John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Exodus 14:1



INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 14



This chapter begins with directions of God to Moses, to be given to the children of Israel about the course they were to steer in their journey, with the reason thereof, Ex 14:1, which they observing, a report was brought to Pharaoh that they were fled, and this determined him and his servants to get ready and pursue after them, as they did with a great army, Ex 14:5, which when the Israelites saw, it put them in great fear, and set them to murmuring and complaining against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt,

Ex 14:10, who desired them to be still and quiet, and they should see the salvation of the Lord, Ex 14:13, and he is bid to order the people to go on in their journey, and to take his rod and stretch it over the sea and divide it, that Israel might pass through it on dry ground, and the Egyptians follow them, whereby God would be honoured and glorified, Ex 14:15, upon which the Angel of the Lord in a pillar of cloud removed from before there, and went behind them for their protection, Ex 14:19, and Moses stretching out his hand over the sea, and a strong east wind blowing upon it, the waters divided and the Israelites went into it, and the Egyptians followed them, but their host being troubled by the Lord, and their chariot wheels taken off, they found themselves in great danger, and were thrown into a panic,

Ex 14:20 and upon Moses's stretching out his hand again over the sea, the waters returned, and Pharaoh and his host were drowned, but the Israelites passed through safely, as on dry land,

Ex 14:26, which great work of the Lord being observed by them, influenced their fear of him, their faith in him and his servant Moses, Ex 14:30.



Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of the pillar of the cloud in which he went before them; either while they were at Etham, or when journeying from thence, and a little before they turned off to the right, as they were now directed:



saying; as follows:





Exodus 14:2



Ver. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn,.... Not return to Egypt, or to the place, or towards the place from whence they came, but turn off, out of the road in which they were; for, as a late traveller says {a},



"there were two roads, through which the Israelites might have been conducted from Cairo (which he supposes may be Rameses) to Pihahiroth. One of them lies through the valleys, as they are now called, of Jendily, Rumaleah, and Baideah, bounded on each side by the mountains of the lower Thebais; the other lies higher, having the northern range of these mountains (the mountains of Mocattee) running parallel with it on the right hand, and the desert of the Egyptian Arabia, which lies all the way open to the land of the Philistines, on the left, (see Ex 13:17) about the middle of this range we may turn short on our right hand into the valley of Baideah, through a remarkable breach or discontinuation, in which we afterwards continued to the very banks of the Red sea; this road then, through the valley of Baideah, which is some hours longer than the other open road, which leads directly from Cairo to Suez, was in all probability the very road which the Israelites took to Pihahiroth, on the banks of the Red sea.''



And again he says {b}, this valley ends at the sea in a small bay, made by the eastern extremities of the mountains, and is called "Tiah beni Israel", i.e. the road of the Israelites, from a tradition of the Arabs, of their having passed through it; as it is also called Baideah from the new and unheard of miracle that was wrought near it, by dividing the Red sea, and destroying therein Pharaoh, his chariots and horsemen:



and encamp before Pihahiroth: which was sixteen miles from Etham {c}, and by some {d} thought to be the same with the city of Heroes (or Heroopolis), on the extreme part of the Arabic gulf, or the Phagroriopolis, placed by Strabo {e} near the same place: according to the above traveller {f}, Pihahiroth was the mouth, or the most advanced part of the valley of Baideah to the eastward toward the Red sea; with which Jarchi in some measure agrees, who says Pihahiroth is Pithom, now so called, because the Israelites became free: they (Hahiroth) are two rocks, and the valley between them is called (Pi) the mouth of the rocks: so Dr. Shaw observes {g}; the word may be deduced from rx, "a hole" or "gullet", and by a latitude common in those cases, be rendered a narrow "defile", road or passage, such as the valley of Baideah has been described: but as the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity and fear of the Egyptians, Ex 14:13 we may rather suppose that Hhiroth denotes the place where they were restored to their liberty; as Hhorar and Hhiroth are words of the like sort in the Chaldee: but another very learned man {h} says, that in the Egyptian language Pihahiroth signifies a place where grew great plenty of grass and herbs, and was contiguous to the Red sea, and was like that on the other shore of the sea, the Arabian, which Diodorus Siculus {i} speaks of as a pleasant green field:



between Migdol and the sea; which signifies a tower, and might be one: there was a city of this name in Egypt, and in those parts, but whether the same with this is not certain, Jer 44:1



over against Baalzephon; which the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take to be an "idol": and so does Jarchi, and say it was the only one left of the idols of Egypt; see Ex 12:12 and so some Christian as well as Jewish writers suppose it to be; and that it was as a watch, or guard, or amulet, to keep fugitives from going out of the land: but by Ezekiel the tragedian {k} it is called a city; and so by Josephus {l}, who says they came to Baalzephon the third day, a place situated by the Red sea; which is most likely, and it is highly probable that this and Migdol were two fortified places, which guarded the mouth of the valley, or the straits which led to the Red sea: Artapanus {m} the Heathen historian agrees with Josephus in saying it was the third day when they came to the Red sea:



before it shall ye encamp by the sea; and there wait till Pharaoh came up to them.



{a} Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 307. Ed. 2. {b} lb. p. 309. {c} Bunting's Travels, p. 82. {d} See the Universal History, vol. 3. p. 387. {e} Geograph. l. 17. p. 553. {f} Shaw, ib. p. 310. {g} Ut supra. ({a}) {h} Jablonski de Terra Goshen, Dissert. 5. sect. 9. {i} Bibliothec. c. 3. p. 175. {k} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 29. p. 444. {l} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1. {m} Apud Euseb. ib. c. 27. p. 436.





Exodus 14:3



Ver. 3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel,.... The Septuagint version adds, "to his people", his ministers and courtiers, when he hears where they are:



they are entangled in the land; have lost their way, and got into places they cannot easily get out of, and are perplexed in their minds, and do not know what way to take or course to steer:



the wilderness hath shut them in; or, "shut up the way to them" {n}; the wilderness between the mountains the above mentioned traveller speaks of {o} the mountains of Gewoubee; these would stop their flight or progress to the southward, as those of the Attackah would do the same towards the land of the Philistines; the Red sea likewise lay before them to the east, while Pharaoh (could) close up the valley behind them, with his chariots and his horsemen; and which, no doubt, appeared very advantageous and encouraging to him, as it must be very distressing to the Israelites.



{n} Mhyle rgo "clausit viam illis", Pagninus, "praeclusit sese illis", Vatablus. {o} Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 309. Ed. 2.





Exodus 14:4



Ver. 4. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart,.... Once more, as he had often done:



that he shall follow after them: to Pihahiroth, and even into the sea after them:



and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; in his wisdom, faithfulness, power, and justice, by the destruction of them:



that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord; the only Jehovah, the Lord God omnipotent; even those that feel the weight of his hand while troubling their host, and bringing the waters upon them; especially those that shall remain in the land, and will not be involved in the catastrophe:



and they did so: the Israelites turned to the right to Pihahiroth, instead of going by Bishbesh and Tinah (Bubastis and Pelusium), and so along the sea coast towards Gaza and Ascalon, and encamped there between Migdol and the sea over against Baalzephon, as they were ordered and directed.





Exodus 14:5



Ver. 5. And it was told the king of Egypt,.... By some of the Egyptians, or mixed multitude that went out with Israel, but returned upon their encampment at the Red sea, or by some spies Pharaoh sent with them to observe their motions: the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi make use of a word which Buxtorf translates military officers: and the latter says, they went out with them the three days' journey, but the Israelites not returning to Egypt (as expected), they tell Pharaoh of it the fourth day; and on the fifth and sixth he pursued them, and in the night of the seventh went into the sea after them, and on the morning they (the Israelites) sung the song, which was the seventh of the passover: these reported to Pharaoh:



that the people fled; that under a pretence of going three days' journey into the wilderness, to serve and sacrifice to the Lord, they were about to make their escape out of the land:



and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants were turned against the people; who had so much favour in their sight, not only to give them leave to go, and to hasten their departure, but to lend and give them things of great value; but now their hearts were filled with hatred of them, and with malice and revenge:



and they said, why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? not Pharaoh only, but his servants said so, even those who had entreated him to let them go, Ex 10:7 yet now repent of it, and cannot think what reason they had to do it, when at that time they saw reason, and gave a very sufficient one, namely, the destruction of Egypt; but now the judgments and plagues of God being no more upon them, they recollect the great service of the Israelites to them and the benefits and advantages they had reaped by it, and the loss they had sustained by parting with them, and therefore reflect upon themselves for such a piece of conduct.





Exodus 14:6



Ver. 6. And he made ready his chariot,.... Which he usually rode in when he went forth to war; for this seems to be a military chariot, and not for show or grandeur; and this was got ready not by himself, as Jarchi, but rather by his orders, as Aben Ezra:



and took his people with him; the Greek version reads, "all his people"; not all his subjects, but his soldiers; at least a great number, and especially his cavalry.





Exodus 14:7



Ver. 7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots,.... The chief and best he had, war chariots, chariots of iron; perhaps such as had iron scythes to them, to cut down men as they drove along; these were taken partly for quickness of dispatch, that they might be able the sooner to overtake the Israelites, who had got several days' marches before them; and partly for their strength and the annoyance of their enemies with them:



and all the chariots of Egypt: as many as could in so short a time be got together: for the words are not to be taken in the utmost latitude, but to signify a great number, and all that could be conveniently come at: the Greek version is, "all the horse", the cavalry, which better distinguishes them from the former:



and captains over everyone of them: over everyone of the chariots, so that they must each of them have many in them, to have captains over them: and perhaps the infantry, or foot soldiers, for, quickness of expedition, were put into them; for, besides these, there were horsemen: Josephus {p} makes the whole number of his army to be 50,000 horse, and 200,000 foot, and the same number is given by a Jewish chronologer {q}: but Patricides, an Arabic writer, says {r} it consisted of 600,000, and Ezekiel {s}, the tragic poet, has made it amount to a million of horse and foot: should it be asked where horses could be had to draw the chariots, and horses for the horsemen after mentioned, when all were destroyed by the hail, Ex 9:25 it may be replied, that only those in the field were killed, not such as were in stables, where chariot horses and horses for war may be supposed to be: besides, as the Targum of Jonathan intimates, these might belong to these servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord, and took their cattle home, Ex 9:20.



{p} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 3. {q} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 77. 4. {r} Apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 464. {s} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. c. 27. p. 436.)





Exodus 14:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... As he said he would, Ex 14:4,



and he pursued after the children of Israel; took their rout in pursuit of them:



and the children of Israel went out with an high hand: not once dreaming they should be pursued by Pharaoh as an enemy, when they went out with his full consent, and with such pressing solicitations to be gone, and with so much favour shown them by the Egyptians; wherefore they set out, and went on with great boldness, courage, and intrepidity; "with an uncovered head", as the Targum of Onkelos, without any fear, and with great alacrity and cheerfulness; they carried both their heads and their hands high, were fearless and thoughtless of any danger when this mighty preparation was making against them.





Exodus 14:9



Ver. 9. But the Egyptians pursued after them,.... When they thought nothing of it, and had no fears about it:



all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army; by the latter Aben Ezra understands the foot, as distinguished from the cavalry, the horses and horsemen; and perhaps these, as before observed, might be carried in the chariots for quicker dispatch:



and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon; where they had pitched their camp by divine appointment,

Ex 14:2.





Exodus 14:10



Ver. 10. And when Pharaoh drew nigh,.... Or "caused to draw nigh" {t}; that is, his army, brought it very near to the camp of the Israelites:



the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; in great numbers, with full speed, threatening them with utter destruction:



and they were sore afraid; being an unarmed people, though numerous, and so unable to defend themselves against armed and disciplined troops; and besides, through their long time of slavery their spirits were broken, and were a mean, abject, dispirited people; and especially were so on the sight of the Egyptians, whom they had so many years looked upon and served as their lords and masters:



and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord: had they prayed unto him in this their distress for help and assistance, protection and preservation, with an holy and humble confidence in him for it, they had acted a right and laudable part; but their crying out to him seems to be only an outcry of the troubles they were in, and rather the effect of despair than of faith and hope; and was by way of complaint and lamentation of their miserable condition and circumstances, as appears by what follows, which shows what temper of mind they were in.



{t} byrqh "fecit accedere", Pagninus, Montanus; "admovit castra", Junius & Tremellius.





Exodus 14:11



Ver. 11. And they said unto Moses,.... The Targum of Jonathan is,



"the ungodly of that generation said unto Moses;''



but it seems rather to be understood of the body of the people in general, and is not to be limited to some particular persons of the worse characters among them:



because there were no graves in Egypt; as if there had been none, when there were so many; the Egyptians being more solicitous about their graves than their houses, as Diodorus Siculus reports {u}; thus upbraiding Moses in a sarcastic way for what he had done:



hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? that so there might be room and graves enough to bury them in, for nothing but death was before their eyes:



wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? which was very ungrateful and disingenuous.



{u} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.





Exodus 14:12



Ver. 12. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt,.... The thing they suggested to him, and talked with him about while they were in the land of Egypt, before they came out of it, particularly after their service and bondage were made more severe and cruel upon Moses and Aaron's demanding their dismission, see Ex 5:21:



saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? peaceably and quietly, as we have been used to do, since there is no likelihood of being freed, and since we are more evilly treated than before:



for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness: of such mean spirits were they, and had so poor a notion of, and taste for liberty, and so ungrateful were they to their deliverer.





Exodus 14:13



Ver. 13. And Moses said unto the people,.... Not in wrath and anger, but very coolly and sedately, agreeably to his character of the meekest man on earth; though what they had said to him was very insulting and provoking:



fear ye not; Pharaoh and his numerous host, do not be dismayed at them or possess yourselves with a dread of them, and of destruction by them:



stand still; do not stir from the place where you are, do not offer to run away, or to make your escape by flight (and which indeed seemed impossible), keep your place and station, and put yourselves in such a situation as to wait and observe the issue of things:



and see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew to you today; which is expressive of great faith in Moses in the midst of this extremity, who firmly believed that God would save them from this numerous and enraged army, and that very quickly, even that day; at least within twenty four hours, within the compass of a day; for it was the night following that salvation was wrought for them, and their eyes beheld it: and it may be called the salvation of the Lord, for it was his own hand that only effected it, the Israelites not contributing anything in the least unto it, and was typical of the great salvation which Christ with his own arm, and without the help of his people, has wrought out for them:



for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever; that is, in such a posture or manner, no more armed, nor alive, and the objects of their fear and dread; for otherwise they did see them again, but then they were on the sea shore dead; for it should be rendered, not "whom", but "how", or "in what manner" {w}.



{w} rva on tropon, Sept. "quemadmodum", Piscator; "quomod o", Noldius, p. 107. No. 544.





Exodus 14:14



Ver. 14. The Lord shall fight for you,.... By commanding the wind of the heavens, and the waves of the sea, and employing them against their enemies, and on their behalf; they being unarmed, and so not in a condition to fight for themselves, as well as they had no heart or spirit for it:



and ye shall hold your peace; be still, and quiet, and easy in your minds, and forbear saying or doing anything; "be silent"; and neither express the fear and distress of their minds, by any mournful sounds, nor their joy of faith by shouts and huzzas; as they could not draw a sword, they were not so much as to blow a trumpet, and break a pitcher, and cry the sword of the Lord, and of Israel as they after did on another occasion, at least their posterity.





