He turned their heart, so that they hated his people The Egyptians, though at first kind and courteous hosts to the Israelites, became afterwards cruel enemies; and this also the prophet ascribes to the counsel of God. They were undoubtedly driven to this by a perverse and malignant spirit, by pride and covetousness; but still such a thing did not happen without the providence of God, who in an incomprehensible manner so accomplishes his work in the reprobate, as that he brings forth light even out of darkness. The form of expression seems to some a little too harsh, and therefore they translate the verb passively, their (i.e., the Egyptians') hearts were turned. But this is poor, and does not suit the context; for we see that it is the express object of the inspired writer to put the whole government of the Church under God, so that nothing may happen but according to his will. If the delicate ears of some are offended at such doctrine, let it be observed, that the Holy Spirit unequivocally affirms in other places as well as here, that the minds of men are driven hither and thither by a secret impulse, (Proverbs 21:1) so that they can neither will nor do any thing except as God pleases. What madness is it to embrace nothing but what commends itself to human reason? What authority will God's word have, if it is not admitted any farther than we are inclined to receive it? Those then who reject this doctrine, because it is not very grateful to the human understanding, are inflated with a perverse arrogance. Others malignantly misrepresent it, not through ignorance or by mistake, but only that they may excite commotion in the Church, or to bring us into odium among the ignorant. Some over-timid persons could wish, for the sake of peace, that this doctrine were buried. They are surely ill qualified for composing differences. This was the very cause why in former times the doctors of the Church, in their writings, swerved from the pure and genuine truths of the gospel, and turned aside to a heathen philosophy. Whence originated the doctrine of free-will, whence that of the righteousness of works, but because these good fathers were afraid of giving occasion to evil-tongued or malignant men if they freely professed what is contained in the sacred Scriptures? And had not God, as it were by a strong hand, prevented Augustine, he would, in this respect, have been exactly like the rest. But God, so to speak, polishing him with a hammer, corrected that foolish wisdom, which rears its crest against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, we see, affirms that the Egyptians were so wicked, that God turned their hearts to hate his people. The middle-scheme men seek to evade and qualify this statement, by saying, that his turning their hearts, denotes his permitting this; [1] or, that when the Egyptians set their hearts upon hating the Israelites, he made use of their malice, as what, so to speak, came accidentally in his way; as if the Holy Spirit, from being defective in the power of language, spoke one thing, when he meant another. If the doctrine of this text, at first sight, seem strange to us, let us remember that God's judgments, in other places, are justly called "unsearchable," (Romans 11:33) and "a great deep," (Psalm 36:6) Did not our capacity fail in reaching the height of them, they would not have that intricacy and mystery by which they are characterized. It is, however, to be observed, that the root of the malice was in the Egyptians themselves, so that the fault cannot be transferred to God. I say, they were spontaneously and innately wicked, and not forced by the instigation of another. In regard to God, it ought to suffice us to know, that such was his will, although the reason may be unknown to us. But the reason is also apparent, which vindicates his righteousness from every objection. If we learn and keep in mind only this small word of advice, That the revealed will of God ought to be reverently acquiesced in, we will receive, without disputation, those mysteries which offend either the proud, or such as would be over-careful to remove the difficulties, in which, according to their view, such mysteries seem to be involved. The prophet next expresses the manner in which the Egyptians wrought mischief against the people of God: they did not assault them openly, that they might put them to death, but they endeavored, in the way of craft and policy, to oppress them by little and little. His expression is borrowed from Moses himself. And it is purposely used, that we may not think that the hearts of the ungodly are permitted without restraint to work our destruction. It is a consideration which ought surely to satisfy our minds, that whatever the devil and wicked men may plot against us, God nevertheless represses their attempts. But it is a double confirmation of our faith, when we hear that not only their hands are bound, but also their hearts and thoughts, so that they can purpose nothing except what God pleases.

Footnotes

1 - "Chrysostom says that he turned is the same as he permitted to turn. See his note on the verse." -- Phillips.

He turned their heart to hate his people - God turned their heart. That is, He so ordered things that they became the enemies of his people, and made it necessary that they should be removed into another land. It is not said that God did this by his direct "power;" or that he "compelled" them to hate his people; or that he in any way interfered with their "will;" or that he regarded this "as a good" in itself; or that he "approved" of it: but this is said in accordance with the usual representations in the Bible, where God is spoken of as having all things under his control, and where it is constantly affirmed that nothing takes place without his own proper agency and government in the matter. Nothing - not even the human will - free as it is - is independent of God; and not even the worst passions of men are "outside of his plan," or independent in such a sense that he does not afford the opportunity for their development and display. Compare the notes at Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 10:5-7, Isaiah 10:15.
To deal subtilly - In a fraudulent, or deceitful manner. See Exodus 1:10.

He turned their heart - "Their heart was turned." So the Syriac and Arabic. After befriending the Hebrews on Joseph's account, to whom they were so deeply indebted, finding them to multiply greatly in the land, and at last to become more powerful than the Egyptians themselves, they turned their attention to the adoption of measures, in order to prevent the Hebrews from possessing themselves of the government of the whole land; they curtailed them of their privileges, and endeavored to depress them by all possible means, and by a variety of legal enactments. This appears to be the sole meaning of the phrase, "He turned their heart;" or, "their heart was turned."

(n) He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
(n) So it is in God, either to move the hearts of the wicked to love or to hate God's children.

