Exodus 9:30

But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:22-35 Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the Lord is righteous; and God must be justified when he speaks, though he speaks in thunder and lightning. Yet his heart was hardened all this while. Moses pleads with God: though he had reason to think Pharaoh would repent of his repentance, and he told him so, yet he promises to be his friend. Moses went out of the city, notwithstanding the hail and lightning which kept Pharaoh and his servants within doors. Peace with God makes men thunder-proof. Pharaoh was frightened by the tremendous judgment; but when that was over, his fair promises were forgotten. Those that are not bettered by judgments and mercies, commonly become worse.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The earth is the Lord's - This declaration has a direct reference to Egyptian superstition. Each god was held to have special power within a given district; Pharaoh had learned that Yahweh was a god, he was now to admit that His power extended over the whole earth. The unity and universality of the divine power, though occasionally recognized in ancient Egyptian documents, were overlaid at a very early period by systems alternating between Polytheism and Pantheism.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27-35. Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned—This awful display of divine displeasure did seriously impress the mind of Pharaoh, and, under the weight of his convictions, he humbles himself to confess he has done wrong in opposing the divine will. At the same time he calls for Moses to intercede for cessation of the calamity. Moses accedes to his earnest wishes, and this most awful visitation ended. But his repentance proved a transient feeling, and his obduracy soon became as great as before.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But as for thee, and thy servants,.... Notwithstanding the confession of sin he had made, and his earnest request that the Lord might be entreated to remove this plague, and though he had been assured it would be removed:

I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God: they had not feared him yet; the confession of sin made did not arise from the true fear of God, but from a dread of punishment, and when delivered from this plague, the goodness of God would have no such effect as to cause him and his servants to fear the Lord; or "I know, that before ye were afraid of the face of the Lord God" (n), which Kimchi (o) and Ben Melech interpret thus,"I know that thou and thy servants, before I pray for you, are afraid of the face of the Lord God, but after I have prayed, and the thunders and rain are ceased, ye will sin again;''and so they did.

(n) "priusquam timeretis", Tigurine version. (o) Sepher Shorash, rad.

Geneva Study Bible

But as for thee and thy servants, {h} I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.

(h) Meaning that when they have their request, they are never better off, even though they make many fair promises, in which we see the practices of the wicked.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. that ye do not yet fear before (Haggai 1:12) Jehovah God] that ye do not yet really stand in awe of Him, so as to grant Israel’s release. The meaning is not ‘fear God’ in a religious sense, but ‘fear before’ Him, be afraid of Him.

Jehovah God] The addition ‘God’ (not in LXX. however) emphasizes the fact that it was just Jehovah’s Godhead which the Pharaoh had failed to recognize. The combination is very unusual: elsewhere in the Pent. it occurs only (for a different reason) in Genesis 2:4 b–3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord. True fear of God is shown by obedience to his commands. Pharaoh and his servants had the sort of fear which devils have - " they believed and trembled." But they had not yet that real reverential fear which is joined with love, and has, as its fruit, obedience. So the event showed. (See verses 34, 35.) Exodus 9:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Moses promised that his request should be granted, that he might know "that the land belonged to Jehovah," i.e., that Jehovah ruled as Lord over Egypt (cf. Exodus 8:18); at the same time he told him that the fear manifested by himself and his servants was no true fear of God. יי מפּני ירא denotes the true fear of God, which includes a voluntary subjection to the divine will. Observe the expression, Jehovah, Elohim: Jehovah, who is Elohim, the Being to be honoured as supreme, the true God.