Verse 9
And they said unto him, from a very far country thy servants are come ,.... Which they magnified and expressed in stronger terms than before, but were careful not to mention any country, lest such questions should be asked about it, their answers to which would betray them, but put it off by saying they were come:
because of the name of the Lord thy God ; because of what they had heard of his name, his power and goodness; or "unto the name of the Lord thy God" F15 לשם יהוה "ad nomen Domini", Masius; "ad nomen Jehovae": Junius & Tremellius. ; that is, they were come to profess it, and to embrace the religion of the Israelites, and be proselytes to it; which they knew would be very agreeable to them, and engage them to show them favour; and so the Samaritan Chronicle F16 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 507. represents them as promising to do this, saying,"we will believe in thy Lord, nor will we contradict him in what ye shall mark out for us, be it small or great;'which seems to be, confirmed by what follows, unless it be considered as an explanation of the preceding clause:
for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt ; the miracles wrought there, the plagues he inflicted on the Egyptians, and the wonderful deliverance of the children of Israel from their slavery.
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