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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 10:1

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And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him:

1a. Go in unto Pharaoh ] as before in J: Exo 8:1, Exo 9:1.

1b, 2. Explanation to Moses of the reason of the command. In previous cases the command to go in to the Pharaoh is followed at once by the words, and say unto him, and the demand for the release of the people (Exo 8:1; Exo 8:20, Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13); and it is possible that Di. and others are right in regarding vv. 1b, 2 as a didactic addition (similar to Exo 9:14-16) made by the compiler of JE, who at the same time substituted at the beginning of v. 3 ‘And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him’ for an original ‘and say unto him’ (the direct sequel to v. 1a ‘Go in unto Pharaoh’). It may be noticed that in v. 6 ‘And he (i.e. Moses) turned,’ at the end of the interview with Pharaoh, rather suggests that, in accordance with the command in v. 1, but against v. 3 as it at present stands, originally Moses alone ‘went in’ to Pharaoh.

1b. for I (emph.) have hardened ] Heb. made heavy, the term used by J (see on Exo 7:13).

shew ] Heb. put: cf. the synonym, sm, ‘set,’ in v. 2.

signs ] cf. v. 2, Exo 7:3 (P), Exo 8:23 (J), Num 14:11; Num 14:22 (JE), and often in Dt. (Deu 4:34, Deu 6:22 al.); see p. 59. The thought, as Exo 9:16.

of them ] Heb. of it, i.e. of the people of Egypt (Exo 3:20), which, however, has not been previously mentioned. ‘Them’ is right (so LXX. Pesh. Onk.); but it implies a change of text ( for ).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1 20. The eighth plague. The locusts. From J, with short passages from E.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Chapters Exo 7:14 to Exo 11:5

The first nine Plagues

The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding chapters, 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 Exo 3:1 to Exo 7:13, which have already, upon independent grounds, been assigned to P, J, and E, respectively. No one source, however, it should be premised, in the parts of it that have been preserved, gives all the plagues.

The parts belonging to P are most readily distinguished, viz. (after Exo 7:8-13) Exo 7:19-20 a, 21b 22, Exo 8:5-7; Exo 8:15 b 19, Exo 9:8-12, Exo 11:9-10: the rest of the narrative belongs in the main to J, the hand of E being hardly traceable beyond Exo 7:15; Exo 7:17 b, 20 b, Exo 9:22-23 a, 31 32 (perhaps), 35a, Exo 10:12-13 a, 14 a, 15 b, 20, 21 23, 27, Exo 11:1-3.

Putting aside for the present purely literary differences, we have thus a threefold representation of the plagues, corresponding to the three literary sources, P, J, and E, of which the narrative is composed. The differences relate to not less than five or six distinct points, the terms of the command addressed to Moses, the part taken by Aaron, the demand made of the Pharaoh, the use made of the rod, the description of the plague, and the formulae used to express the Pharaoh’s obstinacy. Thus in P Aaron co-operates with Moses, and the command is Say unto Aaron (Exo 7:19, Exo 8:5; Exo 8:16; so before in Exo 7:9: even in Exo 9:8, where Moses alone is to act, both are expressly addressed); there is no interview with the Pharaoh, so that no demand is ever made for Israel’s release; the descriptions are brief; except in Exo 9:10, Aaron is the wonder-worker, bringing about the result by stretching out his rod at Moses’ direction (Exo 7:19, Exo 8:5 f., 16 f.; cf. Exo 7:9); the wonders wrought (‘signs and portents,’ Exo 7:3: P does not speak of them as ‘plagues’) are intended less to break down the Pharaoh’s resistance than to accredit Moses as Jehovah’s representative; they thus take substantially the form of a contest with the native magicians, who are mentioned only in this narrative (Exo 7:11 f., 22, Exo 8:7; Exo 8:18 f., Exo 9:11), and who at first do the same things by their arts, but in the end are completely defeated; the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is expressed by za izz ( was strong, made strong), Exo 7:22, Exo 8:19, Exo 9:12, Exo 11:10 (Son 7:13), and the closing formula is, and he hearkened not unto them, as Jehovah had spoken, Exo 7:22, Exo 8:15 b, 19, Exo 9:12 (Son 7:13). In J, on the contrary, Moses one (without Aaron) is told to go in before the Pharaoh, and he addresses the Pharaoh himself (in agreement with Exo 4:10-16, where Aaron is appointed to be Moses’ spokesman not with Pharaoh, as in P, but with the people), Exo 7:14-16, Exo 8:1; Exo 8:9-10; Exo 8:20; Exo 8:26; Exo 8:29, Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13; Exo 9:29, Exo 10:1; Exo 10:9; Exo 10:25, Exo 11:4-10 [116] ; a formal demand is regularly made, Let my people go, that they may serve me, Exo 7:16, Exo 8:1; Exo 8:20, Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13, Exo 10:3 (comp. before, Exo 4:23); the interview with the Pharaoh is prolonged, and described in some detail; Jehovah Himself brings the plague, after it has been announced by Moses, usually on the morrow, Exo 8:23, Exo 9:5 f., 18, Exo 10:4, without any mention of Aaron or his rod; sometimes the king sends for Moses and Aaron to crave their intercession, Exo 8:8; Exo 8:25, Exo 9:27, Exo 10:16; the plague is removed, as it is brought, without any human intervention; the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is expressed by kbd, hikbd ( was heavy, made heavy), Exo 7:14, Exo 8:15; Exo 8:32, Exo 9:7; Exo 9:34, Exo 10:1; and there is no closing formula: J also, unlike both P and E, represents the Israelites as living apart from the Egyptians, in the land of Goshen, Exo 8:22, Exo 9:26 (so before, Gen 45:10; Gen 46:28 f., &c.). The narrative generally is written (just as it is in Genesis, for instance) in a more picturesque and varied style than that of P; there are frequent descriptive touches, and the dialogue is abundant.

[116] Aaron, if he appears at all, is only Moses’ silent companion, Exo 8:8; Exo 8:12 (see vv. 9, 10), 25 (see vv. 26, 29), Exo 9:27 (see v. 29), Exo 10:8 (see v. 9). In Exo 10:3 it is doubtful if the plural, ‘and they said,’ is original: notice in v. 6b ‘and he turned.’

Some other, chiefly literary, characteristics of J may also be here noticed: refuseth ( ), esp. followed by to let the people go, Exo 7:14, Exo 8:2, Exo 9:2, Exo 10:3-4 (so before Exo 4:23); the God of the Heb 7:16 ; Heb 9:1 ; Heb 9:13 ; Heb 10:3 (so Exo 3:18; Exo 5:3); Thus saith Jehovah, said regularly to Pharaoh, Exo 7:17, Exo 8:1; Exo 8:20, Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13, Exo 10:3, Exo 11:4 (so Exo 4:22); behold with the participle (in the Heb.) in the announcement of the plague Exo 7:17, Exo 8:2; Exo 8:21, Exo 9:3; Exo 9:18, Exo 10:4 (so Exo 4:23); border, Exo 8:2, Exo 10:4; Exo 10:14; Exo 10:19; thou, thy people, and thy servants, Exo 8:3, Exodus 4, 9, 11, 21, 29, Exo 9:14 (see the note), cf. Exo 10:6; to intreat, Exo 8:8-9; Exo 8:28-29, Exo 9:28, Exo 10:17; such as hath not been, &c. Exo 9:18 b, 24 b, Exo 11:6 b, cf. Exo 10:6 b, 14 b; to sever, Exo 8:22, Exo 9:4, Exo 11:7; the didactic aim or object of the plague (or circumstance attending it) stated, Exo 7:17 a, Exo 8:10 b, 22 b, Exo 9:14 b, 16 b, 29 c, Exo 10:2 b, Exo 11:7 b.

The narrative of E has been only very partially preserved; so it is not possible to characterize it as fully as those of P or J. Its most distinctive feature is that Moses is the wonder-worker, bringing about the plague by his rod (in agreement with Exo 4:17; Exo 4:20 b, where it is said to have been specially given to him by God), Exo 7:15 b, 17 b, 20 b, Exo 9:23 a, Exo 10:13 a (cf. afterwards, Exo 14:16, Exo 17:5; Exo 17:9); only in the case of the darkness (Exo 10:21 f.) does he use his hand for the purpose. This feature differentiates E from both P (with whom the wonder-working rod is in Aaron’s hand), and J (who mentions no rod, and represents the plague as brought about directly, after Moses’ previous announcement of it, by Jehovah Himself). E uses the same word be or make strong, for ‘harden,’ that P does, but he follows the clause describing the hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart by the words, and he did not let the children of Israel (or them) go, Exo 9:35 (contrast J’s phrase, v. 34b), Exo 10:20; Exo 10:27 (cf. Exo 4:21 E). He also pictures the Israelites, not, as J does, as living apart in Goshen, but as having every one an Egyptian ‘neighbour’ (Exo 3:2, Exo 11:2, Exo 12:35 f.), and consequently as settled promiscuously among the Egyptians.

The scheme, or framework, of the plagues, as described by P, J, and E, is thus suggestively exhibited by Bntsch:

In P we have

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod , and there shall be. And they did so: and Aaron stretched out his rod, and there was. And the magicians did so ( or could not do so) with their secret arts. And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; and he hearkened not unto them, as Jehovah had spoken.

J’s formula is quite different

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold I will. And Jehovah did so; and there came ( or and he sent, &c.). And Pharaoh called for Moses, and said unto him, Entreat for me, that. And Jehovah did so , and removed. But Pharaoh made his heart heavy, and he did not let the people go.

The formula of E is again different

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth thy hand (with thy rod) toward , that there may be. And Moses stretched forth his hand ( or his rod) toward , and there was. But Jehovah made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

It has long since been remarked by commentators that the plagues stand in close connexion with the actual conditions of Egypt; and were in fact just miraculously intensified forms of the diseases or other natural occurrences to which Egypt is more or less liable (see particulars in the notes on the different plagues). They were of unexampled severity; they came, and in some cases went, at the announcement, or signal, given by one of the Hebrew leaders; one followed another with unprecedented swiftness; in other respects also they are represented as having an evidently miraculous character.

What judgement, however, are we to form with regard to their historical character? The narratives, there are strong reasons for believing, were written long after the time of Moses, and do not do more than acquaint us with the traditions current among the Hebrews at the time when they were written: we consequently have no guarantee that they preserve exact recollections of the actual facts. That there is no basis of fact for the traditions which the narratives incorporate is in the highest degree improbable: we may feel very sure of this, and yet not feel sure that they describe the events exactly as they happened. ‘As the original nucleus of fact,’ writes Dillm. (p. 66 f., ed. 2, p. 77), ‘we may suppose that at the time of Israel’s deliverance Egypt was visited by various adverse natural occurrences, which the Israelites ascribed to the operation of their God, and by which their leaders, Moses and Aaron, sought to prove to the Egyptian court the superiority of their God above the king and gods of Egypt; it must however be admitted that in the Israelitish story ( Sage) these occurrences had for long been invested with a purely miraculous character. And if all had once been lifted up into the sphere of God’s unlimited power, the compiler could feel no scruple in combining the different plagues mentioned in his sources into a series of ten, in such a manner as to depict, in a picture drawn with unfading colours, not only the abundance of resources which God has at His disposal for helping His own people, and humiliating those who resist His will, but also the slow and patient yet sure steps with which He proceeds against His foes, and the growth of evil in men till it becomes at last obstinate and confirmed.’ The real value of the narratives, according to Dillmann, is thus not historical, but moral and religious. And from these points of view their typical and didactic significance cannot be overrated. The traditional story of the contest between Moses and the Pharaoh is applied so as to depict, to use Dillmann’s expression, ‘in unfading colours,’ the impotence of man’s strongest determination when it essays to contend with God, and the fruitlessness of all human efforts to frustrate His purposes.

Dr Sanday, whose historical bias, if he has one, always leads him to conservative conclusions, has expressed himself recently on the subject, in an essay on the Symbolism of the Bible, in words which are well worth quoting: ‘The early chapters of Genesis are not the only portion of the Pentateuchal history to which I think that we may rightly apply the epithet “symbolical.” Indeed I suspect that the greater part of the Pentateuch would be rightly so described in greater or less degree. The narrative of the Pentateuch culminates in two great events, the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai. What are we to say of these? Are they historical in the sense in which the Second Book of Samuel is historical? I think we may say that they are not. If we accept as I at least feel constrained to accept at least in broad outline the critical theory now so widely held as to the composition of the Pentateuch, then there is a long interval, an interval of some four centuries or more, between the events and the main portions of the record as we now have it. In such a case we should expect to happen just what we find has happened. There is an element of folk-lore, of oral tradition insufficiently checked by writing. The imagination has been at work.

‘If we compare, for instance, the narrative of the Ten Plagues with the narrative of the Revolt of Absalom, we shall feel the difference. The one is nature itself, with all the flexibility and easy sequence that we associate with nature. The other is constructed upon a scheme which is so symmetrical that we cannot help seeing that it is really artificial. I do not mean artificial in the sense that the writer, with no materials before him, sat down consciously and deliberately to invent them in the form they now have; but I mean that, as the story passed from mouth to mouth, it gradually and almost imperceptibly assumed its present shape’ ( The Life of Christ in recent Research, 1907, p. 18f.).

The ‘Plagues’ are denoted by the following terms:

(1) maggphh, properly a severe blow, Exo 9:14 J (see the note).

(2) nga‘, a heavy touch or stroke, Exo 11:1 E (see the note).

(3) ngeph (cognate with No. 1), a severe blow, Exo 12:13 P (by implication, of the tenth plague only).

Nos 2 and 3 of these are rendered in LXX. , and Nos. 1, 2, 3 in the Vulg. plaga: hence the Engl. plague.

They are also spoken of as:

(4) ’thth, signs, LXX. (proofs of God’s power), Exo 8:23 J, Exo 10:1-2 J or the compiler of JE, Exo 7:3 P; probably also in Exo 4:17; Exo 4:28 E. Cf. Num 14:11; Num 14:22 (JE); also in the NT.

In Exo 4:8-9; Exo 4:30 (all J) the same word is used, not of the ‘plagues,’ but of ‘signs’ to be wrought, or, in v. 30, actually wrought, before the Pharaoh, to accredit Moses, as Jehovah’s representative. In Exo 4:17; Exo 4:28, the reference might be similarly, not to the ‘plagues,’ but to the antecedent credentials, to be given by Moses.

(5) mphthim, portents, LXX. (unusual phaenomena, arresting attention, and calling for explanation: see on Exo 4:21; and cf. Act 2:43, &c.), Exo 7:3, Exo 11:9-10 (all P); also, probably, Exo 4:21 E.

In Exo 7:9 P the same word is used, not of one of the ‘plagues,’ but of the preliminary portent of Aaron’s rod becoming a serpent, wrought before Pharaoh.

(6) niphl’th, wonders or marvels (extraordinary phaenomena), Exo 3:20 J.

N.B. In EVV., No. 5 is in Ex. confused with No. 6; elsewhere in the OT. it is confused with both No. 4 and No. 6 (cf. on Exo 4:21).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Exo 10:1-2

Show these My signs.

How God hardened Pharaohs heart

I. By a manifestation of rich mercy, which ought to have melted the heart of the king.

II. By a manifestation of great power, which ought to have subdued the heart of the king.

III. By a manifestation of severe justice, which might have rebuked the heart of the king.

IV. By sending His servants to influence the heart of the king to the right. God did not harden Pharaohs heart by a sovereign decree, so that he could not obey His command; but by ministries appropriate to salvation, calculated to induce obedience–the constant neglect of which was the efficient cause of this sad moral result.

Lessons:

1. That man has the ability to resist the saving ministries of heaven.

2. That when man resists the saving ministries of heaven he becomes hard in heart.

3. That hardness of heart is itself a natural judgment from God.

4. That hardness of heart will finally work its own ruin. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

God sends His minister to hardened souls

1. Often.

2. Mercifully.

3. Uselessly.

4. Significantly.

5. Disastrously. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Hardened sinners

1. In companies.

2. Patterns of judgments.

3. Tokens of indignation.

4. The cause of plagues.

5. The curse of the world.

6. Still followed by the minister of God. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The signs of God to the generations of the future

I. That God is supreme over the kingdom of nature. Science places the natural universe under the command of man. This is the Divine ordination. But mans power over nature is derived; Gods is underived and independent. Hence–

1. He can inflict pain on the wicked.

2. He can protect the good from harm.

3. He can send famine or plenty.

II. That God is supreme over the cunning and power of the devil. The magicians of Egypt were agents of the devil. They were inspired by him in their opposition to Moses and Aaron. They were aided by his cunning. Their defeat was his defeat also.

1. God can deliver men from the power of the devil.

2. God can destroy the works of the devil.

3. God can frustrate the designs of the devil.

Teach this blessed truth and glorious fact to the youthful: that the good agencies of the universe are more potent than the bad. This will lead youthhood to confide in God.

III. That goodness is happiness, and that conflict with God is the misery of man. Lessons:

1. That in the lives of individuals we have signs of God.

2. That all the signs of God in human life are to be carefully noted and taught to the young.

3. That all the signs of life are evidence of the Divine supremacy. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The ministry of sin

God makes Pharaoh to stand for the benefit of Israel, and in them for the benefit of humanity. It was for Pharaoh in the first instance to resist Divine light and grace, and oppress Israel; it was then for God to economise the tyrant and his wrath. The conduct of the Egyptian king served–

I. To reveal God. That ye may know how that I am the Lord. Pharaohs perverseness revealed all the more fully–

1. The Divine love.

2. The Divine righteousness.

3. The Divine power.

II. To further the interests of Israel. God overrules sin to high and happy issues. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Transmitting the knowledge of the true God

I. Jehovah made himself known to the Israelites in Egypt as the only true God by signs. His wondrous acts revealed His supremacy. Christ is the fullest revelation of the true God.

II. That this knowledge is to be transmitted from generation to generation. Parental influence the most potent in telling of Gods acts. No lips teach like the lips of loving authority. Some parents neglect this solemn duty. Ever ready to speak about worldly enterprises, the acts of great men, their own; but they are silent about Gods. Such neglect is ruinous to their children and dishonouring to God.

III. In the transmission of the knowledge, of the true God is the hope of the world. Wherever the knowledge of the true God prevails, righteousness and peace are found. Idolatry has ever been the bane of mankind. A false conception of God debases. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

By signs

1. Showing the woe of sin.

2. The folly of human malice.

3. The justice of God.

4. The safety of the Church. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The signs

1. Their nature.

2. Their locality.

3. Their design. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The Divine supremacy

1. Rejected by the proud.

2. Received by the good.

3. Revealed by the works of God.

4. To be acknowledged by all. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The plagues

So, allowing all that may be called romantic, supernatural, to fall off from this story of the plagues, there remains all that God wanted to remain–three things:–First, the assertion of the Divine right in life. God cannot be turned out of His own creation; He must assert His claim, and urge it, and redeem it. The second thing that remains is the incontestable fact of human opposition to Divine voices. Divine voices call to right, to purity, to nobleness, to love, to brotherhood; and every day we resist these voices, and assert rebellious claims. The third thing that remains is the inevitable issue. We cannot fight God and win. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Why smite with feeble fist the infinite granite of the infinite strength? Who will lose? The certain result will be the overthrow of the sinner: the drowning of every Pharaoh who hardens himself against the Divine will and voice. Now that I come to think of it, have not all these plagues followed my own obstinacy and hardness of heart in relation to things Divine? We speak of the plagues of Egypt as though they began and ended in that distant land, and we regard them now as part of an exciting historical romance. I will think otherwise of them. The local incident and the local colour maybe dispensed with, but the supreme fact in my own consciousness is that God always follows my obstinacy with plagues. Dangers are rightly used when they move us to bolder prayer; losses are turned into gains when they lift our lives in an upward direction; disease is the beginning of health when it leads the sufferer to the Fathers house. Pharaoh had his plagues, many and awful; and every life has its penal or chastening visitations, which for the present are full of agony and bitterness, but which may be so used as to become the beginning of new liberties and brighter joys. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Gods judgements

Lay a book open before a child, or one that cannot read; he may stare and gaze upon it, but he can make no use of it at all, because he understandeth nothing in it; yet bring it to one that can read, and understandeth the language that is written in it, he will read you many stories and instructions out of it; it is dumb and silent to the one, but speaketh to, and talketh with, the other. In like manner it is with Gods judgments, as St. Augustine well applies it; all sorts of men see them, but few are able aright to read them or to understand them what they say; every judgment of God is a real sermon of reformation and repentance. (J. Spencer.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER X

Moses is again sent to Pharaoh, and expostulates with him on

his refusal to let the Hebrews go, 1-3.

The eighth plague, viz., of locusts, is threatened, 4.

The extent and oppressive nature of this plague, 5, 6.

Pharaoh’s servants counsel him to dismiss the Hebrews, 7.

He calls for Moses and Aaron, and inquires who they are of

the Hebrews who wish to go, 8.

Moses having answered that the whole people, with their flocks

and herds must go and hold a feast to the Lord, 9,

Pharaoh is enraged, and having granted permission only to the

men, drives Moses and Aaron from his presence, 10, 11.

Moses is commanded to stretch out his hand and bring the

locusts, 12.

He does so, and an east wind is sent, which, blowing all that

day and night, brings the locusts the next morning, 13.

The devastation occasioned by these insects, 14, 15.

Pharaoh is humbled, acknowledges his sin, and begs Moses to

intercede with Jehovah for him, 16, 17.

Moses does so, and at his request a strong west wind is sent,

which carries all the locusts to the Red Sea, 18, 19.

Pharaoh’s heart is again hardened, 20.

Moses is commanded to bring the ninth plague of extraordinary

darkness over all the land of Egypt, 21.

The nature, duration, and effects of this, 22, 23.

Pharaoh, again humbled, consents to let the people go, provided

they leave their cattle behind, 24.

Moses insists on having all their cattle, because of the

sacrifices which they must make to the Lord, 25, 26.

Pharaoh, again hardened, refuses, 27.

Orders Moses from his presence, and threatens him with death

should he ever return, 28.

Moses departs with the promise of returning no more, 29.

NOTES ON CHAP. X

Verse 1. Hardened his heart] God suffered his natural obstinacy to prevail, that he might have farther opportunities of showing forth his eternal power and Godhead.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

1. show these my signs,&c.Sinners even of the worst description are to be admonishedeven though there may be little hope of amendment, and hence thosestriking miracles that carried so clear and conclusive demonstrationof the being and character of the true God were performed inlengthened series before Pharaoh to leave him without excuse whenjudgment should be finally executed.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart,…. Or, as some render it, “though I have hardened his heart” u; or otherwise it would seem rather to be a reason he should not go, than why he should; at least it would be discouraging, and he might object to what purpose should he go, it would be in vain, no end would be answered by it; though there was an end God had in view, and which was answered by hardening his heart,

and the heart of his servants; whose hearts also were hardened until now; until the plague of the locusts was threatened, and then they relent; which end was as follows:

that I might shew these my signs before him; which had been shown already, and others that were to be done, see Ex 7:3 or in the midst of him w, in the midst of his land, or in his heart, see Ex 9:14.

u “quamvis”, Piscator; so Ainsworth. w “in medio ejus”, Pagninus, Drusius; “in interioribus ejus”, Montanus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The eighth plague; the Locusts. – Exo 10:1-6. As Pharaoh’s pride still refused to bend to the will of God, Moses was directed to announce another, and in some respects a more fearful, plague. At the same time God strengthened Moses’ faith, by telling him that the hardening of Pharaoh and his servants was decreed by Him, that these signs might be done among them, and that Israel might perceive by this to all generations that He was Jehovah (cf. Exo 7:3-5). We may learn from Ps 78 and 105 in what manner the Israelites narrated these signs to their children and children’s children. , to set or prepare signs (Exo 10:1), is interchanged with (Exo 10:2) in the same sense (vid., Exo 8:12). The suffix in (Exo 10:1) refers to Egypt as a country; and that in (Exo 10:2) to the Egyptians. In the expression, “ thou mayest tell, ” Moses is addressed as the representative of the nation. : to have to do with a person, generally in a bad sense, to do him harm (1Sa 31:4). “How I have put forth My might” ( De Wette).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Plagues of Egypt.

B. C. 1491.

1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him: 2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD. 3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast: 5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: 6 And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? 8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go? 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD. 10 And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. 11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

Here, I. Moses is instructed. We may well suppose that he, for his part, was much astonished both at Pharaoh’s obstinacy and at God’s severity, and could not but be compassionately concerned for the desolations of Egypt, and at a loss to conceive what this contest would come to at last. Now here God tells him what he designed, not only Israel’s release, but the magnifying of his own name: That thou mayest tell in thy writings, which shall continue to the world’s end, what I have wrought in Egypt,Exo 10:1; Exo 10:2. The ten plagues of Egypt must be inflicted, that they may be recorded for the generations to come as undeniable proofs, 1. Of God’s overruling power in the kingdom of nature, his dominion over all the creatures, and his authority to use them either as servants to his justice or sufferers by it, according to the counsel of his will. 2. Of God’s victorious power over the kingdom of Satan, to restrain the malice and chastise the insolence of his and his church’s enemies. These plagues are standing monuments of the greatness of God, the happiness of the church, and the sinfulness of sin, and standing monitors to the children of men in all ages not to provoke the Lord to jealousy nor to strive with their Maker. The benefit of these instructions to the world sufficiently balances the expense.

II. Pharaoh is reproved (v. 3): Thus saith the Lord God of the poor, despised, persecuted, Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Note, It is justly expected from the greatest of men that they humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. This has more than once been God’s quarrel with princes. Belshazzar did not humble his heart, Dan. v. 22. Zedekiah humbled not himself before Jeremiah, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 12. Those that will not humble themselves God will humble. Pharaoh had sometimes pretended to humble himself, but no account was made of it, because he was neither sincere nor constant in it.

III. The plague of locusts is threatened, v. 4-6. The hail had broken down the fruits of the earth, but these locusts should come and devour them: and not only so, but they should fill their houses, whereas the former inroads of these insects had been confined to their lands. This should be much worse than all the calamities of that king which had ever been known. Moses, when he had delivered his message, not expecting any better answer than he had formerly, turned himself and went out from Pharaoh, v. 6. Thus Christ appointed his disciples to depart from those who would not receive them, and to shake off the dust of their feet for a testimony against them; and ruin is not far off from those who are thus justly abandoned by the Lord’s messengers, 1 Sam. xv. 27, c.

IV. Pharaoh’s attendants, his ministers of state, or privy-counsellors, interpose, to persuade him to come to some terms with Moses, &lti>v. 7. They, as in duty bound, represent to him the deplorable condition of the kingdom (Egypt is destroyed), and advise him by all means to release his prisoners (Let the men go); for Moses, they found, would be a snare to them till it was done, and it were better to consent at first than to be compelled at last. The Israelites had become a burdensome stone to the Egyptians, and now, at length, the princes of Egypt were willing to be rid of them, Zech. xii. 3. Note, It is a thing to be regretted (and prevented, if possible) that a whole nation should be ruined for the pride and obstinacy of its princes, Salus populi suprema lex–To consult the welfare of the people is the first of laws.

V. A new treaty is, hereupon, set on foot between Pharaoh and Moses, in which Pharaoh consents for the Israelites to go into the wilderness to do sacrifice; but the matter in dispute was who should go, v. 8. 1. Moses insists that they should take their whole families, and all their effects, along with them, v. 9. Note, Those that serve God must serve him with all they have. Moses pleads, “We must hold a feast, therefore we must have our families to feast with, and our flocks and herds to feast upon, to the honour of God.” 2. Pharaoh will by no means grant this: he will allow the men to go, pretending that this was all they desired, though this matter was never yet mentioned in any of the former treaties; but, for the little ones, he resolves to keep them as hostages, to oblige them to return, Exo 10:10; Exo 10:11. In a great passion he curses them, and threatens that, if they offer to remove their little ones, they will do it at their peril. Note, Satan does all he can to hinder those that serve God themselves from bringing their children in to serve him. He is a sworn enemy to early piety, knowing how destructive it is to the interests of his kingdom; whatever would hinder us from engaging our children to the utmost in God’s service, we have reason to suspect the hand of Satan in it. 3. The treaty, hereupon, breaks off abruptly; those that before went out from Pharaoh’s presence (v. 6) were now driven out. Those will quickly hear their doom that cannot bear to hear their duty. See 2 Chron. xxv. 16. Quos Deus destruet eos dementat–Whom God intends to destroy he delivers up to infatuation. Never was man so infatuated to his own ruin as Pharaoh was.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

EXODUS – CHAPTER TEN

Verses 1, 2:

The personal pronoun “I” is stated in the Hebrew text. From this point on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was the work of Jehovah. God would use Pharaoh’s obstinacy to demonstrate His power and glory, not only for the generation, but for generations yet unborn.

The text teaches the responsibility of parents to teach God’s Word and works to their children.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. And the Lord said. Moses passes on to another plague, whereby God took vengeance on the treachery and obstinacy of the wicked king; viz., that He gave over the remaining produce of the year, which He had spared, to be eaten and devoured by locusts. And this was no ordinary punishment, to destroy Egypt by dearth and famine, when all their corn had perished. But, before Moses proceeds to this, he again relates that he was the proclaimer of this plague, and that God had announced to him the reason why Pharaoh had so often resisted to his own injury. Therefore God says, that He had hardened his heart, in order that he might show forth these miracles and evidences of His power; for if Pharaoh had been humbled, and had yielded immediately, the contest would have been superfluous; since what would be the object of contending with a conquered and prostrate enemy? The obstinacy of the tyrant, then, in so often provoking God, opened the way to more miracles, as fire is produced by the collision of flint and iron. Thence also the silly imagination is refuted, that the heart of Pharaoh was no otherwise hardened than as the miracles were set. before his eyes; for Moses does not say that his heart was divinely hardened by the sight of the signs, but that it pleased God in this manner to manifest His power. Hence also we gather, that whatever occurred was predestinated by the sure counsel of God. For God willed to redeem His people in a singular and unusual way. That this redemption might be more conspicuous and glorious, He set up Pharaoh against himself like a rock of stone, which by its hardness might afford a cause for new and more remarkable miracles. Pharaoh was, therefore, hardened by the marvelous providence of God with this object, that the grace of His deliverance might be neither despicable nor obscure. For God regarded tits own people more than the Egyptians, as immediately appears, “that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son,” etc. For far more abundant material for thanksgiving and for celebrating the memory of their deliverance was afforded, by the fact of the Israelites having seen God’s arm stretched forth so often from heaven, and with so many prodigies. Had they been redeemed by any ordinary method, the praise due to God would soon have been forgotten. It was proper, then, that their posterity should be thus instructed by their fathers, that they might have no doubts as to the author of so illustrious a work. But it is here required of the fathers, who had been eye-witnesses of the signs, that they should be diligent and assiduous in teaching their children; and on these also, care and attention in learning is enjoined, that the recollection of God’s mercies should flourish throughout all ages. The practical effect of this doctrine is seen in Psa 44:0 and Psa 105:0

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

ISRAELS BONDAGE. MOSES AND THE EXODUS

Exo 1:1 to Exo 15:21.

DR. J. M. Grays five rules for Bible reading: Read the Book, Read the Book Continuously, Read the Book Repeatedly, Read the Book Independently, Read the Book Prayerfully, are all excellent; but the one upon which I would lay emphasis in this study of Exodus is the second of those rules, or, Read the Book Continuously. It is doubtful if there is any Book in the Bible which comes so nearly containing an outline, at least, of all revelation, as does the Book of Exodus. There is scarcely a doctrine in the New Testament, or a truth in the Old, which may not be traced in fair delineation in these forty chapters.

God speaks in this Book out of the burning bush. Sin, with its baneful effects, has a prominent place in its pages; and Salvation, for all them that trust in Him, with judgment for their opposers, is a conspicuous doctrine in this Old Testament document. God, Sin, Salvation, and Judgmentthese are great words! The Book that reveals each of them in fair outline is a great Book indeed, and its study will well repay the man of serious mind.

Exodus is a Book of bold outlines also! Its author, like a certain school of modern painters, draws his picture quickly and with but few strokes, and yet the product of his work approaches perfection. How much of time and history is put into these three verses:

And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the Children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them (Exo 1:5-7).

These three verses contain 215 years of time, and all the events that crowded into that period would, if they were recorded, fill volumes without end. And, while there are instances of delineation in detail in the Book of Exodus, the greater part of the volume is given to the bolder outlines which sweep much history into single sentences.

In looking into these fifteen chapters, I have been engaged with the question of such arrangement as would best meet the demands of memory, and thereby make the lesson of this hour a permanent article in our mental furniture. Possibly, to do that, we must seize upon a few of the greater subjects that characterize these chapters, and so phrase them as to provide mental promontories from which to survey the field of our present study. Surely, The Bondage of Israel, The Rise of Moses, and the Exodus from Egypt, are such fundamentals.

THE BONDAGE OF ISRAEL.

The bondage of Israel, like her growth, requires but a few sentences for its expression.

Now, there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the Children of Israel are more and mightier than we; Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pit horn and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the Children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the Children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour (Exo 1:8-22).

There are several features in Egypts conduct in effecting the bondage of Israel which characterize the conduct of all imperial nations.

The bondage began with injustice. Israel was in Egypt by invitation. When they came, Pharaoh welcomed them, and set apart for their use the fat of the land. The record is,

Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Raamses, as Pharaoh had commanded (Gen 47:11).

There they flourished until a king arose which knew not Joseph. Then a tax was laid upon them; eventually taskmasters were set over them, and those who came in response to Pharaohs invitation, Come unto me and I will give you the good of the, land of Egypt, and ye shall eat of the fat of the land, were compelled by his successors to take the place of slaves. It seems as difficult for a nation as it is for an individual to refrain from the abuse of power. A writer says, Revolution is caused by seeking to substitute expediency for justice, and that is exactly what the King of Egypt and his confederates attempted in the instance of these Israelites. It would seem that the result of that endeavor ought to be a lesson to the times in which we live, and to the nations entrusted with power. Injustice toward a supposedly weaker people is one of those offences against God which do not go unpunished, and its very practice always provokes a rebellion which converts a profitable people into powerful enemies.

It ought never to be forgotten either that injustice easily leads to oppression. We may suppose the tax at first imposed upon this people was comparatively slight, and honorable Egyptians found for it a satisfactory excuse, hardly expecting that the time would ever come when the Israelites should be regarded chattel-slaves. But he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. It is doubtful if there is any wrong in mans moral relations which blinds him so quickly and so effectually as the exercise of power against weakness.

Joseph Parker, in speaking of the combat between Moses and the Egyptian, says, Every honorable-minded man is a trustee of social justice and common fair play. We have nothing to do with the petty quarrels that fret society, but we certainly have to do with every controversysocial, imperial, or internationalwhich violates human right and impairs the claims of Divine honor. We must all fight for the right. We feel safer by so much if we know there are amongst us men who will not be silent in the presence of wrong, and will lift up a testimony in the name of righteousness, though there be none to cheer them with one word of encouragement.

It is only a step from enslaving to slaughter. That step was speedily taken, for Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river (Exo 1:22). Unquestionably there is a two-fold thought in this fact. Primarily this, whom the tyrant cannot control to his profit, he will slay to his pleasure; and then, in its deeper and more spiritual significance, it is Satans effort to bring an end to the people of God. The same serpent that effected the downfall of Adam and Eve whispered into Cains ear, Murder Abel; and into the ears of the Patriarchs, Put Joseph out of the way; and to Herod, Throttle all the male children of the land; and to the Pharisee and Roman soldier, Crucify Jesus of Nazareth. It remains for us of more modern times to learn that the slaughter of the weak may be accomplished in other ways than by the knife, the Nile, or the Cross. It was no worse to send a sword against a feeble people, than, for the sake of filthy lucre, to plant among them the accursed saloon. Benjamin Harrison, in a notable address before the Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in the City of New York years ago, said, The men who, like Paul, have gone to heathen lands with the message, We seek not yours but you, have been hindered by those who, coming after, have reversed the message. Rum and other corrupting agencies come in with our boasted civilization, and the feeble races wither before the breath of the white mans vices.

