Exodus 12:29 - Exposition

At midnight . As prophesied by Moses ( Exodus 11:4 ). The day had not been fixed, and this uncertainty must have added to the horror of the situation. The first-born of Pharaoh . We have no proof that the eldest son of Menephthah died before his father, unless we take this passage as proving it. He left a son, called Seti-Menephthah, or Seti II , who either succeeded him, or reigned after a short interval, during which the throne was held by Ammonmes, a usurper. The first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon . This phrase takes the place of another expression, viz. "the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill" ( Exodus 11:5 ). In both cases, the general meaning is, "all, from the highest to the lowest." This is perhaps the whole that is in the writer's thought; but it is also true that captives in dungeons were in some cases employed in turning hand-mills ( 16:21 ). And all the first-born of cattle . Rather, "of beasts." There is no limitation of the plague to domesticated animals.