Exodus 11:8

And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) All these thy servants—i.e., the high officers of the Court who were standing about Pharaoh. These grandees would come to Moses when the blow fell, and prostrate themselves before him as if he were their king, and beseech him to take his departure with all his nation. The details are given more fully and more graphically in this place than in the subsequent narrative (Exodus 12:31).

In a great anger.—Heb., in heat of anger: i.e., burning with indignation. Moses had not shown this in his speech, which had been calm and dignified; but he here records what he had felt. For once his acquired “meekness” failed, and the hot natural temper of his youth blazed up. His life had been threatened—he had been ignominiously dismissed—he had been deprived of his right of audience for the future (Exodus 10:28). Under such circumstances, he “did well to be angry.”

Benson Commentary

Exodus 11:8. All these thy servants — Thy courtiers and great officers: The people that follow thee — That are under thy conduct and command.

When Moses had thus delivered his message, he went out from Pharaoh in great anger, though he was the meekest of all the men of the earth. Probably he expected that the very threatening of the death of the firstborn should have wrought upon Pharaoh to comply; especially he having complied so far already, and having seen how exactly all Moses’s predictions were fulfilled. But it had not that effect; his proud heart would not yield, no, not to save all the firstborn of his kingdom. Moses hereupon was provoked to a holy indignation, being grieved, as our Saviour afterward, for the hardness of his heart, Mark 3:5.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:4-10 The death of all the first-born in Egypt at once: this plague had been the first threatened, but is last executed. See how slow God is to wrath. The plague is foretold, the time is fixed; all their first-born should sleep the sleep of death, not silently, but so as to rouse the families at midnight. The prince was not too high to be reached by it, nor the slaves at the mill too low to be noticed. While angels slew the Egyptians, not so much as a dog should bark at any of the children of Israel. It is an earnest of the difference there shall be in the great day, between God's people and his enemies. Did men know what a difference God puts, and will put to eternity, between those that serve him and those that serve him not, religion would not seem to them an indifferent thing; nor would they act in it with so much carelessness as they do. When Moses had thus delivered his message, he went out from Pharaoh in great anger at his obstinacy; though he was the meekest of the men of the earth. The Scripture has foretold the unbelief of many who hear the gospel, that it might not be a surprise or stumbling-block to us, Ro 10:16. Let us never think the worse of the gospel of Christ for the slights men put upon it. Pharaoh was hardened, yet he was compelled to abate his stern and haughty demands, till the Israelites got full freedom. In like manner the people of God will find that every struggle against their spiritual adversary, made in the might of Jesus Christ, every attempt to overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and every desire to attain increasing likeness and love to that Lamb, will be rewarded by increasing freedom from the enemy of souls.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shall not a dog move his tongue - A proverb expressive of freedom from alarm and immunity front assault.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. all these thy servants shall … bow down themselves unto me—This would be the effect of the universal terror; the hearts of the proudest would be humbled and do reverential homage to God, in the person of His representative.

went out … in a great anger—Holy and righteous indignation at the duplicity, repeated falsehood, and hardened impenitence of the king; and this strong emotion was stirred in the bosom of Moses, not at the ill reception given to himself, but the dishonor done to God (Mt 19:8; Eph 4:26).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy courtiers and great officers, who now are so insolent and obstinate,

shall come down unto me, both by their own inclination and necessity, and in thy name, and by thy command.

That follow thee; that are under thy conduct and command; as this or the like expression is used Judges 4:10 1 Kings 20:10 2 Kings 3:9 Isaiah 41:2.

In a great anger; not so much for the affront offered to himself, as for his incurable rebellion against God. Compare Mark 3:5.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And all these thy servants,.... Pharaoh's nobles, ministers, courtiers and counsellors, who were then in his presence, and stood about him, to whom Moses pointed:

shall come down unto me; from Pharaoh's palace, which might be built on an eminence, to the place where Moses had dwelt during the time he had been in Egypt, which might lie lower; or these should come from Zoan, or from Memphis, whichever of them was now the royal city, to the land of Goshen, which lay lower than the other part of Egypt; or it may only denote the submission of Pharaoh's, servants, that they should in the time of their distress be so humble and condescending as to come themselves to Moses, and as it follows:

and bow down themselves unto me; in the most obsequious manner, humbly entreating, and earnestly begging him:

saying, get thee out, and all the people that follow thee; or "are at thy feet" (w), that were at his beck and command, and under his power, as Aben Ezra; or that followed his counsel and advice, as Jarchi, that did as he directed them, and went after him as their leader and commander, even everyone of them; they that brought up the rear, he, and all of them, would be desired to depart, and not a man remain behind: this was fulfilled, Exodus 12:31,

and after that I will go out; out of the land of Egypt, Moses, and all the children of Israel:

and he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger; as soon as he had said the above words, because he had bid him be gone from him, and had threatened him with his life, if ever he saw his face more; and because he was so rebellious against God, whose zeal inspired the heart of Moses with indignation against him, though the meekest man on earth, and for whose glory he was concerned; though some understand this of Moses going out from Pharaoh, when he and not Moses was in great anger, because of what Moses had now threatened him with, and told him what would be the issue of things, the submission of him and his nobles, and the dismission of Israel; but this sense is not favoured by the accents.

