Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:30
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.
30. a great cry in Egypt ] cf. Exo 11:6 (J).
The tenth plague, like the preceding ones, has also its connexion with the natural conditions of the country. Malignant epidemics are of not unfrequent occurrence in Egypt; and Di. quotes from Kn. (see also DB. iii. 892b) numerous references to travellers and others, who state that they usually break out in spring, and are often worse at the time of the amsn wind (see on Exo 10:23; and cf. Lane, Mod. Eg. 5 i. 2); they are also sometimes accompanied by very great mortality. But, as Di. continues, ‘the plague here, by its momentary suddenness, as also by its carrying off as its victims exclusively the first-born of the Egyptians, bears a wholly supernatural character. This particular form of the tradition ( Sage) evidently first arose partly through the influence of the Isr. spring-offering of the Passover, partly through that of the Isr. custom of dedicating the first-born, which together brought into the tradition the sparing of the houses and first-born of the Israelites, and transformed the Egyptians who perished in the plague into first-born’ (Di. on v. 29, slightly abridged). Cf. pp. 410, 412.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 30. There was a great cry] No people in the universe were more remarkable for their mournings than the Egyptians, especially in matters of religion; they whipped, beat, tore themselves, and howled in all the excess of grief. When a relative died, the people left the house, ran into the streets, and howled in the most lamentable and frantic manner. See Diod. Sicul., lib. i., and Herod., lib. ii., c. 85, 86. And this latter author happening to be in Egypt on one of their solemnities, saw myriads of people whipping and beating themselves in this manner, lib. ii., c. 60; and see Mr. Bryant on the Plagues of Egypt, where many examples are given, p. 162, c. How dreadful then must the scene of horror and distress appear when there was not one house or family in Egypt where there was not one dead and according to their custom, all the family running out into the streets bewailing this calamity!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Not a house, to wit, of those houses which had any first-born in them, for in divers families there might be no first-born. And such restrictions of the universal particles are frequently understood.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
30. there was not a house wherethere was not one deadPerhaps this statement is not to betaken absolutely. The Scriptures frequently use the words “all,””none,” in a comparative senseand so in this case. Therewould be many a house in which there would be no child, and many inwhich the first-born might be already dead. What is to be understoodis, that almost every house in Egypt had a death in it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Pharaoh rose up in the night,…. Being awakened by the uncommon noise he heard:
he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; he and his nobles, and ministers of state, courtiers, and counsellors, and his subjects in common, perhaps everywhere in his kingdom, but particularly in the metropolis:
and there was a great cry in Egypt; throughout the whole land, the firstborn being everywhere slain, which caused a most dreadful lamentation of parents for their eldest son, of brethren and sisters for their elder brother, and of servants and maidens for the principal and heir of the family; a cry so loud and general as perhaps was never heard before or since, and under which distress they could have no relief, or any to be their comforter, since all were in the same circumstances: for there was not a house wherein there was not one dead; for if there was no firstborn in it, as it can hardly be thought there should be in every house, though some have been of opinion that it was so ordered in Providence that there should; yet the principal or most considerable person in the family, that is next to the master, might be called the firstborn, as Jarchi notes from Ps 89:27. Though this may be taken as an hyperbolical expression, or, as Aben Ezra observes, it being usual with the Scripture to say that of all, which is true of the greatest part.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(30) A great cry.See the comment on Exo. 11:6. The combination of public calamity, private grief, and shocked religious fanaticism might well produce a cry such as there was none like it, neither shall be like it any more (Exo. 11:6).
Not a house where there was not one dead. This cannot have been literally true. In half the families a daughter would have opened the womb; in others, the firstborn son would have been absent, or dead previously. To judge Scripture fairly, we must make allowance for the hyperbole of Oriental thought and expression, which causes the substitution of universal terms for general ones, and the absence of qualifying clauses. The meaning is that in the great majority of houses there was one dead. This may, well have been so, if we include the dependants and the animals. Pet animalsdogs, cats, gazelles, and monkeysabounded in Egyptian homes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:35 “they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment” – Comments – Where did the Egyptians obtain such wealth to give to the Israelites? During Joseph’s reign, four hundred years earlier, Egypt gained much of its wealth through his wisdom. This money was stored up for these four hundred years for the righteous. God used his servant, Joseph, to prepare the children for the expensive cost of the Exodus and the building of the Tabernacle.
Exo 3:21-22, “And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.”
Exo 11:2-3, “Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.”
