<HTML>
 <HEAD>
 <TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Exodus, Chapter I].</TITLE>
 <meta name="aesop" content="information">
    <meta name="description" content=
    "This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
    <meta name="keywords" content=
    "Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
 </HEAD>
 <body  background="../sueback.jpg"  bgproperties="fixed" >
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible</h1></center>
 
 <HR>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%">
 <TR>
 <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
 [<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
 [<A HREF="MHC02000.HTM">Previous</A>]
 [<A HREF="MHC02002.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
 <TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
 Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
 </TD></TR></TABLE>
 <HR>

 <!-- (Begin Body) -->

 <A NAME="Page270"> </A>

 <CENTER>
 <BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E X O D U S</B></FONT>
 <BR>
 <BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. I.</FONT>
 <HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
 </CENTER>

 <FONT SIZE=-1>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 We have here, 
 
 I. God's kindness to Israel, in multiplying them 
 exceedingly,
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:1-7">ver. 1-7</A>).
 
 II. The Egyptians' wickedness to them, 
 
 1. Oppressing and enslaving them,
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:8-14">ver. 8-14</A>).
 
 2. Murdering 
 their children,
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:15-22">ver. 15-22</A>).
 Thus whom the court of heaven 
 blessed the country of Egypt cursed, and for that reason.</P>
 </FONT>

 <A NAME="Ex1_1"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_2"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_3"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_4"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_5"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_6"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_7"> </A>

 <A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
 <TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Israelites Oppressed in Egypt.</I></FONT></TD>
 <TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1588.</TD></TR>
 <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
 </TABLE>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now these <I>are</I> the names of the 
 children of Israel, which came 
 into Egypt; every man and his household 
 came with Jacob.
 &nbsp; 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
 &nbsp; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
 &nbsp; 4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
 &nbsp; 5 And all 
 the souls that came out of the loins of 
 Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph 
 was in Egypt <I>already.</I>
 &nbsp; 6 And Joseph 
 died, and all his brethren, and all that
 generation.
 &nbsp; 7 And the children of 
 Israel were fruitful, and increased
 abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed 
 exceeding mighty; and the land was 
 filled with them.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 In these verses we have, 
 
 1. A recital of 
 the names of the <I>twelve patriarchs,</I> as they 
 are called,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:8">Acts vii. 8</A>.
 Their names are often 
 repeated in scripture, that they may not sound 
 uncouth to us, as other hard names, but that, 
 by their occurring so frequently, they may 
 become familiar to us; and to show how 
 precious God's spiritual Israel are to him, 
 and how much he delights in them. 
 
 2. The 
 account which was kept of the number of 
 Jacob's family, when they went down into 
 Egypt; they were in all <I>seventy souls</I>
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>).
 according to the computation we had,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+46:27">Gen. xlvi. 27</A>.
 This was just the number of the 
 nations by which the earth was peopled, according 
 to the account given, 
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+10:1-32">Gen. x.</A>
 <I>For 

 <A NAME="Page271"> </A>

 when the Most High separated the sons of 
 Adam, he set the bounds of the people according 
 to the number of the children of Israel,</I> as 
 Moses observes,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:8">Deut. xxxii. 8</A>.
 Notice is 
 here taken of this that their increase in Egypt 
 might appear the more wonderful. Note, It 
 is good for those whose latter end greatly 
 increases often to remember how small their 
 beginning was,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+8:7">Job viii. 7</A>.
 
 3. The death of 
 Joseph,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
 <I>All that generation</I> by degrees 
 wore off. Perhaps all Jacob's sons died much 
 about the same time; for there was not more 
 than seven years' difference in age between
 the eldest and the youngest of them, except 
 Benjamin; and, when death comes into a 
 family, sometimes it makes a full end in a 
 little time. When Joseph, the stay of the 
 family, died, the rest went off apace. Note, 
 We must look upon ourselves and our brethren, 
 and all we converse with, as dying and 
 hastening out of the world. This generation 
 passeth away, as that did which went before. 
 