(w) "in pedibus tuis", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "sub pedibus tuis", Munster, Vatablus; "qui est ad pedes tuos", Cartwright.

Geneva Study Bible

And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that {c} follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

(c) That is, under the power and government.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. Then the Pharaoh’s ministers themselves will come humbly to Moses, and beg him and his people to leave Egypt; cf. Exodus 12:31-33.

come down] ‘from the palace, where the writer thinks of the ministers as assembled, after hearing the tidings of the calamity, and which he pictures as elevated above the surrounding city and country (cf. 2 Samuel 9, 2 Kings 6:33; 2 Kings 7:17)’ (Di. from Kn.).

Get thee out, &c.] simply, Go out, thou and all, &c.

that follow thee] Heb. that are at thy feet: Deuteronomy 11:10 Heb., Jdg 4:10; Jdg 8:5 Heb. al.

in hot anger] viz. on account of what the Pharaoh had said, Exodus 10:27-28. The expression, as 1 Samuel 20:34 al.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - All these thy servants - i.e., all these courtiers here present. Shall come. Literally, "shall descend." Kalisch observes that by the Hebrew idiom "going from a nobler place to one of less distinction is called descending" (Comment. p. 133). And bow down. Make obeisance to me, as if I were a king. The last of the plagues would cause the courtiers to look on Moses as the real king of the land, and pay him royal honours. All the people that follow thee. Literally, as in the margin, "that is at thy feet;" i.e., that follows and obeys thee." The Egyptians looked on Moses as king, or at any rate prince of his nation. In a great anger. Literally, "in heat of anger." The abrupt dismissal (Exodus 10:28), the threat against his life (ibid.) and the announcement that no more interviews would be granted him moved the indignation of Moses, who was not conscious to himself of having done anything to deserve such treatment. He had answered the king calmly and temperately (Exodus 10:29; Exodus 11:4-8); but knew what his feelings had been, and here records them.

CHAPTER 11:9 Exodus 11:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Moses' address to Pharaoh forms the continuation of his brief answer in Exodus 10:29. At midnight Jehovah would go out through the midst of Egypt. This midnight could not be "the one following the day on which Moses was summoned to Pharaoh after the darkness," as Baumgarten supposes; for it was not till after this conversation with the king that Moses received the divine directions as to the Passover, and they must have been communicated to the people at least four days before the feast of the Passover and their departure from Egypt (Exodus 12:3). What midnight is meant, cannot be determined. So much is certain, however, that the last decisive blow did not take place in the night following the cessation of the ninth plague; but the institution of the Passover, the directions of Moses to the people respecting the things which they were to ask for from the Egyptians, and the preparations for the feast of the Passover and the exodus, all came between. The "going out" of Jehovah from His heavenly seat denotes His direct interposition in, and judicial action upon, the world of men. The last blow upon Pharaoh was to be carried out by Jehovah Himself, whereas the other plagues had been brought by Moses and Aaron. מצרים בּתוך "in (through) the midst of Egypt:" the judgment of God would pass from the centre of the kingdom, the king's throne, over the whole land. "Every first-born shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh, that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid that is behind the mill," i.e., the meanest slave (cf. Exodus 12:29, where the captive in the dungeon is substituted for the maid, prisoners being often employed in this hard labour, Judges 16:21; Isaiah 47:2), "and all the first-born of cattle." This stroke was to fall upon both man and beast as a punishment for Pharaoh's conduct in detaining the Israelites and their cattle; but only upon the first-born, for God did not wish to destroy the Egyptians and their cattle altogether, but simply to show them that He had the power to do this. The first-born represented the whole race, of which it was the strength and bloom (Genesis 49:3). But against the whole of the people of Israel "not a dog shall point its tongue" (Exodus 11:7). The dog points its tongue to growl and bite. The thought expressed in this proverb, which occurs again in Joshua 10:21 and Judith 11:19, was that Israel would not suffer the slightest injury, either in the case of "man or beast." By this complete preservation, whilst Egypt was given up to death, Israel would discover that Jehovah had completed the separation between them and the Egyptians. The effect of this stroke upon the Egyptians would be "a great cry," having no parallel before or after (cf. Exodus 10:14); and the consequence of this cry would be, that the servants of Pharaoh would come to Moses and entreat them to go out with all the people. "At thy feet," i.e., in thy train (vid., Deuteronomy 11:6; Judges 8:5). With this announcement Moses departed from Pharaoh in great wrath. Moses' wrath was occasioned by the king's threat (Exodus 10:28), and pointed to the wrath of Jehovah, which Pharaoh would soon experience. As the more than human patience which Moses had displayed towards Pharaoh manifested to him the long-suffering and patience of his God, in whose name and by whose authority he acted, so the wrath of the departing servant of God was to show to the hardened king, that the time of grace was at an end, and the wrath of God was about to burst upon him.