But as for you and your servants, I know that you don’t yet fear Yahweh God.”
The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley had ripened and the flax was blooming. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up. Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to Yahweh; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv30, 32 Meaning, that when they have their request, they are…
Meaning, that when they have their request, they are never the better, though they make many fair promises, wherein we see the practices of the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv30–34 Exo 9:30 But as for thee and thy servants,…
Exo 9:30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.
Ver. 30. That ye will not yet fear.] Howbeit I will pray for you, and you shall feel the fruit of it. Thus God is good to "the just and the unjust." {Mat 5:45}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv31–33 The flax and the barley were not so necessary…
The flax and the barley were not so necessary for human life as the wheat and rye. Thus God still sends smaller judgments to usher in the greater.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv30–34 And the flax and the barley was smitten,.... With…
And the flax and the barley was smitten,.... With the hail, thunder, and lightning, and were beat down, bruised, broken, and blasted, and destroyed; of the former there were great quantities produced in Egypt, which was famous for linen, much was made there, and there were many that wrought in fine flax, see Isa 19:9 and the latter were used not only to feed their cattle, but to make a drink of, as we do, ale and strong beer; and so the Egyptians use it to this day, as Dr. Shaw (p) says, both to feed their cattle, and after it is dried and parched, to make a fermented, intoxicating liquor, called "bonzah"; probably the same with the barley wine of the ancients, and a species of the "sicar", or strong drink of the Scriptures:
for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled; or in the stalk, quite grown up, and so the ears of the one were beat off, and the stalks of the other battered with the hail, and broken and destroyed.
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(p) Travels, tom. 2. c. 2. sect. 5. p. 407. Ed. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30, 33 Bolled - Grown up into a stalk.
Bolled - Grown up into a stalk.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv31–34 Verse 31. The flax and the barley was smitten]…
Verse 31. The flax and the barley was smitten] The word פשתה pishtah, flax, Mr. Parkhurst thinks, is derived from the root pashat, to strip, because the substance which we term flax is properly the bark or rind of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial Egypt was celebrated for the production and manufacture of flax: hence the linen and fine linen of Egypt, so often spoken of in ancient authors.
Barley] שערה seorah, from שער saar, to stand on end, to be rough, bristly, c. hence שער sear, the hair of the head, and sair, a he-goat, because of its shaggy hair; and hence also barley, because of the rough and prickly beard with which the ears are covered and defended.
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Dr. Pocock has observed that there is a double seed-time and harvest in Egypt: Rice, India wheat, and a grain called the corn of Damascus, and in Italian surgo rosso, are sown and reaped at a very different time from wheat, barley and flax. The first are sown in March, before the overflowing of the Nile, and reaped about October; whereas the wheat and barley are sown in November and December, as soon as the Nile is gone off, and are reaped before May.
Pliny observes, Hist. Nat., lib. xviii., cap. 10, that in Egypt the barley is ready for reaping in six months after it is sown, and wheat in seven. In AEgypto HORDEUM sexto a satu mense, FEUMENTA septimo metuntur.
The flax was bolled.] Meaning, I suppose, was grown up into a stalk: the original is גבעל gibol, podded or was in the pod.
The word well expresses that globous pod on the top of the stalk of flax which succeeds the flower and contains the seed, very properly expressed by the Septuagint, το δε λινον σπερματιζον, but the flax was in seed or was seeding.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv31–33 Exo 9:31. The flax and barley were smitten —…
Exo 9:31. The flax and barley were smitten — Which were not so necessary for human life as the wheat and rye. Thus God sends smaller judgments before the greater. The flax was bolled — Grown into a stalk.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v32 Lateward. The hail fell in February. (Bonfrere) Aristophanes (in…
CHAPTER IX.
Lateward. The hail fell in February. (Bonfrere) Aristophanes (in Avibus) says, the Egyptians and Phenicians have their harvest when the cuckoo begins to sing. The month Nisan, which answers to part of March and April, was honoured with the first fruits, chap. xiii. 4. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v31 the flax and the barley was smitten, &c.--The peculiarities…
the flax and the barley was smitten, &c.--The peculiarities that are mentioned in these cereal products arise from the climate and physical constitution of Egypt. In that country flax and barley are almost ripe when wheat and rye (spelt) are green. And hence the flax must have been "bolled"--that is, risen in stalk or podded in February, thus fixing the particular month when the event took place. Barley ripens about a month earlier than wheat. Flax and barley are generally ripe in March, wheat and rye (properly, spelt) in April.
Next: Exodus Chapter 10
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv31, 33 31, 32. And the flax and the barley was…
31, 32. And the flax and the barley was smitten — Flax was a most important crop in Egypt, as great quantities of linen were required for clothing and for the bandages of mummies, as well as for exportation. The barley was in the ear and the flax was bolled — These verses give us the first decisive indication of the time of the year when these events took place. The barley was in the ear and the flax was in the flower or blossom. In Egypt flax flowers at the end of January, and flax and barley are both ripe at the end of February or the first of March; but wheat and doora do not ripen till April. This plague, then, took place in the last of January or the first of February. From January to April is also the very time when cattle there are in pasture. The author thus shows a minute acquaintance with the agriculture and natural history of Egypt.
