Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 7:23
And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.
23. turned and went ] viz. after his visit to the Nile, v. 15.
set his heart to this ] i.e. pay attention to it: a Heb. idiom (like , animum attendere); so Exo 2Sa 13:20 Heb. al.
The plague is an intensification of a natural phaenomenon of annual occurrence in Egypt. ‘Still, each year, the water of the river becomes like blood at the time of the inundation. When the Nile first begins to rise, towards the end of June, the red marl brought from the mountains of Abyssinia stains it to a dark colour, which glistens like blood in the light of the setting sun’ (Sayce, EHH., p. 168, writing with personal knowledge of the country). Other observers speak similarly 1 [119] . The natives call it then the ‘Red Nile.’ The reddish colour continues more or less till the waters begin to abate in October. The water, while it is red, is not unwholesome. Shortly, however, before the redness begins, the Nile (called then the ‘Green Nile’) generally for a few days rises slightly, and becomes green (from decaying vegetable matter brought down from the equatorial swamps), and then it is unwholesome 2 [120] .
[119] e.g. Osburn, Monum. Hist. of Egypt (1851), i. 11 f. (when the rays of the rising sun fell upon the Nile, it had the appearance of a ‘river of blood’; and the Arabs came to tell him that it was the ‘Red Nile’).
[120] See further on the annual inundation of the Nile, which is due to the waters of the Atbara and the ‘Blue Nile’ being swollen by the heavy spring and summer rains in the Abyssinian highlands, and the melting of the mountain snow, and which give the Delta its fertility, R. Pococke, Descr. of the East (1743), i. 199 f.; Rawlinson, Hist. of Eg. (1881), i. 19 25; Maspero, Dawn of Civil. pp. 22 26; DB. iii. 551, 889; W. M. Mller in EB. Egypt, 7, and Nile; Bdeker, Egypt 6 (1908), p. xlv f.
As Dillm. says, however, though the recollection of an extraordinary intensification of a genuine Egyptian phaenomenon is the foundation of the narrative, it is not the actual reddening of the Nile at the time of the inundation which the narrative describes, not only because there would be nothing surprising in what was an annual occurrence, but also because of the seven days’ limit of time in v. 25, and because the water of the ‘Red Nile’ is wholesome and drinkable: but the natural local phaenomenon is dissociated from its natural conditions, and transformed into something transcending all experience, by the circumstances under which it is produced, and by the consequences attending it, the water (including in P even that in domestic vessels) becoming undrinkable, and the fish dying.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He did not seriously consider it, nor the causes or cure of this plague, and was not much affected with it, because he saw this fact exceeded not the power of his magicians.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Pharaoh turned, and went into his house,…. Turned away from Moses and Aaron, and turned back from the river to which he came, and went to his palace in the city; it being perhaps now about dinner time, when all before related had passed:
neither did he set his heart to this also: had no regard to this miracle of turning the waters into blood, as well as he had none to the rod being turned into a serpent, and devouring the rods of the magicians; he neither considered the one nor the other, or seriously and closely thought of this, any more than of the other.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
23. And Pharaoh turned. In this word Moses teaches us that the hardness of heart, to which God had devote Pharaoh, was voluntary; so that the sin rested in himself, nor did the secret appointment of God avail anything to lessen his culpability, for his folly is condemned, because he did not “set his heart to this also.” Whence it follows that he was the author of his own obstinacy, because, being blinded by pride and contempt, he took no account of the glory of God. Thus the wicked, although as being vessels of wrath, they are cast of God into a reprobate mind, still harden themselves, because wittingly and willfully they run against God, and thus their security, audacity, and perverseness take away from them the excuse of ignorance or error. Wherefore this example warns us not to slumber when God arouses us, but attentively to consider His works, which may instruct us to reverence and fear Him. The statement that the Egyptians dug wells for themselves increases the certainty of the miracle, as does also what is added as to the seven days; for if the corruption of the water had only been momentary, some suspicion of delusion might have crept in, which was removed both by the continued taste and appearance. Therefore it was said before, that the Egyptians would suffer inconvenience and pain (91) from the want of water; for thus I explain it, that they should be sorrowful and afflicted, viz., because they had nothing to drink.
(91) He seems to allude to verse 18, which he translates “et molestia afficientur Aegyptii, bibendo aquas ex flumine.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) Neither did he set his heart to this also.Heb., Neither did he set his heart (i.e., pay attention) even to this. Pharaoh did not lay even this to heart. He passed it over as a slight matter, unworthy of much thought, and turned, and went into his house. Probably care was taken to keep him constantly supplied with the well water, which, however brackish, would be sufficient for his customary ablutions. He drank, no doubt, a more generous liquid.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 5:12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 7:23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.
Ver. 23. Neither did he set his heart. ] But to his “iron sinews” he added “brows of brass.” Isa 48:4 To his natural and hereditary hardness, adventitious and habitual.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
neither: Exo 9:21, Deu 32:46, 1Sa 4:20, *marg. Job 7:17, Psa 62:10, Pro 22:17, Pro 24:32, *marg. Pro 29:1, Isa 26:11, Jer 5:3, Jer 36:24, Eze 40:4, Amo 4:7-12, Hab 1:5, Mal 2:2
Reciprocal: Pro 27:23 – look well Isa 44:19 – considereth in his heart Hag 1:5 – Consider your ways