Egypt sought to take away from Israel the physical life which Egypt feared; but God has forewarned us against a greater enemy when He said, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. * * Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him. If in this hour of almost universal disturbance the sword cannot be sheathed, let us praise God that our Congress and Senate have removed the saloona slaughter-house from the midst of our soldiers, and our amended Constitution has swept it from the land.

THE RISE OF MOSES.

I do not know whether you have ever been impressed in studying this Book of Exodus with what is so evidently a Divine ordering of events. It is when the slaughter is on that we expect the Saviour to come. And that God who sits beside the dying sparrow never overlooks the affliction of His people. When an edict goes forth against them, then it is that He brings their deliverer to the birth; hence we read, And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter of the house of Levi, and the woman conceived and bare a son (Exo 2:1-2),

That is Moses; that is Gods man! It is no chance element that brings him to the kingdom at such a time as this. It is no mere happening that he is bred in Pharaohs house, and instructed by Jochebed. It is no accident that he is taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. It is all in perfect consequence of the fact that God is looking upon the Children of Israel, and is having respect unto them.

Against Pharaohs injustice He sets Moses keen sense of right. When Moses sees an Egyptian slay an oppressed Israelite, he cannot withhold his hand. And, when after forty years in the wilderness he comes back to behold afresh the affliction of his people, he chooses to suffer with them rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. God never does a better thing for a nation than when He raises up in it such a man. We have heard a great deal of Socrates wisdom, but it is not in the science of philosophy alone that that ancient shines; for when Athens was governed by thirty tyrants, who one day summoned him to the Senate House, and ordered him to go with others named to seize Leon, a man of rank and fortune, whose life was to be sacrificed that these rulers might enjoy his estate, the great philosopher flatly refused, saying, I will not willingly assist in an unjust act. Thereupon Chericles sharply asked, Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk in this high tone and not to suffer? Far from it, replied the philosopher, I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly. That day Socrates was a statesman of the very sort that would have saved Athens had his ideas of righteousness obtained.

Against Pharaohs oppression He sets Moses Divine appointment. There were many times when Moses was tempted to falter, but Gods commission constrained his service. When Moses said, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh? God answered, Surely I will be with thee. When Moses feared his own people who would not believe in his commission, God answered, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, I AM hath sent you. When Moses feared that the Israelites would doubt his Divine appointment, God turned the rod in his hand into a worker of wonders. And, when Moses excused himself on the ground of no eloquence, God replied, Go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. With any man, a conviction of Divine appointment is a power, but for him who would be a saviour of his fellows, it is an absolute essential.

Pastor Stalker, speaking to the subject of a Divine call to the service of soul-winning, said, Enthusiasm for humanity is a noble passion and sheds a beautiful glow over the first efforts of an unselfish life, but it is hardly stern enough for the uses of the world. There come hours of despair when men seem hardly worth our devotion. * * Worse still is the sickening consciousness that we have but little to give; perhaps we have mistaken our vocation; it is a world out of joint, but were we born to put it right? This is where a sterner motive is needed than love for men. Our retreating zeal requires to be rallied by the command of God. It is His work; these souls are His; He has committed them to our care, and at the judgment-seat He will demand an account of them. All Prophets and Apostles who have dealt with men for God have been driven on by this impulse which has recovered them in hours of weakness and enabled them to face the opposition of the world. * * This command came to Moses in the wilderness and drove him into public life in spite of strong resistance; and it bore him through the unparalleled trials of his subsequent career. How many times he would have surrendered the battle and left his fellows to suffer under Pharaohs heels, but for the sound of that voice which Joan of Arc heard, saying to him as it said to her, Go on! Go on!

Against Pharaohs slaughter God set up Moses as a Saviour. History has recorded the salvation of his people to many a man, who, either by his counsels in the time of peace or his valor in the time of war, has brought abiding victory. But where in annals, secular or sacred, can you find a philosopher who had such grave difficulties to deal with as Moses met in lifting his people from chattel slaves to a ruling nation? And where so many enemies to be fought as Moses faced in his journey from the place of the Pyramids to Pisgahs Heights?

Titus Flaminius freed the Grecians from the bondage with which they had long been oppressed. When the herald proclaimed the Articles of Peace, and the Greeks understood perfectly what Flaminius had accomplished for them, they cried out for joy, A Saviour! a Saviour! till the Heavens rang with their acclamations.

But Moses was worthy of greater honor because his was a more difficult deed. I dont know, but I suppose one reason why Moses name is coupled with that of the Lamb in the Oratorio of the Heavens, is because he saved Israel out of a bondage which was a mighty symbol of Satans power, and led them by a journey, which is the best type of the pilgrims wanderings in this world, and brought them at last to the borders of Canaan, which has always been regarded as representative of the rest that remaineth for the people of God.

THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT

involves some items of the deepest interest.

The ten plagues prepare for it. The river is turned into blood; frogs literally cover the land; the dust is changed to lice; flies swarm until all the houses are filled; the beasts are smitten with murrain; boils and blains, hail, locusts and darkness do their worst, and the death of the first-born furnishes the climax of Egyptian affliction, and compels the haughty Pharaoh to bow in humility and grief before the will of the Most High God (chaps. 7-12).

There is one feature of these plagues that ought never to be forgotten. Without exception, they spake in thunder tones against Egyptian idolatry. The Nile River had long been an object of their adoration. In a long poem dedicated to the Nile, these lines are found:

Oh, Nile, hymns are sung to thee on the harp,

Offerings are made to thee: oxen are slain to thee;

Great festivals are kept for thee;

Fowls are sacrificed to thee.

But when the waters of that river were turned to blood, the Egyptians supposed Typhon, the God of Evil, with whom blood had always been associated, had conquered over their bountiful and beautiful Osiristhe name under which the Nile was worshiped.

The second plague was no less a stroke at their hope of a resurrection, for a frog had long symbolized to them the subject of life coming out of death. The soil also they had worshiped, and now to see the dust of it turned suddenly into living pests, was to suffer under the very power from which they had hoped to receive greatest success. The flies that came in clouds were not all of one kind, but their countless myriads, according to the Hebrew word used, included winged pests of every sort, even the scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. Heretofore, it had been to them the emblem of the creative principle; but now God makes it the instrument of destruction instead. When the murrain came upon the beasts, the sacred cow and the sacred ox-Apis were humbled. And ~when the ashes from the furnace smote the skin of the Egyptians, they could not forget that they had often sprinkled ashes toward Heaven, believing that thus to throw the ashes of their sacrifices into the wind would be to avert evil from every part of the land whither they were blown. Geikie says that the seventh plague brought these devout worshipers of false gods to see that the waters, the earth and the air, the growth of the fields, the cattle, and even their own persons, all under the care of a host of divinities, were yet in succession smitten by a power against which these protectors were impotent. When the clouds of locusts had devoured the land, there remained another stroke to their idolatry more severe still, and that was to see the Sun, the supreme god of Egypt, veil his face and leave his worshipers in total darkness. It is no wonder that Pharaoh then called to Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; but it is an amazing thing that even yet his greed of gain goads him on to claim their flocks and their herds as an indemnity against the exodus of the people. There remained nothing, therefore, for God to do but lift His hand again, and lo, death succeeded darkness, and Pharaoh himself became the subject of suffering, and the greatest idol of the nation was humbled to the dust, for the king was the supreme object of worship.

He is a foolish man who sets himself up to oppose the Almighty God. And that is a foolish people who think to afflict Gods faithful ones without feeling the mighty hand of that Father who never forgets His own.

One day I was talking with a woman whose husband formerly followed the habit of gambling. By this means he had amassed considerable wealth, and when she was converted and desired to unite with the church, he employed every power to prevent it, and even denied her the privilege of church attendance. One morning he awoke to find that he was a defeated man; his money had fled in the night, and in the humiliation of his losses, he begged his wifes pardon for ever having opposed her spirit of devotion. Since that time, though living in comparative poverty, she has been privileged to serve God as she pleased; and, as she said to me, finds in that service a daily joy such as she at one time feared she would never feel again. Gods plagues are always preparing the way for an exodus on the part of Gods oppressed.

The Passover interpreted this exodus. That greatest of all Jewish feasts stands as a memorial of Israels flight from Egypt as a symbol of Gods salvation for His own, and as an illustration of the saving power of the Blood of the Lamb.

The opponents of the exodus perished. Our study concludes with Israels Song of Deliverance, beginning, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation, and concluding in the words of Miriam, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. See Exo 15:1-21. Such will ever be the end of those who oppress Gods people and oppose the Divine will.

When one studies the symbolism in all of this, and sees how Israel typifies Gods present-day people, and Moses, their deliverer, Jesus our Saviour, and defeated Pharaoh, the enemy of our souls, destined to be overthrown, he feels like joining in the same song of deliverance, changing the words only so far as to ascribe the greater praise to Him who gave His life a deliverance for all men; and with James Montgomery sing:

Hail to the Lords Anointed

Great Davids greater Son

Who, in the time appointed,

His reign on earth begun.

He comes to break oppression,

To set the captive free,

To take away transgression,

And rule in equity.

He comes, with succor speedy,

To those who suffer wrong;

To help the poor and needy,

And bid the weak be strong;

To give them songs for sighing,

Their darkness turn to light,

Whose souls, condemned and dying.

Were precious in His sight.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 10:1

THE HARDENING OF PHARAOHS HEART

Moses and Aaron are once more commanded to visit Pharaoh, even though they are told that he will not yield to their entreaty. This is the method of Heaven to render rebellious sinners unexcusable. The ministers of God are not readily to abandon a wicked soul. It is here said that God hardened Pharaohs heart. How?

I. By a manifestation of rich mercy that ought to have melted the heart of the King. God had indeed manifested great mercy and forbearance towards Pharaoh; He had spared his life. through a long series of plagues, and through continued sin. The King had no claim to such mercy. Yet it was given in abundant measure. And when mercy is abused by the sinner it has a hardening effect upon his moral nature. No man can reject the love of the great Father, the cross of Jesus Christ, and the warnings of the pulpit, without becoming more and more obdurate in heart. This is a natural law of mans spiritual life. The soul of man is so constituted that the rejected mercies of truth leave it less sensitive to them. This is the experience of men. How many who have sinned through a long life, and who have resisted many gospel appeals, now feel they are less sensitive to Divine influences than ever they were. This is the ordination of God, and hence when He is said to harden the heart of man, it is by mercy that ought to have produced repentance, and not by any arbitrary decree.

II. By a manifestation of great power that ought to have subdued the heart of the King. The Divine Being not merely brought His mercy to bear upon the heart of Pharaoh, but also His power. Some men are more sensitive to power than they are to the appeals of mercy. They are not likely to be touched into tears by compassion; but they are awed by the exhibition of power. They are men of inferior moral temperament. They are influenced by the lower motives. They are wrought upon by fear. Pharaoh was evidently a man of this kind. A plague was more likely to subdue him than a word of tender pity, than a message of love. Hence, God tried this method, but it was only productive of a temporary repentance. Frequently is the soul of man brought to feel the power of God, in affliction and in pain. But the power of God ever recognises the free agency of man, and when it does not conquer, it hardens the sinner.

III. By a manifestation of severe justice that ought to have rebuked the heart of the king. God had shown Pharaoh that Heaven was just in its demands, and that it would come to the relief of the oppressed. This ought to have awakened a feeling of equity within his own heart, which should have ended in the freedom of Israel. All the plagues exhibited the justice of the Divine rulership, and rebuked the cruelty of the proud king. They were calculated to humble him. God does sometimes give sinners terrible visions of His justice, which are designed to lead them to rectitude of life. When men resist the manifestations of Divine justice, they are correspondingly hardened in soul to the rightful claims of heaven.

IV. By sending his servants to influence the heart of the king to the right. God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to influence him to the freedom of Israel. They were sent continuously. Moses was a good worker. Aaron was a good speaker. They wrought miracles. But wicked men will not yield their unbelief, their sin, to the best Christian talent, to the most faithful Christian service; but by rejecting the servants of God they become hard in heart. Hence, God did not harden the heart of Pharaoh by a sovereign decree, by omnipotence, so that the king could not obey His command, but by ministries appropriate to salvation, which were calculated to induce obedience, and the constant neglect of which was the efficient cause of this sad moral result. There was no alternative but the hardening of Pharaohs heart. God could not withdraw his demand for the freedom of Israel. It was not consistent with the ordinary methods of the Divine government to remove the king by death; nor would this have answered the purpose, for probably his successor would have been equally rebellious. Hence there was none other course open than the hardening of Pharaoh, which was the outcome of his own rebellion, and which would prove to be his eternal ruin. LESSONS:

1. That man has the ability to resist the saving ministries of heaven.

2. That when man resists the saving ministries of heaven he becomes hard in heart.

3. That hardness of heart is itself a natural judgment from God.

4. That hardness of heart will finally work its own ruin.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo. 10:1. God sends His minister to hardened souls:

1. Often.
2. Mercifully.
3. Uselessly.
4. Significantly.
5. Disastrously.

The means which God sends to save wicked men aggravates their sin, and hardens their spirits.
Hardened sinners:

1. In companies.
2. Patterns of judgment.
3. Tokens of indignation.
4. The cause of plagues.
5. The curse of the world.
6. Still followed by the minister of God.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

The Text of EXODUS
TRANSLATION

10 And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Go in unto Pha-raoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servant, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, (2) and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy sons son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am Je-ho-vah. (3) And Mo-ses and Aar-on went in unto Pha-raoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Je-ho-vah, the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. (4) Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring locusts into thy border: (5) and they shall cover the face of the earth, so that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: (6) and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the E-gyp-tians; as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned, and went out from Pha-raoh. (7) And Pha-raohs servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve Je-ho-vah their God: knowest thou not yet that E-gypt is destroyed? (8) And Mo-ses and Aar-on were brought again unto Pha-raoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve Je-ho-vah your God; but who are they that shall go? (9) And Mo-ses said, We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto Je-ho-vah. (10) And he said unto them, So be Je-ho-vah with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. (11) Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve Je-ho-vah; for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pha-raohs presence.

(12) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of E-gypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of E-gypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. (13) And Mo-ses stretched forth his rod over the land of E-gypt, and Je-ho-vah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. (14) And the locusts went up over all the land of E-gypt, and rested in all the borders of E-gypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. (15) For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of E-gypt. (16) Then Pha-raoh called for Mo-ses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against Je-ho-vah your God, and against you. (17) Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Je-ho-vah your God, that he may take away from me this death only. (18) And he went out from Pha-raoh, and entreated Je-ho-vah. (19) And Je-ho-vah turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of E-gypt. (20) But Je-ho-vah hardened Pharaohs heart, and he did not let the children of Is-ra-el go.

(21) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of E-gypt, even darkness which may be felt. (22) And Mo-ses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of E-gypt three days; (23) they saw not one another, neither rose any one from his place for three days: but all the children of Is-ra-el had light in their dwellings. (24) And Pha-raoh called unto Mo-ses, and said, Go ye, serve Je-ho-vah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. (25) And Mo-ses said, Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto Je-ho-vah our God. (26) Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve Je-ho-vah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Je-ho-vah, until we come thither. (27) But Je-ho-vah hardened Pha-raohs heart, and he would not let them go. (28) And Pha-raoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thy-self, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die. (29) And Mo-ses said, Thou has spoken well; I will see thy face again no more.

EXPLORING EXODUS: CHAPTER TEN
QUESTIONS ANSWERABLE FROM THE BIBLE

After reading the entire chapter, propose a brief theme or title for the entire chapter.

Why had God hardened Pharaohs heart? (Exo. 10:1) (Give the Biblical answer.)

Who was to be told of Gods deeds in Egypt? (Exo. 10:2)

What were the people to come to know because of the signs (plagues)? (Exo. 10:2)

What question did God ask of Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron? (Exo. 10:3) Was this a fair question, seeing that God had hardened his heart? (Exo. 10:1; Compare Exo. 9:33.)

What plague was to follow the hail? (Exo. 10:4) When would it arrive?

How extensive would this plague be? (Exo. 10:5-6)

Had Egypt ever experienced a plague like the one threatened? (Exo. 10:6)

Who urged Pharaoh to let the men of Israel go? (Exo. 10:7) Why did they urge this?

10.

What (or who) caused Moses and Aaron to come back unto Pharaoh? (Exo. 10:8)

11.

Had Pharaoh softened up a little? (Exo. 10:8; Compare Exo. 9:25; Exo. 9:28)

12.

Who all were to depart from Egypt? (Exo. 10:9)

13.

Does Exo. 10:10 sound sincere or sarcastic? Compare Exo. 10:11.

14.

What did Pharaoh think were the motives of Moses and Aaron? (Exo. 10:10)

15.

Why did Moses and Aaron leave Pharaohs presence? (Exo. 10:11)

16.

What did Moses stretch forth to bring in locusts? (Exo. 10:12-13)

17.

From which direction did the wind blow in locusts? (Exo. 10:13)

18.

How did the locusts compare to locusts of other times? (Exo. 10:14)

19.

What did the locusts eat? (Exo. 10:15)

20.

What confession did Pharaoh make? (Exo. 10:16)

21.

What two requests did Pharaoh make during the locust plague? (Exo. 10:17)

22.

By what term did Pharaoh describe the locust plague? (Exo. 10:17)

23.

What did Moses do to get the locust plague removed? (Exo. 10:18)

24.

What removed the locusts? Where did they end up? (Exo. 10:19)

25.

What happened to Pharaohs heart after the locusts were removed? (Exo. 10:20)

26.

What did Moses stretch forth to bring on the darkness in Egypt? (Exo. 10:21-22)

27.

How heavy and dense was the darkness? (Exo. 10:21)

28.

How long did the darkness last? (Exo. 10:22-23)

29.

How did the darkness affect the dwellings of the Israelites? (Exo. 10:23)

30.

What compromise offer did Pharaoh make to Moses? (Exo. 10:24)

31.

Could Israel have survived in the wilderness without their livestock? (Exo. 10:24)

32.

Could Israel have offered sacrifices without taking livestock? (Exo. 10:25)

33.

What additional demand did Moses make to Pharaoh besides that he let them take out all their own livestock? (Exo. 10:25)

34.

Did Israel know what God would ask them to sacrifice? (Exo. 10:26)

35.

Did Pharaoh agree to Moses request? Why or why not? (Exo. 10:27)

36.

What command and what threat did Pharaoh make to Moses? (Exo. 10:28)

37.

Did Moses agree to accept Pharaohs order? (Exo. 10:29)

38.

Did Moses see Pharaohs face again? (Exo. 10:29; Exo. 12:30-31)

Exodus Ten: Locusts and Darkness (Words of Terror!)

LOCUSTS; Exo. 10:1-20

Advance warning; Exo. 10:1-6.

Fear; Exo. 10:7.

Defiance of Pharaoh; Exo. 10:8-11.

The disaster; Exo. 10:12-15.

The supplication; Exo. 10:16-18.

The deliverance; Exo. 10:19.

The hardening; Exo. 10:20.

II.

DARKNESS; Exo. 10:21-23.

Stopped activity; Exo. 10:21-23.

Subdued Pharaoh; Exo. 10:24.

Strengthened Moses; Exo. 10:25-26.

Sharpened the conflict; Exo. 10:27-29.

EXODUS TEN: FOOD AND FAITH FORFEITED
(FOOD AND FAITH ARE MANS DEAREST POSSESSIONS.)

FOOD FORFEITED to locusts; Exo. 10:1-20.

II.

FAITH FORFEITED through darkness; Exo. 10:21-29.

(Egypts chief gods were sun-gods. The faith of the Egyptians in these gods was forfeited.)

FROM IGNORANCE TO HARDENING (Exo. 10:1; Eph. 4:18)

Mans deliberate ignorance.

Ignoring Gods mercies; Exo. 8:13; Exo. 8:31; Exo. 9:33; Exo. 10:19.

Ignoring Gods power; Exo. 7:12; Exo. 8:18-19; Exo. 9:6-7.

Ignoring Gods past punishments; Exo. 9:12; Exo. 9:24-26; Exo. 10:3.

II.

Gods dreadful hardening; Exo. 10:1; Exo. 10:20; Exo. 10:27.

GODS MESSAGE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS (Exo. 10:2)

God controls nature.

God condemns sinners.

GOD IS THE LORD.

THE LOCUSTS: GODS ARMY (Joe. 2:11; Exo. 10:14)

Covered everything; Exo. 10:4; Exo. 10:14.

Consumed everything; Exo. 10:5; Exo. 10:15.

Conquered the king; Exo. 10:16-17.

CONTROLLED BY GOD; Exo. 10:19.

LOCUSTS AND DARKNESS, TYPES OF FINAL PUNISHMENTS

Locusts; Exo. 10:4-5; Rev. 9:3.

Darkness; Exo. 10:21-23; Mat. 8:12; Jud. 1:13.

EXPLORING EXODUS: NOTES ON CHAPTER TEN

What were Gods purposes in sending Moses back to Pharaoh after the plague of the hail? (Exo. 10:1-2)

Gods purposes were (1) that He might show further signs (miracles and plagues) in the midst of Pharaoh and his servants; and (2) that Moses might tell to his children and grandchildren how God had made sport of the Egyptians, and the great signs God had done among them.
The expression what things I have wrought literally refers to actions which bring shame, disgrace, or mockery upon its objects.
By this time Pharaoh had gone so far in disobedience that there was no opportunity for him to turn and change his ways. Moses was sent to him primarily to provide an opportunity for God to work further signs upon Pharaoh. Moses going to Pharaoh and warning him of the next plague would cause Pharaoh to know that the next plague was no accident, but was linked to Jehovah and Moses.

Moses himself certainly told the next generation about the miracles and signs in Egypt (Deu. 7:8; Deu. 7:18-19). But Moses was not the only one that was to tell of these wonders. He was only the representative of all the people. The Israelites have always related to their children Gods wonders in Egypt. Psalms 78, 105 are examples of the way the plague stories were told in song and story. We ourselves still also exult in Gods triumphs in Egypt.

God repeated again His desire that Israel would know that He was Jehovah! (Compare Exo. 6:7.) Israel needed to learn this as much as the Egyptians did. The Israelites had worshipped idols in Egypt (Jos. 24:14; Eze. 20:6-8), and they continued to do so even after their exodus.

Why would God send locusts, and when? (Exo. 10:3-4)

God would send locusts because Pharaoh would not humble himself before the LORD. He had confessed after the last plague (hail) that he had sinned, and that Jehovah was righteous (Exo. 9:27). But he hardened his heart afterwards (Exo. 9:35).

God did not demand that Pharaoh humble himself so that He might, as it were, place his foot upon the neck of a defeated victim (Jos. 10:24). But rather God sought to humble Pharaoh that Pharaoh might be blessed, for God exalts the humble (Jas. 4:10).

The locusts would be brought in tomorrow. Likewise the plagues of hail, murrain, and flies were announced one day in advance.

What would the locusts do? (Exo. 10:5-6)

They would blanket the land because they were so numerous. They would eat up every sprig of green vegetation left by the hail. They would get into the houses of the Egyptians and fill them in a manner such as no one had ever seen before. They would even eat the wood of the trees. This would grieve the Egyptians because they were fond of trees. Their land did not have a great many trees because they were so close to the desert.

Joe. 2:9-10 refers to a later locust plague: They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth quaketh before them; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Compare also Psa. 105:34-35; Psa. 78:46.

See notes on Exo. 10:14-15 for more about the effects of the locusts.

Why did Pharaohs servants urge Pharaoh to let the Israelites go? (Exo. 10:7)

They had already suffered much in the previous plagues the frogs, boils, hail, etc. They had probably been out in the land and had seen that Egypt was destroyed. They believed that Moses threats were to be taken very seriously.
They asked Pharaoh, How long will this man (Moses) be a snare (a trap, or noose) unto us. Send the men (of Israel) away, and let them serve Jehovah their God! Dont you know yet that Egypt has perished? Note their use of the full title Jehovah their God.

Did Pharaoh make a sincere offer to let Israel go? (Exo. 10:8)

Not really. He did tell Moses and Aaron to go and serve Jehovah their God (and note that he also used Gods full title). But almost before he finished uttering the offer, he was hedging. He demanded, Who and who (else) will be going? (Thus his question reads in Hebrew.)

What feelings did Moses express about who would leave Egypt? (Exo. 10:9)

Total confidence! Total freedom! Total certainty! He declared, With our young, and with our senior citizens, WE SHALL GO! He did not request permission; he stated their intentions with force. (In the Hebrew Moses reply to Pharaoh begins with the words With our young, and with our old. . . . Moses unhesitatingly threw back into the teeth of Pharaohs demanding question the full list of who would be leaving Egypt.)
Moses made again the demand that Pharaoh let them go and sacrifice, the demand that he made at the very first meeting with Pharaoh (Exo. 5:1).

Did Pharaoh agree to let ALL Israelites go? (Exo. 10:10-11)

Defiantly not! His reply was contemptuous and sarcastic toward Moses and Aaron, and also toward Jehovah. The Hebrew may be translated, May Jehovah be with you in like manner to that by which I am sending you out, (you) and your little ones! Watch out! Because (I know) evil is in your minds! (literally, before your faces).
Pharaoh knew he was not going to send them out; and he did not think Jehovah could deliver them any more than he would deliver them. He practically dared Jehovah to do anything. It is easy to imagine Pharaoh was smirking as he fired off his choice sarcastic saying. It is the kind of put-down that cruel people enjoy.

Note that to Pharaoh it was evil for Moses to consider taking the Israelites away from his slave service.

Pharaohs restriction of permission to depart to the men only was pure tyranny, without reason or mercy. Even the Egyptians, according to Herodotus,[188] held religious festivals at which women were in the habit of going with men. He tells of men and women sailing together to the assemblies, vast numbers in each boat, and that the number of men and women sometimes amounted to seven hundred thousand!

[188] Herodotus, Histories, II, 58, 60. Translated by George Rawlinson (London: Dent, 1964), Vol. II, pp. 143144.

Oppressors often permit adults to exercise religious observances, while they seek to control the children and educate them away from the faith of their fathers. Proud persecutors yield a little to God, but yet refuse to obey His basic terms. They threaten the people of God. But their threats return upon the threateners.

Pharaohs lack of genuine sincerity was demonstrated by his driving Moses and Aaron from his presence.

What brought locusts into Egypt? (Exo. 10:12-13)

Moses stretched forth his hand and rod. (Compare Exo. 9:22-23) Then the LORD caused a wind to blow from the east for twenty-four hours, all day and all night, and the next morning the cloud of locusts appeared, and then settled all over Egypt.

Sometimes locust swarms first appear as a dark band on the horizon, heavy enough to block the light of the rising sun. Egypt has occasional invasions by locusts, so that this sight must have terrorized the people.
Usually locusts come into Egypt from the SOUTH[189] or southwest (from Ethiopia and Libya). But sometimes they do come into Egypt from the east, from Arabia.[190] The fact that the wind blew so long suggests that the locusts were blown in from a great distance. The power of the LORD reached far beyond the borders of Egypt, and ruled over every land.

[189] The Greek O.T. translates Exo. 10:13, The Lord brought a south wind upon the land. We feel that this is probably incorrect.

[190] Keil and Delitzsch, op. cit., p. 496.

What effects did the locusts have upon Egypt? (Exo. 10:14-15)

They utterly covered the land, so that the land was darkened. They ate every herb and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. Nothing green remained in all the land of Egypt.

The locusts in this plague were a variety more destructive and numerous than ever seen before. Compare Joe. 2:2-3; Psa. 105:34-35; Psa. 78:46.

Locusts that develop to the migratory stage resemble the grasshopper, but are larger, being nearly three inches long. They are yellowish-tan in color, with dark roundish spots on their wings. A locust can eat its own weight daily. In a severe plague a square mile of land will have from one hundred to two hundred million locusts. They are hardy creatures. They can fly up to twenty hours continuously at ten to twelve miles an hour. Locusts have been tracked as far as 900 miles in fourteen days.[191] In one day they can eat the growing food grains that took a year to grow; and the price of bread will soar beyond the reach of the poor (who then may be reduced to eating the locusts!). Palm trees bending with fruit may be reduced to bare spars, golden grainfields to stubble, and even wild marsh reeds disappear. While locust hordes are often a mile or less in width, clouds of locusts have been known to extend over 500 miles and to be so thick as to hide the sun completely as they fly over.

[191] Part of this information is taken from a vivid article, Reports From the Locust Wars, National Geographic mag., April 1953, pp. 545562.

10.

What did the locusts cause Pharaoh to do? (Exo. 10:16-18)

He summoned Moses and Aaron in haste, and confessed that he had sinned, and begged them to forgive him, and pray for the LORD to take away this DEATH (the locusts).

Pharaoh sought forgiveness of his sin this once. He did not ask for a purification of his moral nature. He had once before confessed to sin (Exo. 9:27), but that conviction left him quickly when the hail stopped.

Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him, rather than humbling himself before God and praying for himself. (See Exo. 9:28.)

Moses complied with Pharaohs request, and went out from him and entreated Jehovah. See notes on Exo. 8:12.

11.

How were the locusts removed? (Exo. 10:19)

The LORD changed the direction of the wind, and a very strong wind from the (Mediterranean) sea blew the locusts into the Red Sea, and there remained not one locust in the land of Egypt.
Only God could remove such a scourge. Swarms of fully mature locusts are almost impossible to discourage once they have settled to feed. And they are hard to hurt with any quantity of poison not also deadly to other creatures.
This is the first mention of the Red Sea (Heb. Yam Suph). We feel that this is the same sea we now refer to as the Red Sea. (See Introductory Section VII.)

12.

Why did not Pharaoh release Israel after the locust plague? (Exo. 10:20)

Because Jehovah hardened his heart. See notes on Exo. 4:21; Exo. 9:12.

13.

What was unusual about the darkness in Egypt? (Exo. 10:21-23)

It came when Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven. See Exo. 9:22-23 and Exo. 10:12-13 on Moses stretching forth his hand.

The darkness was so intense it could be felt.
The Israelites had light while the Egyptians nearby were in darkness.

14.

Why was the darkness so dreadful?

Darkness was a direct attack on some of Egypts main gods. Re (or Ra), the sun-God, was also the creator of gods and men; his emblem was the suns disk. Pharaoh himself was thought to be the embodiment of that god. Another great god was Amon, and he also was a sun-god. He was the chief deity of Thebes, the capital city during the XVIII dynasty, the time of Moses.
The darkness was so dense it could be felt. This is to be taken literally. The same word meaning feel is used in Jdg. 16:26 (where Samson felt the pillars), and in Psa. 115:7 (where the hands are said to feel).

What caused this darkness? Was it a supernatural darkness, like that which came the day Christ died (Luk. 23:44)? The Greek O.T. reads in Exo. 10:22, There was darkness, very black, even a storm, over all the land of Egypt three days. We feel that the darkness could have been caused by a dust storm. The other plagues involved use of natural creatures and things. God miraculously controlled their intensity and exactly when and where they affected. Severe sandstorms occur in Egypt during the spring months (which was the time of year this plague occurred).

The author of this book lived in western Kansas during the dust bowl days of the early 1930s. The dust clouds then rolled over the prairies, turning daylight into total blackness, so black that not even the position of windows could be detected by those in houses; so black that one feared to walk across a familiar room. Gods darkness in Egypt was more severe than any Kansas dust bowl storm; but the mental picture of a darkness so heavy that it could be felt, and that caused no one to rise from his place for three days is very real.

What a terrifying prospect lies in store for those in hell, in the outer darkness (Mat. 8:12)! If Pharaoh found the darkness of Egypt terrifying, what a fearsome fate awaits those to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever! (Jud. 1:13)

What final compromise offer did Pharaoh make to Moses? (Exo. 10:24)

He would let all the Israelites go, but they must leave flocks and herds behind. Pharaoh seems to be saying that the cattle of the Israelites were to be placed and kept in designated places under the guard of Egyptians, as a pledge of the Israelites return. Perhaps Pharaoh simply coveted their herds to replace his own destroyed flocks.
Israel could not have survived long in the desert without the milk, meat, skins, and wool of their animals.
We suspect that Pharaoh had difficulty contacting Moses in the pitchy darkness!

16.

How did Moses receive the compromise about leaving their livestock behind? (Exo. 10:25-26)

He insisted that every one of their cattle must go with them. Not a hoof was to be left behind. This was necessary because they did not know what Jehovah would ask them to sacrifice until they arrived at their destination.
In addition to that, Moses demanded that Pharaoh give to them sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that is, additional animals from Pharaohs herds. This may be a dig at Pharaoh, because his herds were extinct, or nearly so (Exo. 9:6).

By making this extra demand Moses seems to be forcing the issue between him and Pharaoh to a decisive climax. He was not giving one concession to Pharaoh; rather he was upping his demands!

There is no indication that the Israelites received livestock from the Egyptians when they left Egypt, or that they even requested any at that time (Exo. 12:35-36).

17.

How did Pharaoh try to get Moses away from him permanently? (Exo. 10:28)

He told Moses to get away from him, and not to come back, for he would kill him if he returned. Moses accepted the demand without fear. He knew, and told Pharaoh so plainly, that after just one more plague, Pharaohs servants would come down to him, and bow down, and plead with the Israelites to leave (Exo. 11:8). Even Pharaoh himself came to Moses and begged for them to leave (Exo. 12:30-31).

Pharaoh made this final refusal because the LORD hardened his heart. He was no longer in control of his choices of conduct. On hardening Pharaohs heart, see Exo. 4:21; Exo. 14:4; Exo. 14:8.

18.

Did Moses warn Pharaoh of the final plague? (Exo. 10:29; Exo. 11:4)

Yes. Before leaving Pharaohs palace, as Pharaoh ordered (Exo. 10:28), Moses warned him of the final plague of the death of the firstborn. The conversation of Exo. 10:28-29 is continued in Exo. 11:4-8. Exo. 11:1-3 is an interruption in the narrative, inserted to explain how Moses knew about the last plague, and could therefore tell Pharaoh about it.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) I have hardened . . . the heart of his servants.They, too, had first hardened their own hearts (Exo. 9:34), and so deserved a penal hardening. A certain amount of responsibility rested on them. Had they allowed the miracles to have their full natural effect upon their minds, they would have been convinced that resistance was useless, and would have impressed their views upon the Pharaoh. Even in the most absolute governments public opinion has weight, and the general sentiment of the Court almost always carries the sovereign with it.

That I might shew these my signs.There is nothing derogatory to the Divine Nature in a penal hardening being, as it were, utilised to increase the glory of God, and affect for good future generations of His people. The accumulation of plague upon plague, which the obduracy of Pharaoh and his subjects brought about, was of vast importance in presenting to Israel, and even to the surrounding nations, a manifestation of the tremendous power of God, calculated to impress them as nothing else would have done.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

X.
THE EIGHTH PLAGUE.

(1-4) The eighth plague, like the third and fourth, was one where insect life was called in to serve Gods purposes, and chastise the presumption of His enemies. The nature of the visitation is uncontested and incontestableit was a terrible invasion of locusts. Locusts are an occasional, though not a frequent, scourge in Egypt. They are not bred there, and necessarily arrive from some foreign country. When they descend, their ravages are as severe as elsewhere. In the present day, says Mr. Stuart Poole, locusts suddenly appear in the cultivated land, coming from the desert in a column of great length. They fly across the country, darkening the air with their compact ranks, which are undisturbed by the constant attacks of kites, crows, and vultures, and making a strange whizzing sound, like that of fire, or many distant wheels. Where they alight they devour every green thing, even stripping the trees of their leaves. Rewards are offered for their destruction; but no labour can seriously reduce their numbers (Dict. of the Bible, vol. ii., p. 887). C. Niebuhr witnessed two invasionsin 1761 and 1762; Denon witnessed another about the year 1800; and Tischendorf saw one recently. They always enter Egypt either from the south or from the east, and necessarily come with a wind, since they cannot possibly fly any considerable distance without one. It is probable that at different times different varieties of the locust visit the country; but all varieties are almost equally destructive. After the loss of their cattle by murrain and hail, and the ruin of the flax and barley crops by the latter agency, nothing was wanting to complete the desolation of the country and the impoverishment of its inhabitants but the ruin of the wheat and doora crops, which the locusts speedily effected.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE EIGHTH PLAGUE LOCUSTS, Exo 10:1-20.

1. I have hardened his heart See on Exo 9:12-13.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

THE TEN PLAGUES, Exo 7:8 to Exo 12:30.

