_A PESTILENCE DESTROYS THE CATTLE OF THE EGYPTIANS: SORE BOILS AND BLAINS AFFLICT THEIR BODIES: DREADFUL STORMS OF HAIL AND THUNDER LAY WASTE THEIR FIELDS. PHARAOH RELENTS FOR A TIME, BUT SOON RETURNS TO HIS USUAL TEMPER._ _Before Christ 1491._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE LORD, &C.— The Lord here, as usual, denounces the threat, appoints the exact time of its execution, and, fully to demonstrate his immediate power and distinguishing mercy, declares that Israel, his people, should be exempt from it, while Egypt should feel the stroke, though their cattle, &c... [ Continue Reading ]
A VERY GRIEVOUS MURRAIN— דבר _deber,_ the same word as is used, Exodus 9:15 and rendered _pestilence;_ concerning which, see note on ch. Exodus 5:3. In 2 Samuel 24:14 _the pestilence_ is called _the hand of the Lord,_ as here; it being the usual language of sacred Scripture to ascribe to God such di... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE CATTLE OF EGYPT DIED— i.e. (as the context, and the subsequent part of the chapter, Exodus 9:19 shew) _all the cattle which died was of Egypt: but of the cattle of the children,_ &c. _died not one._ What a sight must this have been to the Egyptians——to see the _animals_ perishing by the... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE TO YOU HANDFULS OF ASHES, &C.— The matter of this plague, Ainsworth observes, is from the _fire;_ which also, being one of the elements which they deified, is here made the instrument of evil to them, and reclaimed by Jehovah to his service, in punishment of its deluded votaries, _the worshippe... [ Continue Reading ]
A BOIL BREAKING FORTH WITH BLAINS— This should be rendered, _an inflammation breaking forth into blains;_ for _blains_ generally arise from inflammations, and more usually break forth into boils, than boils into them: but if by _boil_ we understand, with Johnson, only _a sore angry swelling,_ it may... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAGICIANS COULD NOT STAND BEFORE MOSES, &C.— Baffled before, and wholly conquered, the magicians, it is probable, still continued about Pharaoh, and were eye-witnesses of the several transactions recorded: but now, to reduce them to the lowest contempt, and to deprive them of even the shadow of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I WILL AT THIS, &C.— The following translation of these verses, which is agreeable to Houbigant, will supersede all criticism, and render them extremely plain and intelligible: Exodus 9:13. _Let my people go, that they may serve me;_ 14. _Otherwise, I will at this time send all my plagues upon t... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD TO-MORROW ABOUT THIS TIME, &C.— The Almighty marks the time of this terrible event in the most exact manner, to shew his supremacy over all the parts of Nature; to shew that _fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy winds_ and thunders, were ready to _fulfil his word._ Psalms 148:8. The goodnes... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIRE RAN ALONG UPON THE GROUND— Like a fiery whirlwind, scorching up and beating down all before it. In the Wisdom of Solomon, Exodus 16:16 this plague is strongly described: "for the ungodly that denied to know thee were scourged by the strength of thine arm; with strange rains, hails, and show... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THERE WAS HAIL— _Universal_ hail, Exodus 9:25 demonstrative of its supernatural origin, as hail is generally _partial;_ more supernatural, as general in all parts of Egypt, except that where the children of Israel made their abode, see Exodus 9:26.; and still more supernatural, as _mingled with f... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAIL SMOTE—ALL THAT WAS IN THE FIELD, BOTH MAN AND BEAST— I do not apprehend it at all necessary to suppose, that _all_ the servants, and _all_ the cattle of the Egyptians, which were abroad at the time the hail fell which Moses threatened, and which was attended with thunder and lightning, _die... [ Continue Reading ]
MIGHTY THUNDERINGS— Margin of our Bibles_—Voices of God._ Thunder is called in Scripture, and with great propriety, _the voice of God: the voice of the Lord is in power, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty._ Psalms 29:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WERE SMITTEN— For the _flax was bolled,_ that is, was risen in stalk; and _the barley was in the ear._ Now, as this event happened in the month Abib, which answers to the latter end of our March and the beginning of April, we may hence learn the season of sowing and reaping t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY WERE NOT GROWN UP— Margin of our Bibles—_were hidden_ or _dark._ Bochart reads it, _for they were not yet eared._ Parkhurst, from Fuller, upon the word [אפל] _apel,_ observes, that _hidden,_ its true meaning, here signifies _concealed,_ or _involved in the hose_ or _blade:_ for Pliny inform... [ Continue Reading ]
HARDENED HIS HEART—THE HEART OF PHARAOH WAS HARDENED— In ch. Exodus 4:21 the Lord says, _I will harden his heart;_ and in the 1st verse of the next chapter, _I have hardened his heart:_ while in several other places, as well as in the present, this act is attributed to Pharaoh himself; and, certainl... [ Continue Reading ]