Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:51
And it came to pass the selfsame day, [that] the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
51. A repetition of the substance of v. 41b (cf. Exo 6:30 repeated from Exo 6:12), intended seemingly to close the account of the departure from Egypt.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 51. By their armies.] tsibotham, from tsaba, to assemble, meet together, in an orderly or regulated manner, and hence to war, to act together as troops in battle; whence tsebaoth, troops, armies, hosts. It is from this that the Divine Being calls himself Yehovah tsebaoth, the LORD of HOSTS or armies, because the Israelites were brought out of Egypt under his direction, marshalled and ordered by himself, guided by his wisdom, supported by his providence, and protected by his might. This is the true and simple reason why God is so frequently styled in Scripture the Lord of hosts; for the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their ARMIES.
ON this chapter the notes have been so full and so explicit, that little can be added to set the subject before the reader in a clearer light. On the ordinance of the PASSOVER, the reader is requested to consult the notes on verses 7, 14, and 27. See Clarke on Ex 12:7; “Ex 12:14“; “Ex 12:27“. For the display of God’s power and providence in supporting so great a multitude where, humanly speaking, there was no provision, and the proof that the exodus of the Israelites gives of the truth of the Mosaic history, he is referred to Ex 12:37. And for the meaning of the term LAW, to Ex 12:49.
On the ten plagues it may be but just necessary, after what has been said in the notes, to make a few general reflections. When the nature of the Egyptian idolatry is considered, and the plagues which were sent upon them, we may see at once the peculiarity of the judgment, and the great propriety of its being inflicted in the way related by Moses. The plagues were either inflicted on the objects of their idolatry, or by their means.
1. That the river Nile was an object of their worship and one of their greatest gods, we have already seen. As the FIRST plague, its waters were therefore turned into blood; and the fish, many of which were objects also of their adoration, died. Blood was particularly offensive to them, and the touch of any dead animal rendered them unclean. When then their great god, the river, was turned into blood, and its waters became putrid, so that all the fish, minor objects of their devotion, died, we see a judgment at once calculated to punish, correct, and reform them. Could they ever more trust in gods who could neither save themselves nor their deluded worshippers?
2. Mr. Bryant has endeavoured to prove that frogs, the SECOND plague, were sacred animals in Egypt, and dedicated to Osiris: they certainly appear on many ancient Egyptian monuments, and in such circumstances and connections as to show that they were held in religious veneration. These therefore became an awful scourge; first, by their numbers, and their intrusion into every place; and, secondly, by their death, and the infection of the atmosphere which took place in consequence.
3. We have seen also that the Egyptians, especially the priests, affected great cleanliness, and would not wear woollen garments lest any kind of vermin should harbour about them. The THIRD plague, by means of lice or such like vermin, was wisely calculated both to humble and confound them. In this they immediately saw a power superior to any that could be exerted by their gods or their magicians; and the latter were obliged to confess, This is the finger of God!
4. That flies were held sacred among the Egyptians and among various other nations, admits of the strongest proof. It is very probable that Baal-zebub himself was worshipped under the form of a fly or great cantharid. These, therefore, or some kind of winged noxious insects, became the prime agents in the FOURTH plague; and if the cynomyia or dog-fly be intended, we have already seen in the notes with what propriety and effect this judgment was inflicted.
5. The murrain or mortality among the cattle was the FIFTH plague, and the most decisive mark of the power and indignation of Jehovah. That dogs, cats, monkeys, rams, heifers, and bulls, were all objects of their most religious veneration, all the world knows. These were smitten in a most singular manner by the hand of God; and the Egyptians saw themselves deprived at once of all their imaginary helpers. Even Apis, their ox-god, in whom they particularly trusted, now suffers, groans, and dies under the hand of Jehovah. Thus does he execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. See Ex 12:12.
