John Calvin Commentary Exodus 1:7

"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." — Exodus 1:7 (ASV)

And the children of Israel were fruitful.⁸ Moses relates in the twelfth chapter the extent to which they increased, namely, to the number of 600,000, besides women and children. This was certainly an incredible increase for such a short time. For, though 430 years are counted from the date of the covenant with Abraham to the departure of the people, it is clear that half of them had elapsed before Jacob went down into Egypt. Consequently, the Israelites sojourned in that land only 200 years, or little more—say ten years more. How then could it happen that in such a short time a single family could have grown into so many myriads? It would have been an immense and extraordinary increase if 10,000 had sprung from every tribe, but this more than quadruples that number.

Therefore, certain skeptics, perceiving that Moses' account surpasses the ordinary rate of human reproduction, and judging God's power by their own perception and experience, completely refuse to believe it. For such is the perversity of people, that they always seek opportunities to despise or reject the works of God. Such, too, is their audacity and insolence that they shamelessly apply all the intellect they possess to diminish His glory. If their reason assures them that what is described as a miracle is possible, they attribute it to natural causes—thus God is robbed and deprived of the praise His power deserves. If it is incomprehensible to them, they reject it as a marvel.⁹

But if they can only acknowledge God's intervention in matters whose sheer size astonishes them, why do they not then accept the truth of whatever common sense rejects? They ask how this can be, as if it were reasonable for God's hand to be so restricted that He cannot do anything beyond human understanding. On the contrary, because we are naturally so slow to benefit from His ordinary works, it is all the more necessary that we should be awakened to admiration by extraordinary acts.

Let us conclude, then, that since Moses does not here speak of the natural course of human procreation, but celebrates a miracle previously unheard of, by which God confirmed the truth of His promise, we would judge it perversely and maliciously if we measure it by our own feeble reason, instead of reverently contemplating what far transcends all our senses. Let us rather remember how God reproves His unbelieving people by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 51:1). For, to prove that it would not be difficult for Him, despite the small number to which the Israelites were reduced, to produce a great multitude, He tells them to look into the hole of the pit from whence they were digged—namely, to Abraham, and Sarah who bore them, whom He multiplied though they were alone and childless.

Certain Rabbis, according to their custom, imagine that four infants were produced at a birth. For whenever they encounter any point that perplexes them, they freely invent whatever suits them and then impose their imaginations as unquestionable facts, proceeding foolishly and inappropriately to argue that this is physically probable. Some Christians, too, with little consideration, have imitated them here, contending that what Moses describes is in accordance with experience because the fertility of certain nations has been almost as great.

Indeed, we sometimes see confirmed by remarkable examples what the Psalmist says (Psalms 107:36), that God maketh the hungry to dwell in the wilderness, that they may prepare a city for habitation, and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase; and He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. We also see that He turneth a fruitful land into barrenness and strips it of inhabitants. However, Moses' design is to show that there was never any fertility that was not less than the increase of the people of Israel.

This is why he compares the seventy souls with the multitude that proceeded from them, so that this special blessing of God might be distinguished from ordinary cases. This is also why there are accumulated expressions, undoubtedly meant for amplification: they were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. For the repetition of the adverb Meod, Meod marks an unusual abundance. Nor do I reject the conjecture of some that in the word שרף, sharatz, there is a metaphor taken from fish, but I do not know if it is very sound, since the word is generally used for any multiplication.

⁸ שרף, rendered in A V increased abundantly, — occurs first in Genesis 1:20, where it is rendered bring forth abundantly As a noun it signifies reptiles. מאד, meod; in A V exceeding is repeated twice after עצמו, they waxed mighty; but may properly be considered as augmenting the force of each of the preceding verbs. — W

⁹ French, “un monstre incroyable:” an incredible prodigy.