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Youngs
Literal Translation
King
James Version
The 1599
Geneva
Study Bible
American Standard ASV-1901
Historical Book
Flavius Josephus
Philip Schaff
History
of the
Christian Church
8 Vol.
Keil & Delitzsch
OT Commentary
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What We Believe
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Sola Scriptura: The
Scripture Alone is the Standard
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Soli Deo Gloria: For the
Glory of God Alone
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Work Alone are We Saved
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"It is enough for good
people to do nothing, for evil people to succeed."
12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country
by Alexander L. Lacson
Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament
(Exodus 3)
Exodus 3 -
Call of Moses,
and His Return to Egypt - Exodus 3 And 4
Call of Moses. - Whilst the children of Israel were
groaning under the oppression of Egypt, God had already prepared the way
for their deliverance, and had not only chosen Moses to be the saviour of
His people, but had trained him for the execution of His designs.
Exo 3:1 -
When Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his
father-in-law, he drove them on one occasion behind the desert, and came
to the mountains of Horeb.
רֹעֶה
הָיָה,
lit. “he was feeding:” the participle expresses the
continuance of the occupation.
הַמִּדְבָּר
אַחַר
does not mean ad interiora deserti (Jerome); but Moses drove
the sheep from Jethro's home as far as Horeb, so that he passed through a
desert with the flock before he reached the pasture land of Horeb. For “in
this, the most elevated ground of the peninsula, you find the most fertile
valleys, in which even fruit-trees grow. Water abounds in this district;
consequently it is the resort of all the Bedouins when the lower countries
are dried up” (Rosenmüller). Jethro's home was separated from Horeb,
therefore, by a desert, and is to be sought to the south-east, and not to
the north-east. For it is only a south-easterly situation that will
explain these two facts: First, that when Moses returned from
Midian to Egypt, he touched again at Horeb, where Aaron, who had come from
Egypt, met him (Exo_4:27);
and, secondly, that the Israelites never came upon any Midianites
on their journey through the desert, whilst the road of Hobab the
Midianite separated from theirs as soon as they departed from Sinai (Num_10:30).
(Note: The hypothesis, that, after the calling of
Moses, this branch of the Midianites left the district they had hitherto
occupied, and sought out fresh pasture ground, probably on the eastern
side of the Elanitic Gulf, is as needless as it is without support.)
Horeb is called the Mount of God by anticipation,
with reference to the consecration which it subsequently received through
the revelation of God upon its summit. The supposition that it had been a
holy locality even before the calling of Moses, cannot be sustained.
Moreover, the name is not restricted to one single mountain, but applies
to the central group of mountains in the southern part of the peninsula (vid.,
Exo_19:1).
Hence the spot where God appeared to Moses cannot be precisely determined,
although tradition has very suitably given the name Wady Shoeib,
i.e., Jethro's Valley, to the valley which bounds the Jebel Musa
towards the east, and separates it from the Jebel ed Deir, because
it is there that Moses is supposed to have fed the flock of Jethro. The
monastery of Sinai, which is in this valley, is said to have been built
upon the spot where the thorn-bush stood, according to the tradition in
Antonini Placent. Itinerar. c. 37, and the annals of Eutychius
(vid., Robinson, Palestine).
Exo 3:2-5 -
Here, at Horeb, God appeared to Moses as the Angel of
the Lord “in a flame of fire out of the midst of the thorn-bush” ( סְנֶה,
βάτος,
rubus), which burned in the fire and was not consumed.
אֻכָּל,
in combination with
אֵינֶנּוּ,
must be a participle for
מְאֻכָּל.
When Moses turned aside from the road or spot where he was standing, “to
look at this great sight” (מַרְאֶה),
i.e., the miraculous vision of the bush that was burning and yet not
burned up, Jehovah called to him out of the midst of the thorn-bush, “Moses,
Moses (the reduplication as in
Gen_22:11), draw not nigh hither: put off
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground” (אֲדָמָה).
The symbolical meaning of this miraculous vision, - that is to say, the
fact that it was a figurative representation of the nature and contents of
the ensuing message from God, - has long been admitted. The thorn-bush in
contrast with the more noble and lofty trees (Jdg_9:15)
represented the people of Israel in their humiliation, as a people
despised by the world. Fire and the flame of fire were not “symbols of the
holiness of God;” for, as the Holy One, “God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all” (1Jo_1:5),
He “dwells in the light which no man can approach unto” (1Ti_6:16);
and that not merely according to the New Testament, but according to the
Old Testament view as well, as is evident from
Isa_10:17,
where “the Light of Israel” and “the Holy One of Israel” are synonymous.
