Exodus 1
PATwhom he doth not love, (Psalm i. 6. Matth. vii. 23.) Whence the Jews have raised this observation, that heivho forgets the benefits he hath received from other men, at last forgets those he hath received from God. For he of whom it is said here, that he knew not Joseph; said, not long after, I know not the Lord, (ver. 2.) But this is grounded upon a mistake; for it was another Pharaoh, long after this king, who spake those words. and return to the company again before all be taken away.
Exodus 1:9
And he said unto his people. He called a council of the great men of the nation: to whom he represented how necessary it was to lessen the number, and weaken the power, of the Israelites. Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than ive.] This was not true (unless he meant that no part of Egypt of that bigness had so many people and so strong as the Israelites in Goshen), but he said it to awaken his people to consider how to suppress them. And perhaps he was afraid of their power, or out of popularity would, in the beginning of his reign, give a proof of his care of his people by suppressing foreigners.
Exodus 1:10
Come on. The Hebrew word habah is sometimes used in petitions, (Psalm lx. ult.) but most.commonly in exhortations; when men excite and stir up one another, not to be slack in any business. (See Gen. xi, 3.) Let its deal wisely with them.] He would not go about to destroy them by force, being loath to lose so many subjects; but was desirous to diminish them by subtle devices. Lest they multiply.] Grow gtill more numerous and mighty. Lest when there falls out any war.] With the Arabians, Ethiopians, or other neighbouring nations. For I sec no reason to believe that he means the ancient Egyptians (with whom the Israelites had lived in great friendship, but now were expelled by the shepherd kings), and the people of Thebais; who at length made war with those kings, who reigned in the lower Egypt. This is Sir J. Marsham’s conjecture (in his Canon Chron. sec. viii.) which I thought good to mention, though I do not follow it. They join also to our enemies, and fight against vs.] As it was natural for men to do, who were under grievous oppressions; and hoped thereby for relief. And so get them out of the land.] They had heard the Israelites discourse, it is likely, that they never meant always to stay there; their fathers coming only to sojourn in Egypt: and the nearer the time approached, when God promised to bring them from thence, the more, we may well think, they spake of it. Which raised this jealousy, that, in case of any Avar, they would join with their enemies, that by their assistance they might be delivered.
Exodus 1:11
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters, &c. This was the result of the council; that they should be brought low by laying heavy taxes upon them, to squeeze them of their money; and by making them labour very hard, whereby they thought to weaken their bodies. For the Hebrew word missim coming from mas, which signifies tribute, it may be reasonably thought, that these taskmasters (as we call them) exacted great sums of money of them, as well as afflicted them with their burdens, i.e. hard labour of all sorts, as the eastern writers expound it. And they built for Pharaoh.] They did not labour for themselves, hut for the king; who, it is likely, gave them no wages; but used them as mere slaves. vol. i. Treasure cities.] Fortified cities, wherein, he had his magazines (as we now speak) of all sort of ammunition, and stores of corn, and public provisions; as well as treasures of money. For so we translate this word miske* notlt, 2 Chron. xvi.4. xvii. 12. storehouses: and xxxvi. 28. storehouses for corn, and wine, and oil. There was great labour, no doubt, employed in building such cities; surrounded^ with walls, and towers, and deep ditches, &c. Pithom.] This is thought by Bochart to be the city which Herodotus calls Ilarovjuoc, (lib. ii. cap. 158.) but Herodotus there saith it was 7roXtc rfc \Apaj3tac, a city of Arabia. And therefore Sir J. Marsbam’s conjecture seems more reasonable, who takes it for Pelusium: which,was the most ancient fortified place in Egypt; called by Ezekicl, (xxx. 15.) the strength of Egypt; and by Suidas, long after him, icXeTc row At7V7rrov, the key of Egypt: because it was the inlet from Syria into this country. Which was the reason, as Diodorus saith, (lib. xv.) that they most of all fortified to Tltkovmaicbv orojua, as his words are. And this agrees with the signification of Pithom, if C. Chytrseus. guesses aright, which is as much as pi and tehom, x. e. the mouth of the deep: being seated near the sea, at the mouth of one of the streams of the Nile. And thus I find it expounded in tbe Talmud, Tit, Sota, in the Gemara, cap. 1. And Rameses.] It is an ignorant conceit of Benjamin Tudelensis that this city is that called Ein-Alschemes, i. e. # the fountain of the sun > in Greek, Heliopolis. (See his Itiner. p. 120. and L’Empereur’s Annot. p. 223.) For the city was in the upper Egypt; whereas Rameses was in the lower, in the land of Goshen; and gave name to the whole country where the Israelites dwelt, (Gen. xlvii.ll.) And, it is most likely, it was a frontier town, which lay in the entrance of Egypt from Arabia, or some of the neighbouring countries. They that take the name of the king who now reigned to have been Barneses, think this city had its name from him, and the other called Pithom (as Mercator thinks) from the name of his queen.
