3 And they departed from Rameses. I do not approve of their opinion, who think that the name of this city is used for the whole land of Goshen: since it is not reasonable that they should have set forth at the same time from various distant and remote places. And this would still less accord with what presently follows, (222) that they went forth in orderly array; though it might not be the case that they all mustered together in the city, because it is hardly credible that so great a multitude could be received within its walls, but that by the order of Moses and Aaron, they were all assembled in the neighborhood of the city, so that they might be organized, lest in the confusion of their hurried march they should impede each other.
After having stated that they went out by “the high hand” of God, for the purpose of extolling still more His wonderful power, he adds that the Egyptians were witnesses and spectators of it: whence we conclude that they had at last yielded to God, (223) or were so thoroughly subdued, as not to dare to lift up a finger. Another circumstance is also added, viz., that the Egyptians were then burying all their first-born; by which words Moses does not mean to indicate that they forbore from hindering the departure of the Israelites, (224) because they were occupied with another matter; but rather signifies that, although they were exasperated by grief at the loss of their sons, still they lay stupified, as it were, since the power of God had enfeebled them, so that they had lost the ability to offer resistance.
When Moses says, that God “executed judgments” upon the gods of the Egyptians, it is with the object of recommending the true faith, lest the children of Israel should ever turn aside to the superstitions of the Gentiles, which, at the time of the deliverance, they had found to be mere delusions. For not only were Pharaoh and his troops overthrown, but their gods also put to shame, when they pretended to be the protectors of their land: and thus were all their superstitions refuted and convicted of error and folly. It is a silly imagination, that all the idols of Egypt fell down of themselves, (225) in order that the God of Israel might claim the glory of Deity for Himself alone. It is enough that God triumphed over the idols, when He effectively shewed that they had no power to aid their worshippers, and, at the same time, discovered the trickeries of the magicians. To this Isaiah appears to allude, when he says,
“Behold, the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence,” (Isaiah 19:1)
for he signifies that God will give such proofs of His power in Egypt, as shall demonstrate the vanity of all their errors, and overthrow all the superstitious fictions whereby the Israelites had been deceived.
(222) There seems to be an oversight here; he probably refers to ver. 1, “per exercitus suos.”
(223) “Qu’ils ont quitte le combat pour ne plus resister a Dieu; “that they had abandoned the contest so as to resist God no longer. — Fr.
(224) The Fr. omits the negative here, and states the meaning of Moses to be, that the Egyptians forbore to hinder the departure of the Israelites, not only because they were preoccupied by the burial of their dead, but also, etc.
(225) De Lyra’s gloss is: “Tunc enim idola. A Egypti corruerunt, et comminuta sunt.” Corn. a Lapide refers to his own note on Exodus 12:12, which is as follows: “Hence it appears, says Caietanus, that Apis or Serapis, and all the other images of gods in Egypt are thrown down, and dashed to atoms on the Passover night, either by an earthquake, or by thunderbolts, as St. Jerome, after the Hebrews, asserts, ‘Ad Fabiol. de 42 Mansion,’ at the beginning. Artabanus, an old historian, in Eusebius, lib. 9, ‘De praepar.’ cap. ult., tells us that this was the case; and Isaiah alludes to it, Isaiah 19:1. The Hebrews, moreover, have a tradition that the Egyptian idols, which were of stone, were then ground to powder; that those of wood were rotted or reduced to ashes, and those of metal melted and liquefied.”