Bible Commentaries

TENTH PLAGUE PREDICTED, Exodus 11:1-10.

1. And the Lord (had) said unto Moses — This passage (Exodus 11:1-3) relates what God had previously said, and describes the influences under which the Egyptian people would be led to comply so readily with the request of the Israelites. It shows how ripe were events for the final scene, and is naturally inserted parenthetically here as showing why Moses had just said so decisively, “I will see thy face no more.” The author also wished to show the fulfilment of the prophecy of Exodus 3:21-22, concerning the spoiling of the Egyptians; and probably, also, to make it clear that he had not on his own authority, but by Jehovah’s express direction, closed his interviews with Pharaoh, since he had already revealed that the tenth judgment stroke should be the last.

He shall surely thrust you out — Literally, When he shall let you go altogether, he will actually thrust you out hence. He will no more attempt to retain the women and children, or the flocks and herds, as before, nor will he stipulate for your return at all, but will be anxious to be wholly rid of you.

2. Let every man borrow — שׁאלask, demand, (Septuagint, Vulgate, Luther, De Wette, Ewald, Knobel.) See on chap. 52:22. Of course the Egyptians could have expected no return of the gold and silver, when they urged them to go wholly out of the land. This was no “borrowing” or purloining, but these “spoils” were gifts obtained by moral constraint. The terror-stricken Egyptians were glad to give them any thing so they would but go in peace. If this despoiling the Egyptians were not so particularly described we should find much difficulty in accounting for the quantity of gold and jewelry which we find in the possession of the Hebrews when they went out of servitude. A large amount of gold was used in the manufacture of the calf in Horeb; and, after this idol had been destroyed, we find the men and women bringing freewill offerings of “bracelets, and earrings, and (signet) rings, and tablets, (necklaces,) all jewels of gold,” (Exodus 35:22,) for the ornamentation and furnishing of the tabernacle, whose beams were all plated with gold, and all whose vessels were gold. It would be hard to account for such an extraordinary amount of the precious metal in the possession of a nation just emerged from bondage were not this unusual means of supply set before us. It was fit that the oppressor who had so long luxuriated on their unrequited toil should repay; it was proper that they should go in festal attire to Jehovah’s feast; and it was the crown of their triumph that the Egyptians willingly loaded them with their costly garments and jewels, freely bidding them go, and praying, Bless us also.

3. And the Lord gave the people favour… the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt — At this crisis the Egyptians had become so panic-stricken that they gave the Israelites whatever they asked, and Moses, Jehovah’s dread messenger, overwhelmed them with awe and terror. The author does not here refer to any moral or intellectual greatness of Moses, but simply to the impression which he had produced upon the Egyptians.

4. And Moses said — Unto Pharaoh, not unto Israel. The speech of Exodus 10:25-26, interrupted by the parenthesis of Exodus 11:1-3, is here resumed.

About midnight — It is probable that the midnight following this interview is here meant, and that this was the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, when the Passover was afterwards celebrated in Israel. From Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:6, we see that the paschal lamb was to be selected on the tenth and killed on the fourteenth of that month. The lamb might have been selected when the plague of darkness commenced, and during those three days that the Israelites alone had light in their dwellings they might have waited in solemn anticipation for the final stroke of deliverance, which on the fifteenth day set them free.

5. And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die — Israel consecrated all its firstborn to God, and Egypt’s firstborn were taken in wrath, as were Israel’s in mercy. The firstborn is the flower, the glory, of the nation, and thus the choice victims were taken from all ranks of men and from all kinds of beasts. The maidservant that is behind the mill, behind the two millstones. Here the specified ranks are from the king to the maidservant, and in Exodus 12:29, from the king to the captive.

The handmill in common use in Egypt, as in the East, generally consists now, as then, of two round stones, from one and a half to two feet in diameter, the lower one being convex upon its upper surface, which fits into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. The corn is dropped through a hole in the upper stone, which is revolved by means of an upright handle. It is usually worked by two women sitting on the ground, facing each other, with the mill between them, both holding the handle and pushing and pulling in alternation. See illustration at Matthew 24:41. The Egyptians had also larger mills worked by asses or cattle.

6. A great cry — Awfully typical of that midnight cry which shall sound through all the earth: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!”

7. Shall not a dog move his tongue — The very dogs of Egypt shall respect the people before whom their masters cower in fear.

8. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down — Pharaoh and all his courtiers would be utterly paralyzed with terror, and humbly entreat the people whom they had crushed so long to depart in peace.

In a great anger — As Jehovah’s messenger, representing his judicial wrath.

9, 10. These verses review and recapitulate the whole series of judgments, recording the fulfilment of the prediction made when Moses was first commissioned. Exodus 7:2-3.