Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 8:18
And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
18. This wonder the magicians ( v. 7) were unable to imitate.
to bring forth ] viz. from the earth.
19 This is the finger of God ] i.e. the finger, or hand, of God is discernible here. The expression (though not in the same application), also, Exo 31:18, Deu 9:10, Luk 11:20, and in the plural, Psa 8:3.
The mosquito is so well known as a plague in Egypt, that it will not be necessary to add anything to what has been said about it on v. 16. The ‘gnats’ described here, however, differ from the mosquito in being produced, not from water, but from the dust; and also in their appearing miraculously, like the frogs, at a signal given by Aaron.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 18. The magicians did so] That is, They tried the utmost of their skill, either to produce these insects or to remove this plague; but they could not, no juggling could avail here, because insects must be produced which would stick to and infix themselves in man and beast, which no kind of trick could possibly imitate; and to remove them, as some would translate the passage, was to their power equally impossible. If the magicians even acted by spiritual agents, we find from this case that these agents had assigned limits, beyond which they could not go; for every agent in the universe is acting under the direction or control of the Almighty.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Did so, i.e. endeavoured to do so. Thus to enter, Mat 7:13, is put for striving to enter, Luk 13:24. Thus men are said to deliver, Gen 37:21; to fight, Jos 24:9; to return, Jos 10:15; when they only attempted or endeavoured to do so. And therefore when it is said in any of the plagues that the magicians did so, it is not to be understood that they really did the same thing, but that they endeavoured to do so, and that they did something which looked like it.
It was as easy for them to produce lice as frogs, but God hindered them, partly to confound them and their devilish arts, and to show that what they did before was only by his permission; and partly to convince Pharaoh and the Egyptians of their vanity in trusting to such impotent magicians, and in opposing that God who could control and confound them when he pleased.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the magicians did so with their enchantments, to bring forth lice,…. They made use of their magical art, and juggling tricks they were masters of, to produce the like sort of creatures, or at least to make such appear, or seem to appear, to the eyes of men:
but they could not; God would not suffer them to do it, to impose upon Pharaoh, and deceive him and the Egyptians any longer; and a stop is put to them, when such small and despicable creatures were produced, the more to put them to shame and confusion, and to show that what they did before was not real, and that what they did in appearance was only by divine permission;
so there were lice upon man and upon beast; these lay in great numbers on both, biting and distressing them in a most terrible manner; for as the magicians could not produce such creatures, it was not in their power to remove them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ The magicians did so with their enchantments (i.e., smote the dust with rods), to bring forth gnats, but could not.” The cause of this inability is hardly to be sought for, as Knobel supposes, in the fact that “the thing to be done in this instance, was to call creatures into existence, and not merely to call forth and change creatures and things in existence already, as in the case of the staff, the water, and the frogs.” For after this, they could neither call out the dog-flies, nor protect their own bodies from the boils; to say nothing of the fact, that as gnats proceed from the eggs laid in the dust or earth by the previous generation, their production is not to be regarded as a direct act of creation any more than that of the frogs. The miracle in both plagues was just the same, and consisted not in a direct creation, but simply in a sudden creative generation and supernatural multiplication, not of the gnats only, but also of the frogs, in accordance with a previous prediction. The reason why the arts of the Egyptians magicians were put to shame in this case, we have to seek in the omnipotence of God, restraining the demoniacal powers which the magicians had made subservient to their purposes before, in order that their inability to bring out these, the smallest of all creatures, which seemed to arise as it were from the dust itself, might display in the sight of every one the impotence of their secret arts by the side of the almighty creative power of the true God. This omnipotence the magicians were compelled to admit: they were compelled to acknowledge, “ This is the finger of God.” “But they did not make this acknowledgment for the purpose of giving glory to God Himself, but simply to protect their own honour, that Moses and Aaron might not be thought to be superior to them in virtue or knowledge. It was equivalent to saying, it is not by Moses and Aaron that we are restrained, but by a divine power, which is greater than either ” ( Bochart). The word Elohim is decisive in support of this view. If they had meant to refer to the God of Israel, they would have used the name Jehovah. The “finger of God” denotes creative omnipotence (Psa 8:3; Luk 11:20, cf. Exo 31:18). Consequently this miracle also made no impression upon Pharaoh.