Exodus 14:11

11 And they said to Moses, "Because there are no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us to die in the desert? What [is] this you have done to us by bringing us out from Egypt!

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.

Exodus 14:11 In-Context

9 And [the] Egyptians chased after them, and they overtook them encamped at the sea--all the horses of the chariots of Pharaoh and his charioteers and his army--at Pi-hahiroth before Baal Zephon.

10 And Pharaoh approached, and the {Israelites} lifted their eyes, and there were the Egyptians traveling after them! And they were very afraid, and the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh.

11 And they said to Moses, "Because there are no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us to die in the desert? What [is] this you have done to us by bringing us out from Egypt!

12 Isn't this the word we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone [so that] we can serve Egypt!' because serving Egypt is better for us than our dying in the desert."

13 And Moses said to the people, "You must not be afraid. Stand [still] and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will accomplish for you today, because [the] Egyptians whom you see today you will see never again.