But “the Light of Israel became fire, and the Holy One a flame, and burned
and consumed its thorns and thistles.” Nor is “fire, from its very nature,
the source of light,” according to the scriptural view. On the contrary,
light, the condition of all life, is also the source of fire. The sun
enlightens, warms, and burns (Job_30:28;
Sol. Son_1:6);
the rays of the sun produce warmth, heat, and fire; and light was created
before the sun. Fire, therefore, regarded as burning and consuming, is a
figurative representation of refining affliction and destroying punishment
(1Co_3:11.),
or a symbol of the chastening and punitive justice of the indignation and
wrath of God. It is in fire that the Lord comes to judgment (Dan_7:9-10;
Eze_1:13-14,
Eze_1:27-28;
Rev_1:14-15).
Fire sets forth the fiery indignation which devours the adversaries (Heb_10:27).
He who “judges and makes war in righteousness' has eyes as a flame of fire
(Rev_19:11-12).
Accordingly, the burning thorn-bush represented the people of Israel as
they were burning in the fire of affliction, the iron furnace of Egypt (Deu_4:20).
Yet, though the thorn-bush was burning in the fire, it was not consumed;
for in the flame was Jehovah, who chastens His people, but does not give
them over unto death (Psa_118:18).
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had come down to deliver His people
out of the hand of the Egyptians (Exo_3:8).
Although the affliction of Israel in Egypt proceeded from Pharaoh, yet was
it also a fire which the Lord had kindled to purify His people and prepare
it for its calling. In the flame of the burning bush the Lord manifested
Himself as the “jealous God, who visits the sins of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Him, and
showeth mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His
commandments” (Exo_20:5;
Deu_5:9-10),
who cannot tolerate the worship of another god (Exo_34:14),
and whose anger burns against idolaters, to destroy them (Deu_6:15).
The “jealous God” was a “consuming fire” in the midst of Israel (Deu_4:24).
These passages show that the great sight which Moses saw not only had
reference to the circumstances of Israel in Egypt, but was a prelude to
the manifestation of God on Sinai for the establishment of the covenant (Exo
19 and 20), and also a representation of the relation in which Jehovah
would stand to Israel through the establishment of the covenant made with
the fathers. For this reason it occurred upon the spot where Jehovah
intended to set up His covenant with Israel. But, as a jealous God, He
also “takes vengeance upon His adversaries” (Nah_1:2.).
Pharaoh, who would not let Israel go, He was about to smite with all His
wonders (Exo_3:20),
whilst He redeemed Israel with outstretched arm and great judgments (Exo_6:6).
- The transition from the Angel of Jehovah (Exo_3:2)
to Jehovah (Exo_3:4)
proves the identity of the two; and the interchange of Jehovah and
Elohim, in Exo_3:4,
precludes the idea of Jehovah being merely a national God. The command of
God to Moses to put off his shoes, may be accounted for from the custom in
the East of wearing shoes or sandals merely as a protection from dirt. No
Brahmin enters a pagoda, no Moslem a mosque, without first taking off at
least his overshoes (Rosenm. Morgenl. i. 261; Robinson, Pal.
ii. p. 373); and even in the Grecian temples the priests and priestesses
performed the service barefooted (Justin, Apol. i. c. 62; Bähr,
Symbol. ii. 96). when entering other holy places also, the Arabs and
Samaritans, and even the Yezidis of Mesopotamia, take off their shoes,
that the places may not be defiled by the dirt or dust upon them (vid.,
Robinson, Pal. iii. 100, and Layard's Nineveh and its
Remains). The place of the burning bush was holy because of the presence
of the holy God, and putting off the shoes was intended to express not
merely respect for the place itself, but that reverence which the inward
man (Eph_3:16)
owes to the holy God.
Exo 3:6 -
Jehovah then made Himself known to Moses as the God of
his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reminding him through that name of
the promises made to the patriarchs, which He was about to fulfil to their
seed, the children of Israel. In the expression, “thy father,” the three
patriarchs are classed together as one, just as in
Exo_18:4 (“my
father”), “because each of them stood out singly in distinction from the
nation, as having received the promise of seed directly from God” (Baumgarten).
“And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” The
sight of the holy God no sinful man can bear (cf.
1Ki_19:12).
