Exodus 8:24

_AND THE LORD DID SO; AND THERE CAME A GRIEVOUS SWARM OF FLIES INTO THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH, AND INTO HIS SERVANTS' HOUSES, AND INTO ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT: THE LAND WAS CORRUPTED BY REASON OF THE SWARM OF FLIES._ The land was corrupted - or laid waste; because this prodigious swarm of flies not only afflicted the people by their sharp and inflammatory stings, but by the deposit of innumerable ova devoured the land (Psalms 78:45)....

20-32 Pharaoh was early at his false devotions to the river; and shall we be for more sleep and more slumber, when any service to the Lord is to be done? The Egyptians and the Hebrews were to be marked in the plague of flies. The Lord knows them that are his, and will make it appear, perhaps in this world, certainly in the other, that he has set them apart for himself. Pharaoh unwillingly entered into a treaty with Moses and Aaron. He is content they should sacrifice to their God, provided they would do it in the land of Egypt. But it would be an abomination to God, should they offer the Egyptian sacrifices; and it would be an abomination to the Egyptians, should they offer to God the objects of the worship of the Egyptians, namely, their calves or oxen. Those who would offer acceptable sacrifice to God, must separate themselves from the wicked and profane. They must also retire from th...

Verse Exodus 8:24. _THE LAND WAS CORRUPTED_] Every thing was spoiled, and many of the inhabitants destroyed, being probably stung to death by these venomous insects. This seems to be intimated by the psalmist, "He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which DEVOURED them," Psalms 78:45. In ancient times, when political, domestic, and personal cleanliness was but little attended to, and offal of different kinds permitted to corrupt in the streets and breed vermin, flies multiplied exceedingly, so that we read in ancient authors of whole districts being laid waste by them; hence different people had deities, whose office it was to defend them against flies. Among these we may reckon _Baalzebub_, the _fly-god_ of Ekron; _Hercules, muscarum abactor_, Hercules, the expeller o

EXPOSITION THE FOURTH PLAGUE. It has been noticed that—setting apart the last and most terrible of the plagues, which stands as it were by itself—the remainder divide themselves into three groups of three each—two in each group coming with a warning, and the third without. (See Exodus 8:16; Exodus 9:8; Exodus 10:21.) In other respects, no great regularity is observable. There is a general principle of increasing severity in the afflictions, but it does not obtain throughout the entire series. The first three caused annoyance, rather than actual injury, either to persons or property. Of the next three, two were upon property, one upon both property and person ...

AND THE LORD DID SO,.... And this he did immediately of himself without any means; not by the rod of Aaron, to let the Egyptians see that there was nothing in that rod, that it had no magic virtue in it, and what was done by it was from the Lord himself, who could as well inflict plagues without it as with it; see Psalms 105:31 and there came a grievous swarm of flies; or a "heavy" q one, which was both very numerous, and very troublesome and distressing: INTO THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH, AND INTO THE HOUSES OF HIS SERVANTS, AND INTO ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT: into the palace of Pharaoh, and into the palaces of his nobles, ministers, and courtiers, and into the dwelling places of all his subjects, throughout the whole land, excepting the land of Goshen: THE LAND WAS CORRUPTED BY REASON OF THE SWARM OF FLIES; Josephus r says, the land lay neglected and uncultiv

CHAPTER 8 THE SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH PLAGUES _ 1. The demand and the plague of frogs announced (Exodus 8:1)_ 2. The plague executed (Exodus 8:5) 3. The request of Pharaoh and the frogs removed (Exodus 8:8) 4. The divine command for the third plague (Exodus 8:16) 5. The plague executed (Exodus 8:17) 6. The confession of the magicians (Exodus 8:18) 7. The renewed demand and the plague of the flies announced ...

EXODUS 7:14 TO EXODUS 12:36. THE TEN PLAGUES. How deeply this series of events imprinted itself on the mind and heart of the nation is shown by the fulness with which the three sources report them. J 1° 2° 4° 5° 7° 8° 9° 10° E 1° 7° 8° 9° 10° P 1° 2° 3° 6° 10° 1°, river turned to blood; 2°, frogs; 3°, fice (gnats); 4°, flies; 5°, murrain; 6°, boils; 7°, hail; 8°, locusts; 9°, darkness; 10°, death of firstborn. A sound historical judgment will conclude, both from this fact and from the nature of the occurrences mentioned, as well as from the need for _some_ such group of causes to account for the escape of the tribes, that the traditions have a firm foothold in real events. But since not less than four centuries intervened between the events and the earliest of our sources, it is not to b

INTO. This word, in italics, is. special reading called _Sevir._ See App-34. AND. This is omitted in the readings called _Sevir._ the land. Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint read "and the land". CORRUPTED. laid waste....

Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 11:5 _The first nine Plagues_ The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding Chapter s, is composite. The details of the analysis depend partly upon literary criteria, partly upon differences in the representation, which are not isolated, but recurrent, and which moreover _accompany_the literary differences and support the conclusions based upon them, the differences referred to often also agreeing remarkably with corresponding differences in the parts of the preceding narrative, especially in Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 7:13, which have already, upon independent grounds, been assigned to P, J, and E, respectively. N

THE LAND WAS CORRUPTED— Le Clerc understands the expression, _the land was corrupted_ of the _flesh_ and other _eatables_ in the land; which, these vermin having preyed upon and fly-blown, bred maggots, stench, and putrefaction. Bochart understands it of the _inhabitants_ of the land. The original word signifies _to destroy_ or _spoil,_ as well as _to corrupt;_ so that we may imagine the air was infected, and many of the people poisoned and stung to death by them. The Psalmist says, these flies _devoured_ them, Psalms 78:45. Heathen historians have recorded facts something similar to the plagues of frogs and flies. Pliny mentions a city in France which was of old depopulated by frogs. And that whole countries have been infested with flies, appears from the number of gods which were worshipped, because they were supposed to have driven them away. Baalze