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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 11:4-10

Warning is here given to Pharaoh of the last and conquering plague which was now to be inflicted. This was the death of all the first-born in Egypt at once, which had been first threatened (Exod. 4:23; I will slay thy son, thy first-born), but is last executed; less judgments were tried, which, if they had done the work would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath, and how willing to be met with in the way of his judgments, and to have his anger turned away, and particularly how... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 11:4

And Moses said ,.... To Pharaoh before he left him, when he had told him he should see his face no more; for the three preceding verses are to be read in a parenthesis, being placed here by the historian, as giving some light to this last discourse and transaction between Moses and Pharaoh: thus saith the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ; perhaps to the capital and metropolis of it, which might stand in the midst of it, as usually does the royal city; or it may... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 11:5

And all the firstborn in the land of Eygpt shall die, .... By the destroying angel inflicting a disease upon them, as Josephus says F17 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 6. , very probably the pestilence; however, it was sudden and immediate death, and which was universal, reaching to all the firstborn that were in the families of the Egyptians in all parts of the kingdom: from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne : this periphrasis, "that sitteth upon his throne", either... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 11:6

And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt ,.... Of parents for the loss of their firstborn sons, their heirs, the support and glory of their families; children for the loss of their elder brethren; and servants for the loss of the prime and principal in their masters' houses; and all in a dreadful fright, expecting instantly death themselves: such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more ; for though the later destruction of Pharaoh and his host in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 11:7

But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast ,.... That is, as no hurt should be done to man or beast among them, to the firstborn of either of them, so there would be no noise or cry in their dwellings, but the profoundest silence, stillness, and quietness among them; though this is generally understood of what would be their case when on their march departing out of Egypt, which was immediately upon the slaying of the firstborn; and, if... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 11:4

About midnight will I go out - Whether God did this by the ministry of a good or of an evil angel is a matter of little importance, though some commentators have greatly magnified it. Both kinds of angels are under his power and jurisdiction, and he may employ them as he pleases. Such a work of destruction as the slaying of the first-born is supposed to be more proper for a bad than for a good angel. But the works of God's justice are not less holy and pure than the works of his mercy; and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 11:5

The first-born of Pharaoh, etc. - From the heir to the Egyptian throne to the son of the most abject slave, or the principal person in each family. See Clarke's note on Exodus 12:29 . The maid-servant that is behind the mill - The meanest slaves were employed in this work. In many parts of the east they still grind all their corn with a kind of portable mill-stones, the upper one of which is turned round by a sort of lever fixed in the rim. A drawing of one of these machines as used in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 11:6

There shall be a great cry - Of the dying and for the dead. See more on this subject, Exodus 12:30 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 11:7

Not a dog move his tongue - This passage has been generally understood as a proverbial expression, intimating that the Israelites should not only be free from this death, but that they should depart without any kind of molestation. For though there must be much bustle and comparative confusion in the sudden removal of six hundred thousand persons with their wives, children, goods, cattle, etc., yet this should produce so little alarm that even the dogs should not bark at them, which it would... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 11:4

Verse 4 4.And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord. I lately said that Moses did not go from Pharaoh’s presence until he had delivered the message of his final destruction. This denunciation is, therefore, connected with the foregoing passage. Whence it appears how courageously Moses sustained the menaces of the tyrant, whilst he willingly encounters him, and boasts that he shall be his conqueror, though he be not in his presence, by the death of his first-born son in the coming night. Nor is it to... read more

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