Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges · Exodus Capitolo 8

1. Go in unto Pharaoh] as Exodus 9:1, Exodus 10:1 (both J).

Thus saith, &c.] The terms of the demand, as in the other introductions of J (Exodus 8:20, Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13, Exodus 10:3; cf. Exodus 4:22-23, Exodus 7:16).

1–4. The announcement of the plague to the Pharaoh, from J.

1–15. The second plague. Frogs come up out of the Nile. The narrative consists of J and P only, without any traces of E.

2. And if thou refuse, &c.] The announcement to Pharaoh of what will follow, in case he refuses, as elsewhere in J (Exodus 8:21, Exodus 9:2, Exodus 10:4; cf. Exodus 9:17, Exodus 4:23).

borders] i.e. territory, as often: in J, here, Exodus 10:4; Exodus 10:14; Exodus 10:19, Exodus 13:7.

3. The frogs will not only swarm in the river, but fill every part of the houses in Egypt, and even climb up upon the person (v. 4).

frogs] except in the present context, mentioned in the OT. only Psalm 78:45; Psalm 105:30, with reference to this plague.

the house] read probably, with LXX. Sam., the houses.

upon thy people] read, with LXX., of thy people: ‘upon’ follows in v. 4.

ovens] The ‘oven’ (tannûr) was a portable earthenware stove, about 3 ft. high, of the shape of a truncated cone, heated by the burning embers being placed in it at the bottom. Ovens of this kind are still in use in the East. See DB. i. 318a; and, for an illustration, Whitehouse, Primer of Heb. Antiquities, p. 73. So Genesis 15:17 (‘furnace’), Leviticus 2:4 al.

kneading-bowls] not ‘troughs,’ but shallow wooden bowls, such as are still used for the purpose by the Arabs. So Exodus 12:34, Deuteronomy 28:5; Deuteronomy 28:17†.

5. Say unto Aaron] See on Exodus 7:19.

with thy rod] The rod which in P Aaron habitually carries (Exodus 7:9; Exodus 7:19, Exodus 8:16-17).

the streams] the Nile-canals, as Exodus 7:19. In J the frogs are to come up only out of the Nile (v. 3); in P they come up out of the other waters in Egypt as well (cf. v. 6).

5–7. The arrival of the frogs is described in an extract from P. As elsewhere in P (p. 55), the wonder is brought about by Aaron with is rod.

7. The magicians (Exodus 7:11; Exodus 7:22) do the same with their arts.

8–14. At the Pharaoh’s urgent request, and promise, if it be granted, that he will let the people go, the frogs die away off the land.

9. Have thou this glory] Heb. Deck or Glorify thyself (Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:3 : in a bad sense, vaunt oneself, Jdg 7:2, Isaiah 10:15), i.e. here. Have this glory or advantage over me, in fixing the time at which I shall ask for the plague to cease. Not so used elsewhere.

10. that thou mayest know, &c.] The removal of the plague at a time fixed by the Pharaoh himself should be conclusive evidence to him that it was sent by God. The words are intended to emphasize the religious lesson of the plague; cf. the similar sentences, Exodus 8:22 b, Exodus 9:14 b, Exodus 9:16 b, Exodus 9:29 b, Exodus 10:2 b, Exodus 11:7 b (all J); comp. on Exodus 9:14-16, and p. 56.

12. drought upon] appointed for, viz. as a sign. The marg. (referring the words to the promise of their removal, v. 10) is less probable.

14. gathered] better, piled: cf. Habakkuk 1:10 (‘heapeth up’).

15. that the respite had come] the respite (or relief, Esther 4:14; lit. open space, width), promised in v. 10 f.

he made his heart stubborn] The word used by J; cf. Exodus 7:14.

and hearkened not, &c.] The closing phrase, from P: notice exactly the same words in Exodus 7:13; and cf. p. 55.

Plagues of frogs in different places are mentioned by the classical writers; they are also not unknown in modern times (DB. iii. 890). In Egypt ‘each year the inundation brings with it myriads of frogs, which swarm along the banks of the river and canals, and fill the night air with continual croakings’ (Sayce, EHH. 168); similarly Seetzen and other travellers cited by Di. ‘Accordingly here also the Hebrew tradition simply describes a miraculously intensified form of a natural phaenomenon characteristic of the country. For the frogs come at the signal given by Aaron’s wonder-working rod, they climb up even into the houses, and they disappear, not, as happens now, by returning to the water, or being devoured by the ibis or other water-birds, but by dying immediately, in immense numbers, upon the land’ (Di.).

