CHAPTER IX _The Lord sends Moses to Pharaoh to inform him that, if he did not_ _let the Israelites depart, a destructive pestilence should be sent_ _among his cattle_, 1-3; _while the cattle of the Israelites should be preserved_, 4. _The next day this pestilence, which was the_ fifth _plague,... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE_ FIFTH _PLAGUE _- _THE_ MURRAIN Verse Exodus 9:3. _THE HAND OF THE LORD_] The power of God manifested in judgment. _UPON THE HORSES_] סוסים _susim_. This is the first place the _horse_ is mentioned; a creature for which Egypt and Arabia were always famous. _sus_ is supposed to have the same m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:4. _THE LORD SHALL SEVER_] Exodus 8:22, Exodus 8:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:5. _TO-MORROW THE LORD SHALL DO THIS_] By thus foretelling the evil, he showed his prescience and power; and from this both the Egyptians and Hebrews must see that the mortality that ensued was no casualty, but the effect of a predetermined purpose in the Divine justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:6. _ALL THE CATTLE OF EGYPT DIED_] That is, All the cattle that did die belonged to the Egyptians, but not one died that belonged to the Israelites, Exodus 9:4; Exodus 9:6. That the whole stock of cattle belonging to the Egyptians did not die we have the fullest proof, because there... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:7. _AND PHARAOH SENT, C._] Finding so many of his own cattle and those of his subjects slain, he sent to see whether the mortality had reached to the cattle of the Israelites, that he might know whether this were a judgment inflicted by their God, and probably designing to replace the... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE_ SIXTH _PLAGUE - THE_ BOILS _AND_ BLAINS Verse Exodus 9:8. _HANDFULS OF ASHES OF THE FURNACE_] As one part of the oppression of the Israelites consisted In their labour in the brick-kilns, some have observed a congruity between the _crime_ and the _punishment_. The _furnaces_, in the labour of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:9. _SHALL BE A BOIL_] שחין _shechin_. This word is generally expounded, _an inflammatory swelling_, a _burning boil_; one of the most poignant afflictions, not immediately mortal, that can well affect the surface of the human body. If a single boil on any part of the body throws the w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:11. _THE BOIL WAS UPON THE MAGICIANS_] They could not produce a similar malady by throwing ashes in the air; and they could neither remove the plague from the people, nor from their own tormented flesh. Whether they perished in this plague we know not, but they are no more mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:15. _FOR NOW I WILL STRETCH OUT MY HAND_] In the Hebrew the verbs are in the _past_ tense, and not in the _future_, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text: for neither Pharaoh nor his people _were smitten by a pestilence_, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:16. _BUT TRULY, ON THIS VERY ACCOUNT, HAVE I CAUSED THEE TO_ SUBSIST, (העמדחיך heemadticha), _THAT I_ MIGHT _CAUSE THEE TO SEE_ _MY POWER_, (הראתך את כחי harotheca eth cochi), _AND THAT MY NAME_ MIGHT _BE DECLARED THROUGHOUT ALL THE EARTH_, (or, בכל הארץ _becol_ _haarets_, _in all_ TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:17. _AS YET EXALTEST THOU THYSELF AGAINST MY PEOPLE_] So it appears that at this time he might have submitted, and thus prevented his own destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE_ SEVENTH _PLAGUE - THE_ HAIL. Verse Exodus 9:18. _TO-MORROW ABOUT THIS TIME_] The time of this plague is marked thus circumstantially to show Pharaoh that Jehovah was Lord of heaven and earth, and that the _water_, the _fire_, the _earth_, and the _air_, which were all objects of Egyptian idol... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:19. _SEND - NOW, AND GATHER THY CATTLE_] So in the midst of judgment, God remembered mercy. The miracle should be wrought that they might know he was the Lord; but all the lives both of men and beasts might have been saved, had Pharaoh and his servants taken the warning so mercifully... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:23. _THE LORD SENT THUNDER_] קלת _koloth, voices_; but loud, repeated peals of thunder are meant. _AND THE FIRE RAN ALONG UPON THE GROUND_] ותהלך אש ארצה _vattihalac_ _esh aretsah, and the fire walked upon the earth_. It was not a sudden flash of lightning, but a devouring fire, _wal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:24. _HAIL, AND FIRE MINGLED WITH THE HAIL_] It is generally allowed that the electric fluid is essential to the formation of hail. On this occasion it was supplied in a supernatural abundance; for streams of fire seem to have accompanied the descending hail, so that herbs and trees, b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:26. _ONLY IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN - WAS THERE NO HAIL._] What a signal proof of a most particular providence! Surely both the Hebrews and Egyptians profited by this display of the _goodness_ and _severity_ of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:27. _THE LORD IS RIGHTEOUS, AND I AND MY PEOPLE ARE_ _WICKED._] The original is very emphatic: _The Lord is_ THE RIGHTEOUS ONE, (הצדיק _hatstaddik_), _and I and my people are_ THE SINNERS, (הרשעים _hareshaim_); i.e., He is _alone_ righteous, and we _alone_ are transgressors. Who could... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:28. _IT IS ENOUGH_] There is no need of any farther plague; I submit to the authority of Jehovah and will rebel no more. _MIGHTY THUNDERINGS_] כלת אלהים _koloth Elohim, voices of_ _God_; - that is, superlatively loud thunder. _So mountains of God_ (Psalms 36:6) means exceeding high... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:29. _I WILL SPREAD ABROAD MY HANDS_] That is, I will make _supplication_ to God that he may remove this plague. This may not be an improper place to make some observations on the ancient manner of approaching the Divine Being in prayer. _Kneeling down,_ _stretching out the hands_, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:31. _THE FLAX AND THE BARLEY WAS SMITTEN_] The word פשתה _pishtah, flax_, Mr. Parkhurst thinks, is derived from the root _pashat, to strip_, because the substance which we term _flax_ is properly the _bark_ or _rind_ of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immem... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:32. _BUT THE WHEAT AND THE RYE WERE NOT SMITTEN_] _Wheat_, _chittah_, which Mr. Parkhurst thinks should be derived from the Chaldee and Samaritan חטי _chati_, which signifies _tender_, _delicious, delicate_, because of the superiority of its _flavour_, c., to every other kind of grain... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:33. _SPREAD ABROAD HIS HANDS_] Probably with the rod of God in them. See what has been said on the _spreading out of the hands_ in prayer, Exodus 9:29. Exodus 9:29, Exodus 9:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:34. _HE SINNED YET MORE, AND HARDENED HIS HEART_] These were merely acts of his own; "for who can deny," says Mr. Psalmanazar, "that what God did on Pharaoh was much more proper to _soften_ than to _harden_ his heart; especially when it is observable that it was not till after seeing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 9:35. _AND THE HEART OF PHARAOH WAS HARDENED_] In consequence of his _sinning yet more, and hardening his_ own _heart_ against both the judgments and mercies of God, we need not be surprised that, after God had given him the means of softening and repentance, and he had in every instanc... [ Continue Reading ]