H. P. Mansfield Bible notes — checked and arranged in verse-by-verse Expositor style

Source: HPB 02-Gen42-Lev11.pdf, principally Exodus 1 photographed pages 17–19

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Exodus opens by deliberately continuing the Genesis story. The covenant family that entered Egypt has become a rapidly multiplying people. A new Pharaoh responds not with gratitude for Joseph’s earlier service but with political fear. His policy escalates from shrewd population control, to forced labour, to an attempted secret killing programme, and finally to a public command that Hebrew sons be drowned.

At every stage Pharaoh’s purpose fails. The more Israel is afflicted, the more it multiplies. The decisive human counter-example is supplied by two midwives who “feared God” and refused a murderous royal order. Exodus therefore begins with a contest of purposes: Pharaoh attempts to suppress the promised seed; God preserves and multiplies it.

THE LINK WITH GENESIS — EXODUS 1:1–6

Exodus 1:1 — “And these are the names”

The Hebrew text begins with the conjunction waw, “And,” linking Exodus directly with the preceding narrative. The traditional Hebrew title Ve’elleh Shemoth means “And these are the names.” The Greek title Exodus means departure/going out and appropriately anticipates the book’s central movement.

Mansfield constructs an exhortational sentence from the meanings of the tribal names. Some individual names do contain clear narrative wordplays in Genesis, but the combined sentence is devotional exposition rather than a second inspired translation of Exodus 1:1–4.

Exodus 1:5 — seventy persons

The KJV “souls” translates nephesh, here simply persons/lives. The Masoretic tradition gives seventy members of Jacob’s house in Egypt, consistent with Genesis 46:27 and Deuteronomy 10:22. Acts 7:14 follows the Septuagint’s seventy-five tradition; the difference was treated in the Genesis 46 notes and need not be forced into a wives calculation.

Exodus 1:6 — the Joseph generation dies

Joseph, his brothers and that generation die. The verse closes the era in which living memory connected Egypt directly with Joseph’s saving administration. The death of the generation does not end the covenant purpose; responsibility passes to descendants who now form a numerous community.

ISRAEL MULTIPLIES — EXODUS 1:7

Exodus 1:7 — five expressions of increase

Israel is fruitful, “increased abundantly,” multiplied, became exceedingly mighty, and filled the land. The accumulation is deliberate. The verb behind “increased abundantly” is sharats, to swarm/teem, the same vivid vocabulary used for prolific animal life in Genesis 1. The promise of multiplication is visibly advancing in exile.

The verb ‘atsam behind “waxed ... mighty” can describe becoming strong or numerous. Deuteronomy 26:5 later looks back on Israel becoming “a nation, great, mighty, and populous” in Egypt.

A NEW KING AND A NEW POLICY — EXODUS 1:8–10

Exodus 1:8 — “which knew not Joseph”

A new king arises who “knew not Joseph.” This certainly marks a political break with Joseph’s remembered status and benefits, but it does not by itself prove a particular Egyptian dynasty. Mansfield’s identification with the expulsion of the Hyksos and a specific eighteenth-dynasty transition is one historical reconstruction, not a fact established by the verse.

Exodus 1:9–10 — fear turned into state policy

Pharaoh portrays Israel as too numerous and powerful for comfort and fears that, in war, the Hebrews may join Egypt’s enemies, fight against Egypt and leave the land. His concern is strategic rather than evidence that Israel actually planned rebellion.

“Let us deal wisely with them” uses a form of chakam, to act wisely/shrewdly. In this hostile context the sense is crafty policy. Acts 7:19 describes the ruler as dealing subtilly/craftily with the kindred. Mansfield’s serpent comparison is a typological word-association, not a lexical identity between Pharaoh and the serpent.

FORCED LABOUR — EXODUS 1:11–14

Exodus 1:11 — taskmasters and store cities

Egypt appoints sarei missim — overseers/lords of forced labour or tribute service — to afflict Israel with burdens. The KJV “treasure cities” is better understood as store/supply cities. Pithom and Raamses are named as the major projects.

Pithom is commonly connected with an Egyptian Per-Atum (“House of Atum”) site in the eastern Delta, but exact archaeological identification has been debated. The name Raamses/Pi-Ramesses is likewise significant but does not by itself securely identify the Pharaoh of Exodus 1 with Ramesses II. A place-name can be preserved or updated by later usage, and Egyptian chronology remains a separate historical question.