Exodus 14:15



Ver. 15. And the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore criest thou unto me?.... The Targum of Jonathan is,



"why standest thou and prayest before me?''



and no doubt this crying is to be understood of prayer, of mental prayer, of secret ejaculations put up by Moses to the Lord without a voice, for no mention is made of any: this shows, that though Moses most firmly believed that God would work salvation for them, yet he did not neglect the use of means, prayer to God for it; nor was the Lord displeased with him on that account, only he had other work for him to do, and he had no need to pray any longer, God had heard him, and would save him and his people:



speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward; a little further, as Aben Ezra observes, until they were come to the sea shore, near to which they now were; and thither they were to move in an orderly composed manner, as unconcerned and fearless of their enemies.





Exodus 14:16



Ver. 16. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it,.... Even the same rod with which so many wonders had been done in Egypt; and Artapanus, the Heathen, says {x}, that Moses being bid by a divine voice to smite the sea with his rod, he hearkened to it, and touched the water with it, and so it divided, as it is said it did, Ex 14:21



and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea; and so they did, Ex 14:22.



{x} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436.





Exodus 14:17



Ver. 17. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians,.... That they shall have no sense of danger, and be fearless of it, incautious and thoughtless, hurried on with wrath and fury, malice and revenge:



and they shall follow them; the Israelites into the sea, supposing it to be as safe for the one as the other:



and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen: by the utter destruction of them, in just retaliation for the many innocent infants that had been drowned by them in the river Nile.





Exodus 14:18



Ver. 18. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,.... Acknowledge him to be Jehovah, the self-existent, eternal, and immutable Being, the one only living and true God, who is wise and powerful, faithful, just, and true; that is, those Egyptians that were left behind in Egypt, hearing what was done at the Red sea; for as for those that came with Pharaoh, they all perished to a man:



when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen; by casting them into the sea, and drowning them there, thereby showing himself to be mightier than he.





Exodus 14:19



Ver. 19. And the Angel of God which went before the camp of Israel,.... The Jews say {y} this was Michael, the great prince, who became a wall of fire between Israel and the Egyptians; and if they understood by him the uncreated angel, the eternal Word, the Son of God, who is always in Scripture meant by Michael, they are right: for certainly this Angel of the Lord is the same with Jehovah, who is said to go before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, Ex 13:21:



removed, and went behind them; but because removing from place to place, and going forwards or backwards, cannot be properly said of a divine Person, who is omnipresent, and fills every place and space; this is to be understood of the emblem of him, the pillar of cloud, as the next clause explains it:



and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them; the Targum of Jonathan adds,



"because of the Egyptians, who cast arrows and stones, and the cloud received them;''



and so Jarchi; whereby the Israelites were protected and preserved from receiving any hurt by them: so Christ is the protection of his people from all their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, that sin cannot damn them, nor Satan destroy them, nor the world overcome them; for his salvation is as walls and bulwarks to them, and he is indeed a wall of fire about them.



{y} Pirke Eliezer, c. 42.





Exodus 14:20



Ver. 20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel,.... That is, the pillar of cloud, and the Angel of God, or Jehovah, in it, whereby the camp of Israel was secured from being annoyed by the camp of the Egyptians; and was an emblem of the gracious interposition of Christ between his spiritual Israel, whom he has redeemed by his blood, and their spiritual enemies, the Egyptians, the men of the world that hate them, from whose rage and malice Christ is their protection and safeguard:



and it was a cloud and darkness [to them]; to the Egyptians; it cast a shade upon them, and made the darkness of the night still greater to them, so that they could not see their way, and knew not where they were:



but it gave light by night to these; to the Israelites, so that they could see their way, and walk on in the midst of the sea, as on dry land; and such a light and guide they needed; for it was now the twenty first day of the month, seven days after the full of the moon, when the passover began, and therefore could have no benefit from the moon. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say, that half the cloud was light, and half darkness; and it seems plain from the account, that that side of it which was towards the Egyptians was dark, and that which was towards the Israelites was light, and so an hinderance to the one and a benefit to the other: thus Christ is set for the rising of some, and the fall of others; and his Gospel is to some the savour of death unto death, and to others the savour of life unto life; to the one it is a hidden Gospel, and lies in darkness and obscurity, and to others a great and glorious light:



so that one came not near the other all the night; an emblem of that division and separation which the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the light of the Gospel, make between the true Israel of God, and the men of the world; and which will continue throughout time, and to all eternity, so that they will never come near to each other; see

Lu 16:26.





Exodus 14:21



Ver. 21. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,.... With his rod in it, as he was directed to, Ex 14:16. What the poet says {z} of Bacchus is more true of Moses, whose rod had been lift up upon the rivers Egypt, and now upon the Red sea:



and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night; and the direction of the Red sea being nearly, if not altogether, north and south, it was in a proper situation to be wrought upon and divided by an easterly wind; though the Septuagint version renders it a strong south wind. No wind of itself, without the exertion and continuance of almighty power, in a miraculous way, could have so thrown the waves of the sea on heaps, and retained them so long, that such a vast number of people should pass through it as on dry land; though this was an instrument Jehovah made use of, and that both to divide the waters of the sea, and to dry and harden the bottom of it, and make it fit for travelling, as follows:



and made the sea dry land; or made the bottom of it dry, so that it could be trod and walked upon with ease, without sinking in, sticking fast, or slipping about, which was very extraordinary:



and the waters were divided; or "after the waters were divided" {a}; for they were first divided before the sea could be made dry. The Targum of Jonathan says, the waters were divided into twelve parts, answerable to the twelve tribes of Israel, and the same is observed by other Jewish writers {b}, grounded upon a passage in Ps 136:13 and suppose that each tribe took its particular path.



{z} "Tu flectis amnes, tu mare barbarum--" Horat. Carmin. l. 2. Ode 19. {a} weqbyw "quum diffidisset se aqua illius", Piscator; so w seems to be used in ch. xvi. 20. {b} Pirke Eliezer, c. 42. Targum Jon. & Hieros. in Deut. i. 1. Jarchi, Kimchi, and Arama in Psal. cxxxvi. 13.





Exodus 14:22



Ver. 22. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground,.... Some Jewish writers say {c}, that the tribe of Judah went in first, and then the other tribes followed; but it is most likely, what Josephus says {d}, that Moses first entered in, and then the Israelites, encouraged by his example, went in after him; and a very adventurous action it was, and nothing but strong faith in the almighty power and promise of God could have engaged them in it, to which the apostle ascribes it, Heb 11:29. It is the opinion of Aben Ezra, and some other Jewish writers, that the Israelites did not pass through the Red sea to the opposite shore, only went some way into it, and took a compass in a semicircle, and came out on the same shore again, and which has been espoused by some Christian writers; and chiefly because they were in the wilderness of Etham before, and from whence they went into it, and when they came out of it, it was still the wilderness of Etham they came into, and went three days' journey into it seeking water; see Ex 13:20. Though it is possible the wilderness on the opposite shore might bear the same name, because of its likeness to it; and if it was the same wilderness that went round the Arabic gulf, or Red sea, and reached on to the other side of it, and so the wilderness of Etham lay on both sides, the difficulty is removed; for it seems most agreeable to the expressions of Scripture, that the Israelites passed through it from shore to shore. Others, in order to lessen the miracle, would have it that Moses, well knowing the country, and observing the tide, took the advantage of low water, and led the Israelites through it; and this story is told by the Egyptian priests of Memphis, as Artapanus {e} relates; but were the Egyptians less knowing of their country, and of the tide of the Red sea? and could Moses be sure of the exact time when they would come up to him, and the tide would serve him? Besides, the Egyptian priests at Heliopolis own the miracle, and relate it much as Moses has done; which must proceed from a conviction of the truth of it. And the above historian reports that the king (of Egypt) with a great army, and consecrated animals, pursued the Jews because of the substance they had borrowed of the Egyptians, which they took with them; but Moses being bid by a divine voice (or the voice of God, of Jehovah) to smite the sea with a rod, and hearkening to it, he touched the water with the rod, and so it divided, and his forces passed through a dry path, and the Egyptians attempting the same and pursuing, fire or lightning flashed out against them; and the sea shutting up the path again, partly by fire, and partly by the flow of the water, they all perished: and that this affair was miraculous, and could not be owing to any advantage taken from the tide, the following things have been observed; it is owned that the Red sea ebbs and flows like other seas that have a communication with the ocean, that is, the waters rise towards the shore during six hours, and having continued about a quarter of an hour at high water, ebb down again during another six hours; and it is observed by those who have examined it, that the greatest distance it falls from the place of high water is about three hundred yards; and that during the time of low water, one may safely travel it, as some have actually done; so that those three hundred paces, which the sea leaves uncovered during the time of low water, can continue so but for the space of half an hour at most; for during the first six hours, the sea retires only by degrees, and in less than half an hour it begins again to flow towards the shore. The most therefore that can be allowed, both of time and space of passable ground, in a moderate computation, is about two hundred paces, during six hours, or one hundred and fifty paces, during eight hours. Now it is further observed, that it is plain that a multitude consisting of upwards of two millions and a half of men, women, children, and slaves, encumbered besides with great quantities of cattle, household stuff, and the spoils of the Egyptians, could never perform such a march within so short a time; we may say within even double that space, though we should allow them also double the breadth of ground to do it on. This argument, it is added, will hold good against those who suppose they only coasted along some part of the sea, and those who maintain that they crossed the small arm or point of it which is toward the further end, near the isthmus of Suez; seeing that six or eight hours could not have sufficed for the passage of so immense a multitude, allow them what breadth of room you will; much less for Pharaoh to have entered it with his whole host {f}: and for the confirmation of the Mosaic account of this affair, and as miraculous, may be observed the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, who reports {g} that it is a tradition among the Ichthyophagi, who inhabit near the Red sea, or Arabic gulf, which they have received from the report of their ancestors, and is still preserved with them, that upon a great recess of the sea, every place of the gulf became dry, the sea falling to the opposite parts, the bottom appeared green, and returning back with a mighty force, was restored to its place again; which can have reference to nothing else but to this transaction in the time of Moses. And Strabo {h} relates a very wonderful thing, and such as rarely happens, that on the shore between Tyre and Ptolemais, when they of Ptolemais had a battle with the Emperor Sarpedon at that place, and there being put to flight, a flow of the sea like an inundation covered those that fled, and some were carried into the sea and perished, and others were left dead in hollow places; after a reflux followed, and discovered and showed the bodies of those that lay among the dead fishes. Now learned men have observed {i}, that what is here said of the sea of Tyre is to be understood of the Red sea, and that Sarpedon is not a proper name, but the same with Nwdp rv, "Sarphadon", the prince of deliverance, or of the delivered, as Moses was:



and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left; some of the Jewish Rabbins from Ex 15:8 have supposed that the waters were frozen as they were drove back by the east wind, and so stood up firm while the Israelites passed through, and then another wind thawed them, which brought them upon the Egyptians; but no doubt this was done by the wonderful interposition of divine power, and perhaps the ministry of angels was made use of, to detain and continue them in this position, until the end was answered. Adrichomius says {k}, the breadth of the sea was six miles at the passage of the Israelites; but a late traveller {l} tells us, that the channel between Sdur (or Shur, on the opposite side) and Gibbel Gewoubee, and Attackah (which he supposes was the place of their passage), was nine or ten miles over. Thevenot says {m}, that during the space of five days he kept along the coast of the Red sea, in going to Mount Sinai, he could not observe it to be anywhere above eight or nine miles over. A later traveller {n} tells us, that from the fountains of Moses may be plainly seen a wonderful aperture (Pihahiroth; see Ex 14:2) in the mountains on the other side of the Red sea, through and from which the children of Israel entered into it, when Pharaoh and his host were drowned; which aperture is situated west-southwest from these fountains of Moses, and the breadth of the sea hereabouts, where the children of Israel passed it, is about four or five hours' journey. The Arabic geographer {o} calls the place Jethren, where Pharaoh and his host were drowned; and represents it as a dangerous place to sail in, and where many ships are lost, and that this rough place is about the space of six miles. A countryman {p} of ours, who had been in these parts, guesses that the breadth of the place (called by the Mahometans, Kilt el Pharown, the well or pit of Pharaoh) where the Israelites are said to pass through is about six or seven leagues; the difference between these writers may be accounted for by the different places where they suppose this passage was.



{c} Pirke Elizer, c. 42. {d} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 2. {e} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436. {f} Universal History, vol. 3. p. 392, 393. marg. {g} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 174. {h} Geograph. l. 16. p. 521, 522. {i} Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 1. p. 167. {k} Theatrum Terrae, p. 123, 124. {l} Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 314. Edit. 2. {m} Travels into the Levant, B. 2. ch. 33. p. 175. {n} A Journal from Grand Cairo, &c. in 1722. p. 13. Edit. 2. {o} Climat. 3. par. 3. {p} Pitts's Account of the Mahometans, p. 77.





Exodus 14:23



Ver. 23. And the Egyptians pursued,.... The Israelites going forwards towards the sea as they were ordered, and going into it:



and went in after them into the midst of the sea; which if fearful of, they might conclude it was as safe for them to go in as for the Israelites; but perhaps through the darkness of the night, and the eagerness of their pursuit, they might not perceive where they were, nor the danger they were exposed unto:



even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen: which is observed to show, that as all that did go in perished, not one was saved, as after related, so all he brought with him, the whole of his army, went in, so that all that went out of Egypt were destroyed.





Exodus 14:24



Ver. 24. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch,.... The Romans divided the night into four watches, so the Hebrews; though some say into three only. The first began at six o'clock, and lasted till nine, the second was from thence to twelve, the third from thence to three in the morning, and the last from three to six, which is here called the morning watch; so that this was some time between three and six o'clock in the morning:



the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and of the cloud; the Angel of the Lord, and who was Jehovah himself, who was in it, he looked to the army of the Egyptians; not to know whereabout they were, he being the omniscient God; nor in a friendly manner, but as an enemy, with indignation and wrath. The Targum of Jonathan is,



"he looked through the pillar of fire, to cast upon them coals of fire, and through the pillar of cloud, to cast upon them hailstones.''



The Jerusalem Targum is,



"pitch, fire, and hailstones;''



and Josephus {q} speaks of storms and tempests, of thunder and lightning, and of thunderbolts out of the clouds; and Artapanus {r} of fire or lightning flashing out against them, by which many perished. Perhaps the psalmist may have reference to this in Ps 106:10



and troubled the host of the Egyptians; the thunder and lightning no doubt frightened the horses, so that they broke their ranks, and horsemen and chariots might run foul on one another, and the hailstones scatter and destroy many; however, the whole must be terrible and distressing to them, especially it being in the night season.



{q} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 2.) {r} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436.)





Exodus 14:25



Ver. 25. And took off their chariot wheels,.... The Targum of Jonathan renders it "cut" or "sawed them off"; perhaps they might be broken off by the hailstones. Milton {s} seems to have a notion of Pharaoh's chariot wheels being broken, when he says, "and craze" (i.e. break) "their chariot wheels"; or, as Jarchi suggests, he burnt them, through the force of the fire or lightning:



that they drave them heavily; the wheels being off, the chariots must be dragged along by the horses by mere force, which must be heavy work; or, "and made them to go, or led them heavily", or "with heaviness" {t}; and so to be ascribed to the Lord, who looked at the Egyptians, took off the wheels of their chariots, and stopped them in the fury of their career, that they could not pursue with the swiftness they had:



so that the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel; for by this battery and flashes of fire on them, they concluded that Israel, who they thought were fleeing before them, had turned and were facing them, and the Lord at the head of them; and therefore it was high time for them to flee, as follows:



for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians; for they rightly took the thunder and lightning, the fire and hailstones, to be the artillery of heaven turned against them, and in favour of the Israelites. Jarchi interprets it, the Lord fights for them in Egypt, even in Egypt itself; but so he had done many a time before, of which they were not insensible.



