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.
Pharaoh charged all his people - most probably the order was confined to his officers and guards, who, on hearing of a birth having taken place, or of the rite of circumcision being performed in any house, were to enter it, seize the male infants, and drown them. х hayª'oraah (H2975), the river; Septuagint, ton potamon (kat' exocheen, the Nile.] It has been objected, that there is a glaring contradiction between this edict to destroy all the male children and the king's unwillingness to part with the services of the Hebrew people. But there is no contradiction; because it is evident that, although a universal term is used in this passage, the order did not extend to every Hebrew boy born, as well in the extensive inland plains of Goshen as in the cities. Such a wholesale massacre of innocents would have roused the universal indignation of the Hebrews; and as that people were acknowledged to be "more and mightier" than the people of Egypt, it would have led to a rebellion, which the king, by his wily policy, endeavoured to avoid.
The mention of "the river" clearly indicates that the male infants whose destruction was meditated were those born in and around the capital or chief cities; and the presumption is that, even within that range, it was the infant sons of the chiefs or principal families, who came there for a time to take their turn in the public labours imposed upon their race. Josephus relates ('Antiquities,' b. 2:, ch. 9:, sec. 2) that Pharaoh had been forewarned by one of his magi, who was sagacious in anticipating future events, that a Hebrew boy about to be born would inflict a fatal blow upon the glory of Egypt, and raise his own race to liberty and independence. It is quite possible that the apprehension of such a danger might have originated the cruel edict, and thus, by the conduct of Pharaoh, the ancient Church in its infancy was exposed to persecution and peril precisely similar to that which, at the commencement of the New Testament Church, was directed by Herod against the children in Bethlehem, (Matthew 2:16: see Calmet, 'Frag.,' cccxii.)