Exodus 8:9 Komentář

Three more of the plagues of Egypt are related in this chapter, I. That of the frogs, which is, 1. Threatened (Exo 8:1-4). 2. Inflicted (Exo 8:5, Exo 8:6). 3. Mimicked by the magicians (Exo 8:7). 4. Removed, at the humble request of Pharaoh (Exo 8:8-14), who yet hardens his heart, and, notwithstanding his promise while the plague was upon him (Exo 8:8), refuses to let Israel go (Exo 8:15). II. The plague of lice (Exo 8:16, Exo 8:17), by which, 1. The magicians were baffled (Exo 8:18, Exo 8:19), and yet, 2. Pharaoh was hardened (Exo 8:19). III. That of flies. 1. Pharaoh is warned of it before (Exo 8:20, Exo 8:21), and told that the land of Goshen should be exempt from this plague (Exo 8:22, Exo 8:23). 2. The plague is brought (Exo 8:24). 3. Pharaoh treats with Moses about the release of Israel, and humbles himself (Exo 8:25-29). 4. The plague is thereupon removed (Exo 8:31), and Pharaoh's heart hardened (Exo 8:32).

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 8 In this chapter Pharaoh is threatened with the plague of frogs, in case he refused to let Israel go, which accordingly was brought upon him, Exo 8:1 and though the magicians did something similar to it, yet these were so troublesome to Pharaoh, that he promised to let the people go, and sacrifice to God, if they removed; and a time being fixed for the removal of them, it was accordingly done at the entreaty of Moses and Aaron, Exo 8:7 but there being a respite, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and the plague of lice is ordered, and which was executed; and though this the magicians essayed to do, and could not, but owned it to be the finger of God, yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, Exo 8:15 wherefore he is threatened with a swarm of flies, which should not infest Goshen, only the places where the Egyptians dwelt, and it was so, Exo 8:20 upon which Pharaoh called for Moses, and declared himself willing the people would sacrifice in the land; but this not being satisfactory, he agreed they should go into the wilderness, but not so far; and on the account of the entreaty of Moses, the plague was removed; but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not let the people go, Exo 8:25.

And he said, tomorrow,.... Which according to Bishop Usher was the twenty sixth day of Adar, or February. It may seem strange that Pharaoh, and his people, being so greatly distressed with this plague, should not desire that the Lord would be entreated to do it immediately, and not put it off to another day: two reasons are usually given; one is, he might hope that it would by that time go off of itself, and then he should not be beholden to the Lord, nor to Moses; and the other is, that he thought an affair of this kind could not be done immediately, but that it required time for making the intercession, and performing rites and ceremonies, which he supposed might be used, as were by his magicians; and it might be now the evening of the day, and therefore deferred it till tomorrow: and he said, be it according to thy word, as if he had said, it shall be done as thou hast desired, and at the time fixed: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God; that can send plagues, and remove them at his pleasure, which the deities he worshipped, and the magicians he employed, could not do.

The plague of frogs threatened, Exo 8:1, Exo 8:2. The extent of this plague, Exo 8:3, Exo 8:4. Aaron commanded to stretch out his hand, with the rod, over the river and waters of Egypt, in consequence of which the frogs came, Exo 8:5, Exo 8:6. The magicians imitate this miracle, Exo 8:7. Pharaoh entreats Moses to remove the frogs, and promises to let the people go, Exo 8:8. Moses promises that they shall be removed from every part of Egypt, the river excepted, Exo 8:9-11. Moses prays to God, and the frogs die throughout the land of Egypt, Exo 8:12-14. Pharaoh, finding himself respited, hardens his heart, Exo 8:15. The plague of lice on man and beast, Exo 8:16, Exo 8:17. The magicians attempt to imitate this miracle, but in vain, Exo 8:18. They confess it to be the finger of God, and yet Pharaoh continues obstinate, Exo 8:19. Moses is sent again to him to command him to let the people go, and in case of disobedience he is threatened with swarms of flies, Exo 8:20, Exo 8:21. A promise made that the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt, should be exempted front this plague, Exo 8:22, Exo 8:23. The flies are sent, Exo 8:24. Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron, and offers to permit them to sacrifice in the land, Exo 8:25. They refuse, and desire to go three days' journey into the wilderness, Exo 8:26, Exo 8:27. Pharaoh consents to let them go a little way, provided they would entreat the Lord to remove the flies, Exo 8:28. Moses consents, prays to God, and the flies are removed, Exo 8:29-31. After which Pharaoh yet hardened his heart, and refused to let the people go, Exo 8:32.

Glory over me - התפאר עלי hithpaer alai. These words have greatly puzzled commentators in general; and it is not easy to assign their true meaning. The Septuagint render the words thus: Ταξαι προς με ποτε, etc., Appoint unto me when I shall pray, etc. The constitue mihi quando of the Vulgate is exactly the same; and in this sense almost all the versions understood this place. This countenances the conjectural emendation of Le Clerc, who, by the change of a single letter, reading התבאר hithbaer for התפאר hithpaer, gives the same sense as that in the ancient versions. Houbigant, supposing a corruption in the original, amends the reading thus: אתה באר עלי attah baar alai - Dic mihi quo tempore, etc., "Tell me when thou wishest me to pray for thee," etc., which amounts to the same in sense with that proposed by Le Clerc. Several of our English versions preserve the same meaning; so in the Saxon Heptateuch; so in Becke's Bible, 1549, "And Moses sayed unto Pharaoh, Appoint thou the time unto me." This appears to be the genuine import of the words, and the sense taken in this way is strong and good. We may conceive Moses addressing Pharaoh in this way: "That thou mayest be persuaded that Jehovah alone is the inflicter of these plagues, appoint the time when thou wouldst have the present calamity removed, and I will pray unto God, and thou shalt plainly see from his answer that this is no casual affliction, and that in continuing to harden thy heart and resist thou art sinning against God." Nothing could be a fuller proof that this plague was supernatural than the circumstance of Pharaoh's being permitted to assign himself the time of its being removed, and its removal at the intercession of Moses according to that appointment. And this is the very use made of it by Moses himself, Exo 8:10, when he says, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God; and that, consequently, he might no longer trust in his magicians, or in his false gods.

PLAGUE OF FROGS. (Exo 8:1-15) 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.

The plague of Frogs, or the second plague, also proceeded from the Nile, and had its natural origin in the putridity of the slimy Nile water, whereby the marsh waters especially became filled with thousands of frogs. צפרדּע is the small Nile frog, the Dofda of the Egyptians, called rana Mosaica or Nilotica by Seetzen, which appears in large numbers as soon as the waters recede. These frogs (הצּפרדּע in Exo 8:6, used collectively) became a penal miracle from the fact that they came out of the water in unparalleled numbers, in consequence of the stretching out of Aaron's staff over the waters of the Nile, as had been foretold to the king, and that they not only penetrated into the houses and inner rooms ("bed-chamber"), and crept into the domestic utensils, the beds (מטּה), the ovens, and the kneading-troughs (not the "dough" as Luther renders it), but even got upon the men themselves.