{s} Paradise Lost, B. 12. ver. 210. {t} tdbkb Mghnyw "et deduxit eos graviter", Vatablus; "et duxit eos cum gravitate", Drusius; so Ainsworth.





Exodus 14:26



Ver. 26. And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud, when the Egyptians were in all the confusion before described, and about to make the best of their way back again:



Stretch out thine hand over the sea; with his rod in it, by which all the wonders were wrought, and particularly by which the sea had been divided, and now it must be used to a different purpose:



that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen; the waters which stood upright as a wall, on the right and left, might be no longer kept in such a position, but fall down upon the Egyptians, their chariots and horsemen, being higher than they.





Exodus 14:27



Ver. 27. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea,.... Or towards it, as he was ordered, the rod being in his hand, as before observed:



and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; being no longer detained by a superior power, contrary to the nature of it, to stand still as an heap, and firm as a wall, its waves came down and rolled with their usual force and strength, or it returned to its usual course:



at the appearance of the morning in its strength; when the morning looked forth in its first light and brightness, when it was broad day:



and the Egyptians fled against it; against the waves that came rolling down upon them: or "at meeting it" {u}, for as they turned their backs on the Israelites and fled, the waters of the sea met them, as well as fell on each side of them, or rather over them, and followed after them, and closed and shut them up on all sides; so that it was in vain for them to flee, for let them go which way they would, the sea was against them:



and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea; or shook them "off" or "out" {w}; out of their chariots, blew them out with the wind; for as there was a wind made use of to divide the waters of the sea, and make the bottom of it dry, there was another to cause the waters to return to their former place; see Ex 15:10 or the waves of the sea dashed them out of their chariots, or through the force of them they were overturned in it.



{u} wtarql "in occursum ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "obviam mare", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {w} renyw exetinaxe Sept. "et excussit", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "sic excussit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Exodus 14:28



Ver. 28. And the waters returned,.... To their place, and so in the above tradition related by Diodorus Siculus, it is said that the sea returning with a mighty force was restored to its place again;

See Gill on "Ex 14:22".



and covered the chariots and the horsemen; the wall they made being much higher than a man on horseback, when they fell down, covered even those who had the advantage of horses and chariots; and much more must the infantry be covered by them, who may be meant in the next clause:



and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; the foot, that went into the sea after the chariots and horsemen, or the whole army, including the cavalry and infantry, which went into the sea after the children of Israel. Who this Pharaoh was is not agreed; according to Berosus {x} his name was Cenchres, or Chenchres, whom Acherres succeeded; according to Bishop Usher {y} it was Amenophis; but our English poet {z} calls him Busiris; though Strabo {a} says there was no king or governor of that name. Diodorus Siculus {b} indeed speaks of two so called; yet he elsewhere {c} says, not that there was any king of the name, only the sepulchre of Osiris was so called:



there remained not so much as one of them; wherefore it must be a falsehood which is related by some, that Pharaoh himself was preserved, and afterwards reigned in Nineveh {d}, since not one was saved; see

Ps 106:11 and so Artapanus {e} the Heathen says, they all perished, and among these are said {f} to be Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Egypt mentioned in 2Ti 3:8 but this is contradicted by those {g} who ascribe the making of the golden calf to them.



{x} Antiqu. l. 5. fol. 88. 2. & 90. 2. {y} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 19. {z} "-------whose waves o'erthrew Busiris, and his Memphian chivalry." Milton's Paradise Lost, B. 1. v. 306, 307. {a} Geograph. l. 17. p. 552. {b} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 42. {c} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79. {d} Dibre Hayamim, fol. 13. 2. {e} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436.) {f} Midrash in Exod. xv. 10. & Arab. MS. apud Gregory's Notes & Observ. p. 6. {g} Shalshalet, fol. 7. 1.





Exodus 14:29



Ver. 29. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea,.... The bottom of it becoming so through the strong east wind, which blew all night until they came to the opposite shore, where they landed on "terra firma"; and so Noldius renders the phrase "through the sea"; that is, from shore to shore:



and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left; See Gill on "Ex 14:22".





Exodus 14:30



Ver. 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians,.... For though it was now six or seven days since they had leave to go out of Egypt, and actually did depart, yet they could not be said properly to be saved, or to be in safety, till this day, when all the Egyptians their enemies were destroyed, that pursued after them; and this was the twenty first day of the month, and the seventh and last day of the passover, and was an holy convocation to the Lord;

See Gill on "Ex 12:16"



and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore; all along, as a late traveller {h} observes, as we may presume, from Sdur (or Shur) to Corondel, and at Corondel especially, from the assistance and termination of the current there. The word for "dead" {i} is in the singular number, and joined with a plural may denote that they saw everyone of the Egyptians dead, since they were all destroyed, and not one remained of them, as in Ex 14:28. Aben Ezra thinks the sense of the words is, not that the Egyptians were seen dead upon the sea shore, but that the Israelites standing upon the sea shore saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians, that is, floating on the waters of the sea; but rather the meaning is, that their dead bodies were by the force of the waters cast upon the shore, and there beheld and plundered by the Israelites. Josephus {k} observes, that the day following (that night the Egyptians were drowned) the arms of the Egyptians being cast on the shore where the Hebrews encamped, through the force of the sea and wind, Moses gathered them up and armed the Hebrews with them; and this will account for it how they came to have arms, since it is highly probable they came out of Egypt unarmed; and how they could fight battles as they did in the wilderness, and when they came into the land of Canaan.



{h} Shaw's Travels, p. 314. Ed. 2. {i} tm Mortuum, Montanus, Drusius. {k} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 6.





Exodus 14:31



Ver. 31. And Israel saw the great work,.... Or "hand" {l}; the hand of the Lord, the mighty power of God, and took notice of it, and seriously considered the greatness of it:



which the Lord did upon the Egyptians; which mighty hand he laid upon them, and which great power he exercised on them, and which great work, the effect thereof, he wrought in destroying them in such a manner, by causing the waters, which divided for them and their safety, to return upon the Egyptians to their utter destruction:



and the people feared the Lord; had an awe of his power and greatness upon their minds, and a sense of his goodness to them upon their hearts, which influenced their fear of him, and caused them to fear him with a filial and godly fear:



and believed the Lord and his servant Moses; they believed the Lord to be the only Jehovah, the supreme Being, the one only living and true God, faithful to his word, able to do all things, and wise to do them in the fittest season, for his own glory and his people's good; and they believed his promises, and the fulfilment of them; and that as he had now saved them out of the hands of the Egyptians, he would bring them to the land of Canaan, which he had promised their fathers to give unto them; and they believed Moses was sent of God to be their deliverer out of Egypt, and to be their leader to the promised land; see Ps 106:12 and who were now by the apostle said to be baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1Co 10:1 and of their passage through the Red sea under the direction of Moses being an emblem of baptism, See Gill on "1Co 10:1".



{l} dyh thn ceira Sept. Manum, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Exodus 15:1



INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 15



This chapter contains the song of Moses, and of the children of Israel, on the banks of the Red sea; in which they celebrate their passage through it, the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, and the glory of the divine perfections displayed therein, interspersed with prophetic hints of things future, Ex 15:1 which same song was sung by the women, with Miriam at the head of them, attended with timbrels and dances, Ex 15:20, an account is given of the march of the children of Israel from the Red sea to the wilderness of Shur, and of the bitter waters found at Marah, which occasioned a murmuring, and of their being made sweet by casting a tree into them,

Ex 15:22 when they were told by the Lord, that if they would yield obedience to his commandments, they should be free from the diseases the Egyptians had been afflicted with, Ex 15:26, and the chapter is concluded with their coming to Elim, where they found twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and there encamped, Ex 15:27.



Ver. 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord,.... Which is the first song recorded in Scripture, though no doubt before this time songs of praise were sung to the Lord; the people of God having occasion in all ages more or less to sing his praises. The Jews {n} speak of ten songs, the first of which was sung by Adam, when his sins were forgiven him, and this song of Moses is the second; though sometimes they say {o}, from the creation of the world to the standing of Israel by the Red sea, we do not find that ever any man sung a song but Israel; God created the first man, but he sang no song: however, this is the first on record, and is a typical one; Moses the composer of it, and who bore a principal part in it, and was the deliverer of the people of Israel, was a type of Christ, the Redeemer of his church: and Israel that joined with him in it, and were the persons delivered, were typical of the spiritual Israel of God redeemed by Christ; and the deliverance here celebrated bore a great resemblance to the redemption wrought out by him; and Christ, the Angel of the Lord, that went before the Israelites through the Red sea, and fought for them, is the principal person concerned in it, and who is meant by the Lord throughout the whole of it, and to whom it is sung; and a song upon a similar occasion to this will be sung in the latter day, upon the destruction of spiritual Egypt, or antichrist, and is called the song of Moses and the Lamb in allusion to it, Re 15:3 The Jews {p} say, this shall be sung at the time, when the wicked shall perish out of the world, and observe that it is not written rv, "then sung", but

ryvy, "then shall sing", &c. Moses had reason to sing, since God had heard his prayer, and had done him honour before the people, and he was both an instrument of and a sharer in the salvation wrought; and the children of Israel had reason to sing, inasmuch as they were a people chosen of God, and distinguished by him; were redeemed from bondage, called out of Egypt, and now saved out of the hands of their enemies, who were all destroyed, and they brought safely through the Red sea, and landed on firm ground. And the time when they sung this song was then, when they had passed through the sea on dry land; and when they had seen the Egyptians their enemies dead on the sea shore; and when they were in a proper frame of spirit to sing, when they had taken notice of and considered what great and wonderful things the Lord had done for them, and their minds were suitably impressed with a sense of them; when they were in the exercise of the graces of the fear of God, and faith in him, and which is necessary to the performance of all religious duties, and particularly this of singing the praises of God:



and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord: that went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire; who had led them safely through the Red sea, and troubled and destroyed the host of the Egyptians; even the same Jehovah, who has undertook the salvation of his people, is become the author of it, and to whom the song of redeeming grace is due:



for he hath triumphed gloriously; over Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, the enemies of Israel, as Christ has over sin, in the destruction of it by his sacrifice, and over Satan, and his principalities and powers, when he spoiled them on the cross, and over death the last enemy, and all others; over whom he has made his people more than conquerors, through himself: or, "in excelling he excels" {q}; all the angels of heaven, in his name, and nature, relation, and office; and all the sons of men, even the greatest among them, being King of kings, and Lord of lords; in the wonderful things done by him, no such achievements having ever been wrought by any of them: or, "in magnifying, he is magnified" {r}; appears to be what he is, great in his nature, perfections, and works; and to be magnified, or declared to be great, and extolled as such by all that know and fear him;



the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea; the horses and horsemen of Pharaoh; and which is not amiss allegorically applied, by Tertullian {s}, to the world and the devil; the world is the horse, and the rider the devil; that being under his power and direction, he being the god of it, and working effectually in it; spurring and exciting the men of it to every sinful lust and pleasure; and may be put for all the spiritual enemies of God's people, especially their sins; which are cast by the Lord into the midst of the sea, never to be seen and remembered any more, and which is to them matter of a song of praise and thanksgiving.



{n} Targum in Cant. i. 1. {o} Shemot Rabba, sect. 23. fol. 107. 3. {p} Tikkune Zohar, correct. 10. fol. 20. 2. {q} hag hag "excellendo excelluit", Piscator. {r} "Magnificando magnificatus est", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. {s} Contr. Marcion, l. 4. c. 20.





Exodus 15:2



Ver. 2. The Lord is my strength and song,..... The strength of Moses and the children of Israel against the fears of the Egyptians, and of entrance into the Red sea; who inspired them with courage, and strengthened their faith, neither to fear being destroyed by the one, or drowned in the other; and so in the glory of his nature, and of his divine perfections, of his justice, holiness, faithfulness, truth, and goodness, he was the subject matter of their song. As Christ is the strength of his spiritual Israel, the author and giver of strength unto them, the strength of their lives, their hearts, and graces; and who strengthens them to do his will and work, to exercise every grace, withstand corruptions, resist temptations, bear afflictions, and overcome every enemy; and who on the account of the glory of his person, the beauty, fitness, and fulness of it, and because of his offices of Mediator, Saviour, prophet, priest, and King, as well as by reason of what he has done for them, the righteousness he has brought in, and the salvation he has wrought out, is the sum and substance of their song of praise:



and he is become my salvation; the salvation of Israel in a temporal sense, having saved them out of the hands of the Egyptians their enemies; and the salvation or Saviour of his spiritual Israel, who are saved by him with an everlasting salvation; he is not only their Saviour, but salvation itself; being not only the author of it, and that being in him for them, but made that itself unto them, even their all in all; their righteousness, atonement, peace, light, life, food, health, comfort, and joy; all their grace being in him, and from him, as well as their eternal glory and happiness: and this he is to them now, he is their salvation by impetration having obtained it by his obedience, sufferings, and death; and by application, they being convinced of their need of salvation by him, and the suitableness of it to them, seek to him for it, desire that and no other, which is brought nigh unto them by the Spirit of God, and witnessed to by him as theirs; so that they are already saved by grace, through faith and hope in Christ; and of their particular interest in it, they have knowledge by the same Spirit, which fills them with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This and the preceding clause are words so very expressive, and contain such fulness of matter, and such interesting things, that both the psalmist David, and the church, in the times of the evangelic prophet Isaiah, have borrowed them to express their sense of the great things the Lord was to them, and had done for them, Ps 118:14



he [is] my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; Christ is God, truly God, as appears from the names given him, particularly Jehovah; from the perfections ascribed to him, from the works done by him, and from the worship of him both by angels and men; and he is his people's God, their Immanuel, God in their nature, the God in whom they believe, and in whom they have an interest; he is the God of their salvation, the Lord their righteousness; their Lord, head, and King; their husband, beloved, Father, brother, friend; their God and guide, even unto death; their portion and exceeding great reward, now and hereafter: wherefore Moses, or the people of Israel, or both, determine to "prepare" him an "habitation", being concerned that he had no better dwelling place among them than he had; and seem to have some respect unto, and knowledge of an habitation hereafter to be built, the tabernacle and temple; which were typical of the human nature of Christ, and of his church; but then they were both of God's preparing, and not men's; wherefore an habitation in the hearts of, his people may be chiefly designed; the preparation of which, though it is principally and efficaciously of the Spirit of God, yet in some sense may be said to be prepared by the saints, when they show a concern for grace to be in exercise; to have duty regularly and constantly performed in a manner acceptable to him, and that no disturbance be given to occasion his departure from them. The Septuagint version is, "I will glorify him"; with soul and body, which are both his; and so much to the same purpose other versions, "I will decorate or beautify" {t} him; declare his beauty and glory, and speak in praise of it: "my father's God, and I will exalt him"; Christ was not only the God of Amram, the father of Moses, who was a good man; but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he declared himself to be, Ex 3:6, the ancestors not only of Moses, but of all the children of Israel. This shows the antiquity of Christ, that he was their fathers' God, and that he is to be trusted and depended on, as he was by their fathers, and to be regarded, and highly valued and esteemed, having been their fathers' friend, and is a reason why he should be exalted by them; for though he cannot be raised higher than he is, being the Son of the Highest, God over all, blessed for ever, whose kingdom ruleth over all, and is now as man ascended on high, and is highly exalted by his Father, and at his right hand, and glorified by him with himself; yet he may be said to be exalted and lifted up by us, when we celebrate and set forth the height of his glory and excellency, by asserting his proper deity, ascribing the same perfections, worlds, and worship to him, as to his Father, by attributing distinct divine personality to him, confessing his eternal sonship, owning him in all his offices, and giving him the glory due unto him on account of them, and for salvation wrought out by him; the whole honour and praise of it belong to him: he may and should be exalted in the hearts of his people, in their thoughts and affections, and with their lips in songs of praise; and in the house of God, and the ordinances of it, where everyone should speak of his glory; the reasons are, because he is above all in his person and perfections, is the only Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer, and to exalt him is the way to be exalted, Pr 4:8.



