The interpretation only noticed to be set aside is found in S. M. — W. ↩
This sentence is omitted in the French. ↩
Had said. — Lat. ↩
La nuit. — Fr. ↩
Les ennemis de Dieu. — Fr. ↩
“Artapanus, an ancient heathen historian, informs us that this was what the more ignorant Menophites, who lived at a great distance, pretended, though he confesses that the more learned Heliopolitans, who lived much nearer, owned the destruction of the Egyptians and the deliverance of the Israelites to have been miraculous.” — Whiston’s Josephus, Notes on Jew. Ant., 2:16. “At an early period, historians (particularly in Egypt) hostile to the Jews, asserted that Moses, well acquainted with the tides of the Red Sea, took advantage of the ebb, and passed over his army, while the incautious Egyptians, attempting to follow, were surprised by the flood and perished. Yet, after every concession, it seems quite evident that, without one particular wind, the ebb-tide, even in the narrowest part of the channel, could not be kept back long enough to allow a number of people to cross in safety. We have thus the alternative of supposing that a man of the consummate prudence and sagacity, and the local knowledge attributed to Moses, altered, suspended, or at least did not hasten his march, and thus deliberately involved the people whom he had rescued at so much pains and risk, in the danger of being overtaken by the enemy, led back as slaves, or massacred, on the chance that an unusually strong wind would blow at a particular hour, for a given time, so as to keep back the flood, then die away, and allow the tide to return at the precise instant when the Egyptians were in the middle of the passage.” — Milman’s Hist. of the Jews, b. 2. Dr. Kitto says that, in those regions, the blowing of an easterly wind would be in itself a miracle. ↩
So in margin, A.V. ↩
This word, added in the Fr., seems necessary to complete the sense. ↩
Filios Dei. — V. ↩
“Or le Sainct Esprit veut dire;” now the Holy Spirit means to say. — Fr. ↩
Wilt lead them forth. — Lat. ↩
“Selon l’usage commun de la langue;” according to the common usage of the language. — Fr. ↩
Sion. — Fr. ↩
It will be seen that the sense, and not the words, of the citation are given. ↩
There is the following addition in the Fr.: — ‘Voyla pourquoy j’ai mis les verbes en temps plus que parfait;” you see why I have put the words in the pluperfect tense. ↩
C.’s opinion on this subject will be found at greater length in his Commetary on the Psalms, (Calvin Society’s Translation,) vol. 1:539; 3:98, 312, 495; 4:72, 73; 5:312, 320. Perhaps the following note on Psalm 81:2, may most conveniently embody his sentiments: — “With respect to the tabret, harp, and psaltery, we have formerly observed, and shall find it necessary afterwards to repeat the same remark, that the Levites, under the law, were justified in making use of instrumental music in the worship of God; it having been His will to train His people, while they were as yet tender and like children, by such rudiments, until the coming of Christ. But now, when the clear light of the Gospel has dissipated the shadows of the law, and taught us that God is to be served in a simpler form, it would be to act a foolish and mistaken part to imitate that which the Prophet enjoined only upon those of his own time. From this it is apparent that the Papists have shown themselves to be very apes in transferring it to themselves.” — Vol, 3:312. Elsewhere he says, “Paul allows us to bless God in the public assembly of the saints only in a known tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:16.) The voice of man, although not understood by the generality, assuredly excels all inanimate instruments of music; and yet we see what St. Paul determines concerning speaking in an unknown tongue.” — Commentary on Psalm 33:2, vol. 1:539. ↩
“Je ne m’arreste point aux mots Hebrieux, pource que je ne voy pas qu’il en soit besoin pour les gens de nostre langue;” I do not stay to speak of the Hebrew words, because I do not see that it is necessary for those of our language. — Fr. ↩
“Some refer this probation or trial to that particular law and precept of gathering but a certain portion of manna every day. So Vatablus, Borrha, Galas., Tostat., Rupert. Some understand it as well of that precept, as of the other, not to gather any upon the Sabbath. — Simler. Some will have it taken more largely of all the precepts, and commandments touching manna, which were eight in all. — Lyranus. But it is better to take it in a more general sense. The Lord, as he had tried them before with crosses and adversities, so now he would prove them by His benefits, to see whether they will afterward walk in His fear, and in obedience before Him. So Ferus, Calvin, Osiand., Pelarg. And thus by this particular benefit God would prepare them to the obedience of His law, which should be given afterwards. — Oleaster.” — Willet’s Hexapla in loco. ↩
“Qui resemblent a Moyse.” — Fr. ↩
“Et sont a rejetter comme pipeurs, veu qu’ils n’ont qu’une fausse masque pour la verite;” and must be rejected as deceivers, since they have only a false masque instead of the truth. — Fr. ↩
Had spoken. — Lat. ↩
J’ai mis le mot Car, pource que ceste sentence rend la raison du precedent. — Fr. ↩
“And even now in all that place this manna comes down in rain, according to what Moses then obtained of God, to send it the people for their sustenance.” — Josephus. Antiq., 3: 1. 6. Burekhardt identifies it with a substance called manna, obtained still by the Arabs from the tarfa or tamarisk; and Rosenmuller speaks of it as being obtained from various trees in different countries. We can well understand the name having been given to any substance, which in some respects resembled it; but there does not appear to be any real correspondence in those which the critics mention. ↩
This is from S. M., who says that Aben-Ezra has affirmed man to be an Arabic noun. — W. ↩
ˆm, Man. If this word be referred to the root ˆnm, it may mean a prepared thing; if to the root hnm, it would mean an assigned portion; but in Syriac and Chaldee man is incontestably what, and the LXX. bear testimony to the existence of the same monosyllabic relative in Hebrew by so rendering it here, to which the V. adds its authority, by saying, Man hu? Quod significat, Quid est hoc? C. found the two first interpretations in the notes of S. M., who makes no allusion to this last rendering. — W. ↩
See margin A. V. ↩
The rule is here prescribed — the exception does not occur till verse 23. ↩
See verse 36. “In Josephus’s time it contained 43 1/5 eggshells, (for the Jews, like many of Oriental nations, reckoned their measures by the contents of middle-sized hens eggs.) But it is by no means probable t at during the 1500 years which elapsed from the time of Moses to that of Josephus, the measures of the Hebrews remained the same, there being nothing more liable to change.” — Rosenmuller. ↩
Per anagogen. — Lat. ↩
“Pour nourrir les hommes en amitie et paix;” for sustaining men in friendship and peace. — Fr. ↩
“Sinon apres avoir este bien batus;” except after being well beaten. — Fr. ↩
“Non pas pour plonger leurs pensees en terre, qui eust ete une lourde superstition:” not to plunge their thoughts in earth, which would have been a gross superstition. — Fr. ↩
