John Calvin Commentary Exodus 1:9

"And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:" — Exodus 1:9 (ASV)

And he said unto his people. This means it was said in a public assembly, the kind kings usually hold for consultation on public affairs. It is as if Moses had said that this matter was proposed by the king for deliberation by his counselors: namely, that because it was feared the Israelites, trusting in their numbers and strength, might rise in rebellion or take advantage of any public disturbance to shake off the yoke and leave Egypt, they should be preempted. They were to be oppressed with heavy burdens to prevent them from making any such attempt.

Pharaoh calls¹³ this “dealing wisely with them.” For though the word חכם, chakam, is often taken in a bad sense to mean “to overreach with cunning,” yet in this case, he concealed the injury he intended to inflict on them under an honest pretext. He alleged that prudent advice should be taken so that the Egyptians would not suffer great loss through their own carelessness and delay.

It was common for heathen nations to profess in their deliberations that what is right should be preferred to what is profitable. However, when it comes to the point, covetousness generally so blinds everyone that they lose their respect for what is right and are hurried headlong toward their own advantage. They also maintain that what is advantageous is necessary, and so they persuade themselves that whatever they are compelled to do is right.

For that specious yet fallacious pretext—that when any danger is feared, it must be confronted—readily occurs and easily deceives. Indeed, by the tragic poets, that detestable sentiment, occupandum esse scelus—“that we should be beforehand in crime”—is attributed to wicked and desperate characters. This is because our nature convinces us that it is unjust and absurd. Yet, it is commonly considered the best mode of precaution, so that only those are considered prudent who provide for their own security by injuring others, if occasion requires it.

From this source, almost all wars proceed. Because, while every prince fears his neighbor, this fear so fills him with apprehension that he does not hesitate to cover the earth with human blood. Hence, too, among private individuals, arises the license for deceit, murder, plunder, and lying, because they think that injuries would be repelled too late unless they preempted them.

But this is a wicked kind of cunning—however it may be varnished over with the specious name of foresight—to unjustly harm others for our own security. One might reason: “I fear this or that person, because he has both the means to injure me, and I am uncertain of his disposition toward me. Therefore, so that I may be safe from harm, I will endeavor by every possible means to oppress him.” In this way, the most contemptible and feeble person, if inclined to mischief, will be armed for our hurt, and so we shall distrust the greater part of mankind. If everyone were thus to indulge their own distrust, while each devises how to harm their potential enemies, there will be no end to iniquities.

Therefore, we must oppose the providence of God to these excessive cares and anxieties that withdraw us from the course of justice. Resting on this, no fear of danger will ever impel us to unjust deeds or devious plans. In the words of Pharaoh, however, it is entirely different. For, having warned that the Israelites could, if they wished, be harmful, he advises that their strength should in some way or other be broken. For when we have once determined to provide for our own advantage, tranquility, or safety, we do not ask whether we are doing right or wrong.

Behold, the people. It often happens that the minds of the wicked are aroused to jealousy by God’s mercies, which act like fans to light up their wrath. Nevertheless, the slightest proof of His favor should not for that reason be less welcome to us, even though it becomes an occasion for the wicked to deal more cruelly with us. In fact, God thus moderates His generosity toward us, so that we are not too absorbed by earthly prosperity.

For example, the blessing on which all Jacob’s happiness depended banished him from his father’s home and from his promised inheritance; yet he eased his sorrow with this single consolation: that he knew God was reconciled to him. So also his descendants, the more they experienced God’s goodness toward them, the more they were exposed to the enmity of the Egyptians.

But Pharaoh, to make them hated or suspected, refers to their power and accuses them of disaffection, of which they had given no sign. Yet he does not accuse them of rebellion, as if they would take armed possession of the kingdom, but rather that they would depart elsewhere. From this we may conjecture that they made no secret of the hope God had given them of their return.

However, this seemed a plausible enough excuse for Pharaoh’s actions: that it was entirely unjust for those who had voluntarily sought the king’s protection to be freely allowed to leave. And thus¹⁴ Isaiah speaks of it (Isaiah 52:4).

¹³ נתחכמה. In A V., Let us deal wisely If C. be justified in saying that חכם if often employed for the wisdom which is evil, it is very much more often used for wisdom in a favorable sense. — W

¹⁴ “Comme de faict Isaie dit que les Egyptiens ont eu plus de couleur de tenir le peuple de Dieu en servitude, que les Assyriens, qui les sont venus molester sans titre;” as, in fact, Isaiah says that the Egyptians had more excuse for keeping God’s people in servitude than the Assyrians, who came to molest them without pretext. — Fr..