{t} whwnaw doxazw auton Sept. "glorificabo eum", V. L. "laudabo eume", Syr. Samar. "hunc decorabo", Tigurine version; "condecorabo eum", Piscator.





Exodus 15:3



Ver. 3. The Lord is a man of war,.... A "man", which has respect to the future incarnation of Christ, for as yet he was not really man; though it was purposed, covenanted, agreed to, and prophesied of, that he should, as he after was; not a mere man, as appears by the following clause: "a man of war"; or a warrior; being engaged in war, and inured to it; having to do with very powerful enemies, Satan and his principalities and powers, the world, and the great men of it, antichrist, and all the antichristian states. A warrior well versed in all the arts of war, and abundantly qualified for it, having consummate wisdom, strength, and courage, and thoroughly furnished and accoutred for it; having on the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the garment of vengeance, and cloak of zeal, and a vesture dipped in blood; and with a sword girt on his thigh, or drawn, or coming out of his mouth; and with a bow and arrows, going forth conquering, and to conquer; for he is a victorious one, who has conquered sin, Satan, and the world, and will subdue all others, and make his people more than conquerors, through him. He is not a common man of war or warrior; he is the Captain of the Lord's host, the Leader and Commander of the people, the Generalissimo of the armies in heaven and earth, and is a Prince and King at the head of them:



the Lord is his name; or Jehovah, which proves him to be more than a man; and being so, it is no wonder that he is so mighty, powerful, and victorious.





Exodus 15:4



Ver. 4. Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts hath he cast into the sea,.... Which was done by the Angel of the Lord, who was Jehovah himself, our Immanuel, and man of war, as appears from Ex 14:17, an emblem of the destruction of antichrist, and all the antichristian states, of which Pharaoh and his host were types:



his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea: who were appointed over his chosen chariots, which all perished in the sea together. In the carnage that will be made by Christ, the warrior and conqueror, among the followers of antichrist, the man of "sin", the antitypical Pharaoh, the flesh of captains is mentioned for the fowls of heaven to feed upon, Re 19:18.





Exodus 15:5



Ver. 5. The depths have covered them,.... The depths of the sea covered Pharaoh and his host, so as to be seen no more; and in like manner will mystical Babylon, or antichrist, be destroyed, and be no more found and seen; as likewise the sins of God's people, being cast into the depths of the sea, and covered with the blood of Christ, will be seen no more; when they are sought for, they shall not be found:



they sunk into the bottom as a stone; into the bottom of the sea, as a stone thrown into anybody of water sinks and rises not up again; this circumstance is observed by Ne 9:11



their persecutors thou threwest into the deep, as a stone into the mighty waters; and thus a stone like a millstone being taken by an angel and cast into the sea, is made an emblem of the irrecoverable ruin and destruction of Babylon, or antichrist, Re 18:21.





Exodus 15:6



Ver. 6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power,.... In bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and in the destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptians; and so the right hand of Christ, expressive of his power, he has in and of himself, and is the same with his Father's, and is mighty, yea, almighty, is become glorious, famous, and illustrious, in the redemption and salvation of his people, by bearing their sins, and working out a righteousness for them; and in the destruction of their enemies, sin, Satan, the world, and death, as is more fully expressed in the next clause:



thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy; in a literal sense, Pharaoh and his host, the avowed enemies of Israel; and, in a spiritual sense, those before named, together with all the antichristian party, those enemies of Christ, and his people, whom he wilt break to shivers as a potter's vessel, Re 2:27.





Exodus 15:7



Ver. 7. And in the greatness of thine excellency,.... Christ has an excellency in him, a greatness of excellency, a superlative one; he has a more excellent name and nature than the angels, being a divine Person; and a more excellent ministry, as man and Mediator, than any of the sons of men, as prophet, priest, and King; and is superlatively excellent in his operations, has wrought out a most excellent righteousness, offered up a more excellent sacrifice than ever was offered, and obtained a great, glorious, and excellent salvation for his people; in consequence of which is what is next asserted:



thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee; against his person and his people, who are in such strict union with him as to be reckoned as himself; and those that rise up against them, he reckons as rising up against him, or as his enemies; and both the one and the other are overthrown by him, as were those that rose up against him in person when on earth, as Herod, Pontius Pilate, the people of the Jews, with the Gentiles, and as will be antichrist and his followers, and all the spiritual enemies of the people of God:



thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble; the wrath of the Lord God Almighty is like fire, and wicked men are as chaff and stubble; and as those cannot stand before fire, but are suddenly and quickly consumed with it; so neither can the wicked, the enemies of Christ and his people, stand before the wrath of the Lamb, when the great day of it is come, but must be presently destroyed by it; see

Isa 51:20.





Exodus 15:8



Ver. 8. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together,.... From the bottom of the sea, and divided and laid on heaps; and this by a strong east wind, called the blast of the nostrils of the Lord, because as easily brought by him as a man's breath or wind is drawn through his nostrils; and thus Christ with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming, will destroy antichrist, 2Th 2:8



the floods stood upright as an heap; though a fluid body, yet by the power of Christ were raised up and continued upright, firm and consistent; as things dry and solid may be laid and heaped up on one another, and remain firm and stable; and so did the waters of the sea, they stood like a wall, and were as firm as a rock; while the Israelites passed between them, they stood upright, and lift up their hands, as if they blessed them; or blessed God for the deliverance of them, or in admiration of it; see Ex 14:22,





Exodus 15:9



Ver. 9. The enemy said,.... That is, Pharaoh, who repented that he had let Israel go; an emblem of Satan, who when the people of God are taken out of his hands is uneasy at it, and seeks to recover them again into his possession; or of antichrist breathing out threatening and slaughter to the saints, the reformers departed from him, and delivered out of his captivity:



I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; which words being expressed without the copulative "and", show the passion he was in, the hastiness of his expressions, and the eagerness of his mind; and being delivered in such an absolute manner, "I will", "I will", &c. denote not only the fixed resolution and determination he had made to pursue, but the assurance he had of carrying his point; he thought as surely, as he pursued he should overtake, and overtaking should conquer, and get into his hands all the riches the people of Israel went out of Egypt with:



my lust shall be satified upon them; both his lust of covetousness to possess himself of the wealth the people had of their own, and which they had spoiled the Egyptians of, by borrowing of them; and also his lust of revenge and cruelty upon them; as appears from what follows:



I will draw my sword; out of its scabbard, and sheathe it in them:



my hand shall destroy them; which he made no doubt of, they being an unarmed people; and therefore, though numerous, were unable to engage with him, and defend themselves; see Re 6:14 and with it compare Isa 10:11.





Exodus 15:10



Ver. 10. Thou didst blow with thy wind,.... A strong east wind,

Ex 14:22 which is the Lord Christ's, who has it in his treasury, holds it in his fists, sends it out as he pleases, and it fulfils his word and will:



the sea covered them; which stood up in an heap as a wall to let Israel pass through, and fell down with all its waves and billows with great force upon the Egyptians, and covered and drowned them:



they sunk as lead in the mighty waters; which is a very heavy metal, and, being cast into the water, sinks to the bottom at once, as did the Egyptians in the Red sea, and as Babylon the great will, and never rise more, Re 18:21.





Exodus 15:11



Ver. 11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?.... For the perfections of his nature, for the blessings of his goodness, and for the works of his hands; and especially for the greatness and excellency of his power, seen in the salvation of his people, and the ruin of their enemies: there is none like him "among the mighty ones", as it may be rendered; among the mighty angels, who excel in strength, and are sometimes called gods; or among the mighty ones on earth; or the sons of the mighty, kings, princes, judges, and civil magistrates of every rank and order; especially for the following things:



who is like thee, glorious in holiness? some understand this of the holy place, either heaven, where Christ is glorious above all created beings; or the church, where he shows himself glorious to his people: others, of holy persons, either holy angels, among whom he was at Sinai, and when he ascended on high, and will be when he comes again, in his own and his Father's glory; or the saints, when he will bring them with him, and be glorified in them; but rather it is to be understood of the attribute of his holiness, which is eminently and perfectly in him; in his person, with respect to both his natures, divine and human; the glory of which is displayed in all the works he has wrought, especially in the great work of redemption, which was undertook both for the honour of the holiness and righteousness of God, and to redeem his people from sin, and make them righteous and holy: it appears in the holy doctrines he taught, and in the holy commandments and ordinances he enjoined his people, and in his judgments on his enemies; in all which it is plainly seen that he loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and there is none like him for it; there is none holy as the Lord among angels or men, 1Sa 2:2



fearful in praises; or, in the things for which he is to be praised; as the glories and excellencies of his person, the blessings received from him, and through him, both temporal and spiritual; grace, and all the blessings of it here, now communicated, and glory and happiness promised and expected: and many things, for which he is to be praised, he is "fearful", awful, and tremendous in them; there are some things his right hand teaches him, and it does, deserving of praise, which yet are terrible, and such were they which are here literally, referred to; the plagues upon the Egyptians, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, called the wondrous works done in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea, Ps 106:22 and yet these were matter of praise to Israel, and gave occasion for this song; and such are they, in a spiritual sense, which he has done to his and our enemies: when the year of his redeemed was come, it was a day of vengeance in his heart, and he exercised it; he made an end of sin, abolished death, destroyed him which had the power of it, and spoiled principalities and powers; and a dreadful slaughter will be made of antichrist and his followers, when the song of Moses and the Lamb will be sung on account of it; and such dispensations of Providence, and judgments on men, as on Pharaoh and antichrist, as they are terrible to wicked men, they strike an awe on the people of God, at the same time they furnish out a song of praise to them: moreover, this may respect not only the matter of praise, but the reverend manner in which it is performed by good men; who, as they have a concern that they cannot sufficiently praise the Lord, and fear they shall not perform it aright, and sensible of their weakness and imperfection, like the seraphim, cover their faces while they applaud his perfections, particularly that of his holiness, and declare the earth is full of his glory; so they desire to perform this, as all their other services, with a holy fear and trembling, with reverence and godly fear since holy and reverend is his name: it follows,



doing wonders; and for which there is none like him; wonders Christ did before his incarnate state, both in eternity, in the goings forth of his heart, in acts of love to his people, in asking for them, and betrothing them, in becoming the surety of them, in proposing to be a sacrifice in their stead, in entering into a covenant with his Father on their account, in taking the care and charge of their persons, and in being the treasury of all grace and glory for them; and likewise in time, being concerned in the wondrous works of creation, which are a wonderful display of divine wisdom, power, and goodness, and in all the affairs of Providence; for there was not any remarkable occurrence, from the beginning of the world to the time of his coming in the flesh, but he was concerned therein; as the drowning of the old world, to whom previously he preached by his Spirit in Noah; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, the deliverance of the children of Israel, both out of Egypt and Babylon, and many others: and when he became incarnate, how many wonders were wrought by him? the incarnation itself was a wonderful instance of his grace and condescension, to take upon him the nature of man, be made flesh, and dwell among them; and during his incarnate state on earth many wonders were done by him; the doctrines he taught, the miracles he wrought, and especially the great work of our redemption and salvation, which will be for ever the wonder of men and angels; his raising himself from the dead, his ascension to heaven, and his appearance there for his people, as well as his second coming to judgment, are all marvellous things; and on account of all this, and more, he may well be called "wonderful"; for working wonders there is none like him.





Exodus 15:12



Ver. 12. Thou stretchedst out thy right hand,.... That is, exerted his power, and gave a display and proof of it; of which the right hand is an emblem:



the earth swallowed them; meaning Pharaoh and his host; for though they were drowned in the sea, that being a part of the terraqueous globe, they may be said to be swallowed in the earth; as Jonah, when in the depth of the sea, the earth and its bars are said to be about him, Jon 2:6 and besides, many of Pharaoh's army might be swallowed up in the mud at the bottom of the sea: nor is it improbable that those that were cast upon the banks and sand, whom the Israelites stripped, might be afterwards swallowed up therein.





Exodus 15:13



Ver. 13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed,.... From their servitude and bondage in Egypt; and so they were the Lord's people, peculiar to him, and distinct from all others: those he led forth, as out of Egypt, so through the Red sea onward towards Canaan's land; which was owing to his mercy, pity, and compassion to them in their affliction and distress: thus the spiritual Israel are a people redeemed by Christ from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law, and are his property, special and peculiar to him, and distinguished from all others: those he leads forth out of the state of nature in which they are, which is a very uncomfortable one, dark, bewildered, and forlorn, and out of their own ways, both of sin and self-righteousness; he leads them in himself the true way to eternal life, and in the paths of faith, truth, and holiness; and he leads to himself, his blood, righteousness, and fulness, and into his Father's presence, into his house and ordinances, and at last to heaven, the city of their habitation: and though it is sometimes in a rough way he leads them thither, yet always in a right one; and this must be ascribed to his grace and mercy, and not to the merits of his people: it was owing to his mercy he engaged for them as a surety, and came into this world to be their Saviour, in his love and pity he redeemed them; and it is according to abundant mercy they are regenerated, and called, and saved:



thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation; or rather, "art guiding them" {w}; for as yet they were not brought to their rest, the land of Canaan, where God had chosen a place for his people and himself to dwell in; nor was the tabernacle as yet made, much less the temple, where Jehovah took up his residence; but as he had brought out his people Israel from Egypt with a strong hand, and mighty arm, he was guiding and directing them onward in their journey, in the same greatness of his strength, which he would and did continue, until he brought them to the place he had chosen for his habitation; which was typical, both tabernacle and temple, of the human nature of Christ, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells, and which is holy, being perfectly free from sin, and to which the people of God are guided as the new and living way to the Father, and whereby they have communion with him: likewise they were an emblem of the church of God, where Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, dwell, and which consists of holy persons, and where holy services are performed; and hither the Lord guides and directs his people, and where he gives them a nature and a place better than that of sons and daughters; and also of heaven, where the Lord dwells, and which is the habitation of his holiness, where are holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and into which none shall enter but those that are holy; and hither the Lord guides all his people, with his counsel, and by his Spirit and word, and by his almighty power brings them thither;



{w} tlhn "commode ducis", Junius & Tremellius.





Exodus 15:14



Ver. 14. And the people shall hear, and be afraid,.... What follows from hence to the end of the song is plainly prophetic, a prediction of future events; and this clause respects the case of all the nations of the earth, who should hear the report of the plagues, brought upon the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of their being brought out of Egypt, and of their being led through the Red sea as on dry land, and of the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, which report would strike a panic in all that heard it, throughout the whole world; as well as of what the Lord would after this do for them in the wilderness, see De 2:25



sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestina; which was adjoining to the land of Canaan, and through which in the common way their road lay to it.





Exodus 15:15



Ver. 15. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed, &c,] Of which there were many, see Ge 36:15 the land being first governed by dukes, as perhaps it was at this time, though in some few years after it had a king, Nu 20:14 now these, when they heard of the wonderful things that were done for Israel in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, were astonished and surprised, and filled with fear and dread, see De 2:4,



the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them: as did on Balak the king of Moab, and his people, Nu 22:2, where may be observed a literal accomplishment of this prophecy:



all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; as their hearts did, through fear, when they heard what God did for Israel against the Egyptians and the Amorites, and understood that they were upon the march to their land to invade it and dispossess them of it: see the fulfilment of this prediction in Jos 2:9 thus when Babylon shall be destroyed, as Pharaoh and his host were, and the people of God saved out of the midst of her, as Israel was, the kings of the earth will stand afar off for fear of her torment, and bewail and lament for her, Re 18:9.





