Exodus 14:11

11 et dixerunt ad Mosen forsitan non erant sepulchra in Aegypto ideo tulisti nos ut moreremur in solitudine quid hoc facere voluisti ut educeres nos ex Aegypto

Exodus 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 14:11

And they said unto Moses
The Targum of Jonathan is,

``the ungodly of that generation said unto Moses;''

but it seems rather to be understood of the body of the people in general, and is not to be limited to some particular persons of the worse characters among them:

because there were no graves in Egypt;
as if there had been none, when there were so many; the Egyptians being more solicitous about their graves than their houses, as Diodorus Siculus reports F21; thus upbraiding Moses in a sarcastic way for what he had done:

hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?
that so there might be room and graves enough to bury them in, for nothing but death was before their eyes:

wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
which was very ungrateful and disingenuous.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.

Exodus 14:11 In-Context

9 cumque persequerentur Aegyptii vestigia praecedentium reppererunt eos in castris super mare omnis equitatus et currus Pharaonis et universus exercitus erant in Ahiroth contra Beelsephon
10 cumque adpropinquasset Pharao levantes filii Israhel oculos viderunt Aegyptios post se et timuerunt valde clamaveruntque ad Dominum
11 et dixerunt ad Mosen forsitan non erant sepulchra in Aegypto ideo tulisti nos ut moreremur in solitudine quid hoc facere voluisti ut educeres nos ex Aegypto
12 nonne iste est sermo quem loquebamur ad te in Aegypto dicentes recede a nobis ut serviamus Aegyptiis multo enim melius est servire eis quam mori in solitudine
13 et ait Moses ad populum nolite timere state et videte magnalia Domini quae facturus est hodie Aegyptios enim quos nunc videtis nequaquam ultra videbitis usque in sempiternum
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.