8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
That they may know my service, and the service of the kingdom - i. e., that they may contrast the light burthen of the theocracy with the heavy yoke of a foreign monarch.
They shall be his servants - They shall be preserved, and serve their enemies, that they may see the difference between the service of God and that of man. While they were pious, they found the service of the Lord to be perfect freedom; when they forsook the Lord, they found the fruit to be perfect bondage. A sinful life is both expensive and painful.
Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my (e) service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
(e) He shows that God's punishments are not to utterly destroy his, but to chastise them, to bring them to the knowledge of themselves, and to know how much better it is to serve God than tyrants.
Nevertheless, they shall be his servants,.... tributaries to the king of Egypt:
that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries; the difference between them, how easy the one, which they might perform without taxes and tributes, and how hard and heavy the other, through the exactions and exorbitant demands of those to whom they became subjects.
But (כּי after a negative clause) they shall be his servants, sc. for a short time (see 2-Chronicles 12:7), "that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries" (cf. 1-Chronicles 29:30); i.e., that they may learn to know by experience the difference between the rule of God and that of the heathen kings, and that God's rule was not so oppressive as that of the rulers of the world.
May know - That they may experimentally know the difference between my yoke and the yoke of a foreign and idolatrous prince.
*More commentary available at chapter level.