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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:27
And Pharaoh sent. Compare Exodus 8:8, and Exodus 8:25-28. Pharaoh had been driven to entreat only twice before. I have sinned this time. The meaning is, "I acknowledge this time that I have sinned" (Kaliseh, Cook). "I d…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:27-35
EXPOSITION The plague of hail impressed the Pharaoh more than any previous one. It was the first which had inflicted death on men. It was a most striking and terrible manifestation. It was quite unlike anything which th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:27-30
The mock repentance of a half-awakened sinner counterfeits the true, but has features by which it may be known. It is not always easy to distinguish between a true and a mock repentance. Here was the Pharaoh at this tim…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:28
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. In the Vedic theology, Indra spoke in thunder. The Egyptian view on the s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:29
As soon as I am gone out of the city. "The city" is probably Tanis (Zoan). We may gather from the expression of this verse, and again of Exodus 9:33, that Moses and Aaron did not live in the city, but in the country wit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:30
I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord. True fear of God is shown by obedience to his commands. Pharaoh and his servants had the sort of fear which devils have—" they believed and trembled." But they had not yet that…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:31
The flax and the barley was smitten. Flax was largely cultivated by the Egyptians, who preferred linen garments to any other (Herod. 2:37), and allowed the priests to wear nothing but linen. Several kinds of flax are me…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:32
The wheat and the rie were not smitten, for they were not grown up. In Egypt the wheat harvest is at least a month later than the barley harvest, coming in April, whereas the barley harvest is finished by the end of Mar…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:33
The rain was not poured upon the earth. Rain had not been previously mentioned, as it was no part of the plague, that is, it caused no damage. But Moses, recording the cessation as an eye-witness, recollects that rain w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:34
He sinned yet more, and hardened his heart. Altogether there are three different Hebrew verbs, which our translators have rendered by "harden," or "hardened"—kabad, qashah, and khazaq. The first of these, which occurs i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 9:35
As the Lord had spoken by Moses. Compare Exodus 3:19; Exodus 4:21; and Exodus 7:3, Exodus 7:4 HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:1
And the Lord spake unto Moses. Rather, "Now the Lord had said unto Moses." The Hebrew has no form for the pluperfect tease, and is consequently obliged to make up for the grammatical deficiency by using the simple prete…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:1-3
EXPOSITION We have here a parenthetic statement of something that had previously happened. Before Moses was summoned to appear in the presence of Pharaoh as related in Exodus 10:24, it had been expressly revealed to him…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:1-3
Crises bring out men's characters, and cause them to be properly appreciated. It is evident that, as the crisis approached, Pharaoh sank in the estimation of his subjects, while Moses rose. Pharaoh showed himself change…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:1-4
The beginning of the end. I. THE STROKE STILL IN RESERVE (Exodus 11:1). God would bring on Pharaoh "one plague more." This would be effectual. It would lead him to let the people go from Egypt. So eager would he be for…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:2
Every man … every woman. In Exodus 3:22 only women had been mentioned. Now the terms of the direction were enlarged. It is worthy of notice that gold and silver ornaments—ear-rings, collars, armlets, bracelets, and ankl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:3
And the Lord gave the people favour—i.e. When the time came. See below, Exodus 12:36. Moreover the man Moses, etc. It has been supposed that this is an interpolation, and argued that Moses, being so "meek" as he was (Nu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:4-8
EXPOSITION The writer returns here to his account of the last interview between Moses and Pharaoh, repeating the introductory words of Exodus 10:29—"and Moses said." Having accepted his dismissal, and declared that he w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:4
About midnight.—Compare Exodus 12:29. It would add to the horror of the infliction that it should come in the depth of the night. Probably the night intended was not the next night, but one left purposely indefinite, th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:4-10
A finale. These verses end the story of how God wrought with Pharaoh to subdue him to his will. They prepare us for the catastrophe which brought the long conflict to a termination, and forced a way of egress for two mi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:5
All the first-born. The law of primogeniture prevailed in Egypt, as among most of the nations of antiquity. The monarchy (under the New Empire, at any rate) was hereditary, and the eldest son was known as erpa suten sa,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:5-7
The issues of life and death are in the hand of God. For the most part there is, or there seems to be, one event to the righteous and to the wicked (Ecclesiastes 9:2). Death happens alike to all, and does not appear to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:6
There shall be a great cry. The violence of Oriental emotions, and the freedom with which they are vented are well known. Herodotus relates that the Egyptians stript themselves and beat their breasts at funerals (2:85)…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 11:7
Shall not a dog move his tongue. So far from a sudden destruction coming upon them, there shall not so much as a dog bark at them- They shall incur no hurt—no danger. (Compare Joshua 10:21.) That ye may know how that th…