John Gill Commentary Exodus 11

And the Lord said to Moses While in the presence of Pharaoh, by a secret impulse upon his mind; or he had said ^F13, which some refer as far back as to his appearance to him in Midian, (Exodus 4:23), which is too remote; rather it refers to the last time he went to Pharaoh, being sent for by him; and the words may be rendered, "for the Lord had said" ^F14; and so are a reason why Moses was so bold, and expressed himself with so much confidence and assurance to Pharaoh, that he would see his face no more:

yet will I bring one plague [more] upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; upon him and all his subjects, for the following one would affect all the families of Egypt, in which there was a son:

afterwards he will let you go hence; out of Egypt readily, at once, and not attempt to stop or retard your going:

when he shall let you go; declare his will, give leave and orders for it: he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether; absolutely, entirely, without any exception or limitation, them, their wives, their children, their flocks and herds, and whatsoever belonged to them, without any restraint upon them in any respect, and without any condition of return, or fixing any time for it, but the dismission should be general, unlimited, and unconditional; or, "in thrusting he shall thrust you out" ^F15, with force and vehemence, with urgency and in great haste.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (rmayw) "dixerat", some in Vatablus, Ainsworth, Cartwright; so Aben Ezra.
• F14: "Dixerat enim", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Rivet.
• F15: (vrgy vrg) "expellendo expellet", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; so Fagius, Vatablus, Cartwright.

Speak now in the ears of the people
This cannot be understood of the whole body of the people being gathered together, but of some of the principal ones, who should communicate it to others, and so from one to another, until all the heads and masters of families became acquainted with it: and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her
neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold ;
to ornament themselves with at the feast they were going to keep: the Samaritan and Septuagint versions add, and clothing or raiment, and such it is certain they did borrow, (Exodus 12:35) or vessels ^F16 of different forms, made of gold and silver, such as were fit and proper to be used at sacrifices and feasts, and which will account for the vessels given by princes, (Numbers 7:1–89) for the doing of which the divine authority was sufficient; though there seems to be a reason for it in justice, that they might be paid for their hard service they had been made to serve for so many years, without having a proper reward for it: the word may be rendered, "let every man ask"

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (ylk) (skeuh) Sept. "vasa", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Drusius; "instrumenta", Junius & Tremellius.

And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians So that they freely and willingly lent them the things they asked of them; which seems to be said by way of anticipation, for this was not done until the following plague was inflicted, see (Exodus 12:35Exodus 12:36) ,

moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt ; his name was famous throughout the whole land, because of the signs and wonders, and miracles wrought by him; they took him to be a very extraordinary person, as he was, and had him in great esteem, because at his entreaty the plagues were removed from them, when they had been wrought on them; and this made them the more willing to lend the above things to the people of Israel when they asked them of them, because of their great respect to Moses, and whom, if they did not cordially love, yet they feared, and might imagine that if they did not comply with the request of his people, he might resent it, and employ his power against them;

and thus he stood, either beloved or feared, or both, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants ; his ministers, courtiers, and counsellors: and in the sight of the people; the common people, the inhabitants of the land of Egypt.

And Moses said
To Pharaoh before he left him, when he had told him he should see his face no more; for the three preceding verses are to be read in a parenthesis, being placed here by the historian, as giving some light to this last discourse and transaction between Moses and Pharaoh:

thus says the Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of
Egypt ;
perhaps to the capital and metropolis of it, which might stand in the midst of it, as usually does the royal city; or it may only signify that he would go into the very heart of it, and steer his course all around in every part and quarter of it, slaying the firstborn everywhere in all towns and cities throughout the kingdom, as follows;

in order to which he is said to go out, either from the place where Moses used to go and pray to him, and where he met him and gave him his orders and instructions, or out of the land of Goshen, where he dwelt among the Israelites; or rather it only signifies the manifestation of himself in some work and action of his, the exertion of his power in inflicting punishment for sin: thus God is sometimes said to go forth out of his place when he is about to exercise judgment in the earth; for this must be understood consistent with his omnipresence, see (Isaiah 26:21)

and this was to be done about midnight, the middle of the night following the present day, which was the fourteenth of the month of Abib or Nisan; it was in the morning of that day Moses had this discourse with Pharaoh, and in the evening of it the passover was kept, and about the middle of the night the firstborn were slain, as follows.

And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die
By the destroying angel inflicting a disease upon them, as Josephus says ^F17, very probably the pestilence. However, it was sudden and immediate death, and it was universal, reaching to all the firstborn that were in the families of the Egyptians in all parts of the kingdom: from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits upon his throne :

This periphrasis, "that sits upon his throne", either belongs to Pharaoh, and is a description of him who now sat upon the throne of Egypt (and the Septuagint version leaves out the pronoun "his", so it is the same as if it had been said the firstborn of Pharaoh, king of Egypt); or else, to the firstborn, and describes him who either already sat upon the throne with his father, as was sometimes the case that the firstborn was taken as a partner in the throne in the lifetime of his father; or who was the presumptive heir of the crown, and should succeed him, and so the Targum of Jonathan says,

``who shall sit or is to sit upon the throne of his kingdom:'' even to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill ;

or "behind the two mills" ^F18, or "two millstones". For it was the custom then, as with the Arabs now, as Doctor Shaw relates ^F19, to grind their corn with hand mills, which were two stones laid on one another, and in the uppermost was a handle, with which it was turned about by women, between whom the two stones were placed, and so they might be said to be behind them. Though the phrase used does not necessarily suppose that they sat behind the mill; it may as well be rendered "by" or "near the mill" ^F20: This is not to be understood of the firstborn as behind the mill, or at it, and grinding, as Aben Ezra interprets it, but of the maidservant. It being the business of such in early times to turn these mills and grind corn, as it is now in Arabia, as the above traveller relates. And so it was in Judea in the times of Christ (Matthew 24:41). And Homer ^F21, in his times, speaks of women grinding at the mill (See Gill on Matthew 24:41).

The design of these expressions is to show that none would escape this calamity threatened, neither the king nor his nobles, nor any of his subjects, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free.

And all the firstborn of beasts: such as had escaped the plagues of the murrain and boils. This is added, not because they were such as were worshipped as gods, as Jarchi observes, but to increase their misery and aggravate their punishment. These being their property and substance, and became scarce and valuable through the preceding plagues of the murrain, boils, and hail, which destroyed many of their cattle.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 6.
• F18: (Myxrh rxa) "post molas", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "after the mill stones", Ainsworth.
• F19: Travels, p. 231. Ed. 2.
• F20: (para to mulon) , Sept. "ad molam", V. L. "apud molas", Noldius, p. 11. No. 75.
• F21: (men aleteuousi mulhv) Homer. Odyss. 7. l. 109.