Exodus 1:12
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. Here is anew word, different from all the former (ver. 7.) to express their extraordinary increase; for so jiphrots signifies, breaking out; as water doth which bursts out with a greater force, when it hath been pent up. This, as St Austin observes, (lib. 8. de Giv. Dei. cap. 6.) is to be ascribed to the Divine blessing, for naturally tiresome labours would have dispirited them, and made them less fruitful. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.] It vexed them to sec this device prove so unsuccessful, that it promoted what they thought to hinder.
Exodus 1:13
And the Egyptians; rather therefore. The Egyptians resolved to tako a more severe course with, them. Made the children of Israel to serve zvith rigour. y Used them more tyrannically and cruelly;‘without any mercy: whereby their strength, in all likelihood, would be broken, as the Hebrew word signifies. Some of the Jews think they beat and scourged them sorely.
Exodus 1:14
And they made their life bitter. The Hebrews call all things bitter, which extremely grieve and afflict the soul, (Gen. xxvii. 34. Lament, iii. 15.) Whence. Naomi bids her daughters call her no mQre by that pleasant name, Microsoft® 1G2 [chap. I. but eall her Mara, i.e. bitter: because of the very great afflictions she had endured in a strange country. With hard bondage.’] Such drudgery as if they had been mere bond-slaves. In mortar and in brick.] UriXov etc TrXfvSov axworl^ovrtg, by making claij into bricks (as Philo well interprets it, lib. i. de Vita Mosis), or in working the clay, and then turning it into bricks. And so Bochart expounds it, by the figure of tv Sia Svolv, lateribus ex Into conficiendis. There was great store of clay in that place; Pelusium (one of the cities which they built) having its name from thence, both in the Greek and in the Hebrew languages. For sin signifies tho same with 7njXoc, clay or dirt. And in all manner of service in the field, &c] Not merely in ploughing, &c. but in digging trenches, to convey the water of Nile into their ground (as Philo expounds it), and in cleansing those trenches that had been formerly made; and in carrying dung, as others add, into the field; and such-like nasty services. And all these, Moses adds, were rigorously exacted of them: i.e. they did all they could to break their hearts, as wc speak.
Exodus 1:15
Andthe king spake to the Hebrew midwives. The former device failing him, or contributing little to his end, he betakes himself to one that, if it were pursued, could not but prove effectual. Some will have these midivives to have been Egyptians, but called Hebrew, because the women of that nation made use of their assistance, when they were in labour. But it is not likely that the Hebrews had not midwives of their nation, or that Pharaoh would impose his midwives upon them, and let them have none else; for that would have too plainly discovered his drift; whereas ho intended to hide it, and to act cunningly against them, (ver. 10.) The name of the one was Siphrah, &c] We cannot well think there were only two midwives, to serve the whole nation: but these were the chief; who had the rest under their government, and gave orders and directions to them. So Aben Ezra; whom Abarbinel contradicts; but with slight reasons, to advance a subtle rather than solid conceit of his own; that every woman in Egypt had two midwives, and those were the common names of them, signifying what each of them was to do for the women in travail. There are those among the Jews who have fancied Jochabed the mother of Moses to be one of those here named: and some of them, who are pleased with seeming ignorant of nothing, say she is the person here called Siphrah: her daughter Miriam being the other, called Puah: so the Jerusalem Targum. Vcr. 1G. When ye do the office of a midwife, &c] Are called to their assistance in their labour. And see them upon the stools.] The Hebrew word obanajim, which we translate stools, is so obscure, that the LXX. content themselves to translate this passage thus, when you see thein delivered: which fully expresses the sense; and must be supposed to be the meaning, if we take stools for such seats as are purposely contrived for labouring women to sit on, that the midwives might the better do their office. For they, could not tell whether they brought forth male or female, till they were delivered:.unless the Hebrew doctors say tine, who constantly affirm that boys come into the world with their faces downwards, and girls with their faces upwards; whereby tliey might know what sex a child was of before it was quite born. (See Tit. Sota in the Gemara, cap. 1. sect. 33.^ Jf it be a son, then ye shall kill him.] The Egyptians feared -the men of Israel only; without whom they could have no children at all, but such as would be half Egyptians; and in time be wholly ingrafted into that nation. But if it be a daughter then she shall live.] For, as Clemens Alexandr. well observes, (lib. i. Stromat. p. 3-13.) aaStvic eIcttoXe/xoi; yvvri, icomen are feeble and unfit for war; therefore they had no fear of them, but reserved them to increaso the Egyptian breed.
Exodus 1:17
But the midwives feared God, &c. They that take them for Egyptians, say these midwives were proselytes to the Jewish religion. But such faith in God, as made them not fear a great king, is hardly to be expected from any but those who had been always bred np in a deep sense of his Divine Majesty. Which gave them such courage, that, as Chytraeus expresseth it in Herodotus’s phrase, (which is in a manner the same with St. Peter’s, Acts V. 29.) ret rov Qeov 7rp£(xj3urepa Irrouvvro y ra ra)v avOpurn-wv, they made account the things of Godxvere to be preferred before those of men: and therefore would not obey the king’s command, by doing contrary unto God’s.