Moses and Aaron now stand before Pharaoh as ministers of judgment, and the conflict opens between Jehovah and the gods of Egypt. The first contest between the messengers of Jehovah and the magicians, or enchanters, who are regarded as the servants of the false gods, given in Exo 7:8-13, is properly the opening scene of the struggle, and is therefore here included in the section with it. Several general observations on the whole subject are most conveniently introduced here for future reference.

(1.) The great and worthy object of these “signs and wonders” is throughout to be carefully held before the mind. There were several secondary purposes met, but the chief aim was, not to inflict retribution upon Egypt, although they did this as judgments, nor to give Israel independence, though they effected this by crushing the oppressor, but to teach the world the nature of God. It was a series of most solemn lessons in the fundamental truths of religion in God’s attributes and government. With perfect distinctness and reiterated emphasis is this declared from the very beginning: “ I am JEHOVAH Ye shall know the Egyptians shall know that I am JEHOVAH.” Events were to burn into the national consciousness of Israel, and into the memory of the world, the great truths revealed in the Memorial Name; and the faith of Israel, the sin of Pharaoh, and the might and splendour of Egyptian heathenism, were the divinely chosen instruments to accomplish this work. The rich Nile-land teemed with gods, and was the mother country of the idolatries that, centuries afterward, covered the Mediterranean islands and peninsulas, and filled the classic literature with such manifold forms of beauty. The gods of Greece were born in Egypt, and the Sibyls of Delphos and Cumaea descended from the sorcerers who contended with Moses. In no other land has idolatry ever reared such grand and massive structures as in Egypt. The immense ram-headed Ammun and hawk-headed Ra, the placid monumental Osiris, the colossal Rameses, sitting in granite “with his vast hands resting upon his elephantine knees,” these, and their brother gods of the age of the Pharaohs, have looked down upon the rising and falling Nile through all the centuries of European civilization. In no other land were the manifold forms and productions of nature so deified. In their pantheistic idolatry they offered worship not only to the sun, and moon, and earth, but to bulls, crocodiles, cats, hawks, asps, scorpions, and beetles. They seem to have made to themselves likenesses of almost every thing in “heaven above, in earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth.” The Apis and Mnevis bulls were stalled in magnificent palaces at Memphis and Heliopolis, and were embalmed in massive marble and granite sarcophagi, grander than enclosed the Theban kings. The sepulchres of Egyptian bulls have outlasted the sepulchres of Roman emperors. Nowhere else were kings so deified as here. Pharaoh incarnated in himself the national idolatry, and to crush the king was to crush the gods. The king made his palace a temple, and enthroned himself among the Egyptian deities. He sculptured himself colossal so vast that the Arabs to-day quarry millstones from his cheeks sitting hand in hand and arm in arm with his gods. To-day Rameses sits in the temple of Ipsambul between Ra and Ammun, his tall crown rising between the hawk head of the one and the tiara of the other, looking out from his rock-hewn shrine upon the desert, as he has sat since the Pharaohs. From Cambyses to Napoleon invasion after invasion has swept the Nile valley wave on wave yet here have sat these massive forms, the Nile coming to bathe their feet year by year, as if brothers to the mountains. They mark the graves of Egypt’s vanished gods, while the name of Him who smote these gods to death with Moses’s rod liveth forever.

(2.) But Egypt was the mother-land of philosophies as well as idolatries. Long ages after Moses, Herodotus, Pythagoras, and Plato followed the Hebrew lawgiver to the oldest university in the world. The Egyptian philosophy was inextricably entangled with its religion, and deciphered papyri show that magic and sorcery were esteemed as highly at the court of Pharaoh, as, long after, in the time of Daniel, at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The dreamy mysticism of Plato and of Philo reveals how hopelessly most precious truths were entangled in priestly juggleries, and how deeply this black art, or illusion, or demonism, left its mark on the ancient world. The heathen idolatry had no more potent allies in the old civilizations than the soothsayers, sorcerers, and magicians, and it was needful that they too should be signally vanquished by the prophet of the true God. Hence Moses in Egypt as, a thousand years later, Daniel in Babylon, and a half thousand years later still, Paul at Salamis and Philippi discomfited the false prophets who aped God’s mighty works with their lying wonders. The sooth-saying and necromancy found in Christian lands to-day belong to the same kingdom of darkness, and can be exorcised only in that “Name which is above every name.” Moses, then, smites for mankind; Israel brings the Sacred Name through the wilderness for the world.

(3.) The weapons and tactics of this warfare were not such as to inflame the pride of the people of Israel, or to awaken in after generations a thirst for military glory, but such as to turn the tides of their faith and hope wholly away from themselves to their God. Hence the Hebrew national anthems glory in Jehovah rather than in Israel. Not the baptism of a war of national independence, but that of the Red Sea redemption, was their great national remembrance. Enthusiasm for Jehovah thus became the national passion. How appropriate was this in the training of a nation which was to teach the world true religion!

The real character of these plagues, or judgment strokes, will, as a general thing, appear from an attentive study of the Egyptian geography and natural history. They arise, as can usually be seen on the face of the narrative, from natural causes supernaturally intensified and directed. In the first and ninth plagues the natural causation is less distinct. They cannot, however, be explained away as natural events; for, if the record is to be believed at all, they were supernatural (1) in their definiteness, the time of their occurrence and discontinuance being distinctly predicted; (2) in their succession; and (3) in their intensity. They were, in their power and direction, threefold: (1) against the Egyptian faith in the diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers, the prophets of a false religion. (2) Against their faith in their deities, their gods of earth, and water, and air powers of nature; and beasts, and birds, and creeping things. Thus Jehovah’s supremacy over idolatry appeared. But (3) they were also punishments for disobedience to God. There is from the beginning a gradually increasing intensity in these supernatural manifestations till the magicians are utterly discomfited, all the gods of Egypt put to shame, and Pharaoh compelled to yield reluctant obedience. At first the magicians seem to display the same power as Moses, (Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22,) then come signs beyond their power . (Exo 8:18😉 soon the prophet of Jehovah so smites them that they cannot appear at all, (Exo 9:11😉 and then they vanish altogether . So the weight of the judgments increases as with increasing light the crime of disobedience rises in magnitude beginning with simple though sore annoyances, as blood, frogs, and flies; then advancing to the destruction of food and cattle smiting first their dwelling-place and surroundings, and then themselves; till the locusts swept the earth and the darkness filled the heaven, and only the death stroke was left to fall . Thus we are taught how the consequence of sin is sin, and judgments unheeded inevitably lead on to sorer judgments, till destruction comes .

(4.) Some commentators have found a special application in each plague to some particular idolatry or idolatrous rite, but this we do not find warranted by facts. Some, following Philo, the learned and devout but fanciful Alexandrian Jew, separate the plagues into two groups of nine and one, and then the nine into three groups of three, between which groups they trace what they deem instructive contrasts and correspondences. Origen, Augustine, and others, have traced parallels between these ten judgments and the ten commandments, the succession of the judgments and of the creative days, etc. Most of these interpretations not to dwell on the extravagant conceits of the Rabbies are amusing rather than instructive, and would be appropriate rather to a sacred romance or drama than to a sober history like this. The wild fables of the Talmud, the monstrosities of the Koran, and the often romantically embellished history of Josephus, present here an instructive contrast to the sacred narrative.

(5.) Thus far the Egyptian monuments give us no distinct mention of the plagues and of the exodus. We have, however, Egyptian records of the sojourn and exodus of Israel, although confused and fragmentary, and written more than a thousand years after the events. Chief and most valuable among these is the narrative of the priest Manetho, who wrote his Egyptian history during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.C. 283-247, of which a few fragments remain. Josephus has preserved all that we have of this narrative in his work against Apion. It is, as might be expected, a very different history, being the relation of an Egyptian priest many centuries after the events; yet the points of agreement are very striking.

The Israelites appear in Manetho’s story as a nation of lepers, headed by Osarsiph, a priest of Osiris, who had been educated at Heliopolis, but abandoned his order and the Egyptian religion to take the lead of this people. He taught them to abjure idolatry, gave them laws, a constitution and ceremonial, and when he united his fortunes with theirs he changed his name to Moses. The war is described as a religious war, in which, for the time, the Egyptians were discomfited, and obliged, in compliance with prophetic warnings, to abandon the country for thirteen years, and to flee, with their king Amenophis, into Ethiopia, taking with them the bull Apis and other sacred animals, while this leprous nation, reinforced by shepherds from Jerusalem, fortified themselves in Avaris, (Zoan,) a city of Goshen, robbed the temples, insulted the gods, roasted and ate the sacred animals, and cast contempt in every way upon the Egyptian worship. Amenophis afterwards returned with a great army and chased the shepherds and lepers out of his dominions through a dry desert to Palestine. (From Ewald’s trans., Hist. of Israel, 2: 79.) Here, as Ewald shows, the great outlines of the story of the exodus are to be clearly seen; the Mosaic leadership, the war of religions, the uprising of the hostile religion in Egypt itself, the leprous affliction of the revolting people, so pointedly mentioned in the Pentateuch, the secret superstitious dread inspired by Moses, which seems to have shaken the foundations of the Egyptian religion, the confession of defeat in the struggle, and the transformation of the exodus into an expulsion from Egypt these are unmistakable traces of the same history coming down through Egyptian channels. The later Egyptian writers, Chaeremon and Lysimachus, echo the story of Manetho, mingling with it Hebrew traditions. ( Josephus Against Apion, bks. i, 2.)

(6.) The exotic of Israel from Egypt is a fact now universally admitted, whatever differences may exist in its explanation. Bunsen says, in his Egypt, that “History herself was born on that night when Moses led forth his countrymen from the land of Goshen.” That this event resulted from some heavy calamities which at that time befel the Egyptians, or, in other words, that the narrative of the plagues has a solid historical foundation, is also now maintained with unbroken unanimity by Hebrew and Egyptian scholars, even by those who decline to see in these events anything supernatural. Thus Ewald says, that this history, “on the whole, exhibits the essence of the event as it actually happened.” And Knobel says, that “in the time of Moses circumstances had transpired which made it possible for the Hebrews to go forth of themselves, and impossible for the Egyptians to hinder their undertaking or to force them to return.” In other words, they who refuse to recognise here miraculous influence do recognise miraculous coincidence. Without any war, which, had it happened, must, as Knobel says, have left some trace in the history without any invasion from abroad or insurrection from within to weaken the Egyptian power a nation, unified and vitalized by faith in the one Jehovah, went forth unhindered from the bosom of a strong and prosperous empire. This is the event to be explained. The Mosaic record alone gives an adequate cause.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Eighth Plague – The Plague of Locusts ( Exo 10:1-20 ).

We note in this passage a distinct change of tone. No longer does Yahweh commence with the opening, ‘let My people go’ (compare Exo 8:1; Exo 9:1; Exo 9:13). Instead He says ‘I have made strong (hardened) his heart and the heart of his officials in order to show my signs among them’. The end was near and He no longer looked for Pharaoh’s honest response. Yet He had also begun in the same way in Exo 7:14, although there it was because Pharaoh had made strong (‘hardened’) his own heart. While Yahweh will still allow Moses and Aaron to make the call He recognises that the time for treaty is really past. Pharaoh has broken his word too often.

a Yahweh tells Moses that he has hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and his officials in order that He might show His signs among them (Exo 10:1).

b It is in order that Israel might teach its children what God had achieved against Egypt and the signs that He has revealed, that it might be known that He is Yahweh (Exo 10:2).

c Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh in Yahweh’s name and ask how long he refuses to humble himself before Yahweh and calls on him to let Yahweh’s people go (Exo 10:3).

d If he will not let them go locusts will be brought in who will cover the whole of the land and destroy all trees and vegetation and fill all their houses in a way that has not happened in living memory. Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh (Exo 10:4-6).

e Pharaoh’s officials plead with him to let the men go to serve Yahweh and ask Pharaoh if he realises how much the land has been subjected to destruction (Exo 10:6).

f So reluctantly Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron who are brought before him, and he tells them that they may go and serve Yahweh, but asks who will go (Exo 10:8).

g Moses replies that everyone must go including the cattle (Exo 10:9).

g Pharaoh declares that he will not let all go, only the men (Exo 10:10-11 a).

f Angry at their response Pharaoh causes them to be driven from his presence (Exo 10:11 b).

e Yahweh tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the land of Egypt in order to bring the locusts down on it to eat whatever the hail has left (including the wheat and the spelt) (Exo 10:12).

d Moses obeys Yahweh and an east wind brings in the locusts. The locusts arrive in huge numbers as never before or afterwards. They cover the face of the ground and eat everything that is left including the trees and vegetation (Exo 10:13-15).

c Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron in haste and confesses that he has sinned against both Yahweh their God and Moses (thus he will let the people go). He asks forgiveness and that they will entreat that this living death might be moved from them (Exo 10:16-17).

b Moses goes out from Pharaoh and entreats Yahweh and a west wind takes away the locusts so that none are left (thus making it known that He is Yahweh) (Exo 10:18-19).

a Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that he will not let the children of Israel go (Exo 10:20).

In ‘a’ we have Yahweh’s statement that He has hardened Pharaoh’s heart and in the parallel the fact that He has hardened his heart. In ‘b’ Israel is to teach its children what God has wrought in Egypt and what signs He has revealed so that they may know that He is Yahweh, in the parallel He mightily removes the vast clouds of locusts in one day, thus revealing what He is to Pharaoh and Egypt. In ‘c’ Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh and ask how long he will refuse to humble himself before Yahweh and demand that he will let God’s people go, in the parallel Pharaoh repents and humbles himself and admits that he has been in the wrong for not letting Israel go. In ‘d’ they declare that if he will not let the people go God will bring down on Egypt great clouds of locusts who will eat the trees and vegetation, in the parallel those locusts are brought down on Egypt and consume all that is left including the trees and vegetation. In ‘e’ Pharaoh’s official draw Pharaoh’s attention to how much Egypt has been devastated because of his intransigence and ask that he let the Israelites go, in the parallel Yahweh orders the completion of that devastation. In ‘f’ Pharaoh reluctantly appears to concede defeat but questions what they are wanting, in the parallel, having found out, he hits back and causes them to be driven them from his presence. In ‘g’ Moses demands that everyone may go including the cattle, and in the parallel Pharaoh declares that not everyone can go, only the men.

Exo 10:1-2

‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have made strong his heart and the heart of his servants that I might show these my signs among them, and that you might tell in the ears of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have wrought on (how I have shown up) Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am Yahweh.” ’

The ‘I’ is emphatic. The end is approaching and Yahweh is making things work according to His plan.

The wonders wrought in Egypt had a number of purposes. They were not only intended to convince the Egyptians to finally send the children of Israel away, but also to strengthen the latter’s faith for the future and give an understanding that Yahweh is the One Who is there to act. Note that the specific aim is that these stories might be passed down to future generations, and be recited in their ears, not just as stories but as theological statements. And to someone who was used to recording things in writing (Exo 17:14; Exo 24:4-8; Exo 34:27; Num 33:1-2; Deu 31:9) such a command must surely have issued in the same result. Moses would put everything important down in writing!

“These my signs among them.” His wonders were ‘signs’. They were intended to convince and give understanding. From them the Egyptians should have come to faith in Yahweh. And for a time some did, for they took their cattle inside to shelter from the hail (Exo 9:20). But once the worst was over they soon forgot and convinced themselves that maybe their gods had won after all. From them too the children of Israel yet to come were to know the significance of the name of Yahweh, to ‘know that I am Yahweh’.

We probably do not sufficiently appreciate the subservience of a nation that has been enslaved for a long time. They had lost their spirit and had little resistance. When Moses had arrived they had seen the signs that Yahweh had given him and their hearts had been uplifted. But as soon as Pharaoh proved obstinate they had been like sheep and their resistance had collapsed and all they had been able to do was blame Moses. Indeed part of the purpose of the plagues was probably in order to stiffen their confidence in what Yahweh could do, and to teach them to rise above their problems, so that when they found themselves in the wilderness they would have some courage which would come from their confidence in Yahweh. And as we know that constantly failed, so much so that when eventually they arrived at the borders of the land their courage collapsed altogether and they failed to make their entry.

“I have wrought on.” The hithpael of ‘alal means ‘to make sport of, make a fool of, show up’. Here Yahweh’s intent is deadly serious. It is not in order to mock but in order to show up. His intent was to reveal them and their gods for what they are.

Note again that Pharaoh’s high officials are now being included (compare Exo 9:34), although there were clearly some who had reservations (Exo 9:20) as the sequel brings out. This suggests that it was now seen to be an emergency situation, and the counsellors were regularly being called in and on almost constant alert. Pharaoh was no longer as confident as he had been.

Exo 10:3

‘And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews. How long will you refuse to humble yourselves before me? Let my people go that they may serve me.” ’

Note that Yahweh no longer tells them to do this. But they still make the same request, that they may be allowed to worship Yahweh in the wilderness. The diplomatic show has to go on. However, the battle has produced in Pharaoh a total feeling of intransigence. To yield now would be to admit Yahweh’s superiority over himself and the gods of Egypt. And that is indeed what Yahweh now demands. ‘You refuse to humble yourselves before me’. The Egyptians may not learn the lesson but the children of Israel would never forget it. It would be with them in their memories and in their Psalms for ever. They knew now that their God was over all.

Exo 10:4-6 a

“Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold tomorrow I will bring locusts into your border, and they will cover the face (the word is usually rendered ‘eye’) of the earth (or ‘land’) so that one will not be able to see the earth (or ‘land’), and they will eat the residue of what has escaped, what remains to you from the hail, and will eat every tree which grows for you out of the countryside. And your houses will be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians as neither your fathers, nor your fathers’ fathers, have seen since the day that they were on the earth up to this day.”

The next promise is the coming of a vast cloud of locusts. Locusts were brought on the wind and were not common in Egypt, but they had had enough experience of them to be afraid (Exo 10:7). The locust was primarily a destroyer, although it could also be a useful source of protein (Lev 11:22), especially among desert tribes. Their coming was regularly seen as God’s judgment (Deu 28:38; Deu 28:42; Joe 1:4).

The female lays its eggs just below the surface of the soil where they may stay for many months until moisture allows them to hatch. Once the eggs hatch the locust has the general shape of an adult locust but is without wings which it takes five to six months to acquire. They are wholly vegetarian and in large numbers cause massive devastation, eating everything in the fields and stripping the trees bare. The weather conditions elsewhere, which we know to have been a reality because of the excessive inundation of the Nile, would cause them to breed in vast numbers, awaiting the wind which would carry them into Egypt. And when they came in large numbers they would appear like a vast cloud, darkening the sky, and wherever they settled they would denude the vegetation, and then attack the trees. No vegetation would be safe. All would be denuded or eaten.

“They will cover the face of the earth (or ‘land”).’ The word for face is one mostly translated ‘eye’. The word for earth is ’erets which can mean the earth, or the land. Thus ‘the face of the earth’ may therefore signify the sun (compare also Exo 10:15 where covering it results in darkening) as the ‘eye of the earth’. There are frequent references in Egyptian literature to ‘the eye of Re’, the sun god. Thus would Re be restricted and hidden from what Yahweh was doing. Their main protection (from the point of view of the Egyptians) would be useless, for he was being blinded by Yahweh. Or the point may be that the earth itself is ‘blinded’ by the multitude of locusts, and thus unable to perform its functions. Alternately we may translate ‘land’ and intend it to mean that the whole face of the land will be covered with them.

“And your houses will be filled.” No one would escape. Pharaoh, his high officials and his people would find their houses filled with them. They would be inundated. They would be in such vast numbers that locusts would be everywhere. Experience would demonstrate that, even when they tried to eat, a locust would be on their food, there to eat it before them. The suggestion may be, although it is not stated, that the children of Israel will not be included, for their houses are not mentioned.

There would be an unusually large number of locusts such that the like had not been known over three generations (but not as unusual as the hail, of which the like of had not been seen since before the nation was founded – Exo 9:24).

Exo 10:6 b

“And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.”

(Compare Exo 7:23). Previously it has simply been ‘went out from Pharaoh’. Now Moses has been emboldened and is aware of his power. He wants Pharaoh to realise that he is in control. ‘He turned’. This time he does not pay Pharaoh the deference that Pharaoh usually demands and his subjects usually give. He openly and irreverently turns on his heel and stalks out. This is not the way Pharaoh is used to being treated. But Pharaoh is afraid of him. He has seen what he can do. So he lets him go. What supreme courage Moses had, for in the end he bore his burden alone, before that mighty array of powerful Egyptian aristocrats and priests. And no one knew more than he did what they had the power to do. Aaron no doubt discreetly followed him.

Exo 10:7

‘And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” ’

But the mighty array were more afraid of Moses than he was of them. They advised that Pharaoh give in. This was not direct criticism of Pharaoh. That was something that they would not have dared to attempt. No doubt Pharaoh called a meeting to discuss the situation and to seek advice, and so they gave it. His advisers came up with a compromise solution. Let Pharaoh agree to let the men go to serve Yahweh their God. But there is no doubt that they were uneasy for they asked Pharaoh, safe in his palace, whether he was really aware of the devastations that had struck Egypt. Did he realise what the situation now was? Egypt had been almost destroyed. They had still had the wheat and spelt, but now this plague of locusts could signal the end. Their last and final crops could be devastated.

Exo 10:8

‘And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God. But who are they who will go?” ’

So Moses and Aaron were recalled in accordance with the counsellors’ advice. They were told that they could go and serve Yahweh, but first he wanted to determine as to who exactly would go.

Exo 10:9

‘And Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, we will go with our flocks and our herds, for we must hold a feast to Yahweh.” ’

Moses reply was not unreasonable. It was to be a wholehearted worship of Yahweh and everyone must be involved, both young and old. It would be a time of sacrifices and offerings and a time of feasting and gladness before Yahweh, thus they would also need their flocks and herds with them in order to provide the wherewithal.

In fact the Egyptians used to welcome their children to their feasts so that that aspect of things would not have been seen as unreasonable, except to Pharaoh in his present mood.

Exo 10:10-11

‘And he said to them, “May Yahweh so be with you if I let you go with your little ones. Look at what you are proposing (literally ‘look at it’), for your intent is evil (‘evil is before your face’). It shall not be so. Go now, you who are adult men, and serve Yahweh, for that is what you want.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.’

Pharaoh refused to countenance their suggestion and put forward the worked out compromise. The adult men could go to serve Yahweh in the wilderness (compare Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23; Deu 16:16 – normally this would have been acceptable), but only them. He was now deeply suspicious that they had some evil purpose and he wanted hostages. Perhaps, he thought, there were plans to meet up with some enemy so as to attack Egypt while it was so devastatingly weakened, as the Hyksos had done previously. He probably did not fear that they would leave entirely for he knew that the Egyptian army could easily prevent it.

“May Yahweh so be with you.” An ironical comment. Did they really think that he would let Yahweh go with them like that? If he let them all go he would be giving Yahweh sole charge and renouncing his own authority, an unlikely scenario.

“They were driven out from Pharaoh” s presence.’ Having spoken his last word they were driven from his presence. Pharaoh was not going to allow Moses to humiliate him again by turning round and once more walking out. So they were hustled out by soldiers. But Pharaoh was careful. He was still wary of what Moses could do. Things were definitely tense.

Why then did Pharaoh not have Moses immediately killed or arrested? The answer would seem to lie in superstitious dread. He knew that this being, whatever he was, had done such amazing things that who knew what might happen if he were physically attacked? It was something he dared not risk. And such would be the awe in which Moses was held that it is doubtful if Pharaoh could have found anyone to take on the job. Moses had truly become as a god to Pharaoh.

Exo 10:12-15

‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come on the land of Egypt and eat all the vegetation in the land, even all that the hail has left.” And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night, and when it was morning the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were in huge numbers (‘very grievous’), before them there was no such a swarm of locusts as they, nor after them will be such, for they covered the face (or ‘eye’) of the whole earth so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the vegetation on the land, and all the fruit of the trees, whatever the hail had left, and there did not remain any green thing, either tree or vegetation through all the land of Egypt.’

Again it was the hand of Moses as he stretched out his staff that was seen to produce the plague. The result was a continual east wind that gradually, unknown at first to the Egyptians who did not know of the threat to the south of them, brought the huge numbers of locusts down to Egypt overnight. Locusts required a wind if they were to travel far. And their numbers were so vast, more than ever known before, that it would need a continual wind, and when they came the whole of Egypt was affected. As they came in like a great cloud in the sky, the sun was hidden, the land was darkened, everything was covered with them and they began to eat all the greenery that remained after the hail.

People who have seen clouds of locust in modern days have described how they look like a huge, black, threatening storm cloud in the distance until at last they come closer and it is apparent that the cloud consists of locusts. And then they arrive and the whole land is covered with them. But this was exceptional even compared with that. There were untold numbers of them.

All the vegetation and trees that remained were devoured and this probably included the now growing wheat and spelt. The economy of Egypt which had been devastated was now being totally ruined. And all because of Pharaoh’s obstinacy.

“They covered the ‘ayin of the whole earth so that the land was darkened.” ‘ayin usually means ‘eye’. It is therefore probable that this refers to the sun as ‘the eye of Re’. It was that that was hidden by the vast numbers of the locusts, darkening the land. Re had to stand by and do nothing. Or it may refer to the fact that once the locusts had landed the earth became dark because of the colour of their bodies. What a sight that would have been. The whole of the land darkened by one mass of locusts wherever the eye looked

“There remained not any green thing.” The land was totally bare. Such denuding of the land by locusts is terrible to see. One Pharaoh of the XIIth dynasty, Amenemhet, classed a plague of locusts as a calamity similar to a civil war, or to famine resulting from the failure of the Nile, and that was an ordinary one. The god Senehem is pictured in ancient Egypt as a locust, but he has clearly no control here.

Exo 10:16-17

‘Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. Now therefore, I beg you, forgive my sin only this once and entreat Yahweh your God that he may take away from me this death only.”

The final devastation, made even more apparent by the presence of locusts in the palace and the darkening of the sun, brought Pharaoh temporarily to his senses. Moses and Aaron had asked how long it would be before he humbled himself (Exo 10:3). Now he did humble himself (compare Exo 10:3) and admit his guilt before Yahweh and before Moses (Moses has become as a god to Pharaoh – Exo 7:1). But it was only to be temporary as such conversions often are. No mention is made of the release of the children of Israel to serve Yahweh in the wilderness at this point, but it is assumed in the admission of guilt. For this was the reason for his guilt, that he had not let them go to serve Yahweh.

“Take away from me this death only.” This could refer to the death that would result from the famine which would result from the activity of the locusts, or it may refer to the darkening of the sun seen as the temporary death of Re. Pharaoh, as the living god Horus, and prospective Osiris, was vitally connected with the sun god Re. Re’s death would be his death.

Exo 10:18-20

‘And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated Yahweh , and Yahweh turned a very strong sea wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the sea of reeds. There remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. But Yahweh made strong Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the children of Israel go.’

“He went out from Pharaoh.” This time Moses did not turn and stalk out, nor was he thrust out. He recognised Pharaoh’s submission. This was no time for putting on a display of anger. He was prepared to be courteous when courtesy was deserved. It is never godly to be rude.

On Moses’ entreaty Yahweh sent a strong sea wind which drove the locusts into the sea of reeds granting complete deliverance. Not one was left in Egypt. But once this had happened Pharaoh again changed his mind. He refused to let them go to worship Yahweh. However, it is again made clear that he was not frustrating Yahweh. His refusal was all in God’s plan. It was Yahweh Who was making his heart so strong.

“Sea wind.” This might be a ‘west wind’ as compared with the previous east wind (Exo 10:13), for the west was then indicated by the Great Sea which lay to the west. Thus the same word can mean ‘west’ or ‘sea’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Eighth Plague (Locusts) – Exo 10:1-20 tells us about the eighth plague in which swarms of locusts filled the land of Egypt.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Exo 7:1 to Exo 12:30 The Ten Plagues Exo 7:1 to Exo 12:30 records the story of the ten plagues of Egypt. Here is a summary of the Ten Plagues:

Aaron turns rod to a serpent (Exo 7:10) Magicians copy (Exo 7:11) 1. Water turned to blood (throughout land) Magicians copy (Exo 7:22) 2. Frogs (covered land of Egypt) (Exo 7:6) Magicians copy (Exo 8:7) 3. Lice or flies (covered land) (Exo 8:17) Magicians could not (Exo 8:18) 4. Swarms (division of Goshen) (Exo 8:24; Exo 8:23) 5. Murrain (cattle disease) (Exo 9:3) 6. Boils (Exo 9:10) 7. Hail (division of Goshen) (Exo 9:23; Exo 9:26) 8. Locusts (Exo 10:13) 9. Darkness (division of Goshen) (Exo 10:22) 10.Death of first-born (Israel covered up blood) (Exo 12:29, Exo 11:7) The Ten Plagues upon Egypt were delivered by God in progressive intensity until it ended with the death of the firstborn. These plagues were a means of judgment upon the people of Egypt in order to bring them to repentance an to an acknowledgment of the God of Israel as the true and living God. This is why many of the plagues were orchestrated to demonstrate that the God of Israel was more powerful than particular gods of Egyptian mythology.

The wise men, sorcerers and magicians were able to copy the first three signs of the rod turning into a serpent (Exo 7:11), the water turning into blood (Exo 7:22), and the plague of frogs (Exo 8:7). After this, these enchanters began to see that God was working thru Moses and Aaron.

Exo 7:11, “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.”

Exo 7:22, “And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.”

Exo 8:7, “And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Ten Plagues Exo 7:14 to Exo 11:10 records the story of the Ten Plagues that God brought upon the nation of Egypt. The swallowing of the serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians by the serpent of Moses (Exo 7:11-12) foreshadows the fact that the Ten Plagues were a power struggle between the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel. These enchantments by Pharaoh’s sorcerers symbolized the strength of their gods. Yet, the Ten Plagues demonstrated that God’s power extended beyond their gods of enchantment unto all of the gods that were worshipped in the land of Egypt, deities that were designated for every area of their lives. The Egyptians served deities of heaven and deities of the earth, deities of the weather, over their crops and those for diseases. Each deity was believed to have power over a limited aspect of one’s life. The Egyptians knew that their gods were limited in scope of influence and power. With the Ten Plagues, God proved that His power encompassed over all creation and every aspect of human life.

Throughout the Ten Plagues God demonstrated that He was God Almighty. This was God’s way of using judgment to bring men to repentance. In fact, the Scriptures indicate that a number of Egyptians were converted and followed the Israelites out in the Exodus to serve their God.

Exo 12:38, “And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.”

Num 11:4, “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?”

These converts declared that they would go with the children of Israel because God is with them, as the prophet Zechariah says would happen again later in Israel’s history (Zec 8:3); or, as Ruth clung to Naomi in order to serve her God.

Zec 8:23, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you .”

Rth 1:16, “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”

When God judges a nation as He did Egypt during the time of Moses, He always begins by judging the object of a nation’s trust and confidence. For example, in 2001 to 2003, the Lord judged the United States in three areas. The destruction of the World Trade Center symbolized American’s trust in its wealth. The damage to the Pentagon on the same day represented American’s military might. The explosion of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia represented American’s technology and ingenuity. None of these three are above God Almighty. In the same way, God judged the deities of Egypt so that these people would know the true and living God, the God of Israel.

The Significance of the Number “Ten” – The Hebrew phrase “ten times” ( ) is made up of two words, “ten” ( ) (H6235), and “times” ( ) (H6471). Although the literal translation is, “ten times,” John Gill understands the phrase “ten times” in Num 14:22 as an idiom to mean a rounded number, which is equivalent to “time after time,” thus “numerous times.” He says that although the Jews counted ten literal occasions when Israel tempted the Lord during the wilderness journeys, Aben Ezra gives this phrase a figurative meaning of “many times.” [34] T. E. Espin adds to the figurative meaning of Num 14:22 by saying that Israel had tempted the Lord to its fullness, so that the Lord would now pass judgment upon them, even denying them access into the Promised Land, which is clearly stated in the next verse. [35]

[34] Gill lists ten literal occasions, “twice at the sea, Exodus 14:11; twice concerning water, Exodus 15:23; twice about manna, Exodus 16:2; twice about quails, Exodus 16:12; once by the calf, Exodus 32:1; and once in the wilderness of Paran, Numbers 14:1, which last and tenth was the present temptation.” John Gill, Numbers, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Numbers 14:22.

[35] E. T. Espin and J. F. Thrupp, Numbers, in The Holy Bible According to the Authorized Version (A.D. 1611), with an Explanation and Critical Commentary and a Revision of the Translation, by Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church, vol. 1, part 2, ed. F. C. Cook (London: John Murray, 1871), 702.

The phrase “ten times” is used as an idiom in several passages in the Scriptures to mean countless times (Gen 31:7, Num 14:22, Neh 4:12).

Gen 31:7, “And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.”

Num 14:22, “Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;”

Neh 4:12, “And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times , From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.”

The NAB translates this phrase in Gen 31:7 as “time after time.”

NAB, “yet your father cheated me and changed my wages time after time . God, however, did not let him do me any harm.”

The number ten represents a counting system that is based on ten units. Thus, the number ten can be interpreted literally to represent the numerical system, or it can be given a figurative meaning to reflect the concept of multiple occurrences.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Locusts Threatened

v. 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs before him,

v. 2. and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son’s son what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord. Since Pharaoh had hardened his heart in the first place, the Lord now gave him up to the doom which he had chosen for himself, and the last plagues had the purpose of completing his obduracy. of this fact Moses was informed, lest he become discouraged. At the same time the Lord had His own glorification in view; for the children of Israel, throughout their generations, should preserve the memory of the Egyptian plagues, in order to keep the fear of the Lord before them all the time.

v. 3. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews; How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Let My people go that they may serve Me. It is the same formula, but preceded by a threatening question, spoken in a much severer tone than heretofore. Would Pharaoh never learn to humble himself before the almighty power of the true God?

v. 4. Else, if thou refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast. It is again a definite prediction, which marks the plague as a miracle.

v. 5. And they shall cover the face of the earth, literally, the eye of the earth, which is pictured as looking upon man in the ornament of its rich vegetation, that one cannot be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, all the plants whose foliage had been stripped, but which had recovered from the plague of the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field, the foliage and the fruit of the trees, down to the very bark.

v. 6. And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. Besides working utter devastation in the land, the locusts would, in addition, fill all the dwellings with their nauseating presence, thus proving themselves a pest upon men as well as upon vegetation. And he (Moses) turned himself and went out from Pharaoh. He added no appeal to his announcement, the simple statement of the fact coming with crushing force.

v. 7. And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? They compared Moses to a trap, or snare, for catching animals and birds, and themselves to his victims. Let the men go that they may serve the Lord, their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? The blind obstinacy of Pharaoh was plunging the entire nation into destruction. Their advice was evidently that the king should grant the request and dismiss the Israelites.

v. 8. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord, your God. He acted as though he were ready to accede to their desire. But who are they that shall go? literally, “Who and who else are those going?” He wanted exact information on that point.

v. 9. And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord, literally, “A feast of Jehovah is to us. ” It was again a simple statement of fact, for Moses was no longer the humble supplicant.

v. 10. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go and your little ones. That was bitter blasphemy, that Jehovah should be their assistance in the same degree as Pharaoh was dismissing them; for he had no such intention, and he defied the Lord. Look to it; for evil is before you. He meant to say that he saw through their design of withdrawing the people from their labors.

v. 11. Not so; go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. He intimated that he had understood them as asking only for leave of absence for the men. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. The tyrant acted in a purely arbitrary manner and against better knowledge; for such is the way of unbelievers in waging war against the Lord’s people.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE EIGHTH PLAGUE. Notwithstanding his self-condemnation and acknowledgment of the righteousness of God in all the judgments that had been sent upon him (Exo 9:27), Pharaoh no sooner found that the seventh plague had ceased than he reverted to his old obstinacy. He both wilfully hardened his own heart (Exo 9:34); and God, by the unfailing operation of his moral laws, further blunted or hardened it (Exo 10:1). Accordingly, it became necessary that his stubbornness should be punished by one other severe infliction. Locusts, God’s “great army,” as they are elsewhere called (Joe 2:25), were the instrument chosen, so that once more the judgment should seem to come from heaven, and that it should be exactly fitted to complete the destruction which the hail had left unaccomplished (Exo 10:5). Locusts, when they come in full force, are among the most terrible of all the judgments that can befall a country. “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness” (Joe 2:3). They destroy every atom of foliagecrops, vegetables, shrubs, treeseven the bark of the fruit-trees suffersthe stems are injured, the smaller branches completely peeled and “made white” (Joe 1:7). When Moses threatened this infliction, his words produced at once a great effect. The officers of the court”Pharaoh’s servants,” as they are calledfor the first time endeavoured to exert an influence over the king”Let the men go,” they said; “knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” (Exo 10:7). And the king so far yielded thatalso for the first timehe let himself be influenced by the mere threat of a judgment. tie would have let the Israelites depart, before the locusts came, if only they would have left their “little ones” behind them (Exo 10:8-11 ). Moses, however, could not consent to this limitation; and so the plague came in fall severity the locusts covered the whole face of the earth, so that the land was darkened with them (Exo 10:15); and all that the hail had left, including the whole of the wheat and doora harvests, was destroyed. Then Pharaoh made fresh acknowledgment of his sin, and fresh appeals for intercessionwith the old result that the plague was removed, and that he remained as obdurate as ever (Exo 10:16-20).