Psa 105:37, “ He brought them forth also with silver and gold : and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.”
Pro 13:22, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just .”
Joseph even prophesied of the Exodus, for which he had been used by God to gather the wealth the Israelites gathered from the Egyptians for the Exodus. Note:
Gen 50:24-25, “And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”
Exo 12:35-36 Comments God’s Principle of Giving and Receiving – God took the children of Israel out of bondage with silver and gold; for they had spoiled the Egyptians. It is important to note that the children of Israel brought the Lord an offering, a sacrificial lamb, prior to this gift of favour in the sight of the Egyptians. When we give, God gives back. The children of Israel were not indulging in covetousness, but rather, they were taking their wages from years of slavery. This transfer of the world’s wealth was declared by God to Moses at the burning bush, saying, “And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.” (Exo 3:21-22)
A few months later, God would ask them to give of a willing heart for the building of the Tabernacle. God blessed the children of Israel in order that they might also learn to give willingly and abundantly.
Exo 25:1-2, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.”
Israel’s receiving Egypt’s wealth and giving it to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness is an excellent example of 2Co 9:10, “Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;”
Exo 12:37 “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses” Word Study on “Rameses” – Strong tells us that the name “Rameses” “rah-mes-ace’” ( ) (H7486) means “child son of the sun.” PTW says it means, “child of the sun.”
Comments – Rameses is first mentioned in Gen 47:11 as the land where Israel and the seventy souls that Joseph brought into Egypt first settled, where it is called the best of the land of Egypt, perhaps referring to its fertility in the Nile River delta. According to Exo 12:37 this was the home of the Israelites for their entire four hundred-year stay in the land of Egypt. In Exo 1:11 the Israelites built a city called Raamses ( ) (H7486), spelled differently, but the same Hebrew word is used.
Gen 47:11, “And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses , as Pharaoh had commanded.”
Exo 1:11, “Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses .”
Exo 12:37 Word Study on “to Succoth” Strong and BDB say the name “Succoth” ( ) (H5523) means, “booths.” PTW says it means, “tents.”
Exo 12:37 “about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children” – Comments – The question arises as to how seventy souls entered into Egypt and multiplied into six hundred thousand men. If we consider the fact that there were initially twelve sons born to Jacob, and according to the list found in Gen 46:8-27 these twelve sons bore fifty-one sons that were brought into Egypt; and if we consider the fact the Israelites were in Egypt four (thirty) hundred years (Exo 12:40-41, Act 7:6), we can make an approximate calculation of their growth using mathematics to reach this large number of six hundred thousand men who came out of Egypt. We know that 12 sons of Jacob enter Egypt with their 51 sons. If we estimate that an average of four sons were born to of the twelve sons of Jacob, noting that they bore a total of fifty-one sons (51 sons / 12 sons = 4.25 sons), and if we say that approximately eight generations of children were born in Egypt since the average man would bear his sons by the age of fifty, then the calculations would look like this:
First Generation: 51 sons x 4 sons = 204 sons after 50 years Second Generation: 204 sons x 4 sons = 816 sons after 100 years Third Generation: 816 sons x 4 sons = 3,264 sons after 150 years Fourth Generation: 3,264 sons x 4 sons = 13,056 sons after 200 years Fifth Generation: 13,056 sons x 4 sons = 52,224 sons after 250 years Sixth Generation: 52,224 sons x 4 sons = 208,896 sons after 300 years Seventh Generation: 208,896 sons x 4 sons = 835,584 sons after 350 years Seventh Generation: 835,584 sons x 4 sons = 3,342,336 sons after 400 years Scholars may calculate these figures in various ways; but the point is that four (thirty) hundred years was plenty of time for the nation of Israel to multiply into the 600,000 men recorded in Exo 12:37, even with a large number of Israelite men losing their lives before bearing children, and with infant male mortality by the Egyptians taking place during the later generations.
Exo 12:37 “about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children” – Comments – Note in Num 1:46 that two years later (Num 1:1) there were “603,550 men able to go to war, who were 20 years old and upward.” Thus, the number of Israelites were increasing in the wilderness.
Num 1:46, “Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.”
Num 1:1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,”
Exo 12:38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
Exo 12:38
Neh 13:3, “Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.”
Exo 12:38 Comments – The children of Israel went out of Egyptian bondage with a group of non-Israelites who joined themselves with God’s people. God shows mercy to other nations who can turn to the Lord by faith. This seems to be a prediction that God will one day send the Gospel to the Gentiles so that they will be grafted into the remnant of the people of Israel.
