Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 7:15
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
15. goeth out unto the water ] for what reason is not stated. Apparently a standing custom is alluded to (cf. Exo 8:20; also Exo 2:5): to bathe 1 [117] (cf. Exo 2:5), to pay his devotions to the Nile 2 [118] , to ascertain, if it were the time (June) at which the annual inundation was beginning, how much the river had risen, have all been suggested.
[117] But Diod. Sic. i. 70 is not proof that the Egyptian king bathed every morning in the Nile.
[118] The Nile, the source of Egypt’s fertility, was personified as a deity: in honour of the Nile-god, religious festivals were held, at which the Pharaoh himself sometimes officiated, especially at the time when the annual inundation was expected, and hymns addressed to him are extant (see Maspero, Dawn of Civil., pp. 36 42; cf. Nile in EB., with an illustration of the Nile-god).
the river’s brink ] the brink of the Nile. See on Exo 1:22.
the rod ] The rod given to Moses by Jehovah in Exo 4:17; Exo 4:20 b. The words, which was turned to a serpent, are regarded, even by Di., as a harmonizing addition of the compiler of JE; for the wonder referred to (Exo 4:3 J) is not described by E.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He goeth out unto the water – The Nile was worshipped under various names and symbols; at Memphis especially, as Hapi, i. e. Apis, the sacred bull, or living representation of Osiris, of whom the river was regarded as the embodiment or manifestation. If, as is probable, the king went to offer his devotions, the miracle would have special force and suitableness. It was also the season of the yearly overflowing, about the middle of June; and the daily rise of the water was accurately recorded, under the personal superintendence of the king. In early inscriptions the Nilometer is the symbol of stability and providential care.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Lo, he goeth out unto the water] Probably for the purpose of bathing, or of performing some religious ablution. Some suppose he went out to pay adoration to the river Nile, which was an object of religious worship among the ancient Egyptians. “For,” says Plutarch, De Iside., . “nothing is in greater honour among the Egyptians than the river Nile.” Some of the ancient Jews supposed that Pharaoh himself was a magician, and that he walked by the river early each morning for the purpose of preparing magical rites, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He goeth out unto the water, i. e. the Nile, whither he went at that time, either for his recreation, or to pay his morning worship to that river, which the Egyptians had in great veneration, as Plutarch testifies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Get thee unto PharaohNowbegan those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God ofIsrael, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeablesupremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the naturalphenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degreeof intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at Rameses, orMemphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoan (Ps78:12), was the scene of those extraordinary transactions, andMoses must have resided during that terrible period in the immediateneighborhood.
in the morning; lo, he goethout unto the waterfor the purpose of ablutions or devotionsperhaps; for the Nile was an object of superstitious reverence, thepatron deity of the country. It might be that Moses had been deniedadmission into the palace; but be that as it may, the river was to bethe subject of the first plague, and therefore, he was ordered torepair to its banks with the miracle-working rod, now to be raised,not in demonstration, but in judgment, if the refractory spirit ofthe king should still refuse consent to Israel’s departure for theirsacred rites.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning,…. The next morning, a time in which the mind is most composed and sedate, and fit to attend to what may be suggested:
lo, he goeth out unto the water; the river Nile, either to take his morning’s walk, and to refresh himself at the waterside, as the Jerusalem Targum; or to observe divinations upon the water, as a magician, as the Targum of Jonathan. So in the Talmud d it is said, that the Pharaoh in the days of Moses was a magician. Or rather, as Aben Ezra thinks, which he says is a custom of the kings of Egypt to this day, to go out in the months of Tammuz and Ab, i.e. June, and July, when the river increases, to observe how many degrees it has ascended, by which the fruitfulness of the ensuing season was judged of. [See comments on Amos 8:8] Or else he went to worship the rising sun, or the Nile, to pay his morning devotions to it: for not only Jarchi, and other Jewish writers, say it was their chief god, but Plutarch e also affirms, that nothing was so much honoured with the Egyptians as the Nile; and both Theodoret on this place, and Athanasius f elsewhere says, that they reckoned it a god, and worshipped it as such; and it has been usual with other nations to worship rivers, as Aelianus g reports:
and thou shall stand by the river’s brink against he come; over against the brink of the river Nile, in order to meet him:
and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand; as a terror to Pharaoh, on sight of which he might be put in mind of what had been done, and by means of which he might fear other wonders would be wrought; by this it appears, that after the rod had been turned into a serpent, it became a rod again, as it did at Horeb, Ex 4:4. Moses having previous notice of all this, shows the prescience of God, and his certain knowledge of future contingent events.
d T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 18. 1. e De lside & Osir. Vide Philo de Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 617. f Contr. Gentil p. 20. & de Incarnatione, p. 73. g Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 33.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) He goeth out unto the water.Perhaps to bathe, like the princess who saved Moses (Exo. 2:5), perhaps to inaugurate some festival in the rivers honour. Of these the Egyptian calendar contained several.
The rivers brink.Heb., the lip of the river. (Comp. Exo. 2:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 7:15. Lo, he goeth out unto the water It was most probably Pharaoh’s custom to go to wash himself in the Nile, see ch. Exo 2:5 that, after purification, he might pay the proper worship to his gods; see ch. Exo 8:20. Some have supposed, that he went to pay his devotion to the river Nile itself, which was sacred among the Egyptians. But it is most reasonable to believe, that he went for the purpose of bathing or religious purifications.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 7:15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
Ver. 15. In the morning. ] It was in the night then that God appeared to Moses. But afterwards “mouth to mouth,” “apparently,” by special privilege, Num 12:6 ; Num 12:8 Exo 33:11 “as a man speaketh with his friend.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
serpent. Hebrew. nachash. See note on Gen 3:1, and App-19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he goeth: Exo 2:5, Exo 8:20, Eze 29:3
the rod: Exo 7:10, Exo 4:2-4
Reciprocal: Exo 9:13 – General 1Ch 16:21 – he reproved Isa 7:3 – Go forth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 7:15. Lo, he goeth out unto the water Of the river Nile: whither he went at that time, either for his recreation, or to pay his morning worship to that river, which, as Plutarch testifies, the Egyptians had in great veneration.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by {e} the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
(e) That is, the Nile river.