Exo 10:1

Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart. The word “I” is expressed in the original and is emphatic. It is not merely that Pharaoh has hardened himself (Exo 9:34); but I have “dulled” or “hardened” him. Therefore condescend to see him once more, and to bear my message to him. The heart of his servants. Compare Exo 9:34. As Pharaoh’s determination began to waver the influence of the court officers increased. Hence the frequent mention of them in this part of the narrative. That I might shew them my signs. The “fierceness of man” was being “turned to God’s praise.” It resulted from the obstinacy of Pharaoh that more and greater miracles were wrought, more wonderful signs shown, and that by these means both the Israelites themselves, and the heathen nations in contact with them, were the more deeply impressed.

Exo 10:2

That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son. The Psalms show how after generations dwelt in thought upon the memory of the great deeds done in Egypt and the deliverance wrought there. (See especially Psa 78:1-72; Psa 105:1-45; Psa 106:1-48; but compare also Psa 68:6, Psa 68:7; Psa 77:14-20; Psa 81:5, Psa 81:6; Psa 114:1-3; Psa 135:8, Psa 135:9; Psa 136:10-15.)

Exo 10:3

How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself! The confession recorded in Exo 9:27 had been a distinct act of self-humiliation; but it had been cancelled by subsequent self-assertion (Exo 9:34, Exo 9:35). And, moreover, humility of speech was not what God had been for months requiring of Pharaoh, but submission in act. He would not really “humble himself” until he gave the oft- demanded permission to the Israelites, that they might depart from Egypt.

Exo 10:4

To-morrow. Again a warning is given, and a space of time interposed, during which the king may repent and submit himself, if he chooses. The locusts. The species intended is probably either the Aeridium peregrinum or the Oedipoda migratoria. Both are common in Arabia and Syria, and both are known in Egypt. They are said to be equally destructive. The Hebrew name, arbeh, points to the “multitudinous” character of the visitation. A traveller in Syria says”It is difficult to express the effect produced on us by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled on all sides and to a great height by an innumerable quantity of these insects, whose flight was slow and uniform, and whose noise resembled that of rain; the sky was darkened, and the light of the sun considerably weakened. In a moment the terraces of the houses, the streets, and all the fields were covered by these insects.” Into thy coasti.e. “across thy border, into thy territories.” The locust is only an occasional visitant in Egypt, and seems always to arrive from some foreign country.

Exo 10:5

They shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth. This is one of the points most frequently noticed by travellers. “The ground is covered with them for several leagues,” says Volney. “The steppes,” says Clarke, “were entirely covered by their bodies.” “Over an area of 1600 or 1800 square miles,” observes Barrow, “the whole surface might literally be said to be covered with them.” They shall eat the residue of that which escaped. Locusts eat every atom of verdure in the district attacked by them. “In A.D. 1004,” says Barhebraeus, “a large swarm of locusts appeared in the land of Mosul and Baghdad, and it was very grievous in Shiraz. It left no herb nor even leaf on the trees. When their swarms appear,” writes Volney, “everything green vanishes instantaneously from the fields, as if a curtain were rolled up; the trees and plants stand leafless, and nothing is seen but naked boughs and stalks.” And shall eat every tree. The damage done by locusts to trees is very great. “He (the locust) has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare and east it away; the branches thereof are made white” (Joe 1:7). Travellers constantly notice this fact. “When they have devoured all other vegetables,” says one, “they attack the trees, consuming first the leaves, then the bark.” “After having consumed herbage, fruit, leaves of trees,” says another, “they attacked even their young shoots and their bark.” “They are particularly injurious to the palm-trees,” writes a third; “these they strip of every leaf and green particle, the trees remaining like skeletons with bare branches.” A fourth notes that “the bushes were eaten quite bare, though the animals could not have been long on the spot. They sat by hundreds on a bush, gnawing the rind and the woody fibres.”

Exo 10:6

They shall fill thy houses. Compare Joe 2:9. The witness of modern travellers is to the same effect. Morier says “They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every corner, stuck to our clothes, and infested our food”. Burckhardt observes”They overwhelm the province of Nedjd sometimes to such a degree that, having destroyed the harvest, they penetrate by thousands into the private dwellings, and devour whatsoever they can find, even the leather of the water vessels”. An older traveller, Beauplan, writes as follows:”In June 1646, at Novgorod, it was prodigious to behold them, because they were hatched there that spring, and being as yet scarce able to fly, the ground was all covered, and the air so full of them that I could not eat in my chamber without a candle, all the houses being full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, garrets, and cellars. I caused cannon-powder and sulphur to be burnt to expel them, but all to no purpose; for when the door Was opened, an infinite number came in, and the others went fluttering about; and it was a troublesome thing, when a man went abroad, to be hit on the face by those creatures, on the nose, eyes, or cheeks, so that there was no opening one’s mouth but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing; for when we were to eat they gave us no respite; and when we went to cut a piece of meat, we cut a locust with it, and when a man opened his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them.” Oriental houses, it is to be borne in mind, have no better protection than lattice-work in the windows, so that locusts have free access to the apartments, even when the doers are shut. Which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen. Inroads of locusts are not common in Egypt. Only one reference has been found to them in the native records. When they occur, they are as destructive as elsewhere. Denon witnessed one in the early part of the present century. Two others were witnessed by Carsten Niebuhr and Forskal in 1761 and 1762; and another by Tisehendorf comparatively recently. The meaning in the text is probably that no such visitation as that now sent had been seen previously, not that Egypt had been hitherto free from the scourge. He turned himself and went out. Moses did not wait to learn what effect his announcement would have. He” knew “that Pharaoh would not fear the Lord. (See Exo 9:30.)

Exo 10:7

And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him. This marks quite a new phase in the proceedings. Hitherto the courtiers generally had been dumb. Once the magicians had ventured to say”This is the finger of God” (Exo 8:19); but otherwise the entire court had been passive, and left the king to himself. They are even said to have “hardened their hearts” like him (Exo 9:34). But now at last they break their silence and interfere. Having lost most of their cattle, and a large part of the year’s crops, the great men became alarmedthey were large landed proprietors, and the destruction of the wheat and doora crops would seriously impoverish, if not actually ruin them. Moreover, it is to be noted that they interfere before the plague has begun, when it is simply threatened, which shows that they had come to believe in the power of Moses. Such a belief on the part of some had appeared, when the plague of hail was threatened (Exo 9:20); now it would seem to have become general. A snare to usi.e. “a peril””a source of danger,” the species being put for the genus.

Exo 10:8

Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh. Pharaoh did not condescend so far as to send for them, but he allowed his courtiers to bring them to him. And he so far took the advice of his courtiers, that he began by a general permission to the Israelites to take their departure. This concession, however, he almost immediately retracted by a question, which implied that all were not to depart. Who are they that shall go? It seems somewhat strange that the king had not yet clearly understood what the demand made of him was. But perhaps he had not cared to know, since he had had no intention of granting it.

Exo 10:9

And Moses said, We will go with our young, and with our old. This statement was at any rate unambiguous, and no doubt could henceforth be even pretended as to what the demand was. The whole nation, with its flocks and herds, was to take its departure, since a feast was to be held in which all the nation ought to participate. The Egyptians were accustomed to the attendance of children at national festivals (Herod. 2.60).

Exo 10:10

And he said, etc. Pharaoh’s reply to the plain statement of Moses is full of scorn and anger, as if he would say”When was ever so extravagant and outrageous a demand made? How can it be supposed that I would listen to it? So may Jehovah help you, as I will help you in thisto let you go, with your families.” (Taph is “family,” or household, not “little ones.” See Exo 1:1.) Look to it; for evil is before you. Or, “Look to it; for you have evil in view.” Beware, i.e; of what you are about. You entertain the evil design of robbing me of my slavesa design which I shall not allow you to carry out. There is no direct threat, only an indirect one, implied in “Look to it.”

Exo 10:11

Go now ye that are men. Or, “ye that are adult males.” The word is different from that used in Exo 10:7, which includes women and children. And serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. Pharaoh seems to argue that the request to “serve the Lord” implied the departure of the men only, as if women and children could not offer an acceptable service. But he must have known that women and children attended his own national festivals. (See the comment on Exo 10:9.) Probably, he knew that his argument was sophistical. And they were driven out. Literally, “One drove them out.” Pharaoh’s manifest displeasure was an indication to the court officials that he wished the interview ended, and as the brothers did not at once voluntarily quit the presence, an officer thrust them out. This was an insult not previously offered them, and shows how Pharaoh’s rage increased as he saw more and more clearly that he would have to yield and allow the departure of the entire nation.

Exo 10:13

The Lord brought an east wind. Locusts generally come with a wind; and, indeed, cannot fly far without one. An east wind would in this case have brought them from northern Arabia, which is a tract where they are often bred in large numbers. Denon, the French traveller, notes that an enormous cloud of locusts which invaded Egypt during his stay, came from the east. All that day. The rest of the day on which Moses and Aaron had had their interview with the Pharaoh.

Exo 10:14

The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. This statement is very emphatic, and seems to imply that the plague was more widely extended than any that had preceded it. Egypt extends about 520 miles from north to south, but except in the Delta is not more than about 20 miles wide. Columns of locusts of the length of 500 miles have been noticed by travellers (Moor in Kirby on Entomology, letter 6.), and 20 miles is not an unusual width for them. But such a length and such a breadth are not elsewhere recorded in combination. Thus the visitation was, in its extent as well as in its circumstances, plainly abnormal.

Exo 10:15

The land was darkened. It is not quite clear whether the darkness here spoken of was caused by the locusts when they were still on the wing or after they had settled. It is a fact that the insects come in such dense clouds that while on the wing they obscure the light of the sun, and turn noonday into twilight. And it is also a fact that with their dull brownish bodies and wings they darken the ground after they have settled. Perhaps it is most probable that this last is the fact noticed. (Compare Exo 10:5.) All the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. Injury to fruit by the hail had not been expressly mentioned in the account of that plague, though perhaps it may be regarded as implied in the expressionthat the hail “brake every tree of the field” (Exo 10:25). The damage which locusts do to fruit is well known. They devour it with the green crops, the herbage, and the foliage, before setting to work upon the harder materials, as reeds, twigs, and the bark of trees. In Egypt the principal fruits would be figs, pomegranates; mulberries, grapes, olives, peaches, pears, plums, and apples; together with dates, and the produce of the persea, and the nebk or sidr. The fruit of the nebk is ripe in March. There remained not any green thing. “It is sufficient,” observes one writer, “if these terrible columns stop half an hour on a spot, for everything growing on it, vines, olive-trees, and corn, to be entirely destroyed. After they have passed, nothing remains but the large branches and the roots, which, being underground, have escaped their voracity.” “Where–ever they settle,” says another, “it looks as if fire had burnt up everything.” “The country did not seem to be burnt,” declares a third, “but to be covered with snow, through the whiteness of the trees and the dryness of the herbs.” A fourth sums up his account of the ravages committed by locusts thus”According to all accounts, wherever the swarms of locusts arrive, the vegetables are entirely consumed and destroyed, appearing as if they had been burnt by fire.”

Exo 10:16

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. Literally, as in the margin, “hasted to call for M. and A.” He had made similar appeals before (Exo 8:8, Exo 8:25; Exo 9:27), but never with such haste and urgency. Evidently, the locusts were felt as a severer infliction than any previous one. I have sinned. So, after the plague of hail (Exo 9:27); but here we have the further acknowledgment, against the Lord your God and against you; “against the Lord,” in disobeying his commands; “against. you,” in making you premises and then refusing to keep them (Exo 8:15, Exo 8:32; Exo 9:34, Exo 9:35).

Exo 10:17

Only this once. Compare Gen 18:32. Pharaoh kept this promise. He did not ask any more for the removal of a plague. This death onlyi.e. “this fatal visitation”this visitation, which, by producing famine, causes numerous deaths in a nation. Pharaoh feels now, as his courtiers had felt when the plague was first threatened, that “Egypt is destroyed” (Gen 18:7).

Exo 10:18

He intreated the Lord. Moses complied, though Pharaoh had this time made no distinct promise of releasing the people. He had learnt that no dependence was to be placed on such promises, and that it was idle to exact them. If anything could have touched the dull and hard heart of the king, it would have been the gentleness and magnanimity shown by Moses in uttering no word of reproach, making no conditions, but simply granting his request as soon as it was made, and obtaining the removal of the plague.

Exo 10:19

And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind. Literally, “a very strong sea-wind”i.e. one which blew from the Mediterranean, and which might, therefore, so far, be north, north-west, or north-east. As it blew the locusts into the “Sea of Weeds,” i.e. the Red Sea, it must have been actually a north-west wind, and so passing obliquely over Egypt, have carried the locusts in a south-easterly direction. Cast them into the Red Sea. Literally, “the Sea of Weeds.” No commentater doubts that the Red Sea is here meant. It ‘seems to have received its Hebrew appellation, Yam Suph, “Sea of Weeds,” either from the quantity of sea-weed which it throws up, or, more probably, from the fact that anciently its north-western recess was connected with a marshy tract extending from the present head of the Gulf of Suez nearly to the Bitter Lakes, in which grew abundant weeds and water-plants. There remained not one locust. The sudden and entire departure of locusts is as remarkable as their coming. “At the hour of prime,” says one writer, “they began to depart, and at midday there was not one remaining.”, “A wind from the south-west,” says another, “which had brought them, so completely drove them forwards that not a vestige of them was to be seen two hours afterwards”.

Exo 10:20

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The word used here is the intensive one, khazoq, instead of the milder kabod of Exo 10:1. Pharaoh’s prolonged obstinacy and impenitence was receiving aggravation by the working of the just laws of God. (See the comment on Exo 4:21.)

HOMILETICS

Exo 10:1, Exo 10:2

God’s mercies and wondrous works to be kept in perpetual remembrance.

Man’s forgetfulness of God’s benefits is one of the saddest features of his existing condition and character. He needs continual urging and exhortation to the duty of remembering them.

I. HE FORGETS ESPECIALLY THOSE BENEFITS WHICH ARE CONSTANT AND CONTINUOUS.

(a) Temporal benefits. Life, strength, health, intellect, the power to act, the capacity to enjoy, the ability to think, speak, write, are God’s gifts, bestowed lavishly on the human race, and in civilised countries possessed in some measure by almost every member of the community. And, for the most part, they are possessed continuously. At any moment any one of them might be withdrawn; but, as it pleases God to make them constant, they are scarcely viewed as gifts at all. The Church would have men thank God, at least twice a day, for their “creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life.” But how few perform this duty! Creation, preservation, daily sustenance, even health, are taken as matters of course, which come to us naturally; not considered to be, as they are, precious gifts bestowed upon us by God.

(b) Spiritual benefits. Atonement, redemption, reconciliation, effected for us once for all by our Lord’s death upon the Cross; and pardon, assisting grace, spiritual strength, given us continually, are equally ignored and forgotten. At any rate, the lively sense of them is wanting. Few say, with David, Constantly, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psa 103:1-5).

II. HE FORGETS EVEN EXTRAORDINARY MERCIES. A man escapes with life from an accident that might have been fatal; recovers from an illness in which his life was despaired of; is awakened suddenly to a sense of religion when he had long gone on in Coldness and utter deadness; and he thinks at first that nothing can ever take the thought of the blessing which he has received out of his remembrance. He is ready to exclaim, ten times a day, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul!” But soon all fades away and grows dim; the vivid remembrance passes from him; he thinks less and less of what seems now a distant time; he neglects to speak of it, even to his children. Instead of “telling in the ears of his son, and of his son’s son, what things God wrought for him in the old timer he does not so much as think of them. Very offensive to God must be this forgetfulness. He works his works of mercy and of power for the very purpose “that men may tell of them and have them in remembrance,” may “teach them to their sons and their sons’ sons,” may keep them “as tokens upon their hands, and as frontlets between their eyes,” may “tell them to the following generation.”

III. PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE OF EXTRAORDINARY MERCIES IS BEST SECURED BY THE OBSERVANCE OF ANNIVERSARIES. God instituted the Passover, and other Jewish feasts, that the memory of his great mercies to his people in Egypt and the wilderness should not pass away (Exo 12:24 27). So the Christian Church has observed Christmas Day, Good Friday, Ascension Day. Such occasions are properly called “commemorations.” And individuals may well follow the Church, by commemorating important events in their own lives, so they do it

(1) Gratefully;

(2) Prayerfully; and

(3) Unostentatiously.

Exo 10:3-6

God’s long-suffering towards the wicked has a limit.

“How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?” (Exo 10:3). “The goodness of God endureth yet daily.” His forbearance and long-suffering are wonderful. Yet they have a limit. God will not proceed to judgment

I. UNTIL THE SINNER HAS HAD FULL OPPORTUNITY FOR REPENTANCE. Pharaoh had been first warned (Exo 5:3), then shown a sign (Exo 7:10-12); after this, punished by seven distinct plagues, each of which was well calculated to strike terror into the soul, and thereby to stir it to repentance. He had been told by his own magicians that one of them, at any rate, could be ascribed to nothing but “the finger of God” (Exo 8:19). He had been impressed, alarmed, humbled so far as to make confession of sin (Exo 9:27), and to promise three several times that he would let the Israelites depart from Egypt (Exo 8:8, Exo 8:28; Exo 9:28). But all had been of no avail. No sooner was a plague removed at his humble entreaty than he resumed all his old pride and arrogance, retracted his promise, and showed himself as stiff-necked as at the first. The time during which his trim had lasted, and God’s patience endured, must have been more than a yearsurely ample opportunity!

II. UNTIL IT IS MANIFEST THAT THERE IS NO HOPE THAT HE WILL REPENT. “What could have been done more in my vineyard, that I have not done to it?” God asks in Isaiah (Isa 5:4). And what more could he have done to turn Pharaoh from his evil ways, that he had not done on this occasion? Exhortations, warnings, miracles, light plagues, heavy plagues, had all been tried, and no real, permanent impression made. The worst of all was, that when some kind of impression was made, no good result ensued. Fearabject, servile, cowardly fearwas the dominant feeling aroused; and even this did not last, but disappeared the moment that the plague was removed. Pharaoh was thus constantly “sinning yet more” (Exo 9:34). Instead of improving under the chastening hand of God, he was continually growing worse. His heart was becoming harder. His reformation was more hopeless.

III. UNTIL GOD‘S PURPOSES IN ALLOWING THE RESISTANCE OF HIS WILL BY THE SINNER ARE ACCOMPLISHED. God intended that through Pharaoh’s resistance to his will, and the final failure of his resistance, his own name should be glorified and “declared throughout all the earth” (Exo 9:16). It required a period of some lengtha tolerably prolonged contestto rivet the attention both of the Egyptians generally, and of the surrounding nations. After somewhat more than a year this result had been attained. There was, consequently, no need of further delay; and the last three plagues, which followed rapidly the one upon the other, were of the nature of judgments.

Exo 10:7-11

Man’s interposition with good advice may come too late.

It is impossible to say what effect the opposition and remonstrances of his nobles and chief officers might not have had upon Pharaoh, if they had been persistently offered from the first. But his magicians had for some time aided and abetted his resistance to God’s will, as declared by Moses; and had even used the arts whereof they were masters to make, the miracles which Moses wrought seem trifles. And the rest of the Court officials had held their peace, neither actively supporting the monarch, nor opposing him. It was only when the land had been afflicted by seven plagues, and an eighth was impending, that they summoned courage to express disapproval of the king’s past conduct, and to recommend a different course. “How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go,” they said. But the advice came too late. Pharaoh had, so to speak, committed himself. He had engaged in a contest from which he could not retire without disgrace. He had become heated and hardened; and, the more the conviction came home to him that he must yield the main demand, the more did it seem to him a point of honour not to grant the whole of what had been asked. But practically, this was the same thing as granting nothing, since Moses would not be content with less than the whole. The interposition of the Court officials was therefore futile. Let those whose position entitles them to offer advice to men in power bear in mind four things

(1) The importance of promptness in bringing their influence to bear;

(2) the advantage of taking a consistent line from first to last;

(3) the danger of inaction and neutrality; and

(4) the necessity of pressing their advice when it has been once given, and of not allowing it to be set aside. If the “servants of Pharaoh” had followed up the interposition recorded in Exo 10:7 by further representations and remonstrances, they would have had some slight chance of producing an effect. But a single isolated remonstrance was valueless.

Exo 10:12-15

The terribleness of God’s severer judgments.

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the bands of the living God.” “Our God is a consuming fire.” “If the wicked turn not, God will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors” (Psa 7:11-13). Every calamity which can visit man is at his disposal. God’s punishments are terrible

I. BECAUSE HE IS OMNIPOTENT. He can smite with a thousand weaponswith all the varieties of physical painaches, sores, wounds, boils, nerve affections, inflammation, short breath, imperfect heart action, faintings, palpitations, weakness, cramps, chills, shiveringswith mental sufferings, bad spirits, depression, despondency, grief, anguish, fear, want of brain power, loss of self-controls distaste for exertion, etc.; with misfortunessickness, mutilation, loss of friends, ill-health, bereavement, death. He can accumulate sorrows, reiterate blows, allow no respite, proceed from bad to worse, utterly crush and destroy those who have offended him and made themselves his enemies.

II. BECAUSE HE IS ABSOLUTELY JUST. God’s judgments are the outcome of his justice, and therefore most terrible. What have we not deserved at his hands? If, after all his gentle teaching, all his mild persuading, the preaching of his ministers, the promptings of his Holy Spirit, the warnings furnished by the circumstances of life, the special chastisements sent to evoke repentance, men continue obduratewhat remains but a “fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries”? (Heb 10:27.) If each sin committed is to receive its full, due, and appropriate penalty, what suffering can be sufficient? Even in this life, the vengeances that have overtaken the impenitent, have sometimes been most fearful; what must the full tale be if we take in the consideration of another?

III. BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL, AND CANNOT LIE OR REPENT. God in his Word has plainly, clearly, unmistakably, over and over again, declared that the impenitent sinner shall be punished everlastingly. In vain men attempt to escape the manifest force of the words and to turn them to another meaning. As surely as the life of the blessed is never-ending, so is the “death” of the wicked. Vainly says one, that he would willingly give up his hope of everlasting life, if so be that by such sacrifice he could end the eternal sufferings of the lost ones. It is not what man feels, what he thinks he would do, or even what he would actually do, were it in his power, that proves anything; the question is one of fact. God tells us what he is about to do, and he will assuredly do it, whatever we may think or feel. “These (the wicked) shall go into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life everlasting” (Mat 25:46). Oh! terrible voice of most just judgment which shall be pronounced on those to whom it shall be said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41)] The crowning terror of the judgment of God is the perpetuity which he has declared attaches to it.

Exo 10:16-20

The agency of nature used by God both in inflicting and removing judgments.

God’s footsteps are not known. Since Eden was lost to us it has pleased him, for inscrutable reasons, to withdraw himself behind the screen of nature, and to work out his purposesin the main, through natural agencies. He punishes idleness and imprudence by poverty and contempt; intemperance and uncleanness, by disease; inordinate ambition, by collapse of schemes, loss of battles, deposition, exile, early death. Civil government is one of the agencies which he uses for punishing a whole class of offences; hygienic laws are another. It is comparatively seldom that he descends visibly to judgment, as when he burnt up the cities of the plains. So, even when he was miraculously punishing Egypt and Pharaoh, he used, as far as was possible, the agency of nature. Frog, mosquitoes, beetles, thunder, hail, locusts, worked his willnatural agents, suited to the season and the countryonly known by faith to have come at his bidding, and departed when he gave the order. And he brought the locusts and took them away, by a wind. So the temporal punishments of the wicked came constantly along the ordinary channels of life, rash speculation producing bankruptcy; profligacy, disease; dishonesty, distrust; ill-temper, general aversion. Men curse their ill-luck when calamity comes on them, and attribute to chance what is really the doing of God’s retributive hand. The east wind, they say, brought the locusts on them; but they do not ask who brought the east wind out of his treasury. God uses natural means also to remove judgments. “A wind takes the locusts away.” A severe winter stops a pestilence. An invasion of their own territory recalls devastating hordes to its defence, and frees the land which they were ravaging. Reaction sets in when revolution goes too far, and the guillotine makes short work of the revolutionists. Want stimulates industry, and industry removes the pressure of want. Even when men’s prayers are manifestly answered by the cessation of thought, or rain, or the recovery from sickness of one given over by the physicians, the change comes about in a natural way. A little cloud rises up out of the deep, and overspreads the heavens, and the drought is gone. The wind shifts a few points, and the “plague of rain” ceases. The fever abates, little by little, the patient finds that he can take nourishment; so the crisis is past, and nature, or “the strength of his constitution,” as men say, has saved him. The changes are natural ones; but God, who is behind nature, has caused the changes, and, as much as miracles, they are his work.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 10:1-7

A new Message.

Even yet God had not done with the King of Egypt. He sends Moses again to ply him with reproof and threatening. The final stroke is put off as long as possible. If “by all means” (1Co 9:22) Pharaoh can be saved, he will not be lost for want of the opportunity. God tells Moses his design in dealing with the monarch as he did, and gives him a new message to carry to the royal presence.

I. GOD‘S DESIGN (Exo 10:1, Exo 10:2). He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the heart of his servants, that he might show these his signs before him, and that he might secure their being had in remembrance through all succeeding generations in Israel. This bespeaks, on God’s part

1. Definite purpose in the shaping of the events which culminated in the Exodus. As Jehovah, the all-ruling one, it lay with him to determine what shape these events would assume, so as best to accomplish the end he had in view in the deliverance. It was of his ordering that a ruler of Pharaoh’s stamp occupied the throne of Egypt at that particular time; that the king was able to hold out as he did against his often reiterated, and powerfully enforced, command; that the monarch’s life was spared, when he might have been smitten and destroyed (Exo 9:15, Exo 9:16); that the Exodus was of so glorious and memorable a character.

2. It indicates the nature of the design. “That ye may know how that I am the Lord’ (Exo 10:2). We have already seen (Exo 6:1-30.) that the central motive in this whole series of events was the manifestation of God in his character of Jehovahthe absolute, all-ruling, omnipotent Lord, who works in history, in mercy, and judgment, for the accomplishment of gracious ends. The design was

(1) To demonstrate the fact that such a Being as is denoted by the name Jehovah, existed; that there is an absolute, all-ruling, omnipotent, gracious God;

(2) to raise the mind to a proper conception of his greatness, by giving an exhibition, on a scale of impressive magnitude, of his actual working in mercy and judgment for the salvation of his people; and

(3) to make thereby a revelation of himself which would lay the foundation of future covenant relations with Israel, and ultimately of an universal religion reposing on the truths of his unity, spirituality, sanctity, omnipotence, and love. Subordinate objects were the making known of his power and greatness to Pharaoh himself (Exo 7:17; Exo 8:22; Exo 9:13, Exo 9:29), and to the surrounding nations (Exo 9:16). The design thus indicated required that the facts should be of a kind which admitted of no dispute; that they should palpably and conclusively demonstrate the character of God to be as asserted; and that they should be of so striking and awful a description, as to print themselves indelibly upon the memory of the nation. These conditions were fulfilled in the events of the Exodus.

(3) It shows how God intended his mighty works to be kept in remembrance. “That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son,” etc. (Exo 10:2). God provided for the handing down of a knowledge of these wonders

(1) By giving them a character which secured that they should not be forgotten. The memory of these “wonders in the land of Ham’ (Psa 105:27) rings down in Israel to the latest generations (see Psa 78:1-72; Psa 105:1-45; Psa 106:1-48; Psa 135:1-21; Psa 126:1-6, etc.);

(2) by embodying them in a written record;

(3) by enjoining on parents the duty of faithfully narrating them to their children (Exo 13:14; Deu 4:9; Deu 5:7, Deu 5:20-23; Deu 11:19; Psa 78:3-7). Bible history will soon get to be forgotten if the story is not taken up and diligently taught by loving parental lips.

II. GOD‘S REQUIREMENThumility. “How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?” (Exo 10:3.) This lays the finger on the root principle of Pharaoh’s opposition, pride. Pride, the undue exaltation of the ego, is a hateful quality of character, even as between man and man. How much more, as between man and God! It is described as “the condemnation of the devil” (1Ti 4:6). Pride puffs the soul up in undue conceit of itself, and leads it to spurn at God’s dictation and control. It aims at a false independence. It would wish to be as God. In the worldly spirit it manifests itself as “the pride of life” (1Jn 2:16). In the self-righteous spirit it manifests itself as spiritual pride. It excludes every quality which ought to exist in a soul rightly exercised towards its Creator. Faith, love, humility, the feeling of dependence, gratitude for benefits, regard for the Creator’s gloryit shuts out all. It is incompatible with the sense of sin, with the spirit of contrition, with humble acceptance of salvation through another. It is the great barrier to the submission of the heart to God and Christ, inciting instead to naked and impious rebellion. The degree and persistency of the opposition to God which pride is able to inspire may be well studied in the case of Pharaoh.

III. GOD‘S THREAT (Exo 10:4 7). He would bring upon the land a plague of locusts. The magnitude of the visitation would place it beyond comparison with anything that had ever been known. See below.

IV. MOSES GOING OUT FROM PHARAOH. “And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh” (Exo 10:6). He delivered his message, and did not wait for an answer. This should have told Pharaoh that the bow was now stretched to its utmost, and that to strain it further by continued resistance would be to break it. His courtiers seem to have perceived this (Exo 10:7). Moses’ going out was a prelude to the final breaking off of negotiations (Exo 10:29). View it also as a studied intimation

1. Of his indignation at the past conduct of the king (cf. Exo 11:8).

2. Of his conviction of the hopelessness of producing any good impression on his hardened nature.

3. Of the certainty of God’s purpose being fulfilled, whether Pharaoh willed it or no. It was for Pharaoh’s interest to attend to the warning which had now again been given him, but his refusal to attend to it would only injure himself and his people; it would not prevent God’s will from being accomplished.J.O.

Exo 10:7-21

The plague of locusts.

Of the two principal terms used to denote “hardening,” one means “to strengthen, or make firm,” the other, “to make heavy, or obtuse.” It is the latter of these (used also in Exo 8:15, Exo 8:32; Exo 9:7) which is used in Exo 9:34, and Exo 10:1. The growing obtuseness of Pharaoh’s mind is very apparent from the narrative. He is losing the power of right judgment. He began by hardening himself (making his heart strong and firm) against Jehovah, and he is reaping the penalty in a blinded understanding. This obtuseness shows itself in various ways, notably in the want of unity in his conduct. He is like a man at bay, who feels that he is powerless to resist, but cannot bring himself to yield. His power of self-control is leaving him, and his action, in consequence, consists of a succession of mad rushes, now in one direction, now in another. External influencesthe remonstrance of courtiers, the terrors occasioned by the plaguesproduce immediate effects upon him; but the recoil of pride and rage, which speedily supervenes, carries him further from reason than ever. Now he is suing in pitiable self-humiliation for forgiveness; again he is furious and unrestrained in his defiance. Passion is usurping the place of reason, and drives him to and fro with ungovernable violence. We are reminded of the heathen saying, “Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first madden;’ but it is not God who is destroying Pharaoh; it is Pharaoh who is destroying himself. If God maddens him, it is by plying him with the influences which ought to have had a directly opposite effect. Pharaoh, like every other sinner, must bear the responsibility of his own ruin.

I. THE INTERVENTION OF PHARAOH‘S SERVANTS (Exo 10:7). These may be the same servants who up to this time had hardened themselves (Exo 9:34). If so, they now see the folly of further contest. More and more Pharaoh is being left to stand alone. First, his magicians gave in (Exo 8:19), then a portion of his servants (Exo 9:20); now, apparently, his courtiers are deserting him in a body. It shows the indomitable stubbornness of the king, that under these circumstances he should still hold out. Observe,

1. The subjects of a government have often a truer perception of what is needed for the safety of a country than their rulers and leaders. Pharaoh’s servants saw the full gravity of the situation, to which the monarch was so blind. “Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” Rulers are frequently blinded by their pride, passion, prejudices, and private wishes, to the real necessities of a political situation.

2. Hardening against God makes the heart indifferent to the interests of others. The ungodly mind is at bottom selfish. We have seen already (Exo 5:1-23.) to what lengths in cruelty ungodly men will go in pursuit of their personal ends. We have also seen that hardening at the centre of the nature is bound to spread till it embraces the whole man (on Exo 7:3). Pharaoh is an illustration of this. He was unboundedly proud; and “pride,” says Muller, “is the basest and most glaring form that selfishness can assume.” It is an egoistic sin; a sin of the will more than of the affections; a sin rooted in the centre of the personality. But Pharaoh was more than proud; he was God-defying. He had consciously and wilfully hardened himself against the Almighty, under most terrible displays of his omnipotence. Driven to bay in such a contest, it was not to be expected that he would be much influenced by the thought of the suffering he was bringing upon others. Egypt might be destroyed, but Pharaoh recked little of that, or, possibly, still tried to persuade himself that the worst might be averted. The remonstrance of his courtiers produced a momentary wavering, but defiance breaks out again in Exo 10:10 in stronger terms than ever.

II. A RENEWED ATTEMPT AT COMPROMISE (Exo 10:8-12). Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron, and asks who they are that are to go to sacrifice (Exo 10:8): the reply was decisive; “we will go with our young and with our old,” etc. (Exo 10:9). At this Pharaoh is transported with ungovernable rage. He accuses the Hebrew brothers of desiring to take an evil advantage of his permission, and practically challenges Jehovah to do his worst against him (Exo 10:10). He will consent to the men going to serve the Lord, but to nothing more (Exo 10:11). Moses and Aaron were then “driven” from his presence. We are reminded here of the transports of Saul, and his malicious rage at David (1Sa 19:1-24.). Notice on this,

1. Wicked men distrust God. Pharaoh had no reason to question Jehovah’s sincerity. God had proved his sincerity by his previous dealings with him. And had God actually demandedwhat ultimately would have been requiredthe entire departure of the people from the land, what right had he, their oppressor, to object?

2. Wicked men would fain compound with God. They will give up something, if God will let them retain the rest. There is a sweetness to a proud nature in being able to get even part of its own way.

3. The thing wicked men will not do is to concede the whole demand which God makes on them. What God requires supremely is the surrender of the will, and this the recalcitrant heart will not stoop to yield. Part it will surrender, but not the whole. Outward vices, pleasures, worldly possessions, friendships, these, at a pinch, may be given up; but not the heart’s love and obedience, which is the thing chiefly asked for; not the” little ones” of the heart’s secret sins, or the “flocks and herds” for the pure inward sacrifice (see Pusey on Mic 6:6-9).

