Shall spoil, &c. That is, you shall strip, and take away the goods of the Egyptians. This was not authorizing theft or injustice: but was a just disposal made by him, who is the great Lord and Master of all things; in order to pay the children of Israel some part of what was due to them from the Egyptians for their labours. (Challoner) --- Wisdom (x. 17) rendered to the just the wages of their labours; and (ver. 19,) the just took the spoils of the wicked, in a just war. It is an ancient tradition of the Jews, that the Egyptians appealed to Alexander the Great for the recovery of these spoils; but when the Jews demanded their wages, they were willing to desist from their claims. (Selden, de Ture vii. 8; Tertullian, contra Marcion ii. 20.) (Calmet) --- God had a mind to punish the extravagance of the Egyptians, while he enabled his people to appear with suitable presents before him. It was on this last plea that the Hebrews borrowed precious garments, gold, &c. (Haydock) See Clement of Alexandria, strom. 1; St. Augustine, q. 23. CHAPTER III. They, &c. Many of the common people, not of the ancients, chap. iii. 18. (Menochius) --- He knew that all ought to bring credentials from God, when they come in his name to institute a new order of things. This Moses, Jesus Christ, and the apostles did. Nothing less than a miracle can suffice to guard against imposters, who will never be able to stand this test throughout, in such a manner, but that God will evidently confound their delusive designs, if they should even attempt to work miracles. (Haydock) --- Believe the works. (St. John, x. 15; Mark xvi.) (Worthington) A rod. This alluded to the three states in which the Hebrews had lived in Egypt: 1. As holding the sceptre; 2. as persecuted in a crafty and cruel manner; and 3. as liberated by Moses. (Menochius) --- The dragon [i.e., the serpent] was so terrible as to make even Moses flee. (Philo.) Again. When Moses first appeared in defence of his brethren, Pharao afflicted them more grievously; but at last he was forced to let them go. (Menochius) Blood. This third sign had the same tendency as the former. It showed the cruel persecution inflicted upon the Hebrews, particularly in drowning their male infants; a cruelty which God would shortly revenge, by turning the waters of Egypt into blood, and by slaying the first-born and the army of the Egyptians. (Tirinus) Of tongue, being impressed with awe, at the divine presence. He feared, therefore, that he should not be able to deliver himself intelligently at the court of Pharao, and might rather excite the disgust of that haughty tyrant. (Haydock) --- He had been 40 years absent in the land of Madian, and might have forgotten both the Egyptian and Hebrew languages in some degree; in which sense slowness or heaviness of tongue is taken, (Ezechiel iii. 5.) to express an unknown language. (Calmet) --- God was thus pleased to shew, that all the glory arising from this enterprize belonged to himself; and he thus also gave occasion to Moses to humble himself, while he wrought miracles. (Menochius) Send. Many of the fathers think Moses here prays for the coming of the Messias, who was to be the deliverer of his people; (St. Justin, &c.) or he begs at least that one more proper than himself may be selected; in which some discover marks of pusillanimity, others of great and laudable modesty; so that the anger of God here only means an earnest expression of his will , that Moses should make no further demur. Lyranus supposes that Aaron was the person pointed at by Moses; and God grants his request. (Calmet) To God. Hebrew, "thou shalt be to him in the place of God." He shall hear and obey thee, explaining to the people the instructions thou shalt give him. I have established thee the god of Pharao, and Aaron shall be thy prophet, chap. vii. 1. (Calmet) --- I will address myself immediately to thee. (Tirinus) Rod. So the devil taught Mercury and Bacchus to mimic Moses, and to carry a wand. Tum virgam capit, hac animas ille evocat orco. (Virgil, iv.) (Calmet) Life. "After those many days were elapsed, the king of Egypt died," who had obliged Moses to flee, as the Septuagint, Josephus, and Philo add at the end of ver. 18. Upon which God, who had already commissioned him to go, and saw him willing, gives him this further assurance that he has nothing to fear for his own person. (Haydock) I shall harden, &c. Not by being the efficient cause of his sin; but by withdrawing from him, for his just punishment, the dew of grace, that might have softened his heart; and so suffering him to grow harder and harder. (Challoner) --- Non impertiendo misericordiam. (St. Augustine, ep. 194, ad Sixt.) Thus God permitted the false miracles of the magicians, and did not suffer the scourges to continue long, so that the tyrant soon relapsed and forgot his