Exo 3:7-10 -
Jehovah had seen the affliction of His people, had
heard their cry under their taskmasters, and had come down ( יָרַד,
vid., Gen_11:5)
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up to
a good and broad land, to the place of the Canaanites; and He was about to
send Moses to Pharaoh to bring them forth. The land to which the
Israelites were to be taken up is called a “good” land, on account of its
great fertility (Deu_8:7.),
and a “broad” land, in contrast with the confinement and oppression
of the Israelites in Egypt. The epithet “good” is then explained by
the expression, “a land flowing with milk and honey” (זָבַת,
a participle of
זוּב
in the construct state; vid., Ges. §135); a proverbial description
of the extraordinary fertility and loveliness of the land of Canaan (cf.
Exo_3:17;
Exo_13:5;
Exo_16:14,
etc.). Milk and honey are the simplest and choicest productions of a land
abounding in grass and flowers, and were found in Palestine in great
abundance even when it was in a desolate condition (Isa_7:15,
Isa_7:22;
see my Comm. on Jos_5:6).
The epithet broad is explained by an enumeration of the six tribes
inhabiting the country at that time (cf.
Gen_10:15. and
Gen_15:20,
Gen_15:21).
Exo 3:11-12 -
To the divine commission Moses made this reply: “Who
am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt?” Some time before he had offered himself of his own
accord as a deliverer and judge; but now he had learned humility in the
school of Midian, and was filled in consequence with distrust of his own
power and fitness. The son of Pharaoh's daughter had become a shepherd,
and felt himself too weak to go to Pharaoh. But God met this distrust by
the promise, “I will be with thee,” which He confirmed by a sign,
namely, that when Israel was brought out of Egypt, they should serve ( עָבַד,
i.e., worship) God upon that mountain. This sign, which was to be a pledge
to Moses of the success of his mission, was one indeed that required faith
itself; but, at the same time, it was a sign adapted to inspire both
courage and confidence. God pointed out to him the success of his mission,
the certain result of his leading the people out: Israel should serve Him
upon the very same mountain in which He had appeared to Moses. As surely
as Jehovah had appeared to Moses as the God of his fathers, so surely
should Israel serve Him there. The reality of the appearance of God formed
the pledge of His announcement, that Israel would there serve its God; and
this truth was to till Moses with confidence in the execution of the
divine command. The expression “serve God” (λατρεύειν
τῷ
Θεῷ,
lxx) means something more than the immolare of the Vulgate,
or the “sacrifice” of Luther; for even though sacrifice formed a
leading element, or the most important part of the worship of the
Israelites, the patriarchs before this had served Jehovah by
calling upon His name as well as offering sacrifice. And the service of
Israel at Mount Horeb consisted in their entering into covenant with
Jehovah (Exo 24); not only in their receiving the law as the covenant
nation, but their manifesting obedience by presenting free-will offerings
for the building of the tabernacle (Exo_36:1-7;
Num_7:1).
(Note: Kurtz follows the Lutheran rendering “sacrifice,”
and understands by it the first national sacrifice; and then, from the
significance of the first, which included potentially all the rest,
supposes the covenant sacrifice to be intended. But not only is the
original text disregarded here, the fact is also overlooked, that
Luther himself has translated
עבד
correctly, to “serve,” in every other place. And it is not sufficient to
say, that by the direction of God (Exo_3:18)
Moses first of all asked Pharaoh for permission merely to go a three
days' journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to their God (Exo_5:1-3),
in consequence of which Pharaoh afterwards offered to allow them to
sacrifice (Exo_8:3)
within the land, and at a still later period outside (Exo_8:21.).
For the fact that Pharaoh merely spoke of sacrificing may be explained
on the ground that at first nothing more was asked. But this first
demand arose from the desire on the part of God to make known His
purposes concerning Israel only step by step, that it might be all the
easier for the hard heart of the king to grant what was required. But
even if Pharaoh understood nothing more by the expression “serve God”
than the offering of sacrifice, this would not justify us in restricting
the words which Jehovah addressed to Moses, “When thou hast
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this
mountain,” to the first national offering, or to the covenant
sacrifice.)
