Exodus 8

Ex 8:1-15.

PLAGUE OF

FROGS.

1. the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh--The duration of

the first plague for a whole week must have satisfied all that it was

produced not by any accidental causes, but by the agency of omnipotent

power. As a judgment of God, however, it produced no good effect, and

Moses was commanded to wait on the king and threaten him, in the event

of his continued obstinacy, with the infliction of a new and different

plague. As Pharaoh's answer is not given, it may be inferred to have

been unfavorable, for the rod was again raised.

2. I will smite all thy borders with frogs--Those animals,

though the natural spawn of the river, and therefore objects familiar

to the people, were on this occasion miraculously multiplied to an

amazing extent, and it is probable that the ova of the frogs, which had

been previously deposited in the mire and marshes, were miraculously

brought to perfection at once.

3. bedchamber . . . bed--mats strewed on the floor as

well as more sumptuous divans of the rich.

ovens--holes made in the ground and the sides of which are

plastered with mortar.

kneading-troughs--Those used in Egypt were bowls of wicker or

rush work. What must have been the state of the people when they could

find no means of escape from the cold, damp touch and unsightly

presence of the frogs, as they alighted on every article and vessel of

food!

5, 6. Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams,

&c. The miracle consisted in the reptiles leaving their marshes at the

very time he commanded them.

7. the magicians did so with their enchantments--required no

great art to make the offensive reptiles appear on any small spot of

ground. What they undertook to do already existed in abundance all

around. They would better have shown their power by removing the

frogs.

8-15. Pharaoh called, . . . Intreat the Lord, that he may

take away the frogs from me--The frog, which was now used as an

instrument of affliction, whether from reverence or abhorrence, was an

object of national superstition with the Egyptians, the god Ptha being

represented with a frog's head. But the vast numbers, together with

their stench, made them an intolerable nuisance so that the king was so

far humbled as to promise that, if Moses would intercede for their

removal, he would consent to the departure of Israel, and in compliance

with this appeal, they were withdrawn at the very hour named by the

monarch himself. But many, while suffering the consequences of their

sins, make promises of amendment and obedience which they afterwards

forget; and so Pharaoh, when he saw there was a respite, was again

hardened

[Ex 8:15].

Ex 8:16-19.

PLAGUE OF

LICE.

16. smite the dust of the land, &c.--Aaron's rod, by the

direction of Moses, who was commanded by God, was again raised, and the

land was filled with gnats, mosquitoes--that is the proper meaning of

the original term. In ordinary circumstances they embitter life in

Eastern countries, and therefore the terrible nature of this

infliction on Egypt may be imagined when no precautions could preserve

from their painful sting. The very smallness and insignificance of

these fierce insects made them a dreadful scourge. The magicians never

attempted any imitation, and what neither the blood of the river nor

the nuisance of the frogs had done, the visitation of this tiny enemy

constrained them to acknowledge "this is the finger of God"--properly

"gods," for they spoke as heathens.

Ex 8:20-32.

PLAGUE OF

FLIES.

20-24. Rise up early . . . Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to

the water, &c.--Pharaoh still appearing obdurate, Moses was ordered

to meet him while walking on the banks of the Nile and repeat his

request for the liberation of Israel, threatening in case of continued

refusal to cover every house from the palace to the cottage with swarms

of flies--while, as a proof of the power that accomplished this

judgment, the land of Goshen should be exempted from the calamity. The

appeal was equally vain as before, and the predicted evil overtook the

country in the form of what was not "flies," such as we are accustomed

to, but divers sorts of flies

(Ps 78:45),

the gad fly, the cockroach, the Egyptian beetle, for all these are

mentioned by different writers. They are very destructive, some of them

inflicting severe bites on animals, others destroying clothes, books,

plants, every thing. The worship of flies, particularly of the beetle,

was a prominent part of the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The

employment of these winged deities to chastise them must have been

painful and humiliating to the Egyptians while it must at the same time

have strengthened the faith of the Israelites in the God of their

fathers as the only object of worship.

25-32. Pharaoh called for Moses, . . . Go ye, sacrifice to

your God in the land, &c.--Between impatient anxiety to be freed

from this scourge and a reluctance on the part of the Hebrew bondsmen,

the king followed the course of expediency; he proposed to let them

free to engage in their religious rites within any part of the kingdom.

But true to his instructions, Moses would accede to no such

arrangement; he stated a most valid reason to show the danger of it,

and the king having yielded so far as to allow them a brief holiday

across the border, annexed to this concession a request that

Moses would entreat with Jehovah for the removal of the plague. He

promised to do so, and it was removed the following day. But no sooner

was the pressure over than the spirit of Pharaoh, like a bent bow,

sprang back to its wonted obduracy, and, regardless of his promise, he

refused to let the people depart.