16. lice] Marg. gnats. The Heb. kinnîm or kinnâm occurs only Exodus 8:16-18, Psalm 105:31, and doubtfully in the sing. Isaiah 51:6; and it as been differently interpreted. Both the renderings here given are ancient: gnats are found in LXX. (σκνῖφες1[121]), Vulg. sciniphes; lice in Pesh. and Targ. (so Jos. Ant ii. 14. 3). Gnats, or, as we should say, mosquitos, are abundant in Egypt: they are generated from the water (which is full of their larvas); and in the autumn especially, when the Nile is still overflowing, and the rice-fields stand in water, they rise from it in such swarms that the air is sometimes darkened with them. Their sting occasions swelling and irritation; and the annoyance caused by them is often alluded to by travellers in Egypt. Lice, on the other hand, are nothing characteristic of Egypt. Hence most moderns (Ges., Keil, Dillm. &c.) agree that gnats is the most probable rendering. The gnats in Egypt often look like clouds of dust; accordingly, they are described here as produced from the dust.

[121] Philo (Vit. Mos., p. 97) describes the σκνῖφες as small insects, which not only pierced the skin, but also set up intolerable itching, and penetrated the ears and nostrils; and OriExo (Hom. in Exodus 4:6) as small stinging insects, i.e. mosquitos. Herodotus (ii. 95) also mentions how troublesome the κώνωπες, another species of gnat, were in Egypt.

16–19. The third plague. The dust of the land turned to gnats. Entirely P.

17. with his rod] See on v. 5.

18. This wonder the magicians (v. 7) were unable to imitate.

to bring forth] viz. from the earth.

19 This is the finger of God] i.e. the finger, or hand, of God is discernible here. The expression (though not in the same application), also, Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 9:10, Luke 11:20, and in the plural, Psalm 8:3.

The mosquito is so well known as a plague in Egypt, that it will not be necessary to add anything to what has been said about it on v. 16. The ‘gnats’ described here, however, differ from the mosquito in being produced, not from water, but from the dust; and also in their appearing miraculously, like the frogs, at a signal given by Aaron.

20. lo, he cometh forth to the water] cf. Exodus 7:1520–32. The fourth plague. The dog-fly. Entirely J.

20–23 The announcement of the plague. Cf Exodus 8:1-4.

21. swarms of flies] Heb. ‘ârôb,—except here and in the sequel, only Psalm 78:45; Psalm 105:31 (in allusions to this plague). ‘Ârôb might mean a mixture (cf. ‘çreb, Exo Exodus 12:38, a ‘mixed multitude’), and so possibly a swarm (AV. rightly kept ‘of flies’ in italics); but some definite insect is evidently meant; and it is best to suppose that the word, whatever its etymology may be1[122], denotes some particularly irritating kind of fly, LXX. κυνόμυια, or dog-fly: in Psalm 78:45 the ‘ârôb is said to have ‘eaten,’ or devoured, the Egyptians. Flies are a common pest in Egypt; swarms are often brought up by the S. wind, settling everywhere, filling the houses, irritating men and animals alike, and often carrying with them the germs of contagious diseases, especially ophthalmia, diphtheria, and (one kind) malignant pustules (Post in DB. ii. 25). In Isaiah 7:18 the ‘fly’ (the ordinary word) is a symbol for the Egyptian armies. The ‘dog-fly’ is described by Philo (Vit M. p. 101), who lived in Egypt, as a biting insect, attacking its victim with the force of a dart, and not desisting till it had had its fill of blood and flesh.

[122] The meaning ‘the sucker’ (Ges.), from an isolated sense, to ‘eat,’ of the Arab. ‘araba (which generally has very different meanings: Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 1991). is very uncertain.

22. ‘Such swarms may advance along particular lines, and so spare a given district. The promise here given may stand in some connexion with this fact’ (Di.).

sever] as Exodus 9:4, Exodus 11:7 (EVV. put a difference): both J.

the land of Goshen] to which, according to J, the Israelites were confined (Exodus 9:26; Genesis 45:10; Genesis 46:28 b, Genesis 46:29; Gen 46:34, Genesis 47:1; Genesis 47:4; Genesis 47:6; Genesis 47:27, Genesis 50:8 : all J); E pictures them as living side by side with the Egyptians (Exodus 3:22, Exodus 11:2). The site of Goshen has been fixed by recent discoveries. Ancient hieroglyphic lists of the ‘nomes’ of Egypt mention Kesem as the 20th nome of Lower Egypt, and state that its religious capital was P-sapṭ, i.e. the modern ‘Ṣafṭ el-Ḥenna,’ a village about 40 miles NE. of Cairo, the ancient name of which M. Naville ascertained in 1885, from inscriptions found on the spot, to be Kes. ‘Goshen’ (LXX. Γεσεμ) must thus have been the fertile district around Ṣafṭ, where the Wâdy Ṭumîlât opens out at its W. end towards Bubastis, ‘within the triangle lying between the villages of Ṣafṭ, Belbeis, and Tel el-Kebir’ (Naville), embracing an area of 60–80 sq. miles (Petrie, Sinai, p. 208), about 40–50 miles NE. of Cairo. The Wâdy Ṭumîlât is a narrow strip of cultivated soil stretching out, like an arm from the Delta (see the map), across the desert, about 50 miles NE. of Cairo, to Lake Timsâḥ: in pre-historic times, a branch of the Nile ran down it1[123], discharging its waters into a northern extension of the Gulf of Suez’ (see p. 126); within the historic period canals have been at different times constructed along it, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea (p. 4 n.); on each side of this strip of soil the country is desert, but the Wâdy itself is irrigated by a fresh water canal, and fertile: and the part of the Delta adjoining it on the W. (where ‘Goshen’ will have been) affords excellent arable land and pasture (cf. Dawson, Egypt and Syria, p. 55 f.). See further Goshen in DB. or EB.