Exo 3:13-15 -
When Moses had been thus emboldened by the assurance of
divine assistance to undertake the mission, he inquired what he was to
say, in case the people asked him for the name of the God of their
fathers. The supposition that the people might ask the name of their
fathers' God is not to be attributed to the fact, that as the Egyptians
had separate names for their numerous deities, the Israelites also would
want to know the name of their own God. For, apart from the circumstance
that the name by which God had revealed Himself to the fathers cannot have
vanished entirely from the memory of the people, and more especially of
Moses, the mere knowledge of the name would not have been of much use to
them. The question, “What is His name?” presupposed that the name
expressed the nature and operations of God, and that God would manifest in
deeds the nature expressed in His name. God therefore told him His name,
or, to speak more correctly, He explained the name
יהוה,
by which He had made Himself known to Abraham at the making of the
covenant (Gen_15:7),
in this way,
אֶהְיֶה
אֲשֶׁר
אֶהְיֶה,
“I am that I am,” and designated Himself by this name as the
absolute God of the fathers, acting with unfettered liberty and
self-dependence. This name precluded any comparison between the God of the
Israelites and the deities of the Egyptians and other nations, and
furnished Moses and his people with strong consolation in their
affliction, and a powerful support to their confidence in the realization
of His purposes of salvation as made known to the fathers. To establish
them in this confidence, God added still further: “This is My name for
ever, and My memorial unto all generations;” that is to say, God would
even manifest Himself in the nature expressed by the name Jehovah,
and by this He would have all generations both know and revere Him.
שֵׁם,
the name, expresses the objective manifestation of the divine
nature;
זֵבֶר, memorial, the subjective recognition
of that nature on the part of men.
דֹּר
דֹּר,
as in Exo_17:16
and Pro_27:24.
The repetition of the same word suggests the idea of uninterrupted
continuance and boundless duration (Ewald, §313a). The more
usual expression is
וָדֹר
יָדֹר,
Deu_32:7;
Psa_10:6;
Psa_33:11;
or
דֹּרִים
דֹּר,
Psa_72:5;
Psa_102:25;
Isa_51:8.
Exo 3:16-20 -
With the command, “Go and gather the elders of
Israel together,” God then gave Moses further instructions with
reference to the execution of his mission. On his arrival in Egypt he was
first of all to inform the elders, as the representatives of the nation
(i.e., the heads of the families, households, and tribes), of the
appearance of God to him, and the revelation of His design, to deliver His
people out of Egypt and bring them to the land of the Canaanites. He was
then to go with them to Pharaoh, and make known to him their resolution,
in consequence of this appearance of God, to go a three days' journey into
the wilderness and sacrifice to their God. The words, “I have surely
visited,” point to the fulfilment of the last words of the dying
Joseph ( Gen_50:24).
עָלֵינוּ
נִקֵרָה
(Exo_3:18)
does not mean “He is named upon us” (lxx, Onk., Jon.), nor “He has
called us” (Vulg., Luth.). The latter is grammatically wrong, for
the verb is Niphal, or passive; and though the former has some
support in the parallel passage in
Exo_5:3, inasmuch as
נִקְרָא
is the verb used there, it is only in appearance, for if the meaning
really were “His name is named upon (over) us,” the word
שְׁמֹו
(שֵׁם)
would not be omitted (vid.,
Deu_28:10;
2Ch_7:14). The
real meaning is, “He has met with us,” from
נִקְרָה,
obruam fieri, ordinarily construed with
אֵל,
but here with
עַל,
because God comes down from above to meet with man. The plural us is used,
although it was only to Moses that God appeared, because His appearing had
reference to the whole nation, which was represented before Pharaoh by
Moses and the elders. In the words
נֵלְכָה־נָא,
“we will go, then,” equivalent to “let us go,” the request for
Pharaoh's permission to go out is couched in such a form as to answer to
the relation of Israel to Pharaoh. He had no right to detain them, but he
had a right to consent to their departure, as his predecessor had formerly
done to their settlement. Still less had he any good reason for refusing
their request to go a three days' journey into the wilderness and
sacrifice to their God, since their return at the close of the festival
was then taken for granted. But the purpose of God was, that Israel should
not return. Was it the case, then, that the delegates were “to deceive the
king,” as Knobel affirms! By no means. God knew the hard heart of
Pharaoh, and therefore directed that no more should be asked at first than
he must either grant, or display the hardness of his heart. Had he
consented, God would then have made known to him His whole design, and
demanded that His people should be allowed to depart altogether. But when
Pharaoh scornfully refused the first and smaller request (Exo 5), Moses
was instructed to demand the entire departure of Israel from the land (Exo_6:10),
and to show the omnipotence of the God of the Hebrews before and upon
Pharaoh by miracles and heavy judgments (Heb_7:8.).