III. THE LOCUST JUDGMENT (Exo 10:12-16). The predicted plague was accordingly brought upon the land. It was the second of what we may call the greater plaguesthe plagues that were to be laid upon the king’s “heart” (Exo 9:14). They were plagues of a character to appal and overwhelm; to lay hold of the nature on the side on which it is susceptible of impressions from the awful and terrific; to awaken into intense activity its slumbering sense of the infinite; to rouse in the soul the apprehension of present Deity. The first was the plague of hail, thunderings, and lightnings; the second was this plague of locusts. The points on which stress is laid in this second plague are

1. The supernatural character of the visitation.

2. The appalling numbers of the enemy.

3. The havoc wrought by them.

We may compare the language here with the description of the locusts in Joe 2:1-32; and it may be concluded that the effects described as following from the latter visitation were more than paralleled by the terror and anguish created by the descent of this scourge on Egypt. “Before their face the people would be much pained; all faces would gather blackness” (Joe 2:6). It would seem as if the earth quaked before them; as if the heavens trembled; as if sun and moon had become dark, and the stars had withdrawn their shining (Joe 2:10)! The devastation was rapid and complete. “The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness“ (Joe 2:3). Had the plague not speedily been removed Egypt verily would have been destroyed. How mighty is Jehovah! How universal his empire! These locusts were brought from afar (Joe 2:13). All agents in nature serve him; winds (cast and west), locusts (cf. Joe 2:11), as well as hail and thunder. He has but to speak the word, and all we have will be taken from us (Joe 2:15).

IV. PHARAOH‘S PITIABLE PLIGHT AND FURTHER HARDENING (Joe 2:16-21). What we have here is a specimen of one of those violent contrasts in Pharaoh’s later moods to which reference has been made above. Nothing could be more humiliating, more abject, more truly painful, in its self-effacement than this new appeal of the king to Moses. He had sinned, shined both against God, and against Moses and Aaron; would they forgive him this once, only this once, and entreat God that he would take away from him this death only? (Joe 2:16, Joe 2:17.) Contrast this with Joe 2:10, or with Joe 2:28, and it can hardly be believed that we are looking on the same man. Pharaoh had never humbled himself so far before. He beseeches for mercy; almost cringes before Moses and Aaron in his anxiety to have this dreadful plague removed. Yet there is no real change of heart. The moment the locusts are gone pride reasserts its sway, and he hardens himself as formerly. Learn

1. That false repentance may be connected with other than superficial states of feeling. Pharaoh was here in real terror, in mortal anguish of spirit. The pains of hell had truly got hold on him (Psa 116:3). Yet his repentance was a false one.

2. That false repentance may ape every outward symptom of real repentance. Who that saw Pharaoh in that bath of anguish, and heard him pouring out those impassioned entreaties and confessions, but would have supposed that the hard heart had at length been subdued? The confession of sin is unreserved and unqualified. The submission is absolute. Pharaoh was aware of how little he deserved to be further trusted, and pied to be tried again, “only this once,” Yet the repentance was through and through a false onethe product of mere natural terrorthe repentance of a heart, not one fibre of which was altered in its moral quality.

3. That false repentance may not be consciously insincere. There is no reason to question that Pharaoh was for the time sincere enough in the promises he’ made. They were wrung from him, but he meant to give effect to them. But the momentary willingness he felt to purchase exemption from trouble by granting Jehovah’s demand had quite disappeared by the time the plague was removed. The repentance was false.

4. The test of a repentance being false or true is the fruits yielded by it. The test is not the depth of our convictions, the anguish of our minds, the profuseness of our confessions, the apparent sincerity of our vows, it is the kind of deeds which follow (Mat 3:8). We have need in this matter of repentance to distrust ourselves, to beware of being imposed on by others, and to be careful in public instruction that the real nature of repentance is lucidly expounded.J.O.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Exo 10:1-19

The Eighth Plague: the locusts.

I. CONSIDER THE EMPHATIC STATEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE HARDENING OF THE HEART. In Exo 9:34 we are told that when the hail and the thunder ceased, Pharaoh hardened his heart, he and his servants. Note here two things:

1. How Pharaoh’s heart was hardened just after he had made a confession of sin; from which we see how little he understood by the word “sin,” and how little he meant by the confession.

2. The combination of his servants with him in this hardening; from which we may judge that just as some among his servants had been taken further away from him by their prudent and believing action when the hail was threatened (Exo 9:20), so others had been drawn still nearer to their master, and made larger sharers in his obstinacy and pride. The unbelieving, who left their servants and their cattle in the fields, not only lost their property when the hail descended, but afterwards they became worse men. And now in Exo 10:1, not only is there a statement that the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants were hardened, but God in his own person says, “I have hardened his heart,” etc. Then after this statement, so emphatic in the expression of it, however difficult to understand in the meaning of it, God goes on to explain why he has thus hardened the heart of Pharaoh and his servants. In the first place, it gives an opportunity for showing God‘s signs before Pharaoh“all my plagues” (Exo 9:14). Thus God would turn our attention here to the thing of chief importance, namely, what he was doing himself. Important it certainly is to notice what Pharaoh is doing, but far more important to notice what Jehovah is doing. We may easily give too much time to thinking of Pharaoh, and too little to thinking of Jehovah. Thus God would ever direct us into the steps of practical wisdom. We are constantly tempted to ask questions which cannot be answered, while we as constantly neglect to ask questions which both can be answered and ought to be answered. The conduct of Pharaoh is indeed a fascinating problem for those who love to consider the play of motives in the human heart. In considering him there is ample room for the imagination to work out the conception of a very impressive character. Thus, we might come to many conclusions with respect to Pharaoh, some of them right, but in all likelihood most of them wrong, perhaps egregiously wrong. These are matters in which God has not given opportunity for knowledge; the depths of Pharaoh’s personality are concealed from us. There is true and important knowledge to be gained, but it is in another direction. The marvellous, exhaustless power of God is to be more prominent in our thoughts than the erratic and violent plunging of Pharaoh from one extreme to another. Amid all that is dark, densely dark, one thing is clear and clear because God meant it to be clear, and took care to make it sonamely, that all this conduct of Pharaoh was the occasion for unmistakable and multiplied signs of the power of God. One is here reminded of the question of the disciples to Jesus (Joh 9:2), “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” To this question more answers than one were possible; but Jesus gave the answer that was appropriate to the occasion. The man was born blind, that the works of God should be made manifest in him. So not only was Pharaoh’s heart hardened, but God himself hardened that heart, in order that these signs might be shown before him. Then, in the second place, these signs being wrought before -Pharaoh, became also matters for consideration, recollection, and tradition to the Israelites themselves. Moses, taken as the representative of Israel, is to tell to his son, and to his son’s son, what things God had done in Egypt. Here is ample occasion given for the observant and devout in Israel to note the doings of Jehovah and communicate them with all earnestness and reverence from age to age. Surely it was worth a little waiting, a little temporal suffering, to have such chapters written as these which record Israel’s experiences in Egypt! What are the sufferings, merely in body and in circumstances, of one generation, compared with the ennobling thoughts of God, and the consequent inspiration and comfort which may through these very sufferings be transmitted to many generations following! Why it is even a great privilege for one generation to be poor, that through its poverty many generations may become rich.

III. CONSIDER HOW THE TERRIBLE MAGNITUDE OF THE LOCUST–PLAGUE IS SHOWN BY THE EFFECTS FOLLOWING ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF IT.

1. There are the expostulations of Pharaoh‘s servants with him (Exo 10:7). They, at all events, are not disposed to wait for the coming of the locusts. That the locust-plague was a very dreadful one, we may partly gather from other intimations in the Scriptures with respect to these voracious insects, advancing in their innumerable hosts (Deu 28:38, Deu 28:42; 1Ki 8:37; 2Ch 7:13; Joe 1:4; Nah 3:15). The experiences of modern travellers in the East are also such as to assure us that the expectation of a visit from the locust is enough to excite the most alarming thoughts (see in particular Dr. Thomson’s observations on the locust in The Land and the Book). But in truth we hardly need to go beyond the conduct of Pharaoh’s servants themselves. The very name locust was enough to startle them into precautionary activity; they did not wait for the reality. Some of them, indeed, had anticipated the destructive effect of the hail, and taken suitable precautions; but others felt there was room for question whether, after all, the hail would be so pernicious. In their presumption they guessed that a hailstorm could inflict only a slight and reparable damage. But what could escape the locusts? Every green thing was well known to perish before their voracity. Even what might be called an ordinary visitation from them would be no trifle; how much more such a visitation as Pharaoh’s servants had now every reason to believe would come upon them! For the time was long past when they doubted concerning the power of Moses to bring what he threatened. It is no longer a question of the power of Moses, but of the endurance of Egypt. In all likelihood the thought now prevailing in the minds of Pharaoh’s servantspossibly in Pharaoh’s own mindwas that this run of calamity would presently come to an end, if only it was patiently endured. For in ancient Egypt there was doubtless some such proverb as might be Englished into our common saying, “It is a long lane that has no turning.” Egypt has known the long lane of seven plagues; surely it cannot be much longer. And yet it may easily be long enough to destroy them before they get out of it. Locusts to come, when Moses speaks about them, may be reckoned as good as come, if something be not done promptly to avert their approach; and once come, then how long will the food of Egypt remain, either for man or beast! No wonder, then, that Pharaoh’s servants turned upon him with such warmone may almost say threateningexpostulations. The prospect of an immediate and almost instantaneous stoppage of supplies was enough to bring them hastening, as with one consent, to beg a timely submission from their master.

2. There is the extraordinary yielding of Pharaoh to these expostulations. Nothing less than extraordinary can it be called. His yieldings hitherto have been under actual chastise-meat. He has waited for the blow to be struck before he begged for mercy. But now, upon the mere threatening of the blow, he is moved to make overtures of submission. We shall have to notice of what a partial and worthless sort this submission was; at present, the main thing to mark is that there was a submission at all. He could not afford to trifle with the warnings of his servants. Hitherto, in all probability, they had been largely flatterers, men who fooled Pharaoh to the top of his bent with compliments as to his absolute power; but now they are turned into speakers of plain and bitter truth; and though Pharaoh may not like it, the very fact that he is thus addressed is enough to show him that he must arrange terms of surrender before another battle has even begun. Thus, by merely studying the conduct of Pharaoh and his servants before the locusts came, we see very clearly what a terrible plague they were. The plague of the locusts was a great deal more than a variation from the plagues of the frogs, the gnats and the flies.

III. Consider how, in spite of all the dread inspired by the thought of these locusts, PHARAOH‘S PRIDE STILL HINDERS COMPLETE SUBMISSION. It was in an emergency of his government, and under pressure from his panic-stricken servants, that he consented to treat with Moses. Moses comes, and Pharaoh makes him an offer, which Moses of course cannot accept, seeing that he really has no power to treat; he has but the one unchangeable demand; it is a righteous demand, and therefore the righteous Jehovah cannot permit it to be diminished. But the rejection of Pharaoh’s offer gives him a convenient loophole of escape into his former stubbornness. He can turn to his servants and say, “See what an unreasonable man this is. He comes expecting that in the terms of peace I am to yield all, and he is to yield nothing. Better to risk the locusts, and if need be, perish in the midst of our desolated fields, than live dishonoured by yielding up all Israel at his inexorable request.” Speaking in some such spirit as this, we may well believe that Pharaoh stirred up his servants, and won them to support him in continuing his dogged resistance. It is a noble principle to die with honour rather than live with shame; it is the very principle that in its holiest illustration has crowded the ranks of Christian martyrdom. But when a principle of this sort gets into the mouth of a Pharaoh, he may so pervert it as to bring about the worst results. There is no manlier way of closing life than to die for truth and Christ; but it is a poor thing to become, as Pharaoh evidently would have his servants become, the victims of a degraded patriotism. It was all very well to talk loud and drive Moses and Aaron from his presence; but what was the good? the locusts were coming none the less. The fact is, that all suggestions of prudent and timely surrender were cast to the winds. The pride of the tyrant is touched, and it makes him blind to everything else. He rushes ahead, reckless of what may come on the morrow, if only he can gain the passionate satisfaction of driving Moses out of his presence to-day. There is no reasoning With a man in a passion; all arguments are alike to him.

IV. CONSIDER PHARAOH‘S ULTIMATE SUBMISSION AND THE CONSEQUENCE OF IT. He drove Moses and Aaron out of his presence, but nevertheless he had to yield, and that in a peculiarly humiliating way. When he saw the locusts actually at work, then he came face to face with reality; and reality sobers a man. He had to send in haste for the men whom he had driven away, for the locusts were in haste. Every minute he delayed brought Egypt nearer and nearer to starvation. Oh, foolish Pharaoh! just for the pleasure, the sweet, momentary pleasure of driving Moses out of your presence, to risk the horrors of this ravaging host. Notice further, for it is a remarkable thing, that while Pharaoh begs most humbly for mercy, he makes fie formal promise of liberation. The promise, we feel, was really there, all the more emphatic and more evidently unconditional, just because unspoken. Any way, the time had come when formal promises from Pharaoh mattered little, seeing they were never kept. The great thing was that he should be made to feel the pressure of God’s hand upon him, so that he could not but cry to escape from it. Every time he thus cried and begged, as he here so piteously doesall his stubbornness for the time melted away into invisibilityhe showed in the clearest manner the power of Jehovah. Jehovah’s end, in this particular plague of the locusts, was gained when Pharaoh begged that they might be driven awayY

Exo 10:2

The tales of a grandfather.

Jehovah tells Moses, as the representative of Israel, that these glorious Divine actions in Egypt are to be matters of careful instruction in after ages. Each parent is to speak of them to his children, and each grandparent to his grandchildren. And is there not something particularly suggestive in this expression, “thy son’s son”? It brings before us the aged Israelite, his own part in the toil and strife of the world accomplished, his strength exhausted, the scene of his occupations left to a younger generation, and he himself quietly waiting for the close. How is he to occupy his time? Not in utter idleness, for that is good for no man, however long and hard he may have worked. Some part of his thoughts, it may be hoped, goes out in anticipations of the full and unmixed eternity now so near; but some part also will go backward into time, not without pensive and painful interest. He looks from the eminence he has attained, and two generations are behind him, his children and his children’s children. His own children are busy. The world is with them constantly, and its demands are very pressing. They hardly see their offspring from Monday morning till Saturday night. It is only too easy for a man to get so absorbed in seeking the good of strangers, as to have no time for his own household. The following extract from the biography of Wilberforce bears in a very instructive way on this point. “It is said that his children seldom got a quiet minute with him during the sitting of Parliament. So long as they were infants he had not time to seek amusement from them. Even whilst they were of this age, it made a deep impression on his mind when, one of them beginning to cry as he took him up, the nurse said naturally, by way of explanation, ‘He always is afraid of strangers.'” And if this danger of distance between him and his children came to a man like Wilberforce, we may be sure that it comes to thousands who are less sensitive and conscientious than he was. What a field of usefulness, then, is here indicated for a grandfather! In his retirement, and out of his long experience, he may speak of principles the soundness of which he has amply established, and errors which he has had painfully to correct; he may point to a rich harvest gathered from good seed he has been able to sow. Thus the grandfather finds opportunities for useful instruction which the father, alas! may not even seek. Of such it may be truly said, “They shall bring forth fruit in old age” (Psa 92:14). Notice here two points:

I. IT IS WELL FOR THE YOUNGER TO LOOK FORWARD WITH CONCERN TO THE OCCUPATIONS OF A POSSIBLE OLD AGE. The very fact that life is uncertain dictates the prudence of a consideration like this. Life may be shorter than we expect it to be, but it may also be longer. We must not reckon on old age, but that is no reason why we should not prepare for it. Boys and girls can hardly be expected to look so far ahead; but those who have come to manhood and womanhood and some exercise of reflective power, may well ask the question, “How shall I occupy old age if it comes?” And surely it is much to remember that if each stage in life is occupied as it ought to be, then this very fidelity and carefulness will help to provide congenial occupation for the last stage of all. Who would wish to spend the closing years of life in such stupor and lethargy as come over only too many, when there are sources of interest and usefulness such as Jehovah indicates to Moses here? Old age might be a brighter and more profitable scene than it usually is. Who can tell, indeed, whether much of the physical prostration, pain, and sensitive decay, which belong to the aged and tend to shut them out from the world, might not be spared, if there were but a wiser life in earlier years, a life spent in obedience to the laws which God has given for life Many of the most important of these laws we either misunderstand or ignore altogether. Old age is a season into which we should not drift, but advance with a calm consideration of what we may be able to do in it, for the glory of God and the good of men. If we live to be old, what are our reminiscences to be? You who are on the climbing side of life, ask yourselves what sort of life you are making, what chapters of autobiography you may hereafter be able to write. Can anything be sadder than some autobiographies and reminiscences? There are such books, sad with expressed sadness, where the vanity of life is confessed and bewailed on every page. But there are other books, far sadder even than the former sort, just because of the very satisfaction with life which they contain. The men who have written them seem to look back in much the same spirit as once they looked forward. They looked forward with all the eagerness and enjoying power of youth, and they look back without having discovered how selfish, frivolous and unworthy their lives have been. At eighty they are as well pleased with their notion that man has come into this world to enjoy himself as they were at eighteen. Whether we shall live into old age is not for us to settle, nor what our state of body and circumstances may be if we do so live. But one thing at all events we may seek to avoid, namely, a state of mind in old age such as that in which Wesley tells us he found a certain old man at Okehampton. “Our landlord here informed us that he was upwards of ninety, yet had not lost either his sight, hearing, or teeth. Nor had he found that for which he was born. Indeed he did not seem to have any more thought about it than a child of six years old.”

II. OBSERVE, CONCERNING WHAT THINGS IN PARTICULAR GOD WOULD HAVE THE OLD SPEAK TO THE YOUNG. Not so much concerning what they have done, but concerning what God has done for them. Every old man, however foolish, blundering and wasted his own career may have been, has this resortthat he can look back on the dealings of God. It may be that he has to think of a late repentance on his own part; it may be that he has to think a great deal more of God’s mercy to him after years of utter negligence, than God’s help to him through years of struggling obedience. Even so, he can magnify God most abundantly and instructively. Magnifying God is the thing which all Christians should aim at when they look back on the time covered by their own individual life, or over that long, large tract through which authentic history extends. “Tell what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them.” There will never be lack of voices to celebrate the achievements of men. But what a grand occupation for the aged Christian to turn the thoughts of children to the achievements of God, such works as the overthrow of Pharaoh and the guiding into Canaan, and, above all, the work which he does in the hearts of those who believe in his Son. To look on the works of men, on all their selfishness and rivalry, to see how the success of the few involves the failure of the manyall this is very humiliating. But how glorious to speak of the works of God, to point him out in Creation, in Providence, in Redemption; and then to call on the young, all their life through, to be fellow-labourers together with himwhat an occupation is here suggested for old age! The “grey-headed and very aged men” (Job 15:10) may thus do much for us. When Boaz became the nourisher of Naomi’s grey hairs, Naomi took the child of Boaz and Ruth, laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And surely her nursing would include instruction, the telling of her own personal experiences to the growing Obed, full as these experiences were of things fitted to guide the youth to a good and noble manhood. A friend who called on C. M. Young, the celebrated actor, a few months before his death, reported that he gave a miserable account of himself, and wound up by saying, “Seventy-nine is telling its tale.” True! Seventy-nine must tell a tale of exhausted physical energy, but the tale need not therefore be altogether doleful. Serious it must be, and not without touches of shame; but it will be the fault of the teller if it does not contain much to guide, inspire, and invigorate the young. (Job 32:9; Psa 37:25; Tit 2:2-5; 1Ki 12:6-8).Y.

HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART

Exo 10:1-11

God’s Judgments on sin and their results for the righteous and the wicked.

I. THE FRUITS FOR GOD‘S PEOPLE OF HIS JUDGMENTS UPON HIS ENEMIES.

1. The plagues of Egypt were to be an example to all the generations of Israel (Exo 10:2).

(1) It drew them nearer God. They were his: he gave Egypt for them.

(2) It deepened their trust and fear.

2. It was the prophecy of how God will sanctify his people in the latter days.

3. How God sanctifies his people now. Their prolonged waiting and suffering is storing up power for the future. The night of trial makes the day of deliverance brighter and more fruitful.

II. THE WAY OF THE UNREPENTANT IS ONE OF DEEPENING LOSS. Pharaoh will not retain what God’s mercy has left him. The locusts eat what the hail has spared. The path darkens evermore till the night falls to which no day succeeds.

III. GOD‘S JUDGMENTS AWAKEN FEAR IN THE HEARTS OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS, BUT NO REPENTANCE. The advice of Pharaoh’s counsellors.

1. Its selfishness. It was inspired not by love of righteousness, but by self interest. If it does not answer to enslave and persecute God’s people; the world will desist; and if there is wealth and honour to be got by it, they will even favour them and desire to be numbered with them.

2. Its insufficiency. “Let the men go” They will not yield the whole of what God demands. They will not give up sin or resign the heart. The service of the selfish is as deficient in full obedience, as it is hateful in motive.

Exo 10:12-20

The plague of locusts.

I. GOD‘S JUDGMENT.

1. Though restrained for a time, it will surely fall. It is no argument that the threatening is vain, because, while the servants of God try to persuade, there is no token of the coming judgment.

2. When it does come, it is not less than was foretold (14, 15). God’s deed is his comment on his Word, and reveals the terror whose shadow lay in it. The flood was not less than Noah’s warnings painted it, nor Jerusalem’s judgment than the prophecies which predicted it. Nor shall the woes coming upon the nations, nor the end of sin, be less than God’s Word has said.

II. PHARAOH‘S CRY. It was sincere, both in confession and entreaty. He saw his folly, he desired relief, he purposed amendment. Good visits him, but it will not abide with him. The self-delusion of repentance born of the visitation of God and the need of heart-searching.

III. PHARAOH‘S HEART HARDENED THROUGH DELIVERANCE. With the outward blessing we need inward grace. If we wait upon the Lord he will increase fear, and zeal, and tenderness of heart, but if we still keep far from him we are reserved only for heavier punishment. Instead of forsaking evil we shall build upon God’s readiness to forgive, and repentance itself will become impossible through the soul’s deep insincerity. Have we received no warnings which have been forgotten? Have we made no vows as yet unfulfilled? God’s word says, “Flee from the wrath to come.” Sin cries, “Tarry, there is no danger; wait for a more convenient season.”U.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 10:1. For I have hardened his heart Or, Although I have, &c. that is, although I have suffered him still to continue obdurate, that I might more amply display my own glory, and give not only to Egypt and the nations around, but to my people Israel in particular, a striking proof and monument of my power and providence; and that to the latest generations.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

H.The locusts

Exo 10:1-20

1And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might shew [may do] these my signs before him [in the midst of them]; 2And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy sons son, what things I have wrought in Egypt [what I have done with the Egyptians]1, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how [may know] that I am Jehovah. 3And Moses and Aaron came [went] in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith. Jehovah, God [the God] of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people 4go, that they may serve me. Else [For] if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring the [bring] locusts into thy coast [borders]: 5And they shall cover the face of the earth, that [so that] one cannot [shall not] be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth [is left] unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field; 6And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which [as] neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself [turned], and went out from Pharaoh. 7And Pharaohs servants said unto him; How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? 8And Moses and Aaron were brought again [back] unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve Jehovah, your God: but who are they that shall go [are going]? 9And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold [wehave] a feast unto [of] Jehovah. 10And he said unto them, Let [May] Jehovah be so with you, as I will let you go and your little ones! Look to it [See]; for evil is before you. 11Not so: go now, ye that are men [ye men], and serve Jehovah; for that ye did desire [that is what ye are seeking]. And they were driven out from Pharaohs 12presence. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thine [thy] hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. 13And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought [drove] an east wind upon the land all that day and all that [the] night: and when it was morning the east wind brought the locusts. 14And the locusts went [came] up over [upon] all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts [borders] of Egypt; very grievous were they: before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after 15them shall be such. For [And] they covered the face of the whole earth [land], so that [and] the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through [in] all the land of Egypt. 16Then [And] Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have 17sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you. Now therefore [And now] forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your God that he may take away from me this death only. 18And he went out from Pharaoh, and 19entreated Jehovah. And Jehovah turned a mighty [very] strong west wind, which [and] took away the locusts, and cast [thrust] them into the Red Sea: there remained 20not one locust in all the coasts [borders] of Egypt. But Jehovah hardened Pharaohs heart, so that he would not [and he did not] let the children of Israel go.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Exo 10:2. That here means Egyptians, and not Egypt, is evident from the plural pronoun which follows. And the whole phrase is poorly reproduced in the A. V. This verb in the Hithpael is always followed by with the name of a person. The meaning of it is, to do ones pleasure with. Except here, and 1Sa 6:6, the phrase is used in a bad sense, e.g., 1Sa 31:4, lost these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. Comp. Jdg 19:25. Here, therefore, the meaning is, how I did my pleasure with the Egyptians.Tr.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Exo 10:1. I have hardened his heart.According to shallow rationalistic views, this betrays a low state of intelligence; viewed from the ethical relations of life, it indicates a very high one. Pharaohs acts of self-hardening preceded this; but after the seventh one, his sentence was determined; the following plagues, therefore, must complete his obduracy. Moses must know this beforehand, in order that he may not be discouraged respecting his mission. But that, under divine revelation, he can foreknow it, is characteristic of the man who, being eminent in religious conscientiousness, has a wonderfully profound insight into the justice and judgments of God. The general prediction of Exo 7:3-5 is now for the first time completely fulfilled; hence it is here repeated.

Exo 10:2. That thou mayest tell.How Israel related these miraculous signs to children and childrens children, is shown in Psalms 78, 105 (Keil).

Exo 10:3. To humble thyself.Jehovah speaks now in a severer tone. After so many apparent failures, this is a proof that Moses has his confidence and his word from God. Analogous is the heathen legend of the Sibyl who, for the prophetical books twice reduced in number, kept asking the same price.

Exo 10:4. The antithesis is sharp. Similar forms in Exo 9:17 and Exo 8:17 [21]. It is not merely the antithesis between a divine and a human action; the almighty personality of Jehovah confronts the defiant personality of Pharaoh. The assurance with which the locusts are predicted for the morrow marks the miracle, as also afterwards the sudden removal of them at Moses intercession.

Exo 10:5. The face [lit. eye] of the land.This phraseology, peculiar to the Pentateuch, and occurring elsewhere only Exo 10:15 and Num 22:5; Num 22:11, rests on the ancient and genuinely poetic conception, that the earth with its floral ornamentation looks upon man (Keil).

Exo 10:6. Fill thy houses.Vid. Joe 2:9. On locusts finding their way into houses, vid. the quotations in Keil.

Exo 10:7. Pharaohs servants.The courtiers begin to tremble. But they are governed by no noble motive to intercede for Israel, but by the fear that by resistance Egypt may go to ruin.A snare.In whose fatal toils they are becoming entangled to their destruction.

Exo 10:8. For the first time Pharaoh enters upon negotiations before the plague; yet without consistency.Who are they? (lit. who and who) . Immediately the timorous policy of the tyrant withdraws more than half of the concession.

Exo 10:9. To make a festival are needed not only the whole assembly, old and young, but also the cattle and possessions in general, on account of the offerings. Pharaoh suspects that freedom also is involved in the plan. According to Keil, the women, who are seemingly omitted, are designed to be included in the we. They are also included in the phrase young and old.

Exo 10:10. The thought, Jehovah be with you on your journey, is transformed by Pharaoh into mockery: As little as I will let you go with your children, so little shall ye go on your journey, so little shall Jehovah be with you. Inasmuch as he has been obliged to refer the preceding experiences to Jehovah, his audacity here passes over into blasphemy.

Exo 10:11. Go now, ye men.. The expression forms an antithesis to the , in the use of which the servants proposed the release of the Israelites in general. But that he is not even willing to let only the men go is shown by the fact that the messengers of God were at once driven out. The expression ye men, ye heroes, may involve a scornful allusion to the power with which they have risen up against him. Also in the form the irony (according to Keil) is continued.They were driven out.As we should say, they were turned out of doors. The restriction of the right of departure to the men was pure caprice, inasmuch as according to Herodotus II. 60 the Egyptians also had religious festivals in which the women were accustomed to go out with the men (Keil).

Exo 10:12. Stretch out thy hand.According to Exo 10:13, with the rod in it. Was it in order that they might rise up like a hostile military force? More probably the idea is that they are to rise up in the distance like clouds carried by the wind. With the wind, brought by it, locusts are wont to come. Vid. the citations in Keil.

Exo 10:13. And Jehovah drove.Jehovah Himself is the real performer of miracles. When He seems in His government to follow Moses suggestion, while, on the other hand, the action of Moses is only a symbolical one resting on prophetic foresight, this all signifies that Gods dominion in nature answers to Gods dominion in His kingdom, therefore, also, in the mind of Moses. It is a pre-established harmony, in which the outward things of nature are made serviceable to the inward necessities of the spiritual life. Vid. Mat 28:18.An east wind,. Not (LXX.), south wind, as even Bochart (Hierozoicon III., p. 287) thought. For although the swarms of locusts come to Egypt generally from Ethiopia or Libya, yet they are sometimes brought by the east wind from Arabia, as has been observed, among others, by Denon, quoted by Hengstenberg, Egypt, etc., p. 125 (Keil).

Exo 10:13-15. Further miraculous features: (a) that the locusts come from so far (the wind blew twenty-four hours); (b) that they cover the whole land, whereas they generally attack only particular regions. Among the various forms of the preludes of the final judgment, (blood, fire, war, pestilence, darkness), the plagues of locusts are also especially prominent. According to Joel, the fundamental significance of them is the incessant destruction of the flesh on all sides.2

Exo 10:16-17. And Pharaoh called in haste.This is his second confession of sin, more distinct than the first, Exo 9:27. For the third time he implores Moses intercession; Exo 8:24 (28), Exo 9:28, and here. His penitence, however, again exhibits the character of an insincere submission, attritio; he begs Moses forgiveness, but wishes him to intercede with God to avert this death, this deadly ruin, which he sees in the plague of locusts. He condemns himself, however, for what follows, inasmuch as he asks for exemption only this once.

Exo 10:18. Moses intercession has a twofold significance: It is, first, an expression of divine forbearance; secondly, the attestation of the miracle displayed in the plague of locusts.

Exo 10:19. The east wind is changed to a west wind, or, more probably, to a northwest wind. That the locusts perish in the sea is variously attested. Gregatim sublat vento in maria aut stagna decidunt, says Pliny (Keil). For Pharaoh the help may have been ominous, as he himself afterwards with his host was to perish, like the locusts, in the Red Sea.

Footnotes:

[1][Exo 10:2. That here means Egyptians, and not Egypt, is evident from the plural pronoun which follows. And the whole phrase is poorly reproduced in the A. V. This verb in the Hithpael is always followed by with the name of a person. The meaning of it is, to do ones pleasure with. Except here, and 1Sa 6:6, the phrase is used in a bad sense, e.g., 1Sa 31:4, lost these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. Comp. Jdg 19:25. Here, therefore, the meaning is, how I did my pleasure with the Egyptians.Tr.].

[2][This is obscure. It is true that the invasion of the locusts is described by Joel as the precursor of the day of Jehovah (Exo 1:15; Exo 2:1); but where or in what sense he represents them as destroying the flesh, it is impossible to see. Certainly if the literal language of Joel is referred to, there is nothing of the sort. And no more is there any indication that Joel means to intimate that locusts symbolize the destruction of the flesh. Lange moreover leaves us in doubt whether he uses the word flesh in the literal or figurative sense.Tr.].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The history still proceeds through this Chapter. Pharaoh’s heart remaining in the same obduracy, Moses is commissioned by the Lord to inflict the eighth and ninth plagues in the punishment of Egypt; the locusts infest his coast, and darkness of three days continuance beclouds his land. At length after several ineffectual remonstrances on the part of Moses, and entreaties on the part of Pharaoh: Moses is driven from his presence with the threatening of the loss of life, if ever he appeared again before him

Exo 10:1

We lose much of the beauty of this interesting history, unless we read it spiritually as well as historically; and behold in it the type of our deliverance from sin and bondage by the glorious conquests of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a sweet thought, when the subject is considered in this point of view, is it to a tried soul in the hour of distress, that God’s glory in the deliverance of his people is the great object all along intended from the exercises of the faithful. Psa 107:7 ; Job 23:10 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 10:7

If there be any one truth which the deductions of reason alone, independent of history, would lead us to anticipate, and which again history alone would establish independently of antecedent reasoning, it is this: that a whole class of men placed permanently under the ascendancy of another as subjects, without the rights of citizens, must be a source, at the best, of weakness, and generally of danger to the State. They cannot well be expected, and have rarely been found, to evince much hearty patriotic feeling towards a community in which their neighbours looked down on them as an inferior and permanently degraded species. While kept in brutish ignorance, poverty, and weakness, they are likely to feel like the ass in the fable indifferent whose panniers they bear. If they increase in power, wealth, and mental development, they are likely to be ever on the watch for an opportunity of shaking off a degrading yoke…. Indeed almost every page of history teaches the same lesson, and proclaims in every different form, ‘How long shall these men be a snare to us? Let the people go, that they may serve their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?’

Archbishop Whately.

In a letter, written during 1840, to awaken the upper orders of Britain to the social evils which the Chartist movement sprang from, Dr. Arnold of Rugby wrote: ‘My fear with regard to every remedy that involves any sacrifices to the upper classes, is, that the public mind is not yet enough aware of the magnitude of the evil to submit to them. “Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” was the question put to Pharaoh by his counsellors; for unless he did know it, they were aware that he would not let Israel go from serving them.’

The question with me is, not whether you have a right to render your people miserable; but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.

Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America.

References. X. 8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No. 1830. X. 8, 9. J. Oswald Dykes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. 1894, p. 261. X. 11. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, p. 291.

Pharaoh’s ‘I Have Sinned’

Exo 10:16

What was Pharaoh’s ‘I have sinned?’ Where did it tend?

I. It was a Mere Hasty Impulse. ‘Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste ; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.’ There was no thought in it; no careful dealing with his own soul; no depth. Real repentance is never like that. It may express itself quickly. It may come suddenly to a crisis. But that which leaps to the surface is the result of much that has been going on long before in secret.

II. The Moving Principle was Nothing but Fear. He was agitated greatly agitated only agitated. He said it the first time under ‘the hail’; the second, under ‘the locust’. Property was going; the land was being devastated; his empire was impoverished; and he exclaimed, ‘I have sinned’. He simply desired to avert a punishment that was throwing a black shadow over him! Now, fear may be, and probably it must be, a part of real repentance. But I doubt whether there was ever a real repentance that was promoted by fear only. This is the reason why so few so very few sick-bed repentances ever stand. They were dedicated by fear only. When the Holy Ghost gives repentance, He inspires fear; and He also adds, what, if we may not yet call it love, yet has certainly some soft feeling some desire towards God Himself. If you have fear, do not wish it away. But ask God to mingle something with your fear some other view of God, which, coming in tenderly, and mellowingly, may melt fear, and make repentance.

III. Pharaoh’s Thoughts were Directed far too much to Man. It was not the ‘Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned’. He never went straight to God. Observe what he said: ‘I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now, therefore, forgive’ Moses and Aaron ‘forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only’. The more God is immediate to you, there will be repentance. The more you go to Him without any intervention whatsoever feeling: ‘It is God I have grieved, it is God must forgive; it is God only who can give me what I want; it is God only who can speak peace’ the more genuine your sorrow will be; and the more surely it will be accepted.

References. X. 16. J. Vaughan, Sermons Preached in Christ Church, Brighton (7th Series), p. 71. X. 20. J. Owen, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli. 1892, p. 166.

Exo 10:23

If all Egypt had been light, the Israelites would not have had the less; but to enjoy that light alone, while their neighbours lived in thick darkness, must make them more sensible of their privilege. Distinguishing mercy affects more than any mercy.

Baxter, Saints’ Rest, chap. III.

‘In the great majority of things,’ said John Foster, ‘habit is a greater plague than ever afflicted Egypt; in religious character it is eminently a felicity.’

References. X. 24. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No. 1830. X. 26. Ibid. vol. vi. No. 309. Ibid. vol. xxxi. No. 1830. XI. 1-10. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Exodus, etc., p. 33.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

THE TEN PLAGUES, OR THE GREAT DUEL

Exodus 5:18-13:36

The present chapter will be upon the great duel (as Dr. Sampey is pleased to call it) between Moses and Pharaoh, or in other words, the ten plagues. I have mapped out, as usual, some important questions.

