Exodus 1:7-22 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty… If we glance once more at the different means which Pharaoh devised for the oppression and diminution of the Hebrews, we find that they imply the following climax of severity and cruelty: he first endeavoured to break their energy by labour and hardship (vers. 11-14), then to effect their diminution by killing the newborn male children through the midwives (vers. 15, 16); and when neither of these plans had the desired result — the former in consequence of the unusual robustness of the Hebrew women, the latter owing to the piety and compassion of the midwives — he tried to execute his design by drowning the young children (ver. 22); which last device was in two respects more audacious and impious than the second: first, because he now, laying aside all shame, showed publicly his despotism against a harmless foreign tribe, which relied on the hospitality solemnly promised to them; and, secondly, because now the whole people were let loose against the Hebrews; spying and informing was made an act of loyalty, and compassion stamped as high-treason. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. |
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