 4. The strange increase of Israel in Egypt,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
 Here are four words used to express 
 it: They <I>were fruitful,</I> and <I>increased abundantly,</I> 
 like fishes or insects, so that they 
 <I>multiplied;</I> and, being generally healthful 
 and strong, they <I>waxed exceedingly mighty,</I> so 
 that they began almost to outnumber the 
 natives, for the land was in all places filled 
 with them, at least Goshen, their own allotment. 
 Observe, 
 
 (1.) Though, no doubt, they 
 increased considerably before, yet, it should 
 seem, it was not till after the death of Joseph 
 that it began to be taken notice of as extraordinary. 
 Thus, when they lost the benefit of 
 his protection, God made their numbers their 
 defence, and they became better able than 
 they had been to shift for themselves. If 
 God continue our friends and relations to us 
 while we most need them, and remove them 
 when they can be better spared, let us own 
 that he is wise, and not complain that he is 
 hard upon us. After the death of Christ, our 
 Joseph, his gospel Israel began most remarkably 
 to increase: and his death had an influence 
 upon it; it was like the sowing of a 
 corn of wheat, which, if it die, bringeth forth 
 much fruit,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+12:24">John xii. 24</A>.
 
 (2.) This wonderful 
 increase was the fulfillment of the promise 
 long before made unto the fathers. From the 
 call of Abraham, when God first told him he 
 would make of him a great nation, to the deliverance 
 of his seed out of Egypt, it was 430 
 years, during the first 215 of which they were 
 increased but to seventy, but, in the latter 
 half, those seventy multiplied to 600,000 
 fighting men. Note, 
 
 [1.] Sometimes God's 
 providences may seem for a great while to
 thwart his promises, and to go counter to 
 them, that his people's faith may be tried, 
 and his own power the more magnified. 
 
 [2.] Though the performance of God's promises is 
 sometimes slow, yet it is always sure; <I>at the 
 end it shall speak, and not lie,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:3">Hab. ii. 3</A>.</P>

 <A NAME="Ex1_8"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_9"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_10"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_11"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_12"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_13"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_14"> </A>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>8 Now there arose up a new king 
 over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
 &nbsp; 9 And he said unto his people, Behold, 
 the people of the children of Israel 
 <I>are</I> more and mightier than we:
 &nbsp; 10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; 
 lest they multiply, and it come to pass, 
 that, when there falleth out any war, 
 they join also unto our enemies, and 
 fight against us, and <I>so</I> get them up 
 out of the land.
 &nbsp; 11 Therefore they 
 did set over them taskmasters to afflict 
 them with their burdens. And they 
 built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom 
 and Raamses.
 &nbsp; 12 But the more 
 they afflicted them, the more they 
 multiplied and grew. And they were 
 grieved because of the children of Israel.
 &nbsp; 13 And the Egyptians made the 
 children of Israel to serve with rigour:
 &nbsp; 14 And they made their lives bitter 
 with hard bondage, in mortar, and in 
 brick, and in all manner of service in 
 the field: all their service, wherein they 
 made them serve, <I>was</I> with rigour.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 The land of Egypt here, at length, becomes 
 to Israel a house of bondage, though hitherto 
 it had been a happy shelter and settlement 
 for them. Note, The place of our satisfaction 
 may soon become the place of our affliction, 
 and that may prove the greatest cross to us 
 of which we said, <I>This same shall comfort us.</I> 
 Those may prove our sworn enemies whose 
 parents were our faithful friends; nay, the 
 same persons that loved us may possibly turn 
 to hate us: therefore cease from man, and 
 say not concerning any place on this side 
 heaven, <I>This is my rest for ever.</I> Observe here,</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 I. The obligations they lay under to Israel 
 upon Joseph's account were forgotten: <I>There 
 arose a new king,</I> after several successions in 
 Joseph's time, <I>who knew not Joseph,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
 All 
 that knew him loved him, and were kind to 
 his relations for his sake; but when he was 
 dead he was soon forgotten, and the remembrance 
 of the good offices he had done was 
 either not retained or not regarded, nor had 
 it any influence upon their councils. Note, 
 the best and the most useful and acceptable 
 services done to men are seldom remembered, 
 so as to be recompensed to those that did 
 them, in the notice taken either of their 
 memory, or of their posterity, after their 
 death,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:5,15">Eccl. ix. 5, 15</A>.
 Therefore our great 
 care should be to serve God, and please him, 
 who is not unrighteous, whatever men are, 
 to forget our work and labour of love,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+6:10">Heb. vi. 10</A>.
 If we work for men only, our works, 
 at furthest, will die with us; if for God, they 
 will follow us,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:13">Rev. xiv. 13</A>.
 This king of 
 Egypt knew not Joseph; and after him arose 
 one that had the impudence to say, <I>I know 

 <A NAME="Page272"> </A>

 not the Lord,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+5:2"><I>ch.</I> v. 2</A>.
 Note, Those that are 
 unmindful of their other benefactors, it is to 
 be feared, will forget the supreme benefactor,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:20">1 John iv. 20</A>.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 II. Reasons of state were suggested for 
 their dealing hardly with Israel,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>.
 
