Exodus 7

Exodus 7:13

13. And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart.] It should be, And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, so that “he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said,” or foretold. The original is so rendered by all the ancient versions without exception, and by the most judicious modern translations. Our present translators incorrectly render, “and He hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” inconsistently with their rendering of the same phrase, and of a phrase with the same construction, afterwards, ch vii. 22; viii. 19; ix. 7; for Pharaoh hardened his heart several times, before God began to harden it. They seem to have been led into this error by the expression, “as the Lord had said,” referring to the foregoing, “But I will harden his heart,” chap. iv. 21; and, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,” chap. vii. 3. But this did not take place till Pharaoh became obdurate and incorrigible, chap. ix. 12. Dr. Hales. There is not in any of these three verses, the 13th, the 14th, and the 22d, of this chapter, the least mention of any person by whom his heart was hardened. Nor is there any other hardening implied, than what proceeded from his own settled resolution, not to lose the service of the Israelites. Bp. Patrick.

Exodus 7:15

15. — lo, he goeth out unto the water.] God knew beforehand that Pharaoh would go out in the morning of the next day, either to walk for recreation by the bank of the river, or else to worship the river Nile, as was usual with the Egyptians; Bp. Patrick; or to perform his morning purification; the Egyptians esteeming it a part of their religion to wash themselves in the river twice or thrice a day. Shuckford. Moses was perhaps directed to take this opportunity of meeting with him, because it may not have been easy for him to get access to the court. Bp. Kidder.

Exodus 7:17

17. — In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord.] Pharaoh had asked in a contemptuous manner, “Who is the Lord?” God therefore now bids Moses tell him, He would make him know that He is the Almighty Lord of the world. Bp. Patrick. The design of these visitations growing more awful and tremendous in their

progress, was to make Pharaoh know and confess that the God of the Hebrews was the Supreme Lord; to exhibit His power and His justice in the strongest light to “all the nations of the earth,” and to execute judgment upon the Egyptians, and “upon all their gods,” inanimate and bestial, for their cruelty to the Israelites, and for their groveling polytheism and idolatry, chap. xii. 13. Dr. Hales.

— behold, I will smite &c.] God commands; Moses directs; and Aaron smites; ver. 19, 20. God may therefore be said to do that which was done by His command and by His power. Bp. Kidder.

As the river Nile was to Egypt, instead of heaven, to moisten and fatten the earth; so their confidence was more in it than in heaven. Men are sure to be punished most and soonest in that which they make a rival with God. Bp. Hall. See below, note on ver. 20.

Exodus 7:19

19. — upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, &c.] The particularity here employed, in enumerating the various kinds of places for containing water, deserves notice: the streams, or divisions of the river; the river itself; the ponds; the pools of water; and whatever water was already drawn from them, and set apart for drinking, whether kept in vessels of wood, or vessels of stone. In Egypt are reservoirs of water higher than the Nile, which fill themselves when the river rises, and in which the water preserves itself a long while, as in a kind of cistern. These reservoirs are of great antiquity, and no doubt as early as the days of the Pharaohs. When the river Nile is rising, the waters turn red, and sometimes green: and in some years they become corrupt; during which time the inhabitants use the water of their cisterns, or reservoirs. But in order to distinguish this miracle from any such natural occurrence, not merely the waters of the river and its canals, but also those more distant, and those already drawn, partook of the general change. Even the reservoirs, which were higher than the level of the Nile, and had no communication with it, became blood. Fragments to Calmet.

— in vessels of wood, and — of stone.] In which water was kept in private houses for their present use. Bp. Patrick. Perhaps these words may mean the filtering vessels, through which they used to purify the waters of the Nile for drinking: and the sense may be, that the water should be so nauseous, that no method whatever of purifying it should succeed. Harmer.

L 2 The fish die, and the river stinketh Before CHRIST 1491. a Chap. 17. 5. b Ps. 78. 44. as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