What is the scope of the lesson? From Exo 5:15-12:37 . What is the theme of the lesson? The ten plagues, or God’s answer to Pharaoh’s question: “Who is the Lord?” What is the central text? Exo 12:12 : “Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.” What was the purpose of these plagues? Generally, as expressed in Exo 9:16 : “That my name may be declared throughout all the earth,” i.e., to show that Jehovah was the one and only God. The second object was to show to Israel that Jehovah was a covenant keeping God. The first object touched outsiders. As it touched Moses it was to show that God would fully accredit him as the leader. How was Moses accredited? By the power to work miracles. Let the reader understand, if you never knew it before, that Moses is the first man mentioned in the Bible who worked a miracle, though God had worked some miracles directly before this. But Moses was God’s first agent to work miracles, duly commissioned to bear a message to other men.

On the general subject of miracles, I wish to offer the remark, that there are three great groups of miracles, viz.: The Plagues of Egypt, the miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and the miracles wrought by Christ and the apostles. And from the time of Moses, every now and then to the time of Christ, some prophet was enabled to work a miracle. These are the groups. But what is a miracle? When we come to the New Testament we find four words employed, all expressed in Greek. One word expresses the effect of the miracle on the beholder, a “wonder.” Another expresses the purpose, a “sign.” Another expresses the energy, or “power,” while still another expresses the “work”‘, i.e., “wonders, signs, powers, works.”

As we have come to miracles for the first time, it would be a good thing for every reader to read the introductory part of Trench, or some other author Trench is the best. We come back to our question, What is a miracle? Take this for a definition: (1) “An extraordinary event.” That is the first idea. If it is an ordinary event you cannot call it wonderful. It is not a miracle that the sun should rise in the east. It would be a miracle for it to be seen rising in the west. (2) This extraordinary event is discernible to the senses. (3) It apparently violates natural laws and probabilities. I say, “apparently,” because we do not know that it actually does. (4) It is inexplicable by natural laws alone. (5) It is produced by the agency of God, and is sometimes produced immediately. (6) For religious purposes; usually to accredit a messenger or attest God’s revelation to him.

I am going to call your attention to some definitions that are either imperfect or altogether wrong. Thomas Aquinas, a learned doctor of the Middle Ages, says that miracles are events wrought by divine power apart from the order generally observed in nature. That is simply an imperfect definition; good as far as it goes. Hume and Spinoza, a Jew, say, “A miracle is a violation of a natural law; therefore,” says Spinoza, “impossible”; “therefore,” says Hume, “incredible.” It is not necessarily a violation of natural laws: for instance, if I turn a knife loose, the law of gravitation would make it fall, but if a wind should come in between, stronger than the law, of gravitation, and this natural law should hold the knife up, it would not be a violation of the natural law; simply one

natural law overcoming another. Therefore, it is wrong to say that a miracle is a violation of natural law. Jean Paul, a noted critical skeptic, says, “Miracles of earth are the laws of heaven.” Renan says: “Miracles are the inexplicable.” Schleiermacher says, “Miracles are relative, that is, the worker of them only anticipates later knowledge.” Dr. Paulus says, “The account of miracles is historical, but the history must signify simply the natural means.” Wolsey says, “The text that tells us about miracles is authentic, but the miracles are allegories, not facts.” Now, I have given you what I conceive to be a correct definition of a miracle and some definitions that are either imperfect or altogether faulty.

When may miracles be naturally expected? When God makes new revelations; as, in the three epochs of miracles.

To what classes of people are miracles incredible? Atheists, pantheists, and deists. Deists recognize a God of physical order. Pantheists make no distinction between spirit and matter. Atheists deny God altogether.

What are counterfeit miracles? We are going to strike some soon, and we have to put an explanation on them. In 2Th 2 they are said to be “lying wonders,” or deeds. They are called “lying” not because they are lies, but because their object is to teach a lie, or accredit a lie. Unquestionably, Satan has the power to do supernatural things, so far as we understand the laws of nature, and when the antichrist comes he is to be endowed with power to work miracles that will deceive everybody in the world but the elect. It is not worth while, therefore, to take the position that the devil and his agents cannot, by permission of God, work miracles. When may we naturally expect counterfeit miracles? When the real miracles are produced the counterfeit will appear as an offset. Whenever a religious imposture of any kind is attempted, or any false doctrine is preached, they will claim that they can attest it. For example, on the streets of our cities are those, whatever you call them, who claim that Mar 16 is fulfilled in our midst today. What then, does the counterfeit miracle prove? The reality and necessity of the true. Thieves do not counterfeit the money of a “busted” bank. How may you usually detect counterfeit miracles? This is important: (1) By the immoral character of the producer. That is not altogether satisfactory, but it is presumptive evidence. (2) If the doctrine it supports or teaches is contradictory to truth already revealed and established. (3) The evil motive or the end in view. God would not work a lot of miracles just for show. When Herod said to Christ, “Work me a miracle,” Christ refused. Miracles are not to gratify curiosity. (4) Its eternal characteristic of emptiness or extravagance. (5) Its lack of substantial evidence. In the spirit-rapping miracles they need too many conditions put out the light, join hands, etc. It is one of the rules of composition as old as the classics, never to introduce a god unless there be a necessity for a god; and when one is introduced, let what he says and does correspond to the dignity and nature of a god. If that is a rule of composition in dealing with miracles it shows that God, as being wise, would not intervene foolishly.

Now, is a miracle a greater manifestation of God’s power than is ordinarily displayed by the Lord? No. He shows just as much power in producing an almond tree from a germ, and that almond tree in the course of nature producing buds and blossoms, by regulating the order of things, as he does to turn rods to serpents. But while the power is no greater, the impression is more vivid, and that is the object of a miracle.

There are, certainly, distinctions in miracles, and you will need to know the distinction when you discuss the miracles wrought by Moses more than any other set of miracles in the Bible. There are two kinds of miracles, the absolute and the providential, or circumstantial, e.g., the conversion of water into blood is an absolute miracle; the bringing of frogs out of the water is a providential or circumstantial miracle. Keep that distinction in your mind. The plague of darkness and the death of the firstborn are also absolute miracles. The providential or circumstantial miracles get their miraculous nature from their intensity, their connection with the word of Moses, the trial of Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods, with the deliverance of Israel, and their being so timely as to strengthen the faith of God’s people, and to overcome the skepticism of God’s enemies.

I will give a further idea about a providential miracle. Suppose I were to say that on a certain day at one o’clock the sun would be veiled. If that is the time for an eclipse there is nothing miraculous in it. But suppose a dense cloud should shut off the light of the sun, there is a miraculous element because there is no way of calculating clouds as you would calculate eclipses. Now, the orderly workings of nature, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork,” reveal the glory of God to a mind in harmony with God, and they hide the glory from the eyes of an alienated man who will not see God in the sun, moon, and stars. They will turn away from the glory of God in these regular events and worship the creature more than the creator.

Does a miracle considered by itself prove the truth of the doctrine or the divine mission’ of him who produces it? Not absolutely. The Egyptians imitated the first two miracles. Other things must be considered. The doctrine must commend itself to the conscience as being good. All revelation presupposes in a man power to recognize the truth, arising from the fact that man is made in the image of God, and has a conscience, and that “Jesus Christ lighteth every man coming into the world.” The powers of darkness are permitted to perform wonders of a startling nature. The character of the performer, the end in view, the doctrine to be attested in itself, BS related to previously revealed truth, must all be considered. In Deu 13:1-5 , the people are expressly warned against the acceptance of any sign or wonder, wrought by any prophet or dreamer, used to attest a falsehood. In Mat 24:24 , the Saviour expressly forewarns that antichrists and false prophets shall come with lying signs and wonders, and Paul says so in several passages.

How are miracles helpful, since the simple, unlearned are exposed to the danger of accepting the false and rejecting the true? This difficulty is more apparent than real. The unlearned and poor are exposed to no more danger than the intellectual. Those who love previously revealed truth and have no pleasure in unrighteousness are able to discriminate, whether they are wise folks or simple folks. The trouble of investigation is no greater here than in any other moral problem. Therefore, the apostle John says, “Beloved, try every spirit.” A man comes to you and says he is baptized of the Holy Spirit. John says, “Try him, because there are many false prophets,” and “Every spirit that refuses to confess that God was manifested in the flesh,” turn him down at once. Once Waco was swept away by the Spiritualists. I preached a series of sermons on Spiritualism. Once in making calls I came upon some strangers, and happened to meet a Spiritualist lady who came up to me and said, “I am so glad to meet you. We belong to the same crowd. We are both a spiritual people. Let me see your hand.” I held it out and she commenced talking on it. She says, “I believe the Bible as much as you do.” I said, “No, you don’t. I can make you abuse the Bible in two minutes.” “Well, I would like to see you try.” I read that passage in Isaiah where a woe is pronounced upon those who are necromancers and magicians. “Yes, and I despise any such statements,” she said. “Of course,” I replied; “that is what I expected you to say.”

The conflict in Egypt was between Jehovah on the one hand and the gods of Egypt, representing the powers of darkness, on the other. Note these scriptures: Exo 12:12 ; Exo 15:11 ; Num 33:4 . The devil is the author of idolatry in all its forms The battle was between God and the devil, the latter

working through Pharaoh and his hosts, and God working through Moses.

Water turned into blood. I want to look at the first miracle A question that every reader should note is: State in order the ten miracles. First, the conversion of the waters of the Nile into blood. Egypt is the child of the Nile. If you were up in a balloon and looked down upon that land you would see a long green ribbon, the Nile Valley and its fertile banks. Therefore they worship the Nile. There has been a great deal written to show that at certain seasons of the year the waters of the Nile are filled with insect life of the animalcule order, so infinitesimal in form as to be invisible, even with a microscope, yet so multitudinous in number that they make the water look like blood. It would be perfectly natural if it only came that way. I will tell you why I do not think it came that way. This miracle applied to the water which had already been drawn up) and was in the water buckets in their homes. That makes it a genuine miracle.

The second miracle was the miracle of the frogs. I quote something about that miracle from the Epic of Moses , by Dr. W. G. Wilkinson:

Then Aaron, at his brother’s bidding, raised His rod and with it smote the river. Straight .Forth from the water at that pregnant stroke Innumerably teeming issued frogs, Prodigious progeny I in number such As if each vesicle of blood in all The volume of the flood that rolled between The banks of Nile and overfilled his bound And overflowed, had quickened to a frog, And the midsummer tide poured endless down, Not water and not blood, but now instead One mass of monstrous and colluctant life! The streams irriguous over all the realm, A vast reticulation of canals Drawn from the river like the river, these Also were smitten with that potent rod, And they were choked with tangled struggling frogs. Each several frog was full of lusty youth, And each, according to his nature, wished More room wherein to stretch himself, and leap, Amphibious, if he might not swim. So all Made for the shore and occupied the land. Rank following rank, in serried order, they Resistless by their multitude and urged, Each rank advancing, by each rank behind An insupportable invasion, fed With reinforcement inexhaustible From the great river rolling down in frogs I Spread everywhere and blotted out the earth. As when the shouldering billows of the sea, Drawn by the tide and by the tempest driven, Importunately press against the shore Intent to find each inlet to the land, So now this infestation foul explored The coasts of Egypt seeking place and space.

With impudent intrusion, leap by leap Advancing, those amphibious cohorts pushed Into the houses of the people, found Entrance into the chambers where they slept, And took possession of their very beds. The kneading-troughs wherein their bread was made, The subterranean ovens where were baked The loaves, the Egyptians with despair beheld Become the haunts of this loathed tenantry. The palace, nay, the person, of the king Was not exempt. His stately halls he saw Furnished to overflowing with strange guests Unbidden whose quaint manners lacked the grace Of well-instructed courtliness; who moved About the rooms with unconventional ease And freedom, in incalculable starts Of movement and direction that surprised. They leaped upon the couches and divans; They settled on the tops of statutes; pumped Their breathing organs on each jutting edge Of frieze or cornice round about the walls; In thronging councils on the tables sat; From unimaginable perches leered. The summit of procacity, they made The sacred person of the king himself, He sitting or reclining as might chance, The target of their saltatory aim, And place of poise and pause for purposed rest.

Nor yet has been set forth the worst; the plague Was also a dire plague of noise. The night Incessantly resounded with the croaks, In replication multitudinous, Of frogs on every side, whether in mass Crowded together in the open field, Or single and recluse within the house. The dismal ululation, every night And all night long, assaulted every ear; Nor did the blatant clamour so forsake The day, that from some unfrequented place Might not be heard a loud, lugubrious, Reiterant chorus from batrachian throats. Epic of Moses I think that is one of the finest descriptions I ever read. They worshiped frogs. Now they were surfeited with their gods. I have space only to refer to the next plague of lice. I give Dr. Wilkinson’s description of it: They were like immigrants and pioneers Looking for habitations in new lands; They camped and colonized upon a man And made him quarry for their meat and drink. They ranged about his person, still in search Of better, even better, settlement; Each man was to each insect parasite A new-found continent to be explored. Which was the closer torment, those small fangs Infixed, and steady suction from the blood, Or the continuous crawl of tiny feet Banging the conscious and resentful skin In choice of where to sink a shaft for food Which of these two distresses sorer was, Were question; save that evermore The one that moment pressing sorer seemed.

Epic of Moses

What was the power of that plague? The Egyptians more than any other people that ever lived upon the earth believed in ceremonial cleanliness, particularly for their priesthood. They were not only spotless white, but defilement by an unclean thing was to them like a dip into hell itself.

QUESTIONS

1. What the scope of the next great topic in Exodus?

2. The theme?

3. The central text?

4. Purpose of the plagues?

5. How was Moses accredited?

6. What three great groups of miracles in the Bible?

7. In the New Testament what four words describe miracles? Give both Greek and English words, showing signification of each.

8. What, then, is a miracle?

9. Cite some faulty definitions.

10 When may they be naturally expected?

11. What are counterfeit or lying miracles, and may they be real miracles in the sense of being wrought by superhuman power, and whose in such case is the power, and what the purpose of its exercise?

12. To what classes of people are miracles incredible, and why?

13. Cite Satan’s first miracle, its purpose and result. Answer: (1) Accrediting the serpent with the power of speech; (2) To get Eve to receive him as an angel of light; (3) That Eve did thus receive him, and was beguiled.

14. On this point what says the Mew Testament about the last manifestation of the antichrist?

15. When may counterfeit miracles be expected?

16. Admitting many impostures to be explained naturally, could such impostures as idolatries, Mohammedanism, Mormonism, Spiritualism, witchcraft, necromancy, etc., obtain permanent hold on the minds of many peoples without some superhuman power?

17. What do counterfeit miracles prove?

18. How may they be detected?

19. What says a great poet about the priority of introducing a god into a story, who was he and where may the classic be found? Answer: (1) See chapter; (2) Horace; (3) In Horace’s Ars Poetica .

20. Distinguish between the ordinary powers of God working in nature and a miracle, e.g., the budding of Aaron’s rod and the budding of an almond tree.

21. What two kinds of miracles? Cite one of each kind from the ten plagues.

22. Of which kind are most of the ten plagues?

23. Does a miracle in itself prove the truth of the doctrine it is wrought to attest? If not, what things are to be considered?

24. Cite both Old Testament and New Testament proof that some doctrines attested by miracles are to be rejected.

25. If Satan works some miracles, and if the doctrines attested by some miracles are to be rejected, how are miracles helpful, especially to the ignorant, without powers of discrimination?

26. Who were the real antagonists in this great Egyptian duel?

27. Give substance and result of the first interview between Pharaoh and Moses?

28. Name in their order of occurrence the ten plagues.

29. First Plague: State the significance of this plague.

30. How have some sought to account for it naturally, and your reasons for the inadequacy of this explanation?

31. Second Plague: Recite Dr. Wilkinson’s fine description of the plague in his Epic of Moses.

32. The significance of the plague?

33. Third Plague: His description of the third plague and its significance.

VII

THE TEN PLAGUES, OR THE GREAT DUEL (Continued)

Every plague was intended to strike in some way at some deity worship in Egypt. I begin this chapter by quoting from Dr. Wilkinson’s Epic of Moses language which he puts in the mouth of Pharaoh’s daughter, the reputed mother of Moses, who is trying to persuade the king to let the people go: We blindly worship as a god the Nile; The true God turns his water into blood. Therein the fishes and the crocodiles, Fondly held sacred, welter till they die. Then the god Heki is invoked in vain To save us from the frogs supposed his care. The fly-god is condemned to mockery, Unable to deliver us from flies. Epic of Moses

We have discussed three of the plagues, and in Exo 8:20-32 , we consider the plague of flies. Flies, or rather beetles, were also sacred. In multitudes of forms their images were worn as ornaments, amulets, and charms. But at a word from Moses these annoying pests swarmed by millions until every sacred image was made hateful by the living realities.

The plague of Murrain, Exo 9:1-7 . Cattle were sacred animals with the Egyptians. Cows were sacred to Isis. Their chief god, Apis, was a bull, stalled in a place, fed on perfumed oats, served on golden plates to the sound of music. But at a word from Moses the murrain seized the stock. Apis himself died. Think of a god dying with the murrain I

Boils, Exo 9:8-12 . Egyptian priests were physicians. Religious ceremonies were medicines. But when Moses sprinkled ashes toward heaven grievous and incurable boils broke out on

the bodies of the Egyptians. King, priests, and magicians were specially afflicted; could not even stand before Moses.

Hail, Exo 9:13-35 . The control of rain and hail was vested in feminine deities Isis, Sate, and Neith. But at Moses’ word rain and hail out of season and in horrible intensity swept over Egypt, beating down their barley and the miserable remnant of their stock, and beating down exposed men, women, and children. In vain they might cry, “O Isis, O Sate, O Neith, help us! We perish; call off this blinding, choking rain! Rebuke this hurtling, pitiless storm of hail I” But the Sphinx was not more deaf and silent than Egypt’s goddesses.

Locusts, Exo 10:1-20 . The Egyptians worshiped many deities whose charge was to mature and protect vegetables. But at Moses’ word locusts came in interminable clouds, with strident swishing wings and devouring teeth. Before them a garden, behind them a desert. See in prophetic imagery the description of their terrible power, Joe 2:2 ; Rev 9:2-11 .

Darkness, Exodus 10-11:3. Ra, the male correlative of Isis, was the Egyptian god of light. A triune god, Amun Ra, the father of divine life, Kheeper Ra, of animal life, Kneph Ra, of human life. But at Moses’ word came seventy-two consecutive hours of solid, palpable darkness. In that inky plutonian blackness where was Ra? He could not flush the horizon with dawn, nor silver the Sphinx with moonbeams, nor even twinkle as a little star. Even the pyramids were invisible. That ocean of supernatural darkness was peopled by but one inhabitant, one unspoken, one throbbing conviction: “Jehovah, he is God.”

Death of the First-born, Exo 11:4-8 ; Exo 12:29-35 . This crowning and convincing miracle struck down at one time every god in Egypt, as lightning gores a black cloud or rives an oak, or a cyclone prostrates a forest. See the effect of this last miracle. The victory was complete. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, and get you forth, from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And against the children of Israel not a dog moved his tongue against man or beast; so the Lord put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” (Exo 11:7 ; Exo 12:31-35 ).

Give the names of the magicians who withstood Moses and Aaron and what New Testament lesson is derived from their resistance? Paul warns Timothy of perilous times in the last days, in which men having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof were ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, and thus concludes, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” That is the time which I have so frequently emphasized when Paul’s man of sin shall appear and be like Jannes and Jambres, who withstood Moses and Aaron.

Give in their order the methods of Pharaoh’s oppositions to God’s people: (1) Persecution; (2) Imitation of their miracles; (3) Propositions of compromise. State what miracles they imitated. They changed their rods to serpents and imitated to some extent the first two plagues. But the rod of Aaron swallowed up theirs and they could not remove any plague nor imitate the last eight. State the several propositions of compromise; show the danger of each, and give the reply of Moses. I am more anxious that you should remember these compromises than the plagues.

COMPROMISES PROPOSED “Sacrifice in the land of Egypt,” i.e., do not separate from us, Exo 8:25 . This stratagem was to place Jehovah on a mere level with the gods of Egypt, thus recognizing the equality of the two religions. Moses showed the impracticableness of this, since the Hebrews sacrificed to their God animals numbered among the Egyptian divinities, which would be to them an abomination.

“I will let you go only not very far away” (Exo 8:28 ), that is, if you will separate let it be only a little separation. If you will draw a line of demarcation, let it be a dim one. Or, if you will so put it that your religion is light and ours darkness, do not make the distinction so sharp and invidious; be content with twilight, neither night nor day. This compromise catches many simple ones today. Cf. 2Pe 2:18-22 .

“I will let you men go, but leave with us your wives and children” (Exo 10:11 ). This compromise when translated simply means, “You may separate from us, but leave your hearts behind.” It is an old dodge of the devil. Serve whom ye will, but let us educate your children. Before the flood the stratagem succeeded: “Be sons of God if you will, but let your wives be daughters of men.” The mothers will carry the children with them. In modern days it says, “Let grown people go to church if they must, but do not worry the children with Sunday schools.”

“Go ye, serve the Lord; let your little ones go with you; only let your flocks and herds be stayed”; i.e., acknowledge God’s authority over your persons; but not over your property. This compromise suits all the stingy, avaricious professors who try to serve both God and mammon; their proverb is: “Religion is religion, but business is business.” Which means that God shall not rule over the maxims and methods of trade, nor in their counting houses, nor over their purses, nor over the six workdays, but simply be their God on Sunday at church. Well did Moses reply, “Our cattle shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind.”

These compromises mean anything in the world rather than a man should put himself and his wife and his children and his property, his everything on earth, on the altar of God. Was it proper for the representatives of the Christian religion to unite in the Chicago World’s Fair Parliament of Religions, including this very Egyptian religion rebuked by the ten plagues? All these religions came together and published a book setting forth the world’s religions comparatively.

My answer is that it was a disgraceful and treasonable surrender of all the advantages gained by Moses, Elijah, Jesus Christ, and Paul. “If Baal be God, follow him; but if Jehovah be God, follow him.” If neither be God, follow neither. Jesus Christ refused a welcome among the gods of Greece and Rome. The Romans would have been very glad to make Jesus a deity. But he would have no niche in the Pantheon. That Chicago meeting was also a Pantheon. The doctrine of Christ expresses: “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2Co 6:14-18 ). “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have communion with demons. We cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons; ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (1Co 10:20-22 ).

The supreme fight made in Egypt was to show that Jehovah alone is God. He was not fighting for a place among the deities of the world, but he was claiming absolute supremacy. When we come to the giving of the law we find: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and “you shall make no graven image, even of me, to bow down to worship it.” It took from the days of Moses to the days of the Babylonian captivity to establish in the Jewish mind the unity of God. All the time they were lapsing into idolatry. The prophets fought over the same battles that Moses fought. But when God was through with those people they were forever settled in this conviction, viz.: There is no other God but Jehovah. From that day till this no man has been able to find a Jewish idolater. Now then it takes from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the millennium to establish in the Jewish mind that Jesus of Nazareth is that Jehovah. Some Jews accept it of course, but the majority of them do not. When the Jews are converted that introduces the millennium, as Peter said to those who had crucified the Lord of glory, “Repent ye: in order that he may send back Jesus whom the heavens must retain until the time of the restitution of all things.”

One matter has been deferred for separate discussion until this time. I will be sure to call for twenty passages on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Paul has an explanation of them in Rom 9:17-23 , and our good Methodist commentator, Adam Clarke, devotes a great deal of space in his commentary to weakening what Paul said. There are two kinds of hardening: (1) According to a natural law when a good influence is not acted upon, it has less force next time, and ultimately no force. A certain lady wanted to get up each morning at exactly six o’clock, so she bought an alarm clock, and the first morning when the alarm turned loose it nearly made her jump out of bed. So she got up and dressed on time. But after awhile when she heard the alarm she would not go to sleep, but she just lay there a little while. (Sometimes you see a boy stop still in putting on his left sock and sit there before the fire). The next time this lady heard the alarm clock the result was that it did not sound so horrible, and she kept lingering until finally she went to sleep. Later the alarm would no longer awaken her. There is a very tender, susceptible hardening of a young person under religious impressions that brings a tear to the eye. How easy it is to follow that first impression, but you put it off and say no, and after awhile the sound of warning becomes to you like the beat of the little drummer’s drumstick when Napoleon was crossing the Alps. The little fellow slipped and fell into a crevasse filled with snow, but the brave boy kept beating his drum and they could hear it fainter and fainter, until it was an echo and then it died away.

(2) The other kind of hardening is what is called judicial hardening, where God deals with a man and he resists, adopting this or that substitute until God says, “Now you have shut your eyes to the truth; I will make you judicially blind and send you a delusion that you may believe a lie and be damned.” Paul says, “Blindness in part hath happened unto Israel because they turned away from Jesus; because they would not hear his voice, nor the voice of their own prophets; because they persecuted those who believed in Jesus. There is a veil over their eyes when they read the scripture which cannot be taken away until they turn to the Lord and say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

Now the last thought: When the first three plagues were sent they fell on all Egypt alike. After that, in order to intensify the miracle and make it more evidently a miracle, in the rest of the plagues God put a difference between Egypt and Goshen, where the Israelites lived. The line of demarcation was drawn in the fourth plague. In the fifth plague it fell on Egypt, not Goshen; the most stupendous distinction was when the darkness came, just as if an ocean of palpable blackness had in it an oasis of the most brilliant light, and that darkness stood up like a wall at the border line between Egypt and Goshen, bringing out that sharp difference that God put between Egypt and Israel.

I will close with the last reference to the difference in the night of that darkness, a difference of blood sprinkled upon the portals of every Jewish house. The houses might be just alike, but no Egyptian house had the blood upon its portals. Wherever the angel of death saw the blood he passed over the house and the mother held her babe safe in her arms. But in Egypt all the first-born died.

When I was a young preacher and a little fervid, I was preaching a sermon to sinners on the necessity of having the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, and in my fancy I drew this picture: A father, gathering all his family around him, says: “The angel of death is going to pass over tonight. Wife and Children, death is coming tonight; death is coming tonight.” “Well, Husband,” says the wife, “is there no way of escaping death?” “There is this: if we take a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the portals, the angel will see that blood and we will escape.” Then the children said, “Oh, Father, go and get the lamb; and be sure to get the right kind. Don’t make a mistake. Carry out every detail; let it be without blemish; kill exactly at the time God said; catch the blood in a basin, dip the bush in the blood and sprinkle the blood on the door that the angel of death may not enter our house.” Then I applied that to the unconverted, showing the necessity of getting under the shadow of the blood of the Lamb. I was a young preacher then, but I do not know that, being old, I have improved on the thought.

QUESTIONS

1. Name the ten plagues in the order of their occurrence.

2. Show in each case the blow against some one or more gods of Egypt.

3. What is the most plausible explanation of the first six in their relation to each other?

4. How explain the hail and locusts?

5. What modern poet in matchless English and in true interpretation gives an account of these plagues?

6. How does he state the natural explanation?

7. How does he express the several strokes at Egypt’s gods?

8. What of the differentiating circumstances of these plagues?

9. State the progress of the case as it affected the magicians.

10. State the progress of the case as it affected the people.

11. State the progress of the case as it affected Pharaoh himself.

12. Give in order Pharaoh’s methods of opposition.

13. State in order Pharaoh’s proposed compromises and the replies of Moses.

14. State some of the evils of religious compromise.

15. What about the World’s Fair Parliament of Religions?

l6. What about the Inter-Denominational Laymen’s Movement? And the money of the rich for colleges?

17. Show how each miracle after the third was intensified by putting a difference between Egypt and Israel, as in the case of the last plague, and illustrate.

18. Explain the two kinds of hardening, and cite the twenty uses of the word in Pharaoh’s case.

19. How does Paul use Exo 9:16 , in Rom 9 and how do you reply to Adam Clarke’s explanation of it?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Exo 10:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

Ver. 1. For I have hardened his heart. ] As he that brings in a light blinds an owl; or as he that pours on water kindles the lime whereupon it is poured: so the Lord by publishing his commands, and by doing his miracles, hardened the heart of Pharaoh; who, for his wilful rebellion, was justly forsaken of God, and delivered up to his own heart which is somewhat worse than to be delivered up to the devil.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

the LORD said = Jehovah said. See note on Exo 3:7 and compare note on Exo 6:10.

hardened. See note on Exo 4:2.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 10

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him: And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord ( Exo 10:1-2 ).

Now the Lord’s been doing these things up to this point to let Pharaoh know who He is. “That he may know that I am the Lord.” Now it’s an interesting twist here, “I’m doing these also for the purpose that you might tell your sons, and they might tell their sons, and they might tell their sons, that they may know that I am the Lord. You tell them the things that I did to the Egyptians.”

So this part of the history of Israel remains a vital part of the Israeli history even to the present day. It is the history that the children must all study. But the tragic thing to me is that so many Jews today look upon it as mythology, as fables. Even as every country has its mythology, the Greeks have their mythology, the Roman mythology; many Jews look upon this as mythology. That is sad indeed because what do you learn from mythology? What lessons are to be gained from mythology? How can you know that the Lord is really Lord from mythology?

So God wanted them to know that He was Lord that they might rehearse these things to their children.

And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into thy coast: And they shall cover the face of the earth, that you will not be able to see the earth: they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, and has remained unto you from the hail, they will eat every tree which grows for you out of the field: They will fill your houses, and the houses of your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have ever seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. [So he gave Pharaoh warning, “Tomorrow the locusts are coming.”] And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let them go, that they may serve the Lord their God: don’t you know that Egypt is about destroyed ( Exo 10:3-7 )?

So now the servants of Pharaoh are beginning to say, “Hey, wise up. How long are you gonna let them wipe us out? We’re just about destroyed. Let them go.”

So Moses and Aaron were called in by the Pharaoh: and he said unto them, [Now he offers another compromise.] Go, and serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, and I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so now: go now you that are men, and serve the Lord; all that you desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence ( Exo 10:8-11 ).

So Pharaoh is offering the compromise, “Look you can go, but let your children stay. Don’t take your children with you. It’s gonna be tough out there in the wilderness and all, and don’t subject your children to that. Now if you want to go and serve your God, if that’s in your heart, and you’ve gotta do it, then do your thing. But oh, don’t make your kids be a part of it.”

How many times Satan says, “Hey you know you don’t want to rob your kids from fun. Now if you want to make your commitment to the Lord and you want to live a life of dedication to God, that’s all right for you if you’re gonna do it. But hey, don’t put that kind of a trip on your kids. You don’t want them to be thought of as weird or whatever. So let them go ahead and do the things with the other kids so that they’re not thought of as different.” “Go, but don’t take your children with you.” What an insidious compromise.

And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every vegetable of the land, even all that the hail has left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb and vegetable of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the vegetables of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only ( Exo 10:12-17 ).

So again the confession of sin, and again the asking of them to pray for him. But again an insincere confession of sin, “Once more, this is the last time.” It’s truth; it is the last time that he asks them to pray for him.

And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; and there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be a darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days: And they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed ( Exo 10:18-24 ):

So the last compromise that he suggests, “Go, you know, serve God, but don’t take your possessions, let your flocks and herds remain. Give yourself, but don’t give your possessions to God. Your little ones go along with you.”

And Moses said, You must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind ( Exo 10:25-26 );

In other words, Moses is saying, “Man, when we go, we’re goin all the way. We’re not gonna even leave anything behind. Nothing is to be left behind when we go.”

for therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come there. [In other words, “We don’t know what the Lord our God will ask us to give to Him. We don’t know what sacrifice He’s gonna ask us to make until we get there, so we’ve gotta take everything in order that we might be prepared for whatever God might call upon us to sacrifice unto Him.”] And Pharaoh said unto him, Get out of here, and you be careful that you don’t see my face again; for the day you see my face you’re a dead man. And Moses said, That’s well spoken, because I will never see your face again ( Exo 10:26-29 ).

So they did not leave each other in the best of terms. So next week we get into the final plagues, and into the flight of the children of Israel as we continue chapters eleven through fifteen for next Sunday, as we continue our study through the Word of God.

Keep up with your reading during the week. Read it over. If you have a Haley’s Bible pocket handbook, read it over also in Haley’s. You’ll get a lot of interesting insight out of Haley’s. I highly recommend and suggest this Bible pocket handbook as the first book you get after your Bible, the first book of your library, and it should be Haley’s Bible pocket handbook for all of the rich information that it has stored up. So if you’ll read it alongside with the Bible, he just gives you good insight and background into the scriptures. Historical, archeological, and all, just helpful insights. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 10:1-2. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy sons son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.

God would stamp the early history of Israel with the deep impression of his Godhead. His overthrow of the proud Egyptian king should let Israel know in the very beginning how great a God had chosen her to be his own peculiar portion.

Exo 10:3. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

Can you imagine these humble individuals, Moses and Aaron, thus bearding the great king whose word could make their heads to roll upon the sword? They were not afraid, for God was with them; and they who speak in Gods stead are traitors if they be not brave. The ambassadors of so great a King must not demean themselves by fear, therefore right boldly said they to Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

Exo 10:4-6. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast: and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: and they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

Moses had delivered his message, he had uttered his solemn warning, so he waited no longer in the tyrants presence.

Exo 10:7. And Pharaohs servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God; knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

The seven former heavy judgments had so effectually bruised Egypt that the people began to cry against their king for his obstinacy in still further resisting God.

Exo 10:8-9. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.

Pharaoh was inclined to make terms with Moses, but God will have no conditions with men who are rebelling against him. An unconditional surrender is all that God will accept.

Exo 10:10-11. And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaohs presence.

See how proud, how stout-hearted towards evil is this wicked and foolish king. When his people appeal to him to yield, he only does so for a moment, and then he drives out the messengers of God in anger.

Exo 10:12-17. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

See how he is obliged to come to his knees at length. He will be up again soon, for his heart is not humbled, though he is eating his own words. An unhumbled heart is not subdued by judgments; it is so apparently, but really it is still a heart of stone.

Exo 10:18-20. And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the LORD. And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaohs heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

God kept his grace back from him, so that he relapsed into his natural state of obduracy. Pharaoh is the great mirror of pride and obstinacy; I wonder whether we have a Pharaoh here. Now let us turn to the 105th Psalm, and see further what God did against this proud Pharaoh.

This exposition consisted of readings from Exo 10:1-20; and Psa 105:26-38.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

It would seem at this point that Moses himself was overawed by the fearful process of judgment and so before the next plague God announced to His servant a new reason for the whole movement. It was in order that posterity might have the solemn and awful warnings of the result of persistent rebellion.

Pharaoh was now beyond reason, and God did not reason with him. Pharaoh’s servants, apparently more alive than he to his folly, pleaded with him to let the people go. Whereupon he sent for Moses and again attempted a compromise. He suggested that the children be left behind. This being refused, a further plague fell. Still Pharaoh persisted in his rebellion. The final plague of the third cycle fell without warning. In the presence of the appalling darkness, Pharaoh made his fourth and last attempt at compromise by suggesting that their cattle should be left. To this the reply of the servant of God was at once final and conclusive, “There shall not a hoof be left behind.” Then Pharaoh’s failure aroused his anger. All the evil passion of the man flamed out. He commanded Moses to see his face no more. This is indeed a story of long-continued and determined rebellion against God; first by Pharaoh’s own choice, then by that choice ratified by the choice of God as the terrible judgment moved forward.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Pharaoh Still Refuses to Submit

Exo 10:1-11

Pharaoh was capable of being a noble and glorious soul, through which God might have shown forth all His power and glory, Exo 9:16. But he refused, and the profanation of the best made him the worst. There is a crisis in every soul-history up to which Gods methods appear likely to turn the proud to Himself; but if that is passed, those methods seem only to harden. Just as in winter the thaw of the noon makes harder ice during the night; so, if the love of God fails to soften, it hardens. In this sense God seemed to harden Pharaohs heart. The real conflict lay with his stubborn will, which would not yield, Exo 10:3; although his servants advised him to let the people go, Exo 10:7. The only result was that the king recalled the Hebrew leaders and made another effort at compromise-Go now ye that are men. The children are always the key to the situation.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Exo 10:16

The words “I have sinned” occur nine times in the Bible, and of the nine we may except two. In the seventh chapter of Micah they are the language not of an individual, but of a Church. And the prodigal’s use of them is, of course, not matter of fact or history, but only part of a parable. Of the seven that are left, four are utterly hollow and worthless; in God’s scale, wanting, unreal, and unprofitable. One of these was Pharaoh’s.

