Exodus 1:8--7:7
new king <02319 04428> [a new king.]
Probably Rameses Miamum, or his son Amenophis, who succeeded him about this period; and by his not knowing Joseph is meant his not acknowledging his obligation to him.
people ...... people <05971> [the people.]
Come <03051> [Come on.]
wisely <02449> [wisely.]
oppress <06031> [to afflict.]
hard labor <05450> [burdens.]
Rameses <07486> [Raamses.]
oppressed <06031> [But the more, etc. Heb. and as they afflicted them, so they multiplied, etc.]
loathed <06973> [grieved.]
lives <02416> [their lives.]
[in mortar.]
rigorous <06531> [was with rigour.]
observe .... delivery <07200 070> [and see them.]
Or, rather, "and ye see them by the stone-troughs;" for so {ovnayim,} from {aven,} a stone, seems to signify (compare ch. 7:19), in which they washed the new-born infants. See this subject fully illustrated in Fragments to Calmet, Nos. 312, 313.
kill <04191> [then ye shall.]
feared God <03372 0430> [feared God.]
Why .... done <04069 06213> [Why have.]
God <0430> [God.]
people <05971> [the people.]
made households <06213 01004> [made them.]
sons <01121> [A.M. 2431. B.C. 1573. Every son.]
household <01004> [A.M. 2432. B.C. 1572. of the house.]
saw <07200> [A.M. 2433. B.C. 1571. she saw.]
longer able <03201 05750> [could not.]
basket <08392> [an ark.]
papyrus <01573> [bulrushes.]
{Gom‚,} is the papyrus, so famous in all antiquity. It grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of six or seven cubits above the water, is triangular, and terminates in a crown of small filaments, resembling hair. This reed was of the greatest use to the Egyptians; the pith serving them for food, and the woody part to build vessels with; which vessels frequently appear on various monuments of Egyptian antiquity. That boats were made of this reed is also attested by Pliny and others.
bitumen <02564> [with slime.]
daughter <01323> [daughter.]
Nile ......... river <02975> [herself.]
As the word herself is not in the original, Dr. A. Clarke is of opinion that it was for the purpose of washing, not her person, but her clothes, that Pharaoh's daughter came to the river; which was an employment not beneath even king's daughters in those primitive times.
saw <07200> [when she.]
compassion <02550> [she had compassion.]
<03212> [Go.]
mother <0517> [mother.]
son <01121> [and he.]
Moses <04872> [Moses. Drawn out. Because.]
Moses <04872> [A.M. 2473. B.C. 1531. Moses.]
hard labor <05450> [burdens.]
looked <06437> [he looked.]
attacked <05221> [slew.]
If the Egyptian killed the Hebrew, Moses only acted agreeably to the divine law (Ge 9:6) in thus slaying the Egyptian; nor did he violate the law of Egypt; for, according to Diodorus Siculus (1. 1. 17), "he who saw a man killed, or violently assaulted on the highway, and did not rescue him, if he could, was punished with death." Moses, therefore, in this transaction, acted as a brave and good man; especially as at this time there was little probability of obtaining justice on an Egyptian murderer.
said <0559> [and he said.]
made <07760> [Who.]
ruler <08269> [a prince. Heb. a man, a prince.]
Moses <04872> [Moses.]
fled <01272> [fled.]
Midian <04080> [Midian.]
settled ......... settled <03427> [sat down.]
priest <03548> [the priest. or, prince.]
came <0935> [they came.]
shepherds <07462> [shepherds.]
watered <08248> [watered.]
[Jethro. or, Jether.]
[Raguel.]
Egyptian <04713> [an Egyptian.]
actually drew <01802> [and also.]
Call ....... eat <07121 0398> [call him.]
agreed <02974> [content.]
Zipporah <06855> [Zipporah.]
Gershom <01647> [Gershom. i.e., a stranger here.]
said <0559> [for he said.]
<01992> [A.M. cir. 2504. B.C. cir. 1500. in process.]
king <04428> [the king.]
groaned <0584> [sighed.]
desperate cry <07775> [cry.]
God heard .... God <08085 0430> [God heard.]
remembered <02142> [remembered.]
saw <07200> [looked.]
God ...... God <0430> [God.]
For {elohim,} God, Houbigant reads {aleyhem,} unto them; which is countenanced by the LXX., Vulgate, Chaldee, Coptic, and Arabic, and appears to have been the original reading.
understood <03045> [had respect. Heb. knew.]