 1. They are represented as more and mightier 
 than the Egyptians; certainly they were not 
 so, but the king of Egypt, when he resolved 
 to oppress them, would have them thought 
 so, and looked on as a formidable body. 
 
 2. Hence it is inferred that if care were not taken 
 to keep them under they would become dangerous 
 to the government, and in time of war 
 would side with their enemies and revolt from 
 their allegiance to the crown of Egypt. Note, 
 It has been the policy of persecutors to represent
 God's Israel as a dangerous people, 
 <I>hurtful to kings and provinces,</I> not fit to be 
 trusted, nay, not fit to be tolerated, that they 
 may have some pretence for the barbarous 
 treatment they design them,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+4:12,Es+3:8">Ezra iv. 12, &c.; Esth. iii. 8</A>.
 Observe, The thing they feared 
 was lest they should <I>get them up out of the 
 land,</I> probably having heard them speak of 
 the promise made to their fathers that they 
 should settle in Canaan. Note, The policies 
 of the church's enemies aim to defeat the 
 promises of the church's God, but in vain; 
 God's counsels shall stand. 
 
 3. It is therefore 
 proposed that a course be taken to prevent 
 their increase: <I>Come on, let us deal wisely 
 with them, lest they multiply.</I> Note, 
 
 (1.) The 
 growth of Israel is the grief of Egypt, and 
 that against which the powers and policies of 
 hell are levelled. 
 
 (2.) When men deal wickedly, 
 it is common for them to imagine that 
 they deal wisely; but the folly of sin will, at 
 last, be manifested before all men.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 III. The method they took to suppress 
 them, and check their growth,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:11,13,14"><I>v.</I> 11, 13, 14</A>.
 The Israelites behaved themselves so peaceably 
 and inoffensively that they could not 
 find any occasion of making war upon them, 
 and weakening them by that means: and 
 therefore, 
 
 1. They took care to keep them 
 poor, by charging them with heavy taxes, 
 which, some think, is included in the <I>burdens</I> 
 with which they afflicted them. 
 
 2. By this 
 means they took an effectual course to make 
 them slaves. The Israelites, it should seem, 
 were much more industrious laborious people 
 than the Egyptians, and therefore Pharaoh 
 took care to find them work, both in building 
 (they built him <I>treasure-cities</I>), and in husbandry, 
 even <I>all manner of service in the 
 field:</I> and this was exacted from them with 
 the utmost rigour and severity. Here are 
 many expressions used, to affect us with the 
 condition of God's people. They had <I>taskmasters</I> 
 set over them, who were directed, 
 not only to burden them, but, as much as 
 might be, <I>to afflict them with their burdens,</I> 
 and contrive how to make them grievous. 
 They not only made them serve, which was 
 sufficient for Pharaoh's profit, but they made 
 them <I>serve with rigour,</I> so that their lives became 
 bitter to them, intending hereby, 
 
 (1.) To break their spirits, and rob them of every 
 thing in them that was ingenuous and generous. 
 
 (2.) To ruin their health and shorten 
 their days, and so diminish their numbers. 
 
 (3.) To discourage them from marrying, since 
 their children would be born to slavery. 
 
 (4.) To oblige them to desert the Hebrews, and 
 incorporate themselves with the Egyptians. 
 Thus he hoped to cut off the name of Israel, 
 that it might be no more in remembrance. 
 And it is to be feared that the oppression 
 they were under had this bad effect upon 
 them, that it brought over many of them to 
 join with the Egyptians in their idolatrous 
 worship; for we read
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+24:14">Josh. xxiv. 14</A>)
 that 
 they served other gods in Egypt; and, though 
 it is not mentioned here in this history, yet 
 we find
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+20:8">Ezek. xx. 8</A>)
 that God had threatened 
 to destroy them for it, even while they were 
 in the land of Egypt: however, they were 
 kept a distinct body, unmingled with the 
 Egyptians, and by their other customs separated 
 from them, which was <I>the Lord's doing, 
 and marvellous.</I></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 IV. The wonderful increase of the Israelites, 
 notwithstanding the oppressions they groaned 
 under
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
 <I>The more they afflicted them the 
 more they multiplied,</I> sorely to the grief and 
 vexation of the Egyptians. Note, 
 
 1. Times 
 of affliction have often been the church's 
 growing times, <I>Sub pondere crescit--Being 
 pressed, it grows.</I> Christianity spread most 
 when it was persecuted: the blood of the 
 martyrs was the seed of the church. 
 