In Exo 12:43-49 the Lord will give Moses the rules on how to incorporate these Gentiles into Israeli worship and life.
Exo 12:39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Exo 12:40 Exo 12:40
[67] R. F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison, and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, rev. ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), “Exodus.”
Exo 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:41
Gen 15:13, “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”
Act 7:6, “And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.”
Exo 12:41 “on the very same day” Comments – The phrase “on the very same day (Exo 12:41) means that Jacob and his family entered Egypt on the day of Passover.
Exo 12:40-41 Comments The Significance of the Date of the Exodus – The Book of Jubilees, written by a Pharisee during the second century B.C., states that there were exactly fifty Jubilees from the time of Adam until the day the children of Israel entered into the Promised Land.
“there are forty-nine jubilees from the days of Adam until this day, [2410 A.M.] and one week and two years: and there are yet forty years to come (lit. ‘distant’) for learning the [2450 A.M.] commandments of the Lord, until they pass over into the land of Canaan, crossing the Jordan to the west.” ( The Book of Jubilees 50.4-5)
It is interesting to note that the Exodus took place approximately on the fiftieth jubilee since Adam was created, which is a period of 2,546 years. This means that a jubilee of fifty years had elapsed upon the earth fifty consecutive times. Note the simple arithmetic.
Adam to Seth 130 years
Seth to Enos 105 years
Enos to Cainan 90 years
Cainan to Mahalaleel 70 years
Mahalaleel to Jared 65 years
Jared to Enoch 162 years
Enoch to Methuselah 65 years
Methuselah to Lamech 187 years
Lamech to Noah 182 years
Noah to Shem, Ham, Jepheth 500 years
Shem to Arphaxad 100 years
Arphaxad to Salah 35 years
Salah to Eber 30 years
Eber to Peleg 34 years
Peleg to Reu 30 years
Reu to Serug 32 years
Serug to Nahor 30 years
Nahor to Terah 29 years
Terah to Abraham, Nahor, Teran 70 years
Abraham to Isaac 100 years
Isaac to Jacob 40 years
Jacob into Egypt – 130 years
Into Egypt until the Exodus 430 years
These numbers add up to a total of 2,546 years.
Exo 12:46 “neither shall ye break a bone thereof” – Comments – Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. Like the Passover lamb, His bones were not broken (Psa 34:20, Joh 19:33-36).
Num 9:12, “They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it : according to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.”
Psa 34:20, “ He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken .”
Joh 19:33-36, “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken .”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Reader! connect this verse with Exo 1:22 and when you have done this, see how sure, whatever men count slackness, the judgments of God are. But do not overlook the spiritual sense of this judgment. Alas! what are temporal visitations to eternal.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.
Ver. 30. For there was not a house. ] Neither is there a house amongst us, hardly, where not one but many are “dead in trespasses and sins.” Our land even stinks again with such, as Egypt did with the frogs.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and there was a great cry: No people were more remarkable and frantic in their mournings than the Egyptians. When a relative died, every one left the house, and the women, with their hair loose, and their bosoms bare, ran wild about the street. The men also, with their apparel equally disordered, kept them company; all shrieking, howling, and beating themselves. What a scene of horror and distress must now have presented itself, when there was not a family in Egypt where there was not one dead! Exo 11:6, Pro 21:13, Amo 5:17, Mat 25:6, Jam 2:13
Reciprocal: Exo 9:15 – that Exo 10:10 – be so Exo 10:29 – I will see Exo 12:12 – will smite Num 3:13 – on the day Num 33:4 – buried Deu 4:34 – and by great 1Sa 5:12 – the cry 2Ki 19:35 – the angel 1Ch 21:14 – seventy Job 34:20 – troubled Psa 14:3 – there Psa 46:8 – desolations Psa 78:51 – smote Psa 91:6 – pestilence Psa 105:36 – He smote Psa 135:8 – smote Pro 27:22 – General Isa 15:1 – in the Isa 37:36 – and when Isa 44:26 – confirmeth Isa 47:11 – thou shalt not know Amo 4:10 – pestilence Hab 3:5 – went Hab 3:13 – thou woundedst Hab 3:14 – the head Zec 12:12 – every family apart Rom 5:14 – even Rev 3:9 – I will make them to
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] {o} not a house where [there was] not one dead.
(o) Of these houses, in which any first born lived, either of men of beasts.