promises. (Origen, Philos. xx; Theodoret in Romans ix. 16.) (Calmet) CHAPTER IV. First-born, heir to my promises, and the object of my complacency. Thy son. This was the tenth and last scourge, which forced the king to relent. (Menochius) The Lord met him, and would have killed him. This was an angel representing the Lord, who treated Moses in this manner, for having neglected the circumcision of his younger son: which his wife understanding, circumcised her child upon the spot, upon which the angel let Moses go. (Challoner) --- Both his children were born about this time. But Eliezer, the younger, had not been circumcised; and therefore remained under the power of the destroying angel. (Origen, contra Cels. v.) Others think the angel was going to kill Moses. (Calmet) Stone, like a flint. Such stones are very common in Egypt, and are used by the embalmers to open the side of the deceased. The Galli priests make themselves eunuchs without danger, by means of sharp stones. (Pliny, Natural History xxxv. 12.) Josue circumcises with the like, Josue v. But any instrument will suffice. (Calmet) --- Sephora seized the first thing that came in her way, to save the life of her husband, with whom God was displeased for this neglect of complying with the law, whatever might be his pretext. It was not fit that he should be a legislator, who was not a pattern of obedience. (Tirinus) --- Spouse. I have redeemed thee from destruction, by shedding the blood of my son; therefore I will deem this a ratification of our marriage. Never forget our union, which costs me so much, and which has placed you in such imminent danger. The Hebrew mothers style their newly circumcised infants bloody spouses, in imitation of Sephora, who on this occasion perhaps addresses the words to Eliezer. The Septuagint read, "Sephora....fell at his feet, and said, the blood of my son's circumcision has ceased to flow," &c., which is not very easy to understand. Of God. Horeb, where both brothers met, after Sephora was returned to her father. The three signs, prescribed above, in proof of their mission. (Calmet) Went in alone. Aaron was substituted instead of the ancients, chap. iii. 16. --- Pharao Amasis, Cenchres, or Amenophis. (Usher.) --- Sacrifice, which is the principal part of a religious festival. (Menochius) The Lord. Is there anyone above me? Upon us. They include themselves in the common danger, in case of disobedience; and they admonish the king respectfully, that there is no resisting the God of the Hebrews with impunity. Get you. He knew not that Moses had been so long absent; and if he had known, he would not probably have treated him more mildly. (Haydock) Increased, the edict against children being abrogated. (Menochius) --- He insists upon their labour being so intense and toilsome, as to thin their ranks. Overseers, natives of Egypt, who had under them some Hebrews for task-masters, as the people were more willing to obey them, ver. 14. Straw, beaten small and mixed with clay, to make brick and mortar. See Ezechiel xiii. 11, 15; Chardin, Perse ii. p. 76. Idle. Thus the impious speak of those who consecrate any part of their time to the service of God: and thus Protestants often condemn the holy-days prescribed by the Catholic Church! Lying words, alluding to the proposals of Moses. (Haydock) -- Let them not spend their time in idle conversation. (Calmet) Straw. While some continued at the works, (Menochius) others went about the fields to gather up every grain of chaff and piece of straw which they could find. And they, the officers of the children of Israel, established over their brethren, as the Hebrew more clearly insinuates, were scourged, or bastinadoed on the soles of the feet, as smaller faults are commonly punished in the East; (Calmet) or they were beaten also with rods, ver. 16. (Haydock) Withal. Hebrew, "the fault is in thy own people," who require impossibilities. (Calmet) --- They throw the blame upon the king's officers, (Menochius) though it was his own. (Haydock) Kill us. You are the occasion of our more cruel treatment. You have made the king have a bad opinion of us. Hebrew, "you have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharao." So Jacob said, (Genesis xxxiv. 30,) you have made me stink or become odious. Those who attempt to do a kindness, unsuccessfully, often experience a similar ingratitude, chap. xiv. 11. (Menochius) It does not appear from the original, whether the officers or Moses was coming from the king's presence. They met in some appointed place. (Calmet) Wherefore. These are not words of anger, but of earnest prayer. (St. Augustine, q. 14.) Moses does not attempt to satisfy the exasperated officers, but commits the whole to God. (Menochius) --- In great undertakings, there are commonly many difficulties; which ought not to discourage us. (Tirinus)