Exodo 11:5

Filipino Cebuano Bible

5 Ug ang tanan nga panganay sa yuta sa Egipto mangamatay, gikan sa panganay ni Faraon, ng nagalingkod sa iyang trono, hangtud sa panganay sa ulipon nga babaye nga anaa sa likod sa galingan; ug ang tanan nga panganay sa kahayupan.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the firstborn: Exodus 4:23, Exodus 12:12, Exodus 12:29, Exodus 13:15, Psalms 78:51, Psalms 105:36, Psalms 135:8, Psalms 136:10, Hebrews 11:28

behind: Judges 16:21, Isaiah 47:2, Lamentations 5:13, Matthew 24:41

Reciprocal: Exodus 10:4 - morrow Job 31:10 - grind Psalms 139:15 - when I Luke 17:35 - grinding

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And all the firstborn in the land of Eygpt shall die,.... By the destroying angel inflicting a disease upon them, as Josephus says q, very probably the pestilence; however, it was sudden and immediate death, and which was universal, reaching to all the firstborn that were in the families of the Egyptians in all parts of the kingdom:

from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne: this periphrasis, "that sitteth upon his throne", either belongs to Pharaoh, and is a description of him who now sat upon the throne of Egypt; and the Septuagint version leaves out the pronoun "his"; and so it is the same as if it had been said the firstborn of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; or else, to the firstborn, and describes him who either already sat upon the throne with his father, as was sometimes the case, that the firstborn was taken a partner in the throne, in the lifetime of his father; or who was the presumptive heir of the crown, and should succeed him, and so the Targum of Jonathan,

"who shall or is to sit upon the throne of his kingdom:''

even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; or "behind the two mills" r, or "two millstones"; for it was the custom then, as with the Arabs now, as Doctor Shaw relates s, to grind their corn with hand mills, which were two stones laid on one another, and in the uppermost was a handle, with which it was turned about by women, between whom the two stones were placed, and so they might be said to be behind them; though the phrase used does not necessarily suppose that they sat behind the mill, for it may as well be rendered "by" or "near the mill" t: this is not to be understood of the firstborn, as behind the mill, or at it, and grinding, as Aben Ezra interpret's it, but of the maidservant; it being the business of such in early times to turn these mills, and grind corn, as it is now in Arabia, as the above traveller relates; and so it was in Judea, in the times of Christ, Matthew 24:41 and Homer u, in his times, speaks of women grinding at the mill, Matthew 24:41- :, the design of these expressions is to show that none would escape this calamity threatened, neither the king nor his nobles, nor any of his subjects, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free: and all the firstborn of beasts: such as had escaped the plagues of the murrain and boils: this is added, not because they were such as were worshipped as gods, as Jarchi observes, but to increase their misery and aggravate their punishment, these being their property and substance, and became scarce and valuable, through the preceding plagues of the murrain, boils, and hail, which destroyed many of their cattle.

q Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 6. r אחר הרחים "post molas", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator "after the mill stones", Ainsworth. s Travels, p. 231. Ed. 2. t παρα το μυλον, Sept. "ad molam", V. L. "apud molas", Noldius, p. 11. No. 75. u μεν αλετευουσι μυλης, &c. Homer. Odyss. 7. l. 109.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Two points are to be noticed:

1. The extent of the visitation: the whole land suffers in the persons of its firstborn, not merely for the guilt of the sovereign, but for the actual participation of the people in the crime of infanticide Exodus 1:22.

2. The limitation: Pharaoh’s command had been to slay ALL the male children of the Israelites, but only one child in each Egyptian family was to die. If Tothmosis II was the Pharaoh, the visitation fell with special severity on his family. He left no son, but was succeeded by his widow.

The mill - This consisted of two circular stones, one fixed in the ground, the other turned by a handle. The work of grinding was extremely laborious, and performed by women of the lowest rank.

Firstborn of beasts - This visitation has a special force in reference to the worship of beasts, which was universal in Egypt; each district having its own sacred animal, adored as a manifestation or representative of the local tutelary deity.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 11:5. The first-born of Pharaoh, c. — From the heir to the Egyptian throne to the son of the most abject slave, or the principal person in each family. Exodus 12:29.

The maid-servant that is behind the mill — The meanest slaves were employed in this work. In many parts of the east they still grind all their corn with a kind of portable mill-stones, the upper one of which is turned round by a sort of lever fixed in the rim. A drawing of one of these machines as used in China is now before me, and the person who grinds is represented as pushing the lever before him, and thus running round with the stone. Perhaps something like this is intended by the expression BEHIND the mill in the text. On this passage Dr. Shaw has the following observation: - "Most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable mill-stones for that purpose, the uppermost of which is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron that is placed in the rim. When this stone is large, or expedition required, a second person is called in to assist and as it is usual for women alone to be concerned in this employment, who seat themselves over against each other with the mill-stone between them, we may see, not only the propriety of the expression (Exodus 11:5) of sitting behind the mill, but the force of another, (Matthew 24:41), that two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." - Travels, p. 231, 4to edit. These portable mills, under the name of querns, were used among our ancestors in this and the sister kingdoms, and some of them are in use to the present day. Both the instrument and its name our forefathers seem to have borrowed from the continent. They have long existed among the inhabitants of Shetland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, &c.