6. The SIXTH plague, viz., of boils and blains, was as appropriate as any of the preceding; and the sprinkling of the ashes, the means by which it was produced, peculiarly significant. Pharmacy, Mr. Bryant has observed, was in high repute among the Egyptians; and Isis, their most celebrated goddess, was considered as the preventer or healer of all diseases. “For this goddess,” says Diodorus, Hist., lib. i., “used to reveal herself to people in their sleep when they laboured under any disorder, and afford them relief. Many who placed their confidence in her influence, , were miraculously restored. Many likewise who had been despaired of and given over by the physicians on account of the obstinacy of the distemper, were saved by this goddess. Numbers who had been deprived of their eyes, and of other parts of their bodies, were all restored on their application to Isis.” By this disorder, therefore, which no application to their gods could cure, and which was upon the magicians also, who were supposed to possess most power and influence, God confounded their pride, showed the folly of their worship, and the vanity of their dependence. The means by which these boils and blains were inflicted, viz., the sprinkling of ashes from the furnace, was peculiarly appropriate. Plutarch assures us, De Iside et Osiride, that in several cities of Egypt they were accustomed to sacrifice human beings to Typhon, which they burned alive upon a high altar; and at the close of the sacrifice the priests gathered the ashes of these victims, and scattered them in the air: “I presume, says Mr. Bryant, “with this view, that where an atom of their dust was wafted, a blessing might be entailed. The like was done by Moses with the ashes of the furnace, that wherever any, the smallest portion, alighted, it might prove a plague and a curse to this cruel, ungrateful, and infatuated people. Thus there was a designed contrast in these workings of Providence, an apparent opposition to the superstition of the times.”
7. The grievous hail, the SEVENTH plague, attended with rain, thunder, and lightning, in a country where these scarcely ever occur, and according to an express prediction of Moses, must in the most signal manner point out the power and justice of God. Fire and water were some of the principal objects of Egyptian idolatry; and fire, as Porphyry says, they considered , to be a great god. To find, therefore, that these very elements, the objects of their adoration, were, at the command of a servant of Jehovah, brought as a curse and scourge on the whole land, and upon men also and cattle, must have shaken their belief in these imaginary deities, while it proved to the Israelites that there was none like the God of Jeshurun.
8. In the EIGHTH plague we see by what insignificant creatures God can bring about a general destruction. A caterpillar is beyond all animals the most contemptible, and, taken singly, the least to be dreaded in the whole empire of nature; but in the hand of Divine justice it becomes one of the most formidable foes of the human race. From the examples in the notes we see how little human power, industry, or art, can avail against this most awful scourge. Not even the most contemptible animal should be considered with disrespect, as in the hand of God it may become the most terrible instrument for the punishment of a criminal individual or a guilty land.
9. The NINTH plague, the total and horrible darkness that lasted for three days, afforded both Israelites and Egyptians the most illustrious proof of the power and universal dominion of God; and was particularly to the latter a most awful yet instructive lesson against a species of idolatry which had been long prevalent in that and other countries, viz., the worship of the celestial luminaries. The sun and moon were both adored as supreme deities, as the sole dispensers of light and life; and the sun was invoked as the giver of immortality and eternal blessedness. Porphyry, De Abstin., l. 4, preserves the very form used by the Egyptian priests in addressing the sun on behalf of a deceased person, that he might be admitted into the society of the gods: , , , , , “O sovereign lord the sun, and all ye other deities who bestow life on mankind! Receive me, and grant that I may be admitted as a companion with the immortal gods!” These objects of their superstitious worship Jehovah showed by this plague to be his creatures, dispensing or withholding their light merely at his will and pleasure; and that the people might be convinced that all this came by his appointment alone, he predicted this awful darkness; and that their astronomers might have the fullest proof that this was no natural occurrence, and could not be the effect of any kind of eclipse, which even when total could endure only about four minutes, (and this case could happen only once in a thousand years,) he caused this palpable darkness to continue for three days!
10. The TENTH and last plague, the slaying of the first-born or chief person in each family, may be considered in the light of a Divine retribution: for after that their nation had been preserved by one of the Israelitish family, “they had,” says Mr. Bryant, “contrary to all right, and in defiance of original stipulation, enslaved the people to whom they had been so much indebted; and not contented with this, they had proceeded to murder their offspring, and to render the people’s bondage intolerable by a wanton exertion of power. It had been told them that the family of the Israelites were esteemed as God’s first-born, Ex 4:22; therefore God said: Let my son go, that he may serve me; and if thou refuse – behold, I will slay thy son, even thy FIRST-BORN, Ex 4:23. But they heeded not this admonition, and hence those judgments came upon them that terminated in the death of the eldest in each family; a just retaliation for their disobedience and cruelty.” See several curious and important remarks on this subject in a work entitled, Observations upon the Plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, by Jacob Bryant, 8vo., 1810.
