A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Exodus 9

¹ Then the Lord said unto Moses, “Go in unto Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. — let my people go, that they may serve me; this demand had been made repeatedly; and, though reasonable, was refused.

² For if thou refuse to let them go and wilt hold them still,

³ behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep. There shall be a very grievous pestilence.

— the hand of the Lord; immediately, without the stretching out of Aaron’s hand; is upon the cattle; many of which, some of all kinds, should die by a sort of pestilence; a disease would be sent among all the flocks and herds of the Egyptians;

— the Targum renders it a “death” as the Jews commonly call a pestilence, whether on man or beast, because it generally sweeps away large numbers.

⁴ And the Lord shall distinguish between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; and there shall nothing die of all that belong to the children of Israel.’” — nothing shall die of the children’s of Israel; this was the greater miracle,

— because the Israelites and the Egyptians were mingled together in the land of Goshen; so that their cattle breathed the same air, and drank the same water. By which it appeared that this pestilence was not natural, but proceeded from the immediate hand of God.

⁵ And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.” — saying, tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land;

— thus giving him time and space to consider the matter well, repent of his obstinacy, and dismiss the people of Israel, and so prevent the plague coming upon the cattle, as threatened.

⁶ And the Lord did that thing on the morrow; and all the cattle of Egypt died, but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. — but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one; at least of the murrain or a pestilential disease, or by the hand of God.

⁷ And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

— and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go; though this plague was so heavy upon him and his people, and the loss they sustained so great:

— in the other plagues of the water, the frogs, lice, and flies, though very troublesome and terrible, yet the loss was not very great; but here much damage was done to their property, yet this did not make his heart relent, or cause him to yield to let Israel go.

⁸ And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, “Take to you handfuls of ashes from the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. — and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go, though this plague was so heavy upon him and his people, and the loss they sustained so great;

— in the other plagues of the water, the frogs, lice, and flies, though very troublesome and terrible, yet the loss was not very great; but here much damage was done to their property, yet this did not make his heart relent, or cause him to yield to let Israel go.

⁹ And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains, upon man and upon beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” — upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt;

— so that, as the last plague affected their property, substance, and riches, which in those times greatly lay in cattle, this, besides that, would affect their persons, and give them exceeding great pain, though it might not issue in death.

¹⁰ And they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became boils breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast. — the sixth plague smote man and beast with;

— these failing down in the manner before described, on whomsoever they lighted, whether man or beast, produced sore boils and inflammations, and raised blisters and blotches;

¹¹ And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. — the magicians; this time are not only not able to imitate the plague, but are themselves attacked by it;

— for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians; but not upon Moses and Aaron, nor upon any of the Israelites;

¹² And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. — their priests and magicians were so far from being able to shelter the king from this plague by their secret arts, that they were attacked by them themselves,

— were unable to stand before Moses, and were obliged to give up all further resistance. But Pharaoh did not take this plague to heart, and was given up to more hardening of his heart.

¹³ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

¹⁴ For I will at this time send all My plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth. — for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart; the plague of the hail, which next follows, so called, because it consisted of various things, as hail, rain, lightning and thunder;

¹⁵ For now I will stretch out My hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. — and thou shall be cut off from the earth; or “thou hadst been or wouldest have been cut off from the earth” must have perished out of it, and been no more in the land of the living.

¹⁶ And in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up: to show in thee My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth.

— and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth; as it has been more by that last action than by all the rest of the plagues; though, in all, his sovereignty, wisdom, power, patience, longsuffering and justice, are most visibly displayed and glorified.

¹⁷ As yet exaltest thou thyself against My people, that thou wilt not let them go? — as yet exaltest thou thyself against my people; and so against God himself, disobeying his commands, despising his messengers, and hardening his heart against him and refusing to let Israel go;

¹⁸ Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. — I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail; which should fall very thick, and the hailstones be very numerous and heavy, and the storm last long;

¹⁹ Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field, for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.’” — I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail; the seventh plague which Pharaoh’s hardened heart provoked was that of hail;

— a phenomenon which must have produced the greatest astonishment and consternation in Egypt as rain and hailstones, accompanied by thunder and lightning, to kill both men and beasts.

²⁰ He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses, — he that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh; it is a new fact that any of the Egyptians had been brought to “fear the word of Yehovah.”

