But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Calvin • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (20) The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.—Comp. above, Exodus 9:12.10:12-20 God bids Moses stretch out his hand; locusts came at the call. An army might more easily have been resisted than this host of insects. Who then is able to stand before the great God? They covered the face of the earth, and ate up the fruit of it. Herbs grow for the service of man; yet when God pleases, insects shall plunder him, and eat the bread out of his mouth. Let our labour be, not for the habitation and meat thus exposed, but for those which endure to eternal life. Pharaoh employs Moses and Aaron to pray for him. There are those, who, in distress, seek the help of other people's prayers, but have no mind to pray for themselves. They show thereby that they have no true love to God, nor any delight in communion with him. Pharaoh desires only that this death might be taken away, not this sin. He wishes to get rid of the plague of locusts, not the plague of a hard heart, which was more dangerous. An east wind brought the locusts, a west wind carries them off. Whatever point the wind is in, it is fulfilling God's word, and turns by his counsel. The wind bloweth where it listeth, as to us; but not so as it respects God. It was also an argument for their repentance; for by this it appeared that God is ready to forgive, and swift to show mercy. If he does this upon the outward tokens of humiliation, what will he do if we are sincere! Oh that this goodness of God might lead us to repentance! Pharaoh returned to his resolution again, not to let the people go. Those who have often baffled their convictions, are justly given up to the lusts of their hearts.West wind - Literally, "a sea wind," a wind blowing from the sea on the northwest of Egypt. Red sea - The Hebrew has the "Sea of Suph": the exact meaning of which is disputed. Gesenius renders it "rush" or "seaweed;" but it is probably an Egyptian word. A sea-weed resembling wood is thrown up abundantly on the shores of the Red Sea. The origin of the name "Red" Sea is uncertain: (naturalists have connected it with the presence of red infusoria, Exodus 7:17). so that he would not let the children of Israel go: though he had promised to do it, and that he would never offend more in this way. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 20. But again, after the removal of the plague, the result was the same as before, and the Pharaoh would not let the people go. The expression, as elsewhere in E (Exodus 4:21 b, Exodus 9:35, Exo Exodus 10:27).Verse 20. - But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. The word used here is the intensive one, khazoq, instead of the milder kabod of ver. 1. Pharaoh's prolonged obstinacy and impenitence was receiving aggravation by the working of the just laws of God. (See the comment on Exodus 4:21.) CHAPTER 10:21-29 Exodus 10:20To show the hardened king the greatness of the divine long-suffering, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the Lord cast the locusts into the Red Sea by a strong west wind. The expression "Jehovah turned a very strong west wind" is a concise form, for "Jehovah turned the wind into a very strong west wind." The fact that locusts do perish in the sea is attested by many authorities. Gregatim sublatae vento in maria aut stagna decidunt (Pliny); many others are given by Bochart and Volney. ויּתקעהוּ: He thrust them, i.e., drove them with irresistible force, into the Red Sea. The Red Sea is called סוּף ים, according to the ordinary supposition, on account of the quantity of sea-weed which floats upon the water and lies upon the shore; but Knobel traces the name to a town which formerly stood at the head of the gulf, and derived its name from the weed, and supports his opinion by the omission of the article before Suph, though without being able to prove that any such town really existed in the earlier times of the Pharaohs. Links Exodus 10:20 InterlinearExodus 10:20 Parallel Texts Exodus 10:20 NIV Exodus 10:20 NLT Exodus 10:20 ESV Exodus 10:20 NASB Exodus 10:20 KJV Exodus 10:20 Bible Apps Exodus 10:20 Parallel Exodus 10:20 Biblia Paralela Exodus 10:20 Chinese Bible Exodus 10:20 French Bible Exodus 10:20 German Bible Bible Hub |