9:20 Those 3 of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their 4 servants and livestock into the houses, 9:21 but those 5 who did not take 6 the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle 7 in the field.
9:1 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people that they may serve me!
20:15 “You shall not steal. 9
27:12 A shrewd person sees danger and hides himself,
but the naive keep right on going 10 and suffer for it.
24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation 11 – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 24:16 then those in Judea must flee 12 to the mountains. 24:17 The one on the roof 13 must not come down 14 to take anything out of his house,
1 tn Heb “according to the word of the man of God.”
2 tn Heb “and his skin was restored, like the skin of a small child.”
3 tn The text has “the one fearing.” The singular expression here and throughout vv. 20-21 refers to all who fit the description.
4 tn Heb “his” (singular).
5 tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.
6 tn Heb “put to his heart.”
7 tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”
8 sn This plague demonstrates that Yahweh has power over the livestock of Egypt. He is able to strike the animals with disease and death, thus delivering a blow to the economic as well as the religious life of the land. By the former plagues many of the Egyptian religious ceremonies would have been interrupted and objects of veneration defiled or destroyed. Now some of the important deities will be attacked. In Goshen, where the cattle are merely cattle, no disease hits, but in the rest of Egypt it is a different matter. Osiris, the savior, cannot even save the brute in which his own soul is supposed to reside. Apis and Mnevis, the ram of Ammon, the sheep of Sais, and the goat of Mendes, perish together. Hence, Moses reminds Israel afterward, “On their gods also Yahweh executed judgments” (Num 33:4). When Jethro heard of all these events, he said, “Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods” (Exod 18:11).
9 sn This law protected the property of the Israelite citizen. See D. Little, “Exodus 20,15: ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’,” Int 34 (1980): 399-405.
10 tn Heb “go on”; the word “right” is supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning: The naive person, oblivious to impending danger, meets it head on.
11 sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167
12 sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.
13 sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.
14 sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.