17 But the midwives H3205 feared H3372 God, H430 and did H6213 not as the king H4428 of Egypt H4714 commanded H1696 them, but saved H2421 the men children H3206 alive. H2421
Shadrach, H7715 Meshach, H4336 and Abednego, H5665 answered H6032 and said H560 to the king, H4430 O Nebuchadnezzar, H5020 we H586 are not H3809 careful H2818 to answer H8421 thee in H5922 this H1836 matter. H6600 If H2006 it be so, our God H426 whom we H586 serve H6399 is H383 able H3202 to deliver H7804 us from H4481 the burning H3345 fiery H5135 furnace, H861 and H4481 he will deliver H7804 us out of H4481 thine hand, H3028 O king. H4430 But if H2006 not, H3809 be it H1934 known H3046 unto thee, O king, H4430 that we will H383 not H3809 serve H6399 thy gods, H426 nor H3809 worship H5457 the golden H1722 image H6755 which thou hast set up. H6966
And G2532 they called G2564 them, G846 and commanded G3853 them G846 not G3361 to speak G5350 at all G2527 nor G3366 teach G1321 in G1909 the name G3686 of Jesus. G2424 But G1161 Peter G4074 and G2532 John G2491 answered G611 and said G2036 unto G4314 them, G846 Whether G1487 it be G2076 right G1342 in the sight G1799 of God G2316 to hearken G191 unto you G5216 more than G3123 G2228 unto God, G2316 judge ye. G2919 For G1063 we G2249 cannot G3756 G1410 but G3361 speak G2980 the things which G3739 we have seen G1492 and G2532 heard. G191
If thou forbear H2820 to deliver H5337 them that are drawn H3947 unto death, H4194 and those that are ready H4131 to be slain; H2027 If thou sayest, H559 Behold, we knew H3045 it not; doth not he that pondereth H8505 the heart H3826 consider H995 it? and he that keepeth H5341 thy soul, H5315 doth not he know H3045 it? and shall not he render H7725 to every man H120 according to his works? H6467
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 1
Commentary on Exodus 1 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Increase in the Number of the Israelites Their Bondage in Egypt - Exodus 1
The promise which God gave to Jacob in his departure from Canaan (Genesis 46:3) was perfectly fulfilled. The children of Israel settled down in the most fruitful province of the fertile land of Egypt, and grew there into a great nation (Exodus 1:1-7). But the words which the Lord had spoken to Abram (Genesis 15:13) were also fulfilled in relation to his seed in Egypt. The children of Israel were oppressed in a strange land, were compelled to serve the Egyptians (Exodus 1:8-14), and were in great danger of being entirely crushed by them (Exodus 1:15-22).
To place the multiplication of the children of Israel into a strong nation in its true light, as the commencement of the realization of the promises of God, the number of the souls that went down with Jacob to Egypt is repeated from Genesis 46:27 (on the number 70, in which Jacob is included, see the notes on this passage); and the repetition of the names of the twelve sons of Jacob serves to give to the history which follows a character of completeness within itself. “ With Jacob they came, every one and his house, ” i.e., his sons, together with their families, their wives, and their children. The sons are arranged according to their mothers, as in Genesis 35:23-26, and the sons of the two maid-servants stand last. Joseph, indeed, is not placed in the list, but brought into special prominence by the words, “ for Joseph was in Egypt ” (Exodus 1:5), since he did not go down to Egypt along with the house of Jacob, and occupied an exalted position in relation to them there.
After the death of Joseph and his brethren and the whole of the family that had first immigrated, there occurred that miraculous increase in the number of the children of Israel, by which the blessings of creation and promise were fully realised. The words פּרוּ ישׁרצוּ ( swarmed ), and ירבּוּ point back to Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 8:17, and יעצמוּ to עצוּם גּוי in Genesis 18:18. “ The land was filled with them, ” i.e., the land of Egypt, particularly Goshen, where they were settled (Genesis 47:11). The extra-ordinary fruitfulness of Egypt in both men and cattle is attested not only by ancient writers, but by modern travellers also (vid., Aristotelis hist. animal. vii. 4, 5; Columella de re rust. iii. 8; Plin. hist. n. vii. 3; also Rosenmüller a. und n. Morgenland i. p. 252). This blessing of nature was heightened still further in the case of the Israelites by the grace of the promise, so that the increase became extraordinarily great (see the comm. on Exodus 12:37).
The promised blessing was manifested chiefly in the fact, that all the measures adopted by the cunning of Pharaoh to weaken and diminish the Israelites, instead of checking, served rather to promote their continuous increase.
Exodus 1:8-9
“ There arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph .” ויּקם signifies he came to the throne, קוּם denoting his appearance in history, as in Deuteronomy 34:10. A “new king” (lxx: βασιλεὺς ἕτερος ; the other ancient versions, rex novus ) is a king who follows different principles of government from his predecessors. Cf. חדשׁים אלהים , “new gods,” in distinction from the God that their fathers had worshipped, Judges 5:8; Deuteronomy 32:17. That this king belonged to a new dynasty, as the majority of commentators follow Josephus