On the whole we may say, Behold the goodness and severity of God! Severity mixed with goodness even to the same people. He punished and corrected them at the same time; for there was not one of these judgments that had not, from its peculiar nature and circumstances, some emendatory influence. Nor could a more effectual mode be adopted to demonstrate to that people the absurdity of their idolatry, and the inefficacy of their dependence, than that made use of on this occasion by the wise, just, and merciful God. At the same time the Israelites themselves must have received a lesson of the most impressive instruction on the vanity and wickedness of idolatry, to which they were at all times most deplorably prone, and of which they would no doubt have given many more examples, had they not had the Egyptian plagues continually before their eyes. It was probably these signal displays of God’s rower and justice, and these alone, that induced them to leave Egypt at his command by Moses and Aaron; otherwise, with the dreadful wilderness before them, totally unprovided for such a journey, in which humanly speaking it was impossible for them and their households to subsist, they would have rather preferred the ills they then suffered, than have run the risk of greater by an attempt to escape from their present bondage. This is proved by their murmurings, Ex 16:2-3, from which it is evident that they preferred Egypt with all its curses to their situation in the wilderness, and never could have been induced to leave it had they not had the fullest evidence that it was the will of God; which will they were obliged, on pain of utter destruction, to obey.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And it came to pass the selfsame day,…. That the above ordinance was instituted and celebrated in the night:
that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, by their armies; by their several tribes, which were like so many armies, marching in large numbers, and with great order and regularity, [See comments on Ex 7:4].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(51) This last verse of the chapter would more appropriately commence Exodus 13, with which it is to be united. TranslateAnd it came to pass, on the self same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies, that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, &c.
By their armies.See Note 2 on Exo. 13:18.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
51. This verse, as a final summary, brings the account of the departure from Egypt to a formal close.
The selfsame day That is, the fifteenth of Abib, the momentous day whose events have just been related. CONCLUDING NOTE.
Length of Sojourn in Egypt, and Census of Israel at the Exode. These two topics are so connected that it is convenient to discuss them together. Was the Egyptian sojourn a period of four hundred and thirty or of two hundred and fifteen years? In the note on verse forty the short period is favoured. Two things are specially relied upon by the advocates of the long period in proof of their view: (1,) The genealogy of individuals; (2,) The census of the Exode.
The genealogy is supposed to show that in some lines several generations have been omitted. (The genealogy of Moses is discussed in the note on Exo 6:20. ) While Moses and Aaron are only the third generation from Levi, Dathan and Abiram the third from Reuben, (Numbers 26,) and Achan the fourth from Judah, (Joshua 7,) Bezaleel is the sixth from Judah, (1 Chronicles 2,) Elishama the eighth from Joseph, and Joshua the tenth from Joseph, (1Ch 7:23-27. ) Colenso presents these discrepancies as fatal objections to the authenticity of the history . But we may easily suppose Moses, when past his century, to have been contemporary with Bezaleel, who was of the same generation with his great-grandchildren, so that Elishama and Joshua give us the only real difficulty. But their genealogy is given in only one passage, (1Ch 7:23-27,) which is on all hands confessed to be very obscure, and has probably been corrupted in transcription, so that it ought to have no decisive weight whatever, especially against passages of unmistakable clearness. Colenso, like his kin of all generations, ignores the clear to burrow in the obscure or unknown.
As to the census of Israel at the Exode, we are to consider that extraordinary fruitfulness is spoken of in Exo 1:7, as it had been specially promised to the patriarchs . There were more than 600,000 men at the Exode, and these numbers would have been reached in two hundred and fifteen years if they continued to multiply as they commenced . This is proved thus: Jacob and his sons averaged five sons each, (not reckoning daughters at all in this calculation,) for he had twelve sons and fifty-three grandsons, (Genesis 46,) and (53+12)/13=5 . Now if each man had, at the age of thirty-five, five sons, and had none born to him thereafter, we may reckon six generations in two hundred and fifteen years, since 215/35=6+ . To find, then, the number of Jacob’s male posterity of the sixth generation we have 535*6=5315,625, or 828,125, a surplus of 200,000 over the number of the text . This calculation, moreover, makes no account of the survivors of previous generations .
The census of the Kohathites, given in Num 3:28, is also presented by Tiele, Kurtz, Keil, etc . , as an argument for the long chronology or for the omission of generations, since the four families of the Kohathites numbered 8,600, thus averaging 2,150 each, while one of the four, the Amramites, numbered, as far as the record shows, only two men who could have been counted in the 8,600, since Aaron and his sons, and Moses himself, are not reckoned. But, (1,) The general calculation before given covers the whole ground. (2,) We have no right to assume that the record gives us all the Amramites. Amram may have had other children besides the famous historic three, and the argument from silence is always dubious. (3,) Still more dubious is the argument from averages to particulars. (4,) The other three families might have made up the lack of the Amramites, if lack there were. While these facts, given in the record itself, enable us to fully account for the numbers of Israel at the Exode, the objections of Knobel, Colenso, etc., are of no weight.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 12:51. The self-same day See Exo 12:41. Thus the Lord wonderfully delivered his people, and appointed a solemn festival to perpetuate the memory of this great event: some traces of which, however corrupted and imperfect, were preserved in the most distant nations. Strabo, in particular, says, there was a report that the Jews were descended from the Egyptians; and that Moses was an Egyptian priest, who possessed a certain part of that country; but, being dissatisfied with the present state of things, he forsook it; and many worshippers of the Deity followed him, &c. See Strab. geog. lib. 16: Justin, lib. 36: cap. 2 and Tacit. lib. 5: cap. 3.
