《Coffman Commentaries on the Bible – Exodus (Vol. 1)》(James B. Coffman)

Commentator

James Burton Coffman was a prolific author, preacher, teacher and leader among churches of Christ in the 20th century.

He was born May 24, 1905, in Taylor County to pioneer West Texans "so far out in the country it took two days to go to town and back." He became a Christian in 1923.

In Texas, Coffman graduated from Abilene High School and enrolled in Abilene Christian College (now University), graduating in 1927 with a B.A. in history and music.

After earning his degree, Coffman served as a high school principal for two years in Callahan County, then taught history and English at Abilene High School.

In 1930, he was offered a position as associate minister and song leader in Wichita Falls, the beginning of his career as a minister. Then, he married Thelma "Sissy" Bradford in 1931. Coffman preached for congregations in Texas; Oklahoma; Washington, D.C.; and New York City. In his lifetime, Coffman received 3 honorary doctorates.

While in Washington, he was offered the opportunity to serve as guest chaplain for the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan and Korea and served 90 days, holding Gospel meetings throughout both countries.

Coffman conducted hundreds of gospel meetings throughout the U.S. and, at one count, baptized more than 3,000 souls.

Retiring in 1971, he returned to Houston. One of his most notable accomplishments was writing a 37-volume commentary of the entire Bible, verse by verse, which was finished in 1992. This commentary is being sold all over the world. Many people consider the Coffman series to be one of the finest modern, conservative commentary sets written.

Coffman's conservative interpretations affirm the inerrancy of the Bible and clearly point readers toward Scripture as the final basis for Christian belief and practice. This series was written with the thorough care of a research scholar, yet it is easy to read. The series includes every book of the Old and New Testaments.

After being married to Sissy for 64 years, she passed away. Coffman then married June Bristow Coffman. James Burton Coffman died on Friday, June 30, 2006, at the age of 101.

01 Chapter 1

Verse 1

The Book of Exodus is entitled "The Second Book of Moses" in the Tyndale Bible, and it is noteworthy that the RSV has retained this ancient designation. In what sense, we may inquire, is it a "Book of Moses"? Of course, Moses is the most prominent human character in this book, but that cannot be the reason why it is a "Book of Moses," because Genesis is called The First Book of Moses, in which there is no reference at all to Moses. Thus, the only way in which the five books of the Pentateuch may be understood as the Books of Moses is in the sense that Moses is the author of them. The very first verse of this chapter has a bearing upon this question.

"Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob)."

This and the following six verses are a parenthetical statement placed here for the purpose of bridging the gap in Israel's history just recounted in Genesis 37-50. The time-span covered by this parenthesis is more than four hundred years, reaching from the settlement of Jacob's posterity in Egypt to the Exodus, about to be related here.

"Now these are the names ..." It is regrettable that here the translators used their own words instead of the words of the text which are literally, "AND these are the names."[1] So it is that here very early in the sequence of the books of Holy Scripture we have an example of that near-universal practice among the sacred writers of beginning their books with the simple coordinate conjunction "and." The fact that many translations change the word to "now" has no bearing on the truth. All of the sacred writers seemed to be conscious that they were contributors to the One Book of God's revelation to mankind. In the Pentateuch, where this word, "and" is the first word in all five books except Genesis, it also has the utility of supporting the view that a single author wrote all five books, a view which we accept.

A careful study of these opening lines of Exodus reveals the certainty that what we have here is a CONTINUATION of Genesis. One theme, one purpose, one great Coordinator, one design, and one Person, throughout the Pentateuch and the entire Bible, attest to its amazing unity.

The name "Exodus" was apparently first given to this book in the Septuagint (LXX), about 250 years or so before Christ, the same being the theme of the first fifteen chapters. Prior to that time, the Hebrews called it, [~We-Elleh] [~Shemoth], from the first two Hebrew words of the book which mean, "And these are the names."[2] There are countless ancient examples of naming books after the first two or three words.

"Every man and his household came with Jacob ..." As noted frequently in this series, one of the invariable characteristics of the sacred books is the repeated recapitulation of significant events, with new information included in each repetition. (See the Introductions for Genesis, and also for Exodus.) The new information here is the fact that the total number who went down into Egypt was a far greater number than the mere total of those who were named. Here it is clear enough that each of the sons of Jacob brought "his household" with him, and in view of the fact that Abraham's household (Genesis 14:14) included 318 fighting men, to say nothing of women and children, it becomes plain enough that the migration to Egypt by Jacob was by no stretch of imagination a SMALL event!

Verse 2
"Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: and Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and his brethren, and all that generation."

Regarding the number "seventy," see comments on this under Genesis 46:7. All of the alleged "difficulties" regarding "the seventy," and Stephen's "seventy-five" (Acts 7:14) disappear altogether when it is seen as evident that different frames of calculation were used, some included the family of Joseph (who were already in Egypt), and some evidently included children of Joseph born after Ephraim and Manasseh, some included wives of sons, or wives of grandsons, or counted certain deceased ones, or excluded them ... etc. All Biblical references to this event are absolutely correct. The Septuagint (LXX) reference to "seventy-five" includes five of Joseph's posterity not included in those who "went down into Egypt with Jacob."[3] Also, the number "seventy" is symbolical, and is designed to show the completeness of the Hebrew migration to Egypt.