Exodus 1:18
And the king called for the midwives. Sent out a summons to appear before him. And said unto them, Wliy have ye done this thing, Sec] Their being questioned for their disobedience, made their constancy the more remarkable.
Exodus 1:19
For they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. It doth not appear that these midwives told a lie, but only concealed some of the truth: Mhich is not unlawful, but commendable, when it is to preserve the innocent. For many of the Hebrew women might be such as they are described, though not every one of them. The Hebrew word chajoth signifies three things; either vivaces, i. e. lively,’ or obstetrices, midwives (as Kimchi tells us), or animantia, living creatures. The LXX. follow the first notion, and so do we, which is very proper. Aquila follows the second, who translates this passage thus, Malm yap tlai, kcl\ irptv l$uv rag Maiag tiktovgiv; they can do the office of midwives themselves, and are brought to bed before we can get to them. Thus the Vulgar also take it, they have skill in midwifery. And the author of the Life of Moses (as several other Jews do) takes it in the third sense, expounding it thus; they are like other living creatures, ivho do not need any midwives to help their young ones into the ivorld. And so Rasi also, and Thcodotion, who thus translates it, Zuoyovovviv avra, which doth not signify (as Gualmyn observes), they bring forth living children, butadinstar animantinm par hint, they bring forth like animals. Such lively women undoubtedly there have been, and are still in some parts of the world. For Varro reports (lib. ii. de R. R. cap. 10.) that the women of Illyricum, when they found their pangs coming, were wont to go a little aside from the work they were about, and presently were delivered of a child, queni non peperisse, sed invenisse putes; which one woxdd think they had found, not brought forth out of their tvomb. Which place our Gataker mentioning in his Cinnus, (p. 3ll.) saith it is credibly reported, by those who had lived there a great while, that the Irish women sometimes rise from table, and arc delivered,
Exodus 1:20
Therefore God dealt well ivitli the midwives, &c. He rewarded their service; whereby the children of Israel still more multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Exodus 1:21
Because the mid wives feared God, he made them houses. These words seem to declare, wherein God rewarded them; which was in making them houses. Some indeed (particularly Mr. Calvin) refer this to the Israelites; because the word them is of the masculine gender: and therefore cannot, they think, be meant of the midwives; but must be interpreted, by this means the children of Israel were exceedingly increased. But, besides that this was said just before, it is not unusual in Scripture, when the speech is of women, to use the masculine gender. Thus Ruth (i. 8.) prays for her daughters-in-law in these words, " the Lord deal kindly with you f where in the Hebrew the masculine gender is used, and not the feminine. But we need go no further for an instance of this than the very next chapter to this, (Exod. ii. 17.) where Moses is said to water their flock, speaking of Jethro’s daughters, and the word for their is of the masculine gender. It agrees also best with the whole story, to take it so here; that God made the midwives houses (so the Chaldee and the LXX. understand it), that is, gave them a numerous offspring, out of which arose many families, which in Scripture language are called houses; (Gen. xxx. 30.) " When shall I make myself a house T (the same phrase with this,) i. e. take care of my own family, (Deut. xxv. 9. Ruth iv. 5.) Or else the meaning may be, he increased their estate, and gave them great riches: which the Psalmist may be thought to mean, when he saith, « Except the Lord build the house," (?. e. preserve and increase the estate of a family) their labour is in vain that endeavour it. (See also 2 Sam. vii. 1L Psalm cxiii. 9.) Some that take these midwives to have been Egyptian women, proselyted to the Jewish religion, think’ the sense may be, that they married to Israelites, and God made their families eminent in Israel.
Exodus 1:22
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son, &c. Not being able to effect his end by the midwives, he commanded every body to inform his officers when any Hebrew woman fell in labour, and appointed searchers (it is likely) to examine whether they were delivered of male or female, and to act according to what is here ordered. Some, that understand the foregoing words of the Israelites, make this the sense of the two last verses: Because the midwives feared God, and thereby the families of the Israelites were increased, not diminished; Pharaoh took a new course, and charged all his people to see that done, which the midwives refused. The Jews (in the book called the Life of Moses), say that many of their people, upon this decree of PhaTaoh, resolved not to marry, or hot to come near their wives: and those who did, were forced to have them brought to bed alone, and throw their children into the fields, where the angels took care of them, &c. But this is confuted by what follows in the next chapter. And yet they are so fond of such fables, that in one of their Medraschim (or books of homilies) they say God made milk to coinc out of one stone, and honey out of another, to suckle them, while they lay hid in the earth. (Sec Buxtorf. of the education of their children, Synag. Judaic, cap. 7.) Digitized