Exodus 15:16



Ver. 16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them.... On the several nations and people before mentioned, especially the Canaanites, which the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret of the fear of death, lest the Israelites should fall upon them and destroy them, or God should fight for them, against them, and bring ruin and destruction on them:



by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; awed by the power of God, visible in what he had done for the Israelites, and upon their enemies; they should be like stocks and stones, immovable, have no power to act, nor stir a foot in their own defence, and against Israel, come to invade and possess their land; nor in the least molest them, or stop them in their passage over Jordan, or dispute it with them, but stand like persons thunderstruck, and as stupid as stones, not having any spirit or courage left in them:



till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased; pass over the brook of Arnon, and the ford of Jabbok, according to the Targum of Jonathan; or the ford of Jabbok, and the ford of Jordan, according to the Jerusalem Targum; the river of Jordan is doubtless literally meant, at least chiefly; and the accomplishment of this prediction may be seen in Jos 3:15 which was an emblem of the quiet passage of Christ's purchased people, through the ford or river of death, to the Canaan of everlasting rest and happiness: Christ's people are purchased by him, who is able to make the purchase, and had a right to do it, and has actually made it, by giving his flesh, shedding his blood, laying down his life, and giving himself a ransom price for them: these do, and must pass over Jordan, or go through the cold stream of death; it is the way of all the earth, of good men as well as others; it is a passage from one world to another; and there is no getting to the heavenly Canaan without going this way, or through this ford; and all the Lord's purchased people, like Israel, clean pass over through it, not one are left in it; their bodies are raised again, their souls are reunited to them, and both come safe to heaven and happiness: and, for the most part, they have a quiet and easy passage, the enemy is not suffered to disturb them, neither the sins and corruptions of their nature, nor an evil heart of unbelief, nor Satan with his temptations; and the terrors of death are taken away from them; so that they can sit and sing on the shores of eternity, in the view of death and another world, saying, death, where is thy sting? grave, where is thy victory? &c. and this is to be ascribed to the greatness of Jehovah's arm, to his almighty power, on which they lean, and go on comfortably in the wilderness; and by this they are carried safely through death to glory, and it is owing to this that the enemy and the avenger are stilled.





Exodus 15:17



Ver. 17. Thou shalt bring them in,.... Into the land of Canaan, which is often ascribed to the Lord, as well as his bringing them out of the land of Egypt, see De 8:8,



and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance; in the country which he chose for the inheritance of his people and himself; one part of which was very mountainous, called the hill country of Judea, and especially Jerusalem, round about which mountains were; and particular respect may be had to Mount Moriah and Zion, on which the temple afterwards stood, and which was called the mountain of the Lord's house, and seems to be pointed at in the following account: here Israel is compared to a vine as elsewhere, which the Lord took out of Egypt and planted in the land of Canaan, where it took root and was settled, see Ps 80:8



in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; that is, which he had appointed for his habitation; for as yet neither the tabernacle nor temple were built, in which he afterwards dwelt: in this sense the word "made" is used in Pr 16:4



in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established; that is, which he intended to establish, and would, and did establish; meaning, more especially, the temple, and the holy of holies in it, which he directed Solomon to build, and was a settled dwelling place for him, 1Ki 8:13, now all this may be considered as typical of the church of Christ, and of his bringing and planting his people there, which is a "mountain", and often signified by Mount Zion; is visible and immovable, the true members of it being interested in the love of God, on the sure foundation of electing grace, secured in the everlasting covenant, and built on the rock Christ Jesus; and is the Lord's "inheritance", chosen by him to be so, given to Christ, and possessed by him as such, and as dear to him, and more so, than a man's inheritance is to him: this is a "place" he has appointed, prepared, and made for himself to dwell in, and is the habitation of Father, Son, and Spirit; and is a "sanctuary" or holy place, consisting of holy persons established in Christ, as particular believers are, and the church in general is; and though now sometimes in an unsettled state as to outward things, yet ere long will be established on the top of the mountains: and hither the Lord brings his purchased people, as sheep into his fold, as children to his house, fitted up for them, as guests to partake of his entertainments; and this is an act of his powerful grace upon them, and of his distinguished goodness to them: and here he also plants them, for the church is a plantation, a garden, an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; and such as are planted here are transplanted out of the world, and are first planted in Christ, and receive the ingrafted word; and though ministers may be instruments in planting, the Lord is the efficient; and those that are planted by him are choice pleasant plants, fruitful ones, and shall never be plucked up: but as this follows the passage of the Lord's people over Jordan into Canaan land, it may rather be considered as an emblem of the heavenly state, and of the Lord's bringing and planting his people there; which, like a mountain, is an immovable and unalterable state, an inheritance incorruptible and eternal, the dwellingplace of Jehovah, a sanctuary or holy place, which his hand prepared from the foundation of the world; and which he has established as everlasting habitations for his people, where he brings their souls at death, and both souls and bodies in the resurrection morn to dwell with him for ever; and which is a paradise, an Eden of pleasure, where he plants them as trees of righteousness, next to Christ the tree of life, and where they are always green, fruitful, flourishing, and shall never be hurt by any scorching heat or blasting wind, or be trodden under foot or plucked up.





Exodus 15:18



Ver. 18. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Even that same Lord that is spoken of throughout this song, and to whom everything in it is ascribed, and who is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ; his reign began in eternity, when he was set up and anointed as King over God's holy hill of Zion, his church, the elect, who were a kingdom put under his care and charge, and which he will deliver up again one day, complete and perfect: he reigned throughout the whole Old Testament dispensation, and was acknowledged as well as prophesied of as a King; in his state of humiliation he had a kingdom, though not of this world, and upon his ascension to heaven he was made and declared Lord and Christ; and thenceforward his kingdom became very visible in the Gentile world, through the ministration of his word, accompanied by his almighty power; and ever since, more or less, he has ruled by his Spirit and grace in the hearts of many of the children of men, and, ere long, will take upon him his great power, and reign, in a more visible, spiritual, and glorious manner, in the midst of his churches, in the present state of things; and then he will reign with all his saints raised from the dead, for the space of a thousand years on earth, and after that will reign with them for ever in heaven, in the ultimate state of glory and happiness: the reigns of all others are but short, or, however, but for a time, but the reign of Christ is for ever and ever; the reigns of sin, and of Satan, and of death, have an end, but of the government of Christ, and the peace thereof, there will be no end; the reigns of the greatest potentates, emperors, and kings, of cruel and tyrannical princes, such as Pharaoh, are limited to a certain time, as is the reign of antichrist, which when ended, and the saints will have got the victory over him, the song of Moses and the Lamb will be sung; but Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdoms, and his dominion is evermore: the Targum of Jonathan is,



"let us set a crown on the head of our Redeemer, whose is the royal crown, and he is King of kings in this world, and whose is the kingdom in the world to come, and whose it is and will be for ever and ever;''



and to the same purpose is the Jerusalem Targum.





Exodus 15:19



Ver. 19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea,.... Meaning not that particular and single horse on which Pharaoh was carried, but all the horses of his that drew in his chariots, and all on which his cavalry was mounted; these all went into the Red sea, following the Israelites thither: these words are either the concluding part of the song, recapitulating and reducing into a compendium the subject matter of it; or are a reason why Moses and the children of Israel sung it; or else they are to be connected more strictly with the preceding verse, and give a reason why the Lord reigns over his people for ever; because he has destroyed their enemies, and delivered them out of their hands:



and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; after he had divided them, for the Israelites to pass through them, he caused them to close again, and to fall upon the Egyptians and cover and drown them:



but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea; which was a very wonderful thing, and was a just and sufficient reason for singing the above song to the Lord, see Ex 14:29.





Exodus 15:20



Ver. 20. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,.... The same, it is highly probable, that is called the sister of Moses, Ex 2:3, her name Miriam is the same as Mary with us, and signifies bitterness; and, as the Hebrews {x} observe, had it from the bitterness of the times, and the afflictions the Israelites endured and groaned under when she was born; which is a much more probable signification and reason of her name than what is given by others, that it is the same with Marjam, which signifies a drop of the sea; from whence, they fancy, came the story of Venus, and her name of Aphrodite, the froth of the sea: Miriam was a prophetess, and so called, not from this action of singing, here recorded of her, for so all the women that sung with her might be called prophetesses, though sometimes in Scripture prophesying intends singing; but rather from her having a gift of teaching and instructing, and even of foretelling things to come; for the Lord spoke by her as well as by Moses and Aaron, and she, with them, were the leaders of the people of Israel, sent to them of the Lord, see

Nu 12:2, she is particularly called the sister of Aaron, though she was likewise the sister of Moses; the reason is, that being older than Moses, she was Aaron's sister before his, and having lived all her days with Aaron almost, and very little with Moses, was best known by being the sister of Aaron; and it is possible she might be his own sister by father and mother's side, when Moses was by another woman; however, it is said of her, she



took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances; timbrels were a sort of drums or tabrets, which being beat upon gave a musical sound, somewhat perhaps like our kettledrums; and though dances were sometimes used in religious exercises, yet the word may signify another kind of musical instruments, as "pipes" or "flutes" {y}, as it is by some rendered; and by the Syriac and Arabic versions, "sistrums"; which were musical instruments much used by the Egyptians, and from whom the Israelitish women had these; and as they were going to keep a feast in the wilderness, they lent them to them, it is very probable, on that account; otherwise it is not easy to conceive what use the Israelites could have for them, and put them to during their hard bondage and sore affliction in Egypt: now with these they went out of the camp or tents into the open fields, or to the shore of the Red sea, and sung as Moses and the men of Israel did: to this the psalmist seems to refer in

Ps 68:25.



{x} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 3. p. 9. Dibre Hayamim, fol. 2. 2. {y} tlxmb "cum fistulis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "cum tibiis", Drusius; so Ainsworth.





Exodus 15:21



Ver. 21. And Miriam answered them,.... The men, for the word is masculine; that is, repeated, and sung the same song word for word after them, as they had done, of which a specimen is given by reciting the first clause of the song:



sing ye to the Lord; which is by way of exhortation to the women to sing with her, as Moses begins the song thus: "I will sing unto the Lord",



for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea; See Gill on "Ex 15:1", the manner of their singing, according to the Jews {z}, was, Moses first said, "I will sing", and they said it after him.



{z} T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 20. 3. T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 30. 2.





Exodus 15:22



Ver. 22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea,.... Or "caused them to journey" {a}, which some think was done with difficulty, they being so eager and intent upon the spoil and plunder of the Egyptians cast upon the sea shore, the harness of their horses being, as Jarchi observes, ornamented with gold and silver, and precious stones; or as others, they had some inclination to return to Egypt, and take possession of the country for themselves; the inhabitants of it, at least its military force, being destroyed, and their armour in their possession; but the truer meaning of the word is, that Moses, as their general, gave them the word of command to march, and till they had it they stayed at the Red sea refreshing themselves, taking the spoils of the enemy, and singing the praises of God; but when Moses gave them orders to set forward, they proceeded on their journey:



and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; the same with the wilderness of Etham, as appears from Nu 33:8 there might be, as Aben Ezra conjectures, two cities in or near this wilderness, of those two names, from whence it might be called: for, as Doctor Shaw says {b}, Shur was a particular district of the wilderness of Etham, fronting the valley (of Baideah), from which, he supposes, the children of Israel departed: and Doctor Pocock says {c} that the wilderness of Shur might be the fourth part of the wilderness of Etham, for about six hours from the springs of Moses (where, according to the tradition of the country, the children of Israel landed, being directly over against Clysma or Pihahiroth) is a winter torrent, called Sedur (or Sdur), and there is a hill higher than the rest, called Kala Sedur (the fortress of Sedur), and from which this wilderness might have its name: and by another traveller {d} this wilderness is called the wilderness of Sedur: and now it was the wilderness of Etham they were in before they went into the Red sea, which has induced some to believe that they came out on the same shore again; for the solution of which difficulty

See Gill on "Ex 14:22",



and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water; which must be very distressing to such a vast number of people and cattle, in a hot, sandy, desert: this doubtless gave occasion to the stories told by Heathen authors, as Tacitus {e}, and others, that the people of the Jews, under the conduct of Moses, were near perishing for want of water, when, following a flock of wild asses, which led them to a rock covered with a grove of trees, they found large fountains of water: the three days they travelled here were the twenty second, third and fourth, of Nisan, in the beginning of April.



{a} eoyw "et fecit proficisci", Pagninus & Montanus, Drusius; "jussit proficisci", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {b} Travels. p. 312. {c} Travels, p. 156. {d} Journal from Cairo, &c. p. 13. {e} Hist. l. 5. c. 3.





Exodus 15:23



Ver. 23. And when they came to Marah,.... A place in the wilderness, afterwards so called from the quality of the waters found here; wherefore this name is by anticipation:



they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; and they must be very bitter for people in such circumstances, having been without water for three days, not to be able to drink of them: some have thought these to be the bitter fountains Pliny {f} speaks of, somewhere between the Nile and the Red sea, but these were in the desert of Arabia; more probably they were near, and of the same kind with those that Diodorus Siculus {g} makes mention of, who, speaking of the Troglodytes that inhabited near the Red sea, and in the wilderness, observes, that from the city Arsinoe, as you go along the shores of the continent on the right hand, there are several rivers that gush out of the rocks into the sea, of a bitter taste: and so Strabo {h} speaks of a foss or ditch, which runs out into the Red sea and Arabian gulf, and by the city Arsinoe, and flows through those lakes which are called bitter; and that those which were of old time bitter, being made a foss and mixed with the river, are changed, and now produce good fish, and abound with water fowl: but what some late travellers have discovered seems to be nearer the truth: Doctor Shaw {i} thinks these waters may be properly fixed at Corondel, where there is a small rill, which, unless it be diluted by the dews and rain, still continues to be brackish: another traveller {k} tells us that, at the foot of the mountain of Hamam-El-Faron, a small but most delightful valley, a place called Garondu, in the bottom of the vale, is a rivulet that comes from the afore mentioned mountain, the water of which is tolerably good, and in sufficient plenty, but is however not free from being somewhat bitter, though it is very clear: Doctor Pocock says there is a mountain known to this day by the name of Le-Marah; and toward the sea is a salt well called Bithammer, which is probably the same here called Marah: this Le-Marah, he says, is sixteen hours south of the springs of Moses; that is, forty miles from the landing place of the children of Israel; from whence to the end of the wilderness were six hours' travelling, or about fifteen miles; which were their three days' travel in the wilderness, and from thence two hours' travel, which were five miles, to a winter torrent called Ouarden; where, it may be supposed, Moses encamped and refreshed his people, and from thence went on to Marsh, about the distance of eight hours, or twenty miles southward from the torrent of Ouarden:



therefore the name of it is called Marah; from the bitterness of the waters, which the word Marah signifies; see Ru 1:20.



{f} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. {g} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 172. {h} Geograph. l. 17. p. 553. {i} Travels, p. 314. {k} A Journal from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, A. D. 1722, p. 14, 15.





Exodus 15:24



Ver. 24. And the people murmured against Moses,.... For bringing them into a wilderness where they could find no water fit to drink; saying:



what shall we drink? what shall we do for drink? where can we drink? this water is not drinkable, and, unless we have something to drink, we, and our wives, and children, and servants, and cattle, must all perish.