Accordingly, Moses persisted in demanding permission for the people to go
and serve their God (Exo_7:16;
Exo_8:1;
Exo_9:1,
Exo_9:13;
Exo_10:3);
and it was not till Pharaoh offered to allow them to sacrifice in the land
that Moses replied, “We will go three days' journey into the wilderness,
and sacrifice to Jehovah our God” (Exo_8:27);
but, observe, with this proviso, “as He shall command us,” which left,
under the circumstances, no hope that they would return. It was an act of
mercy to Pharaoh, therefore, on the one hand, that the entire departure of
the Israelites was not demanded at the very first audience of Moses and
the representatives of the nation; for, had this been demanded, it would
have been far more difficult for him to bend his heart in obedience to the
divine will, than when the request presented was as trifling as it was
reasonable. And if he had rendered obedience to the will of God in the
smaller, God would have given him strength to be faithful in the greater.
On the other hand, as God foresaw his resistance (Exo_3:19),
this condescension, which demanded no more than the natural man could have
performed, was also to answer the purpose of clearly displaying the
justice of God. It was to prove alike to Egyptians and Israelites that
Pharaoh was “without excuse,” and that his eventual destruction was the
well-merited punishment of his obduracy.
(Note: “This moderate request was made only at the
period of the earlier plagues. It served to put Pharaoh to the proof.
God did not come forth with His whole plan and desire at first, that his
obduracy might appear so much the more glaring, and find no excuse in
the greatness of the requirement. Had Pharaoh granted this request,
Israel would not have gone beyond it; but had not God foreseen, what He
repeatedly says (compare, for instance,
Exo_3:18),
that he would not comply with it, He would not thus have presented it;
He would from the beginning have revealed His whole design. Thus
Augustine remarks (Quaest. 13 in Ex.).” Hengstenberg, Diss.
on the Pentateuch. vol. ii. p. 427, Ryland's translation. Clark,
1847.)
חֲזָקָה
בְיָד
וְלֹא,
“not even by means of a strong hand;” “except through great power”
is not the true rendering,
וְלֹא
does not mean
ἐὰν
μὴ,
nisi. What follows, - viz., the statement that God would so smite
the Egyptians with miracles that Pharaoh would, after all, let Israel go (Exo_3:20),
- is not really at variance with this, the only admissible rendering of
the words. For the meaning is, that Pharaoh would not be willing to let
Israel depart even when he should be smitten by the strong hand of God;
but that he would be compelled to do so against his will, would be forced
to do so by the plagues that were about to fall upon Egypt. Thus even
after the ninth plague it is still stated (Exo_10:27),
that “Pharaoh would (אבה)
not let them go;” and when he had given permission, in consequence of the
last plague, and in fact had driven them out (Exo_12:31),
he speedily repented, and pursued them with his army to bring them back
again (Exo_14:5.);
from which it is clearly to be seen that the strong hand of God had not
broken his will, and yet Israel was brought out by the same strong hand of
Jehovah.
Exo 3:21-22 -
Not only would God compel Pharaoh to let Israel go; He
would not let His people go out empty, but, according to the promise in
Gen_15:14,
with great substance. “I will give this people favour in the eyes of
the Egyptians;” that is to say, the Egyptians should be so favourably
disposed towards them, that when they solicited of their neighbours
clothes and ornaments of gold and silver, their request should be granted.
“So shall ye spoil the Egyptians.” What is here foretold as a
promise, the Israelites are directed to do in
Exo_11:2-3;
and according to Exo_12:35-36,
it was really carried out. Immediately before their departure from Egypt,
the Israelites asked (יִשְׁאֲלוּ)
the Egyptians for gold and silver ornaments (כֵּלִים
not vessels, either for sacrifice, the house, or the table, but jewels;
cf. Gen_24:53;
Exo_35:22;
Num_31:50)
and clothes; and God gave them favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, so
that they gave them to them. For
אִשָּׁה
שָׁאֲלָה,
“Let every woman ask of her (female) neighbour and of her that
sojourneth in her house” (בֵּיתָהּ
גָּרָת,
from which it is evident that the Israelites did not live apart, but along
with the Egyptians), we find in
Exo_11:2, “Let every man ask of his neighbour,
and every woman of her (female) neighbour.” -
וְשַׂמְתֶּם,
“and put them upon your sons and daughters.”
עַל
שׂוּם,
to put on, applied to clothes and ornaments in
Lev_8:8 and
Gen_41:42.
