Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 6:6

Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

6. as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts ] A second allusion (cp. ch. 1Sa 4:8) to the events of the Exodus. See Exo 8:15; Exo 8:32; Exo 9:34.

when he had wrought wonderfully among them ] Or, wrought his will upon them. The word is used in Exo 10:2 (E. V. wrought), and 1Sa 31:4 (E. V. abuse). The Sept. renders it by = mock. But the E. V. may be right here.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 6. Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts] They had heard how God punished the Egyptians, and they are afraid of similar plagues. It appears that they had kept the ark long enough.

Did they not let the people go] And has he not wrought wonderfully among us? And should we not send back his ark?

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

Do ye harden or, should ye harden; the future tense of the indicative mood being put potentially, as is not unusual. They express themselves thus, either because they perceived that some opposed the decree of sending home the ark, though the most had consented to it; or because they thought they would hardly send it away in the manner prescribed, by giving glory to God, and taking shame to themselves.

As the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts; which they might easily learn, either by tradition from their ancestors, or by the reports of the Hebrews.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. Wherefore then do ye harden yourhearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?Thememory of the appalling judgments that had been inflicted on Egyptwas not yet obliterated. Whether preserved in written records, or infloating tradition, they were still fresh in the minds of men, andbeing extensively spread, were doubtless the means of diffusing theknowledge and fear of the true God.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?…. And would not let Israel go, when their dismission was demanded by Moses and Aaron in the name of the Lord; but was refused from time to time, being given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart: and it seems by this, that though it was proposed by some to send back the ark, and which the priests and diviners approved of; yet there were some that were against it, who, notwithstanding the plagues inflicted on them, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts; which story these priests were acquainted with by the tradition of their ancestors, this being a fact then generally known in the world; or by the relation of the Israelites, over whom they had ruled many years, and were conversant with them:

when he had wrought wonderfully among them: that is, the God of Israel, though they mention not his name, who had wrought wonders in the land of Egypt; the ten plagues he inflicted on them are referred to:

did they not let the people go, and they departed? who were convinced by these plagues that they ought to let Israel go, and by them were prevailed upon to dismiss them, and the people did go out of their land; and therefore should not we let the ark go likewise, on whom plagues have been inflicted for detaining it? and may we not expect more and greater, should we refuse to dismiss it?

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“ Wherefore,” continued the priests, “ will ye harden your heart, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? (Exo 7:13.) Was it not the case, that when He (Jehovah) had let out His power upon them ( , as in Exo 10:2), they (the Egyptians) let them (the Israelites) go, and they departed? ” There is nothing strange in this reference, on the part of the Philistian priests, to the hardening of the Egyptians, and its results, since the report of those occurrences had spread among all the neighbouring nations (see at 1Sa 4:8). And the warning is not at variance with the fact that, according to 1Sa 6:9, the priests still entertained some doubt whether the plagues really did come from Jehovah at all: for their doubts did not preclude the possibility of its being so; and even the possibility might be sufficient to make it seem advisable to do everything that could be done to mitigate the wrath of the God of the Israelites, of whom, under existing circumstances, the heathen stood not only no less, but even more, in dread, than of the wrath of their own gods.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(6) As the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts.We have here the traditional account of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, no doubt, as it was preserved in Philistia. These constant references to the story of Moses and the Exodus are indications of the deep impression those events had made on the surrounding nations; hence the value they set on the Ark, which they looked upon as the visible symbol of the mighty Hebrew God. The argument here used by the priests and diviners is:You all remember the well-known story of the obduracy of the powerful Egyptians in connection with these Israelites, yet even they in the end had to let them go. You Philistines have had the experience of one plague; will you, like those foolish Egyptians, harden your hearts till you. like them, have been smitten with ten?

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

6. As the Egyptians The miracles of the exodus had been noised abroad among many nations, and inspired them with a fear of Jehovah. See 1Sa 4:8; Jos 2:10; Jos 9:9.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 6:6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

Ver. 6. Wherefore then do you harden your hearts? ] This they seem to speak to the dissenting party that were against the sending back of the ark with the forementioned presents, as a thing dishonourable to their nation. The world is a pearl in the eyes of politicians: they are like children, always standing on their heads, and shaking their heels against heaven.

As the Egyptians and Pharaoh, &c. ] This is the true use of history;

“ Discite iustitiam moniti, ” – Virg.

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