Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 4:22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
22. Thus saith Jehovah ] so Exo 7:17; Exo 8:1; Exo 8:20; Exo 11:4 (all J); with the God of the Hebrews added, Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13, Exo 10:3 (also all J); and with the God of Israel added, Exo 5:1, Exo 32:27 (both E). None of these expressions occurs elsewhere in the Pent. The first is a formula used constantly by the prophets (e.g. 2Ki 1:4; 2Ki 1:6, Amo 1:3; Amo 1:6); and the third is used by them sometimes (as Jdg 6:8, Jer 11:3).
my son, my firstborn ] Israel, treated as an individual, is brought into the closest and dearest relation to Jehovah, as his ‘son’ (cf. Hos 11:1), his ‘firstborn.’ In Jer 31:9 Ephraim is called Jehovah’s firstborn,’ as in v. 20 His ‘dear son,’ and ‘delightsome child.’ The figure is more common in the plural of the individual Israelites; and it is then often used when the prophets desire to dwell upon the privileges bestowed on Israel by its Father, or the duties owed by it to its Father, or its unfilial behaviour towards Him: e.g. Hos 1:10; Hos 11:2-4; Isa 1:2; Isa 1:4; Deu 14:1; Deu 32:5-6; Deu 32:18-20; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22; Jer 4:22; Isa 63:8-10 (see further the writer’s note on Deu 32:5, p. 352). The idea of a nation or an individual being descended from a divine ancestor was common in antiquity (cf. Num 21:29, where the Moabites are called the ‘sons and daughters of Chmsh’): but in such cases the relation was conceived as a physical one; in Israel the idea was spiritualized, and, in virtue of Jehovah’s ethical and spiritual character, made the expression of moral and spiritual relations.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22 23. The substance of the demand which Moses is to make of the Pharaoh, formulated with special reference to the final and severest plague, the 10th: Israel is Jehovah’s firstborn; if Pharaoh does not let Israel go, his own firstborn will be slain. The situation implied by these verses (‘have said,’ ‘hast refused’) is between the first nine plagues and the 10th; and so it has been conjectured, especially as this message to Pharaoh is never in the sequel actually given to him, that they originally stood before Exo 10:28 (or Exo 11:4), as J’s introduction to the 10th plague, and were removed here by the compiler, as an indication of the gist and purpose of the whole series of plagues.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My firstborn – The expression would be perfectly intelligible to Pharaoh, whose official designation was son of Ra. In numberless inscriptions the Pharaohs are styled own sons or beloved sons of the deity. It is here applied for the first time to Israel; and as we learn from Exo 4:23, emphatically in antithesis to Pharaohs own firstborn.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 4:22-23
Israel is My son, even My firstborn.
The primogeniture of the good
I. That the good have a Divine father.
1. He is merciful to the children.
2. He vindicates the children from their foes.
II. That the good have heavenly privileges. AS the sons of God.
1. They have the privilege of high birth. Only they who are the subjects of this new birth know the privileges it confers upon them. Nor can the meanest ancestry of earth be excluded therefrom.
2. They have the privilege of good moral culture. In Gods family all the children are well disciplined. This culture of our moral nature is designed to fit us more thoroughly for the high relationship into which we arc called, that we may be responsive to all its duties, and in harmony with its sacred destinies.
III. That the good have inspiring hopes.
1. The hope of a happy death.
2. The hope of a vast inheritance.
3. The hope of a sublime future.
Christians are the sons of God. Lessons:
1. Live worthy of your great Parent.
2. Act worthy of your noble ancestry.
3. Embrace your glorious privileges.
4. Let nothing dim your bright hopes. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Let My son go, that he may serve Me.
The Divine intention in the moral freedom of man
I. That God has a definite purpose in the moral freedom of men. His great aim is to bring men from the tyranny of passion, pride, covetousness and self, into the freedom of a tranquil, humble, and self-denying service. Hence the Divine preparation that is given to the varied agencies that are to achieve this freedom.
II. That the purpose of God in the moral freedom of men is that they should serve him.
1. That we should serve Him in our business.
2. That we should serve Him in our social life.
3. That we should serve Him with all our energies.
Why should we serve Him?
(1) Because we are His sons.
(2) Because of the freedom He has wrought for us. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The great Emancipator
I. Let us endeavour to fix our thoughts upon the voice of God, which was a real power to bring up His people out of Egypt. That voice was threefold; asserting His proprietorship in them, demanding their freedom, and ordaining their destiny.
