Daniel P. Barron

Exodus ⁱ

And These Are The Names ⁱⁱ

1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. They came, each one and his household. 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ⁱⁱⁱ 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ^iv 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Ashur. ^v 5 And every soul who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, ^vi and Joseph was in Egypt.

6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 And the sons of Israel were fruitful and swarmed and multiplied and became very very numerous, and the land was filled with them.

8 Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. ^vii 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and more numerous than us. 10 Come let us deal shrewdly with him, ^viii lest he multiply, and it happen, when war is encountered, he also join up with those who hate us and war against us and go up from the land.” 11 So they set captains of slaves over him in order to afflict him with their burdens. So he built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pithom ^ix and Raamses. ^x 12 And the more they afflicted him, the more he multiplied, and the more he abounded; and they were in dread of ^xi the sons of Israel.

13 So the Egyptians severely ^xii worked the sons of Israel. 14 And they made their lives bitter in hard labor, in mortar and in brick and in every labor in the field, with all their work which they severely worked them.

15 And the King of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah ^xiii and the name of the second was Puah, ^xiv 16 and he said, “When you midwife the Hebrew women and look upon the stones, ^xv if he is a son, then you shall kill him, but if she is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared the Gods and did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them, but let the boys live. 18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and let the boys live?” 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively. Look, before the midwives come to them, they give birth.”

20 And Gods, he dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very numerous. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared the Gods, he made houses for them. 22 And Pharaoh commanded all his people saying, “Every son born, you shall cast him into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.” ^xvi

Genesis 50 - Exodus 2

Translated by Darwin Fish. See original pdf. ^xvii

1. This is the title from the LXX (ΕΞΟΔΟΣ, exodos) which means “going out” or “going away,” or “departure.” It is used in the Greek NT in Luke 9:31 for Christ’s “departure” (NAS, NIV) and in Hebrews 11:22 for the “departure” of the children of Israel from Egypt. What is recorded in Exodus, the departure of Israel out of Egypt, is one of the most repeatedly mentioned acts of God recorded in Scripture (e.g. Psalm 78:1-14, 40-53; 80:8; 81:7-12 [Meribah, Exodus 17:5-7]; 105:23-38; 106:7-13, 19-23; Psalm 114; 135:8-9; 136:10-15; Jeremiah 16:14-15 [same 23:7-8]; 32:17-21; Ezekiel 20:5-17 [interesting also are verses 18-26]; Hosea 12:13 [Moses noted as a prophet]; Micah 6:3-4; Acts 7:17-36; Hebrews 3:16; Jude 5). The Exodus is part of the very foundation of God’s dealings with Israel and also the rest of the world, since salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22; Romans 11). ^
2. וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת (ve'êlleh shemot) - This is the Hebrew title, which are the first words in the Hebrew text. Exodus is also simply called שְׁמוֹת (shemot), “names.” ^
3. These first four follow the birth order (Genesis 29:32-35). ^
4. These three are in order of birth, in and of themselves, but in this list they are not in order, because the names following came before these (Genesis 30). ^
5. These four are in order of their birth, but are not in order of birth in this list. If they were in birth order, they would have been placed before Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin. ^
6. נָּפֶשׁ (nâphesh) - “souls” - this is actually in the singular “soul” - see footnote for Genesis 12:5. ^
7. Acts 7:18 ^
8. לוֹ (lo) - This entire verse, and verses 11 and 12, refers to the people of the sons of Israel (verse 9) in the singular masculine. ^
9. פִּתֹם (pitom) - only found here. ^
10. רַעַמְסֵס (ra`amsês) - Genesis 47:11 records the Israelites settled in the land of Rameses (רַעְמְסֵס, ra`mesês), and here it records they built a city and it was called Raamses, spelled slightly different. ^
11. יָּקֻצוּ מִפְּננֵי (yâqutsu mippenêy) – "they were in dread of" – more literally, "they abhorred from the face of" - מִפְּנֵי (mippenêy) is "from the face of" and יָּקֻצוּ (yâqutsu) is "they abhorred" which is from קוּצ (quts) which is also only found in Genesis 27:46 ("I am weary"); Leviticus 20:23 (abhor); Numbers 21:5 (loathes); 22:3 (sick with dread); 1 Kings 11:25 (abhorred); Proverbs 3:11 (detest); Isaiah 7:6 (trouble), 16 (dread); ^
12. בְּפָרֶךְ (bephârekh) - This word (פֶּרֶךְ, pherekh) is used only five other times (verse 14; Leviticus 25:43, 46, 53; Ezekiel 34:4), and speaks of the harsh conditions in which the Israelites served. ^
13. שִׁפְרָה (shiphrâh) - this name means “beautiful.” This identical word is used in Job 26:13 for a fair or beautiful sky (NAS footnote, “Lit., made beautiful”). ^
14. פּוּעָה (pu`âh) - only found here. There is also “Puah” פּוּאָה (pu'âh), see Judges 10:1 and footnote. ^
15. הָאָבְנָים (hâ'âvnâyim) - This word is the dual (plural, two) form of the Hebrew word for stone (אֶבֶןִ, 'even) and more literally means “stones.” This same exact word (i.e. exact spelling) is found one other place, Jeremiah 18:3. There the meaning of the word and the context depicts it refers to the two stones of a potter’s wheel, but even there, it could be translated “stones” as well. NAS footnotes Jeremiah 18:3 with, “Lit., pair of stone discs.” BDB admits to the “prob.” (probable) meaning of a midwife’s stool here for Exodus 1:14, and Koehler and Baumgartner admit to the uncertainty of the meaning of the word. They give, “Ex 1:16 unc.: stones of the birth-stool,” and even give as an option, “the (female) genitals.” ^
16. The context depicts that Pharaoh’s command was for his people to kill every Hebrew son that was born. It does not fit the context of Pharaoh’s expressed concern (Exodus 1:9-10) for him to command his people to kill their own sons. But, this command in verse 22 is consistent with the command in verse 16, if the command was for Pharaoh’s people to kill the Hebrew sons who were born. ^
17. Mirrored here. ^