Exodus 9:6

Verse 6. All the cattle of Egypt died] That is, All the cattle that did die belonged to the Egyptians, but not one died that belonged to the Israelites, Ex 9:4; Ex 9:6. That the whole stock of cattle belonging to the Egyptians did not die we have the fullest proof, because there were cattle both to be killed and saved alive in the ensuing plague, Ex 9:19-25. By this judgment the Egyptians must see the vanity of the whole of their national worship, when they found the animals which they not only held sacred but deified, slain without distinction among the common herd, by a pestilence sent from the hand of Jehovah. One might naturally suppose that after this the animal worship of the Egyptians could never more maintain its ground.

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

Exo 9:6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

Ver. 6. And all the cattle.] That is, A great sort of them, not all. {a} {Exo 9:19; Exo 9:25} And this was the fifth of those ten plagues, a number of perfection; to note that God therein did most perfectly administer and execute his judgments.

{a} Non universaliter, sed communiter.

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 9:6. All the cattle of Egypt died — All that were in the field, Exo 9:3; or a great number of every kind, so that the Egyptians saw that even the animals which they worshipped as gods could not save themselves. Bishop Warburton, in his Divine Legation of Moses, has given it as his opinion, that, in the early ages, the deities of Egypt were described by hieroglyphics or emblems, in which the pictures or images of beasts, birds, plants, reptiles, and every species of the animal or vegetable creation, were used as symbols or representations of their gods; and that, in process of time, the living animals, or real plants, thus represented, began to be deemed sacred, on account of this circumstance: and he thinks that the animals or plants themselves were not really worshipped till after the time of Moses. We know, however, that the Israelites learned in Egypt to make a god of a calf, from which it seems evident that that animal was worshipped there. But if the bishop’s opinion be right, and animals were not worshipped so early as the time of Moses, they certainly were held in great veneration, as symbols of their gods, and the subjecting them to a pestilence was, in effect, opposing and warring against the deities whom they represented. Not one of the cattle of the Israelites died — The gracious care of God is not only over the persons of those that fear him, but over all that belongs to them. Whatever the poorest Israelite possessed, the Lord was the protector of it, while all that belonged to the king and people of Egypt was exposed to the destructive ravages of those plagues with which divine justice saw fit to punish their idolatries and oppressions of his people. But doth God take care of oxen? Yes, he doth; his providence extends itself to the meanest of his creatures.

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

all the cattle of Egypt died--not absolutely every beast, for we find (Exo 9:19, Exo 9:21) that there were still some left; but a great many died of each herd--the mortality was frequent and widespread. The adaptation of this judgment consisted in Egyptians venerating the more useful animals such as the ox, the cow, and the ram; in all parts of the country temples were reared and divine honors paid to these domesticated beasts, and thus while the pestilence caused a great loss in money, it also struck a heavy blow at their superstition.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6. all the cattle] unless there is a real inconsistency in the narrative, the ‘all’ must not be pressed, but understood (as often in Heb.) merely to denote such a large number that those which remain may be disregarded (Keil); for cattle belonging to the Egyptians are mentioned afterwards, vv. 19–21, also Exo_11:5; Exo_12:29; Exo_13:15.

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.

And the Lord did that thing on the morrow,.... Brought a murrain, or a pestilential disease on the cattle. This, according to Bishop Usher, was on the second day of the seventh month, which afterwards became the first month, the month Abib, which answers to part of March and part of April, and seems to be about the seventeenth of March:

and all the cattle of Egypt died; not all absolutely, for we read of some afterwards, Exo 9:9 but all that were in the field, Exo 9:3 and it may be not strictly all of them, but the greatest part of them, as Aben Ezra interprets it; some, and a great many of all sorts, in which limited sense the word "all" is frequently used in Scripture:

but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one; at least of the murrain, or by the hand of God, and perhaps not otherwise, which was very wonderful, since such a disorder is usually catching and spreading.

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

All the cattle - i. e. which were left in the field; compare Exo 9:19-21.

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

All the beasts. That is, many of all kinds. (Challoner) --- So it is said, (Jeremias ix. 26,) all the nations are uncircumcised, though some few observed the rite of circumcision with the Jews. (Haydock)

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).

All the cattle; either of all sorts, or a very great number of them, as the word all is frequently used; or rather, all that were in the field, as it is expressly limited, Exo 9:3, but not all absolutely, as appears from Exo 9:9,19,25; 14:23.

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

6. And all the cattle of Egypt died — Here the universal term all is not used in its absolute sense, as meaning each and every one, but it means simply very many. We find that there were other cattle left to be smitten by the boils, (Exo_9:10,) and still others to be killed by the hail. Exo_9:25. A like usage is seen in the description of the plague of the locusts, (Exo_10:12,) which are said to have eaten up all that the hail… left, and yet the hail smote every herb and brake every tree. Exo_9:25. The Hebrew idiom often thus uses universal terms in a general sense. See Act_2:5; Col_1:23.

There are several instances on record of a similar murrain in Egypt. Lepsius and Poole describe such an infliction which they witnessed in 1842, and a similar one occurred in 1853, resembling the cattle disease which prevailed so extensively throughout America in 1872. But the occurrence of the plague according to definite prediction, and the sparing of the cattle of the Israelites, were the miraculous marks of this visitation.

This was, as yet, the heaviest infliction; for as the Egyptian wealth largely consisted in cattle, their means of support were now in a great degree destroyed. Jehovah shows these idolaters that he holds their supplies of food and clothing in his hands. Yet their crops, and many of their cattle, were yet left.

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

All the cattle died - All that were in the field. The creature is made subject to vanity by the sin of man, being liable, according to its capacity, both to serve his wickedness, and to share in his punishment. The Egyptians worshipped their cattle; it was among them that the Israelites learned to make a God of a calf; in that therefore this plague meets with them. But not one of the cattle of the Israelites died - Doth God take care for oxen? Yes, he doth, his providence extends itself to the meanest of his creatures.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

In the words "all the cattle of the Egyptians died," all is not to be taken in an absolute sense, but according to popular usage, as denoting such a quantity, that what remained was nothing in comparison; and, according to Exo 9:3, it must be entirely restricted to the cattle in the field. For, according to Exo 9:9 and Exo 9:19, much of the cattle of the Egyptians still remained even after this murrain, though it extended to all kinds of cattle, horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep, and differed in this respect from natural murrains.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)