Exodus 7:20

20. — smote the waters that were in the river.] This judgment brought on the Egyptians is very remarkable, and introduced with great propriety, though the scope of it may not at first be obvious. It was a punishment particularly well adapted to that blinded and infatuated people: as it shewed them the baseness of those elements which they reverenced, and the insufficiency of the gods, in which they trusted. And this knowledge was very salutary to the Israelites; as it warned them not to fall into the same, or any similar, idolatry; when they had seen it thus debased and exposed, and attended with such accumulated evil. The Egyptians honoured the Nile with a religious reverence; and valued themselves much upon the excellence of their river. Nor was this blind regard confined to the Egyptians only, but obtained in many parts of the world: so that it was expedient for the children of Israel to be timely warned against such blindness and infatuation. But no nation carried their reverence to such an extravagant degree of idolatry as the Egyptians. They looked upon their river not only as consecrated to a deity; but, if we may believe some authors, as their chief national god: and worshipped it accordingly. There was therefore a great propriety in this judgment. They must have felt the utmost astonishment and horreur, when they beheld their sacred stream changed and polluted; and the divinity whom they worshipped so shamefully foiled and debased. And these appearances must have had a salutary effect upon the Israelites; as they were hence warned not to accede to this species of idolatry, but to have it ever in contempt, as well as abhorrence. Bryant. The Egyptians still retain a religious veneration for the Nile; they call it holy, blessed, sacred: and on the appearance of the new waters, mothers are seen plunging their infants into the stream, from a belief that it has a Divine virtue, such as the ancients attributed to every river Volney’s Travels. — and all the waters—were turned to blood.] God might, if it had been the Divine pleasure, have many different ways tainted and polluted the streams of Egypt. But he thought proper to change them to blood. Now the Egyptians, and especially their priests, were particularly nice and delicate in their outward habit, and rites: and there was nothing which they abhorred more than blood. They seldom admitted any bloody sacrifices; and with the least stain of gore they would have thought themselves deeply polluted. Hence this evil brought upon them must have been severely felt; as “there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt,” ver. 21. It is moreover said, that “the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank.” The offensive vapour from the waters must have been a great aggravation of the evil to people of such external purity as the Egyptians, who abhorred all animal corruption. And what the historian mentions concerning the fish is of consequence: for all the natives of the river were in some degree esteemed sacred. In many parts the people did not feed upon them. The priests in particular never tasted fish; and this on account of their reputed sanctity. For they were sometimes looked upon as sacred emblems: at other times worshipped as real deities. These punishments then, brought upon the Egyptians, bore a strict analogy to their crime. They must have been greatly alarmed, when they beheld their sacred stream defiled with blood, their land infected, and themselves almost poisoned with their stinking deities. The evil reached the land of Goshen: for it seemed proper that the Israelites should partake in it; that the impression might be the stronger on their minds. One great reason for this part of the punishment was to give them a thorough disgust to this worship, that they might not afterwards lapse into this popular idolatry. For it is to be observed, as they were to be conducted to the land of Canaan and the confines of Syria, that there were many nations in those parts among whom this worship was common. Bryant.

Exodus 7:21

21. And the fish that was in the river died.] Diodorus Siculus, in his description of Egypt, informs us, that the river Nile abounded with all manner of fish. The food of many of the Egyptians, who abstained from eating most animals, consisted of the fruits of the earth, and the fish of the river. Stackhouse. — could not drink of the water] It appears from the reports of travellers, that there are few wells in Egypt, and that their waters are not used by the inhabitants to quench their thirst, being unpleasant and unwholesome: but that the water of the Nile is universally used in that country, being esteemed very wholesome and extremely delicious. Thus, by the effect of this miracle, they were made to “lothe” those waters, which they before preferred to all others. Harmer.

Exodus 7:22

22. — the magicians—did so with their enchantments.] That is, they made an appearance of the same change in some of the waters. It may be conjectured, that Moses did not in a moment change all the waters of the country, but only those of the river at first, (see ver. 20,) and afterwards by degrees all the rest, when the magicians had tried their art upon some of them. Bp. Patrick. See notes on ver. 12, and chap. viii. 18.

Exodus 7:23

23. — neither did he set his heart &c.] He did not seriously consider this miracle and the difference between it and the attempts of the magicians. This shews his wilful neglect; and was the cause of his heart being hardened, as are the hearts of all men, who will think of nothing but the gratification of their own perverse humours. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.

Exodus 7:24

24. — digged round about the river for water to drink.] All the waters in the country being spoiled, they were forced to try to procure water for quenching their thirst by the great labour of digging wells. Bp. Patrick. This particular in the conduct of the Egyptians may be God’s message unto Pharaoh. The plague of frogs. Before CHRIST 1491.

Exodus 7:25

25.—seven days were fulfilled.] The change made in the waters lasted seven days, before the plague was removed. Bp. Patrick.

Chap. VIII. ver. 1. And the Lord spake &c.] Philo, the Jew, has a fine observation on the plagues of Egypt. “Some perhaps may enquire, why did God punish the country by such minute and contemptible animals, as frogs, lice, flies, rather than by bears, lions, leopards, or other kinds of savage beasts, which prey on human flesh? or if not by these, why not by the Egyptian asp, whose bite is instant death? But let him learn, if he be ignorant, first, that God chose rather to correct than to destroy the inhabitants: for if he desired to annihilate them utterly, He had no need to have made use of animals as His auxiliaries, but of the Divinely inflicted evils of famine and pestilence. Next, let him further learn that lesson, so necessary for every state of life, namely, that men, when they war, seek the most powerful aid to supply their own weakness; but God, the highest and greatest power, who stands in need of nothing, if at any time he chooses to employ instruments, as it were to inflict chastisement, chooses not the strongest and greatest, disregarding their strength; but rather the mean and the minute, which he endues with irresistible power to chastise offenders.” Dr. Hales.