— probably, the effect of the plagues had been gradually to convince a considerable number, not so much that Yehovah was the one True God as that he was a great and powerful god, whose chastisements were to be feared.

²¹ and he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. — left his servants and cattle in the field; let them remain there, and took no thought about them, and so took no methods to preserve them; to his own detriment and loss.

²² And the Lord said unto Moses, “Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man and upon beast and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” — stretch forth thine hand toward heaven; the action was appropriate, as the plague was to come from the heaven.

²³ And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. — the fire ran along upon the ground, devouring both herbs and cattle which were upon it; and came at the exact time he had foretold it should; all which were very extraordinary;

²⁴ So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. — so there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail; which was a miracle within a miracle; and very wonderful indeed it was, that the hail did not quench the fire, nor the fire melt the hail;

²⁵ And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. — the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt; it is to the hail and not to the fire nor lightning that the great destruction of men and beasts is attributed;

— perhaps the fire and lightning are destined for the endtime? “Like fire that burns the forest and like a flame that sets the mountains on fire.” – Psalm 83:14

²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. — only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail;

— so that such Egyptians as might dwell among them, they, their servants, their cattle, and their fruits, escaped this plague; and oftentimes do wicked men fare the better for the people of God that are among them.

²⁷ And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. — the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked; which was well spoken, had it been serious and from his heart; for God is righteous in his nature, and in all his works;

— and in all those judgments he had inflicted upon him; and he and his people were wicked in using the Israelites in such a cruel manner, and in detaining them when it had been promised them again and again that they should have leave to go, and especially in rebelling against God, and disobeying his commands.

²⁸ Entreat the Lord (for it is enough), that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.” — mighty thunderings; literally, as in the margin, “voices of God.” Thunder was regarded by many nations of antiquity as the actual voice of a god.

²⁹ And Moses said unto him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail, that thou mayest know that the earth is the Lord’S.

— that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s; that the whole earth is his, and therefore he can do, and does in it whatever he pleases; as the heavens also are his, and therefore can cause thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, and stop them when he thinks fit;

³⁰ But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.” — but as for thee, and thy servants, notwithstanding the confession of sin he had made, Moses know that they haven’t fear the Lord God yet;

³¹ And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bolls. — and the flax and the barley was smitten; with the hail, thunder and lightning, and were beat down, bruised, broken, and blasted and destroyed;

³² But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up. — they haven’t grown up yet; Heb, they were late or hidden. The ear was undeveloped, and lay hid in the low tufts that grew like grass.

³³ And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord; and the thunder and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. — Moses went out of the city, that, being solitary, he might pour forth his heart in fervent prayers.

³⁴ And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. — but even this plague did not lead Pharaoh to alter his mind; as soon as it had ceased on the intercession of Moses, he and his servants continued sinning and hardening their hearts.

³⁵ And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses. — hardened; fifferent words in the Hebrew. In Exodus 9:34 the word means “made heavy,”that is, obtuse, incapable of forming a right judgement; in Exodus 9:35 it is stronger, and implies a stubborn resolution.

Exodus 10

¹ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs before him; — go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart; that I might shew these my signs before him; and others that were to be done;

² and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son’s son what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that ye may know that I am the Lord.” — and that thou mayest tell; of thy son, and of thy son’s son;

— there was a further and higher reason for the infliction of those awful judgements, namely, that the knowledge of them there, and the permanent record of them still, might furnish a salutary and impressive lesson to others down to the latest ages.

³ And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh and said unto him, “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

— how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? to acknowledge his offence, lie low before God, and be subject to his will; he had humbled himself for a moment;

— but then this did not continue what God expected of him, and complains of the want of, was such a continued humiliation before him, and such a subjection to him, as would issue in complying with what he had so often demanded of him;

⁴ Else, if thou refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy border. — locusts, a well-known plague throughout the Middle-East and neighbouring countries;

⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one shall not be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.

— and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field; such fruit trees as escaped the hail, and such boughs and branches of them which were not broken off by it;

— “When their swarms appear, everything green vanishes instantaneously from the fields, as if a curtain were rolled up; the trees and plants stand leafless, and nothing is seen but naked boughs and stalks.”

