The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.I have to say, this statement surprises me. This people has been the cause of so much angst and suffering recently. Their desire to leave has caused nine terrible plagues to occur. Yet despite all that, the Israelites still have favor with the native Egyptians. What's more, Moses, the one man who is the harbinger, perhaps the cause, of these terrible occurrences, is thought of highly by those he has tormented.
I have three guesses on why this may be. The first is the obvious, that God has supernaturally inspired the Egyptian people to see the Israelites in high regard, though I have to say this feels like a cop-out answer. The second is that the Egyptians all realize the power of God, with the sole exception of Pharaoh (who is restrained unknowingly from that realization by God's direction).
The third is something closer to the effect modern politics, where the people think something needs to be done, it isn't done, so they blame the person who prevents it from happening (and I'm specifically not trying to point out any single issue as an example of this). In this case, the Egyptians know that the Israelites want to leave, they've suffered terribly because Pharaoh won't let them leave, so they blame Pharaoh and praise Moses.
Personally, I think the second explanation is probably closest to being accurate, but that's my opinion. Some factors of the other two may well have been influences as well. Or it could be there's a fourth alternative I'm not thinking up right now. Feel free to speculate.
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