<01961> [A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491. kept.]
father-in-law <02859> [his father.]
mountain <02022> [the mountain.]
Horeb <02722> [Horeb.]
angel <04397> [angel.]
bush ...... bush ... ablaze <01197 05572> [bush burned.]
within <08432> [unto him.]
Moses ... Moses <04872> [Moses.]
approach <07126> [Draw not.]
<05394> [put off.]
God ...... God ..... God ...... God ................ God <0430> [I am.]
father <01> [thy father.]
Though the word {avicha,} "thy father," is here used in the singular, yet St. Stephen, quoting this passage (Ac. 7:32), uses the plural, [Lo Theos ton patron sou,] "the God of thy fathers;" and that this is the meaning, the following words prove. This reading is confirmed by the Samaritan and Coptic.
hid <05641> [hid.]
seen <07200> [I have.]
because <06440> [by reason.]
know <03045> [I know.]
down <03381> [I am.]
deliver <05337> [deliver.]
good <02896> [unto a good.]
Canaanites <03669> [Canaanites.]
cry <06818> [the cry.]
seen <07200> [and I have.]
sign <0226> [Certainly.]
sign <0226> [token.]
serve <05647> [ye shall.]
name <08034> [What is his name.]
sent <07971> [I AM hath.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
name forever <05769 08034> [this is my name for ever.]
The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, [yhwh,] <\\See definition 03068\\>,] {Yehowah,} which we translate "Lord", the name by which God had been known from the creation of the world, (Ge 2:2,) and by which he is known to the present day. [yhwh,] {Yehowah,} from [hwh,] {hawah,} to be, subsist, signifies "He who is", or "subsists", i.e., eminently and in a manner superior to all other beings; and is essentially the same with [ahwh,] {eheyeh,} "I AM", in the preceding verse.
memorial <02143> [my memorial.]
elders <02205> [elders.]
attended carefully <06485> [visited.]
up <05927> [I will bring.]
land ............. land <0776> [unto the land.]
listen <08085> [and they.]
go <0935> [and thou.]
Lord ............................. Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
met <07136> [met.]
three <07969> [three days'.]
sacrifice <02076> [that we may.]
let <05414> [will not.]
force <02389 03027> [no, not by a mighty hand. or, but by a strong hand.]
extend ...................... release <07971> [stretch.]
strike <05221> [smite.]
[See chapters]
extend .................. after ..... release <0310 07971> [after that.]
woman <0802> [But.]
ask <07592> [borrow.]
Or, rather ask or demand, as the word [shÆ’'al <\\See definition 07592\\>] properly signifies; and is so rendered by the LXX., Vulgate, and Geneva and Barker's Bible: the other ancient versions are the same as the Hebrew.
thus you <05337> [spoil.]
<04714> [the Egyptians. or, Egypt.]
staff <04294> [a rod.]
snake <05175> [it became.]
Put out ............ put out <07971> [put forth.]
Put out ............ put out <07971> [And he put.]
believe <0539> [That they.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
leprous ... snow <07950 06879> [leprous as snow.]
back .......... back ................. restored <07725> [it was turned.]
believe ............. believe <0539> [if they.]
believe ............. believe <0539> [that they.]
water .............. water <04325> [the water.]
blood <01818> [shall become. Heb. shall be, and shall be. blood.]
eloquent <01697> [eloquent. Heb. a man of words.]
past <08032> [heretofore. Heb since yesterday, nor since the third day. slow of speech.]
send ........ send <07971> [send.]
send ........ send <07971> [wilt send. or, shouldest.]
angry <0639> [anger.]
<03318> [cometh.]
put <07760> [and put.]
mouth ........... mouth ..... mouth <06310> [and I.]
teach <03384> [will teach.]
Jethro .......................... Jethro <03500 03503> [Jethro. Heb. Jether.]
<03212> [Let me go.]
see <07200> [and see.]
peace <03212 07965> [Go in peace.]
In the LXX. and Coptic, the following addition is made to this verse: [Meta de tas Lemeras tas pollas ekeinas eteleut‚sen ho basileus Aigyptou,] "After these many days, the king of Egypt died." This was probably an ancient side-note, which crept into the text, as it appeared to throw light on the next verse.
Midian <04080> [Midian.]
