15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
And Pharaoh was wroth with his two chamberlains -- with the chief of the cup-bearers and with the chief of the bakers;
And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids went along by the river's side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her handmaid and fetched it.
And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well.
Now behold, thou reliest upon the staff of that broken reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it goes into his hand and pierces it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that rely upon him.
Then said the king's servants that attended upon him, Let there be maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance, sought for the king; and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the young virgins of beautiful countenance to Shushan the fortress, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given. And let the maiden that pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. There was in Shushan the fortress a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother -- and the maiden was fair and beautiful -- and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter. And it came to pass when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the fortress, unto the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was brought into the king's house, unto the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and obtained favour before him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, and her portions, and the seven maidens selected to be given her, out of the king's house; and he removed her and her maids to the best [place] of the house of the women. Esther had not made known her people nor her birth; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known. And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. And when every maiden's turn came to go in to king Ahasuerus after that she had been treated for twelve months, according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purification accomplished -- six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices, and with things for the purifying of the women, and thus came the maiden in unto the king), whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house. In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, unto the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she were called by name. And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained grace in the sight of all them that saw her. So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus, into his royal house, in the tenth month, that is, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife: whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
If a ruler hearken to lying words, all his servants are wicked.
There did they cry, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the time appointed go by.
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou wast like a young lion among the nations, and thou wast as a monster in the seas; and thou didst break forth in thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
They all practise adultery, as an oven heated by the baker: he ceaseth from stirring [the fire] after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. In the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine: he stretched out his hand to scorners.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 12
Commentary on Genesis 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; here the Holy Ghost enters upon his story, and henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the sacred history. In this chapter we have,
Gen 12:1-3
We have here the call by which Abram was removed out of the land of his nativity into the land of promise, which was designed both to try his faith and obedience and also to separate him and set him apart for God, and for special services and favours which were further designed. The circumstances of this call we may be somewhat helped to the knowledge of from Stephen's speech, Acts 7:2, where we are told,
Gen 12:4-5
Here is,
Gen 12:6-9
One would have expected that Abram having had such an extraordinary call to Canaan some great event should have followed upon his arrival there, that he would have been introduced with all possible marks of honour and respect, and that the kings of Canaan should immediately have surrendered their crowns to him, and done him homage. But no; he comes not with observation, little notice is taken of him, for still God will have him to live by faith, and to look upon Canaan, even when he was in it, as a land of promise; therefore observe here,
Gen 12:10-13
Here is,
Gen 12:14-20
Here is,
Lastly, Observe a resemblance between this deliverance of Abram out of Egypt and the deliverance of his seed thence: 430 years after Abram went into Egypt on occasion of a famine they went thither on occasion of a famine also; he was fetched out with great plagues on Pharaoh, so were they; as Abram was dismissed by Pharaoh, and enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians, so were they. For God's care of his people is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.