3. Pharaoh. On the significance of this title see on Gen. 12:15. The Pharaoh now on the throne was Hophra, the Apries of the Greeks, 589-570 ( II, 91).
The great dragon. tannim, “jackals.” However, a number of Hebrew manuscripts read tannin, “a dragon.” The latter reading would suggest the crocodile, a characteristic animal of Egypt.
My river. According to Herodotus (ii. 170), Apries boasted that he was so well established that not even a god could dispossess him of his power. The monuments of Egypt bear full testimony of the pompous pride of the Pharaohs.