Mansfield’s older claim that excavated brick layers at Pithom precisely reproduce the sequence straw → reeds → no binder is too dependent on nineteenth-century interpretation to use as proof of Exodus 5. The biblical forced-labour account stands without that archaeological reconstruction.

Exodus 1:12 — oppression produces the opposite result

“The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” Pharaoh’s policy therefore produces the opposite of its intention. The Egyptians become quts toward Israel — vexed, filled with dread or loathing. Psalm 105:24 later summarises that God “increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.”

Exodus 1:13–14 — service “with rigour”

The repeated word perek denotes harshness, ruthlessness or crushing severity. Israel’s lives are made bitter (marar) through hard bondage in mortar, brick, field work and every form of imposed service. The repetition emphasises organised oppression rather than ordinary employment.

PHARAOH ORDERS THE MALE CHILDREN KILLED — EXODUS 1:15–16

Exodus 1:15 — Shiphrah and Puah

Pharaoh speaks to Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah. A population as large as Israel clearly required more than two women for all deliveries, so they may have been leading representatives or the named women responsible to Pharaoh; however, the text does not explicitly call them “chief midwives.”

Shiphrah is plausibly connected with the Hebrew root sh-p-r, beauty/fairness. Puah’s etymology is less secure; older lexicons connect it with crying out or vocal expression. Mansfield’s combined symbolic sentence from their names should therefore remain devotional.

Exodus 1:16 — the birthstool and murderous order

The word ’obnayim is a dual form literally associated with “two stones” and is widely understood as a birthstool or birthing support. Pharaoh commands the midwives to kill sons at birth while allowing daughters to live. His policy targets the future male population and therefore the capacity for independent national strength.

THE MIDWIVES FEAR GOD — EXODUS 1:17–21

Exodus 1:17 — obedience to God before the king

“The midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.” Their refusal is explicitly grounded in the fear of God. Acts 5:29 later expresses the same governing principle: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Civil authority is real, but it cannot make murder righteous.

Exodus 1:18–19 — the midwives’ explanation

When challenged, the midwives say Hebrew women are chayot — vigorous/lively — and give birth before the midwife arrives. Mansfield insists this must have been literally complete and non-deceptive. The text itself does not tell us whether the statement describes a general biological difference, providentially rapid births, a selective truth, or a protective answer crafted under threat. What Scripture explicitly commends is their fear of God and refusal to kill.

Exodus 1:20–21 — God deals well with them and “makes houses”

God deals well with the midwives while Israel continues to multiply and become strong. Because they feared God, “he made them houses.” The ordinary biblical sense is that God established/prospered their households or families. Mansfield argues that the masculine pronoun lahem means the houses must belong to Israel generally rather than to the female midwives. That grammatical argument is not decisive: Hebrew can use masculine plural forms in broader/default reference, and the immediate antecedent and causal statement naturally point to the midwives themselves.

THE NILE DECREE — EXODUS 1:22

Exodus 1:22 — oppression becomes public policy

Pharaoh now commands all his people: every Hebrew son is to be thrown into the river, while daughters are to live. The policy has escalated from concealed instructions to two midwives into a public national decree of infanticide.

The “river” is the Nile. The irony Mansfield observes is powerful: the river on which Egypt’s life depended becomes the chosen instrument for attacking Israel’s life, and later the Nile itself becomes the first object of public plague judgment in Exodus 7.

PRINCIPAL THEMES

• Exodus continues Genesis: the family of Jacob has become a multiplying covenant people.

• Pharaoh’s fear converts demographic difference into organised state oppression.

• Every attempt to reduce Israel is answered by further multiplication.

• Forced labour becomes progressively harsher but cannot frustrate God’s promise.

• The midwives place the fear of God above obedience to a murderous decree.

• Scripture commends their faithful refusal without requiring us to prove every detail of their explanation.

• The Nile decree prepares the narrative for the threatened child who will become Israel’s deliverer.

EDITORIAL VERIFICATION AND RECOVERED READINGS

RESIDUAL UNCERTAINTIES

The identity and dynasty of the “new king,” the exact archaeological identification and building phases of Pithom and Raamses, and the etymology of Puah remain uncertain. The text does not explicitly say Shiphrah and Puah were chief midwives, nor does it tell us enough to determine exactly how their explanation to Pharaoh related to every individual birth. Mansfield’s detailed Hyksos/Ramesses chronology and numerical-name symbolism have therefore been retained only as historical or typological possibilities, not as established readings.