Exodus 15:25



Ver. 25. And he cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed, as all the Targums, that God would appear for them, and relieve them in their distress, or, humanly speaking, they must all perish: happy it is to have a God to go to in time of trouble, whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear! Moses knew the power of God, and trusted in his faithfulness to make good the promises to him, and the people, that he would bring them to the land he had swore to give them:



and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet; what this tree was is not known; if it was in its own nature sweet, as the author of Ecclesiasticus seems to intimate, when he says, in chapter 38:5 "was not the water made sweet with the wood, that its virtue might be known?" Yet a single tree could never of itself sweeten a flow of water, and such a quantity as was sufficient for so large a number of men and cattle; and therefore, be it what it will, it must be owing to a miraculous operation that the waters were made sweet by it: but the Hebrew writers say the tree was bitter itself, and therefore the miracle was the greater: Gorionides {l} says it was wormwood; and both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the bitter tree, Ardiphne, which Cohen de Lara {m} makes to be the same which botanists call Rhododaphne or rose laurel, and which, he says, bears flowers like lilies, which are exceeding bitter, and are poison to cattle; and so says Baal Aruch {n}; and much the same has Elias Levita {o}: and this agrees well enough with the mystical and spiritual application that may be made of this; whether these bitter waters are considered as an emblem of the bitter curses of the law, for that bitter thing sin, which makes work for bitter repentance; and for which the law writes bitter things against the sinner, which, if not prevented, would issue in the bitterness of death; so that a sensible sinner can have nothing to do with it, nor can it yield him any peace or comfort: but Christ, the tree of life, being made under the law, and immersed in sufferings, the penalty of it, and made a curse, the law is fulfilled, the curse and wrath of God removed, the sinner can look upon it with pleasure and obey it with delight: or whether these may be thought to represent the afflictions of God's people, comparable to water for their multitude, and for their overflowing and overwhelming nature, and to bitter ones, being grievous to the flesh; especially when God hides his face and they are thought to be in wrath: but these are sweetened through the presence of Christ, the shedding abroad of his love in the heart, the gracious promises he makes and applies, and especially through his bitter sufferings and death, and the fruits and effects thereof, which support, refresh, and cheer, see Heb 12:2,



there he made a statute and an ordinance: not that he gave them at this time any particular law or precept, whether moral or ceremonial, such as the laws of keeping the sabbath and honouring of parents, which the Targum of Jonathan mentions {p}; and to which Jarchi adds that concerning the red heifer: but he gave them a general instruction and order concerning their future behaviour; that if they hearkened to his commandments, and yielded obedience to them, it would be well with them, if not they must expect to be chastised and afflicted by him, as is observed in the following verse, to which this refers:



and there he proved them; the people of Israel; by these waters being first bitter and then sweetened, whereby he gave them a proof and specimen how it would be with them hereafter; that if they behaved ill they must expect the bitter waters of affliction, but, if otherwise, pleasant and good things: or, "there he proved him" {q}; Moses, his obedience and faith, by ordering him to cast in the tree he showed him; but the former sense seems best to agree with what follows.



{l} Heb. Hist l. 6. c. 38. p. 742. {m} Ir. David, p. 21. {n} Fol. 51. 3. {o} In Methurgeman, fol. 9. 2. {p} So T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 56. 2. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17. {q} whon "tentavit eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, V. L. Tigurine version; "prebavit eum", Vatablus; "tentavit ipsum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Exodus 15:26



Ver. 26. And said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,.... By this and the following words, they are prepared to expect a body of laws to be given unto them, as the rule of their future conduct; and though they were delivered from the rigorous laws, bondage, and oppression of the Egyptians, yet they were not to be without law to God, their King, Lord, and Governor, whose voice they were to hearken to in all things he should direct them in:



and wilt do that which is right in his sight; which he shall see and order as fit to be done, and which was not to be disputed and contradicted by them:



and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes; whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial, even all that either had been made known to them, or should be hereafter enjoined them; and this at Mount Sinai, where they received a body of laws, they promised to do; namely, both to hear and to obey, Ex 24:3.



I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; in any of the plagues inflicted on them, which they were witnesses of; from these they should be preserved, if obedient, but if not they must expect them, or what was similar to them, see De 28:27,



for I am the Lord that healeth thee; both in body and soul; in body, by preserving from diseases, and by curing them when afflicted with them; and in soul, by pardoning their iniquities, which, in Scripture, is sometimes signified by healing, see Ps 103:3.





Exodus 15:27



Ver. 27. And they came to Elim,.... On the twenty fifth of Nisan; for, according to Aben Ezra, they stayed but one day at Marah. Elim, as a late traveller {r} says, was upon the northern skirts of the desert of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and near thirty from Corondel; according to Bunting {s} it was eight miles from Marah:



where were twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees; and so a very convenient, commodious, and comfortable place to abide at for a time, since here was plenty of water for themselves and cattle, and shady trees to sit under by turns; for as for the fruit of them, that was not ripe at this time of the year, as Aben Ezra observes. Thevenot {t} seems to confound the waters here with the waters of Marah; for he says, the garden of the monks of Tor is the place which in holy Scripture is called Elim, where were sventy palm trees and twelve wells of bitter water; these wells, adds he, are still in being, being near one another, and most of them within the precinct of the garden, the rest are pretty near; they are all hot, and are returned again to their first bitterness; for I tasted says he, of one of them, where people bathe themselves, which by the Arabs is called Hammam Mouse, i.e. the "bath of Moses"; it is in a little dark cave: there is nothing in that garden but abundance of palm trees, which yield some rent to the monks, but the seventy old palm trees are not there now. This does not agree with an observation of the afore mentioned Jewish writer, that palm trees will not flourish in the ground where the waters are bitter; though they delight in watery places, as Pliny {u} says; and yet Leo Africanus {w} asserts, that in Numidia the dates (the fruit of palm trees) are best in a time of drought. A later traveller {x} tells us, he saw no more than nine of the twelve wells that are mentioned by Moses, the other three being filled up by those drifts of sand which are common in Arabia; yet this loss is amply made up by the great increase in the palm trees, the seventy having propagated themselves into more than 2000; under the shade of these trees is the Hammam Mouse, or "bath of Moses", particularly so called, which the inhabitants of Tor have in great veneration, acquainting us that it was here where the household of Moses was encamped. Dr. Pocock takes Elim to be the same with Corondel; about four hours or ten miles south of Marah, he says, is the winter torrent of Corondel in a very narrow valley, full of tamarisk trees, where there is tolerable water about half a mile west of the road; beyond this, he says, about half an hour, or little more than a mile, is a winter torrent called Dieh-Salmeh; and about an hour or two further, i.e. about three or four miles, is the valley or torrent of Wousset, where there are several springs of water that are a little salt; and he thinks that one of them, but rather Corondel, is Elim, because it is said afterwards,



they removed from Elim, and encamped at the Red sea; and the way to Corondel, to go to the valley of Baharum, is part of it near the sea, where he was informed there was good water, and so probably the Israelites encamped there; and Dr. Clayton {y} is of the same mind, induced by the argument he uses: a certain traveller {z}, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, tells us, that indeed the wells remain unto this day, but that there is not one palm tree, only some few low shrubs; but he could never have been at the right place, or must say a falsehood, since later travellers, who are to be depended upon, say the reverse, as the above quotations show. As to the mystical application of this passage, the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem make the twelve fountains answerable to the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees to the seventy elders of the sanhedrim; and so Jarchi: and more evangelically the twelve fountains of water may denote the abundance of grace in Christ, in whom are the wells of salvation, and the sufficiency of it for all his people; and which the doctrine of the Gospel, delivered by his twelve apostles, discovers and reveals, and leads and directs souls unto; and the seventy palm trees may lead us to think of the seventy disciples sent out by Christ, and all other ministers of the word, who for their uprightness, fruitfulness, and usefulness, may be compared to palm trees, as good men in Scripture are, see Ps 92:12,



and they encamped there by the waters; where they stayed, as Aben Ezra thinks, twenty days, since, in the first verse of the following chapter, they are said to come to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month; here being everything agreeable to them for the refreshment of themselves and cattle, they pitched their tents and abode a while; as it is right in a spiritual sense for the people of God to abide by his word and ordinances.



{r} Shaw, ut supra. (Travels, p. 314.) {s} Travels, p. 82. {t} Travels into the Levant, B. 2. ch. 26. p. 166. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 4. {w} Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 82. {x} Dr. Shaw, ut supra. ({r}) {y} Chronolgy of the Hebrew Bible, p. 296, 297. {z} Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 1. c. 21. p. 44.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Exodus 16:1



INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 16



This chapter begins with an account of the journeying of the children of Israel from Elim to the wilderness of Sin, where they murmured for want of bread, Ex 16:1, when the Lord told Moses that he would rain bread from heaven for them, which Moses informed them of; and withal, that the Lord took notice of their murmurings, Ex 16:4 which promise the Lord fulfilled; and a description of the bread, and the name of it, are given, Ex 16:13, and some instructions are delivered out concerning the quantity of it to be gathered,

Ex 16:16, the time of gathering and keeping it, Ex 16:19, the gathering a double quantity on the sixth day for that and the seventh day, with the reason of it, Ex 16:22 and a further description of it, Ex 16:31, and an order to preserve an omer of it in a pot, to be kept for generations to come, that it might be seen by them,

Ex 16:32, and the chapter is concluded with observing, that this bread was ate by the Israelites forty years, even till they came to the borders of the land of Canaan, and the quantity they ate every day is observed what it was, Ex 16:35.



Ver. 1. And they took their journey from Elim,.... And came again to the Red sea, as appears from Nu 33:10 perhaps to some bay or creek of it, which ran up from it, and lay in their way, and where for a short time they encamped to look at it, and recollect what had been done for them in bringing them through it; but as their stay here was short, and nothing of any importance or consequence happened, it is here omitted, and their next station is only observed:



and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which still bears the same name, as a late traveller {a} informs us, who passed through it, and says, we traversed these plains in nine hours, being all the way diverted with the sight of a variety of lizards and vipers, that are here in great numbers; and elsewhere {b} he says, that vipers, especially in the wilderness of Sin which might very properly be called "the inheritance of dragons", were very dangerous and troublesome, not only our camels, but the Arabs who attended them, running every moment the risk of being bitten. The Red sea, or the bay of it, they came to from Elim, according to Bunting {c} was six miles, and from thence to the wilderness of Sin, sixteen more. This is a different wilderness from that of Zin, which is written with a different letter, Nu 20:1 and was on the other side of Mount Sinai, as this was the way to it, as follows:



which is between Elim and Sinai according to the above writer {d}, it was twenty miles from Elim the Israelites travelled, and forty more ere they came to Sinai. Dr. Shaw {e} says, after traversing the plains in nine hours, we were near twelve hours in passing the many windings and difficult ways which lie beteen those deserts and these of Sinai; the latter consists of a beautiful plain more than a league in breadth, and nearly three in length:



on the fifteenth day of the second month, after their departing out of the land of Egypt; the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of April and part of May, and has its name from the beauty of the flowers, which appear at this time of the year: the Israelites were now come from thence a month or thirty days; for they came out the fifteenth of Abib or Nisan, and now it was the fifteenth of Ijar; and as the first day of this month, as Jarchi says, was on the first day of the week, this day must be so likewise; and yet sometimes the Jews say {f} this was a sabbath day.



{a} Shaw, p. 314. {b} lb p. 444. {c} Travels, p. 82. {d} Ib. {e} Travels, p. 314. {f} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 87. 2.





Exodus 16:2



Ver. 2. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured,.... For want of bread; for the Targum of Jonathan says, that day the dough ceased they brought of Egypt, on which, and the unleavened cakes they had lived thirty days; and for a longer space of time it was not sufficient, as Josephus {g} and other Jewish writers {h} observe; and now it was all spent, and they were in the utmost distress for bread, and fall a murmuring as they were used to do, when in any distress, even the whole congregation of them, at least the far greater part; some few might be excepted, as Caleb and Joshua, and some others: and they



murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness; in the wilderness of Sin, where they were, and where no corn was to be had to make bread of; and their murmuring was not only against Moses, as before when they wanted water, but against Aaron also, who were jointly concerned in bringing them out of Egypt. It is a common case, when things do not go so well as to be wished for in church or state, for people to murmur against their governors, ecclesiastic or civil, and lay all the blame to them.



{g} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1. {h} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17.





Exodus 16:3



Ver. 3. And the children of Israel said unto them,.... They not only inwardly murmured, and privately complained among themselves, but they spoke out their complaints, and that in a very extravagant manner:



would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt; by one of the plagues, or some such like plague as were inflicted on the Egyptians, which killed many of them, and particularly the hailstorm and plague on the firstborn; suggesting that death, even by the hand of the Lord, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, was more eligible than their present circumstances: when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; which is an exaggeration of their former circumstances, and the happiness of them, in order to aggravate the misery of their present ones; for it can hardly be thought strictly true, that while they were in hard bondage in Egypt, they had often flesh in their pots, and leisure time to sit and attend them, either the boiling of it in them, or the eating of it when served up in dishes at the table; which they seem to boast of, as if they had several dishes of meat at table, and sat in great splendour, and took a great deal of time to regale themselves, and when they indulged themselves to satiety, having fulness of bread and all provisions:



for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger: but there was no danger of that at present, since they had so many flocks and herds with them; though indeed so large a number would soon have ate them up, and which could not so comfortably be fed upon without bread; and, besides, these they did not choose to slay, unless under great necessity, which they reserved for sacrifice, and for an increase.





Exodus 16:4



Ver. 4. Then said the Lord unto Moses,.... Who no doubt had been praying to him, as was his usual manner, when the people were in distress and complained, and was heard and answered by him: behold,



I will rain bread from heaven for you; though they were a murmuring, rebellious, and ungrateful people, the Lord dealt kindly and bountifully with them; he did not rain fire and brimstone upon them, as on Sodom and Gomorrah, nor snares and an horrible tempest, as on the wicked; but what was desirable by them, and suitable to their present circumstances, even bread, which was what they wanted, and this ready prepared; for though they did dress it in different ways, yet it might be eaten without any preparation at all; and this it was promised should be rained down upon them, there should be great plenty of it; it should come as thick and as fast as a shower of rain, and lie around their camp ready at hand to take up; and this should not spring out of the earth as bread corn does, but come down from heaven; and being such a wonderful thing, a "behold" is prefixed unto it, denoting the marvellousness of it, as well as exciting attention to what was said: our Lord may seem to contradict this, when he says, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, Joh 6:32, but the reconciliation is easy; for not to observe that it was God, and not Moses, that gave this bread, so though it came from the airy heavens, and along with the dew of it, where it was prepared perhaps by the ministry of angels, and therefore called the corn of heaven, and angels' bread, Ps 78:24, yet it came not from the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, from whence the true bread, the antitype of this, came, even our Lord Jesus Christ himself:



and the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate of it every day; or "the thing of the day in its day" {i}, the bread day by day; to which our Lord may be thought to allude, when he directs his disciples to pray, give us this day our daily bread; as this would be rained every morning, the people were to go out of the camp, and gather it up for their daily use, and which was to be done every day:



that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no; by this single instance of their obedience to his will in going out every morning to gather their bread, that should be rained for them, he proposed to try and prove their obedience to his law in all other respects; what regard would be had to it when it should be given, and what might be expected from them, and likewise whether they would depend upon his providence in this case also.



{i} wmwyb Mwy rbd "rem diei in die suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Fagius, Drusius.





