1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt; every man and his family came with Jacob.
Now Jacob had twelve sons: the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali; The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher; these are the sons whom Jacob had in Paddan-aram.
And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son; And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi; And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan; And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron; And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel; All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number. And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli; And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her. The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons. And the son of Dan was Hushim. And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons. All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons.
And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.
Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power: But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean. Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs. Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded. A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel. To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you. Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken? The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule. Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes: His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk. The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon. Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks: And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant. Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall. I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord. Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight. Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings. Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones. Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain; He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him: But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel: Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body: Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers. Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.
These are the numbers of the chiefs of the armed men, ready for war, who came to David at Hebron, to give the kingdom of Saul into his hands, as the Lord had said. There were six thousand, eight hundred spearmen of the children of Judah, armed for war; Seven thousand, one hundred of the children of Simeon, great men of war; Of the children of Levi, four thousand, six hundred. And Jehoiada, chief of the family of Aaron, and with him three thousand, seven hundred men; And Zadok, a young man, great and strong in war, with twenty-two captains from his father's people. And of the children of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand; for up to that time the greater part of them had been true to Saul. And of the children of Ephraim, twenty thousand, eight hundred great men of war, men of great name in their families. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand, listed by name, came to make David king. And of the children of Issachar, there were two hundred chiefs, men who had expert knowledge of the times and what it was best for Israel to do, and all their brothers were under their orders. Of Zebulun, there were fifty thousand men, who went out with the army, expert in ordering the fight, to give help with all sorts of arms; true-hearted men. And of Naphtali, a thousand captains with thirty-seven thousand spearmen. And of the Danites, twenty-eight thousand, six hundred, expert in ordering the fight. And of Asher, forty thousand who went out with the army, expert in ordering the fight. From the other side of Jordan, there were a hundred and twenty thousand of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the men of the half-tribe of Manasseh, armed with every sort of instrument of war. All these men of war, expert in ordering the fight, came to Hebron with the full purpose of making David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were united in their desire to make David king. For three days they were there with David, feasting at his table, for their brothers had made ready food for them. And those who were near, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came with food on asses and camels and mules and oxen, with meal for food and cakes of figs and masses of grapes, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep in great numbers, for there was joy in Israel.
These are the heads of their fathers' families: the sons of Reuben the oldest son of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi: these are the families of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan: these are the families of Simeon. And these are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari: and the years of Levi's life were a hundred and thirty-seven.
And over the tribes of Israel: the ruler of the Reubenites was Eliezer, the son of Zichri; of the Simeonites, Shephatiah, the son of Maacah; Of Levi, Hashabiah, the son of Kemuel; of Aaron, Zadok; Of Judah, Elihu, one of the brothers of David; of Issachar, Omri, the son of Michael; Of Zebulun, Ishmaiah, the son of Obadiah; of Naphtali, Jerimoth, the son of Azriel; Of the children of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Azaziah; of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel, the son of Pedaiah; Of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo, the son of Zechariah; of Benjamin, Jaasiel, the son of Abner; Of Dan, Azarel, the son of Jeroham. These were the captains of the tribes of Israel.
And there came to my ears the number of those who had the mark on their brows, a hundred and forty-four thousand, who were marked out of every tribe of the people of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were marked twelve thousand: of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand: of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand: of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand: of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand: of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand: of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand: of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand: of the tribe of Benjamin were marked twelve thousand.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 1
Commentary on Exodus 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
Ex 1:1-22. Increase of the Israelites.
1. Now these are the names—(See Ge 46:8-26).
7. children of Israel were fruitful—They were living in a land where, according to the testimony of an ancient author, mothers produced three and four sometimes at a birth; and a modern writer declares "the females in Egypt, as well among the human race as among animals, surpass all others in fruitfulness." To this natural circumstance must be added the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham.
8. Now there arose up a new king—About sixty years after the death of Joseph a revolution took place—by which the old dynasty was overthrown, and upper and lower Egypt were united into one kingdom. Assuming that the king formerly reigned in Thebes, it is probable that he would know nothing about the Hebrews; and that, as foreigners and shepherds, the new government would, from the first, regard them with dislike and scorn.
9, 10. he said … Behold, the … children of Israel are more and mightier than we—They had risen to great prosperity—as during the lifetime of Joseph and his royal patron, they had, probably, enjoyed a free grant of the land. Their increase and prosperity were viewed with jealousy by the new government; and as Goshen lay between Egypt and Canaan, on the border of which latter country were a number of warlike tribes, it was perfectly conformable to the suggestions of worldly policy that they should enslave and maltreat them, through apprehension of their joining in any invasion by those foreign rovers. The new king, who neither knew the name nor cared for the services of Joseph, was either Amosis, or one of his immediate successors [Osburn].
11. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters—Having first obliged them, it is thought, to pay a ruinous rent and involved them in difficulties, that new government, in pursuance of its oppressive policy, degraded them to the condition of serfs—employing them exactly as the laboring people are in the present day (driven in companies or bands), in rearing the public works, with taskmasters, who anciently had sticks—now whips—to punish the indolent, or spur on the too languid. All public or royal buildings, in ancient Egypt, were built by captives; and on some of them was placed an inscription that no free citizen had been engaged in this servile employment.
they built for Pharaoh treasure cities—These two store-places were in the land of Goshen; and being situated near a border liable to invasion, they were fortified cities (compare 2Ch 11:1-12:16). Pithom (Greek, Patumos), lay on the eastern Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about twelve Roman miles from Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the Septuagint Heroopolis, lay between the same branch of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes. These two fortified cities were situated, therefore, in the same valley; and the fortifications, which Pharaoh commanded to be built around both, had probably the same common object, of obstructing the entrance into Egypt, which this valley furnished the enemy from Asia [Hengstenberg].
13, 14. The Egyptians … made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick—Ruins of great brick buildings are found in all parts of Egypt. The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, was universal in upper and lower Egypt, both for public and private buildings; all but the temples themselves were of crude brick. It is worthy of remark that more bricks bearing the name of Thothmes III, who is supposed to have been the king of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, have been discovered than of any other period [Wilkinson]. Parties of these brickmakers are seen depicted on the ancient monuments with "taskmasters," some standing, others in a sitting posture beside the laborers, with their uplifted sticks in their hands.
15. the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives—Two only were spoken to—either they were the heads of a large corporation [Laborde], or, by tampering with these two, the king designed to terrify the rest into secret compliance with his wishes [Calvin].
16. if it be a son, then ye shall kill him—Opinions are divided, however, what was the method of destruction which the king did recommend. Some think that the "stools" were low seats on which these obstetric practitioners sat by the bedside of the Hebrew women; and that, as they might easily discover the sex, so, whenever a boy appeared, they were to strangle it, unknown to its parents; while others are of opinion that the "stools" were stone troughs, by the river side—into which, when the infants were washed, they were to be, as it were, accidentally dropped.
17. But the midwives feared God—Their faith inspired them with such courage as to risk their lives, by disobeying the mandate of a cruel tyrant; but it was blended with weakness, which made them shrink from speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
20, 21. God dealt well with the midwives—This represents God as rewarding them for telling a lie. This difficulty is wholly removed by a more correct translation. To "make" or "build up a house" in Hebrew idiom, means to have a numerous progeny. The passage then should be rendered thus: "God protected the midwives, and the people waxed very mighty; and because the midwives feared, the Hebrews grew and prospered."