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18. And the magicians did so. They “did” is here put for “they tried to do;” for they did not succeed, as presently appears. They are therefore said to have done, what they in vain attempted, or what they essayed, but without success. And in this way God took away from Pharaoh whatever excuse remained, under pretext of being deceived; for although he had previously himself sought for these deceptions, still his obstinacy was not without color of excuse, as long as the magicians rivaled Moses in the contention; but when he sees their art fail, he professedly sets himself in opposition to God. Although it was not with reference to him alone that God restrained these impostors, but He exposes them to the ridicule of all, in order to assert altogether for Himself alone the glory of perfect power. Hence we gather how well, according to His inestimable wisdom, He represses whatever license He for a time permits to the ministers of Satan; for when, by bearing with their audacity, He has sufficiently proved the faith of His people, He compels them to stop abruptly, as it were, that they may sink in confusion, and “proceed no further,” as Paul says, when recounting this history. (2Ti 3:9.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) The magicians did soi.e., tried to do sotook moist earth, and dried it, and pulverised it, and tried the effect of their magic charms upon it, but. failed to produce mosquitoes, as Aaron had done. Mosquitoes were things too delicate to be caught, and manipulated, and produced at a given moment by sleight-of-hand. The magicians tried to produce a counterfeit of the miracle, but could not. Then they excused themselves to their master with the words, This is the finger of a god.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. But they could not Here the magicians are baffled, and they can imitate these signs no further . In this the gradual advance is to be noted, and also in the fact that the stroke is much more severe . The Egyptians could keep away from the bloody river; the frogs came upon their tables and beds; but the loathsome lice feasted on their bodies.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 8:18. And the magicians did so, &c. This verse is not accurately translated. The clause at the end manifestly points out its true meaning, so there were lice upon man, and upon beast; indicating to us, what is the true sense of the passage, that the magicians endeavoured not to bring forth, but to draw off, or take away, the lice; which they were utterly unable to do: so the lice continued upon man and beast. The verse therefore should be rendered, and the magicians endeavoured, with their inchantments, to take away, or remove, the lice; and they could not: so there were lice upon man and upon beast. In which view the passage is plain, and the context clear; as this certainly was a reasonable trial of the magicians’ power, and, as we find, a trial which compelled them to acknowledge the finger of God, Exo 8:19. The LXX evidently lead to this translation which we have given: for they use the word , to remove or dispel. See Trommius’s Concordance. And the Chaldee, Syriac, and other versions have it, to draw off, expel. And, in this sense, all the speculations of commentators, why the magicians were not able to produce lice, as they had done frogs, &c. before, are vain and superfluous.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Let the Reader consult what was said on the 7th Verse, and now behold the Lord’s design in the permission. Gracious God! how dost thou compel thy very enemies to acknowledge thy sovereignty? Reader! shall not you and I? See Psa 64:5-10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 8:18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
Ver. 18. But they could not. ] Though they endeavoured it, as did the magician of Antwerp, who, being required by the English merchants there to play his feats and show his cunning, after much sweating and toil, when he saw that nothing could go forward, but that all his enchantments were void, was compelled openly to confess that there was some man there at supper which disturbed and hindered all his doings. This was Mr Tyndale the martyr, who, hearing of this magician, had desired certain of the merchants that he might be present to see him play, a &c.
a Act. and Mon., fol. 985.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
did so. Hebrew Idiom, attempted to do so.
they could not. Not because a question of life, for the frogs had life.
God suffered them to do so in the former cases to show the limits of their power; and, by contrast, to show that His power was unlimited.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the magicians: Exo 7:11
they could: Exo 9:11, Gen 41:8, Isa 19:12, Isa 47:12, Isa 47:13, Dan 2:10, Dan 2:11, Dan 4:7, Dan 5:8, Luk 10:18, 2Ti 3:8, 2Ti 3:9
Reciprocal: Exo 7:12 – but Aaron’s Mic 3:7 – the seers Act 8:9 – used 2Th 2:9 – and signs Rev 13:13 – he doeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 8:18. The magicians did so They also smote the dust of the earth to bring forth lice with their enchantments, but they could not Some have said that this verse is not accurately translated, and that the true sense of it is, that the magicians endeavoured not to bring forth, but to draw off, or take away, the lice. But surely they have affirmed this without having examined the original. The words , Lehoatsi eth hachinnim, signify to bring forth the lice, and not to take them away. Nor is the word , used by the LXX., at all inimical to this construction, signifying properly to bring out, or bring forth. So that the thing asserted, as commentators have generally understood, is, that the magicians could not produce lice, as they had frogs, much less could they take away those that God, by Moses, had produced. Now, as it surely was as easy to produce lice as frogs, from this it appeared by what power they had done the other two miracles; not by any virtue that was in their enchantments, but by a supernatural power which God had permitted Satan to give them, but the further operation of which he now thought proper to prevent, to show them that all their power, to whatever cause they might attribute it, was limited, and not to be compared with that of the God of Israel.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they {e} could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
(e) God confounded their wisdom and authority in a thing most vile.