Exodus 5:21

Abhorred. Unkind were the words that the Hebrew foremen spoke to the messengers of God. Words prompted by anger are usually irrational. This may account for their mixed metaphor, alluding to the effect their evil “savour” would have on the “eyes,” instead of in the nose, of Pharaoh. They went even further, figuratively accusing Moses and Aaron of placing a sword in the hands of the Egyptians to slay them. They surmised that Moses and Aaron had led the king and his counselors to suspect them of laziness. To be sure, the foremen had no doubt suffered a severe beating (v. 14), probably administered as a bastinado, the customary form of corporal punishment in Egypt. This beating of the bare soles of the feet is extremely painful, and death not infrequently results from its repeated employment.