He turned their heart to hate his people,.... Whom before they loved and esteemed: when Pharaoh and his servants heard of Joseph's father and brethren, they were greatly pleased, and invited them into Egypt; and, when come, placed them in the land of Goshen; but when a new king arose, and a new generation, which knew not Joseph, the hearts of these were turned to hate them. This is said to be of the Lord: not that he put any hatred into them, there was no need of that; there is enough of that naturally in every man's heart against good men, and all that is good: but he did not restrain that hatred, as he could have done, but suffered them to let it have vent; and moreover, he did those things which were an occasion of it, and which served to stir up their hatred; as increasing their numbers, and making them stronger and mightier than they, Exodus 1:9.
To deal subtilly with his servants; by putting them to hard labour, and using them with great rigour, in order to weaken their strength; by commanding the midwives to kill every son that was born; and by publishing an edict, to cast every male child into the river and drown it, and so hinder the increase of them. Thus the people of God have their enemies that hate them; that are subtle and cunning, wise to do evil, full of all subtilty and wicked craft; Satan, at the head of them, has his artful methods, wiles, stratagems, and devices: but the Lord is wiser than all, and knows how to deliver his people out of the hands of all their enemies, as he did the children of Israel; of which there is an account in the following verses.

turned their heart--God controls men's free acts (compare 1-Samuel 10:9). "When Saul had turned his back to go from (God's prophet) Samuel, God turned (Margin) him another heart" (see Exodus 1:8, &c.). Whatever evil the wicked man plots against God's people, God holds bound even his heart, so as not to lay a single plan except what God permits. Thus Isaiah (Isaiah 43:17) says it was God who brought forth the army of Pharaoh to pursue Israel to their own destruction (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3).

Narration of the exodus out of Egypt after the plagues that went forth over that land. Psalm 105:25 tells how the Egyptians became their "oppressors." It was indirectly God's work, inasmuch as He gave increasing might to His people, which excited their jealousy. The craft reached its highest pitch in the weakening of the Israelites that was aimed at by killing all the male children that were born. דּברי signifies facts, instances, as in Psalm 65:4; Psalm 145:5. Here, too, as in Ps 78, the miraculous judgments of the ten plagues to not stand in exactly historical order. The poet begins with the ninth, which was the most distinct self-representation of divine wrath, viz., the darkness (Exodus 10:21-29): shā'lach chō'shech. The former word (שׁלח) has an orthophonic Gaja by the final syllable, which warns the reader audibly to utter the guttural of the toneless final syllable, which might here be easily slurred over. The Hiph. החשׁיך has its causative signification here, as also in Jeremiah 13:16; the contracted mode of writing with i instead of ı̂ may be occasioned by the Waw convers. Psalm 105:28 cannot be referred to the Egyptians; for the expression would be a mistaken one for the final compliance, which was wrung from them, and the interrogative way of taking it: nonne rebellarunt, is forced: the cancelling of the לא, however (lxx and Syriac), makes the thought halting. Hitzig proposes ולא שׁמרו: they observed not His words; but this, too, sounds flat and awkward when said of the Egyptians. The subject will therefore be the same as the subject of שׂמוּ; and of Moses and Aaron, in contrast to the behaviour at Mê-Merı̂bah (Numbers 20:24; Numbers 27:14; cf. 1-Kings 13:21, 1-Kings 13:26), it is said that this time they rebelled not against the words (Ker, without any ground: the word) of God, but executed the terrible commands accurately and willingly. From the ninth plague the poet in Psalm 105:29 passes over to the first (Exodus 7:14-25), viz., the red blood is appended to the black darkness. The second plague follows, viz., the frogs (Exodus 8:1-15); Psalm 105:20 looks as though it were stunted, but neither has the lxx read any ויבאו (ויעלו), Ex. 7:28. In Psalm 105:31 he next briefly touches upon the fourth plague, viz., the gad-fly, ערב, lxx κυνόμυια (Exodus 8:20-32, vid., on Psalm 78:45), and the third (Exodus 8:16-19), viz., the gnats, which are passed over in Ps 78. From the third plague the poet in Psalm 105:32, Psalm 105:33 takes a leap over to the seventh, viz., the hail (Ex 9:13-35). In Psalm 105:32 he has Exodus 9:24 before his mind, according to which masses of fire descended with the hail; and in Psalm 105:33 (as in Psalm 78:47) he fills in the details of Exodus 9:25. The seventh plague is followed by the eighth in Psalm 105:34, Psalm 105:35, viz., the locust (Ex 10:1-20), to which ילק (the grasshopper) is the parallel word here, just as חסיל (the cricket) is in Psalm 78:46. The expression of innumerableness is the same as in Psalm 104:25. The fifth plague, viz., the pestilence, murrain (Exodus 9:1-7), and the sixth, viz., שׁחין, boils (Exodus 9:8-12), are left unmentioned; and the tenth plague closes, viz., the smiting of the first-born (Exodus 11:1.), which Psalm 105:36 expresses in the Asaphic language of Psalm 78:51. Without any mention of the institution of the Passover, the tenth plague is followed by the departure with the vessels of silver and gold asked for from the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35; Exodus 11:2; Exodus 3:22). The Egyptians were glad to get rid of the people whose detention threatened them with total destruction (Exodus 12:33). The poet here draws from Isaiah 5:27; Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 63:13, and Exodus 15:16. The suffix of שׁבטיו refers to the chief subject of the assertion, viz., to God, according to Psalm 122:4, although manifestly enough the reference to Israel is also possible (Numbers 24:2).

Turned - That is, suffered them, to be turned.