 2. Those 
 that take counsel against the Lord and his 
 Israel do but imagine a vain thing
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1">Ps. ii. 1</A>),
 and create so much the greater vexation to 
 themselves: hell and earth cannot diminish 
 those whom Heaven will increase.</P>

 <A NAME="Ex1_15"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_16"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_17"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_18"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_19"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_20"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_21"> </A>
 <A NAME="Ex1_22"> </A>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>15 And the king of Egypt spake to 
 the Hebrew midwives, of which the 
 name of the one <I>was</I> Shiphrah, and the 
 name of the other Puah:
 &nbsp; 16 And he 
 said, When ye do the office of a midwife 
 to the Hebrew women, and see 
 <I>them</I> upon the stools; if it <I>be</I> a son,
 then ye shall kill him: but if it <I>be</I> a 
 daughter, then she shall live.
 &nbsp; 17 But 
 the midwives feared God, and did 
 not as the king of Egypt commanded 
 them, but saved the men children 
 alive.
 &nbsp; 18 And the king of Egypt called 
 for the midwives, and said unto them, 
 Why have ye done this thing, and 
 have saved the men children alive?
 &nbsp; 19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, 
 Because the Hebrew women <I>are</I> 
 not as the Egyptian women; for they 
 <I>are</I> lively, and are delivered ere the 
 midwives come in unto them.
 &nbsp; 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: 

 <A NAME="Page273"> </A>

 and the people multiplied, and 
 waxed very mighty.
 &nbsp; 21 And it came 
 to pass, because the midwives feared 
 God, that he made them houses.
 &nbsp; 22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, 
 saying, Every son that is born ye shall 
 cast into the river, and every daughter 
 ye shall save alive.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 The Egyptians' indignation at Israel's increase, 
 notwithstanding the many hardships 
 they put upon them, drove them at length to 
 the most barbarous and inhuman methods of 
 suppressing them, by the murder of their 
 children. It was strange that they did not 
 rather pick quarrels with the grown men, 
 against whom they might perhaps find some 
 occasion: to be thus bloody towards the infants, 
 whom all must own to be innocents, 
 was a sin which they had to cloak for. 
 Note, 
 
 1. There is more cruelty in the corrupt 
 heart of man than one would imagine,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+3:15,16">Rom. iii. 15, 16</A>.
 The enmity that is in the 
 seed of the serpent against the seed of the 
 woman divests men of humanity itself, and 
 makes them forget all pity. One would not 
 think it possible that ever men should be so 
 barbarous and blood-thirsty as the persecutors 
 of God's people have been,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+17:6">Rev. xvii. 6</A>.
 
 2. Even confessed innocence is no defence 
 against the old enmity. What blood so 
 guiltless as that of a child new-born? Yet 
 that is prodigally shed like water, and sucked 
 with delight like milk or honey. Pharaoh 
 and Herod sufficiently proved themselves 
 agents for that <I>great red dragon, who stood 
 to devour the man-child as soon as it was born,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:3,4">Rev. xii. 3, 4</A>.
 Pilate delivered Christ to be 
 crucified, after he had confessed that he 
 found no fault in him. It is well for us that, 
 though man can kill the body, this is all he 
 can do. Two bloody edicts are here signed 
 for the destruction of all the male children 
 that were born to the Hebrews.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 I. The midwives were commanded to murder 
 them. Observe, 
 
 1. The orders given 
 them,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:15,16"><I>v.</I> 15, 16</A>.
 It added much to the 
 barbarity of the intended executions that the 
 <I>midwives</I> were appointed to be the executioners; 
 for it was to make them, not only 
 bloody, but perfidious, and to oblige them to 
 betray a trust, and to destroy those whom 
 they undertook to save and help. Could he 
 think that their sex would admit such cruelty, 
 and their employment such base treachery? 
 Note, Those who are themselves barbarous 
 think to find, or make, others as barbarous. 
 Pharaoh's project was secretly to engage the 
 midwives to stifle the men-children as soon 
 as they were born, and then to lay it upon 
 the difficulty of the birth, or some mischance 
 common in that case,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:11">Job iii. 11</A>.
 The two 
 midwives he tampered with in order hereunto 
 are here named; and perhaps, at this time, 
 which was above eighty years before their 
 going out of Egypt, those two might suffice 
 for all the Hebrew women, at least so many 
 of them as lay near the court, as it is plain 
 by
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:5,6"><I>ch.</I> ii. 5, 6</A>,
 many of them did, and of 
 them he was most jealous. They are called 
 <I>Hebrew midwives,</I> probably not because they 
 were themselves Hebrews (for surely Pharaoh 
 could never expect they should be so barbarous 
 to those of their own nation), but 
 because they were generally made use of by 
 the Hebrews; and, being Egyptians, he 
 hoped to prevail with them. 
 
