Exodus 7:14--8:19
Pharaoh's <06547> [Pharaoh's.]
refuses <03985> [he refuseth.]
out <03318> [he goeth.]
staff <04294> [the rod.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
people <05971> [Let my.]
serve <05647> [serve.]
know <03045> [thou shalt.]
turned <02015> [and they.]
Fish <01710> [the fish.]
<04714> [Egyptians.]
"The water of Egypt," says Abb‚ Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite, that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt." "A person," adds Mr. Harmer, "who never before heard of the deliciousness of the Nile water, and of the large quantities which on that account are drunk of it, will, I am sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never did before."
[shall loathe.]
stretch <05186> [stretch.]
reservoirs <04723> [their pools. Heb. gathering of their waters.]
raised <07311> [he lifted.]
water ................... water <04325> [all the waters.]
As the Nile was held sacred by the Egyptians, as well as the animals it contained, to which they annually sacrificed a girl, or as others say, both a boy and girl, God might have designed this plague as a punishment for such idolatry and cruelty; and to shew them the baseness of those elements which they reverenced, and the insufficiency of the gods in which they trusted. All the punishments brought upon them bore a strict analogy to their crimes.
The first miracle of Christ turned water into wine, the first plague upon Egypt turned all their water into blood.
magicians <02748> [magicians.]
Pharaoh's <06547> [and Pharaoh's.]
Lord <03068> [as the.]
pay <07896> [neither.]
could <03201> [for they.]
Go ........... Release <0935 07971> [Go.]
people <05971> [Let my.]
refuse <03986> [refuse.]
frogs <06854> [frogs.]
The Hebrew {tzephardˆim} is evidently the same with the Arabic {zafda,} Chaldaic {oordeƒnaya,} and Syriac {oordeai,} all of which denote frogs, as almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree to render it; Bochart conceives, from {tzifa,} a bank, and {radƒ,} mud, because of delighting in muddy and marshy places.
kneading troughs <04863> [kneading troughs. or, dough.]
frogs <06854> [and the frogs.]
Whether the frog among the Egyptians was an object of reverence or abhorrence is uncertain. It might have been both at the same time, as many objects are known to have been among particular nations; for proof of which see the very learned Jacob Bryant, on the Plagues of Egypt, pp. 31-34.
Pray <06279> [Intreat.]
people ....... people <05971> [and I will.]
honor .... when <06286 04970> [Glory over me. or, Have this honour over me.]
when <04970> [when. or, against when. to destroy. Heb. to cut of.]
Tomorrow <04279> [To-morrow. or, against to-morrow.]
Lord <03068> [there is none.]
land <0776> [and the.]
saw <07200> [saw.]
hardened <03513> [he hardened.]
Extend <05186> [Stretch.]
gnats <03654> [lice.]
The word {kinnim} is rendered by the LXX. [skiphes, skipes,] or [skn‚phes,] and by the Vulgate {sciniphes,} Gnats; and Mr. Harmer supposes he has found out the true meaning in the word {tarrentes,} a species of worm. Bochart, however, seems to have proved that lice, and not gnats, are meant; because, 1. they sprang from the dust, and not from the waters; 2. they were on both man and beast, which cannot be said of gnats; 3. their name is derived from {koon,} to make firm, fix, establish, which cannot agree with gnats, flies, etc., which are ever changing place, and almost constantly on the wing; 4. the term {kinnah} is used by the Talmudists to express the louse. This insect must have been a very dreadful and afflicting plague to the Egyptians, and especially to the priests, who were obliged to shave all their hair off, and to wear a single linen tunic, to prevent vermin harbouring about them.
gnats ... people ............ gnats <0120 03654> [lice in man.]
magicians <02748> [the magicians.]
could <03201> [they could.]
finger <0676> [This is.]
Pharaoh ......... Pharaoh's <06547> [and Pharaoh's.]