Exodus 16:5



Ver. 5. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day,.... Of the week, and from the raining of the bread, which was on the first day of the week:



they shall prepare that which they bring in; the Targum of Jonathan adds, to eat on the sabbath day; what they did not consume on the sixth day was to be prepared and reserved for the seventh day; that is, it was to be baked or boiled as they thought fit to have it, or eat it as it was, which they pleased, see Ex 16:23 only one part of it was to be kept till the next day:



and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily: on that day should be rained double what fell on other days, and so twice as much should be gathered up; the reason for which is not here mentioned, but afterwards given; though Moses no doubt was now made acquainted with it, or otherwise he could not have informed the princes and people of it, as he afterwards did, Ex 16:23.





Exodus 16:6



Ver. 6. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel,.... That is, Aaron spoke in the name of Moses to them, he being his spokesman, appointed of God to speak for him, and both spoke to them as from the Lord:



at even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: that they were brought out they knew, but they make this to be an act and deed of Moses and Aaron, Ex 16:3 whereas it was the work of the Lord; and at evening they should have a fresh proof of it, and that they were not brought forth to be killed with hunger, as they complained, by the quails coming up and covering their camp, whereby they would have flesh to eat, Ex 16:12.





Exodus 16:7



Ver. 7. And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord,.... Either as displayed in this wonderful affair, raining bread about their tents, which was in the morning, or else as it appeared in the cloud, Ex 16:7 the latter sense seems to be confirmed by what follows: for that he; the glory of the Lord, the glorious Shechinah of Jehovah, the Angel that went before them in the cloud, the eternal Word and Son of God: heareth your murmurings against the Lord; against Jehovah his Father; see Ge 19:24



and what are we, that ye murmur against us? either signifying that there was no reason for it, and no occasion of it, since not they, but the Lord, brought them out of Egypt, and into those circumstances; what they did was only by his command, and with a view for their good, and therefore it was both unreasonable and ungrateful in them to murmur against them; or as observing, that seeing they murmured against the Lord, it was no strange thing to them they should murmur against them, and therefore took it the more quietly and patiently.





Exodus 16:8



Ver. 8. And Moses said, this shall be,.... Which supplement may be left out:



when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat; cause the quails to come up, and fall about their tents:



and in the morning bread to the full; by raining it from heaven all around them:



for that, or rather "then" {k},



the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him; it will then appear that he has heard them, and taken notice of them, by giving them bread and flesh, they complained of the want of; and yet did not resent in a way of wrath and displeasure their murmurings, but kindly, bountifully, and in a most marvellous manner provided for them, which was acting like himself, a God gracious and merciful:



and what [are] we? that we should be the objects of your resentment, and be murmured at, and complained of, who had done nothing to deserve such treatment:



your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord; not only against them, but against the Lord also; or not so much against them as against the Lord, whose messengers and ministers they were, and whom they represented, obeyed, and served; thus whatever is done to the ministers of Christ, he reckons as done to the Father, and to himself,

Lu 10:16.



{k} emvb "testabitur se audisse", Tigurine version.





Exodus 16:9



Ver. 9. And Moses spake unto Aaron,.... Who was his prophet and spokesman to the people:



say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel; to the heads of them, to as many as could conveniently hear him, and were to report what he said to the rest:



come near before the Lord; who was in the pillar of cloud, which from the first appearance of it never removed from them, nor the Lord from that; though some have thought, that before the tabernacle was built, there was some small tent or little tabernacle where the Shechinah was; but for this there is no foundation, there is for the other suggested:



for he hath heard your murmurings; which is repeated again and again, to observe to them the evil of it, and what notice the Lord took of it, though he indulged them in so gracious a manner he did.





Exodus 16:10



Ver. 10. And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel,.... Before he had well done speaking:



that they looked toward the wilderness; they were already in the wilderness of Sin, and they looked straight forward toward that part of it which was yet before them, or to the wilderness of Sinai, which was right onward, and whither they were travelling:



and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud; which went before them; there was a more than common brightness in it, an effulgence and beam of light and glory shining in it. Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, appeared in it, in some visible displays of his majesty, which made it very observable to them.





Exodus 16:11



Ver. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of the bright and glorious cloud:



saying; as follows:





Exodus 16:12



Ver. 12. I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel,.... This Moses and Aaron had often affirmed, and now the Lord confirms what they had said, and lets them know that he took notice of their murmurings, and disapproved of them, and was displeased with them; though he did not think fit to resent them in an angry way, but dealt kindly and graciously with them; and since he had brought them into a wilderness, which was his own act, he would take care of them, and provide for them; which they might reasonably conclude he would, since he had done so many great and good things for them, in bringing them out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and had slain all their enemies, and had given them water when in distress, and therefore need not have murmured nor have doubted but that he would give them bread also:



speak unto them, saying, at even ye shall eat flesh; meaning that very evening, when the quails came up, as the following verse shows:



and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; the next morning, when the manna fell around their camp, so that they had bread, and fulness of it:



and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God; good and gracious, kind and merciful, ever mindful of his covenant and promises, able to supply their wants, and provide them with everything necessary and sufficient for them.





Exodus 16:13



Ver. 13. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up,.... From the coasts of Egypt, from the Red sea, over which they flew; and being evening, and weary with flying so long, lighted and settled where the Israelites encamped. Josephus {l} says, about the Arabian gulf there are more of this sort of birds than any other, which flying over the sea, and being weary, and coming nearer the ground than other birds, and lighting among the Hebrews, they took them with their hands as food prepared for them of God. The Targum of Jonathan calls them pheasants; some think they were locusts; but of this

See Gill on "Nu 11:31". These here seem to have come up one evening only, whereas, in the place referred to, they had them a whole month together:



and covered the camp: their numbers were so many, as indeed such a prodigious company of people as those were required a great number to satisfy them with. These quails, which were sent in the evening, at the close of the day, were an emblem of worldly things, which are not the portion of the saints and people of God, what they are to live upon, and take up their satisfaction in; nor are they abiding, but transitory things, which come and go, make themselves wings and fly away toward heaven:



and in the morning the dew lay round about the host; the camp of Israel; or a lay of dew {m}, an emblem of the grace of God, and the blessings of it, see Ho 14:6.



{l} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 1. sect. 5. {m} ljh tbkv "cubatio roris", Montanus, Piscator, Cartwright; "accubitus roris", Drusius; "situs [vel] stramentum roris", Munster.





Exodus 16:14



Ver. 14. And when the dew that lay was gone up,.... Exhaled by the sun upon the rising of it:



behold, upon the face of the wilderness; upon the surface of it, all around the camp of Israel:



there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground; which is what is in the next verse called "manna". Before the sun rose there was nothing but a dew to be seen; when that was gone off through the force of the sun, then the manna appeared; which was but a "small thing", and very unpromising for food, and especially for such a vast number of people; and a "round" thing, for which it is after compared to a coriander seed, as is thought; though the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan do not interpret the word of the round form, but rather refer to its smallness; and which is expressed in the Vulgate Latin version,



"small, and as if beat with a pestle;''



and for its white colour, as well as its smallness, it looked like hoar frost on the ground. Jarchi says there were two dews, within which it lay as something covered in a box, and he seems to be right; for it is certain from Nu 11:9, that there was a dew which fell first, and then the manna fell upon it; and from hence it is plain also, that there was a dew over the manna, which went up from it when the sun rose: and the design of this seems to be to keep this heavenly bread pure and clean for the Israelites, that it might neither partake of the dust nor sand of the wilderness where it fell, and that nothing might light upon it until the time of gathering it came. The Jews, in memory of this, will sometimes put bread upon the table between two table cloths {n}; and it is highly probable, that to this the allusion is of the "hidden manna" in Re 2:17, by which is meant our Lord Jesus Christ, the antitype of this manna, as will be observed as we pass on, in all the circumstances of it; the manna came with the dew, and was covered with it, and hid in it; Christ is the gift of God's free grace to the sons of men, and is exhibited in the word of grace, where he lies hid to men in the glory of his person and the fulness of his grace, until revealed and made known. The figure of the manna being "round", which is a perfect figure, may denote the perfection of Christ in his person, natures, and office; he being perfectly God and perfectly man, having all the essential perfections both of the divine and human natures in him, as well as all fulness of grace; and being made perfect through sufferings, is become a complete Saviour, and by his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, has perfected for ever his sanctified ones: and the manna being "small", may signify the meanness of Christ in the eyes of men in his state of humiliation, and the unpromising appearance he made of being the Saviour and King of Israel; the white colour of it may direct to the purity of Christ, to the holiness of his natures, and the beauty of his person, being white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousands.



{n} Vid. Fagium in loc.





Exodus 16:15



Ver. 15. And when the children of Israel saw it,.... As they could not but observe it, it being spread over the face of the wilderness; and besides, as they were told, that in the morning they should have bread to the full, they were up early to look after it:



they said one to another, it [is] manna; not such as is known by that name now, which is only used in medicine; nor anything that was then known by any such name; but so they called it, because it was, as Jarchi says, a preparation of food, or food ready prepared for them, from hnm, "manah", which signifies to appoint, prepare, and distribute, see Da 1:5, so Christ is appointed of God, and prepared in his purposes and decrees, and delivered out, by his grace as proper food for his people, who have everyone their portion in due season: for Kimchi and Ben Melech give the sense of the word, a gift and portion from God; and such is Christ, the gift of his grace, and an unspeakable one. Some think these words were spoken by the Israelites on first sight of the manna, by way of question, "Man hu, what is it?" and so Josephus {o} says it signifies in their language; but it does not appear that the word is so used in the Hebrew tongue, though it might in the Syriac or Chaldee, which was more in use in the times of Josephus. But it can hardly be thought that the Israelites could speak in either of these dialects at this time; it is much more probable what others say, that it so signifies in the Egyptian tongue; and it is not at all to be wondered at that Israel, just come out of Egypt, should use an Egyptian word: and this best agrees with the reason that follows, "for they wist not what it was"; which contradicts our version; for if they knew not what it was, how came they to call it manna? but taking the above words as an interrogation, asking one another what it was, those come in very pertinently, and assign a reason of the question, because they were ignorant of it, having never seen any such thing before; and this sense is confirmed by what Moses says in the next clause, telling them what it was: and thus Christ is unknown to his own people, until he is revealed unto them; not by flesh and blood, by carnal reason or carnal men, but by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; and he remains always unknown to natural men, though ever so wise and prudent:



and Moses said unto them, this is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat; which he had promised them the day before, and which he had now rained in plenty about them; and which they had as a free gift of his, without any merit and desert of theirs, and without their labour, diligence, and industry, and which they had now power from him to eat of freely and plentifully.



{o} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 1. sect. 6.





Exodus 16:16



Ver. 16. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded,.... Respecting the gathering of it, the rule or rules he would have observed concerning that, as follows:



gather of it every man according to his eating; according to his appetite, and according to the appetites of those that were in his family, as much as they can all eat; and that they may have enough, the particular quantity is fixed for each of them. This act of gathering, in the mystical sense, may respect the exercise of faith on Christ, laying hold of him as he is held forth in the word, receiving him, and feeding upon him with a spiritual appetite, and that freely, largely, plentifully, and encouraging others to do the same:



an omer for every man; or head, or by poll {p}; they were to take the poll of their families, the number of them, and reckon to every head, or assign to every man, such a measure of the manna, and which was sufficient for a man of the keenest appetite; what this measure was,

See Gill on "Ex 16:36" This must be understood not of sucking infants, and such that were sick and infirm, and of poor appetites, that could not feed upon and digest such sort of food, only of those that could:



[according] to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tent: this was to be done after it was gathered and brought in, either by certain overseers of this affair, or heads of families, who, according to the number of those that were in their tents, who were eaters of such sort of food, was to take an omer of it for everyone of them.



{p} tl gl gl "ad caput", Montanus; "pro capite", Fagius, Drusius, Cartwright; so Ainsworth.





Exodus 16:17



Ver. 17. And the children of Israel did so,.... They went out of the camp in the morning when it was fallen, and gathered it; which is expressive of believers going out of the camp, leaving the world, and all behind them for Christ; and of their going out of themselves to him, and of their going in and out, and finding pasture and food for their souls in him to live upon: and gathered some more, some less; some that were more robust and strong, that were more active and diligent, gathered in more than others; which may denote the different degree and exercise of faith in God's people; some are strong in it, and others weak; some attain to a greater degree of knowledge of Christ, and receive more grace from him, and have more spiritual peace, joy, and comfort in believing, and others less; see Ro 15:1.





Exodus 16:18



Ver. 18. And when they did mete it with an omer,.... What was gathered in; and everyone had his measure, his omer dealt out to him by those that meted or measured it:



he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; when their gatherings were put together in one heap, and each had his omer measured out to him; he that had gathered more than an omer had no more allotted to him, and he that gathered not so much as an omer, yet had a full one measured out to him: or he, that is, Moses, "did not cause him to abound" {q}, that gathered much, he had no more for his share than another; nor "suffer" him "to want" {r} that gathered little, so that they all had alike; which shows, that though there may be different exercises of grace, yet it is the same grace in all; all have alike precious faith, and an equal interest in Christ, the object of it; all are equally redeemed by his precious blood, and justified by his righteousness, and have their sins forgiven on the foot of his atonement; all have the same Christ, and the same blessings of grace, and are entitled to the same eternal glory and happiness. The apostle quotes this passage, and applies it to that equality there should be among Christians in acts of beneficence and charity, that what is wanting in the one through poverty, may be made up by the riches of others, 2Co 8:14:



they gathered every man according to his eating; according to the number of persons he had to eat of it; there always was, upon an average, some gathering more and others less, an omer gathered and distributed to every person. Jarchi takes this to be a miracle, that nothing should ever be wanting of an omer to a man; and so Aben Ezra observes, that the ancients say this is a miracle.



{q} Pydeh "et non abundare fecit", Montanus. {r} ryoxh al "non minoravit", Montanus; "non defuit", Tigurine version.





Exodus 16:19



Ver. 19. And Moses said unto them,.... At the same time he gave the direction to them about gathering it, and measuring out to every man an omer:



let no man leave of it until the morning; not that every man was bound to eat up the quantity distributed to him; he might give what he could not eat to those that could eat more, if there were any such; or he might give it to his cattle, or cast it away, but he was not to reserve it until the next day for his use; which was to teach him that God would bestow this benefit and blessing on him daily, and he might expect it, whose mercies are new every morning; and to instruct him to live every day upon the providence of God for his daily food; as indeed every man ought to do so, let his circumstances be ever so affluent; and, in a more spiritual and evangelic sense, it teaches believers to live continually every day by faith on Christ, and to say day by day, Lord, evermore give us this bread, Joh 6:34.





Exodus 16:20



Ver. 20. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses,.... That is, not all of them, some of them did, and perhaps the far greater part of them:



but some of them left it until the morning; out of distrust, for fear they should have none the next day; being men of little faith, that could not trust God for a supply for the morrow; the Targum of Jonathan says, these were Dathan and Abiram; and so Jarchi:



and it bred worms, and stank; or by an "hysteron proteron", and transposition of the words, the sense may be, that it stank, corrupted, and putrefied, and so produced worms, in which order the words lie, Ex 16:24, and this was not from the nature of the manna to breed worms so soon, but God so ordering and disposing it, that it should do so; for otherwise it would keep to another day, as what was gathered on the sixth day kept to the seventh, and there was a part of it kept for many ages, see Ex 16:24, and since the manna was of the meal kind, perhaps those worms it bred might be of the weevil sort, as Scheuchzer conjectures {s}:



and Moses was wroth with them; for breaking the commandment of God.



{s} Physica Sacra, vol. 2. p. 179.