[123] Borings revealed at the depth of 22ft. below the surface the shells of fresh-water mussels of species still living in the Nile (ZDPV. Exo 1885, p. 227).

On Kes, the ancient town of ‘Goshen,’ see Duncan, Exploration of Egypt and the OT. (1908), pp. 106 f., 113 ff.: few remains of it are now visible. The cemetery of Kes was excavated in 1905–6 by Petrie, and found by him to contain numerous tombs of the 18th and 19th dynasties; but the tombs, as the objects found in them shewed, were entirely those of Egyptians. If, therefore, as J represents (see esp. Genesis 46:34), the Israelites lived apart from the Egyptians, we must suppose that the Egyptians in Goshen lived only in the town, while the Israelites were in the country.

to the end … that, &c.] Cf. Exodus 8:10, with the references.

23. set redemption (RVm.) between, &c. A singular expression, interpreted to mean make a distinction by redeeming (‘redemption,’ as Isaiah 50:2, Psalm 111:9; Psalm 130:7†). There is probably some error in the text; perhaps make a severance (pelûth for pedûth) should be read.

to-morrow] Cf. Exodus 9:5-6; Exodus 9:18, Exodus 10:4; also Exodus 8:10; Exodus 8:29 (p. 56).

24. grievous] lit. heavy, combining, as Exodus 10:14, the ideas of both numerous (Exodus 12:38, Genesis 50:9, Heb.), and severe (Exodus 9:3; Exodus 9:18; Exodus 9:24). ‘Grievous’ is an archaism, meaning burdensome (ultimately from Lat. gravis1[124]): see DB. s.v.; and cf. Genesis 12:10 (AV.), Genesis 50:11, 2 Corinthians 12:14 AV. (RV. ‘be a burden to’)2[125].

[124] Cf. to grieve, i.e. originally to be a burden or trouble to, to harass (Genesis 49:23) from gravare.

[125] Murray quotes from a writer of 1548, ‘Ye shall be grievous to no man with begging’ (cf. the Glossary in the writer’s Jeremiah, p. 373).

and into, &c.] read probably, with LXX. Sam. Pesh., adding only one letter, but improving the sentence, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was, &c.

corrupted] rather, ruined,—by the suffering inflicted on men and cattle, and the interruption caused to daily occupations, &c. (v. 21).

25. in the land] i.e. in Egypt.

25–29. The Pharaoh, as before (v. 8), entreats for a removal of the plague. At first he will only give permission for the Israelites to hold their festival in Egypt; but afterwards, in consequence of Moses’ representations, he grants leave for a journey of three days in the wilderness.

26. Moses objects that, if they do this, they will arouse the religious susceptibilities of the Egyptians, and be in danger of their lives.

meet] i.e. suitable, proper; an archaism, not unfrequent in AV., RV.: see e.g. Genesis 2:18, Matthew 3:8 (AV.: RV. worthy), Exodus 15:26.

the abomination of the Egyptians] i.e. animals which the Egyptians deemed it unlawful to sacrifice, and the sacrifice of which would consequently shock them: as the cow (which was sacred to Isis), the bull (which, according to Hdt. ii. 41, was only sacrificed by them when it was ‘clean,’ i.e. free from the sacred marks of Apis), sheep at Thebes, and goats (according to Wiedemann, an error for rams) at Mendes: see Hdt. ii. 38, 41, 42, 46; cf. Wilk.-Birch, ii. Exo 460, iii. 108 f., 304 f.; Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buch, pp. 180–3, 187 f., 196 f., 218 f.

27. three days’ journey] as Exodus 3:18, Exodus 5:3.

28. The Pharaoh recognises the force of Moses’ argument, and grants the required permission: they are only not to go very far away.

29. to-morrow] Cf. v. 10; and on v. 23.

deal deceitfully] properly, mock (1 Kings 18:27), so as to deceive (Genesis 31:7, Jdg 16:10; Jdg 16:13; Jdg 16:15).

any more] as in v. 15, after the promise of v. 8.

30, 31. Cf. vv. 12, 13.

32. hardened his heart] Heb. made his heart heavy, i.e. stubborn, as v. 15a. See on Exodus 7:13.