Exodus 8:20--9:12
out <03318> [lo.]
people <05971> [Let my.]
swarms of flies ......................... flies <06157> [swarms. or, a mixture of noisome beasts, etc.]
The word {arov} is rendered [kunomwea,] kunomuia,] the dog-fly, by the LXX. (who are followed by the learned Bochart,) which must have been particularly hateful to the Egyptians, because they held dogs in the highest veneration, under which form they worshipped Anubis.
mark <06395> [sever.]
know <03045> [know.]
midst <07130> [midst.]
division <06304> [a division. Heb. a redemption.]
tomorrow <04279> [to-morrow. or, by to-morrow.]
came <0935> [there.]
land ..... land <0776> [the land.]
How intolerable a plague of flies can prove, is evident from the fact that whole districts have been laid waste by them. The inhabitants have been forced to quit their cities, not being able to stand against the flies and gnats with which they were pestered. Hence different people had deities whose office it was to defend them against flies. Among these may be reckoned Baalzebub, the fly-god of Ekron; Hercules, {muscarum abactor,} Hercules the expeller of flies; and hence Jupiter had the titles of [apomuios, muiagros, muiochoros,] because he was supposed to expel flies, and especially clear his temples of these insects. See Bryant.
ruined <07843> [corrupted. or destroyed.]
right <03559> [It is not.]
sacrifices ................... sacrifices <02076> [we shall.]
abomination ............ abomination <08441> [the abomination. i.e.,]
The animals which they worshipped; for an account of which, see note on ch. 9:3.
three-day <07969> [three days'.]
telling <0559> [as he shall.]
release <07971> [I will.]
pray <06279> [intreat.]
tomorrow <04279> [to-morrow.]
falsely <02048> [deal.]
[entreated.]
hand <03027> [the hand.]
plague <01698> [murrain.]
We may observe a particular scope and meaning in this calamity, if we consider it in regard to the Egyptians, which would not have existed in respect to any other people. They held in idolatrous reverence almost every animal, but some they held in particular veneration; as the ox, cow, and ram. Among these, {Apis} and {Mnevis} are well known; the former being a sacred bull, worshipped at Memphis, as the latter was at Heliopolis. A cow or heifer had the like honours at Momemphis; and the same practice seems to have been adopted in most of the Egyptian {nomes.} By the infliction of this judgment, the Egyptian deities sank before the God of the Hebrews. See Bryant, pp. 87-93.
appointed time <04150> [a set time.]
heart <03820> [the heart.]
Take handfuls <03947 02651> [Take to.]
This was a significant command; not only referring to the fiery furnace, which was a type of the slavery of the Israelites, but to a cruel rite common among the Egyptians. They had several cities styled Typhonian, in which at particular seasons they sacrificed men, who were burnt alive; and the ashes of the victim were scattered upwards in the air, with the view, probably, that where any atom of dust was carried, a blessing was entailed. The like, therefore, was done by Moses, though with a different intention, and more certain effect. See Bryant, pp. 93-106.
boils <07822> [a boil.]
boils <07822> [a boil.]
Hardness of heart is a figurative expression, denoting that insensibility of mind upon which neither judgments nor mercies make any abiding impressions; but the conscience being stupefied, the obdurate rebel persists in determined disobedience.