I. At what time God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart began, it is impossible exactly to determine. But, from the first, it was judicial. It is a common story. A sin is indulged till the man is given over to his sin, then the sin is made its own punishment. It was no doubt in consequence of this hardness that Pharaoh’s repentance was never anything more than one after a worldly sort. If we allow ourselves to go through hardening processes we shall ultimately put repentance out of our power.

II. Pharaoh’s “I have sinned” was-(1) A mere hasty impulse. There was no thought in it; no careful dealing with his own soul; no depth. (2) The moving principle was fear. He was agitated: only agitated. Fear is a sign of penitence, but it is doubtful whether there was ever a real repentance that was promoted by fear only. (3) Pharaoh’s thoughts were directed too much to man. He never went straight to God, and hence his confession was not thorough.

III. God accepts even the germs of repentance. Even Pharaoh’s miserable acknowledgment had its reward. Twice, upon his confession, God stayed His hand. The loving Father welcomed even the approximation to a grace.

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 71.

Exo 10:20

I. The simplest and most patient study of that portion of the Book of Exodus which refers to the Egyptian plagues will lead us to this conclusion, that Moses is the witness for a Divine eternal law, and the witness against every kind of king-craft or priest-craft which breaks this law, or substitutes any devices of man’s power or wit in place of it. Moses protested against the deceits and impostures of the magicians, precisely because he protested for the living and eternal Lord. It is a special token of honesty and veracity that Moses records the success of the magicians in several of their experiments. We might fairly have discredited the story as partial and unlikely, if there had been no such admission. Even the most flagrant chicanery is not always disappointed, and in nine cases out of ten, fact and fraud are curiously dovetailed into one another. If you will not do homage to the one, you will not detect the other.

II. Do not the words “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” distinctly describe God as the Author of something in man which is pronounced to be utterly wrong? Is He not said to have foreseen Pharaoh’s sin, and not only to have foreseen, but to have produced it?

The will of God was an altogether good will, and therefore Pharaoh’s will-which was a bad will, a proud self-will-strove against it, and was lashed into fury by meeting with that which was contrary to itself. These words of Scripture are most necessary to us, for the purpose of making us understand the awful contradiction which there may be between the will of a man and the will of his Creator; how that contradiction may be aggravated by what seemed to be means for its cure, and how it may be cured. However hard our hearts may be, the Divine Spirit of grace and discipline can subdue even all things to Himself.

F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 172.

References: Exo 10:22, Exo 10:23.-J. Burns, Sketches of Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 109. Exo 10:26.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 309, also vol. xxxi., No. 1830; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 476. Exo 10:27.-R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches, 2nd series, p. 316. Exo 11:1.-Parker, vol. ii., pp. 57, 313. Exo 11:7.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 305; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 147.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 10 The Eighth and Ninth Plagues

1. The eighth plague: locusts (Exo 10:1-15)

2. Pharaohs renewed confession and refusal (Exo 10:16-20)

3. The ninth plague: darkness (Exo 10:21-26)

4. Pharaohs anger (Exo 10:27-29)

The eighth plague is introduced by another warning; the ninth came without it. As a result of the eighth plague, Pharaoh confessed his sin against God and against Moses and Aaron; but after the ninth plague drove Moses from his presence and threatened the divine messenger with death.

Locusts covered the face of the whole earth and every green thing was destroyed. On the ravages of the locusts we find a vivid description in the book of Joel. Locusts are typical of Gods punitive judgments. The locusts plague was aimed to show the impotence of the Egyptian god Serapis, in whom the Egyptians trusted as the protector against the locusts. Locusts are likewise mentioned in a symbolical way in Rev 9:1-12.

In the ninth plague, darkness covered Egypt for three days. Beautiful must have been the vision of the land of Goshen . Out of the dense darkness the light shone brightly in the miserable abodes of the children of Israel . All the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Note again the book of Revelation, chapter 16:10-11 (Rev 16:10-11).

The sun as the source of light was worshipped in Egypt . If Menephtah was the Pharaoh of the exodus, as some hold, this plague has a special significance. A sculptural image of this Pharaoh is preserved. His hand is out-stretched in worship, and underneath stand in hieroglyphics these words: He adores the sun; he worships Hor of the solar horizons. Suddenly darkness, which could be felt, came upon Egypt . Pharaoh and all Egypt learned now that their idols were helpless. Darkness is the withdrawal of light. It stands for the solemn truth of the forsaking of God. (We may well think here of the darkness which enshrouded the cross and the unfathomable cry of our Lord, my God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?) God was about to abandon Egypt , the darkness was the herald of it. All Egypt was to be plunged into the severest of all judgments, the death of the firstborn. This darkness was Gods final appeal to repentance. For three days they were shut in and all business was suspended. Rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant, all classes were shrouded in that awful darkness. The suspense must have been frightful. What was to come next? God waited, and in that silence and darkness appealed to their conscience. How slow God is to judge; it is His strange work. In infinite patience He waited before He dealt the final blow to Egypt . Thus He waits now and warns till at last His patience ends and His threatened judgments sweep the earth. The last objection and compromise by Pharaoh is found in Exo 10:24, but Moses answered not an hoof shall be left behind. Jehovahs demands and purposes concerning the completest separation from Egypt stand and must be literally executed.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

I have hardened: Exo 4:21, Exo 7:13, Exo 7:14, Exo 9:27, Exo 9:34, Exo 9:35, Psa 7:11

that I: Exo 3:20, Exo 7:4, Exo 9:16, Exo 14:17, Exo 14:18, Exo 15:14, Exo 15:15, Jos 2:9, Jos 2:10, Jos 4:23, Jos 4:24, 1Sa 4:8, Rom 9:17

Reciprocal: Exo 10:27 – General Exo 11:9 – Pharaoh Exo 20:2 – brought Psa 105:25 – He turned Joe 1:3 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Chapter 9 closed with the fact that both Pharaoh and his servants hardened their hearts. Chapter 10 opens with a statement by the Lord to Moses that He had hardened their hearts, and thus shut them up to their doom. It furnished also the occasion for the Lord to display Himself as the God of judgment in such fashion that it would be remembered in the generations to come. Even to our day this witness stands, and it will yet be remembered until the day of grace is succeeded by the epoch of judgment. Then God will deal in His righteous judgment and wrath not with Egypt only but with the whole earth, as is portrayed in Rev 6:1-17; Rev 7:1-17; Rev 8:1-13; Rev 9:1-21; Rev 10:1-11; Rev 11:1-19, Rev 6:15, Rev 6:16. Of that coming day of judgment the plagues of Egypt were a small sample.

However, such is the longsuffering of God that Moses was sent once more to Pharaoh with a remonstrance and demand that he let the people go. He is warned that, if he still refused, God would smite Egypt with swarms of locusts, and this was to happen “tomorrow.” In the previous chapter twice did God announce a plague for tomorrow, thus giving at least twenty-four hours respite in view of a possible relenting on the part of Pharaoh. In contrast to this, salvation, as we know, is always presented today.

Locusts were well recognized as a serious plague even in those days, and the extra severity of what was coming was plainly indicated, for it would destroy all that was left in the land. The wheat and rye escaped before, but they would not escape this. Moreover while the trees of the field had been broken by the hail, they were still in leaf: they would now be stripped bare. The only way of escape was indicated: that of Pharaoh humbling himself before the Lord, and letting Israel go.

Though the locust invasion now threatened was to be of altogether exceptional severity yet such a plague was not unknown in Egypt. Hence there was remonstrance from the servants of the king, and they were so stirred as to allow themselves an unusual freedom of speech, seeing the Pharaohs of those times were regarded almost as deities. Moved by this, he recalled Moses and Aaron and proposed another cunning device, raising a question as to who should go. In reply, Moses made it quite plain that there is no compromise permitted when God makes His demands. The Lord claimed the people as His; men, women, children and possessions. This is an important lesson which we all have to learn. Though we are not under law but under grace, yet there are “the commandments of the Lord” (1Co 14:37) and these are not issued that we may negotiate about them or compromise, but that we may obey.

Pharaoh attempted to negotiate. He would permit the men to go and sacrifice, but all the rest should remain in his power. He knew enough of human nature to be sure that this would bring the men back under his authority. Pharaoh was a tool of the devil, who knows very well the practical working of “thou… and thy house” (Act 16:31) and wished to turn it to his own advantage. The suggestion was, Let each man go, but let him leave his house behind. But if God was to have any, He would have ALL.

This declaration moved Pharaoh to more drastic action and Moses and Aaron were simply driven from his presence, and as Moses stretched forth his rod, the Lord brought up the strong east wind on the wings of which the mighty hordes of locusts came. In the annals of the east there are plenty of records as to the havoc that is made by a bad swarm of locusts. This was a visitation so grievous that “before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.” We can imagine therefore the terrible plight into which the land of Egypt was plunged.

As a result, Moses and Aaron, who a few days before had been driven out of Pharaoh’s presence, were recalled in haste. Pharaoh adopted a humble attitude, confessing he had sinned and asking for a forgiveness which should include the removal of the punishment. The Lord knew his heart, yet He listened to his plea and by a strong west wind He removed the locusts so completely that not one was left. The locusts were drowned in the Red Sea. Not many days after Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned there too.

It now seemed as if the heart of Pharaoh had been softened, but it had not been so really. Directly the infliction was removed he reverted to his stubborn attitude of resistance. As predicted the Lord had hardened his heart. He provides us with the classic example of the sinner who defies God, but is quite prepared to adopt a humble attitude, if thereby he may avoid reaping the punishment he deserves. We have to remember this word: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Pro 28:13). Under chastisement Pharaoh did not mind doing a little bit of confessing, but he had no idea of forsaking his self-willed way. The fair words he uttered in verses Exo 10:16-17 of our chapter were merely an effort to avoid further punishment.

So, as we see in verse Exo 10:21, the ninth plague was ushered in without any warning being given. Again Moses was to stretch out his hand toward heaven and there fell upon Egypt darkness of a supernatural kind. It is described as “darkness which may be felt.” From this expression some are disposed to regard it as being of the nature of the hot south-west winds that do bring on Egypt great dust storms that darken the land; the wind being laden with tiny particles of sand, it can be felt. But on the other hand the expression may be a figurative one, in which the feeling about and groping in dense darkness is attributed to the darkness itself.

How it came about need not concern us. It was something supernatural. It lasted for three days. It was so dense and complete that all activity stopped. Every Egyptian was isolated from his fellows in the midst of his ruined country, and none of them knew when, if ever the visitation would end. Of all the plagues this must have been the most terrifying, because most mysterious and unprecedented. And all through the dreadful three days the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

We cannot fail to see here a pictorial representation of what we find laid down in the New Testament. Take such a passage as this: “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes” (1Jn 2:10, 1Jn 2:11). The present-day men of the world, though refined and educated, as were the Egyptians in their day, are in spiritual darkness. Only those who are born of God, and therefore possess the divine nature, are abiding in the light.

At the end of the three days, the darkness having departed, Pharaoh was again ready to attempt a compromise. This time it was, Let all men, women and children, go, but your flocks and herds must remain. But, as Moses pointed out, this would defeat the object of their going forth, since they would not have the wherewithal to sacrifice to the Lord. He stated again the Divine terms, in the nature of an ultimatum, “there shall not an hoof be left behind.” It was the purpose of God to take His people, and every single thing they had, clean out of Egypt.

God’s purpose for us who belong to His church today, is just the same in principle. Egypt typifies the great world-system, Pharaoh typifies the god and prince of this world. The children of Israel were to enjoy a physical deliverance: in body and in possessions they were to be free. Ours is a spiritual deliverance. We still live on earth and in the midst of the world-system, but it is the purpose of God that we be completely delivered from its enslaving power.

The uncompromising stand which Moses took on this point evidently angered Pharaoh, and his heart being still hardened of the Lord, he broke off all negotiation at this point. On God’s part the ultimatum had been presented: on his part it had been rejected with a threat of death to Moses who had presented it to him. In reply to that threat Moses spoke as a prophet, and foretold in a veiled form his doom. It was not Moses who was about to die but first Pharaoh’s firstborn and then himself.

As we commence to read Exo 11:1-10, we realize that all God’s preliminary dealings are over and the final strokes must now fall. As the preliminary judgments proceeded they increased in severity, and we are sometimes tempted to enquire why they should be necessary. We may ask: Since God knew in advance all that would transpire, why should He prolong the agony in this way? Why did He not eliminate the preliminaries and strike the final blow at once?

The answer surely is this: His ways and judgments are always right, yet He so acts as to manifest their rightness before His intelligent creation. Being omniscient, He knew that all nine plagues would not subdue the stubborn heart of Pharaoh; but the angelic principalities and powers in heavenly places are not omniscient, nor are men upon earth. So by testing Pharaoh, and giving space for repentance as plague succeeded plague with increasing severity, no one could rightly question the final stroke when it came. The same thing may be said as to the judgments of seals, trumpets and vials of the Book of Revelation, preceding the final destruction of the power of the adversaries at the glorious appearing of Christ.

Moses therefore was prepared of God for this “one plague more,” that was very soon to fall. It was to be of such a nature that panic-stricken Pharaoh would not merely let them go but hasten to thrust them out. In view of this he was to instruct the people both men and women to ask of their neighbouring Egyptians “jewels” or “utensils” of gold and silver. By this time fear and respect had been instilled into their hearts, and Moses himself had become very great in their eyes. Hence they readily yielded up all that was asked of them. It is not an uncommon thing that humbler and more simple people are impressed by the acts of God when the great ones of the earth are undiscerning.

It would appear that verses Exo 10:1-3 are somewhat parenthetical, for in verse Exo 10:4 we again have Moses speaking, and as verse Exo 10:8 indicates, he was still in the presence of Pharaoh. What he announced as about to happen was an act of God, both in its character and its severity, lifted far above all that had gone before. In the nine preceding plagues God had used things of His own creation in such a way as to chastise by them. But now He, the Creator, was going to step in after a personal sort: “About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt.”

Now if the holy and righteous God comes down thus into the midst of His fallen and sinful creatures there can be but one result. The death penalty must fall, for “the wages of sin is death.” Yet even so the mercy of God is displayed for death was not to fall upon all the Egyptians but only upon the firstborn of both man and beast. Many of us may have seen a “genealogical tree,” showing the descent of some well-known family from the days of old. In such a tree the outmost twigs show the firstborn sons of the various branches of the family. Now using this as a figure, we may say that God was about to cut off all the young twigs, as a sign that His sentence of death rested upon the trees, though He would not at that moment cut down every tree.

But again there would be exemption for the Israelites, for the Lord was going to put a difference between them and the Egyptians. There was no fundamental difference between them; had there been it would not have been needful for the Lord to put a difference. Here then we have foreshadowed the “no difference doctrine” of Rom 3:22, Rom 3:23. The Israelites were sinners as the Egyptians were, and equally subject to the death sentence, and God is no respecter of persons. Hence if God puts a difference, it must be done in a righteous manner. We have to pass on to the next chapter to discover how the difference was to be put.

In Rom 3:1-31 the “no difference doctrine” is followed by verses Exo 10:24-26, which reveal the righteous basis of the justification of the believer, which puts a difference between him and the unbeliever. When we reach Exo 12:1-51, and read of the blood of the Passover lamb, we find in type the basis of the difference that is to be put between the Egyptians and Israel.

In speaking thus Moses gave Pharaoh and his servants full and clear warning of what was impending, and his words were prefaced by, “Thus saith the Lord.” Having delivered this final message with the full weight of the Divine authority behind it, he went out from Pharaoh “in a great anger,” or, “in a glowing anger.” It is no sin to be angry with sin, and there was in Moses merely a reflection of that which was in the heart of God.

Our chapter closes with Pharaoh brushing aside all that had been said and for the last time but one we read of the Lord hardening his heart. His stubbornness however would only furnish further occasion for the multiplication of God’s wonders in the land of Egypt.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Exo 10:1. Go unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart That is, either, 1st, Go and make a new address unto him, for what I have yet done has but hardened his heart: or, 2d, , here translated for, must, as is often the case, be rendered although; go and speak to him again, although I have suffered his heart to be hardened, and to continue obdurate, that I might more fully display my power and providence, not only to Egypt and the adjacent countries, but to generations yet unborn, and especially to the posterity of my people Israel; that thou mayest tell (Exo 10:2) in the ears of thy son, and thy sons son, what things I have wrought. These plagues are standing monuments of the greatness of God, the happiness of the church, and the sinfulness of sin; and standing monitors to the children of men in all ages, not to provoke the Lord to jealousy, nor to strive with their Maker. The benefit of these instructions to the world doth sufficiently balance the expense.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 10:2. In the ears of thy son. The Hebrew prophets in their sermons, and the psalmists in their songs, have recorded those wonderful works of the Lord; and the doctrines and inferences fairly deduced are firm and strong. For how different soever the circumstances of the church may be, the perfections of God are still the same.

Exo 10:4. The locusts. The science of entomology has classed in one genus the locust or gryllus, the grasshopper, the cricket, and fifty other species. The locust belongs to the order of hemiptera. The head of the gryllus migratorius is inflected, armed with jaws, and a pair of feelers. The wings are four, deflex, and convolated; double claws on all the feet. Their natural history is, in many respects, the same as the butterfly, only they migrate in clouds, which partially darken the sun. Clouds of these drop and perish in the sea, and sometimes will hang on the ropes and cover the deck of a ship, while sailing on the western coast of Africa. Sometimes a swarm of locusts is seen to extend to the width of half a mile; but they cannot fly far, except in the latter part of summer. Whenever a detached swarm has reached Germany and Britain, it has been by some strong south wind. In the 46th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, we have half a dozen accounts of the dreadful devastations they have made in Syria, Wallachia, and Lombardy, which confirm to the letter what is said of Gods great army in the second chapter of the prophet Joel. This was a terrible scourge on the Egyptians, as they devoured the verdure of the trees and fields. The gryllus crystatus is very large, and often used for food. Its colour is a bright red, the body annulated with black; the legs varied with yellow, the wings tesselated with shades of dark green. Mat 3:4.

Exo 10:9. With our young, or little ones. This text has been thought by some to sanction a custom, partially adopted by the primitive christians, of giving the holy sacrament to little children. It was however the general practice of the patriarchs to take their children to sacrifice. See Reflections on Genesis 22.

Exo 10:13. The east wind brought the locusts. The Septuagint reads, a south wind. In the 105th Psalm, the caterpillars are joined with the locusts. The critics have collected many heathen testimonies concerning locusts; and so many authors of different nations having written to the same effect, we ought not to discredit their testimony. The substance of which is, that in the warmer climates the locusts come suddenly by a strong wind across deserts and seas; that they can continue their flight for several days, and that they know by instinct the approach of famine. Wherever they alight, presently the whole district exhibits a scene of devastation; and when the vegetation is consumed, they do not even spare the bark of trees. The number is sometimes so great as to becloud the heavens in their flight; and there are species of them so strong as to kill serpents, by biting them near the throat. See Dr. Hollands translation of Plinys Natural History, book 11. chap. 29. A locust about four inches long is exhibited in the Liverpool Museum. The darkening of the heavens by the locusts, has chiefly been occasioned by the fires which men on those occasions everywhere kindle, to prevent them from settling on their lands.

Exo 10:19. Red sea. The Hebrew, yam suph, is equivalent to the weedy sea; but the Edomites call it yam Edom, after their father; that is, the red sea.

Exo 10:21. Darkness which might be felt. The darkness seems however to have been occasioned by the density of vapours, connected with cold, which very sensibly affected the lungs, and the nerves, exciting very great terror of mind. Their terrors would be the greater, having no promise that it ever would be light again. This darkness seemed to portend what Homer calls Plutos dark house, for in a few days their firstborn were slain by the angel, and the whole army were drowned in the sea. The terrors of God would affect the learned as the illiterate, for total darkness in a solar eclipse continues but a few minutes; this continued for three days.

Exo 10:23. The children of Israel had light. It is said, Psa 105:28, that they rebelled not against his word; and as it appears from Jos 5:9, that the Israelites had neglected circumcision while they were in Egypt, it is very ingeniously inferred by Dr. Lightfoot, that they took the opportunity of fulfilling the divine command, while the Egyptians were confined to their dwellings by the surrounding darkness.

Exo 10:29. I will see thy face again no more. I will no more solicit an interview. If Moses appeared before Pharaoh after this time, it was not to ask a favour, but to denounce the judgments of heaven against his impenitence.

REFLECTIONS.

This chapter presents us with new and increasing visitations for the increasing wickedness of men. The good acknowledgments extorted from Pharaoh were as intrusive visitors, not allowed to lodge a single night in his breast; but every cruel purpose was rooted there. So it is with every hardened rebel, from whom God withdraws his grace.

But while God was proceeding in the awful administration of justice, he acquainted Moses that these things were to be told in the ears of our children. In this view the sacred volume is valuable above all books. It exhibits to us in large characters, a righteous God governing the world. It traces his longsuffering and mercy, his justice and judgment diversified in a thousand forms; and it does this with the avowed design that future ages may learn to revere his name, and to confide in his protecting arm. Other histories and books, not being written by inspired men, do this only in an accidental way, or more frequently they ascribe all events to accident or chance.

We find Moses, once weak and timorous, now animated with the highest zeal and courage in the administration of his terrific mission. He would make no compound with Pharaoh; he would not consent that either son or servant, or even a hoof of the cattle should remain behind. And let not the christian church, groaning like Israel for emancipation, be animated with a zeal less pure and noble. It would be very inconsistent to seek salvation for ourselves, and to leave our children entangled with the fashions and follies of the age. They had better be unacquainted with what are called accomplishments, than involved in the destruction which awaits the unregenerate crowd.

The Egyptians having made their hearts stout against judgments which had barely spared their lives, were next enshrouded with the horrors of impervious night. This judgment contained more of terror than all the preseding; for they knew not that it should ever be succeeded with light. Every man was separated from his friend; the sinner had no companion but his conscience. How awful, how very awful to see a whole nation suddenly arrested in their sins, cut off in a moment, and at noonday, from their pleasures, and deprived of every hope. So circumstanced, what would their fears augur! Would they not imagine that the dark kingdom of their Pluto had vaulted them in with eternal shades? In fact it was as they feared. This darkness, like the blindness of the men of Sodom, was to myriads of them an immediate forerunner, and a dreadful omen of the death just at the door. Surely we should tell those things to our children! Surely we should publish them to the proud, to the oppressors, to the obdurate, and to the infidel world. Let the man who disregards all former visitations with which he may have been afflicted, remember that the hour will suddenly come, when the terrors of God shall be arrayed against him. He shall sit alone, surrounded with darkness like the Egyptians; and whether he recals the idea of pleasures now vanished away, whether he ventures to look at a boding futurity, or dares to raise his guilty soul to the God he has despised, all shall be darkness, terror and alarm. To whatever side he may turn his views, there shall be no voice, no hope, no vestige of consolation. The sinner has resisted the early calls of grace, he has fought against Gods judgments, has refused to know the day of his visitation;and now the things which belong to his peace are hid from his eyes. Now the door is shut, and the Lord will no more be entreated.

It must on the other hand be allowed, that the day of the Lord will also come to the good man, and perhaps when least expected; but it shall not be to him a dark day. There was light in all the land of Goshen. The good man will commend his soul into the hands of God, will prepare with joy to leave a body in which he has groaned, and a world in which he has wept and suffered, that he may be associated with his fathers and brethren in the presence of his God.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exodus 7 – 11

These five chapters form one distinct section, the contents of which may be distributed into the three following divisions, namely, the ten judgements from the hand of Jehovah; the resistance of “Jannes and Jambres;” and the four objections of Pharaoh.

The whole land of Egypt was made to tremble beneath the successive strokes of the rod of God. All from the monarch on his throne to the menial at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of that rod. “He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. They showed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. !heir land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts. He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He smote their vines: also, and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. He spake, and their locusts came, and the caterpillars, and that without number, and did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. (Ps. 105: 26-36)

Here the inspired Psalmist has given a condensed view of those appalling afflictions which the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart brought upon his land and upon his people. This haughty monarch had set himself to resist the sovereign will and course of the Most High God; and, as a just consequence, he was given over to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh: and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name. may be declared throughout all the earth.” (Ex. 9: 12-16)

In contemplating Pharaoh and his actings, the mind is carried forward to the stirring scenes of the Book of Revelation, in which we find the last proud oppressor of the people of God bringing down upon his kingdom and upon himself the seven vials of the wrath of the Almighty. It is God’s purpose that Israel shall be pre-eminent in the earth; and, therefore, every one who presumes to stand in the way of that pre-eminence must be set aside. Divine grace must find its object; and every one who would act as a barrier in the way of that grace must be taken out of the way. Whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or “the beast that was, is not, and shall be present,” it matters not. Divine power will clear the channel for divine grace to flow, and eternal woe be to all who stand in the way. They shall taste, throughout the everlasting course of ages, the bitter fruit of having exalted themselves against “the Lord God of the Hebrews.” He has said to His people, “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,” and His infallible faithfulness will assuredly make good what His infinite grace hath promised.

Thus, in Pharaoh’s case, when he persisted in holding, with an iron grasp, the Israel of God, the vials of divine wrath were poured forth upon him; and the land of Egypt was covered, throughout its entire length and breadth, with darkness, disease, and desolation. So will it be, by and by, when the last great oppressor shall emerge from the bottomless pit, armed with Satanic power, to crush beneath his “foot of pride” the favoured objects of Jehovah’s choice. His throne shall be overturned, his kingdom devastated by the seven last plagues, and, finally, he himself plunged, not in the Red Sea, but “in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.” (Comp. Rev. 17: 8; Rev. 20: 10)

Not one jot or one tittle of what God has promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, shall fail. He will accomplish all. Notwithstanding all that has been said and done to the contrary, God remembers His promises, and He will fulfil them. They are all “yea and amen in Christ Jesus.” Dynasties have risen and acted on the stage of this world; thrones have been erected on the apparent ruins of Jerusalem’s ancient glory; empires have flourished for a time, and then fallen to decay; ambitious potentates have contended for the possession of “the land of promise” – all these things have taken place; but Jehovah has said concerning Palestine,” the land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine.” (Lev. 25: 23) No one, therefore, shall ever finally possess that land but Jehovah Himself, and He will inherit it through the seed of Abraham. One plain passage of scripture is quite sufficient to establish the mind in reference to this or any other subject. The land of Canaan is for the seed of Abraham, and the seed of Abraham for the land of Canaan; nor can any power of earth or hell ever reverse this divine order. The eternal God has pledged His word, and the blood of the everlasting covenant has flowed to ratify that word. Who, then, shall make it void? “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but that word shall never pass away.” Truly, “there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” (Deut. 33: 46-29)

We shall now consider, in the second place, the opposition of “Jannes and Jambres,” the magicians of Egypt. We should not have known the names of these ancient opposers of the truth of God, had they not been recorded by the Holy Ghost, in connection with “the perilous times” of which the Apostle Paul warns his son Timothy. It is important that the Christian reader should clearly understand the real nature of the opposition given to Moses by those magicians, and in order that he may have the subject fully before him, I shall quote the entire passage from St. Paul’s Epistle to Timothy. It is one of deep and awful solemnity.

“This know, also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all, as theirs also was.” (2 Tim. 3: 1-9)

Now, it is peculiarly solemn to mark the nature of this resistance to the truth. The mode in which “Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses” was simply by imitating, so far as they were able, whatever he did. We do not find that they attributed his actings to a false or evil energy, but rather that they sought to neutralise their power upon the conscience, by doing the same things. What Moses did they could do, so that, after all there was no great difference. One was as good as the other. A miracle is a miracle. If Moses wrought miracles to get the people out of Egypt, they could work miracles to keep them in; so where was the difference?

From all this we learn the solemn truth that the most Satanic resistance to God’s testimony, in the world, is offered by those who, though they imitate the effects of the truth, have but “the form of godliness,” and “deny the power thereof.” Persons of this class can do the same things, adopt the same habits and forms, use the same phraseology, profess the same opinions as others. If the true Christian, constrained by the love of Christ, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, visits the sick, circulates the scriptures, distributes tracts, supports the gospel, engages in prayer, sings praise, preaches the gospel, the formalist can do every one of these things; and this, be it observed, is the special character of the resistance offered to the truth ” in the last days” – this is the spirit of ” Jannes and Jambres.” How needful to understand this! How important to remember that, “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do” those self-loving, world-seeking, pleasure-hunting professors, “resist the truth!” They would not be without “a form of godliness;” but, while adopting “the form,” because it is customary, they hate “the power,” because it involves self-denial. “The power” of godliness involves the recognition of God’s claims, the implanting of His kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition thereof in the whole life and character; but the formalist knows nothing of this. “The power” of godliness could never comport with any one of those hideous features set forth in the foregoing quotation; but” the form,” while it covers them over, leaves them wholly unsubdued; and this the formalist likes. He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections governed, his heart purified. He wants just as much religion as will enable him “to make the best of both worlds.” He knows nothing of giving up the world that is, because of having; found “the world to come.”

In marking the forms of Satan’s opposition to the truth of God, we find that his method has ever been, first, to oppose it by open violence; and then, if that did not succeed, to corrupt it by producing a counterfeit. Hence, he first sought to slay Moses, (Ex. 2: 15), and having failed to accomplish his purpose, he sought to imitate his works.

Thus, too, has it been in reference to the truth committed to the Church of God. Satan’s early efforts showed themselves in connection with the wrath of the chief priests and elders, the judgement-seat, the prison, and the sword. But, in the passage just quoted from 2 Timothy, we find no reference to any such agency. Often violence has made way for the far more wily and dangerous instrumentality of a powerless form, an empty profession, a human counterfeit. The enemy, instead of appearing with the sword of persecution in his hand, walks about with the cloak of profession on his shoulders. He professes and imitates that which he once opposed and persecuted; and, by so doing, gains most appalling advantages, for the time being. The fearful forms of moral evil which, from age to age, have stained the page of human history, instead of being found only where we might naturally look for them, amid the dens and caves of human darkness, are to be found carefully arranged beneath the drapery of a cold, powerless, uninfluential profession; and this is one of Satan’s grand masterpieces.

That man, as a fallen, corrupt creature, should love himself, be covetous, boastful, proud, and the like, is natural; but that he should be all these, beneath the fair covering of “a form of godliness,” marks the special energy of Satan in his resistance to the truth in “the last days.” That man should stand forth in the bold exhibition of those hideous vices, lusts, and passions, which are the necessary results of departure from the source of infinite holiness and purity, is only what might be expected, for man will be what he is to the end of the chapter. But on the other hand, when we find the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ connected with man’s wickedness and deadly evil – when we find holy principles connected with unholy practices – when we find all the characteristics of Gentile corruption, referred to in the first chapter of Romans, associated with “a form of godliness,” then, truly, we may say, these are the terrible features of “the last days” – this is the resistance of “Jannes and Jambres.”

However, there were only three things in which the magicians of Egypt were able to imitate the servants of the true and living God, namely, in turning their rods into serpents, (Ex. 7: 12) turning the water into blood, (Ex. 7: 29) and bringing up the frogs; (Ex. 8: 7) but, in the fourth, which involved the exhibition of life, in connection with the display of nature’s humiliation, they were totally confounded, and obliged to own, ” this is the finger of God.” (Ex. 8: 16-19) Thus it is also with the latter-day resisters of the truth. All that they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and lies within the range of his power. Moreover, its specific object is to “resist the truth.”

The three things which “Jannes and Jambres” were able to accomplish were characterised by Satanic energy, death, and uncleanness; that is to say, the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. Thus it was they “withstood Moses;” and “so do these also resist the truth,” and hinder its moral weight and action upon the conscience. There is nothing which so tends to deaden the power of truth us the fact that persons who are not under its influence at all, do the self-same things as those who are. This is Satan’s agency just now. He seeks to have all regarded as Christians. He would fain make us believe ourselves surrounded by “a Christian world;” but it is counterfeit Christianity, which, so far from being a testimony to the truth, is designed by the enemy of the truth, to withstand its purifying and elevating influence.

In short, the servant of Christ and the witness for the truth is surrounded, on all sides, by the spirit of “Jannes and Jambres;” and it is well for him to remember this – to know thoroughly the evil with which he has to grapple – to bear in mind that it is Satan’s imitation of God’s reality, produced, not by the wand of an openly-wicked magician, but by the actings of false professors, who have “a form of godliness, hut deny the power thereof,” who do things apparently right and good, but who have neither the life of Christ in their souls, the love of God in their hearts, nor the power of the word in their consciences.

“But,” adds the inspired apostle, “they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifested unto all, as theirs also was.” Truly the “folly” of “Jannes and Jambres” was manifest unto all, when they not only failed to imitate the further actings of Moses and Aaron, but actually became involved in the judgements of God. This is a solemn point. The folly of all who are merely possessed of the form will, in like manner, be made manifest. They will not only be quite unable to imitate the full and proper effects of divine life and power, but they will themselves become the subjects of those judgements which will result from the rejection of that truth which they have resisted.

Will any one say that all this has no voice for a day of powerless profession? Assuredly, it has. It should speak to each conscience in living power; it should tell on each heart, in accents of impressive solemnity. It should lead each one to enquire seriously whether he is testifying for the truth, by walking in the power of godliness, or hindering it, and neutralising its action, by having only the form. The effect of the power of godliness will be seen by our” continuing in the things which we have learned.” None will continue, save those who are taught of God; those, by the power of the Spirit of God, have drunk in divine principle, at the pure fountain of inspiration.

Blessed be God, there are many such throughout the various sections of the professing Church. There are many, here and there, whose consciences have been bathed in the atoning blood of “the Lamb of God,” whose hearts beat high with genuine attachment to His Person, and whose spirits are cheered by “that blessed hope” of seeing Him as He is, and of being eternally conformed to His image. It is encouraging to think of such. It is an unspeakable mercy to have fellowship with those who can give a reason of the hope that is in them, and for the position which they occupy. May the Lord add to their number daily. May the power of godliness spread far and wide in these last days, so that a bright and well-sustained testimony may be raised to the name of Him who is worthy.

The third point in our section yet remains to be considered, namely, Pharaoh’s four subtle objections to the full deliverance and complete separation of God’s people from the land of Egypt. The first of these we have in Ex. 8: 25. “And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.” It is needless to remark here, that whether the magicians withstood, or Pharaoh objected, it was in reality, Satan that stood behind the scenes; and his manifest object, in this proposal of Pharaoh, was to hinder the testimony to the Lord’s name – a testimony connected with the thorough separation of His people from Egypt. There could, evidently, be no such testimony had they remained in Egypt, even though they were to sacrifice to Him. They would have taken common ground with the uncircumcised Egyptians, and put Jehovah on a level with the gods of Egypt. In this case an Egyptian could have said to an Israelite, “I see no difference between us; you have your worship and we have ours; it is all alike.”

As a matter of course, men think it quite right for every one to have a religion, let it be what it may. Provided we are sincere, and do not interfere with our neighbour’s creed, it does not matter what shape our religion may happen to wear. Such are the thoughts of men in reference to what they call religion; but it is very obvious that the glory of the name of Jesus finds no place in all this. The demand for separation is that which the enemy will ever oppose, and which the heart of man cannot understand. The heart may crave religiousness because conscience testifies that all is not right; but it craves the world as well. It would like to “sacrifice to God in the land;” and Satan’s object is gained when people accept of a worldly religion, and refuse to “come out and be separate.” (2 Cor. 6) His unvarying purpose, from the beginning, has been to hinder the testimony to God’s name on the earth. Such was the dark tendency of the proposal, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.” What a complete damper to the testimony, had this proposal been acceded to! God’s people in Egypt and God Himself linked with the idols of Egypt! Terrible blasphemy!

Reader, we should deeply ponder this. The effort to induce Israel to worship God in Egypt reveals a far deeper principle than we might, at first sight, imagine. The enemy would rejoice, at any time, by any means, or under any circumstances, to get even the semblance of divine sanction for the world’s religion. He has no objection to such religion. He gains his end as effectually by what is termed “the religious world” as by any other agency; and, hence, when he can succeed in getting a true Christian to accredit the religion of the day, he gains a grand point. As a matter of actual fact, one knows that nothing elicits such intense indignation as the divine principle of separation from this present evil world. You may hold the same opinions, preach the same doctrines, do the same work; but if you only attempt, in ever so feeble a manner, to act upon the divine commands, ” from such turn away,” (2 Tim. 3: 5) and “come out from among them,” (2 Cor. 6: 17) you may reckon assuredly upon the most vigorous opposition. Now how is this to be accounted for? Mainly by the fact that Christians, in separation from this world’s hollow religiousness, bear a testimony for Christ which they never can bear while connected with it.