Verse 7
"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them."

This verse summarizes the developments of some four centuries, thus recording the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the effect that their posterity would become a mighty nation, innumerable as the stars of heaven and numberless as the sands of the seashore. Some scholars like to quibble about whether or not such a population increase within the space of four hundred years could actually have happened. God says that it did happen, and that settles the question. For those who need help with such a question, it is pointed out by demographic specialists that without artificial checks against it, populations tend to double every twenty-five years. Rawlinson applied this law as follows:

"Even supposing the "seventy" with their "households" to have numbered no more than 500 persons when they went down into Egypt, the people, unless artificially checked, would have exceeded two millions at the expiration of three centuries - that is to say, 130 years before the Exodus!"[4]

The specific meaning of this verse goes far beyond what might easily have occurred in the natural growth of populations. Note the five-fold statement:

"... were fruitful,

... increased abundantly,

... and multiplied,

... and waxed exceeding mighty;

... and the land was filled with them."

Thus, it was the infinite power and resources of the Almighty God Himself that providentially aided Israel in becoming a mighty nation. Nothing could have been great or powerful enough to have thwarted the purpose of the Eternal. This was the same Power that intervened at the Red Sea, at Jericho, and down long centuries afterward on Calvary.

These first seven verses enter into the narrative here in the form of a parenthesis, condensing the history of more than four centuries into this short paragraph. What a necessary prelude to the events about to be related! Genesis closed with the status of Israel having been established as that of a relatively small minority newly immigrated from Canaan and permitted to dwell in the wild and uninhabited grass lands of Goshen (the Nile Delta), and by reason of the deserved popularity of Joseph, whose authority in Egypt at that time was practically unlimited, enjoying the protection of the most powerful government on earth. Exodus begins with all of the basic elements of the picture drastically altered. Israel was no longer small, but mighty; they were no longer free, but had been reduced to slavery; their slavery placed them in the forced-labor armies of an ambitious and powerful Pharaoh. Another king "who knew not Joseph" had come to power; the same mighty world-power that at first had shielded and protected them was at this time their bitter enemy; and the terrors of genocide clearly threatened them! All such changes lay within the confines of this little paragraph. However, one thing had not changed, and that was the eternal purpose of God who had determined that in "the seed" of Abraham all the families of mankind would be blessed. All of the complicated and synchronized details of thousands of years of human history were being controlled and directed from heaven, making sure that "in the fullness of time" Elijah II (John the Baptist) would point out the Messiah and identify him as "The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," and that God Himself would declare it from heaven in broad open daylight upon the banks of the Jordan, that, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

Verse 8
"Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard service in the field, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field of their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor."

"A new king ... who knew not Joseph ..." The time at which this unhappy event took place is not given. We do not know whether or not the new king was of a different dynasty, or if he was merely some successor to the throne who did not regard the history or obligations of previous rulers. In any event, the accession of this unnamed ruler meant the end of all privileges for the Jews. Even their lands and their liberties were taken away, and they were reduced to slavery and pressed into service as forced-labor battalions employed in the ambitious building projects of a tyrannical and unscrupulous monarch. From the human viewpoint, Israel was doomed, their situation being absolutely hopeless.

"The children of Israel are more and mightier than we ..." This statement of Pharaoh confirms the fact of the numerical strength of Israel. Egypt at that time could hardly have had any less than two or three million citizens. Therefore, the figure of over 600,000 fighting men (Numbers 2:32), indicating a population in excess of 2,000,000, is perfectly reasonable in the light of what Pharaoh said here.

"Let us deal wisely with them ..." Pharaoh did not fear an armed uprising of Israel, for they were without weapons or military experience, but he did fear the fact that any invader would not fail to seek the aid of so vast a population of slaves who by this time already detested and hated the Egyptians. Thus, it was no imaginary danger that Pharaoh saw, but it was a danger that his own evil policies had caused and aggravated.

The word "wisely" here means "shrewdly," and in context it also identifies the contemplated action as wicked. The purpose of Pharaoh was that of cutting down on the fantastic growth of the Israelites, also that of breaking them in spirit, and producing in them a mind-set that would have made their escape impossible. However, in this action against God's people, Pharaoh positioned himself as an antagonist of Almighty God, making Pharaoh a type of Satan himself for all time to come! In this verse, Pharaoh "enters into conflict with the God of Israel,[5] whose purpose was to bring Israel up "out of the land," whereas the purpose of Pharaoh was that of preventing them from escaping "out of the land" (Exodus 1:10).

"To afflict them with their burdens ..." The very purpose of compelling the Israelites to "serve with rigor" (Exodus 1:14) was that of reducing their numbers. There can be no doubt that the kind of service they were forced into would have resulted in the death of many. Paintings from the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes, 15th century B.C., show: "The full meaning of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt ... back-breaking tasks performed in the field and construction work ... by forced labor."[6]