This command and its execution have frequently given occasion to the
opponents of the Scriptures to throw contempt upon the word of God, the
asking being regarded as borrowing, and the spoiling of the Egyptians as
purloining. At the same time, the attempts made to vindicate this
purloining from the wickedness of stealing have been in many respects
unsatisfactory.
(Note: For the different views as to the supposed
borrowing of the gold and silver vessels, see Hengstenberg,
Dissertations on the Pentateuch, vol. ii. pp. 419ff., and Kurtz,
History of the Old Covenant, vol. ii. 319ff.)
But the only meaning of
שָׁאַל
is to ask or beg,
(Note: Even in
2Ki_5:6; see my commentary on the passage.)
and
הִשְׁאִיל,
which is only met with in
Exo_12:36 and
1Sa_1:28, does
not mean to lend, but to suffer to ask, to hear and grant a request.
יַשְׁאִלוּם (Exo_12:36),
lit., they allowed them to ask; i.e., “the Egyptians did not turn away the
petitioners, as not wanting to listen to them, but received their petition
with good-will, and granted their request. No proof can be brought that
הִשְׁאִיל means to lend, as is commonly
supposed; the word occurs again in
1Sa_1:28, and there it means to grant or
give” (Knobel on Exo_12:36).
Moreover the circumstances under which the
שָׁאַל
and
הִשְׁאִיל took place, were quite at variance with
the idea of borrowing and lending. For even if Moses had not spoken
without reserve of the entire departure of the Israelites, the plagues
which followed one after another, and with which the God of the Hebrews
gave emphasis to His demand as addressed through Moses to Pharaoh, “Let My
people go, that they may serve Me,” must have made it evident to every
Egyptian, that all this had reference to something greater than a three
days' march to celebrate a festival. And under these circumstances no
Egyptian could have cherished the thought, that the Israelites were only
borrowing the jewels they asked of them, and would return them after the
festival. What they gave under such circumstances, they could only give or
present without the slightest prospect of restoration. Still less could
the Israelites have had merely the thought of borrowing in their mind,
seeing that God had said to Moses, “I will give the Israelites favour in
the eyes of the Egyptians; and it will come to pass, that when ye go out,
ye shall not go out empty” (Exo_3:21).
If, therefore, it is “natural to suppose that these jewels were festal
vessels with which the Egyptians furnished the poor Israelites for the
intended feast,” and even if “the Israelites had their thoughts directed
with all seriousness to the feast which they were about to celebrate to
Jehovah in the desert” (Baumgarten); their request to the Egyptians
cannot have referred to any borrowing, nor have presupposed any intention
to restore what they received on their return. From the very first the
Israelites asked without intending to restore, and the Egyptians granted
their request without any hope of receiving back, because God had made
their hearts favourably disposed to the Israelites. The expressions
אֶת־מִצְרַיִם
נִצַּלְתֶּם in
Exo_3:22, and
וַיְנַצְּלוּ in
Exo_12:36, are
not at variance with this, but rather require it. For
נָצַל
does not mean to purloin, to steal, to take away secretly by cunning and
fraud, but to plunder (2Ch_20:25),
as both the lxx (σκυλεύειν)
and Vulgate (spoliare) have rendered it. Rosenmüller,
therefore, is correct in his explanation: “Et spoliabitis Aegyptios,
ita ut ab Aegyptiis, qui vos tam dura servitute oppresserunt, spolia
auferetis.” So also is Hengstenberg, who says, “The author represents
the Israelites as going forth, laden as it were with the spoils of their
formidable enemy, trophies of the victory which God's power had bestowed
on their weakness. While he represents the gifts of the Egyptians as
spoils which God had distributed to His host (as Israel is called in
Exo_12:41),
he leads us to observe that the bestowment of these gifts, which outwardly
appeared to be the effect of the good-will of the Egyptians, if viewed
more deeply, proceeded from another Giver; that the outwardly free act of
the Egyptians was effected by an inward divine constraint which they could
not withstand” (Dissertations, vol. ii. p. 431). - Egypt had
spoiled Israel by the tributary labour so unjustly enforced, and now
Israel carried off the spoil of Egypt-a prelude to the victory which the
people of God will one day obtain in their conflict with the power of the
world (cf. Zec_14:14).
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Bethel Missionary Baptist:
The name Bethel comes from the Hebrew beth,
meaning house,
and el, meaning God. Bethel means "The House of
God."
Church in the Philippines |
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