⁶ And they shall fill thy houses and the houses of all thy servants and the houses of all the Egyptians — which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day.’” And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

— thy houses shall be filled; they entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to their clothes, and infested their food;

⁷ And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, “How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” — knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

— as good as ruined, by the plagues and boils upon the cattle, which destroyed great quantities, and by the hail which had smitten their flax and their barley; or “must thou first know that Egypt is destroyed?” before thou wilt let the people go;

⁸ And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go?” — but who are they that shall go? or, “who and who”? for Pharaoh was unwilling that they should all go, but would have some retained as pledges of their return;

⁹ And Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord.”

— with our flocks and with our herds will we go; which were requisite for the sacrifices, not knowing which they were to sacrifice, and with which to serve God, till they came to the place where they were to sacrifice;

¹⁰ And he said unto them, “Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones. Look to it, for evil is before you.

— and the Pharaoh said unto Moses and Aaron, let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones; either as mocking them, let the Lord you talk of be with you if he will, and let him deliver you if he can, as I shall let you go with your children, which I never will;

— look to it, for evil is before you; which is either a charge of an evil design upon them, and intended to raise a mutiny, make an insurrection, and form a rebellion against them.

¹¹ Not so! Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord, for that ye did desire.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. — not so; you shall not go with your children as you propose; —

¹² And the Lord said unto Moses, “Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.”

— and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left; the wheat and the rye, or rice, the grass, herbs, and plants, it had beat down, but not utterly destroyed, as well as some boughs and branches of trees which were left unbroken by it.

¹³ And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. — the Lord brought an east wind. Locusts generally come with a wind; and, indeed, cannot fly far without one;

— an east wind would in this case have brought them from northern Arabia, where they are often bred in large numbers;

¹⁴ And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. Very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. — and rested in all the coasts of Egypt; in every part of it where the Egyptians dwelt;

— and where there were meadows, pastures, fields, gardens, orchards; here they lighted and fed, excepting the land of Goshen, where Israel dwelt;

¹⁵ For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, and there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all the land of Egypt.

— the land was darkened; either by their flying in vast numbers, and so darkening the air, as they have ofttimes done; or by covering the green and lightsome herbs and productions of the earth with their dark and direful bodies.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. — I have sinned against the Lord your God; against the Lord by disobeying his command, in refusing to let Israel go, when he had so often required it of him; and against Moses and Aaron his ambassadors;

¹⁷ Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only.”

— Pharaoh desires their prayers that this death only might be taken away, not this sin: pretending that he would never offend any more, and if he did, he did not desire it should be forgiven him, but that due punishment should be inflicted on him.

¹⁸ And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. — intreated the Lord; Moses complied, though Pharaoh had this time made no distinct promise of releasing the people.

¹⁹ And the Lord turned a mighty, strong west wind, which took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt. — there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt; so that the removal of them was as great a miracle as the bringing them at first;

²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. — but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart; for as yet he had not brought all his judgments on him he designed to bring;

²¹ And the Lord said unto Moses, “Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” — the plague of darkness brought upon Egypt was a dreadful plague;

²² And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. — it was darkness which might be felt, so thick were the fogs. It astonished and terrified. It continued three days; six nights in one;

²³ They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. — it was darkness which might be felt, so thick were the fogs; it continued three days; six nights in one; so long the most lightsome palaces were dungeons;

²⁴ And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, “Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you.” — go ye, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be stayed; stopped or remained behind, as a pledge and security of their return;

²⁵ And Moses said, “Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. — but Moses said, thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings: sheep, rams, and goats for sacrifices, and oxen for burnt offerings;

²⁶ Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.” — the Israelites’ own cattle must go as well: because until they reach their destination they do not know how many sacrifices will be required.

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. — but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart; yet more and more, and he would not let them go;

²⁸ And Pharaoh said unto him, “Get thee from me! Take heed to thyself! See my face no more, for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die!” — see my face no more; neither here nor elsewhere: for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die; this was a foolish as well as a wicked speech;

²⁹ And Moses said, “Thou hast spoken well. I will see thy face again no more.” — knowing by a spirit of prophecy that he should be no more sent unto him, and that Pharaoh should in a little time be drowned in the Red sea, when he would be seen no more by him nor any other; for as for what is said in the following chapter.

~ by Joel on November 5, 2023.

Posted in Books of Moses