Exodus 16:21



Ver. 21. And they gathered it every morning,.... From the time the morning began, during four hours, or to the fourth hour, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, till ten o'clock in the morning: this was a very wonderful thing that bread should be provided and rained every morning about the camp of Israel, in such plenty as to be sufficient to feed such a vast body of people; and that for forty years together:



every man according to his eating; according to the number of persons he had in his family to eat of it, and as much as everyone could eat; there never was any lack or scarcity of it, but every morning there it was for them, and they gathered it, an omer for everyone:



and when the sun waxed hot, it melted; and so what was left ungathered, being exhaled by the sun and laid up in the clouds, generated and increased, and became a provision to be let down the next morning; it being the will of God that it should not be trampled upon or exposed; and that the Israelites might be diligent, and not neglect the time of gathering it: and the Targum of Jonathan says, from the fourth hour, or ten o'clock and onward, the sun was hot upon it and melted it, which is the time of day when the sun is hottest: and some things, we may observe, are hardened by the sun, and others are softened, as the manna was, even to a liquefaction; though otherwise it was of so hard a nature as to be beaten in a mortar and ground in a mill, Nu 11:8.





Exodus 16:22



Ver. 22. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day,.... Of the week, or from the first raining of the manna, which was the same:



they gathered twice as much bread; as they had used to do on other days, a greater quantity falling, and which was more easily taken up:



two omers for one man; or, "instead of one" {t} of one omer; so it turned out when they came to measure what they had gathered; otherwise they had no intention in gathering it, but lying in a great quantity, they gathered as much as they could, or could well carry, and upon measuring it so it proved; for it does not appear that Moses had as yet acquainted them what was to be, or would be gathered on this day; nor had he any orders so to do from the Lord, only he was told by him that so it would be, and accordingly it came to pass, see Ex 16:5



and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses; what had happened, that the people that day had gathered as much more as they had used to do on other days: these seem to be the overseers of this affair, before whom what was gathered was brought, and in whose presence it was measured, and who took care that everyone should have his omer and no more: this makes it plain that the people acted without design, and knew not that they were to gather on this day double to other days; since the rulers knew nothing of it, nor of the reason of it, and it can hardly be imagined that the people should know and the rulers be ignorant.



{t} dxal "pro uno", Tigurine version.





Exodus 16:23



Ver. 23. And he said unto them, this is that which the Lord hath said,.... Which he had said to Moses privately, for as yet he had said it to none else:



tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord; according to Jarchi, the rulers asked Moses what this day was, different from other days, that double the quantity should be gathered? from whence, he says, we learn, that Moses had not as yet declared the sabbath to them; and this is indeed the first time we read of one; and though, as there was divine worship before, there must be times for it; but as there was as yet no certain place for worship, so no certain time for it, but as it was appointed by the heads of families, or as more families might agree unto and unite in; at least no day before this appears to be a day of rest from servile labour, as well as for holy use and service:



bake that which ye will bake [today], and seethe that ye will seethe; the phrase "today" is not in the text, and not necessarily supplied; the sense being plainly this, that they might take and boil what they would, and dress as much of the manna as they pleased, and eat what they would, but not that they were to bake and boil for the next day; for it is clear, by what follows, that the manna of the next day was not dressed either way, for then it would be no wonder that it did not stink; and as yet the law for not kindling a fire on the sabbath day was not given; and therefore, for aught to the contrary, they might roast or seethe on that day, or eat it as it was, as they themselves thought fit:



and that which remaineth over; what they did not bake, nor seethe, nor eat;



lay up for you to be kept until the morning whereas on other days they were to leave nothing of it till the morning, but destroy it or cast it away, whatever was left uneaten.





Exodus 16:24



Ver. 24. And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses bade,.... What was left of two omers a man, what they had neither baked nor boiled:



and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein, which was the case, when it was left or laid up on other days; and it showed that there was an interposition of divine Providence in the keeping of it to this day, and clearly confirmed it to be the will of God that this day should henceforward be to them the rest of the holy sabbath.





Exodus 16:25



Ver. 25. And Moses said, eat that today,.... That is, he said this on the seventh day in the morning, and bid them eat of it whether baked or seethed, or as it was, or just as they pleased; however, they had liberty to eat of it, and indeed they had no other, because none fell on this day:



for today is a sabbath unto the Lord; a time of rest from labour, and to be employed in the service of the Lord:



today ye shall not find it in the field: should they seek for it, which they had no occasion to do, since there was a sufficiency provided the day before; and this he said to prevent their going out to seek for it, which, if out of curiosity or for any other reason any of them should do, it would be in vain and fruitless.





Exodus 16:26



Ver. 26. Six days ye shall gather it,.... Day after day, every morning, as they had done the six days past, so they should during their stay in the wilderness:



but on the seventh day, [which] is the sabbath; which is repeated, being a new thing, to impress it on their minds: in it there shall be none: no manna; none shall fall, and so none can be gathered, and therefore it would be to no purpose to go out and seek for it; as also there would be no need of it, since they would always have a double portion on the sixth day.





Exodus 16:27



Ver. 27. And it came to pass,.... Perhaps the next seventh day following:



[that] there went out [some] of the people for to gather; to gather manna, as on other days; which they did not through want of provision or a greedy appetite, for they had bread every day, and on that day to the full, but to gratify their curiosity, or to see whether the words of Moses stood, as Aben Ezra expresses it, that is, whether what he said was true, or came to pass, that there should be none, and they should not be able to find any on that day, and so it was:



and they found none; no manna; in the places where they used to find it in plenty on other days.





Exodus 16:28



Ver. 28. And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Who had seen and taken notice of what those men had done, who went out into the field to seek for manna on the seventh day, and was displeased with it, and therefore spoke to Moses out of the cloud:



how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? this is not said merely with respect to their breach of the commandment of the sabbath, as if they had long refused to observe and keep that; whereas that was but one command, and but just given; but upon their breach of that, he takes occasion to upbraid them with their former transgressions of other laws of his, and which they had continued in, or at least were frequently committing; and which was a proof of their perverseness and rebellion against him, though he was so kind and bountiful to them.





Exodus 16:29



Ver. 29. See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath,.... These are either the words of Jehovah, the Angel of the Lord, out of the cloud continued; or the words of Moses to the children of Israel, upon what the Lord had said to him, and would have them observe and take notice, that whereas the Lord had given them a sabbath, or enjoined them a day of rest:



therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; wherefore they had no occasion to go out in search of manna, as well as it was a vain thing to do it; and especially as it was against a command of God, and being ungrateful in them, as there was such a provision made for them:



abide ye every man in his place; in his tent for that day, giving himself up to religious exercises, to pray and praise, instruct his family, and in all things serve the Lord he was directed to:



let no man go out of his place on the seventh day; not beyond two thousand cubits, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is the space the Jews generally fix upon for a man to walk on a sabbath day, so far he might go and no further; and which perhaps is the same space as is called a sabbath day's journey, See Gill on "Ac 1:12".





Exodus 16:30



Ver. 30. So the people rested on the seventh day. Did not attempt to go out of their tents in quest of manna, as on other days, and observed it as a day of rest from labour, and so they continued to do in successive generations.





Exodus 16:31



Ver. 31. And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna,.... For till now they had given it no name; which shows that the words are not to be read as we render them in Ex 16:15 it is manna, unless this is to be considered as a confirmation of that name; but rather as an interrogation, "what is it?" though, from thence, "man" being the first word they made use of on sight of it, might so call it; or as others, from its being now an appointed, prepared, portion and gift, which they every day enjoyed, See Gill on "Ex 16:15",



and it was like coriander seed, white that the colour of the manna was white is not only here asserted, but is plain from other passages, it being like the hoar frost, which is white, Ex 16:14 and its colour is the colour of bdellium, Nu 11:7 or pearl, which is of a white bright colour, as the word is interpreted by the Jews; and who say {u}, that the manna was round as a coriander seed, and white as a pearl; but then if it is here compared to the coriander seed on that account, some other seed than what we call coriander seed must be meant, since that is off darkish colour; though it is thought by most that the comparison with it is not on account of the colour, but its form being round, as a coriander seed is, and as the manna is said to be, Ex 16:14. Josephus {w} thinks it is compared to the coriander seed for its being about the size of that seed; though I must confess it seems to me to be compared to the coriander seed for its colour, and therefore "Gad", the word used, must signify something else than what we call coriander seed; but what that is, is not easy to say: Ben Gersom is of the same mind, and thinks it refers to colour, and fancies the "Gad" had his name from his whiteness, Ge 20:11. Artapanus {x}, the Heathen, makes mention of this food of the Jews in the wilderness, where, he says, they were thirty years; during which time God rained upon them meal like to panic (a sort of grain like millet), in colour almost as white as snow: and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey; or cakes that had honey mixed in them: though in Nu 11:8 the taste of it is said to be as the taste of fresh oil, which Saadiah Gaon, Aben Ezra, and others, account for thus; that if a man ate of it as it came down, it was as cakes of honey, but, when dressed, it was as the taste of fresh oil; however, it was very palatable and agreeable to the taste; honey that drops from palm trees is said to be not much different in taste from oil: the Jews {y} have a notion that there were all kinds of tastes in the manna, suited to the ages and appetites of persons, and that as they would have it, so it tasted; which notion the author of the book of Wisdom seems to give into,



"Instead whereof thou feddest thine own people with angels' food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, able to content every man's delight, and agreeing to every taste. For thy sustenance declared thy sweetness unto thy children, and serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's liking.'' (Wisdom 16:20-21)



Leo Africanus {z} speaks of a sort of manna found in great plenty in the deserts in Libya, which the inhabitants gather in vessels every morning to carry to market, and which being mixed with water is drank for delight, and being put into broth has a very refreshing virtue: of the round form and white colour of manna, as applicable to Christ, notice has been taken on Ex 16:14 and the sweetness of its taste well agrees with him the antitype: his person is so to them who have tasted that the Lord is gracious; his word or Gospel is sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb; his mouth is most sweet, the doctrines that proceed from it, and the exceeding great and precious promises of it; his fruits and the blessings of his grace, peace, pardon, righteousness, &c. are sweet to those that sit under his shadow, where faith often feeds sweetly and with delight upon him,



{u} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 75. 1. {w} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 1. sect. 6. {x} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 436. {y} Shemot Rabba, sect 25. fol. 108. 4. & Bemidar Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 188. {z} Descriptio Africae, l. 7. p. 631.





Exodus 16:32



Ver. 32. And Moses said,.... At another time, though it is here inserted to give the account of the mamma all together:



this is the thing which the Lord commandeth; namely, what follows:



fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; which was the quantity allowed a man every day; this measure was to be laid up, and reserved for posterity in future generations, not to eat, nor so much as taste of, for then it would soon have been gone, but to look at, as follows:



that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt; that they might see what sort of food was provided for them, and what quantity each man had of it every day; and so have an ocular proof of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, in providing for their support in a wilderness, where no supplies were to be had; and when they were just come out of an enemy's country: thus Christ is the food of his people, while they are in the wilderness of this world; and is never so until they are brought out of the state of nature's darkness and bondage, like that of the Egyptians; and who, being the food of the saints in ages past, is presented to the eye of faith, for its encouragement to look to him and believe in him, receive, embrace, and feed upon him.





Exodus 16:33



Ver. 33. And Moses said unto Aaron, take a pot,.... The Targum of Jonathan calls it an earthen pot; and so Jarchi; which, if it could be supported, might be considered as an emblem of the ministers of the word, in whom, as in earthen vessels, the Gospel of Christ is put: Aben Ezra says, it was a vessel either of earth or brass, which latter is more likely for duration; since an earthen vessel can hardly be supposed to continue so long as this did, and much less a glass pot, as others take it to be: but the Septuagint version renders it a golden pot; and so it is said to be by Philo the Jew {a}, and which is confirmed by the apostle, Heb 9:4 and which puts the thing out of question; and this may denote the word and ordinances which retain and hold forth Christ as the bread of life, and are a memorial of him, as evidently set forth, crucified, and slain, to future ages, comparable to gold; both for the preciousness of them, being more to be desired than gold, yea, than fine gold, and for the duration of them, they being to continue until the second coming of Christ:



and put an omer full of manna therein; the manna, and the full measure of it, according to a man's eating, was to be put into it, denoting that a full Christ, or Christ in all the fulness of his person and grace, is to be held forth in the word and ordinances to the eye of faith:



and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations; in a place where the Lord would hereafter fix the symbol of his presence, the ark, cherubim, and mercy seat; and may signify the presence of Christ with his Father, the efficacy of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, his mediation and intercession; for he is not only held forth in the word, for faith to look at, but he is before the throne as though he had been slain, Re 5:6.



{a} De Cong. Quaer. Erud. Gratia, p. 438.





Exodus 16:34



Ver. 34. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony, to be kept. That is, before the ark of the testimony; when that was made, as it was in a little time after this, called the testimony, because it contained in it the law, which was a testimony or testification of the mind and will of God unto Israel, see

Ex 25:16 the apostle says, the pot of manna was in the ark, Heb 9:4 that is, on one side of it,

See Gill on "Heb 9:4".





Exodus 16:35



Ver. 35. And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years,.... Wanting thirty days, as Jarchi observes; reckoning from their coming out of Egypt, and the passover they kept there, to their coming to the borders of the land of Canaan to Gilgal, and keeping the passover there, when the manna ceased, were just forty years; but then they had been out of Egypt a month before the manna fell; but the round number is given, as is common: it was on the sixteenth of Ijar, the second month, the manna fell; and it was in the month of Nisan, about the sixteenth or seventeenth of the month, that it ceased, see Jos 5:10



until they came to a land inhabited: where the ground was cultivated, and corn was produced to make bread of, which could not be had in a wilderness; and therefore God graciously provided for them every day, and fed them with manna till they came to such a place:



they did eat manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan; that is, Gilgal: the Targum of Jonathan is,



"they ate manna forty years in the life of Moses, until they came unto the land of habitation; they ate manna forty days after his death, until they passed over Jordan, and entered the extremities of the land of Canaan:''



some have thought this verse was not written by Moses, but Joshua, or some other hand after his death since he did not live quite to the cessation of the manna; which need not be much disputed or objected to; though it may be considered that Moses led Israel to the borders of the land of Canaan, though he did not go with them so far as Gilgal, and died before the manna ceased; yet, as he was assured of it, he could write this in certain faith of it, and especially by a spirit of prophecy: this signifies that the children of God are to live by faith upon Christ, while they are in the wilderness of this world; nor will this spiritual food be wanting to them while in it; but when they are come to Canaan's land, to the heavenly glory, they will no more walk and live by faith, but by sight: the word and ordinances will then cease; Christ will be no more held forth to them in that way, but they shall see him as he is, and behold his glory,





Exodus 16:36



Ver. 36. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. Frequent mention being made of this measure in the above relation, as containing the quantity of each man's share of the manna daily, during the forty years' stay in the wilderness; an account is given by the historian how much it contained, by which it may appear what a sufficient provision was made: an ephah, according to Jarchi, contained three seahs (or pecks); a scab, six kabs; a kab, four logs; a log, six egg shells; and the tenth part of an ephah was forty three egg shells, and the fifth part of one: but Dr. Cumberland {b} has reduced this to our measure, and has given it more clearly and distinctly; an ephah, according to him, contained, in wine measure, seven gallons, two quarts, and about half a pint; in corn measure, six gallons, three pints, and three solid inches; and an omer three quarts; which being made into bread, must be more than any ordinary man could well eat; for, as Ainsworth observes, an omer was twice as much as the choenix, (a measure mentioned in Re 6:6.) which was wont to be a man's allowance of bread corn for a day; and what a vast quantity must fall every day to supply so large a number of people with such a measure; some have reckoned it at 94,466 bushels every day, and that there must be consumed in forty years 1,379,203,600 bushels {c}.



{b} Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 64, 86, 87. ch. 4. p. 137. {c} Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Saer. vol. 2. p. 177, 178.

 

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