Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians
The plagues he brought upon them in Egypt, and the destruction of
them at the Red sea; these things they were eyewitnesses of, and
needed no other proof or evidence to convince and assure them of
them, and therefore must be under obligation to attend to what he
was about to recommend unto them, for which reason this is
observed:
and [how] I bare you on eagles' wings;
that is, as on eagles' wings, the note of similitude being
wanting, but to be supplied; for it cannot be thought that they
were literally bore on eagles' wings; but as that creature is
reported to be very affectionate to its young, and careful of it,
and, as is said, only to one; for, having more, it will cast away
all but one, and reserve that, which it carefully nourishes; and
being swift of flight, and strong of wing, it will in a
remarkable manner take its young upon it, and safely and swiftly
convey it where it pleases; of which (See Gill on
Deuteronomy 32:11). The eagle excels other birds both in
its strength and in the size of its body; and especially its
pectoral muscles, by which its wings are supported; are very
strong, so that it can carry its young, and other things, on its
back and wings; and some such thing nature itself seems to have
required, as naturalists observe F4; and there are some
histories, which, if true, greatly confirm and illustrate this.
Aelianus F5 reports of Tilgamus, a Babylonian,
and who afterwards was king of Babylon, and who seems to be the
Tilgath Pilneser of the Scriptures, king of Assyria, that when a
lad, being thrown down from the top of a tower, an eagle, which
is a very quick sighted bird, saw him, and, before he came to the
ground, flew under him, took him upon its back, and carried him
into a garden, and gently let him down. So it is related of
Aristomenes F6, that as he was casting headlong
into a deep ditch by the Lacedemonians, where they used to throw
condemned malefactors, an eagle flew under him, and bore him on
its wings, and carried him to the bottom, without any hurt to any
part of his body. Jarchi observes, that whereas other birds carry
their young between their feet, for fear of those that fly above
them, the eagle flying above all others, and so in no fear of
them, carries its young upon its wings, judging it better that a
dart should pierce that than its young. The Targums of Jonathan
and Jerusalem paraphrase the words,
``and I bore you on clouds, as on eagles' wings;''which covered, and protected, and sustained them, as the eagles' wings do its young; the former adds, from Pelusium, a city in Egypt, supposed by the Targumist to be the same with Rameses; where Jarchi observes the people of Israel were very swiftly gathered together as the place of their rendezvous, and were as safely brought from thence to the place where they now were. Thus the Lord showed an affectionate concern for Israel, took them under his care and protection, stood between them and the Egyptians in a pillar of cloud, and secured them from their arrows, and swiftly and safely removed them from the land of Egypt to the place where they now were, distinguishing them from all other nations, having chosen them to be a special people to himself:
and brought you unto myself:
to the mountain of God, where he had appeared to Moses, and given
this as a sign and token of the truth of his mission, that he and
Israel, when brought out of Egypt by him, should serve him on
this mount; and now they were brought thither, where he was about
not only to grant his presence in a very singular manner, but to
deliver his law unto them, and enter into a covenant with them,
and establish and settle them as his people; so that they were a
people near unto the Lord, taken into covenant, and indulged with
communion with him, and made partakers of various distinguished
blessings of his: both the above Targums are, "I brought you to
the doctrine of my law", to receive it at this mount.