Exodus 33:19-20
goodness <02898> [all my goodness.]
proclaim <07121> [proclaim.]
gracious ....... gracious <02603> [I will be.]
cannot see ........ see <03201 07200> [Thou canst not.]
This is well explained by Rabbi Jehudah, in Sepher Cosri, (P. iv. 3.) "Of that divine glory mentioned in the Scripture, there is one degree which the eyes of the prophets were able to explore; another which all the Israelites saw, as the cloud and consuming fire; the third is so bright, and so dazzling, that no mortal is able to comprehend it; but should anyone venture to look on it, his whole frame would be dissolved." In such inconceivable splendour is the Divine Majesty revealed to the inhabitants of the celestial world, where he is said to "dwell in the light which no man can approach unto." (1 Ti 6:16.) By the "face of God," therefore, we are to understand that light inaccessible before which angels may stand, but which would be so insufferable to mortal eyes, that no man could see it and live.
Exodus 33:1
<03212> [Depart.]
up ........... up <05927> [thou hast.]
land ...... land <0776> [the land.]
Moses ................. land ...... land ....... Abraham .............. descendants <04872 0776 085 02233> [Unto.]
Exodus 5:1--7:25
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.]
<05414> [Shew.]
Take <03947> [Take.]
snake <08577> [a serpent.]
Lord <03068> [as the Lord.]
snake <08577> [it became.]
wise men <02450> [wise men.]
sorcerers <03784> [sorcerers.]
{Mechashshaphim,} probably from the Arabic {kashapha,} to discover, reveal, signifies diviners, or those who pretended to reveal futurity, to discover things lost, or to find hidden treasures.
did <06213> [they also.]
secret arts <03858> [enchantments.]
By the word {lahatim,} from {lahat,} to burn, may be meant such incantations as required lustral fires, fumigations, etc.
Aaron's <0175> [but Aaron's.]
Pharaoh's <06547> [Pharaoh's.]
refuses <03985> [he refuseth.]
out <03318> [he goeth.]
staff <04294> [the rod.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
people <05971> [Let my.]
serve <05647> [serve.]
know <03045> [thou shalt.]
turned <02015> [and they.]
Fish <01710> [the fish.]
<04714> [Egyptians.]
"The water of Egypt," says Abb‚ Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite, that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt." "A person," adds Mr. Harmer, "who never before heard of the deliciousness of the Nile water, and of the large quantities which on that account are drunk of it, will, I am sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never did before."
[shall loathe.]
stretch <05186> [stretch.]
reservoirs <04723> [their pools. Heb. gathering of their waters.]
raised <07311> [he lifted.]
water ................... water <04325> [all the waters.]
As the Nile was held sacred by the Egyptians, as well as the animals it contained, to which they annually sacrificed a girl, or as others say, both a boy and girl, God might have designed this plague as a punishment for such idolatry and cruelty; and to shew them the baseness of those elements which they reverenced, and the insufficiency of the gods in which they trusted. All the punishments brought upon them bore a strict analogy to their crimes.
The first miracle of Christ turned water into wine, the first plague upon Egypt turned all their water into blood.
magicians <02748> [magicians.]
Pharaoh's <06547> [and Pharaoh's.]
Lord <03068> [as the.]
pay <07896> [neither.]
could <03201> [for they.]
