John Calvin Commentary Exodus 3:7

"And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;" — Exodus 3:7 (ASV)

And the Lord said. Before he delegates to Moses the office of delivering his people, God encourages him in a somewhat lengthy address to the hope of victory and success. We know how doubts weaken and hold back the mind with anxiety and care; Moses, then, could not engage in or set about his work earnestly until furnished with the confidence of divine assistance. Therefore, God promises to be his guide, so that in reliance upon such aid, he might gird himself boldly for the warfare.

From this we may gather this general doctrine: however slow and unwilling we may naturally be to obey God, we must not turn away from any command when he assures us of success. This is because no stimulus can be stronger than the promise that his hand will always be ready to help us when we follow where he calls us. With this purpose, God speaks in this way before he mentions the vocation of Moses, so that Moses may more cheerfully enter upon his work, assured of a successful outcome.

Moreover, when God has founded the redemption of his people upon his gratuitous covenant, and therefore on his own free bounty, he adds another argument derived from his justice. This argument is that it is impossible for the Judge of the world not to help the oppressed and afflicted when they are undeservedly mistreated, especially when they implore his assistance.

This is generally true: God will be the avenger of all unjust cruelty. However, his special aid may be expected by believers whom he has taken into his friendship and protection. Accordingly, when God has declared that he has been moved by his adoption of this people not to desert them in their extreme necessity, he adds, in confirmation, that he has come to restrain their oppressors’ tyranny, since he has heard the cry of the afflicted.

This was said at that particular time to encourage Moses. However, it ought to afford great consolation in the troubles of us all when we are groaning under any unjust burden. For God, whose sight was then so clear, is not now so blind as not to see all injustice and to pity those who call upon him.

Although the expression used here in the original, seeing I have seen, is a Hebraism, it still signifies that while God delays and suspends punishment, his winking at people’s evil deeds is no proof that he does not behold them from heaven and will in due time appear as their judge. For the words denote a continued observation—as if to say, that even then he was beholding them, when by his inaction he might have seemed to neglect the tribulation of his people.

By adding that he had heard their cry, God indirectly rebukes their lukewarmness, since we do not read that they cried out until compelled by their extreme circumstances and despair. Therefore, there is no cause for wonder that they almost wasted away under their misfortunes before help came, because their prayers were scarcely offered⁴¹ after a long time. And not even then is it probable (as I said before) that they prayed earnestly; but God had more regard for his mercy and faithfulness than for their right and well-grounded preparedness.

In these words, the Spirit exhorts us to call upon God, and not to be stunned and stupefied by our cares and sorrows, but to learn to flee immediately to this sacred anchor. As the Psalmist also says, The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry, (Psalms 34:15) and as he testifies in another place that he is a God that heareth prayer (Psalms 65:2). Thus, God earnestly invites us to this remedy whenever we are hard-pressed.

When God speaks of them as his people which are in Egypt, the apparent inconsistency significantly contributes to confirmation. This implies that the promise he made to Abraham regarding inheriting the land of Canaan would not be without effect. For it would not accord with the truth of God that a people to whom an inheritance elsewhere was given should sojourn in Egypt, unless they were to be freed at the appointed time.

It might also be understood adversatively: although a people dwelling in Egypt are far from the land of Canaan, and so might seem in a way to be cast off by me, still I have heard their cry. But the probable meaning is that because it was not fitting that a people who were to inherit the Holy Land should always remain sojourning elsewhere, God would therefore soon deliver them. In the end of the verse, the repetition in other words, I know their sorrows, is also an amplification of what came before.

⁴¹ “Jusques a ce qu’il ait ete contraint jusques au dernier desespoir;” until they had been driven even to complete despair. — Fr..