Biggest Single Day Rise
Section 1: 11vs. 1
נֶגַע, “plague, affliction, attack”; cf. Gen 12:7, where the plagues are foreshadowed in the pharaoh who ruled in Egypt during Abraham’s day. Cf. Deut 17:8; 2 Sam 7:14; Lev 13:2–3. The verb נָגַע basically means “contact, encounter.”
Section 2: 11vs 4-10
Word Study
11:7 SP reads יפלא rather than the MT יַפִלֵה, “makes a distinction.
This plague has special timing, distinction, and intensity. Death closes the sequence of the plagues, and Israel is brought out of Egypt, redeemed by the death of the firstborn of Egypt. This plague is a part of the ten plagues but stands apart from them as well.
בְּכוֹר הַשִּׁפְחָה; the poorest of the poor in the land. At any rate, clearly the opposite end of the social structure from Pharaoh.
Heb. וְכֹל בְּכוֹר בְּהֵמָה, to include both personal property of animals and the sacred animals of Egyptian religion—all living beasts.
Heb. כֶּלֶב. The word is found two more times in the Pentateuch, at Exod 22:30, meaning “dogs” as unclean beasts that can eat unclean meat, and in Deut 23:19, where it is translated as “male prostitute.” Cf. Wenham, Genesis, 1:109; according to J. M. White, Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1963), 183, the Egyptians did mummify dogs. Cf. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 118–19; M. Harris, Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (New York: Random House, 1975), 35–37.
Heb. צְעָקָה גְדֹלָה. See commentary. The LXX, using an onomatopoeic word, translates “a dog will not grunt (say grr) with its tongue at man or beast,” i.e., will not utter a sound against Israel, οὐ γρύξει κύων τῇ γλώσσῃ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους.
Indeed, an ultimate distinction, life and death. Heb. יַפְלֶה (cf. Exod 8:19; 9:4, 11, 26; 10:6–7, 22 above).
Heb. piel of חזק, “be firm, strong, hard.”
Section 3: 12vs29-30
Section 4: What do we learn about God?
Yahweh is the authority, the agent and the one who personally delivers the blow—death.