There is a very wide difference between human religion and Christ. A poor, benighted Hindu might talk to you of his religion, but he knows nothing of Christ. The apostle does not say, “if there be any consolation in religion;” though, doubtless, the votaries of each kind of religion find what they deem consolation therein. Paul, on the other hand, found his consolation in Christ, having fully proved the worthlessness of religion, and that too, in its fairest and most imposing form. (Comp. Gal. 1: 13, 14; Phil. 3: 4-11)

True, the Spirit of God speaks to us of “pure religion and undefiled;” but the unregenerate man cannot, by any means, participate therein; for how could he possibly take part in ought that is “pure and undefiled?” This religion is from heaven, the source of all that is pure and lovely; it is exclusively before the eye of “God and the Father:” it is for the exercise of the functions of that new name, with which all are endowed who believe on the name of the Son of God. (John 1: 12, 13; James 1: 18; 1 Peter 1: 23; 1 John 5: 1) Finally, it ranges itself under the two comprehensive heads of active benevolence and personal holiness; “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1: 27)

Now if you go through the entire catalogue of the genuine fruits of Christianity, you will find them all classed under these two heads; and it is deeply interesting to observe that, whether we turn to the eighth of Exodus or to the first of James, we find separation from the world put forward as an indispensable quality in the true service of God, Nothing could be acceptable before God – nothing could receive from His hand the stamp of “pure and undefiled,” which was polluted by contact with an “evil world.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18)

There was no meeting-place for Jehovah and His redeemed in Egypt; yes, with them, redemption and separation from Egypt were one and the same thing. God had said, “I am come down to deliver them,” and nothing short of this could either satisfy or glorify Him. A salvation which would have left them still in Egypt, could not possibly be God’s salvation. Moreover, we must bear in mind that Jehovah’s purpose, in the salvation of Israel, as well as in the destruction of Pharaoh, was, that “His name might be declared throughout all the earth;” and what declaration could there be of that name or character, were His people to attempt to worship Him in Egypt? Either none whatever or an utterly false one. Wherefore, it was essentially necessary, in order to the full and faithful declaration of God’s character, that His people should be wholly delivered and completely separated from Egypt, and it is as essentially necessary now, in order to a clear and unequivocal testimony for the Son of God, that all who are really His should be separated from this present world. Such is the will of God; and for this end Christ gave Himself. “Grace unto you, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”(Gal. 1: 3-5)

The Galatians were beginning to accredit a carnal and worldly religion – a religion of ordinances – a religion of “days, and months, and times, and years;” and the apostle commences his epistle by telling them that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for the purpose of delivering His people from that very thing. God’s people must be separate, not, by any means, on the ground of their superior personal sanctity, but because they are His people, and in order that they may rightly and intelligently answer His gracious end in taking them into connection with Himself, and attaching His name to them. A people, still amid the defilements and abominations of Egypt, could not have been a witness for the Holy One; nor can any one, now, while mixed up with the defilements of a corrupt worldly religion, possibly be a bright and steady witness for a crucified and risen Christ.

The answer given by Moses to Pharaoh’s first objection was a truly memorable one. “And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We mill go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.” (Ex. 8: 26, 27) Here is true separation from Egypt – “three days journey.” Nothing less than this could satisfy faith. The Israel of God must be separated from the land of death and darkness, in the power of resurrection. The waters of the Red Sea must roll between God’s redeemed and Egypt, ere they can properly sacrifice to Jehovah. Had they remained in Egypt, they would have to sacrifice to the Lord the very objects of Egypt’s abominable worship.* This would never do. There could be no tabernacle, no temple, no altar, in Egypt. It had no site, throughout its entire limits, for ought of that kind. In point of fact, as we shall see further on, Israel never presented so much as a single note of praise, until the whole congregation stood, in the full power of an accomplished redemption, on Canaan’s side of the Red Sea. Exactly so is it now. The believer must know where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have, for ever, set him, ere he can be an intelligent worshipper, an acceptable servant, or an effectual witness.

{*The word “abominations” has reference to that which the Egyptians worshipped.}

It is not a question of being a child of God, and, as such, a saved person. Many of the children of God are very far from knowing the full results, as regards themselves, of the death and resurrection of Christ. They do not apprehend the precious truth, that the death of Christ has made an end of their sins for ever, and that they are the happy partakers of His resurrection life, with which sin can have nothing whatever to do. Christ became a curse for us, not, as some would teach us, by being born under the curse of a broken law, but by hanging on a tree. (Compare attentively Deut. 21: 23; Gal. 3: 13) We were under the curse, because we had not kept the law; but Christ, the perfect Man, having magnified the law and made it honourable, by the very fact of His obeying it perfectly, became a curse for us, by hanging on the tree. Thus, in His life He magnified God’s law; and in His death He bore our curse. There is, therefore, now, no guilt, no curse, no wrath, no condemnation for the believer; and, albeit, he must be manifested before the judgement-seat of Christ, he will find that judgement-seat every hit as friendly by and by, as the mercy-seat is now. It will make manifest the truth of his condition, namely, that there is nothing against him; what he is, it is God “that hath wrought him.” He is God’s workmanship. He was taken up in a state of death and condemnation, and made just what God would have him to be. The Judge Himself has put away all his sins, and is his righteousness, so that the judgement-seat cannot but be friendly to him; yea, it will be the full, public, authoritative declaration to heaven, earth, and hell, that the one who is washed from his sins in the blood of the Lamb, is as clean as God can make him. (See John 5: 24; Rom. 8: 1; 2 Cor. 5: 5, 10, 11; Eph. 2: 10.) All that had to be done, God Himself has done it. He surely will not condemn His own work. The righteousness that was required, God Himself has provided it. He, surely, will not find any flaw therein. The light of the judgement seat will be bright enough to disperse every mist and cloud which might tend to obscure the matchless glories and eternal virtues which belong to the cross, and to show that the believer is “clean every whit.” (John 13: 10; John 15: 3; Eph. 5: 27)

It is because these foundation-truths are not laid hold of in the simplicity of faith that many of the children of God complain of their lack of settled peace – the constant variation in their spiritual condition – the continual ups and downs in their experience. Every doubt in the heart of a Christian is a dishonour done to the word of God and the sacrifice of Christ. It is because he does not, even now, bask in the light which shall shine from the judgement-seat, that he is ever afflicted with a doubt or a fear. And yet those things which so many have to deplore – those fluctuation’s and waverings are but trifling consequences, comparatively, inasmuch as they merely affect their experience. The effect produced upon their worship, their service, and their testimony, is far more serious, inasmuch as the Lord’s honour is concerned. But, alas ! this latter is but little thought of, generally speaking, simply because personal salvation is the grand object – the aim and end, with the majority of professing Christians. We are prone to look upon everything that affects ourselves as essential; whereas, all that merely affects the glory of Christ in and by us is counted non-essential.

However, it is well to see with distinctness, that the same truth which gives the soul settled peace, puts it also into the position of intelligent worship, acceptable service, and effectual testimony. In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle sets forth the death and resurrection of Christ as the grand foundation of everything. “Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (Ver. 1-4) Here is the gospel, in one brief and comprehensive statement. A dead and risen Christ is the ground-work of salvation. “He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” (Rom. 4: 25) To see Jesus, by the eye of faith, nailed to the cross, and seated on the throne, must give solid peace to the conscience and perfect liberty to the heart. We can look into the tomb and see it empty; we can look up to the throne, and see it occupied, and go on our way rejoicing. The Lord Jesus settled everything on the cross on behalf of His people; and the proof of this settlement is that He is now at the right hand of God. A risen Christ is the eternal proof of an accomplished redemption; and if redemption is an accomplished fact, the believer’s peace is a settled reality. We did not make peace and never could make it; indeed, any effort on our part to make peace could only tend more fully to manifest us as peace breakers. But Christ, having made peace by the blood of His cross, has taken His scat on high, triumphant over every enemy. By Him God preaches peace. The Lord of the gospel conveys this peace; and the soul that believes the gospel has peace – settled peace before God, for Christ is his peace. (See Acts 10: 36; Rom. 5: 1; Eph. 2: 14; Col. 1: 20.) In this way, God has not only satisfied His own claims, but, in so doing, He has found out a divinely-righteous vent through which His boundless affections may flow down to the guiltiest of Adam’s guilty progeny.

Then, as to the practical result of all this. The cross of Christ has not only put away the believer’s sins, but also dissolved for ever His connection with the world; and, on the ground of this, he is privileged to regard the world as a crucified thing, and to be regarded by it as a crucified one. Thus it stands with the believer and the world. It is crucified to him and he to it. This is the real, dignified position of every true Christian. The world’s judgement about Christ was expressed in the position in which it deliberately placed Him. It got its choice as to whether it would have a murderer or Christ. It allowed the murderer to go free, but nailed Christ to the cross, between two thieves. Now, if the believer walks in the footprints of Christ – if he drinks into, and manifests, His spirit, he will occupy the very same place in the world’s estimation; and, in this way, he will not merely know that, as to standing before God, he is crucified with Christ, but be led to realise it in his walk and experience every day.

But while the cross has thus effectually cut the connection between the believer and the world, the resurrection has brought him into the power of new ties and associations. If, in the cross, we see the world’s judgement about Christ, in resurrection we see God’s judgement. The world crucified Him; but “God hath highly exalted him.” Man gave Him the very lowest, God the very highest, place; and, inasmuch as the believer is called into full fellowship with God, in his thoughts about Christ, he is enabled to turn the tables upon the world, and look upon it as a crucified thing. If, therefore, the believer is on one cross and the world on another, the moral distance between the two is vast indeed. And if it is vast in principle, so should it be in practice. The world and the Christian should have absolutely nothing in common; nor will they, except so far as he denies his Lord and Master. The believer proves himself false to Christ, to the very same degree that he has fellowship with the world.

All this is plain enough; but, my beloved Christian reader, where does it put us as regards this world? Truly, it puts us outside and that completely. We are dead to the world and alive with Christ. We are at once partakers of His rejection by earth and His acceptance in heaven; and the joy of the latter makes us count as nothing the trial connected with the former. To be cast out of earth, without knowing that I have a place and a portion on high, would be intolerable; but when the glories of heaven fill the soul’s vision, a little of earth goes a great way.

But some may feel led to ask, “What is the world?” It would be difficult to find a term more inaccurately defined than “world,” or “worldliness;” for we are generally disposed to make worldliness begin a point or two above where we are ourselves. The Word of God, however, has, with perfect precision, defined what” the world” is, when it marks it as that which is “not of the Father.” Hence, the deeper my fellowship with the Father, the keener will be my sense of what is worldly. This is the divine way of teaching. The more you delight in the Father’s love, the more you reject the world. But who reveals the Father The Son. How? By the power of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the more I am enabled, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, to drink in the Son’s revelation of the Father, the more accurate does my judgement become as to what is of the world. It is as the limits of God’s kingdom expand in the heart, that the judgement as to worldliness becomes refined. You can hardly attempt to define worldliness. It is, as some one has said, “shaded off gradually from white to jet black.” This is most true. You cannot place a bound and say, “here is where worldliness begins;” but the keen and exquisite sensibilities of the divine nature recoil from it; and all we need is, to walk in the power of that nature, in order to keep aloof from every form of worldliness. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” Walk with God, and ye shall not walk with the world. Cold distinctions and rigid rules will avail nothing. The power of the divine life is what we want. We want to understand the meaning and spiritual application of the “three days’ journey into the wilderness” whereby we are separated for ever, not only from Egypt’s brick-kilns and taskmasters, but also from its temples and altars.

Pharaoh’s second objection partook very much of the character and tendency of the first. “And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away.” (Ex. 8: 28) If he could not keep them in Egypt, he would at least seek to keep them near it, so that he might act upon them by its varied influences. In this way, they might be brought back again. and the testimony more effectually quashed than if they had never left Egypt at all. There is always much more serious damage done to the cause of Christ by persons seeming to give up the world and returning to it again, than if they had remained entirely of it; for they virtually confess that, having tried heavenly things, they have discovered that earthly things are better and more satisfying.

Nor is this all. The moral effect of truth upon the conscience of unconverted people is sadly interfered with, by the example of professors going back again into those things which they seemed to have left. Not that such cases afford the slightest warrant to any one for the rejection of God’s truth, inasmuch as each one is personally responsible and will have to give account of himself to God. Still, however, the effect in this, as well as in everything else, is bad. ” For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to hare known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.(2 Peter 2: 20, 21.)

Wherefore, if people do not “go very far away,” they had better not go at all. The enemy knew this well; and hence his second objection. The maintenance of a border position suits his purpose amazingly. Those who occupy this ground are neither one thing nor the other; and, in point of fact, whatever influence they possess, tells entirely in the wrong direction.

It is deeply important to see that Satan’s design, in all these objections, was to hinder that testimony to the name of the God of Israel, which could only be rendered by a “three days’ journey into the wilderness.” This was, in good truth, going “very far away.” It was much farther than Pharaoh could form any idea of, or than he could follow them. And oh! how happy it would be if all who profess to set out from Egypt would really, in the spirit of their minds and in the tone of their character, go thus far away from it I if they would intelligently recognise the cross and grave of Christ as forming the boundary between them and the world! No man, in the mere energy of nature, can take this ground. The Psalmist could say,” Enter not into judgement with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” (Ps. 143: 2) So also is it with regard to true and effectual separation from the world. “No man living” can enter into it. It is only as “dead with Christ,” and “risen again with him, through faith of the operation of God,” that any one can either be “justified” before God, or separated from the world This is what we may all going ” very far away. May all who profess and call themselves Christians go thus far! Then will their lamp yield a steady light. Then would their trumpet give a certain sound. Their path would be elevated; their experience deep and rich. Their peace would flow as a river; their affections would be heavenly and their garments unspotted. And, far above all, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be magnified in them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, according to the will of God their Father.

The third objection demands our most special attention. “And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, go, serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, will we go: for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so; go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” (Ex. 10: 8-11) Here again we have the enemy aiming a deadly blow at the testimony to the name of the God of Israel. Parents in the wilderness and their children in Egypt! Terrible anomaly! This would only have been a half deliverance, at once useless to Israel and dishonouring to Israel’s God. This could not be. If the children remained in Egypt, the parents could not possibly be said to have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of themselves. The most that could be said in such a case was, that in part they were serving Jehovah, and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could have no part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or nothing. This is a weighty principle for Christian parents. May we lay it deeply to heart! It is our happy privilege to count on God for our children, and to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph. 6) We should not be satisfied with any other portion for” Our little ones” than that which we ourselves enjoy.

Pharaoh’s fourth and last objection had reference to the flocks and herds. “And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.” (Ex. 10: 24.) With what perseverance did Satan dispute every inch of Israel’s way out of the land of Egypt! He first sought to keep them in the land, then to keep them near the land, next to keep part of themselves in the land, and, finally, when he could not succeed in any of these three, he sought to send them forth without any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep the servants, he would seek to keep their ability to serve, which would answer much the same end. If he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices.

In Moses’ reply to this last objection, we are furnished with a fine statement of the Lord’s paramount claim upon His people and all pertaining to them. “And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind: for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come. thither.” (Ver. 25, 26) It is only when the people of God take their stand, in simple Childlike faith, upon that elevated ground, on which death and resurrection set them, that they can have anything like an adequate sense of His claims upon them. “We know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.” That is, they had no knowledge of the divine claim or their responsibility, until they had gone “three days’ journey.” These things could not be known amid the dense and polluted atmosphere of Egypt. Redemption must be known as an accomplished fact, ere: there can be any just or full perception of responsibility. All this is perfect and beautiful. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” I must be up out of Egypt, in the power of death and resurrection, and then, but not until then, shall I know what the Lord’s service really is. It is when we take our stand, by faith, in that “large room,” that wealthy place into which the precious blood of Christ introduces us; when we look around us and survey the rich, rare, and manifold results of redeeming love; when we gaze upon the Person of Him who has brought us into this place, and endowed us with these riches, then we are constrained to say, in the language of one of our own poets,

“Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my heart, my life, my all.”

“There shall not an hoof be left behind.” Noble words! Egypt is not the place for ought that pertains to God’s redeemed. He is worthy of all, “body, soul, and spirit;” all we are and all we have belongs to Him. “We are not our own, we are bought with a price;” and it is our happy privilege to consecrate ourselves and all that we possess to Him whose we are, and whom we are called to serve. There is nought of a legal spirit in this. The words, “until we come thither,” furnish a divine guard against this horrible evil. We have travelled the “three days’ journey,” ere a word concerning sacrifice can be heard or understood. We are put in full and undisputed possession of resurrection life and eternal righteousness. We have left that land of death and darkness; we have been brought to God Himself, so that we may enjoy Him, in the energy of that life with which we are endowed, and in the sphere of righteousness in which we are placed: thus it is our joy to serve. There is not an affection in the heart of which He is not worthy; there is not a sacrifice in all the flock too costly for His altar. The more closely we walk with Him, the more we shall esteem it to be our meat and drink to do His blessed will. The believer counts it his highest privilege to serve the Lord. He delights in every exercise and every manifestation of the divine nature. He does not move up and down with a grievous yoke upon his neck, or an intolerable weight upon his shoulder. The yoke is broken “because of the anointing,” the burden has been for ever removed, by the blood of the cross, while he himself walks abroad, “redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,” in pursuance of those soul-stirring words, “LET MY PEOPLE GO.”

NOTE. – We shall consider the contents of Ex. 11 in connection with the security of Israel, under the shelter of the blood of the paschal lamb.

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Exo 7:14 to Exo 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.

J124578910

E178910

P123610

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 be expected that the details of the narratives can all be equally correct. And there are not only literary distinctions between the sources, but differing, and in some points contradictory, representations of matters of fact. The Great European War illustrates the difficulty of weighing even contemporary testimony. But it is important to observe that even such a legend as that a force of Russians was brought through England, though it stated what was incorrect, yet would have conveyed to posterity a true reflection of two fundamental features in the European situation of 1914, viz. that Russia was allied with England, and that powerful reinforcements were needed to meet an enemy across the English Channel. So the general situation in Egypt in 1220 B.C., and the contrasted characters of Pharaoh and Moses, may reasonably be taken as rightly given, while the order, details, and precise nature of the events in which they were concerned may have been more or less distorted by tradition. One of the marks of the shaping power of the reporting process is that each source can still be seen to have had its own uniform skeleton of narration in this section. This phenomenon may be concisely exhibited. It should be contrasted with the form of narratives (such as those in 2 S.) which are more nearly contemporary with the events they relate.

a. JEP: and Yahweh said unto Moses,

b. J: Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold I will . . .

E: Stretch forth thy (i.e. Mosess) hand (with thy rod toward . . . that there may be . . .

P: Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and there shall be . . .

c. J: And Yahweh did so, and there came . . . (or and he sent)

E: And Moses stretched forth his hand (or his rod) toward . . . and there was . . .

P: And these did so: and Aaron stretched out his rod, and there was . . .

d. P: And the magicians did so (or, could not do so) with their secret arts . . .

e. J: And Pharaoh called for Moses, and said unto him, Entreat for me, that . . . And Yahweh did so, and removed . . .

f. J: But Pharaoh made his heart heavy.

E: But Yahweh made Pharaohs heart hard.

P: But Yahwehs heart was hardened.

g. J: And he did not let the people go.

E: And he did not let the children of Israel go.

P: and he hearkened not unto them as Yahweh had spoken.

The reader who will mark with letters in the margin of the text the parts assigned to J, E, and P will discern for himself, more fully by the help of the RV references, the points of contrast and resemblance, or he can consult the larger commentaries. In any case he should note that J is fullest and most graphic, and describes the plagues as natural events providentially ordered, Yahweh bringing them after the prophets mere announcement; that E is briefer, has not been so fully preserved by the editor, heightens the miraculous colouring, and makes Moses bring on the plagues with a motion of his wonder-working rod, or a gesture of his hand; and that P makes Aaron the spokesman and wielder of the rod, and introduces the magicians, the supernatural element transcending the historical throughout. Another feature is that in J the Israelites are apart in Goshen, but in E are mixed up with the Egyptians in Egypt. Each source has its own word for plague (Exo 9:14 J, Exo 11:1 E, Exo 12:13 P); and three other words (signs and wonderstwo Heb. words) are also employed. It will appear that the plagues were miraculously intensified forms of the diseases or other natural occurrences to which Egypt is more or less liable (Driver).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PLAGUE NO.8 — LOCUSTS

(vs.1-20)

Again the Lord reminds Moses that He Himself had hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the hearts of his servants in order that He might publicly show His signs before them, as well as that God’s great works of power might have very real effect on Israel’s present generation and on generations to come, that they might realize that it was indeed the living Lord of glory who was dealing with them (vs.1-2).

Moses and Aaron again stand before Pharaoh to repeat God’s demand that he should humble himself before the Lord and let Israel go. They leave him with the warning that if he still refuses, God would bring a tremendous swarm of locusts into the land of Egypt such as would cover the face of the earth, and that they would consume every green thing that was left in Egypt. They would also fill the houses, causing distress such as had never been known (vs.3-6).

The warning was alarming enough to Pharaoh’s servants that they themselves appealed to Pharaoh that he would let Israel go rather than continue to suffer from God’s severe inflictions (v.7). They asked him if he does not know yet that Egypt is destroyed. Therefore Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron brought back, telling them that Israel may go, but with definite reservations. Who are those who would go? Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord” (v.7). There is to be no compromise. The believer is to be for the Lord, his household is also for the Lord, and all that he possesses. Let every child of God have the same purpose of heart in this as did Moses.

But Pharaoh would not accede to this. He tried to intimidate Moses by warning him that if they all left they would run into serious trouble, and sarcastically implying that they could not depend on any real help from the Lord being with them (v.10). He would give permission only for the men to go, knowing that they would soon return when they did not have their families with them. So Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence (v.11). Such is the obdurate pride of an ungodly man of the world, influenced by Satan!

At the command of the Lord Moses stretched out the rod in his hand over the land of Egypt, and the east wind blew that day and night, bringing with it a tremendous swarm of locusts such as had never been before, and of which we are told there would never again be such a scourge (v.14). All the land of Egypt suffered from this, with all their green vegetation completely eaten up (v.15).

The shock to Pharaoh was so great that he called hastily for Moses and Aaron, telling them again that he had sinned against the Lord and against Israel, pleading that they might forgive his sin this one time and pray to the Lord to take away this frightful infliction.

Through the intercession of Moses God again gave relief to Egypt, sending an exceptionally strong west wind that carried all the locusts with it to drown them in the Red Sea (v.19). However, in His sovereign government God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he still refused to allow Israel to leave.

PLAGUE NO.9 — DARKNESS

(vs.21-29)

The ninth plague was not announced beforehand. The Lord simply tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and a thick darkness falls over all the land of Egypt, continuing for three days, a “darkness which may be felt.” It is symbolical of the spiritual darkness that unbelief prefers (Joh 3:19), but which men find not so pleasant when darkness is never relieved by the slightest ray of light. They deliberately choose darkness rather than light, and later find it is not what they thought it to be. The Israelites were not affected, however. At least they had light in their homes, while the Egyptians were totally confined in darkness. Of course this was miraculous, but Christians today have spiritual light while all around the world is in pathetic darkness.

Again Pharaoh called for Moses with another compromising offer. He will allow even their little children to leave with Israel, but on condition they leave their flocks and herds. Such temptations also come to us through the sinful desires of our own hearts, but we must remember that our possessions too belong to the Lord and are to be used only for Him. Moses refuses any such compromise. Sacrifices to God must be made of the animals they possessed. He insists, “Not a hoof shall be left behind” (vs.25-26).

Refusing to submit to God, Pharaoh on this occasions allows his temper to flare in bitter anger against Moses. He tells Moses to get out of his presence and not to again even see Pharaoh’s face, threatening him that if he does see his face he will die. Moses answers him however with words of solemn portent, “You have spoken well, I will never see your face again!” (v.29). But it was not Moses who died: it was Pharaoh! — a victim of his own folly.

It must be observed that Chapter 10:28-29, so that Chapter 11:1 to the middle of Chapter 11:8 took place before Chapter 10:28-29.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

Locusts (the eighth plague) 10:1-20

Moses explained another purpose of God in sending further plagues in this context, namely, so the Israelites in future generations would believe in Yahweh’s sovereignty (Exo 10:2)

Locusts were and still are a menace in Egypt as well as in many other countries of the world. The wind drove them from the wetter areas to the whole land of Egypt, excluding Goshen, where they multiplied. They consumed the remaining half of the crops and trees left by the hail. [Note: On the tremendously destructive power of locusts, see Davis, pp. 120-22.] Among their other gods, the Egyptians prayed to one manifested as a locust that they believed would preserve them from attacks by this devastating insect. [Note: See Montet, pp. 39, 169.]

Pharaoh’s permission for the male Israelites to leave Egypt to worship God brought on by the urging of his counselors was arbitrary. Egyptian females worshipped with their husbands, and Pharaoh could have permitted both men and women to worship Yahweh.

Pharaoh offered Moses three compromises, which the world still offers Christians. First, he suggested that the Israelites stay in Egypt (Exo 8:25). He said, in effect, You can be who you are, but live as a part of your larger culture; do not be distinctive. Second, he permitted them to leave Egypt but not to go far from it (Exo 8:28). He allowed them to separate from their culture but not drastically. Third, he gave permission for the males to leave, but their children had to remain in Egypt (Exo 10:8-11). Even godly parents are sometimes inclined to desire prosperity and worldly position for their children.

Pharaoh’s servants seem to have been ready and willing to acknowledge Yahweh as a god, but for Pharaoh this conflict had greater significance. It was a test of sovereignty. The advice of Pharaoh’s servants reflects their extreme distress (Exo 10:7).

"The king who . . . has a direct knowledge of the predestined order of the universe, cannot consult mere mortals. His decisions are represented as spontaneous creative acts motivated by considerations which are beyond human comprehension, although he may graciously disclose some of them." [Note: Frankfort, p. 56.]

Joseph had previously delivered the Egyptians from starvation, but now Moses brought them to starvation. Both effects were the result of official Egyptian policy toward Abraham’s descendants (cf. Gen 12:3).

Pharaoh’s confession of sin and his request for forgiveness were also most unusual (Exo 10:16).

"The Egyptian viewed his misdeeds not as sins, but as aberrations. They would bring him unhappiness because they disturbed his harmonious integration with the existing world; they might even be explicitly disapproved by one or another of the gods, but these were always ready to welcome his better insight. . . . It is especially significant that the Egyptians never showed any trace of feeling unworthy of the divine mercy. For he who errs is not a sinner but a fool, and his conversion to a better way of life does not require repentance but a better understanding." [Note: Ibid., p. 73.]

". . . the picture of a halting, confused Pharaoh plays well here at the conclusion of the plague narratives. It shows that Moses and Aaron were beginning to get on his nerves." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 256-57.]

The "Red Sea" (Exo 10:19) is the present Red Sea that lies to the east and south of the delta region. Some students of Exodus have mistakenly called it the Sea of Reeds. This opinion is due to the large quantity of papyrus reeds and seaweeds that some scholars have claimed grew on its banks and floated on its waters. However these reeds do not grow in salt water. [Note: See Bernard F. Batto, "Red Sea or Reed Sea?" Biblical Archaeology Review 10:4 (July-August 1984):57-63, and my note on 14:2.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER X.

THE EIGHTH PLAGUE.

Exo 10:1-20.

The Lord would not command His servant again to enter the dangerous presence of the sullen prince, without a reason which would sustain his faith: “For I have made heavy his heart.” The pronoun is emphatic: it means to say, ‘His foolhardiness is My doing and cannot go beyond My will: thou art safe.’ And the same encouragement belongs to all who do the sacred will: not a hair of their head shall truly perish, since life and death are the servants of their God. Thus, in the storm of human passion, as of the winds, He says, “It is I, be not afraid”; making the wrath of man to praise Him, stilling alike the tumult of the waves and the madness of the people.

It is possible that even the merciful mitigations of the last plague were used by infatuated hearts to justify their wilfulness: the most valuable crops of all had escaped; so that these judgments, however dire, were not quite beyond endurance. Just such a course of reasoning deludes all who forget that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance.

Besides the reasons already given for lengthening out the train of judgments, it is added that Israel should teach the story to posterity, and both fathers and children should “know that I am Jehovah.”

Accordingly it became a favourite title–“The Lord which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Even the apostates under Sinai would not reject so illustrious a memory: their feast was nominally to Jehovah; and their idol was an image of “the gods which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exo 32:4-5).

Has our land no deliverances for which to be thankful? Instead of boastful self-assertion, should we not say, “We have heard with our ears, O God, and our fathers have declared unto us, the noble works that Thou didst in their days and in the old time before them?” Have we forgotten that national mercies call aloud for national thanksgiving? And in the family, and in the secret life of each, are there no rescues, no emancipations, no enemies overcome by a hand not our own, which call for reverent acknowledgment? “These things were our examples, and are written for our admonition.”

The reproof now spoken to Pharaoh is sterner than any previous one. There is no reasoning in it. The demand is peremptory: “How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?” With it is a sharp and short command: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” And with this is a detailed and tremendous threat. It is strange, in the face of the knowledge accumulated since the objection called for it, to remember that once this narrative was challenged, because locusts, it was said, are unknown in Egypt. They are mentioned in the inscriptions. Great misery was caused by them in 1463, and just three hundred years later Niebuhr was himself at Cairo during a plague of them. Equally arbitrary is the objection that Joel predicted locusts “such as there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations” (Exo 2:2), whereas we read of these that “before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such” (Exo 10:14). The objection is whimsical in its absurdity, when we remember that Joel spoke distinctly of Zion and the holy mountain (Exo 2:1), and Exodus of “the borders of Egypt” (Exo 10:14).

But it is true that locusts are comparatively rare in Egypt; so that while the meaning of the threat would be appreciated, familiarity would not have steeled them against it. The ravages of the locust are terrible indeed, and coming just in time to ruin the crops which had escaped the hail, would complete the misery of the land.

One speaks of the sudden change of colour by the disappearance of verdure where they alight as being like the rolling up of a carpet; and here we read “they shall cover the eye of the earth,”–a phrase peculiar to the Pentateuch (Exo 10:15; Num 22:5, Num 22:11); “and they shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, … and they shall fill thy houses, and the … houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen.”

After uttering the appointed warning, Moses abruptly left, awaiting no negotiations, plainly regarding them as vain.

But now, for the first time, the servants of Pharaoh interfered, declared the country to be ruined, and pressed him to surrender. And yet it was now first that we read (Exo 10:1) that their hearts were hardened as well as his. For that is a hard heart that does not remonstrate against wrong, however plainly God reveals His displeasure, until new troubles are at hand, and which even then has no regard for the wrongs of Israel, but only for the woes of Egypt. It is a hard heart, therefore, which intends to repent upon its deathbed; for its motives are identical with these.

Pharaoh’s behaviour is that of a spoiled child, who is indeed the tyrant most familiar to us. He feels that he must yield, or else why should the brothers be recalled? And yet, when it comes to the point, he tries to play the master still, by dictating the terms for his own surrender; and breaks off the negotiation rather than do frankly what he must feel that it is necessary to do. Moses laid his finger accurately upon the disease when he reproached him for refusing to humble himself. And if his behaviour seem unnatural, it is worth observation that Napoleon, the greatest modern example of proud, intellectual, godless infatuation, allowed himself to be crushed at Leipsic through just the same reluctance to do thoroughly and without self-deception what he found it necessary to consent to do. “Napoleon,” says his apologist, Thiers, “at length determined to retreat–a resolution humbling to his pride. Unfortunately, instead of a retreat frankly admitted … he determined on one which from its imposing character should not be a real retreat at all, and should be accomplished in open day.” And this perversity, which ruined him, is traced back to “the illusions of pride.”

Well, it was quite as hard for the Pharaoh to surrender at discretion, as for the Corsican to stoop to a nocturnal retreat. Accordingly, he asks, “Who are ye that shall go?” and when Moses very explicitly and resolutely declares that they will all go, with all their property, his passion overcomes him, he feels that to consent is to lose them for ever, and he exclaims, “So be Jehovah with you as I will let you go and your little ones: look to it, for evil is before you”–that is to say, Your intentions are bad. “Go ye that are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what ye desire,”–no more than that is implied in your demand, unless it is a mere pretence, under which more lurks than it avows.

But he and they have long been in a state of war: menaces, submissions, and treacheries have followed each other fast, and he has no reason to complain if their demands are raised. Moreover, his own nation celebrated religious festivals in company with their wives and children, so that his rejoinder is an empty outburst of rage. And of a Jewish feast it was said, a little later, “Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant and thy maidservant … and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow” (Deu 16:11). There was no insincerity in the demand; and although the suspicions of the king were naturally excited by the exultant and ever-rising hopes of the Hebrews, and the defiant attitude of Moses, yet even now there is as little reason to suspect bad faith as to suppose that Israel, once released, could ever have resumed the same abject attitude toward Egypt as before. They would have come back victorious, and therefore ready to formulate new demands; already half emancipated, and therefore prepared for the perfecting of the work.

And now, at a second command as explicit as that which bade him utter the warning, Moses, anxiously watched by many, stretched out his hand over the devoted realm. At the gesture, the spectators felt that a fiat had gone forth. But the result was strangely different from that which followed his invocation, both of the previous and the following plague, when we may believe that as he raised his hand, the hail-storm burst in thunder, and the curtain fell upon the sky. Now there only arose a gentle east wind (unlike the “exceeding strong west wind” that followed), but it blew steadily all that day and all the following night. The forebodings of Egypt would understand it well: the prolonged period during which the curse was being steadily wafted toward them was an awful measure of the wide regions over which the power of Jehovah reached; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts, that dreadful curse which Joel has compared to a disciplined and devastating invader, “the army of the Lord,” and the first woe that heralds the Day of the Lord in the Apocalypse (Joe 2:1-11; Rev 9:1-11).

The completeness of the ruin brought a swift surrender, but it has been well said that folly is the wisdom which is only wise too late, and, let us add, too fitfully. If Pharaoh had only submitted before the plague instead of after it![18] If he had only respected himself enough to be faithful, instead of being too vain really to yield!

It is an interesting coincidence that, since he had this time defied the remonstrances of his advisers, his confession of sin is entirely personal: it is no longer, “I and my people are sinners,” but “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.” This last clause was bitter to his lips, but the need for their intercession was urgent: life and death were at stake upon the removal of this dense cloud of creatures which penetrated everywhere, leaving everywhere an evil odour, and of which a later sufferer complains, “We could not eat, but we bit a locust; nor open our mouths, but locusts filled them.”

Therefore he went on to entreat volubly, “Forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat Jehovah your God that He may take away from me this death only.”

And at the prayer of Moses, the Lord caused the breeze to veer and rise into a hurricane: “The Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind.” Now, the locust can float very well upon an easy breeze, and so it had been wafted over the Red Sea; but it is at once beaten down by a storm, and when it touches the water it is destroyed. Thus simply was the plague removed.

“But the Lord made strong Pharaoh’s heart,” and so, his fears being conquered, his own rebellious will went on upon its evil way. He would not let Israel go.

This narrative throws light upon a thousand vows made upon sick beds, but broken when the sufferer recovers; and a thousand prayers for amendment, breathed in all the sincerity of panic, and forgotten with all the levity of security. It shows also, in the hesitating and abortive half-submission of the tyrant, the greater folly of many professing Christians, who will, for Christ’s sake, surrender all their sins except one or two, and make any confession except that which really brings low their pride.

Thoroughness, decision, depth, and self-surrender, needed by Pharaoh, are needed by every soul of man.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] Oddly enough, the same historian already quoted, relating the story of the same day at Leipsic, says of Napoleon’s dialogue with M. de Merfeld, that he “used an expression which, if uttered at the Congress of Prague, would have changed his lot and ours. Unfortunately, it was now too late.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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