II. Now here was the voice of man. What a come-down it seems to be. Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Let My son go. Why did not the Lord say it Himself? Why did He need to pick up a Moses and send him to say it? Well, had the Lord said it Himself to Pharaoh, it would have been very startling, and Pharaoh must have yielded ultimately to the Divine fiat: but do you not see the deeper marvel in the milder proceeding, when Jehovah, as it were, hides His power and cloaks it in weakness? Instead of appealing to Pharaoh with that voice which breaks the cedars of Lebanon, and makes the hinds to calve, He speaks to him by one who was slow of speech and of a stammering tongue. Now, if Gods voice can vanquish Pharaoh when it masks itself behind the feebleness of a stammering Moses, it will be more glorious than it would have been if it had used no instrumentality whatever. Go on with steady perseverance. Be ye sure of this, ye shall not labour in vain or spend your strength for naught. Are you still slow of speech? Nevertheless, go on. Have you been rebuked and rebuffed? Have you had little else than defeat? This is the way to success. You shall macadamize the road with the rough flints of your failure. Toil on and believe on. Be steadfast in your confidence, for with a high hand and an outstretched arm the Lord will fetch out His own elect, and He will fetch some of them out by you.
III. Our last word is upon the power of God. Without the power of God the voice of man would have been an utter failure. What effect was produced by the voice of Moses? Went there not forth with it a power which plagued Pharaoh? It filled the sinful land of Egypt with plagues. So men that preach Gods gospel with Gods power fill the world with plagues. What will occur by and by? Why, the oppressor will be glad to part with his bondsmen. It sometimes happens that the ungodly become themselves very glad to get rid of Gods chosen people, whom they are prone to persecute. Their melancholy ill comports with our liveliness, so they say. A lady who joined this Church some years ago, moving in the higher circles of society, said to me, I was quite willing to continue my acquaintance with my friends, but I found they gave me the cold shoulder, and did not want me. Just so. It is a great mercy when the Egyptians say, Get ye gone, and when they are ready to give you jewels of silver and jewels of gold to get rid of you. The Lord wants His people to come right out and to be separate; He knows how by the simple utterance of the gospel to put such a division between His people and those who are not His people, that even the ungodly shall begin to say, Get you gone; we want to have nothing further to do with you. Glory be to God when such a thing as that happens. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A Divine threat
1. Claims attention.
2. Certain of execution.
3. Stern in requirement. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. Israel is my son, even my firstborn] That is, The Hebrew people are unutterably dear to me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By my choice and adoption. They are most dear to me, and reserved by me out of all nations to be my peculiar people; and therefore I will no longer suffer thee to invade my right, nor them to live in the neglect of my service.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thou shall say unto Pharaoh,…. When arrived in Egypt, and in his presence:
thus saith the Lord; he was to declare to him that he came in his name, and by his orders, and, as an ambassador of his, required the dismission of the children of Israel out of Egypt:
Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn; as dear to him as a man’s firstborn is, or as his only son: adoption is one of the privileges peculiar to Israel after the flesh, even national adoption, with all the external privileges appertaining to it, Ro 9:4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. Israel is my son, even my first-born. God thus refutes, by anticipation, the only pretext by which Pharaoh could justify his refusal to let the people go. For Jacob had spontaneously submitted himself and all his family to his government; he had then free power to retain the people, which, by the common law of nations, was subject to the dominion of Egypt. But if it be an act of impiety to violate the ordinance instituted by God, the demand of Moses might appear improper, that the legitimate authority of the king should be abolished against his own will. For what was the object of proposing the departure of the people, except to compel the king to renounce his own authority? In order, then, to shew that he took nothing away unjustly or unreasonably from Pharaoh, God alleges the privilege by which the Israelites were excepted from ordinary laws; for by calling them His sons, He claims liberty for them; since it would be absurd that God himself, the supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, should be deprived of the sons whom He had deigned to adopt. He, therefore, indirectly compares his own paternal power with Pharaoh’s earthly rule; because nothing could be less reasonable than that a mortal should refuse to yield to the Maker of himself and all