Reflections on the ordinance of the passover as typical of Christ.
The fatal night was now arrived, when the destroying angel was to smite all the first-born of Egypt, and the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. This last and sorest plague shall break the unrelenting heart of Pharaoh, and dismiss the oppressed Israelites from his cruel yoke. But mark the goodness of their God, in providing for their safety amid the general devastation! They are directed to sprinkle on their door-posts the blood of a lamb, whose qualities, the manner of its death, and the rites wherewith they were to eat its flesh, are left on record for the generations to come. The messenger of death, they were assured, would not presume to enter these hallowed doors, though a thousand fell at their side, and ten thousand on their right hand. Then it was that the Egyptian idols felt also the vengeance of the true God: and so memorable was the night, that the month in which it fell, was, in succeeding ages, to be the beginning of months. A ceremony indeed it was, which seemed but weak, unmeaning, and unprofitable; but, penetrating the outward vail, let us try to discern the hidden mystery, by that same faith, through which Moses kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood. Its meaning we are not now left to explore merely by our own understanding; for, that it was a prophetical type, and very expressive of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, an apostle gives us to know, by telling us, that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,” l Cor. Exo 5:7.
A Lamb was chosen out of the flock: Emblem of him who was taken from among men, and raised up from among his brethren, and, like that lovely creature, did injury to none.It was a male of the flock, of a year old; for Christ is a Son given unto us, and suffered in the flower of his age; but without blemish and without spot. Though descended from an impure race of ancestors, he brought no stain of sin into the world with him; and though he long conversed with sinful men, and grappled with strong temptations, he contracted not the smallest taint. Even Judas and Pilate attested, that he was just and upright; the last, before he condemned; and the first, after he betrayed him.On the tenth day of the month Abib, the lamb was fetched from the field, and, on the fourteenth day at even, it was killed. Even so he, of whom these things were spoken, went up to Jerusalem five days before the passover, where, with wicked hands, he was taken, crucified, and slain.The lamb was roasted with fire. It was the fire of the Father’s wrath, O immaculate Lamb of God, which forced thee to complain, “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd: my tongue cleaveth to my jaws,” Psa 22:14-15.A bone of the lamb was not to be broken, and none of it was to be left till the morning. To accomplish the first, the soldiers brake not his legs as usual; and, to fulfil the last, he was taken down from the cross the same evening on which he died.In vain had the Israelites killed the lamb, if they had not also sprinkled its blood with the hyssop upon the door-posts: and Christ is to us dead in vain, unless applied by faith to the conscience. His blood must not be sprinkled behind the door, for we must publicly profess that we are not ashamed of the cross of Christ; nor below the door, for it must not be trodden under foot: but above, and on every side, on all that we are, on all that we have, and on all that we do. Indeed, by his all-penetrating eye, the doors of the house and heart are seen with equal clearness. Had a presumptuous Israelite despised this ordinance of God, and neglected to sprinkle his doors with blood, he would not have been within the limits of the Divine protection; yea, had he ventured abroad in that perilous night, the angel was not bound to spare him. So when the arrows of destruction are flying thick and fast, the blood of Jesus is our only sanctuary. Of this alone can we say, “Behold, O God, our shield,” Psa 84:9. We are guilty of death, this is the sacrifice which thou requirest: accept this blood; which we sprinkle by thy command, instead of our own, which deserves to reek upon our door-posts. O Jesus, we are indebted to thy atoning blood for blessings that far transcend deliverance from Egyptian bondage, or from temporal death. By thy blood we are delivered from the wrath which is to come. Thou art our Hiding-place. Under this covert of thy blood, we shall not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked; but shall dwell in peaceable habitations, sure dwellings, and quiet resting-places, nigh which no plague shall come.Many a time the haughty tyrant of Egypt was frighted by the awful prodigies wrought by Moses; but never was he thoroughly subdued, till the blood was sprinkled. Then the prey was taken from the mighty. In vain he pursues after them, for never more shall they wear his chain. So many a time, the prophecies of Christ might fright the black prince of hell, but never was he thoroughly subdued, till on the cross the Great Messiah spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Even so his faithful people are said to overcome the enemy of their salvation by the blood of the lamb. By this same blood, the idols are abolished. As in that night of desolation, the temples of Egypt were not spared more than the palaces; so in the days of the Messiah, shall a man cast his idols of silver and gold, which he made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Well may this happy period be unto us the beginning of months. If the beginning of the year was changed to the Israelites, and the seventh became the first month, much more may the beginning of the week be altered to the Christians, and the seventh day be exchanged for the first, for a Sabbath unto the Lord; for on that day a much more glorious work was finished, than when he brought Israel out of Egypt, or even than when he finished the heavens and all their host, and laid the foundation of the earth.
