John Calvin Commentary Exodus 10:7

"And Pharaoh`s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" — Exodus 10:7 (ASV)

And Pharaoh’s servants said to him. We have seen a little earlier that they were obstinate along with their king. Indeed, it cannot be doubted that by their servile flattery they had blinded him more and more. But now, conquered by their calamities and fearing something still worse, they seek to lessen his fury—not because they had themselves returned to their senses, but because they feel that they are overcome by the hand of God and that their strength to resist had failed them.

They say, therefore, that Moses, until he was dismissed, would be a constant source of evil to them. Whether you translate the word מוקש,¹¹⁷ mokesh, as a snare or a stumbling block is of little consequence, because it is used metaphorically for every kind of misfortune or injury. They mean, then, that no end to their troubles was to be expected as long as Pharaoh contended with Moses, for evils would follow upon evils.

By the question “how long?” they admonish him that his stubbornness had already been more harmful than enough. From this, they conclude that there is nothing better to be done than, by expelling Moses, to free himself from the snare or to avoid the stumbling block, since he could only fight unsuccessfully.

Regarding the second part of the verse, interpreters differ. The Chaldee Paraphrast translates it with the introduction of a negative: “Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” Literally, the Hebrew is “whether to know before,” or “before that to know.” But because the infinitive is sometimes taken for the future, this interpretation seems to fit the meaning very well: “Do you wish to know the destruction of the whole kingdom before you desist from your unhappy contention?” It is as if they had said that unless God turned away His anger, the remedy would soon be too late and useless.

¹¹⁷ מוקש. The root of this word makes it obvious that its proper meaning is a snare. The word offendiculum mentioned by C., he found in S. M.; but the LXX and V. have also rendered it a stumbling-block