the world. Still this is not applicable to all believers in general; as if it were wrong for them to be subject to kings, or as if their temporal subjection deprived them of their inheritance of the world; but mention is here only made of the special prerogative with which God had honored the posterity of Abraham, when he gave them the dominion of the land of Canaan. Therefore, not content with the simple appellation of son, He calls Israel his first-born. By this honorable title He unquestionably prefers him to the other nations; as though He had said, that he was raised to the degree of the primogeniture, and was superior to all the world. This passage, then, may be accommodated to the calling of the Gentiles, whom God had already decreed to bring into fellowship with his elect people, so that, although they were younger, they might be united with his first-born. I allow, indeed, that all the race of Adam was then cast off; but, because Adam was made in the image of God, his posterity were always reckoned, in a certain sense, to be the children of God; for, whilst I readily admit that the holy offspring of Abraham are here compared with the nations who at that time were still heathen, and that in this respect they are called his first-born, because they are pre-eminent in dignity; still we must come to Christ, the only head, in order that the adoption should be sure. For we must hold fast to that statement of St. Paul, that the blessing of Abraham was not promised to his seeds, but to his seed; because not all that sprang from his flesh are accounted to be children, but those that were called; as Isaac, Ishmael being rejected, and as Jacob, Esau being passed by. (Gal 3:16; Rom 9:6.) But Christ is the root of our calling. Therefore, what in Hosea is spoken, as here, of the whole people, Matthew limits to Christ; and justly, since upon Him alone the grace of adoption is founded. (Hos 11:1; Mat 2:15.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Israel is my son.Compare Hos. 11:1. This tender relation, now first revealed, is not a mere metaphor, meaning as dear to me as a son, but a reality. The Israel of God enjoys the sonship of adoption by being taken into the True Son, and made one with Him (Rom. 8:14-17).
My first born.Admitted to sonship in the Messiah before the other nations of the earth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. My firstborn By spiritual generation . In God’s covenant Israel was adopted as the firstborn of the nations, for ultimate good of the whole family of man . By a series of providences, from the call of Abraham to the exode, Israel was given a national being, and adopted as the child of Jehovah . See the plan of Exodus .
Pharaoh, who styled himself Son of RA, the sun-god, was commanded to release Israel, the Son of JEHOVAH. Thus at every turn we see that the blow was struck at Egypt’s gods; this conflict is religious rather than political; the war is waged from heaven.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 4:22. Israel is my son, &c. See Psa 89:27; Psa 2:7. This phrase is expressive of God’s peculiar regard and favour to the people of Israel; whom he had chosen and adopted, as it were, to share the first and greatest privileges of his children, and to be the grand repositories of his best blessings to mankind.
REFLECTIONS.We may observe here, 1. Moses taking leave of his father-in-law. We must never be wanting in respect to our parents, whatever calls of duty may be upon us. 2. God speaks farther to him for his encouragement. His old enemies in Egypt are dead. His fears are thus silenced: not that he should find Pharaoh favourable: though the miracles be wrought before him, he will be obstinate; but he shall suffer for it. We must expect to find in the work of the ministry many a heart like Pharaoh’s. 3. Moses takes his family along with him. They who are hearty in God’s cause, are very willing to hazard all in his service.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This is the first time we meet with that solemn prefatory expression which, in the succeeding parts of scripture, holy men, acting under the divine authority, adopted: Thus saith the Lord. And when God speaks well may man hear. Jer 2:14 ; Mal 3:17 . How sweet the title! How precious the relation! Isa 63:3-4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
Ver. 22. Even my firstborn. ] And so “higher than the kings of the earth.” Psa 89:27
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Thus saith the LORD [Jehovah]. Occurs in Ex. three times, Exo 4:22; Exo 7:17; Exo 9:1. Literally “hath said”; as elsewhere.
My son. Compare Mat 2:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Israel: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Deu 14:1, Jer 31:9, Hos 11:1, Rom 9:4, 2Co 6:18, Heb 12:23, Jam 1:18
Reciprocal: Gen 6:2 – the sons Exo 9:1 – General Exo 13:2 – Sanctify Exo 15:2 – my God Exo 21:4 – shall be her Deu 32:6 – thy father 2Ki 1:16 – Forasmuch 1Ch 2:42 – his firstborn Isa 63:8 – Surely Isa 63:16 – thou art Isa 64:8 – thou art Jer 2:3 – all that Jer 2:14 – Israel Mal 1:6 – if then Mat 2:15 – Out Joh 8:41 – we have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my {k} firstborn:
(k) Meaning, most dear to him.