_A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491._ The eighth and ninth plagues are recorded in this chapter. (1,) Concerning the plague of locusts, 1, God instructs Moses in the meaning of these amazing dispensations of his providence, Exodus 10:1; Exodus 10:2; Exodus 10:2, He threatens the locusts, Exodus 10:3; Exodus 10:3... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart_ That is, either, 1st, Go and make a new address unto him, for what I have yet done has but hardened his heart: or, 2d, כי, here translated _for_, must, as is often the case, be rendered _although;_ go and speak to him again, although I have suffered h... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?_ By this it appears that God's design was not to _harden_ Pharaoh, but to humble him by these extraordinary judgments. It is justly expected from the greatest of men that they should humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if the... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall cover the face_ Hebrew, _the eye; of the earth_ That is, of its inhabitants; _that one cannot be able to see the earth_ It is observable that no living creature multiplies so fast as the locust. It is almost incredible in what swarms they are sometimes seen in some parts. Thevenot gives... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall fill the houses of all the Egyptians_ Dr. Shaw says, the locusts he saw in Barbary, in the year 1724, “climbed, as they marched forward, over every tree or wall that was in their way; they entered into our very houses and bed-chambers, like so many thieves.” See _Encycl. Brit. on the ter... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh's servants_ His nobles and counsellors; _said, How long shall this man be a snare unto us?_ That is, lay before us the occasion of our falling into one calamity after another. To the impenitent the _punishment of sin_, not the sin which is punished, is the cause of their sorrow. _Knowest th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who are they that shall go?_ I am not willing you should _all_ go: it will degrade me in the sight of my subjects that I should be obliged to submit to him who thus makes himself the very friend of my slaves. When he is compelled to yield, yet it is with extreme reluctance, and as little as possibl... [ Continue Reading ]
_We must hold a feast unto the Lord_ And in such solemnities the whole body of the nation, men, women, and children, and all who were not confined by sickness, were wont to join.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord be so with you, as I will let you go_ As if he had said, “May your God Jehovah assist you to my ruin, if I let you go on these terms.” _Look to it, for evil is before you_ More evil and affliction shall befall you forthwith, unless you be content to go on my terms. Here the spirit of wicke... [ Continue Reading ]
_The east wind brought the locusts_ From Arabia, where they are in great numbers: and God miraculously increased them. The locusts are usually conveyed by the wind. In the year 1527 great troops of locusts were brought by a strong wind out of Turkey into Poland, which country they wasted; and in 153... [ Continue Reading ]
_They did eat every_ green _herb of the land_ There seems to have been some distance of time between the last plague and this, during which, in that warm and fertile country, new productions had sprouted forth, both out of the ground and from the trees. _There remained not any green thing_ The earth... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharaoh desires their prayers that _this death_ only might be _taken away_, not this _sin:_ he deprecates the plague of locusts, not the plague of a hard heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
An _east wind_ brought the locusts, and now a _west wind_ carried them off. Whatever point of the compass the wind is in, it is _fulfilling God's word_, and turns about by his counsel; the _wind blows where it listeth_ for us, but not where it listeth for him; he _directeth it under the whole heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
We may observe concerning this plague, 1st, That it was a _total_ darkness. We have reason to think, not only that the lights of heaven were clouded, but that all their fires and candles were put out by the damps or clammy vapours which were the cause of this darkness, for it is said, _they saw not... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither rose any from his place_ This circumstance is one of the lively strokes in description which critics call _picturesque:_ it strongly paints the horror and dismay which this palpable darkness cast upon their minds. Le Clerc, however, justly remarks, that we are not to understand the expressi... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will see thy face no more_ Namely, after this time, for this conference did not break off till Exodus 11:8, when Moses went out _in great anger_, and told Pharaoh how soon his proud stomach would come down; which was fulfilled Exodus 12:31, when Pharaoh became an humble supplicant to Moses to dep... [ Continue Reading ]