The wheat and the rye — Rather, wheat and spelt, a grain closely resembling wheat, the common food of the ancient Egyptians, and now well known and much used under the name of doora. All the processes of cultivating and gathering these grains, and the operations of watering the flax, beating the stalks when gathered, and of manufacturing them into twine and cloth, are fully represented in the paintings of the Egyptian tombs. Wilkinson states that the Egyptian linen was remarkably fine in texture, equal in quality to the best now made, and superior to the modern article in the evenness of its threads. Zoan or Tanis was famous for its flax fields. The storm that would destroy barley in the ear, and flax in the blossom, would be too early in the season to cut off the wheat and spelt, which were not yet high enough to be broken by the hail, and consequently escaped destruction.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 34 30. that ye do not yet fear before (Hag_1:12)…
30. that ye do not yet fear before (Hag_1:12) Jehovah God] that ye do not yet really stand in awe of Him, so as to grant Israel’s release. The meaning is not ‘fear God’ in a religious sense, but ‘fear before’ Him, be afraid of Him.
Jehovah God] The addition ‘God’ (not in LXX. however) emphasizes the fact that it was just Jehovah’s Godhead which the Pharaoh had failed to recognize. The combination is very unusual: elsewhere in the Pent. it occurs only (for a different reason) in Gen_2:4 b–3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv31–34 (31) The flax and the barley was smitten.—Flax was…
(31) The flax and the barley was smitten.—Flax was grown largely in Egypt, since linen garments were very generally worn by the people, and were the necessary attire of the priests (Herod. ii. 37). Mummies also were swathed in linen bandages (Herod. ii. 86); and soldiers wore linen corselets (Herod. ii. 182, 3:47). Barley was grown as food for horses, as an element in the manufacture of beer, and as a material for an inferior kind of bread. The flax is “bolled”—i.e., forms its seed-vessel—towards the end of January or beginning of February, and the barley comes into ear about the same time. These facts fix the date of this plague, and help to fix the dates both of the earlier and the later ones.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv30–34 I know that ye will not yet fear the…
I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord. True fear of God is shown by obedience to his commands. Pharaoh and his servants had the sort of fear which devils have they believed and trembled." But they had not yet that real reverential fear which is joined with love, and has, as its fruit, obedience. So the event showed. (See verses 34, 35.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v34 He sinned yet more.
Exo_9:34-35
He sinned yet more.
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Lessons
1. Sense of judgment and mercy without faith worketh more evil in sinners against God.
2. Mercies may prove occasions of hardening unto wicked souls; but no causes of their sin.
3. Wicked powers by unbelief harden themselves and others (Exo_9:34).
4. God sets on hardening when sinners choose to be stubborn against God.
5. Breach of promise with God is nothing with sinners.
6. Gods foretelling of sinners ways aggravates that sin abundantly (Exo_9:35). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Pharaohs conduct after the storm
I. Pharaohs conduct is often resembled by men of our day. Mens views of themselves and life change as the dark clouds roll away, and the sun breaks forth to gild their path again. This has become proverbial.
II. Pharaohs conduct reveals that his heart had been unchanged. Afflictions do change some sinners into saints. They have come out of the storm new men. But it often produces no radical change. It does not change the heart. Love only awakens permanent resistance to sin.
III. Pharaohs conduct manifested the basest ingratitude. Sin is always lamentable, but more so in the face of Divine mercy. Such insensibility to mercy is sure to bring another judgment.
IV. Pharaohs conduct was most peesumptuous.
V. Pharaohs conduct shows the amount of depravity that may lurk in a human heart. Our only safety is in humiliating ourselves before the Lord, and seeking for His grace to overcome our own stubbornness and sins. (W. Lilley.)
The cessation of penitential sorrow
1. When calamity removed.
2. When mercy bestowed.
3. When gratitude expected. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Repentance under judgments
One day, visiting a prison chaplain, the Rev. W. Harness asked him whether his ministry had been attended with success. With very little, I grieve to say, was the reply. A short time since I thought I had brought to a better state of mind a man who had attempted to murder a woman and had been condemned to death, he showed great signs of contrition after the sentence was passed upon him, and I thought I could observe the dawnings of grace upon the soul. I gave him a Bible, and he was most assiduous in the study of it, frequently quoting passages from it which he said convinced him of the heinousness of his offence. The man gave altogether such a promise of reformation, and of a change of heart and life, that I exerted myself to the utmost, and obtained for him such a commutation of his sentence as would enable him soon to begin the world again, and, as I hoped, with a happier result. I called to inform him of my success. His gratitude knew no bounds; he said I was his preserver--his deliverer. And here, he added, as he grasped my hand in parting, here is your Bible; I may as well return it to you, for I hope I shall never want it again..
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 34 This is a plant that produces fibers that can…
flax
This is a plant that produces fibers that can be made into linen cloth.
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barley
This is a type of grain used for making bread; also used for cattle feed.
spelt
This is a kind of wheat.
spread out his hands to Yahweh
This symbolic gesture accompanies prayer. See how you translated a similar phrase in Exodus 9:29. AT: "lifted up his hands toward Yahweh and prayed" (See: Symbolic Action)
translationWords
ruin
wheat
Pharaoh
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.