Exodus 8:5

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, SAY UNTO AARON, STRETCH FORTH THINE HAND WITH THY ROD OVER THE STREAMS, OVER THE RIVERS, AND OVER THE PONDS, AND CAUSE FROGS TO COME UP UPON THE LAND OF EGYPT._ Stretch forth ... The miracle consisted in the reptiles leaving their marshes at the very time Aaron commanded them, as well as, on the assumption that they were Ranae Niloticae, in their leaving the waters and moist soils, and overspreading all parts of the country. The Hebrew word for frogs is in the singular, used collectively, and in the feminine gender....

5._And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron. _It is questionable whether God thus enjoined Moses in a continuous address, or whether He waited until Pharaoh contumaciously despised His command. It is probable, indeed, that after Pharaoh had paid no attention to the threats, the execution of the punishment was commanded. Meantime, we must recollect what I before said, that Moses moved not even a finger; but, as he had been commanded, transferred the active measures to his inferior minister, that thus Pharaoh might be treated more contemptuously. It was thus that he overwhelmed the whole land, as it were, by a breath. But although in this way God cast down the fierce tyrant in his swelling pride to be trampled beneath their feet, still the wickedness of the magicians did not rest. Thus was it requisite that the servants of God should be exercised by constant contests one after another...

1-15 Pharaoh is plagued with frogs; their vast numbers made them sore plagues to the Egyptians. God could have plagued Egypt with lions, or bears, or wolves, or with birds of prey, but he chose to do it by these despicable creatures. God, when he pleases, can arm the smallest parts of the creation against us. He thereby humbled Pharaoh. They should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep in quiet; but wherever they were, they should be troubled by the frogs. God's curse upon a man will pursue him wherever he goes, and lie heavy upon him whatever he does. Pharaoh gave way under this plague. He promises that he will let the people go. Those who bid defiance to God and prayer, first or last, will be made to see their need of both. But when Pharaoh saw there was respite, he hardened his heart. Till the heart is renewed by the grace of God, the thoughts made by affliction do not abide; the convict...

Verse Exodus 8:5. _STRETCH FORTH THINE HAND - OVER THE STREAMS, OVER THE_ _RIVERS_] The streams and rivers here may refer to the grand _divisions_ of the Nile in the Lower Egypt, which were at least _seven_, and to the _canals_ by which these were connected; as there were no other streams, c., but what proceeded from this great river....

EXPOSITION THE SECOND PLAGUE. After an interval which there are no means of estimating, the second plague followed the first. Again, while the main purpose of the plague was to punish the nation by which Israel had been so long oppressed, the secondary object of throwing contempt upon their, religion was main-rained. Frogs were among the Egyptian sacred animals. One of their deities, Heka, was a frog-headed goddess; and they seem to have regarded the frog as a sacred emblem of creative power. The great multiplication of frogs, whereby they became an annoyance and a curse, was a trial and strain to the entire Egyptian religious system. The Egyptians might not kill them; yet they destroyed all their comfort, all their happiness. Their animal-worship was thus proved absurd and ridiculous. They were obliged to respect the creatures which they hated—to preserve the animals they would fain hav...

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,.... By a secret impulse upon his mind, for he was now in the presence of Pharaoh, who had refused to let Israel go: SAY UNTO AARON, STRETCH FORTH THY HAND WITH THY ROD; for Aaron carried the rod, and he was the minister of Moses, who was appointed a god to him; and be was to speak and to do whatever he ordered him from the Lord: OVER THE STREAMS, OVER THE RIVERS AND OVER THE PONDS; the seven streams of the river of Nile, and over the canals cut out of it, and over all places where there was a collection of water for any use for man or beast: AND CAUSE FROGS TO COME UP UPON THE LAND OF EGYPT; out of the streams, rivers, and ponds, immediately....

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 ...

2°. FROGS SWARM FROM THE NILE (Exodus 8:1 J, Exodus 8:5 P, Exodus 8:8 a J, heart, Exodus 8:15 b P). Each year the inundation brings with it myriads of frogs (Sayce), amounting in certain years to a veritable plague, but they do not infest houses or die suddenly in heaps. In Exodus 8:3 they were to come upon the persons of the people, and into their earthenware stoves (ovens) and the shallow wooden bowls they used, as do the Arabs still, for kneading-troughs. When Pharaoh prays for relief, Moses concedes him the glory or ad vantage of naming the time when the pests should be remo

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 Text of EXODUS TRANSLATION 8 And Je-ho-vah spake unto Mo-ses, Go in unto Pha-raoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Je-ho-vah, Let my people go, that they may serve me. (2) And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: (3) and the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs: (4) and the frogs shall come up both upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. (5) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Say unto Aar-on, Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of E-gypt. (6) And Aar-on stretched out his hand over the waters of E-gypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of E...