Exodus 9:9

become fine dust, &c. i.e. be dispersed in the air over the whole land in the shape of fine dust, which settling down on men and cattle, will produce boils. For "âbâḳ, fine, flying dust, cf. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 29:5.

a boil, breaking out(Leviticus 13:12; Leviticus 13:20; Leviticus 13:25) into blains, or pustules. Blainis still -commonly used in the West Riding to denote a large pustule or boil" (Aldis Wright, Bible Word-Book). Wycliffe uses the word of Job's -boil" (Job 2:7). The Heb. for -boil," as the cognate languages shew, in which the root signifies to be hot, means an inflamed spot: it is mentioned also in Leviticus 13:18-20 (a symptom of elephantiasis), 23 (a common ulcer), Deuteronomy 28:27 (the -boil of Egypt"), 35, 2 Kings 20:7 = Isaiah 38:12; Job 2:7 †. Cutaneous eruptions, of various kinds, are common in Egypt (cf. Dt. l.c.): we cannot say exactly what kind is here meant. Di. after Kn. thinks of the Nilescab, an irritating eruption, consisting of innumerable little red blisters, which is frequent in Egypt at about the time when the Nile begins to rise in June, and often remains for some weeks upon those whom it attacks (Seetzen was attacked in this way two years running, iii. 204 f., 209, 377): it is attributed either to the unhealthy condition of the water at the time (cf. on Exodus 7:23), or to the excessive heat. It is not known to attack animals; but that is no objection to its being intended, in what is represented by the writer as miraculous.