Exodus 10:9

Exo 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we [must hold] a feast unto the LORD.

Ver. 9. For we must hold a feast.] {See Trapp on "Exo 5:1"}

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.

Exo 10:9. We must hold a feast unto the Lord — And in such solemnities the whole body of the nation, men, women, and children, and all who were not confined by sickness, were wont to join.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 9. We will go with our young and with our old, c.] As a feast was to be celebrated to the honour of Jehovah, all who were partakers of his bounty and providential kindness must go and perform their part in the solemnity. The men and the women must make the feast, the children must witness it, and the cattle must be taken along with them to furnish the sacrifices necessary on this occasion. This must have appeared reasonable to the Egyptians, because it was their own custom in their religious assemblies. Men, women, and children attended them, often to the amount of several hundred thousand. Herodotus informs us, in speaking of the six annual feasts celebrated by the Egyptians in honour of their deities, that they hold their chief one at the city of Bubastis in honour of Neith or Diana that they go thither by water in boats-men, women, and children; that during their voyage some of the women play on castanets, and some of the men upon flutes, while the rest are employed in singing and clapping their hands; and that, when they arrive at Bubastis, they sacrifice a vast number of victims, and drink much wine; and that at one such festival, the inhabitants assured him, that there were not assembled fewer than 700,000 men and women, without reckoning the children. - Euterpe, chap. lix., lx. I find that the ancient Egyptians called Diana Neith; this comes as near as possible to the Gaile of the Isle of Man. The moon is called yn neith or neath; and also ke-sollus, from ke, smooth or even, and sollus, light, the SMOOTH LIGHT; perhaps to distinguish her from the sun, grian, from gri-tien or cri-tien, i.e., TREMBLING FIRE; yn neith-easya, as Macpherson has it, signifies wan complexion. I should rather incline to think it may come from aise. The Celtic nations thought that the heavenly luminaries were the residences of spirits which they distinguished by the name of aise, thus grian-ais signifies the spirit of the sun.

Moses and Aaron, requesting liberty for the Hebrews to go three days' journey into the wilderness, and with them all their wives, little ones, and cattle, in order to hold a feast unto Jehovah their God, must have at least appeared as reasonable to the Egyptians as their going to the city of Bubastis with their wives, little ones, and cattle, to hold a feast to Neith or Diana, who was there worshipped. The parallel in these two cases is too striking to pass unnoticed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) With our sons and with our daughters . . . for we must hold a feast.—It was customary in Egypt for children to join in festivals (Herod. ii. 60).

With our flocks and with our herds.—The family of Jacob brought numerous flocks and herds into Egypt (Gen_47:1). These had, no doubt, increased, notwithstanding the oppression, and at the time of the Exodus must have been very numerous. The requirement to “take a lamb for an house” (Exo_12:2) on the institution of the Passover involved the killing, on a single day, of 200,000 lambs. Even after this the flocks and herds which went out with them (Exo_12:38) were “very much cattle.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. a feast unto the Lord] more naturally, Jehovah’s feast.

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.

Moses said, we will go with our young and with our old,.... The latter were necessary to guide, direct, and instruct in the business of sacrifice, and to perform it as heads of their respective families; and the former were to be present, that they might be trained up and inured to such religious services:

with our sons and with our daughters; as with persons of every age, so of every sex, who had all a concern herein, especially as it was a solemn feast, which all were to partake of:

with our flocks and with our herds will we go; which were requisite for the sacrifices, not knowing which they were to sacrifice, and with which to serve God, till they came to the place where they were to sacrifice; see Exo 10:26,

for we must hold a feast unto the Lord; which required the presence of old and young, men, women, and children, to join in it, and their flocks and their herds, out of which it was to be made.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

With our young ... - The demand was not contrary to Egyptian usage, as great festivals were kept by the whole population.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Herds. Out of which the Lord may choose what victims he requires. (Menochius) --- The people of Egypt kept solemnities of this description. (Herod. ii. 58, 59.)

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).

A feast upon a sacrifice, wherein all are concerned, and therefore all must be present and ready to do what God requires us.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. We will go with our young and with our old — Moses gives a full enumeration of those who must go forth to the feast and sacrifice, and it was simply what would be demanded in the worship of any people. Herodotus relates (ii, 60) that men, women, and children participated in the Egyptian festivals and religious processions, and that, according to the native reports, 700,000 often attended the annual festival at Bubastis, without reckoning the children. It was therefore but pretence when Pharaoh declared (Exo_5:11) that he had supposed that men only were included in the request of Moses.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Moses said, We will go with our young, and with our old. This statement was at any rate unambiguous, and no doubt could henceforth be even pretended as to what the demand was. The whole nation, with its flocks and herds, was to take its departure, since a feast was to be held in which all the nation ought to participate. The Egyptians were accustomed to the attendance of children at national festivals (Heb 2:60).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

if I ever let you go and your little ones go

Pharaoh says this to emphasize that he would not let Moses take the children with them to worship Yahweh. (See: Hypothetical Situations)

Then Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh's presence

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Then Pharaoh drove Moses and Aaron out from his presence" or "Then Pharaoh had his servants drive Moses and Aaron out from his presence" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

festival

Yahweh

Pharaoh

evil

mind

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.