And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Numerous. Calvisius observes, that from Ephraim alone might have sprung 4,112,323,729 people. See St. Augustine, q. 43 (Haydock)
In the space of 215 years, 70 people may produce an immense multitude, as Bonfrere shows by an accurate calculation. God also was pleased to bless the Hebrews with fecundity, so that they sprung up (ebullierunt) like frogs or fishes, ver. 7. In Egypt, the women had sometimes seven at a birth (Pliny, Natural History vii. 3,) and Aristotle (Anim. vii. 4,) mentions one woman who had 20 children at four births. (Tirinus)
Stronger. This might easily be true, if this king had only Thebais under his command. But if he was king of all Egypt, it seems an exaggeration. (Calmet)
Indeed, human policy often gives birth to all kinds of wickedness. The king justifies his cruelty on this pretext of self-defence. He wishes to keep the Hebrews under; yet he is not willing to let them depart, as he knew they intended, according to Joseph's prediction. (Haydock)
God permitted this disposition, in order to punish his people for their idolatry, (Ezechiel xxiii. 8,) to admonish them not to fix their abode in Egypt, and to manifest his power and glory in the destruction of the impious. (Menochius)