We have seen how the blood of the lamb was sprinkled, and the happy consequences of this symbolical action. Let us now observe, how its flesh was to be eaten, and how we are made partakers of Christ, who is at once our Shield to protect us from danger, and our Food to preserve our soul in life. It was eaten roasted; for Christ is savoury to faith. A bone must not be broken; and mysteries must not be too curiously pryed into. A whole lamb must be eaten in every house; and a whole Christ received by every believing soul. It must be eaten in haste; and whatsoever our hand findeth, should be done with all our might. The bitter herbs may signify the bitterness of contrition for sin, and of the tribulation we shall have in this world. Unleavened bread represents sincerity and truth. The loins girt, and feet shod, signify the girding up the loins of the mind, and the preparation of the Gospel of peace, or a readiness to every good work. The staff in the hand might signify, that here we have no continuing city. Here let us end, adoring that condescending love, which has appeared towards us sinners of the Gentiles. At the first passover we were uncircumcised and unclean, by reason of death; we were afar off, and without God in the world. But us hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; and in Jesus Christ we, who sometime were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Therefore let us keep the feast; for even Christ our second, our best passover is sacrificed for us.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
Reader! you and I can hardly enough contemplate the Lord’s goodness to Israel as recorded in this chapter; and never can we sufficiently adore the divine mercy, when we consider our interest in it. Oh! what a night of deliverance did the Lord work for them after the rigorous bondage of four hundred years! What a series of troubles he had supported them under, and brought them through, in defiance of all the oppressions of the enemy! And with what an high hand did he at length carry everything before them, when the moment of his salvation was come. Truly might their leader say, “It is a night much to be observed unto the Lord of all the children of Israel in their generations forever. This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year.” It is indeed a new month, a new year, new life, new privileges, new enjoyments. And well may everyone that reads the wonderful narration exclaim, What hath God wrought?
But, my Brother! while beholding Israel’s emancipation from Egypt, let us seek grace to contemplate a still far greater deliverance, of which this was but the type; even the recovery of our poor fallen nature from under hellish bondage, by the glorious redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the night indeed, ever to be remembered by us, even the night of sin and death, in which we lay, when Jesus our Almighty Passover passed over the houses of his people, and carried ruin and destruction amidst all the enemies which held our souls in vassalage and in misery, Surely, we may well cry out with the Psalmist, O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord and praise his name: be telling of his salvation from day to day.
Dearest and ever blessed Jesus! since thou hast condescended to be our Passover, help us by the sweet influences of thine Holy Spirit to keep the feast, not in the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And oh! let the blood of the everlasting covenant be sprinkled upon our hearts, that it may be our security from the condemning sentence of the law, and from all the dreadful evils of destruction consequent thereupon. Enable me by precious faith to feed upon thy precious body: and make it to be meat indeed, and thy blood drink indeed, to support and nourish me in my spiritual life. And grant that, like the believing Israelite, I may eat it with my loins girded about with truth, and my feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And like him also, with my staff in my hand ready to be gone and in haste to depart, that when thou shalt come, whether at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning, I may be found waiting thy approach, and go up with a high hand out of the spiritual Egypt of sin and death, to the possession of the everlasting Canaan of promise.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:51 And it came to pass the selfsame day, [that] the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Ver. 51. The selfsame day. ] See on Exo 12:41 God is very precise and punctual. We have a saying much like ourselves, A day breaks no square. But it is not so with God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
armies = hosts.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: Exo 3:8 – deliver Exo 6:26 – armies Exo 7:4 – armies Exo 12:41 – hosts Exo 13:18 – harnessed Exo 16:6 – the Lord Num 33:1 – with their armies Deu 6:22 – showed Deu 26:8 – the Lord Jos 24:5 – plagued Jos 24:6 – I brought 1Sa 12:8 – brought Psa 78:12 – Marvellous Psa 136:11 – brought out Hos 12:13 – General Amo 2:10 – I brought Amo 9:7 – Have not Mic 6:4 – I brought