A country in Arabia Petr‘a, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, near Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the Land of Midian, or of Jethro. Abulfeda, speaking of Midian, says, "Madyan is a city, in ruins, on the shore of the Red Sea, on the opposite side to Tabuc, from which it is distant about six days' journey. At Midian may be seen the famous well at which Moses watered the flocks of Shoƒib, (Jethro.) This city was the capital of the tribe of Midian in the days of the Israelites."
men <0582> [for all.]
staff ... God <04294 0430> [the rod of God.]
wonders <04159> [wonders.]
harden <02388> [I will harden.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
place where they stopped for the night <04411> [the inn.]
The account in this and the two following verses, although rather obscure, seems to imply, that on their way to the land of Egypt, an angel appeared to Moses, and sought to kill his son, on account of his father's non-observance of the Lord's positive command to Abraham, that every man child of the Jewish nation, or born in his house in servitude, should be circumcised on the eighth day; and the Zipporah, at the command of Moses, immediately fulfilled the injunction, and thus averted the wrath of God, denounced against the disobedient: "The uncircumcised man child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people." .# Ge 17:14
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
sought <01245> [sought.]
[a sharp stone. or, knife.]
touched ..... feet <05060 07272> [cast it. Heb made it touch. a bloody.]
wilderness <03212 04057> [Go into.]
mountain <02022> [the mount.]
kiss <05401> [kissed him.]
told Aaron <05046 0175> [told Aaron.]
signs <0226> [and all.]
Aaron <0175> [And Aaron.]
did ... signs <06213 0226> [did the.]
believed <0539> [believed.]
attended <06485> [visited.]
seen <07200> [looked.]
bowed down <06915> [bowed.]
said <0559> [and told.]
pilgrim <02287> [a feast.]
Lord ............... Lord <03068> [Who.]
Lord ............. know ... Lord <03045 03068> [I know not.]
Israel ............. Israel <03478> [neither.]
God ........................... God <0430> [The God.]
strike <06293> [lest he.]
Moses <04872> [wherefore.]
refrain <06544> [let.]
{Taphreeoo,} from {pard,} to loose, disengage; and which we render let, from the Anglo-Saxon {lettan,} to hinder. Ye hinder the people from their work: "Get you unto your burdens." "Let religion alone and mind your work." The language not only of tyranny, but of thoughtless irreligion.
labor <05450> [burdens.]
masters <05065> [taskmasters.]
{Nogesim,} literally, exactors, oppressors. These taskmasters were Egyptians, (ch. 1:11,) but the officers were Hebrews. See ver. 14.
foremen <07860> [officers.]
{Shoterim,} from the Arabic {saytara,} to overlook, superintend, seems to denote, as {musaytar} in Arabic also does, overseers, superintendents. They may have been somewhat like the chiefs of trades, who are found in every city in the East; where every trade has a head, who is entrusted with authority over them, and is in some measure answerable for them to Government. Compare ch. 2:14.
straw ............... straw <08401> [straw.]
The straw was mixed with clay, in order to make the bricks. This is expressly affirmed by Philo, (vit. Mos.) who was himself a native of Alexandria, in Egypt. He says, describing the oppression of the Israelites, that some were obliged to work in clay, and others to gather straw for the formation of bricks, [plinthou gar achyra desmos,] because straw is the binding of the brick. Philo's account is confirmed by Dr. Shaw, who says that "some of the Egyptian pyramids are made of brick, the composition whereof is only a mixture of clay, mud, and straw, slightly blended and kneaded together, and afterwards baked in the sun. The straw, which keeps the bricks together, and still preserves its original colour, seems to be a proof that these bricks were never burnt or made in kilns." The same materials are now used for building in Egypt. Mr. Baumgarten says, "The houses are for the most part of bricks that are only hardened by the heat of the sun, and mixed with straw to make them firm."
same quota <04971> [tale.]
Tale denotes number, from the Anglo-Saxon {t‘llan,} to number, count, etc.
<07760> [ye shall lay.]
work harder <05656 03513 0582> [Let there more work be laid upon the men. Heb. Let the work be heavy upon the men. vain words.]
slave masters <05065> [taskmasters.]
