Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:33

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We [be] all dead [men].

33. We be all dead men ] cf. (though the terms are milder) Exo 10:7.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Exo 12:33; Exo 12:35

The Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land.

Hastened out of Egypt

1. Note the reason of this urgency. Fear lest death overtake them all.

2. Note the utter selfishness of the motive. No true repentance in it.

3. Urgency is fitting when there is imminent danger.

4. There is the greatest need of urgency in every sinners case. Doom and death are at hand. (Homiletic Review.)

The Israelites going out of Egyptian bondage; or, the freedom of the Church

I. That the Israelites were given their freedom by those who had long oppressed them; and so the Church shall be freed by those who have long enslaved it.

II. That the Israelites, in availing themselves of their freedom, had to make many temporary shifts; and so the Church, in stepping into liberty, will have to encounter many perplexities.

III. That the Israelites, going into freedom, took with them all the wealth they could get from the Egyptians; and so the Church, in entering upon its liberty, should avail itself of all the valuables it can obtain from the world. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Borrowed from the Egyptians.

Borrowing from the enemy

I remember, when visiting Denmark some twenty years ago, I learned a little incident in the history of a great Danish admiral. On one occasion, when commanding a little sloop–it was before he was admiral–he had the audacity to engage an English frigate in battle. They both fired away, but after a little time the captain of the frigate noticed that the firing from the sloop ceased. A flag of truce was hoisted; a boat was lowered, and the Danish captain came alongside. Addressing his opponent, he said, Sir, our powder is all done, and we have come to borrow some from you! The devil has been using money against the cause of God for many years; let us take it from him, and turn his guns against himself. (Dr. Sinclair Patterson.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 33. The Egyptians were urgent upon the people] They felt much, they feared more; and therefore wished to get immediately rid of a people on whose account they found they were smitten with so many and such dreadful plagues.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They were urgent, not by force, which they durst not now use, but by earnest and importunate entreaties, Exo 11:8. This was the ground of that fable of the heathens mentioned in Tacitus, that the Jews were driven out of Egypt for their scabs; so they falsely and maliciously ascribed their own ulcers and scabs sent upon them by God to the Israelites.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people,…. The people of Israel; not using force, but strong entreaties, the most powerful arguments, and importunate language they were masters of:

that they might send them out of the land in haste: this looks as if it was the people about Pharaoh, his ministers and courtiers, they were pressing upon to dismiss the Israelites at once, and to hasten their departure; or else Moses and Aaron, and the elders of the people, to stir them up to a quick dispatch of their affairs, that they might be soon rid of them; unless the sense is, that they were very solicitous and earnest with the people, that they would get away out of the land as fast as they could:

for they said, we [be] all dead [men]; for their firstborn being all slain, they expected that they themselves, and the rest of their families, would be struck with death next; and this they feared would be the case in a very little time, if they did not depart;

for they had sufficient reason to convince them, that it was purely on their account, and because they had not leave to go out of the land, that all the above judgments, and particularly the last, were inflicted on them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(33) The Egyptians were urgent.Not only Pharaoh, but the Egyptian nation generally was anxious for the immediate departure of the Israelites, and expedited it in every way. This must greatly have facilitated their all setting forth at once. It also accounts for the readiness of the Egyptians to part with their jewels and raiment (Exo. 12:35).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Reader! did you never observe the fear and terror that there is a times in the ungodly at the sight of the godly? See that scripture, Gen 31:52 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 12:33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We [be] all dead [men].

Ver. 33. We be all dead men. ] Quis autem vult mori? prorsus nemo. Everything makes much of life, from the highest angel to the lowest worm. a

a Z . – Aristot.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)