성경 주석서

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Let my people go. — The very same message to a word, as before often. Austin persuades God’s messengers so long to insist upon the same point, beating and repeating of it in the same words, till they perceive by the gesture and countenance of the hearers that they understand and embrace it. De Doctrina Christiana. Chrysostom at Antioch preached many sermons against swearing; and told the people, that seemed to be weary of that subject, that till they stopped their swearing, he would never stop preaching against that sin; ου μονον ταυτα αλλα και περι ταυτων , said Socrates.

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For if thou refuse to let [them] go, and wilt hold them still,

And wilt hold them still. — Being wedded to thy will, which will prove thy hell. Voluntas tua infernus tuus. - Bern.

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Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which [is] in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: [there shall be] a very grievous murrain.

Is upon thy cattle. — Both those ad esum and those ad usum. Men sin, these suffer, and therefore groan. Romans 8:22

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And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all [that is] the children’s of Israel.

And there shall nothing die. — It is fair weather oft with the saints when it is foulest with the wicked. God hideth his in the hollow of his hand, Psalms 91:1-16 till the indignation be overpast. Isaiah 26:20 He gives the like charge of them as David did of Absalom. 2 Samuel 18:5

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And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

And all the cattle. — That is, A great sort of them, not all. Non universaliter, sed communiter. Exodus 9:19 ; Exodus 9:25 And this was the fifth of those ten plagues, a number of perfection; to note that God therein did most perfectly administer and execute his judgments.

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And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. — Like a smith’s anvil, he grew harder for hammering. There was little need to say to Pharaoh, as the smith did to the Landgrave of Thuring, Durescite, durescite, O in felix Lantgravi. Pet. Nicol. Gelstronp. He hardened fast enough.

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And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

Sprinkle it toward the heaven. — In token that this plague should, in a special manner, be inflicted from heaven. The Philistines, by their golden emerods, acknowledged that the emerods in their flesh were from God. Hippocrates called the pestilence το θειον , the divine disease, as we call the spots thereof God’s marks. The falling sickness was anciently called morbus sacer as an immediate hand of God. And what can we conceive less of the sweating sickness, with which no stranger in England was touched? And yet the English were chased therewith, not only in England, but in other countries abroad; which made them, like tyrants, both feared and avoided wherever they came. Life of King Edward VI, by Sir John Heywood, p. 127.

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And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth [with] blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.

A boil breaking forth. — This Moses threateneth to all disobedient persons Deuteronomy 28:27 Job’s boils were rather probational than penal. So were Munster’s ulcers (medicinal they were, howsoever), which he showed to his friend, and said, Hae sunt gemmae et pretiosa ornamenta Dei, quibus Deus amicos suos ornat, ut eos ad se attrahat. These be those gems and jewels wherewith God adorneth his best friends, that he may bring them nearer to himself. Manlii, loc. com, p. 127.

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