<01697> [not ought.]
stubble <07179> [stubble.]
each day <01697 03117> [daily tasks. Heb. a matter of a day in his day.]
given <05414> [yet shall ye deliver.]
trouble ..... told <07451 0559> [evil case.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
stink <07381> [our savour.]
stink <0887> [to be abhorred. Heb. to stink.]
returned <07725> [returned.]
send <07971> [why is it.]
name <08034> [in thy name.]
certainly ... rescued <05337> [neither hast thou delivered. Heb. delivering, thou hast not delivered.]
see <07200> [Now shalt.]
compelled ............. strong <02389> [with a strong.]
drive <01644> [drive them.]
Lord <03068> [I am the Lord. or, Jehovah.]
God Almighty <07706 0410> [God Almighty.]
{El shadday,} God Almighty; for {shadday} is evidently of affinity with the Arabic {shadid,} strong, mighty, and {shiddat,} strength, might; so the LXX. in Job render it [panto krator,] Vulgate, in Pentateuch, {Omnipotens,} and Syriac, in Job, {chasino.}
name <08034> [but by my name.]
If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, did not know the name Jehovah, then Moses must have used it in Genesis by prolepsis, or anticipation. Mr. Locke and others read it interrogatively, for the negative particle, {lo,} not, has frequently this power in Hebrew: "I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, and by my name Jehovah was I not also made known unto them?"
Lord <03068> [JEHOVAH.]
[JAH.]
established <06965> [established.]
land ....... living <0776 04033> [the land of their.]
groaning <05009> [the groaning.]
remembered <02142> [I have remembered.]
Lord <03068> [I am the Lord.]
bring ... out <03318> [I will bring.]
redeem <01350> [redeem.]
take <03947> [will take.]
God ............ God <0430> [I will be.]
enslavement <05450> [from under.]
swore <05375> [swear. Heb. lift up my hand.]
The ancient mode of appealing to God was by lifting up the right hand, and was considered as a form of swearing. Hence {yamin,} in Hebrew the right hand, is in Arabic an oath, and as a verb, to take an oath. A similar custom prevailed among the heathens. See Virg. ’n. 1. xii. v. 196.
give ............ give <05414> [to give.]
Lord <03068> [I am.]
listen <08085> [hearkened.]
discouragement <07115> [anguish. Heb. shortness. or, straitness.]
Israelites <01121> [children.]
difficulty <06189> [am.]
The italics shew that this word has been supplied by our translators; hence it may be inferred by some that Moses was uncircumcised. The difficulty is in some measure cleared away, by using the word uncircumcised in the sense of unsuitable or incapacitated, see ver. 30, which agrees with ch. 4:10 where Moses complains of want of eloquence; but by substituting is for am in this place, the connection with the former part of the verse is preserved; "For if the chosen seed, the circumcised sons of Jacob, refuse to hear me," as though Moses had said, "how can I expect to make uncircumcised Pharaoh pay attention to me?"
heads <07218> [the heads.]
sons <01121> [The sons.]
heads ......................... clans <07218 04940> [these be.]
sons ............. son <01121> [sons.]
[Nemuel. Jarib. Zerah.]
sons <01121> [sons.]
Kohath <06955> [Kohath.]
137 <03967> [an hundred.]
[Shimei.]
[Laadan. Shimei.]
sons <01121> [sons.]
[Izehar.]
length ....... years <08141> [and the years.]
Amram ................. Amram's <06019> [Amram.]
length ....... years <08141> [and the years.]
The Samaritan, LXX., Syriac, and one Hebrew MS. add, "And Miriam their sister;" which some of the best critics suppose to have been originally in the text.
Korah <07141> [Korah.]
Elisheba <0472> [Elisheba.]
Amminadab <05992> [Amminadab.]
Nadab <05070> [Nadab.]
Korah <07141> [Korah.]
Elkanah <0511> [Elkanah.]
Phinehas <06372> [Phinehas.]
heads <07218> [the heads.]
Aaron <0175> [That Aaron.]
Bring <03318> [Bring.]
regiments <06635> [armies.]
speaking <01696> [spake.]
bring <03318> [to bring.]
Lord <03068> [I am the.]
said ........ Tell .......... telling <01696> [speak.]
difficulty <06189> [uncircumcised.]
See <07200> [See.]
God <0430> [a god.]
harden <07185> [And I.]
multiply <07235> [multiply.]
will <05414> [that I.]
regiments <06635> [armies.]
great <01419> [by great.]
<04714> [Egyptians.]
extend <05186> [I stretch.]