 2. Their pious 
 disobedience to this impious command,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
 <I>They feared God,</I> regarded his law, and 
 dreaded his wrath more than Pharaoh's, and 
 therefore saved the men-children alive. Note, 
 If men's commands be any way contrary to 
 the commands of God, we must obey God 
 and not man,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+4:19,5:29">Acts iv. 19; v. 29</A>.
 No power 
 on earth can warrant us, much less oblige us, 
 to sin against God, our chief Lord. Again, 
 Where the fear of God rules in the heart, it 
 will preserve it from the snare which the inordinate 
 fear of man brings. 
 
 3. Their justifying 
 themselves in this disobedience, when 
 they were charged with it as a crime,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
 They gave a reason for it, which, it seems, 
 God's gracious promise furnished them with--that 
 they came too late to do it, for generally 
 the children were born before they came,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
 I see no reason we have to doubt the truth 
 of this; it is plain that the Hebrews were
 now under an extraordinary blessing of 
 increase, which may well be supposed to 
 have this effect, that the women had very 
 quick and easy labour, and, the mothers and 
 children being both lively, they seldom needed 
 the help of midwives: this these midwives
 took notice of, and, concluding it to be the 
 finger of God, were thereby emboldened to 
 disobey the king, in favour of those whom 
 Heaven thus favoured, and with this justified 
 themselves before Pharaoh, when he called 
 them to an account for it. Some of the 
 ancient Jews expound it thus, <I>Ere the midwife 
 comes to them they pray to their Father 
 in heaven, and he answereth them, and they do 
 bring forth.</I> Note, God is a readier help to 
 his people in distress than any other helpers 
 are, and often anticipates them with the blessings 
 of his goodness; such deliverances 
 lay them under peculiarly strong obligations. 
 
 4. The recompence God gave them for their 
 tenderness towards his people: <I>He dealt well 
 with them,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
 Note, God will be behind-hand 
 with none for any kindness done to his 
 people, taking it as done to himself. In particular, 
 <I>he made them houses</I>
 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
 built 
 them up into families, blessed their children, 
 and prospered them in all they did. Note, 
 The services done for God's Israel are often 
 repaid in kind. The midwives kept up the 
 Israelites' houses, and, in recompence for it, 
 <I>God made them houses.</I> Observe, The recompence 
 has relation to the principle upon 
 which they went: <I>Because they feared God, 
 he made them houses.</I> Note, Religion and 
 piety are good friends to outward prosperity: 

 <A NAME="Page274"> </A>

 the fear of God in a house will help to build 
 it up and establish it. Dr. Lightfoot's 
 notion of it is, That, for their piety, they 
 were married to Israelites, and Hebrew 
 families were built up by them.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 II. When this project did not take effect, 
 Pharaoh gave public orders to all his people 
 to drown all the male children of the Hebrews,
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
 We may suppose it was made 
 highly penal for any to know of the birth of 
 a son to an Israelite, and not to give information 
 to those who were appointed to throw 
 him into the river. Note, The enemies of 
 the church have been restless in their endeavours 
 to <I>wear out the saints of the Most 
 High,</I>
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:25">Dan. vii. 25</A>.
 But <I>he that sits in 
 heaven shall laugh at them.</I> See 
 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:4">Ps. ii. 4</A>.</P>

 <!-- (End Body) -->

 <HR>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%">
 <TR>
 <TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
 [<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
 [<A HREF="MHC02000.HTM">Previous</A>]
 [<A HREF="MHC02002.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
 <TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
 Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
 </TABLE>
 <HR>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%">
 <TR>
 <TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">

 <!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Exodus_I.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
<br>
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>

 </TD></TR></TABLE>
 <HR>
 </BODY>
 </HTML>