Exodus Chapter 11 verse 9 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 9-10. - Before proceeding to relate the last and greatest of the plagues, the author allows himself a momentary pause while he casts his eye back on the whole series of miracles hitherto wrought in Egypt, on the circumstances under which they had been wrought, their failure to move the stubborn will of Pharaoh, and the cause of that failure, the hardening of his heart, which hardening the author once more ascribes to Jehovah. With this summary he terminates the second great division of his work, that which began with ch. 2, and which traces the history of Moses from his birth to the close of his direct dealings with Pharaoh. Verse 9. - And the Lord said. Rather, "had said." God had forewarned Moses that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3), and that, in spite of all the miracles which he was empowered to perform before him, he would not let the people go (Exodus 3:19; Exodus 4:21). It was not until God took Pharaoh's punishment altogether into his own hands, and himself came down and smote all the first-born, that the king's obstinacy was overcome, and he proceeded to "thrust the people out." That my wonders may be multiplied. Compare Exodus 3:20; Exodus 7:3. If Pharaoh had yielded at the first, or even after two or three miracles, God's greatness and power would not have been shown forth very remarkably. Neither the Egyptians nor the neighbouring nations would have been much impressed. The circumstances would soon have been forgotten. As it was, the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, while it delayed the departure of the Israelites for a year, and so added to their sufferings, was of advantage to them in various ways: - 1. It gave them time to organise them elves, and make all necessary preparations for a sudden departure. 2. It deeply impressed the Egyptians, and led them to abstain from all interference with the Israelites for above three centuries. 3. It impressed the neighbouring nations also to some extent, and either prevented them from offering opposition to the Israelites, or made them contend with less heart, and so with less success against them.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9, 10) And. the Lord said . . . --The series of the nine wonders wrought by Moses and Aaron is terminated by this short summary, of which the main points are--(1) God had said (Exodus 4:21) that the miracles would fail to move Pharaoh; (2) He had assigned as the reason for this failure His own will that the wonders should be multiplied (Exodus 7:3); (3) the miracles had now been wrought; (4) Pharaoh had not been moved by them; (5) God had hardened his heart, as a judgment upon him, after he had first himself hardened it. The result had been a series of manifestations calculated to impress the Israelites with a sense of God's protecting care, the Egyptians and the neighbouring nations with a sense of His power to punish.