Exodus 1:16, Exodus 1:22 NASB

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

The Egyptians? indignation at Israel's increase, notwithstanding the many hardships they put upon them, drove them at length to the most barbarous and inhuman methods of suppressing them, by the murder of their children. It was strange that they did not rather pick quarrels with the grown men, against whom they might perhaps find some occasion: to be thus bloody towards the infants, whom all must own to be innocents, was a sin which they had to cloak for. Note, 1. There is more cruelty in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:16

And he said, when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women ,.... Deliver them of their children: and see them upon the stools ; seats for women in labour to sit upon, and so contrived, that the midwives might do their office the more readily; but while they sat there, and before the birth, they could not tell whether the child was a son or a daughter; wherefore Kimchi F8 Sepher Shorash. rad. אבן . thinks the word here used signifies the place to which the infant falls... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:16

Upon the stools - האבנים על al haobnayim . This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jeremiah 18:3 , where we translate it the potter's wheels. As אכי signifies a stone, the obnayim has been supposed to signify a stone trough, in which they received and washed the infant as soon as born. Jarchi, in his book of Hebrew roots, gives a very different interpretation of it; he derives it from בן ben , a son, or בנים banim , children; his words... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:1-22

The prosperity of Israel. This prosperity was not a mere appearance, nor a passing spurt of fortune. It was a deep, abiding, and significant reality. Nor was it something exaggerated in order to make an excuse for the cruelties of a suspicious tyrant. There was indeed only too much to make Pharaoh uneasy; but altogether apart from his alarms there is a plain and emphatic statement of the prosperity of Israel in Exodus 1:7 . It is a very emphatic statement indeed, summoning us m the most... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:8-22

The policy of Pharaoh. I. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE POLICY . This is indicated in Exodus 1:9 , Exodus 1:10 . It was a policy of selfish fear, proceeding upon an unconcealed regard for the supremacy of Egypt. Whatever interfered with that supremacy was to be, if possible, swept completely out of the way. Pharaoh was dealing, not with the necessities of the present, but with the possibilities of the future. He made no pretence that Israel deserved to be dealt with in this... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

Some time—say five or six years—having elapsed and the Pharaoh's first plan having manifestly failed, it was necessary for him either to give up his purpose, or to devise something else. Persevering and tenacious, he preferred the latter course. He bethought himself that a stop might be put to the multiplication of the Israelites by means of infanticide on a large scale. Infanticide was no doubt a crime in Egypt, as in most countries except Rome; but the royal command would legitimate... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

Steps in sin. Bad men, when their designs are frustrated, and things fall out otherwise than as they wish, are far from suspecting that it is God who opposes them and brings their counsels to nought. They find fault with themselves or their advisers, and suppose that, if their end is not to be compassed in one way, it may he obtained in another. Like Balak ( Numbers 22:23 .), they would outwit God; or rather, not realising his existence, they would force fortune by a combination of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

A king's edicts. I. THE COMMAND TO THE MIDWIVES TO DESTROY THE MALES ( Exodus 1:16 ). This was a further stage in the persecution of the Hebrews. Happily the command was not obeyed. There is a limit even to the power of kings. Stronger than kings is— 1 . The power of religion. "The midwives feared God" ( Exodus 1:17 ). 2 . The force of patriotism. They were "Hebrew midwives" ( Exodus 1:15 ), and would not, even at the king's bidding, be murderers of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:16

The stools . The explanation furnished by a remark of Mr. Lane is more satisfactory than any other. In modern Egypt, he says, "two or three days before the expected time of delivery, the midwife conveys to the house the kursee elwiladeh, a chair of a peculiar form, upon which the patient is to be seated during the birth." A chair of the form intended is represented on the Egyptian monuments. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 1:16

Upon the stools - Literally, “two stones.” The word denotes a special seat, such as is represented on monuments of the 18th Dynasty, and is still used by Egyptian midwives. read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:16

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:16

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:1-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:8-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 1:16

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 1:16

Group of Brands